By Sara Quam
Rock County's contract with the University of Minnesota Extension Service is requiring the county to pay more or face cutting staff or losing the service altogether.
So the board voted Tuesday to keep the staff it has and come up with the money to pay a bigger share of extension educators' salaries.
The board has protested the increase to the U of M in the form of a letter. The new plan will require all counties to pay 40 percent of the educators' salaries. Rock County now pays 25.78 percent, or about $32,000 annually.
The Extension Office has a job opening and will fill it rather than cut back on staff. It employs the equivalent of 2.4 staff people, and in order to not increase the county's budget, would have to cut it to 1.8.
Commissioner Jane Wildung said, "My concern if we have two full-time people is that we'll be able to do what we need to be doing."
The Extension Office has been very active in helping the Rock County Collaborative set goals and implement programs whose long-term goal is to save the county money in Family Service use. "You think of the bang for your buck," Wildung said.
The extension issue wouldnÕt be such a problem if the county wasn't faced with levy limits. It expects to hear that levy limits will be set for Rock County at about 3 percent. The extension budget increases will likely eat up that increase.
Without agreeing to the new fee structure, the county would have lost the extension educators altogether. Commissioner Wendell Erickson said, "I can't believe that we as a county would pull out of extension totally. The role of extension has been broadened over the years."
Law Enforcement Center
The Rock County Board received a letter from the Minnesota State Historical Society reminding them of a grant that will expire.
The Historical Society has already extended the grant of up to $35,000 that is set aside for the Law Enforcement Center building repairs.
The Historical Society said that it will refuse the grant if it doesnÕt hear of its intended use by the county before Aug. 15.
The Building Committee is meeting to look at options to repair some of the building without taking away from its historical designation.
Tuff contracts
The Rock County Board approved contracts with Tuff Village to provide assisted living services to residents.
Bonnie Hengeveld presented the board with a history of the Village's activities.
It started in 1994 when the Tuff Home commissioned a financial feasibility study on building and operating an assisted living facility, which provides more care than congregate living facilities.
After the feasibility study, the home did a housing survey to determine a need and decided to build.
Hengeveld said affordability is a big issue and that residents will mostly pay for their stay on their own. Those who qualify will receive state assistance.
All the required licensure is in place for the Village. It can provide three meals a day, two snacks, 24-hour supervision, registered nurse evaluations with follow-ups and daily housekeeping and monitoring.
The facility is designed for residents' comfort and includes wheel-in showers and spaces under sinks for those who are wheel-chair bound.
It originally was intended to have 12 apartments filled for the Aug. 1 move-in. But that has expanded to 18 with only one vacant apartment left. Three residents signed up with deposits paid are from outside Rock County.
Staff is hired and ready to start. Some people moving in will be transitioned into the nursing home when their needs exceed what the Village can accommodate. Those younger than 55 cannot apply to live there.