Culvert replacement option near Little Pine Lake wins county board approval

By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

County commissioners, on Tuesday, July 28, heard from Otter Tail County Community Development Director Amy Baldwin about a joint housing development effort between Otter Tail County and the city of Rothsay. Over the past several months county government has taken the lead with the single-family housing tax rebate program.

The purpose of the City of Rothsay Rebate Program is to encourage the construction of new primary residence single and two-family housing units between June 1, 2026, and April 30, 2029.

Other county communities taking advantage of this program are Pelican Rapids and the community of Ottertail. This effort is a combination of governmental organizations and private industry (contractors) working hand in hand for community housing development.

Otter Tail County’s Community Development and Housing Department continues to connect people throughout the county with successful housing programs, workforce development, child care, business development and other efforts. 

“Housing remains foundational to county government’s ability to help attract and retain residents and workforce,” Baldwin said. “We seek funding opportunities and take on roles that range from convener and technical advisor to project initiator and developer.”

In Pelican Rapids, county government acted as the developer for the Pinewood Estates single-family housing project. This was accomplished using a model grounded in community input and strategic funding. 

“Local residents assumed home ownership, demonstrating the success of this approach for new housing,” Baldwin added.

Over in Battle Lake, the Lincoln workforce housing apartments were completed following support from Otter Tail County. There also was community engagement, technical assistance to secure grant funding and direct financing to the developer.

Culvert replacement 

option wins approval

A culvert replacement near Little Pine Lake, just north of Perham, was approved by county commissioners on July 28. This addresses issues related to the Highway 51 culvert structure between Little Pine Lake and the Otter Tail River.

The county hired Houston Engineering for design services to replace this deficient structure on the county’s bridge inventory. The existing culvert has extensive corrosion, cracking along the bolt line and minor deformation.

The county board agreed to remove the deficient structure and replace it with a 6-foot-wide by 5-foot-high concrete box culvert that is sunken into the channel bottom one foot to allow for riverbed material to cover the bottom of the box culvert.

The benefits of this option include removing a structure from the county’s bridge inventory, continued water flow into Little Pine Lake from the river and no large flow of sediment into Little Pine Lake from the river bottom/channel.

Single-sort recycling

hauler bids awarded

In late June the county Solid Waste Department opened bids for curbside single sort recycling collection in the cities of New York Mills, Ottertail, and Parkers Prairie for 18 months beginning in January 2027 and running through June 2028. A total of five proposals were received.

County commissioners, on July 28, approved an agreement with Five Star Disposal for $46,651 for the city of New York Mills and $53,193 for the city of Ottertail. Alex Rubbish and Recycling will receive $35,751 for service to the city of Parkers Prairie.

Each quadrant of the county has a different effective date one year apart which started Jan. 1, 2026, for the southeast quadrant and will end starting Jan. 1, 2029, in the southwest quadrant. This will expand curbside collection to approximately 12,500 households.

In 2022, Otter Tail County received an Environmental Assistance (EA) grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for planning to initiate a curbside single-sort recycling plan. Solid waste haulers, as part of the private sector, who already are collecting solid waste in the county, will provide the option of recycling services to their residential customers.