ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR
ISSUE NUMBER 31
Scott County Fair Photos Pages 2 & 12
75¢
Study To Fix Sibley County Roads 5&6
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA
B.P. Area Drivers Compete in Sibley Slam Demo
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WEDNESDAY PUBLICATION
Page 11
AUGUST 2, 2017
As Building Official, McCarty Has MnDOT Plans to Resurface Seen B.P. Grow From Inside Out Highway 169 in 2018, ‘19 He knows all about growth in the community. Scott McCarty has seen plenty of it in Belle Plaine for well over a decade. This week, he leaves the city for a community growing at an even faster rate. McCarty is Belle Plaine’s building official, the city employee responsible for reviewing building plans, household and business improvement plans to make sure they meet the building code. After 11½ years working for the city, he’s bidding the community farewell for a similar position in Victoria, a fast-growing community west of Chanhassen and Chaska on Highway 5 in Carver County. Victoria has added 1,575 new residents and 520 new households since the 2010 Census, according to the Metropolitan Council. By comparison, Belle Plaine added 240 new residents and 40 households during the same period. Earlier this year, McCarty received an inquiry from the City of Victoria about his interest in the building official position with the city. He considered the offer, talked with people in Victoria about it and was ultimately offered a job. His last day in Belle Plaine is today (Aug. 2). McCarty served the city as its building official for the past 11 years. Cynthia Smith Strack, Belle Plaine’s director of Community Development, estimates he has conducted over 10,000 inspections, assisted in bringing hundreds of dwelling units and thousands of square feet of commercial/industrial space
$35 Million Project Will be Segmented
After 11-plus years, Belle Plaine Building Official Scott McCarty is leaving the city for a similar job in Victoria. His last day is today (Aug. 2). online, managed rental licenses New Challenge, for 400-plus units, and taken Responsibilities tens of thousands of phone McCarty’s new job offers more calls. “His ability to recall owner- responsibility, the opportunity ship and existing conditions on to supervise two inspectors, any lot in the city is remark- and the chance to work with able and a resource that will software Belle Plaine doesn’t be missed,” Smith Strack said. currently use. Another plus is “We very much wish him well the job requires a significantly in his advanced employment shorter commute to and from opportunity and we know our McCarty loss is truly another commu(continued on page 4) nity’s gain.”
Thefts Threaten ‘Friends’ Ability to Expand B.P. Library Thefts of money from charitable gambling benefitting the Friends of the Belle Plaine Library could hurt or delay the organization’s ability to help expand the library. This spring and summer, Borough Bowl has suffered three different thefts of funds, the most recent being July 24. Police report the loss from the most recent theft is $3,800. Borough Bowl’s owner, Ron Frey, said about $5,000 has been stolen overall. About half the money is for charitable gaming (pull tabs) on behalf of the Friends of the Library. Insurance will cover the theft of money associated with the bowling alley’s operations, Frey said. The bowling alley’s insurance will not cover stolen money associated with charitable gambling. Friends of the Belle Plaine Library can’t insure the cash proceeds from charitable gambling sales. The group has conducted charitable gambling at the bowling alley since 2008, said Joe Behnke, the chief executive officer of the Belle Plaine Friends of the Library. Frey said he plans to try and cover a portion of the most recent loss for the Friends of the Library. Borough Bowl is one
of three locations where pull tabs benefitting the Friends of the Library are sold. Frey is considering ways to help make up the lost money for the group. A bowling tournament fund-raiser later this fall is one of the ideas under consideration. “We’re more than happy to do that,” Frey said. “They’ve stuck with us. We want to do something to help.”
‘Fund Loss Request’
The Friends of the Belle Plaine Library will need to file a “fund loss request,” said Tom Barrett, the board’s executive director. The Minnesota Gambling Control Board will not allow the Friends of the Library to use pull tab proceeds to cover the loss. If the gambling control board accepts the request, the loss can be written off. But if the board declines the request, the Friends of the Library will have to make up the lost revenue, Barrett said. When considering a fund loss request, the gambling control board will look at the procedures of how the cash at Borough Bowl was handled and secured. If the board deems the loss was preventable, it likely will not allow the loss to be writ-
B.P. School Board Filing Period Open, Runs Through Aug. 15 Persons interested in running for a seat on the Belle Plaine School Board have until Aug. 15 to formalize their candidacy. The filing period runs through Tuesday (Aug. 15, 5 p.m.). Affidavits of candidacy are available from the Belle Plaine School District Office (130 Willow Street S.). The cost of
filing is $2. The seats up for election carry four-year terms. Directors Dan Gardner, Dan Giesen and Joe Vandermark currently hold them. Candidates must be 21 years old, an eligible voter and a resident of the school district for at least 30 days before the Nov. 7 general election.
ten off. The board might allow a loss deemed not preventable to be written off. The gambling control board will not consider a request from the Friends of the Library until police have completed an investigation. If the board won’t allow the loss to be written off and the Friends of the Library can’t or won’t cover the loss, the board could consider suspension or revocation of the license to participate in charitable gambling, Barrett said. He said the board will do all it can to avoid that scenario. The Friends of the Belle Plaine Library want to use proceeds from charitable gambling for library expansion. Last year, it dedicated $35,000 for that purpose and hoped to at least equal that amount or more in 2017, Behnke said. “But you never know with pull tabs,” he said. Belle Plaine Police Chief Tom Stolee said the department is thoroughly investigating the three thefts. He declined specific comment on the investigation. Complicating the dilemma faced by the Friends of the Library is the concern the thefts from Borough Bowl were at least aided by someone associated with the business who had inside information about where the cash was located and about security measures. There was no sign of forced entry following any of the reported thefts, Frey said. Frey has posted a photo of the suspected thief on Borough Bowl’s Facebook page. Stolee said the photo could have some value to investigators. “The person knew too much,” Stolee said of the suspicion insider information helped the thief or thieves.
Belle Plaine motorists who figure they’d been spared the headache of navigating their way through a quagmire of road construction as had plagued their counterparts north of the Minnesota River this year will face their share of congestion and delays next summer. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will begin a two-year resurfacing project on Highway 169 from Jordan south to the Scott-Le Sueur County line. MnDOT recently presented its plans to the Belle Plaine City Council for a Highway 169 overlay project in 2018 and 2019. The project also includes median closures, a cable crossover barrier between Jordan and Belle Plaine, and a restricted access turn at the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 59 (Delaware Avenue) in St. Lawrence Township. MnDOT is also including safety improvements for motorists leaving Jim’s Apple Barn. The project will cost the state over $35 million, $15.9 million for the segment from Jordan to Belle Plaine and $18.7 million from Belle Plaine to Highway 19 in Blakeley Township, plus $600,000 for the crossover lanes. Highway 169 last received a mill-and-overlay in 2001. This is an “unbonded concrete overlay,” said Kirsten Klein, MnDOT public information officer for the south metro area. “We will mill down about 4 inches of concrete and then place 1½ inches of bituminous as a bond breaker followed by about 9 inches of concrete. This method was chosen because it is less costly and easier to build than a full reconstruction and we are getting the same 25-30 year service life results.” The project will include crossover lanes, limiting all traffic on single lanes while the empty lanes are worked on. MnDOT
survey crews have already been out, identifying and locating the crossover lanes. MnDOT will also restrict access to Highway 169 at the highway’s intersection with County Road 59 (Delaware Avenue) as a safety improvement. The intersection is skewed, without a right angle crossing to aid visibility of oncoming cross traffic. The restricted access MnDOT plans to install at the junction of County Road 59 and Highway 169 will be similar to the layout the agency used in Cologne at the junction of Highway 284/ County Road 53 and Highway 212 in Carver County and in Belle Plaine at the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 3 (Meridian Street) in Scott County before the new overpass replaced it. Here in Scott County, it will prohibit
drivers on County Road 59 from making left turns directly to Highway 169 or crossing the highway. They will have to make a right turn and then a Uturn to proceed. MnDOT crash statistics for the crossing indicate one fatality at the intersection of County Road 59 and Highway 169 in 2011. Since then, the crossing has seen seven crashes, three being property-damage crashes and four being crashes with injuries. Highway 169 is used by approximately 22,000 vehicles a day between Belle Plaine and Jordan and 16,000 vehicles a day between Highway 19 dividing Scott and Le Sueur counties. Historical data shows that the average daily traffic on the highway increases at a rate of about 1 percent per year, Klein said.
Inaugural Dementia Walk Saturday to Raise Awareness The staff at The Lutheran Home Association believes dementia is a disorder impacting a quiet yet growing number of people. Saturday (Aug. 5), a walk and other activities intended to bring people together to raise awareness of dementia in the community will be held. The walk will be to honor and remember those who have endured the disorder and support their caregivers. Registration for the two-mile walk begins at 8 a.m. at The Lutheran Home (611 Main Street W.) followed by an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. The walk will begin by 9:10 a.m. Walkers will make their way toward KingsPath Senior Living, The Lutheran Home’s new apartment building, at the junction of South Meridian and West Commerce Drive and back to the campus.
After the walk, there will be activities back at The Lutheran Home and music by Vine Garage Band from 10 to 11 a.m. The event is not intended as a fund-raiser. The $20 registration fee for adults, $7 for children age 12 and under, is intended to cover the cost of T-shirts, pinwheel and other expenses. Register online at www. bit.ly/tlhastepforward2017 or the morning of the event. The walk is one of several events the Belle Plaine Dementia Alliance is conducting to raise awareness and help make the community more dementiafriendly for residents who live with the disorder and their caregivers. The alliance hosts a weekly event, the Dementia Café, in the Belle Plaine Library’s Rose Room Tuesdays at 10 a.m.
Power on Display Belle Plaine’s Barb Miller finished first in the 16,500-pound dual tractors class at Thursday’s tractor pull for area tractors, trucks and semis. Fans nearly filled the grandstand, making the area pull one of the Scott County Fair’s more popular events. The fair completed its five-day run Sunday (July 30).