Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and state Rep. Dean Urdahl discuss issues with Willmar Mayor Marv Calvin during their meeting with city officials from throughout the area last week in Litchfield.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey shakes hands with Cosmos council member Jody Fuetel.
A group of city officials from Hutchinson, Cosmos and other local towns visited Litchfield last week for a discussion with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Rep. Dean Urdahl about the issues rural and urban communities face.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey visited Litchfield Thursday as state Rep. Dean Urdahl’s guest.
Urdahl said he offered Frey a similar tour to one he extended to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter this past fall, to places such as Litchfield schools, city facilities, and local businesses including Doosan Bobcat.
“I saw Mayor Frey at an event, and I said, ‘Well, look, mayor of St. Paul came out here, how come you don’t come out?’” Urdahl said. “I was just kidding around with him. I did not consider that I’d formally invited... And then (Frey) called up and said, ‘Can I come, too?’”
One of the reasons Frey visited Litchfield was to discuss bonding projects in Minneapolis, Urdahl said.
“Because I’m the Republican lead on bonding,” Urdahl added. “He wanted to talk about bonding, and they have some projects that they are very concerned about getting the bonding bill.”
Council members from Hutchinson, Cosmos, Grove City, Willmar and Eden Valley all sat down with Frey and shared issues their cities are facing during a meeting at Litchfield City Hall.
Hutchinson city council member Steve Cook was happy to talk to him.
“It's just good to have elected officials from the metro area meet with some elected officials from greater Minnesota,” Cook said. “I commend Representative Urdahl and Mayor Frey for taking the effort to come out.”
For Hutchinson specifically, workforce development and regulations of water/waste-water were discussed.
“Wastewater projects was one thing that was mentioned,” Cook said. “The mayor from Minneapolis echoed some of the same concerns. I asked him what types of challenges they are facing and again with this workforce, housing. We all shared common interests in LGA (local government aid) and how important it is for all of us.”
“You begin to recognize that success is mutually shared,” Frey said after the meeting. “The issues we confront are the same; need for housing supply, improved infrastructure, public schools, health care, stormwater and flood. These issues I’ve heard from council members, mayors throughout the region, and these are some of the same exact issues we’re confronting right now.”
These types of meetings help shed light on the needs of real people, Frey said. “And the urban-rural divide is not the chasm politics makes it out to be. We have the same goals and hopes and dreams. At the end of the day, we’re all Minnesotans rallying around common causes.”
Fostering communication and understanding between rural government leaders and the mayor of Minneapolis was the purpose for Frey's visit, Urdahl said.
“I’m honored to be in Litchfield,” Frey said. “I am honored to get the invite from Urdahl and meet with Mayor Johnson and head over to Bobcat for a bit to check out some of the workforce needs. You know, this was a productive meeting. It was heartwarming seeing the commonalities. And it definitely makes me want to come back again.”
Joelle and Matthew Woetzel received recognition as outstanding conservationists from the Meeker Soil and Water Conservation District.
The financial strain on the agriculture economy forced farmers such as Matthew Woetzel to be more conservative with their crop and soil operations.
But that’s not something new to Woetzel, who operates 500 acres of farmland in rural Dassel and Darwin. He grew up in a conservation-minded family of farmers.
“My dad was a dairy farmer,” Woetzel said. “Our home farm part is what you call contour strip farming, where you’ll have … part of it was hay and you’ll have corn, you’d have your strips. We also do more of a mulch tillage practice where you do basically chisel (plow) all your corn stalks in the fall.”
Chisel tillage is an economical way of plowing, which helps to reduce tillage, soil erosion and conservation of soil moisture on droughty soils, according to Northeast Region Crop Adviser on the Cornell University website.
“And you’ll leave your soybean ground untouched in the fall,” Woetzel said. “You don’t do any tillage, but you’ll do a little pass in the spring where you plant corn again. Fewer trips, less tillage.”
Woetzel also does crop rotation in his farm, which is a technique that can help control or reduce disease, insect and weed pressure, according to the University of Minnesota Extension website.
“See, where you’ve got corn this year will be soybeans next year,” Woetzel said. “And where you’ve got soybeans this year will be corn next year. Where we had our wheat, that’s where I’m doing cover crop after the wheat.”
Such conservation practices as crop rotation, incorporation of small grains and hay rotations, tillage and no-till experimentation won Woetzel and his wife, Joelle, the award for outstanding conservationists in Meeker County by the Meeker Soil and Water Conservation District.
Woetzel’s father was recognized for the same award twice, in 1953 and 1975.
“I’m not doing this because I’m such a good guy,” Woetzel said with a chuckle. “I’m doing this because it’s also is a way to conserve soil and be rewarded for doing it. And it becomes part of your farm operation as well, too.
“If I can generate a little income through soil conservation, through this (Natural Resources Conservation Service),” he continued. “And I’m being paid to implement these programs, and it’s healthy for the soil. It’s healthy for the conservation aspect, why not try it? Why not do it? And if it works, great.”
Woetzel has been a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Stewardship Program for six years, he said. Participants of the program will build on conservation practices and strengthening their farming operations. Through this program, Woetzel has learned to increase crop resilience and reduce soil erosion, he said.
“What I’m doing is seeding spring wheat and tillage radishes — the idea is it helps with soil compaction,” Woetzel added. “It helps with water absorption in the soil, and the longer you have something growing on your land when your existing crop mature, it’s still healthier for the soil because you’re keeping all these microbes, and all this stuff that’s alive. It’s just viable for your soil health to keep that growing even into the late season.”
Bryan Larson
Bryan Larson, Third District commissioner, was elected as the new chairman during the Meeker County Board of Commissioners’ first meeting of 2020.
He succeeds Mike Housman, Fourth District commissioner, following the vote at the Jan. 7 meeting.
As has been the tradition, the post of county board chairman rotates annually among each of the five commissioners.
Second District Commissioner Joe Tacheny was named vice chairman, while Housman was named reading clerk.
In other action, Braden Priam, parks superintendent, outlined to the board plans to apply jointly with Stearns County for a $340,000 State Outdoor Recreation Grant applicable to the Koronis Regional Park, which is administered jointly by the two counties.
As recommended by County Auditor Barb Loch, the following list of citizens was approved as the 2020 Meeker County Ballot Board: Lori Boettcher, Joyce Kellogg. Dianna McCarney, Pixie Mumford, Christine Paul, Phyllis Prantner, Colette Sikkila, Carol Stenger and Travis Scoblie.
This board will have the authority to accept or reject absentee ballots in Meeker County in the upcoming general election.
The Independent Review was named as the official county newspaper for 2020, and while sitting as the County Ditch Authority commissioners approved a bid of $37,567 from Central Applicators for the brush-tree spraying of 43 miles of county ditches.
