Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 VOL. 119 NO. 04 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola football wins first game. PAGE 10
‘Haunted highway building’ deemed unsafe for workers BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
A recent examination of Polk County’s highway department building by engineering and architectural firm SEH uncovered 36 code violations and concluded that the work environment is unsafe for employees and the public. The county is working to amend those issues, according to Polk County Administrator Dana Frey, who reported SEH’s findings to the county board Aug. 16. In the meantime, Frey – who referred to the 1933 structure as the “haunted highway building” – is urging the county board to approve funding for a new facility. “The county is in a position to fund a reasonable facility without a tax increase,” said Frey, reiterating past statements. “Our debt service is about to drop off substantially … and interest rates are at historic lows.” In addition to safety concerns, the SEH study found
that the building is too small for the department’s needs, evidenced by equipment stored outside and off site. To fulfill current needs, the existing 42,200-squarefoot building would need to be at least 94,100 square feet, SEH concluded. The firm recommended that the county build from scratch at a new location, calling the existing site “congested” with poor, possibly even dangerous, access to roads. At minimum, a new building with a 50-year life expectancy would cost the county almost $9 million. “This isn’t the maximum,” Frey told the board. “You may decide on more … I don’t know if you could decide on less.” Optional additions such as a new vehicle scale, salt storage building and heated equipment storage space could add between $90,000 and $5.9 million. Whether the county would hold a referendum SEE COUNTY, PAGE 2
COURTESY POLK COUNTY
Engineering and architectural firm SEH said the highway department site is congested, with poor access to roads. Other issues at the site include crowded truck storage, hazardous access to vehicles and non-compliant restroom facilities.
Osceola Chamber lays Lucky Panda offender foundation for local currency to serve eight years BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
The Osceola Area Chamber of Commerce unveiled its plan for a new community currency to member businesses earlier this month. Called the SOLVE (Support the Osceola Local Valley Economy) Exchange, the currency is designed to keep money circulating in Osceola and the larger St. Croix Valley. “Every time somebody spends a dollar (at a local business), 70 percent of that goes back into our community,” said Germaine Ross, the Chamber’s executive director, “versus convenient Amazon, which we all use and it works, but it doesn’t ever come back here. … “This is the whole philosophy of why (SOLVE) was built and what we’re trying to support,” she continued. The concept of a local currency isn’t entirely new in Osceola, but Chamber board member Nancy Beck noted important differenc-
es between the SOLVE Exchange and the now-defunct Cascade Currency. “Cascade Currency was more of a loan program,” said Beck. “We feel this is improved. These things are so much easier to administer now with an online presence and more capabilities. “We’re looking beyond cash,” she continued. “Currency is changing so much, in how we define and spend money. … “We’ll be direct competition to an Amazon-type of presence, where you can go in the middle of the night and get a gift card for
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someone online.” The currency – which can be printed and used almost like cash or a gift certificate – will be purchased and tracked through Conpoto, a cloud-based software built specifically for use by chambers of commerce as a way to promote local spending and increase economic vitality. Once the currency is launched, the Osceola Area Chamber plans to inspire participation, in part, by encouraging local employers to use the program for employee recognition. “Businesses across the nation spend about $500 per employee per year for parties, rewards, that kind of thing,” said Ross. “When you take all the payroll in the Osceola area that adds up to $1.5 million a year spent on employees – not benefits, just rewards. Our goal is to shift some of that to spending locally.” For now, the Chamber is recruiting member businesses to accept the currency and has not set a user launch date.
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BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
After pleading guilty in May to sexually assaulting a child, Pedro Hernandez-Matul was sentenced l last Wednesd day to eight y years confinement f followed by 1 years ex10 t tended sup pervision. HernandezH d The former Matul employee at Lucky Panda restaurant in Osceola, now 42, was charged with the second-degree sexual assault March 1, after a 12-year-old girl reported that he had put his hands down her pants and touched her while in the restaurant. With the help of interpreters, Hernandez-Matul, who is not a U.S. Cit-
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izen, pleaded guilty May 26. He could be deported in association with the conviction. If not deported, he will loose other valuable citizenship rights, according to court records. In addition, he’ll be a registered sex offender for life, backed up by a DNA sample. As part of the sentence, Hernandez-Matul will have no unsupervised contact with girls less than 17 years of age without permission from the Department of Corrections. In addition, he is not to contact the victim, her family, the restaurant or Osceola School. He was given a credit for 169 days already served and is now incarcerated in the Wisconsin prison system. His attorney, Dan Firkus, has 30 days to appeal the sentence.
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