Jill Weikum and Daryl W. Franklin are "headline-makers."

Weikum was honored as the Mower County Employee of the Month.

Franklin was given new responsibilities in a restructuring of a county department.

The action came at the regular meeting of the Mower County Board of Commmissioners.

Weikum, the lead social worker in the Mower County Department of Human Services, received the Employee of the Month award. She has worked for Mower County for 27 years.

Franklin was handed the job of supervising the newly restructured environmental services department.

Recommended by the county board's personnel committee, the new department brings several different programs and services under the "umbrella" of a single department structure.

The new department will include environmental health, solid waste and recycling, feedlot regulation and planning and zoning.

This means, Bill Buckley, Jeff Weaver, Lowell Franzen and Dan Vermilyea, as well as their staffs, will report to Franklin under the new alignment.

All of the individual programs and services will, of course, remain where they are presently located.

Also Tuesday, the county commissioners approved a conditional use permit request from John Bramwell in Lansing Township.

The commissioners conducted a site visit Tuesday morning after Bramwell failed to supply enough information at a previous county board meeting to allow the commissioners to make a decision in the CUP request.

They were satisfied after the visit and gave their unanimous approval to Bramwell's CUP request to develop a residential subdivision of an undetermined number of lots on property he owns in Lansing Township.

The commissioners also gave their approval to a final plat request of Dennis Kelly's in Austin Township.

Both requests met with opposition when originally presented to the county planning commission, but gained the commission's recommendations for approval.

In other action Tuesday, the commissioners:

n Approved a Southeast Minnesota Tobacco Endowment project agreement for Margene Gunderson, community health services director, and school nursing contracts for 2002-03.

n Approved the resignation of Bev Weness, rural LeRoy, from the Mower County Planning Commission and directed county staff to begin the proceeds of soliciting new candidates to serve on the commission.

n Amended the county emergency management budget to allow the purchase of a new vehicle to replace another one sold at auction.

n Agreed to allow sharing with Olmsted County for a fraud specialist that will assist the Mower County Department of Human Services in detection and investigation of welfare fraud cases.

n Heard Michael Hanson, county engineer, report on 18th Avenue Northwest reconstruction project and the awarding of a contract to pave a stretch of CSAH No. 10 and 1 in Pleasant Valley Township. Now a gravel road, the roadway is a popular access route to the Great River Energy generating station and other township traffic in the far northeastern corner of the county

n Approved request from Rick Morrison, county drainage system inspector, for budget amendment for additional work to Country Ditch No. 1 in Bennington Township in the amount of $10,195.

The drainage system lies in the western half of Bennington Township and includes a part of neighboring Clayton Township.

Lee Bonorden can be reached at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com