December 2024

School was closed on Monday because of an expected snowfall of 12 inches or more and high winds. While the snow totals were off a bit, it was windy, and the roads and sidewalks were slippery. Arctic cold will slip into the picture this week, and the wind chills will be between -20 and -30 degrees. The arctic weather will paint your windows a dazzling white and make your cheeks a rosy red if you are out and about. And more snow is coming this weekend as some cold air leaves us alone for just a bit. It's time for sledding, skating, snowshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling, and chasing fish under the frozen lakes. And, of course, shoveling snow, our new favorite winter exercise! Remember, safety first in these extreme conditions.

» Corrections/Clarifications to the 12.6 County Commissioners November 28 meeting highlights article: The article stated: (previous County Administrator) Joerke and several department heads were classified at 260, the top pay scale grade. Correction: Joerke was the only employee classified at 260. No other department heads are at 260. Most fall at 240 or 250. This is correctly stated later in the article. The article stated: Commissioner Stacey Johnson had some concerns about the pay grades after meeting with DDA the day before the county board meeting. Clarification: This was brought to the Commissioners at the November 19th Committee of the Whole meeting. Johnson says, 'we just learned about this last week', but is referring to the one-on-one interviews with Patrick Melvin from DDA. This can be misconstrued as just learning about the pay grade concerns the day before. The article stated: Human Resource Director Alison Plummer said former County Administrator Jeff Cadwell didn't create the Keystone system. She noted that any system could be better, but she thought it was fair, and it would be a burden to start over again. Plummer also stated: 'All systems have pros and cons. We are used to using the system and do not think it is flawed. Any system could be better but it's not a horrible system.'

On Monday, December 9, 2024, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced legislation to improve access to health care and address the physician shortage in rural areas. The Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2024 would authorize the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program to continue providing start-up funding to rural hospitals, medical schools, and other organizations to establish new rural residency programs. Among current medical residency programs, only two percent of residency training occurs in rural areas, and in Minnesota, 80 percent of counties qualify as mental health professional shortage areas. The Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2024 will help address the health care provider shortages by supporting the training of more clinicians in rural areas.