In her weekly update, Sandy McGrath noted that there were 157 new COVID cases reported in the county in the last week. This is slightly down from 175 the previous week. McGrath said, “I hope we hit the peak last week and will now start to slow down, but this big jump in the last few weeks has been way higher than our peak for the Delta variant.” She added that public health is not short of test supplies, including at-home saliva tests, so people are encouraged to test. McGrath reported that hospitalizations have luckily been low in the county but that she is also still seeing symptomatic illnesses with the omicron variant, especially among the unvaccinated. She followed up on a statement from last week, noting that public health has no intention of shutting down businesses or anything else, but she remains concerned that dwindling workforces may cause some businesses difficulties.
The board tabled an agenda item to take action on a land purchase agreement for the Wright County Conservation Board to purchase land located in section 16 of Grant Township. Conservation Director Eric Rector noted that they are working with a family to acquire a piece of property to pursue a multi-faceted project aimed at soil and water quality initiatives, including closing two ag drainage wells, establishing CRP ground and mitigating drainage into some county lakes. Rector said he is communicating with the family’s attorney, and they need more time for certain legalities. The purchase will be discussed more in upcoming weeks. In relation to that topic, the board fixed a date for the discussion of entering into a loan agreement for the land purchase and water quality initiatives for an amount not to exceed $1.425 million..
Duane Asbe with the Wright County Charitable Foundation gave the organization’s annual update and requested funding. He noted that, to date, the group has granted over $1.3 million in funds that have helped fund $17 million of projects in the area. They also manage endowments and in the last year have put $500,000 into funds in the county. Asbe reiterated their goal is to preserve the transfer of wealth so local dollars can go back into worthy projects in the county. As they have in past years, the foundation asked the supervisors for $9,000 for the next fiscal year.
In other board business, they appointed Brad Robson and Margaret Worden to the Economic Development Board for a 3-year term. A liquor license pending dram insurance was approved for Oakdale Chapter.
