The county board isn’t going to let a state agency’s decision on a watershed board pass quietly.

After a hearing last week where a Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) committee voted to recommend the creation of a Shell Rock River watershed district, commissioners Glen Mathiason and Dave Mullenbach separately drafted letters protesting the decision. The board voted Tuesday to endorse Mathiason’s letter, which will be sent to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and local legislators.

&uot;It is our opinion, as well as many other prominent community leaders, that this public hearing was a sham,&uot; Mathiason wrote. &uot;We believe the BWSR subcommittee had made its decision to form a watershed board well in advance of this hearing and nothing we could have said would have changed the outcome.&uot;

The county opposed a petition brought by some lake activists in 2000 asking BWSR to establish the independent governmental agency, which would have jurisdiction over watershed projects. The county spent nearly three years planning to complete watershed projects itself and setting aside funding, but it is now likely that watershed funds will be cut from the county budget in response to state aid reductions.

Mathiason said the state has limited the county’s ability to engage in watershed cleanup with levy limits and revenue reductions, yet allowed the creation of the new BWSR board with taxing authority. &uot;This is simply not right,&uot; he wrote. &uot;Taking away taxing authority from duly elected officials and giving it to an appointed board is just not right.&uot;

The BWSR subcommittee will present its recommendation to the agency’s full board at its next meeting, and the board is expected to approve it. If that happens, BWSR will then appoint county residents to the watershed board.

Other county residents who spoke at the meeting complained that landowners south of Albert Lea Lake should not be included in the district because their water does not flow into the lakes, which are the focal point of watershed-cleanup efforts.

In other county action Tuesday:

-Immediately after the board meeting ended, workers began removing benches, tables and other furniture to make room for the public-health deparment, which will move into the lower floor of the 1954 building for part of the courthouse project.

Tuesday’s was the last meeting that will be held in the commissioner’s room in the basement of the soon-to-be-demolished building. The meetings have been conducted there since the building opened. Public health will occupy the space until later in the project, when the building will be destroyed to expose the face of the adjacent 1888 courthouse building.

Until the new courthouse addition is completed, the board will hold its meetings in the council chambers at Albert Lea City Hall.

-The board voted 3-2 to spend $150,000 to iron out an &uot;S&uot; curve in Highway 17 east of Conger, but not until after some intense discussion.

Highway Engineer Sue Miller told the board that landowners along the curve are prepared to agree to new easements, which would allow the county to straighten out the road with less difficulty than usual. In addition, a state program will fully reimburse the county for the expense over the next 20 years.

Commissioners Dan Springborg and Mullenbach were hesitant, saying they didn’t want to commit new funds to the project, even if the expense will eventually be repaid, because of budget cuts. But Dan Belshan and Mathiason said there was no reason not to invest in a project that will eventually have to be done anyway as part of the long-term plan for the highway.

&uot;This isn’t deficit spending,&uot; Belshan said. &uot;This is long-term planning. Thank goodness past commissioners didn’t think one year at a time.&uot;

When Springborg and Mullenbach persisted, saying the county couldn’t afford the projected, Belshan cracked, &uot;The term ‘reimbursable’ needs to be looked up in the dictionary.&uot;

Chairman Mark Behrends sided with Belshan and Mathiason to pass the measure.

-The board will wait until its next meeting to decide on a request to hire three more jailers and allow a team of three experienced jailers to begin planning and training for the opening of the new jail.

Sheriff Mark Harig and Jail Administrator Steve Westland told the board that the state department of corrections recommends putting a transition team in place as much as a year before a new jail opens to draft policies and procedures. Three new jailers would be hired to replace the three who make up the transition team.

The three jailers would cost the county approximately $150,000 in annual salary.

&uot;There’s no question it has to be done at some point, whether it’s today or in a month,&uot; Behrends said.

-In a construction update, a representative of the city’s courthouse contractor said the &uot;footprint&uot; of the new criminal justice center is around 20 percent complete, and the beginnings of walls will start to go up in early June. &uot;That’s when you’ll really start seeing a difference in the project,&uot; said Tim Harmon, the site manager

-The board approved the construction of a conditional-use permit for a 51-by-329-foot total confinement barn to house 3,125 hogs in Section 9 of Pickerel Lake Township. The county’s planning commission unanimously recommended approval of the permit for John Pershbacher.