Board addresses Garvin Park fees

While the Lyon County Board of Commissioners may have set its 2022 fees during the final meeting of 2021, feedback from the parks board had members revisiting fees at Garvin Park at Tuesday’s meeting.
Parks board representative and Lyon County Commissioner Paul Graupmann brought the discussion to the board.
“The park board felt very strongly on two items: the fee for firewood and the fee for hunting registration,” Graupmann said.
On the firewood fee, which was recently changed to a bundle of four pieces for $5, the park currently uses the old recycling tubs, which are filled with a variety of sized pieces from around the park such as branches and split wood. The board felt is would be difficult to make sure that each bundle only contained four pieces of wood and that they would be uniform. They preferred to be able to continue to use the old Lyon County recycling tubs.
After a motion by Graupman and a second by Commissioner Gary Crowley, the board approved the return to $5 per tub of wood for 2022.
In addition, the board discussed the hunting fee for Garvin Park, which was eliminated for 2022. During 2016 there was not a fee for hunting at Garvin Park. During that time, there were more than 100 hunters using the park. From 2017-2019, the fee was $5, and approximately 50 hunters used the park. In 2020, the fee was $20 with 36 hunting permits processed, for a total of $720.
There was also discussion as to safety when there are more hunters (the park is closed to those not hunting during the turkey season) as well as the cost for employees to process hunting permits which are needed, whether or not there is a fee, and the enforcement needed during hunting seasons.
Commissioners shared feedback they received since the hunting fee was eliminated at the December meeting.
“I had someone contact me and say, ‘I’m paying a camping fee for the right to use the park, but the hunters get to use it for free,’” Commissioner Charlie Sanow shared.
“If we’re going to base this off what campers want, that isn’t a good way to look at parks,” Commissioner Rick Anderson added. “Then we should be charging the horses $5 for a trail fee for using it.”
“I really don’t care, I don’t hunt down there and I don’t camp down there, so it makes no difference to me,” said Sanow. “But this is what came back to me and this is what we’re supposed to do — represent the people.”
“There is good to both sides for a fee and not having a fee,” Board Chair Steve Ritter said. “Commissioner Sanow, when you said that, I hadn’t thought about it like that when the recommendation was made.”
After further discussion, the board approved setting the fee at $20 for a hunting permit in 2022 (a single permit for both turkey and deer season) on a 3-2 vote with Anderson and Sanow voting against.
In addition to the fee changes, the board approved a renewal of the agreement with Western Mental Health Center and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office for psychiatric services and individualized brief therapy to meet the needs of inmates housed within the county jail. The most recent agreement had been signed in 2018.
The new agreement will satisfy additional services the Department of Corrections noted that the jail needed to provide during their recent inspection with the addition of two new services. Currently, WMH provides individualized brief therapy and client visits for psychiatric services. Under the new agreement, WMH will also provide individualized therapy/substance abuse services and mental health 101 and substance abuse 101 group services. All services are on an as needed basis and billed at an hourly rate. Inmates are assessed during intake and are refereed to WMH for services if the intake officer determines services are needed.

In other board news:
• Ritter was re-elected for the year, and Anderson was re-elected vice-chair.
• The board approved its consent agenda 4-1, with Ritter casting the lone no vote after discussion on a treadmill purchased for the dispatch area of the law enforcement center. The treadmill was purchased for employees to use while working their 10- to 12-hour shifts as they are unable to leave the dispatch room and walk around like other employees do. Treadmills are used in other counties with positive feedback, Sheriff Eric Wallen explained to the board.
• The board set a hearing date of Feb. 15 at 9:30 a.m. in the Commissioners Room for a public hearing on proposed revisions to the Public Health Ordinance.
• The board took care of several yearly items, including designating depositories for county use and authorizing the auditor/treasurer to make investments of funds under Minnesota Statute 118a.01-118a.06; paying certain claims; making electronic fund transfers; and transferring funds between drainage systems for year-end 2021 and periods thereafter, as necessary.
• The board made an annual election to set a micro-purchase threshold of $25,000 to be consistent with current Minnesota statutes for the Uniform Guidance policies approved in December 2021.
• The board set the minimum salary for the offices of sheriff and county attorney at $95,232. The minimum salary for the positions must be set in January of an election year.
• The board approved the internal hire of Matt Dwire to fill the vacancy in Facilities Maintenance on Jan. 10 after the retirement of Roger Demuth. Ritter thanked Demuth for his years of service.
• The board designated www.lyonco.org as the official publication of advertisement for transportation related projects.
• The board discussed and agreed to committee assignments for 2022.