At last week Tuesday’s Pipestone County board meeting, the county commissioners approved the sale of a parcel of land to the Southwest MN Opportunity Council – Headstart. SMOC submitted the only bid of $40,000 for one acre of land in the North Hiawatha addition of Pipestone. They plan to build a new Headstart facility there. 

After a brief closed session, the board voted to also sell the former Pipestone County landfill land at public auction. The Pipestone County Sportmen’s group would like to purchase the land to put a gun range there. The land is in Section 31 of Rock Township. County Administrator Steve Ewing will begin the work of getting that auction advertised. He thought that it would be plausible to have the bids due by Friday, June 24 and a bid opening at the Tuesday, June 28, board meeting. 

Dave Sommers, who is one of the members of the Pipestone Sportsmen’s Club, informed the board that things have been progressing with the plans for the club and range. They will put together a bid and submit it before the deadline. If their bid is accepted in June, they would hope to get started on their plans there yet this summer. 

“Our intention is that the whole community can get a chance to use it,” Sommers said. They plan to have youth programs, hunter safety trainings, “permit to carry” trainings, and other educational offerings. The Pipestone County sheriff’s office will also be able to continue to use the space for firearms training. 

“I really appreciate what you are doing,” Commissioner Dan Wildermuth said. “I really hope that you are the successful bidder.”

“I wish it did not have to be so complicated,” Wildermuth added, indicating the process the county has to go through in order to be able to sell real estate. 

Later in the meeting, the board moved forward with plans to renovate the former Southwest Mental Health building. They approved spending $217,678 to make the building work for office space for the Soil and Water Conservation office, as well as the Extension services. 

Commissioner Chris Hollingsworth was hesitant to spend the money until the building committee assured him that the renovations will make the space feasible for office space for at least the next 10 years and that rehabbing the building was much more affordable than building a new building. The county plans to use American Rescue Plan funding to pay for these renovations. 

They also plan to use ARP funds to update the technology in the commissioner’s room and the community room at the courthouse.

The cost for audio and visual equipment for the commissioners room is $42,996 and $5,770 for the equipment in the community room.

“We have been talking about this for several years,” Ewing said. “The current system is antiquated. The time is now to do this. If we wait, the price will only go up.” 

IT Director Bill Folger said that the equipment will take about six months to arrive.