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“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
Knights News Page 16
Rushford Village designations; goals page
10
Monday, January 12, 2015
R-P Rotary Perfect pages
12-13
Volume 30 Issue 17
Preston meeting schedule changes page
14
Vacations page
25
Canton l Chatfield l Fountain l Harmony l Lanesboro l Mabel l Ostrander l Peterson l Preston l Rushford l Rushford Village l Spring Valley l Whalan l Wykoff
Kaase begins new chapter By Jason Sethre
County officials take oath of office
jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com
By K aren R eisner
On the morning of Monday, January 5, 2015, Tom Kaase was sworn into office as the Sheriff of Fillmore County in the Fillmore County Commissioners Board Room. This is a big event in the history of Fillmore County -- any time a new Sheriff is elected into office. In southern Minnesota, this past election saw a major turnover in law enforcement leadership at the position of Sheriff. Both incumbent Sheriffs of Olmsted County and Dodge County, Dave Mueller and Jim Jensen, respectively, were defeated by members of their departments -- Kevin Torgerson and Scott Rose. But, in Fillmore County, it was a different story. Former Sheriff Daryl Jensen was retiring, leaving the door open for the election process to decide the fate of the leadership seat for Fillmore County’s most powerful law enforcement position. And, that seat will now be filled by Tom Kaase. With over 30 years of law enforcement and leadership experience, with both the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Department and the Rochester Police
karen@fillmorecountyjournal.com
special election to be held on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Two candidates have filed to run for the Fillmore County Commissioner District 1 seat: Michael
County coordinator Bobbie Vickerman called the annual county board meeting to order on January 6. District Judge Matt Opat administered the oath of office to county officials who were elected this past November. Commissioners Duane Bakke and Randy Dahl, Auditor/Treasurer Shirl Boelter, County Attorney Brett Corson, and County Recorder David Kiehne all had been re-elected for another term in office. Newly elected Sheriff Tom Kaase had taken his oath of office on January 5. Bakke was elected to serve as chairman and Marc Prestby as vice-chair for 2015. Bakke said he expects 2015 to be a challenging year. The board will be short a commissioner for another three months until after the special election on March 31 for first district commissioner, the seat vacated by Tom Kaase. Commissioner Harry Root was recently sworn in after the November election, filling an open seat due to the resignation of Chuck Amunrud in May of 2014.
See KAASE Page 2
See OATH OF OFFICE Page 11
Tom Kaase was sworn in to office as the 28th Sheriff of Fillmore County on Monday, Januray 5, 2015 Photo by Jason Sethre Department, Kaase will bring in some new ideas as shared in his campaign to get elected. With a November election that ended with a mere 261-vote spread between Tom Kaase and Brian Miner, Kaase
walked away with a narrow victory. As Tom Kaase takes on the role of Fillmore County Sheriff, he leaves his unfinished term as County Commissioner for District 1 to be filled in a
Houston Public Schools to celebrate being named a Reward School By A ngie Rodenburg angie@fillmorecountyjournal.com
The Houston School Board held a meeting on January 6. This first meeting of the year was primarily an organizational one, in which leadership, committees, and representatives
were chosen. Tom Stilin was reelected as School Board Chair and Gary Wilson was elected as Vice Chair. Ron Evenson will serve as Clerk and Joe Krage was named Treasurer. The board approved the rate of board pay for the year, which has not changed since 2012.
Members will get paid $40 per meeting or assigned committee meeting. They will get paid $75 for all day meetings and $37.50 for half day meetings. The Chair will be paid $500 more per year than regular school board members. Committee appointments
were also made. Stilin and Wilson will serve on the facilities committee. Krage, Evenson, and Stilin will serve on the negotiations committee. Carlson, Kelleher, and Stilin will be on the online school committee. Krage, Carlson, and Stilin will be on the finance committee.
Bonner and Evenson will serve on the policy committee as well as the meet and confer committee. Board members were also appointed as representatives to several councils and commitSee HOUSTON SB Page 9
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