WILLMAR -- Kandiyohi County Commissioner Richard Larson will serve as chairman of the board in 2012.
Larson, who is from Willmar and represents the county's second district, was elected Tuesday by the commissioners during the County Board's organizational meeting. He had served as vice chairman last year.
Commissioner Harlan Madsen was elected vice chairman. The commissioners approved the one-year ditch liens that assign financial value to improvements to drainage ditch systems that are assessed to benefit landowners.
The county is in the process of redetermining benefits for all the county's ditch systems to better reflect actual benefits. Many of the ditch systems haven't been reviewed for decades and some landowners haven't been properly assessed.
As part of the process, the number of small parcels of land benefitting from ditches is increasing, which means more lien notices must be prepared and sent out.
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The commissioners agreed that assessments of $50 or less per parcel will not be prepared separately but will be added to property taxes.
The change will decrease the time and expense of preparing and mailing lien notices that may total just a few dollars.
Auditor Sam Modderman said, however, there will likely be some objections because a 7 percent interest rate will be placed on liens that are assessed to property taxes.
The county agreed to schedule an informational meeting in March for landowners affected by a cluster of ditches in the county ditch 8, 16 and 18 systems that will undergo review for re-determination of benefits.
The commissioners agreed to attempt to refinance three bonds associated with the Green Lake Sanitary Sewer and Water District.
The bond sale would take place in February and if current rates continue the county could save $232,269. Because two of the bonds are through the Public Facilities Authority, the process may be more complicated, according to Carolyn Drude, the county's bond consultant from Ehlers Inc.
