News

Swift County’s Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a $70,000 loan at their meeting Aug. 21 from the Swift County Revolving Loan Fund for the purchase of assets of Appleton Hardware.

“Owners of Appleton Hardware are interested in leaving Appleton to return to their hometown and pursue other business opportunities,” a memo to the county board stated. “Appleton Power Equipment owners are willing to purchase the business assets – excluding the building of Appleton Hardware and continue to offer retail hardware in Appleton at their own Appleton Power Equipment location in the town.

The purchase does include the inventory, equipment and fixtures.

The loan will help the community retain four jobs, the county board was told. Shawn and Jill Swenson own Appleton Equipment.

When voters go to the polls to choose those they want to represent them on the District 777 Board of Education they are going to have choices.

Four people have filed for the three four-year terms that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot. Brian Samuelson, Tammy Gunlogson, James Berens, and Paul Carruth have all filed. Though they currently serve on the school board, both Carruth and Gunlogson were appointed to fill out the terms of board members who had resigned.

The three candidates of the four who get the most voters will win seats on the school board.

There were also four people who filed for the single two-year term that will also be filled in the November election. Eric Peterson, Ron A. Hanson, Chad Payne and Jodi DeJong-Hughes filed for the seat. Payne and DeJong-Hughes currently serve on the board. Payne is the chair.

The winners in the November election will join Mary K.W. Langan, Bill McGeary and Gary Williams on the school board in January.
 

Want to see more from the 2018 Swift County Fair? Pick up a copy of the August 22, 2018 Monitor-News for our special Fair Section. It's filled with colored photos from every day of the fair!

Subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News print edition or our PDF internet edition. Call 320-843-4111 and you can get all the local news and sports delivered to you!
 

Early last Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 14, as Missouri River Energy Services workers employed by the City of Benson were boring a new underground electric line they struck a gas line.

Within seconds they could smell the gas and quickly evacuated the area, notifying law enforcement and the Benson Fire Department. A couple residential blocks and businesses around the site near the Shell gas station and Food Shop of Benson on Minnesota Highway 29 south (Church Street) were ordered evacuated by Swift County Emergency services shortly before 2 p.m.

City crews were able to shut off the gas line, stopping the release of gas shortly after the rupture.

A representative from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) gave a presentation to area youth Monday, Aug. 13 at the Benson Library.  The DNR has been giving presentations all summer and the topic of this visit was “dirt”.

Pictured: The DNR official explains the many different items that can be found in dirt and the importance of soil.  Later, the youth had the chance to dig in the dirt and sand to see if they could find anything.

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News print edition or our PDF internet edition. Call 320-843-4111 and you can get all the local news and sports delivered to you!
 

Jon Buyck received 576 votes for the open seat on the Benson City Council, easily winning the seat.

He will now fill out the remaining 16 months in the Benson City Council seat vacated by Terri Collins when she was elected the city’s mayor in November 2017.

Candidates Larry Smith received 138 votes, Lynn Jacobson-Stiehm 124 votes and Don Lenz 114 votes.

With all the votes in, District 777’s $26.3 million building bond levy passed with overwhelming support. The final vote was 1,356 to 620, a margin of victory of 736 votes. Sixty-nine percent of the district’s voters favored the levy to 31 percent against it.

It was a complete reversal of the May 2015 vote when an $18.6 million building levy went down with 67.5 percent of the district’s voters casting ballots against it. The vote was 1,354 against to 651 in favor in 2015, a loss by 703 votes.

Voters in the City of Benson cast 828 votes for the referendum to 246 against, a margin of victory of 582 votes.

Overall, the cities of the school district cast 910 votes for the levy and 276 against, a margin of 634. Nearly 77 percent of city voters favored the Benson Public Schools’ levy.

In the townships, 446 voted for the levy and 344 against, a margin of 102 votes in favor. Of the rural/farm voters, 56.5 favored the levy.

Benson resident and retired school teacher Ron Hanson has filed for the District 777 Board of Education for the two-year term. Filings for four seats on the school board opened last Tuesday and will run through Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 5 p.m.

Three of the four seats up for election in November will be for four-year terms and one is for two years. Those school board members whose seats are four-year terms are Chad Payne, Jodi DeJong-Hughes, and Paul Carruth. Tammy Gunlogson’s seat is a two-year term.

When a person files for the school board, he or she will have to indicate whether or not they are seeking a two-year or four-year term.

School board members are paid $1,700 annually and get mileage for meetings they attend.

In the November election, the two candidates who receive the most votes for the two-year and four-year terms will be elected to office. They will join Mary K.W. Langan, Bill McGeary and Gary Williams on the school board in January.

$26.3 million proposal inlcudes new auditorium, space for childcare services
 

Next Tuesday voters in District 777 will decide the future of the quality of the educational facilities for Benson Public Schools, and many supporters say, the future of the area.

Tuesday, Aug. 14, voters will cast their ballots on a $26.3 million building bond levy with these key features:

As the City of Benson explores potential replacement industries for Benson Power, LLC, it has been talking with Brightmark Energy about locating a methane digesting facility at the site.

Benson Power, a 55-megawatt power plant that produced power from woodchips and turkey litter, has been purchased by Xcel Energy and shut down. It employed 45 people fulltime and provided jobs to more than 100 other people in the region who provided its supply and service needs.

Xcel says the shut down of the power plant will save its customers $350 million in energy costs over the next decade. Benson Power’s electricity was far more expensive to produce than the rapidly growing wind and solar energy sources it is turning to for electricity.