By Sara Strong
The Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved the formation of a Feedlot Task Force, which will meet quarterly until the county-wide Level III feedlot inventory process is complete.
The inventory is underway and the Board of Water and Soil Resources, which is doing the inspections, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and county staff will update the County Board by Oct. 1.
The update will be a general progress report, reflecting some of what the inspections have found so far. The task force will then meet to discuss the inspection process and be a communication group between inspectors and producers.
Volunteers have signed on to be a part of the task force and represent most parts of the county.
Task Force members
Grant Binford
Pete Bakken
Tom Skattum
Randy Scott
Mike Hoiland
Mike Sandager
Jeff Ahrendt
Jim Remme
Denny Holtrup
Nate Golla
Lynn Peterson
Doug Bolt
Ron Boyenga and Ken Hoime will represent the Rock County Board of Commissioners on the task force, and one or two more individuals may be asked to join as well.
Daycare issues
Karen DeBoer of the Southwest Minnesota Opportunity Council and Carol Wulf of Rock County Family Services presented the board with a child day care review.
Rock County's 51 daycare providers work with 406 children. The desired capacity is to have 300 children in daycare to allow room for the best possible care. The maximum number of children allowed in daycares in the county is 566 according to licensure requirements.
Finding care for infants is always an issue for parents. Twenty-nine of Rock County's providers have infants now and 39 accept infants.
The formula for licensing means that providers have to limit ages and numbers of children. For example, an infant is considered 12 months and younger. With one infant, a daycare is allowed to have two toddlers and with three toddlers, no infants are allowed.
Room for infants can be a particular problem if a family has a baby in addition to older children and wants to keep them all in the same daycare. Wulf said she may grant a variance to keep a family together if there isnÕt an infant vacancy in that case.
She said aging daycare providers leaving the field may pose problems for Rock County in coming years. As providers retire, not as many are getting licensed to take their place.
More families are turning to before school programs - like the free school breakfast that serves about 300 a day - instead of taking their children to daycare, where they have to be bussed to school. After school programs like Family U give older children a place to go and daycare providers don't have to reserve a spot for them during the day.
Rural addressing
Although the county roads are signed with their new street addresses, individuals wonÕt get their new addresses for at least another six months, County Engineer Mark Sehr said to the board Tuesday.
The board, Sehr and dispatchers have gotten calls from residents waiting to learn their specific addresses.
When the county and Post Office finalize the mapping system, residents will be notified by mail of their new addresses. The Post Office will honor old and new addresses for a year to allow people time to switch their subscriptions, check blanks or any other items that require correct addresses.