Crow Wing County Board elects chair, designates official newspaper and sets salaries at organizational meeting

Crow Wing County’s Board of Commissioners completed its 2026 organizational meeting with routine, largely unanimous actions that included electing leadership, approving annual resolutions on meeting procedure and citizen pay, awarding printing contracts for public notices, and setting minimum salaries for two elected offices.

Commissioner Barrows nominated Commissioner Franzen for board chair for 2026; the nomination was seconded and the board approved a unanimous ballot to elect Franzen as chair. Commissioner Barrows then nominated Commissioner Lee for vice chair; that motion also passed by roll call.

The board approved a recommendation from county staff to accept a combined printing and publishing bid for public notices and to designate the Brainerd Dispatch as the county’s official newspaper for 2026. Administrative staff summarized the packet and recommended acceptance of the combined bid of the Brainerd Dispatch, Pine Lake Echo Journal, and Crosby-Ironton Courier for routine publications. “It is our recommendation that the combined bid … be accepted … and that the Brainerd Dispatch be designated as the official county newspaper for 2026,” an administrative staff member told the board.

Commissioners also approved the bid for the second publication of the county financial statement, accepting the News Hopper bid for that second notice.

On procedural matters the board adopted its annual closed-meeting resolution, listing permissible reasons to close meetings during the year—including labor negotiation strategy, preliminary consideration of allegations against county employees, performance evaluations, and attorney–client privileged conferences. The board also adopted a resolution setting per-meeting rates and expenses for citizen committee members: $75 per meeting for most appointed citizens, and $150 per meeting and $150 per site visit for planning commission and board of adjustment members.

The board reviewed appointments to the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) policy committees and voting delegates. The administrator reported current policy-committee appointments and recommended that the five county commissioners plus the county administrator, administrative services director, and community services director serve as voting delegates; the chair confirmed those appointments as chair appointments.

On compensation for elected officials, the county administrator explained that state statute requires the board to set a minimum salary for offices on the ballot. The board adopted a recommendation to set the minimum salary for the sheriff and the county attorney at $140,376 (grade 220 minimum) for the next term. The administrator noted that this figure represents the minimum that would be paid to whoever is elected and does not indicate the final salary that would be set later.

A representative associated with the sheriff’s office addressed the board briefly, thanked commissioners for their support and said final operating numbers for the year were still being compiled: “We’re still working on the final numbers, from all the activity that we’ve taken care of over this last year,” the speaker said. No substantive questions were raised following that update.

With no additional business, the board approved a motion to adjourn and ended the meeting shortly thereafter.

Next steps: these administrative resolutions and appointments take effect immediately for administrative planning and public-notice purposes; personnel and salary decisions that depend on future elections or bargaining processes remain subject to statutory processes or later board action.