By Sara StrongThe Rock County Commissioners are starting over with their search for a garbage hauler.After receiving three bids last month, they’re rejecting all of them because they’re not sure what their future at the Transfer Station is right now.County Administrator Kyle Oldre said, "Depending on how Luverne decides to do it, it would greatly affect how we do business at the Transfer Station — if at all."The city of Luverne is considering privatizing its refuse and recycling program, which gives Rock County 80 percent of its business at the Transfer Station. If Luverne’s trash doesn’t go through the county because of privatization, whoever gets the hauling from the county will have a different job than expected.The company that gets the contract will haul municipal solid waste to the regional landfill in Lyon County. That contract has been with Ketterling Services, Luverne, since Rock County has started hauling there.Whoever gets the contract is also paid to back haul demolition material to Rock County’s Transfer Station.Ritters Sanitary Services, Marshall, was the low bidder at $40,000 a year. A close second was Luverne’s Ketterling Services which bid $43,000.In the future, the county could choose to request proposals from companies to get the contract, instead of advertising for bids, which obligates the county to take the lowest reasonable bid.Family Services revenueRock County Family Services Director Randy Ehlers recommended to the board that it not implement a fee for daycare provider background checks and licensing fees.That could have cost providers up to $250 per year, and Ehlers said it would have passed on more costs to families with young children.The possibility of the new fees got a significant negative reaction from families and providers.Ehlers said he will find other places in his budget to make up the difference.Family Services already tries to recapture part of what it pays out each year. Of the $11 million it pays for different forms of assistance, an employee captured $116,239 from January to September this year. (The $11 million is mostly federal and state money that goes through the county.)The collections can come from overpayments by error or by fraud. However, most of the time, money is collected after people who received assistance die and the county has a claim on the assets. This can happen in the case of people in nursing homes who ran out of money to pay for their costs.The collections give money back to the federal and state governments and kept $39,921 in the county so far this year. Even after paying for the employee, the county is seeing a return.Drivers license fees wavedBecause of the changed rural addresses, Rock County is waving $8 fees for people needing new IDs and drivers licenses. The waiver doesn’t apply to people who would have had to renew their licenses anyway.The new rural addresses have been mailed to county residents and became effective Nov. 1. The Post Office said it will honor both addresses for a year, but residents should use this year to change their addresses for all correspondences.
