City of Luverne LEDA calls public hearing Dec. 13
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a public hearing has been called and will be held for the Luverne Economic Development Authority, on Monday, the 13th of December, 2021, at 8:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers in the City Office Building at 305 East Luverne Street, Luverne, Minnesota, to consider public input regarding the sale of Tract 1 in the SE1/4 Section 9-102-45 (.72 acres, PID 20-2129-000) and Tract 2 in the NE1/4 Section 16-102-45 (4.71 acres, 
PID 20-2133-000) in the City of Luverne, Minnesota to Lineage Logistics, LLC. 
Citizens are encouraged to attend the hearing, ask questions, and/or give
comments. Any citizen may also submit written questions or comments prior 
to the hearing by addressing them to the Economic Development Director, 
PO Box 659, Luverne, MN 56156-0659.  
Anyone needing reasonable accommodations or an interpreter should contact the Economic Development Director, PO Box 659, Luverne, MN (507-449-5033). 
 
BY ORDER OF THE LUVERNE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Patrick Baustian, President
Luverne Economic Development Authority
305 E. Luverne St.
Luverne, MN 56156
Phone: 507-449-2388
(12-02)

City of Luverne sets budget public hearing Dec. 14 
 
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED 2021 TAX LEVY
The NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, by the City Administrator of the City of Luverne that a Budget Public Hearing will be held in the Council Chambers located in the City Offices Building, 305 East Luverne Street, Luverne, 
Minnesota, commencing at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
All persons wishing to be heard should be present at the hearing or present written comments previous to the hearing to the City Administrator.  Anyone needing reasonable accommodations or an interpreter should contact the 
City Clerk’s Office, 305 East Luverne Street, Luverne, MN. (507) 449-9898.
John Call
City Administrator
(12-02)

Scott notice of hearing 
to creditors
STATE OF MINNESOTA probate COURT
                                                                         DISTRICT COURT
COUNTY OF ROCK                                                                     PROBATE DIVISION
 
In Re:Estate of:                                                              Court File No. 67-PR-21-278
Douglas C. Scott,
                  Deceased ORDER AND NOTICE OF HEARING
ON PETITION FOR ADJUDICATION OF
INTESTACY, DETERMINATION OF HEIRSHIP
AND APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR IN
SUPERVISED ADMINISTRATION
AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS                      
 
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND CREDITORS:
It is Ordered and Notice is hereby given that on the  20th day of December, 2021, at  8:30  O'clock  A.M., a hearing will be held in the above named Court at Rock County Courthouse, Luverne, Minnesota, for the adjudication of intestacy and determination of heirship and for the appointment of Bradley K. Scott, whose address is 1927 161st Street, Luverne, Minnesota 56156, as administrator of the estate of the above named decedent in supervised administration, and that any objections thereto must be filed with the Court. That, if proper, and no objections are filed, said administrator will be appointed to administer the estate, to collect all assets, pay all legal debts, claims, taxes and expenses, and sell real and personal property, and do all necessary acts for the estate.  Upon completion of the administration, the administrator shall file a final account for the allowance and shall distribute the estate to the persons thereto entitled as ordered by the Court, and close the estate.
Notice is further given that ALL CREDITORS having claims against said estate are required to present the same to said administrator or to the Court Administrator within four months after the date of this notice or said claims will be barred.
 
Date Filed: November 19, 2021 /s/ Terry S. Vajgrt
District Court Judge
 
/s/ Natalie Reisch
Court Administrator
Douglas E. Eisma
Attorney for Petitioner
Eisma and Eisma (COURT SEAL)
130 East Main
Luverne, MN 56156
(507) 283-4828
I.D. #297550
(12-02, 12-09)

Christmas officially arrived Sunday with Santa, festive train engines, fireworks and dazzling lighted displays.
“It was awesome,” said Luverne Chamber assistant Amber Lais.
“I thought it was an outstanding turnout. It was a perfect day. The weather was perfect. I don’t think it could have gone any better.”
A festively decorated Ellis and Eastern train engine transported Santa and Mrs. Claus through communities in Nobles and Rock counties.
They stopped in Rushmore, Adrian, Magnolia and Luverne where the jolly couple (Pat and Katie Baustian) greeted more than 400 children and posed for photos.
After a gathering with families at the Omaha Depot, the train brought the Clauses to Luverne City Park for fireworks and simultaneous lighting of Christmas displays.
According to information from the Luverne Area Chamber, nearly 50 organizations decorated lighted displays and park equipment, and 170 cars paid admission to enter the park for fireworks and a first chance at viewing the displays.
“I didn’t know if they’re going to stop coming,” Lais said about the procession into the park. “I couldn’t believe how many cars we fit in the park.”
Families in the vehicles received locomotive bells, cookies and milk. By the end of the night, Lais said the Chamber had distributed 450 of each.
Prizes were awarded for Most Creative Display (Star Herald was first and Bantam A Hockey second), Best use of Polar Express Theme – Rock River Community Church was first and St. Catherine Confirmation Class second) and Brightest Display (Buffalo Ridge Insurance was first and First Farmers and Merchants Bank second).
Hundreds of vehicles, counting the ones already parked, inched their way, bumper-to-bumper, around the park and were at times lined up on East Main Street back to Blue Mound Avenue.
Pyrotechnician Jonathon Kurtz, assisted by Seth Miller and Jen Wiebe, produced the fireworks show, which was launched from the south bank of the Rock River and sponsored by dozens of local businesses.
“It was a good day,” Lais said. “Everything was great.”

The Rock County Board of Adjustment granted a variance Monday night for the proposed construction of three cul-de-sacs in Luverne Township.
Dean Tofteland of Luverne is proposing construction of a rural residential subdivision for 20 lots of an acre or more in size.
He owns the 60 acres for the subdivision located east of Luverne along 111th Street between the Rock County Sportsman’s Club and the River Road Campground.
The requested variance allows Tofteland, in consultation with DGR Engineering of Rock Rapids, to exceed the city of Luverne’s building code that restricts cul-de-sacs to 500 feet long.
The area is divided in half by the Christopher Ashby Memorial Recreation Trail and is bordered by the railroad tracks to the north. Due to this topography, putting in longer streets to the cul-de-sac bulbs minimizes grading of the area and the removal of existing trees.
Tofteland’s proposed layout of the 20 rural residential lots provides for access streets extending 807, 619 and 560 feet from the gravel road.
The board unanimously approved of the variance, which will now go to the county commissioners for final approval.
More than 20 people attended the public hearing with questions that fell outside the variance in question.
Land Management Director Eric Hartman explained to those in attendance that the project will undergo several additional steps that will allow more public input and answer more questions about the proposed rural subdivision.
As stipulations to the variance, Tofteland’s project must be reviewed and approved by the city of Luverne along with design approval from the Luverne Fire Department.
Hartman also stated that the project will undergo another public hearing to rezone the current agricultural land to residential before the project can proceed to the construction stage.
No date has been set for the rezoning hearing.

Elizabeth Schear was the director at Rock County Opportunities for over 15 years, building clientele and community jobs and improving program offerings.
“I’m handing over my baby … 15 years of hard work,” she said in August, just before leaving for a career change.
“I’ve worked really hard here, and I’m really proud of what I’ve done here.”
When she started in 2005, RCO (then the Developmental Achievement Center) had 28 clients.
“At one point before Covid, we were up to almost 60 clients. So we more than doubled the clients that we had,” Schear said.
In that time the cash reserves also doubled, providing for RCO’s long-term sustainability.
“We’ve grown very solid, with immense programming here that’s top-notch for the southwest corner of Minnesota for people with disabilities,” Schear said.
“RCO is in a really great place. They’ve got a lot to work with. They’ve got a great stable, well-liked program. People come from all over southwest Minnesota to come down here.”
Schear said she feels like she’s leaving the program in a good place.
“It’s time for me to move on to the next project and the next challenge and develop something similar in another town.”
That town will be Marshall, where she’s accepted the director’s position at Advance Opportunities. She’ll continue living in Luverne and will commute full time.
“I’ve been helping them on an interim basis through the whole pandemic,” Schear said. “They need some rebuilding. There’s lots of opportunity for growth there that I’m looking forward to.”
This is the sort of challenge she said she embraced when she started in Luverne.
“When I started here, my mantra was, ‘I don’t even know what I don’t know.’ It is so complex; this field and industry is so complicated,” Schear said.
“You have multiple government state agencies that you report to and have compliance to maintain with. And continually changing funding sources and rules and regulations. And needs and desires are constantly changing of your clients whose health needs change.”
Also she said the workforce crisis affects programs like RCO’s – like all other employers.
“When we’re in the employment field for people with disabilities and you’ve got a workforce crisis … you rely on people to work to help others get work,” she said.
“Those are the challenges – to find the right fit for the people who want to work, and to find the funding and the staffing to find the level of support that they need.”
And there are continually changing political arguments, such as the current issue of sub-minimum wage and the need to protect disabled adults from being taken advantage of with jobs paying 30 cents per hour.
“That sounds horrible, but you have to look at the whole big picture and understand what happens when we take away the in-house work here,” she said.
“And there’s a moratorium right now that people can only work here for three years. After that they’re expected to get a job in the community.”
The problem is not every building in town is handicapped-accessible or has the work or the space, and clients need one-to-one support staff.
“It costs taxpayers $30 per hour to pay someone to help with a $10-per-hour job,” Schear said.
“Whereas in the building here, we bring in the work. We have everything we need here.”
She mentioned the lift and the large bathroom, the medical training and multiple staff with multiple eyes, to work in a group of one to four or one to five.
“It’s a lot cheaper to support five individuals, plus they get the socialization that they’re not necessarily going to get working somewhere in the community,” Schear said.
Her new role in Marshall will present many of the same challenges, but she said she’s ready for that.
“I want to lead an agency that provides top-notch services for people with disabilities,” she said. “For the next few years that will be in Marshall.”
As for her family at RCO:
“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve the clients in this county for the 15 1/2 years that I did. I have learned so much from them,” she said.
“I’m a completely different person from when I first started here. I have a much deeper appreciation of the challenges people with disabilities endure and face every day.”

Rock County Opportunities is operating under a new leadership team since former director Elizabeth Schear left for a position in Marshall this summer.
Co-directors Adria Benson and Danielle Landberg joined forces with longtime staff members David Vis and Kristy Goembel to take the helm.
In discussing how to fill the director’s position, they considered their shared experience and decided to team up on the job.
“When Beth left, neither of us felt like we wanted the whole job, but Danielle said she could handle one piece of it, and I said I could handle another,” Benson said.
“So, we thought, what if we teamed up at it? Instead of hiring one brand new person, we could use all of our skills and talents together.”
Benson was RCO’s executive assistant, having worked with Schear on administrative duties.
Landberg has experience with programming, licensing and staffing to support personnel.
“I think we took all of our strengths and what we excel at and took the opportunity to go with it,” Landberg said.
“The leadership team has always been here, but we’re coming at it as a collaboration.”
The two women have similar backgrounds but bring their own credentials to the job.
Landberg has 13 years in the field and holds a degree from South Dakota State University, Brookings, in human development and family studies. She started with HSI in Marshall as a direct support professional (DSP) and then a team lead assist and team lead.
Benson also has more than 15 years of experience in the field and holds a social work degree from Winona State University. She’s a 2002 Luverne graduate and is the daughter of Diane Sherwood.
The team is rounded out by Vis, a designated coordinator with seven years at RCO, and staff supervisor Goembel who’s been there 25 years.
They all still do their same jobs, but they’re sharing the leadership duties.
The team proposed the new leadership plan to the RCO Board, which approved it Oct. 1.
 
Open house Dec. 8
To celebrate the transition and introduce the team to the community, RCO will host an open house from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8.
“We want to build those connections ourselves and show what we can do,” Benson said. “Some people still don’t realize what we can do.”
The new leaders represent new faces at the helm, but they say business is continuing on track as far as clients, customers and day-to-day operation.
“We want to make some connections and show people what we do,” Benson said.
“People don’t always think of us as a resource or option, but we’re doing cleaning, shredding, mass mailings. There are little custom jobs that maybe you need someone a couple of hours a week, and we can help you.”
She said the RCO laundry service continues to thrive and grow with work coming in from surrounding communities.
RCO provides training and employment opportunities to 34 disabled adults with in-house work and supervised community jobs.
In addition to the four leadership team members, there are nine DSPs and a contracted accountant for bookkeeping and payroll.
“We have a really good group,” Benson said. “Many of them have been with RCO for three to 10 years. Longevity is pretty good.”
She said it’s getting easier to hire and retain RCO employees with recent wage increases. “I think where our raises are now, they’re real competitive, and even on the high end,” she said.
Starting pay is $15 per hour with guaranteed yearly raises plus cost of living increases.
“Plus, the hours are 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, which is great if you have kids in school,” Benson said. “There are no nights, no weekends and no holiday hours.”
Vis, who is a designated coordinator, said he likes the new arrangement.
“It’s going really well,” he said. “I think it’s important for people to know we’re still here and more than ready to provide services in the community. We provide quality work, especially with cleaning.”
He said it was difficult when Schear left, but he said the strong “team mentality” kicked in.
“Everyone genuinely cares about all the clients and workers here. It’s a good group,” Vis said.
Goembel said she’s enjoying her role on the leadership team, but mostly she just enjoys her work at RCO.
“I absolutely love this job. It’s very fulfilling. It’s like a second family here,” she said.
“They see so many people come and go in their lives, and you feel like a stable person in their lives. … It’s hard work, but it’s so rewarding.”

Local emergency responders were dispatched Tuesday morning, Nov. 23, to a crash near Hills where a semi-tanker hauling manure tipped over into the ditch. No one was injured, but the driver, Derek Fick, was trapped in the cab until fire department personnel could help him out. The truck was hauling 7,000 gallons of liquid manure, most of which spilled into the ditch. State and local environmental officials are determining a clean-up strategy. Fick’s brother, Greg Fick, said he was concerned when he first arrived. “When I first looked at that cab, I didn’t think I had a brother anymore,” he said. Derek was taken in for medical evaluation.

The traditional free community meal, pictures with Santa and lighting of the community Christmas tree returned to the Hills community Monday night after a yearlong pandemic hiatus. At the Hills Building Communities Stronger community club-sponsored event, a soup and sandwich dinner was served at the Hills American Legion, where Santa greeted children and took gift requests. Mild weather allowed residents to linger around the community Christmas tree decorated with ornaments from friends and relatives. The tree, located near the Hills Veterans Memorial, will stay lighted through the holiday season.