NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners unanimously approved a county-based purchasing (CBP) letter of support to gubernatorial candidates Tuesday.

The action came at the request of South Country Health Alliance CEO Leota B. Lind.

The letter was sent to Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson and Congressman Tim Walz.

The intent is that all 25 counties electing to participate in county-based purchasing will approve and send a strong message to Minnesota governor candidates.

The letter reads that CBP provides outstanding, local, cost-effective and dependable access to care for more than 92,000 people enrolled in Minnesota health care programs (MHCP) like Medicaid and MinnesotaCare.

The Minnesota Legislature established CBP in 1997 in response to counties wanting a locally-driven and accountable managed care alternative to metro-based HMOs.

There are now three CPB organizations serving residents in 25 Minnesota counties. In addition, 12 more rural counties recently voted to pursue the CBP model through an existing CBP organization.

Unlike other MHCP models like HMOs and accountable care organizations (ACOs), CPB organizations are owned by the counties they serve, making them particularly adept at addressing unique, local healthcare challenges, say the counties.

“CBP is a shining example of how counties serve as operational extensions of State government and MHCP policy locally,” read the letter.

“I have a feeling their (Walz, Johnson) attention is more on the (Nov. 6) election than this,” said commissioner Dennis Potter. “We should follow up on this after the election.”

Commissioners unanimously approved:

• Final acceptance of seeding for eight drainage systems located in Cottonwood, Lake Hanska, Linden, Sigel and Stark Townships Tuesday, Oct. 16.

The drainage systems of County Ditch (CD) 8, 11, 58, 63, 67, 68, 70 and 71 have recently gone through the benefit redetermination process. The required buffer strips were paid for this spring. Initially, four quotes were received for seeding the buffers.

At the Sept. 4 board meeting, the award was taken away from the low bidder and awarded to the second lowest bidder, Evergreen Companies. Their original bid was for $206.49 an acre. The new quote includes an additional $75 an acre for the additional work and disking caused by weed debris.

The seeding was completed Sept. 28. A total of 89 acres were seeded at a cost of $25,052.61.

In his report, County Highway Engineer Wayne Stevens said he’d talk to City of Springfield officials about a semi parking on County Road 5 north of U.S. Highway 14 that is causing gravel road damage.

“We may bill the truck owner for the cost of pushing the road back to where it should be,” Stevens said.

Commissioner Scott Windschitl said the truck owner should be notified about paying for a possible repair bill if the issue continues. Potter said he would talk to City of Springfield people about the issue.

• Preliminary approval to the extension of the memorandum of agreement between Brown County and LELS, Inc., Local No. 98 establishing 12-hour shifts for full-time dispatchers for an additional year through Dec. 21, 2019.

• Review and order filling the Wellner Hagemann Dam inspection report. Area II Engineer Kerry Netzke and staff plus Brown County Planning and Zoning Water Planner John Knisley inspected the dam, reservoir and outlet June 13. Significant findings include:

•• Leafy spurge (invasive species plants) abundant on the dam upstream and downstream slopes.

•• The upstream slope has trees in the rock riprap that need to be sprayed and logs that need to be removed.

•• The intake structure has cracks and rust that is progressing. Global Infrastructure un-seized the reservoir control valves, which were operated by Knisley on Sept. 10.

•• Slumping along the reservoir slide/shore continues.

• Oct. 9 Planning and Zoning recommendations.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.