Ben Grimsley News Today

It's official. As of this past Friday, July 7, both floors of the new Becker County Museum are now open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday.

Outgoing Becker County Commissioners Larry Knutson, District 1, and Ben Grimsley, District 2, were each honored for their years of service during the last county board meeting of the year on Dec. 20.

In a surprise move, Becker County Administrator Pat Oman brought the items back for consideration Nov. 15, even though the action was not included on the board agenda for that day’s meeting.

“I think we can work together really well,” David Meyer said. “What I’ve been talking about the whole time is fixing the relationship between leadership and workers, so we can make Becker County a place where people want to work and want to be at. That needs to be addressed soon. Becker County can’t afford to lose any more people.”

Meyer received 1,300 votes, (59%) to 908 votes (41%) for Grimsley.

Two potential road agreements showed up in the county board information packet for Oct. 18, one of which was confusing at best and intentionally misleading at worst.

Becker County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to spend a little over $235,000 to digitize those big books — a project that will finish a decades-long, off-and-on digitization effort in the Becker County Recorder’s Office.

The forum for Becker County Board and sheriff candidates was hosted by the Detroit Lakes Area League of Women Voters and held at the packed public meeting room at the police department.

The only saving grace for the budget process this year is that the Human Services Department “found $300,000 in savings,” said Commissioner Ben Grimsley. “That’s the only thing that keeps the budget from being completely atrocious.”

“I don’t think we want to be the next animal livestock hub in the United States,” Commissioner Barry Nelson said at a county board meeting Tuesday. “Our ordinances are kind of behind. At our next meeting I’d like us to look at a moratorium on CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations).”