Le Sueur County Board reorganizes; Joe Connolly elected chairperson

Jake Keohen, Staff Writer

The Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners held its reorganization meeting Tuesday, Jan. 3 and elected Joe Connolly of Le Sueur as chairperson of the governmental body for 2006.

Connolly succeeds Joe Doherty of Le Sueur in the chair position.

Connolly represents the Second District, consisting of the city of Le Center and the townships of Lexington, Derrynane, Sharon and Cordova. Third District Commissioner Doherty represents the city of Le Sueur and Tyrone Township.

The board elected Fourth District Commissioner Bob Culhane of Waterville as vice-chair for 2006. His district consists of the cities of Waterville, Elysian and Kilkenny and the townships of Waterville, Elysian and Kilkenny.

Filling out the five-member county board are Terry Hayes of Montgomery and the First District, representing the south half of the city of New Prague, the cities of Montgomery and Heidelberg and the townships of Lanesburgh and Montgomery, and Bill Stangler of St. Peter, representing the Fifth District which includes the cities of Kasota and Cleveland and the townships of Kasota, Cleveland, Ottawa and Washington.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

° The board opened bids for publication of county legal notices and appointed the Montgomery Messenger as the official newspaper for 2006. The Le Sueur News-Herald will be the second publication for the county financial statement.

° The board was addressed by Jason Gibbs concerning the German-Jefferson Sewer District. He was encouraging compliance checks to determine “what’s in the ground” so people in the area could make educated decisions. He showed the board a petition his group is circulating in that regard. Commissioner Bob Culhane commented that a survey of property owners was being prepared by the county. The board encouraged Gibbs to see if everyone can work together to resolve this controversial issue.

• The board received the monthly highway department report from County Engineer Darrell Pettis. Among several items discussed, Pettis said CSAH 28 adjoining CSAH 2 in Rice County is open, with final work on the project to be completed in spring. The engineer also received approval to pay $2,600 to Phil Meyer of New Prague for repairs to tile lines after the road project on County Road 143 was done in 2004.

° A request by the MN Department of Corrections to use the board room for Saturday meetings involving juveniles on probation was tabled until County Coordinator Roxy Traxler could check with the insurance carrier.

° Kim Fillmore, Office Assistant II in the auditor’s department, was granted permanent status, and Personnel Coordinator Peggy Donovan was given approval to post and call for a financial worker position in the human services department.