Centers housed in NY Mills, Pelican Rapids

By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

County commissioners, on Aug. 11, heard reviews of upgrades to buildings in Pelican Rapids and New York Mills which house Family Resource Centers. One of them is the Bridge Center, a former church building in Pelican Rapids, and the other is a government-owned building which also serves as a Family Resource Center in New York Mills.

The goals of Family Resource Centers are to support families to be strong, healthy and successful. Services include parenting support, child development activities and parental leadership development. Currently there are more than 3,000 Family Resource Centers throughout the United States. 

Otter Tail County has been awarded grants to update community assessments in Battle Lake, Fergus Falls and Parkers Prairie for development and implementation of Family Resource Centers in these communities.

County board members in Otter Tail County agree that establishing Family Resource Centers here in west central Minnesota is well worth the effort. Commissioners past and present have expressed thanks for the grants provided counties in Minnesota by the Sauer Family Foundation of St. Paul.

A Family Resource Center can be located at either a school or other location in a community, situated as a welcoming hub of support, services and opportunities for families. All across the nation are success stories about economic self-sufficiency, family resiliency, child nurturing and improvements in children’s educational success.

Under the supervision of Otter Tail County, contractors assist the county with the development of Family Resource Centers to assist families in building strengths and meeting needs.

Each contractor, working with an existing Core Team which includes community members, creates an implementation plan for each location including such elements as service locations, budget, programming plans, start dates and parent advisory committee plans.

Other county board

business on Aug. 11

County commissioners approved replacement of a bridge in Woodside Township, northeast of Parkers Prairie. The location is along Moccasin Road and over the Wing River. The contractor is Landwehr Construction of St. Cloud.

County board members approved personnel changes related to a lead child support worker in human services, an assessment technician reclassification, public health supervisor and community health planner.

County commissioners Wayne Johnson of Pelican Rapids and Kurt Mortenson of rural Underwood assured county residents that all personnel changes are reviewed in detail by the county board operations committee prior to recommendations being submitted to the five-person county board of commissioners.

Later, the county board held business in its role as the County Drainage Authority. Under Minnesota state law, the same individuals who sit as county commissioners also serve as the public drainage authority for county drainage systems and ditches.

As the drainage authority, the board oversees new ditch petitions, repairs, improvements, maintenance assessment and buffer strip compliance under Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources guidelines.

On Aug. 11 the board addressed issues in Otter Tail County concerning culvert extensions and beaver dams.