WRIGHT COUNTY NEWS RELEASE

DATE:          September 14, 2021

                      For Immediate Release

CONTACT:  Seth Hansen, Wright County Emergency Management Director

                      (763) 684-2371 | seth.hansen@co.wright.mn.us 

Public Input Wanted as County Updates Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

The Wright County Office of Emergency Management is working with U-Spatial at the University of Minnesota Duluth to update the county’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP). The plan assesses the natural hazards that pose risk to the county, such as tornadoes, straight line winds, ice storms, blizzards, wildfire, flooding, and extreme temperatures and identifies ways to minimize the damage of future events. As the county works to update the plan, it wants to hear from the public.

The Wright County MHMP is a multi-jurisdictional plan that covers Wright County, including the cities of Albertville, Annandale, Buffalo, Clearwater, Cokato, Delano, Hanover, Howard Lake, Maple Lake, Monticello, Montrose, Otsego, Rockford, South Haven, St. Michael, and Waverly. The Wright County MHMP also incorporates the concerns and needs of townships, school districts, and other stakeholders participating in the plan. The plan will be updated by a planning team made up of representatives from county departments, local municipalities, school districts and other key stakeholders.

“Hazard mitigation planning is a central part of our emergency management program,” said Seth Hansen, Wright County Emergency Management Director. “Understanding the natural hazards that can cause serious impact to our communities and taking action to reduce or eliminate the impact of future disasters makes us more resilient. Hazard mitigation helps us to break the cycle of damage and repair caused by things like flooding, ice storms, and severe wind events that can damage property, stress economies, and threaten life safety in our county.”

Examples of hazard mitigation include improvement of roads and culverts that experience repetitive flooding; construction of safe rooms at campgrounds, public parks, mobile home parks or schools to protect lives in the event of tornados or severe wind events; burying powerlines that may fail due to heavy snow, ice or wind storms; ensuring timely emergency communication to the public through warning sirens and mass notification systems, and conducting public awareness and education campaigns to help people to be prepared to take safe action before, during, or following a hazard event. Some mitigation activities may be eligible for future FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant funding.

Public input is an essential part of the plan update. As part of the planning process, Wright County is seeking feedback from residents and businesses from across the county to incorporate into the plan:

• What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community?
• Have you experienced a previous disaster event?
• What concerns do you have, and what sorts of mitigation actions or projects do you feel would help to reduce the damages of potential future events for your personal property, your community, or the county as a whole? 

Comments, concerns, or questions regarding natural disasters and potential mitigation actions to be included into the plan update process should be submitted to Wright County Emergency Management by phone or email. Public comments may also be submitted on the Wright County Facebook page where this news release will be posted.

There will be additional opportunities for public feedback throughout the planning process. A draft of the plan will be posted on the county website for public review prior to submission of the plan to the State of Minnesota. Future news releases will be shared with the media to notify the public of these opportunities.

The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) requires counties to update their plan every five years to maintain eligibility for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs.

Monticello City Council Highlights, August 9, 2021

WCSO Quarterly Update

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office has been a partner in providing law enforcement service in Monticello since 1971.

City Administrator Rachel Leonard, noted that in addition to a good relationship with the City, WCSO is dedicated to providing the community, many services to ensure the safety of our residents.

“They do respond to calls for service, they enforce our local traffic laws, they investigate crimes, and they are also helpful at community functions; making sure that our public events are safe and fun for everyone. They do have a wide variety of units withing the Sheriff’s office that help to maintain a safe community as well. Things like investigative units, major crime units, areas to make sure we are investigating and prosecuting crimes in the community,” said Leonard. “It’s also important to note that we have WCSO staff that are specifically assigned to Monticello. With those services, we do have coverage in the community. Everyday there are uniformed patrol deputies assigned to work solely within the city limits of Monticello. We have coverage within the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are often additional patrols on duty during peak times in the day,” she added.

Lieutenant Jason Kramber with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office presented the quarterly WCSO update. 

“This year was a little bit different obviously coming out of COVID. When you compare our statistics to last year’s second quarter report, our calls for service are up [2716 in 2020 compared to 3429 in 2021],” said Lt. Kramber.

Lieutenant Kramber continued through the presentation, noting they saw an increase in activity this spring, and most of the stats are higher this year than 2020.

“One thing we’ve talked about in years past is traffic stops, those are up, we’ve focused more on that over the last 9-10 months [503 traffic stops in 2020, and 872 in 2021],” said Lt. Kramber.

Later in the meeting, the Council discussed the 2022-2023 WCSO law enforcement contract for the City of Monticello.

Rachel Leonard, City Administrator, presented an overview of the 2022-2023 law enforcement contract with Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

“The City of Monticello contracts with the Wright County Sheriff’s office for local law enforcement services. This means the Sheriff’s office performs duties as a local police department would. As you [Mayor Hilgart] noted tonight, City Council is asked to approve the 2022-2023 law enforcement contract. While there are no significant changes, we felt this was a good opportunity to highlight some of the work they’re doing in the community. “As I noted, there are no significant changes to the contract for the coming year, we are proposing to contract for the same number of hours. There is a three percent price increase, that is consistent with previous increases. The contract is slated to go up three percent per year,” said Leonard.

 Mayor Hilgart moved approval of the 2022-2023 law enforcement contract with Wright County Sheriff’s Office. Councilmember Davidson seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

Construction Update

City Engineer Matt Leonard provided an update on the Fenning Avenue/CR 118 road construction project which included the roundabout at School Boulevard.

“The Fenning Avenue construction project is underway… They’re working on that roundabout, getting the utilities installed, their schedule right now shows having that completed for the first part of September. We were hoping to have it a little earlier before school started, but it looks like that is a little behind schedule.”

Leonard also updated Council on the Monte Club Hill retaining wall, saying the first level of the wall is installed, and crews are now working on the second.

“The project’s looking good, they’re starting to haul gravel on the south end, and hopefully it can be all completed in September,” said Leonard.

Leonard’s last construction update was regarding the 2020 Stormwater Improvement Project.

“As far as the 2020 Stormwater Project, which is the pond by A Glorious Church they’re still working on doing some landscaping items, also doing some armoring of the ditch behind the church,” said Leonard. “So, we’re hoping that’s completed soon. The completion date on the project is the end of [August] so we anticipate everything to be completed then,” he added.

Council Approvals

1. Council approved Special Event Permit and City Assistance
   1. City Council approved a Special Event Permit and City assistance for St. Henry’s annual parish festival, Funfest. The event will be held on Sunday, August 29. 
2. Council approved appointment of new IEDC member
   1. City Council approved the appointment of Eric Olson, Monticello Public School Superintendent, to the IEDC.
3. Council approved purchasing furniture for the new DMV location
   1. City Council approved the purchase of furniture for the new DMV location at 118 W 6th Street from Haworth Furniture for $75,638.11.
4. Council approved the 2022-2023 law enforcement contract with the WCSO
   1. City Council approved the WCSO contract for 2022-2023, which includes the same number of service hours, but a three percent price increase. 

Watch a City Meeting

Citizens are welcome to attend City Council, Planning Commission, and Economic Development Authority meetings, but we understand that attending in person is not always an option. As an alternative, we offer the following options to stay engaged with your local government:

1. Meetings are broadcast live on cable channel 12 (FiberNet and TDS subscribers) or channel 180 (Charter subscribers).
2. Meetings are streamed live online. View the live stream on the Monticello Live Stream website.
3. Meeting recordings are available online to watch when it's convenient for you. View the meeting recordings on the Monticello Live Stream website.
4. Meetings are rebroadcast throughout the week on cable channel 12 (FiberNet & TDS subscribers) or channel 180 (Charter subscribers).