1-2-3 - The McLeod County Chronicle

The McLeod County Chronicle, Wednesday, October 31, 2012, page 6Sibley County pulls out of fiber-to-home projectBy Dave PedersenCorrespondent for theArlington EnterpriseHad the Sibley Countycommissioners dealt withtheir concerns about theRenville-Sibley Fiber to theHome (RS-Fiber) projectfirst, it would have saved alot of time at the board meetingTuesday, Oct. 23.A scheduled update on thebonding process for the projectstarted with four communityleaders speaking in supportof the fiber project that isone step away from going tofinancing.The comments fell on deafears, because a short timelater, the commissionersvoted 3-2 to withdraw fromthe $70 million project thathas been in the works for twoyears and was so close to reality.The courthouse room wasfilled with supporters of theproject designed to connectcounty homes and businesseswith high speed broadbandinternet, plus cable TV andphone service. People left inan awkward silence afterbeing so vocal about the needand importance of the projectto the community.The forward progress ofsending the project to bondingwas halted the past twomeetings because of not findinga bond counsel willing togive a favorable opinion oncounty participation.*****At the Oct. 23 meeting,other issues arose, includingthe total cost of $70,000 forlegal fees to get an opinionfor each of the entities involvedin the project that mayor may not be favorable.Plus, there was concernover changes in the projectterms, such as a higher interestrate than expected and anincrease in length from 30 to35 years.What irritated one commissionerthe most was readingan e-mail floating around lastweekend accusing the boardof using delay tactics. The e-mail was said to include informationabout the projectthat was not brought up at theJoint Powers Board (JPB)meetings.*****A breakthrough in thedelay seemed possible whenSibley County Economic DevelopmentDirector TimDolan was asked to put togethera meeting involvinglegal consultants involved inthe project.The outcome of the Mondayconference call generatedconcerns by board membersabout the change in projectdetails. Also of concern wasthe provision for equal votingamong the member entities,yet the allocation of financialrisk is not proportional.County Commissioner JimSwanson, who was the firstchairperson of the Joint PowersBoard, gave a long preparedstatement regarding hisfrustration with recent developments.“There is not a person sittingat the table that disagreeswith what people have saidabout the good things fibercan do,” said Swanson. “Theconcerns I had from day oneis the financing packagingdeal and what are we settingup here?“Over the past year theproject centered on coming inat 5 percent interest,” Swansonsaid. “Now we are hearingit could work at 5.5 (percent).After our meeting yesterdaywe are hearing someindications showing bondscoming in at 6.5 percent. Thetarget keeps changing.”Swanson said the businessplan has always stated a 30-year payment plan. He heardMonday talk of extendingthat to 35 years. A 30-yearplan would cost approximately$140 million over the durationof the bond. Extendingfive more years “only adds tothat cost.”The county bond counsel isDorsey & Whitney, whichbrought up some concerns ofSibley County’s involvementin the project. Currently, thecounty is responsible for 40percent of any financial shortfall.“The county, under the currentsituation, has the samevoting authority as a city thathas only three percent obligation,”said Swanson. “Someof those cities are not even inthe county.”*****Swanson added that thecounty is being accused in ane-mail of trying to stall theproject.“The truth of the matter isthe bonding firm requestedeach city and county get abond counsel opinion,” saidSwanson. “So far, four bondcounsel firms have declinedto give the project a favorableopinion. As of yesterday (Oct.22), a fifth firm has finallyagreed to give an opinion.That means that four out offive firms contacted wouldnot give an opinion on thisproject.”Swanson called it disconcertingthat the county bondcouncil was paid $5,000 togive us an opinion on theproject, which they later declinedto do.“The same thing can happenon this,” said Swanson.“They can give an opinion,but we don’t know what thatis. Yet, they want $70,000 upfront to do the work. We willnot know if the opinion is favorableuntil they completetheir research.”*****Swanson said in the pastthree weeks the commissionershave been contacted byvarious business owners,farmers, township supervisorsand citizens who signed offon pledge cards.“They are asking us to seriouslyrethink what we aredoing with this project, onlybecause just recently they arestarting to hear about the financingside of it,” saidSwanson. “There is risk andwe need to know the side issuesgoing on with this project.”County Commissioner JimNytes said any bond costingmore than 5 percent interest“is junk considered by the financialpeople in New YorkCity.” He said that 35 years istoo long for any project andadded the system could beoutdated by then.“This thing has blowncompletely out of control,”Nytes loudly proclaimed.“We can spend more moneyon it, but it probably won’twork. I love fiber, but we area small county losing population.I am going to put thisthing to a vote, and I make amotion that Sibley Countydrop out of the RS Fiber project.”Asked by CommissionerJoy Cohrs if the board had totake a vote now, Nytes said“We probably don’t, but wewill continue to put moneyinto this project that probablywon’t go through. We hadfour attorney firms who didnot give us an opinion, whywould a fifth one be better. Itis usually three strikes andyou are out.“How can we spend$70,000 more when we arestruggling to build roads,”continued Nytes. “We haveplenty of budget problems.This will come before usevery two weeks unless weact on this. It’s probably timewe act on it to cut the losses.”Swanson said it would bedoing injustice to the cities ifthe county would stay withthis project and then pull outafter it hears an opinion. Headded, “We need to make adecision at this point to befair to them.”*****In the request for a roll callvote to withdraw from theproject, Pettis and Cohrs saidno and Pinske, Nytes andSwanson voted yes.“This came up two yearsago when we started this,”said Pettis about being assuredthere was absolutely noproblem with the legality ofthe county doing the project.“Now two years later itcomes back to bite us.”After the meeting Dolanwas asked how the decisionto withdraw impacts the ruralresidents who were representedby the county. The percentof pledge cards from ruralareas is at 64 percent with 16townships voting in favor ofthe project.Dolan said the cities willstay in the project and probablywill be able to cash flowbetter because of a higherpopulation density. He addedRenville County was comingin while Sibley County wasgoing out. Renville commissionersrecently voted to enterthe project.“We will regroup and lookat alternatives for hooking upthe rural areas,” said Dolan.“It may be a challenge and itmay take some time to figureit out. We learned a lot of lessonsof how to do things andhow not to do things.”Dolan said he left the meetingMonday feeling fairlypositive because of hearingthe board technically did nothave to do this resolution toenter until the opinion wasrendered.“I also had a gut feelingthat commissioners were nothappy with how things haveturned out, but I didn’t expectthis,” said Dolan. “I think inthe end commissioners wereworried about the significantinvestment.”(The cities of Browntonand Stewart in McLeodCounty also are participantsin the project.)Stewart City Council approves sewer rate hikeBy Lori CoplerStaff WriterThe Stewart City Councilapproved a $5 per month increaseon the base rate for itssewer utility at a specialmeeting Monday night. Thebase rate will increase to $13per month from $8.It also approved a .0004 (4cent) increase for flow usageover 2,783 gallons per month,making the charge $1.24 pergallon, up from $1.20 per gallon.The increased rates willLaura Taylor of Stewart, amember of the Stewart-Brownton Girl Scouts, hasearned her silver award forher participation in a projectwhich monitored monarchbutterflies and monitoredmilkweed for monarch caterpillars.She participated as a “citizenscientist” in support ofUniversity of Minnesotamonitoring of monarch butterflies.Taylor also assistedothers to become citizen scientists.Her duties included findingmilkweed plants and documentingthe number of eggsand caterpillars on the plants.“My role was to help teachthe other participants how tomonitor correctly, what tolook for, and how to input thedata. I learned how to be patientwith other people, andhow important it is to get accuraterecord for our findings,also how to put theminto the computer so otherscan use our data,” said Taylor.pay off loan payments for thesewer improvements that arepart of this year’s street andutility improvement project.The City Council acknowledgedthat residents won’t behappy about the increase, butfelt it was better to increaserates enough now to makesure the loan payments arecovered.Shannon Sweeney of DavidDrown Associates, the city’sfinancial consultant, said thecity did very well on financingthe approximately $3.7Stewart Girl Scoutearns silver awardThe Brownton Lions Clubwill host its annual youthHalloween party tonight(Wednesday, Oct. 31), from5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at theBrownton Community Center.The event is open to allchildren in sixth grade oryounger. There is an entrancefee of $3 per child, with amaximum of $10 per family.All proceeds are donated toLaura TaylorTaylor is a sophomore atBuffalo Lake-Hector/StewartHigh School.She will be presented hersilver award pin in spring at aspecial ceremony hosted bythe River Valley Girl ScoutsCouncil.Brownton Lions to hostannual Halloween partythe McLeod Emergency FoodShelf.The Lions Club also willbe collecting used eyeglassesand hearing aids that eveningto be donated to Lions International.Anyone interested in helpingthat evening can contactKevin Nordby at 320-328-5594, or Penny Lindeman at320-328-4192; leave a message.million project.Sweeney pointed out thatthe city’s local share is about$1 million of the project; therest is paid partly by McLeodCounty, because the streetsare owned by the county, andpartly in grants.Sweeney said the city hadexpected to pay for the projectthrough a combination ofassessments, utility rate increasesand a property tax increase.“Really, the city is gettingaway with some assessmentsHutchinson TheatreCompany presents “12Angry Men” dinner theatreat Crow River Winery,14848 Highway 7 East,Hutchinson, on Nov. 1-3and Nov. 8-10. Dinner isat 6 p.m., followed by theperformances at 7 p.m.Hutchinson TheatreCompany’s fall productiontakes the audience intocourt drama set in themid-1950s. Twelve jurorsbegin deliberation on amurder trial, where the futureof a young man willbe determined.The drama leads the audiencethrough the tension,frustration, determinationand uncertainty ofthe jurors as they work towardreaching a final verdict.Tickets for the dinnerand show can be purchasedonline atwww.hutchtheatre.org, atthe Hutchinson Chamberof Commerce and VisitorsBureau, and at theHutchinson Center for theArts. Tickets must be purchasedin advance becauseof the dinner theatre productionstyle.The HTC production of“12 Angry Men” is directedby veteran director andand a sewer increase,” saidSweeney.Because the city received a$750,000 “loan forgivenessgrant” from the Public FacilitiesAuthority (PFA), fromwhich it obtained a low-interestloan for the project, it didn’thave to raise water rates,Sweeney said.“I’ve helped finance a lotof these improvement projects,but I’ve never seen anyget this good of a deal,” saidSweeney. “The city did verywell for its citizens.”‘12 Angry Men’ to beHutchinson Theatre’sannual fall productionactress Maureen Style.She has assembled acast of seasoned actors, aswell as actors new to theHutchinson Theatre Companyfamily.The production will bein the “classic” dress andmanner of the mid-1950s.The actors and the menufor the dinner theatre, aswell as a video with briefinterviews with some ofthe actors and the directorcan all be found on thetheatre company’s website,www.hutchtheatre.org.Since 2003, theHutchinson Theatre Companyhas produced threeshows each year, includinga dinner theatre each fall.As is the tradition, theline-up of productions setfor 2013 will be announcedat the dinner theatre.The theatre companyis dedicated to bringingpeople of different agesand backgrounds fromHutchinson and the surroundingarea together tocreate high-quality communitytheater.Questions may be directedvia e-mail toinfo@hutchtheatre.org, orcall 320-587-2599.20 Brownton seniors meetTwenty Brownton seniorcitizens met Monday at thecommunity center.Cards were played after themeeting with the followingwinners: 500, Jerome Ewert,first, and Audrey Tongen,second; pinochle, LeoneKujas, first, and Ordell Klucas,second; and sheephead,Harriett Bergs, first, and LilLindeman, second.Elmer Maass won the doorprize. Ordell Klucas servedrefreshments.The next meeting will beMonday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m.In related business, the CityCouncil also approved issuing$375,000 in general obligationbonds for its share of theproject’s costs, at 2.65 percentinterest rate. The bondissue will be for 15 years.Sweeney said the bondswill be paid for from the specialassessments from theNOW YOU SEE IT.NOW YOUDON’T!Save Up To$1,200OFFon pair of Hearing Aidsonly during the month of October*Try the newest hearingaid technology! project.The City Council also approveda request from DonLeRoux, who lives on MainStreet, for a wider drivewayaccess than was originallyplanned in the project.City Clerk Ronda Huls saidthat LeRoux will voluntarilypay for the extra work.Thurs., Nov. 1 — AA Group Mtg. next to Post Officein Stewart, 8 p.m., call 320-212-5290 for info.Mon., Nov. 5 — Tops Weigh-In mtg., 5-5:30 p.m.;Brownton Senior Citizens Club, 1 p.m., BrowntonCommunity Center.Tues., Nov. 6 — ELECTION DAY; NarcoticsAnonymous, Brownton Community Center, 7 p.m.;Brownton City Council, 7 p.m.Wed., Nov. 7 — BrowntonWomen’s Club, BrowntonCommunity Center, 7:45 p.m.Thurs., Nov. 8 — AA GroupMtg. next to Post Office inStewart, 8 p.m., call 320-212-5290 for info.www.firstmnbank.com Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.IT’S EASY ASVIRTUA LLLY INVISIBLE HEARING AIDS 1-2-3CALL TODAAYY!It’s that small!UP TO$1,200 OFF *ZERO PERCENTFINANCINGSubject to credit approval.See store for details.RISK FREE TRIAL*Up to $1,200 off MSRP on a pair of select premium digital ital hearing aids. Not valid with any other discounts, offers or prior purchases.New order only. Offer expires 10/31/12.GLENCOE WORLDCENTER O F SOUND FOR HEARING624 13 th St. E., Suite 102 • Glencoe, MN 55336888-418-0920Arlington, MN 55307 Glencoe, MN 55336 Springfield, MN 56087Redwood Falls, MN 56283Olivia, MN 56277866-713-0927737 Hall St.,Stewart320-562-2553ARLINGTON • NEW ULM • HUTCHINSONK44Cj