The Itasca County Board of Commissioners approved settlements of 2021 salary appeals with both Sheriff Victor Williams and Auditor/Treasurer Jeff Walker last week.Â
During their regular meeting on April 13, commissioners approved an agreement reached by the county and Williams, resolving the 2021 salary appeal. Williams filed an appeal of his 2021 salary in December 2020. The agreement sets the 2021 salary for Sheriff Williams in the amount of $127,633.48. The sheriff salary was set at $123,916 in 2020 when he received a 3.8% step increase.
Auditor/Treasurer Jeffrey Walker also filed an appeal of his 2021 salary in December 2020. The county and Walker reached an agreement resolving the salary appeal. The resolution sets the 2021 salary for Walker in the amount of $131,147.65. The auditor/treasurer salary was set at $127,327.82 in 2020 when the county agreed to a 2.75% increase in cost of living adjustment (COLA) which was in line with the 2.75%Â COLA increase given to oth
John Lee VanNyhuis, 69, passed away on February 4, 2021 in Park Rapids, Minnesota. John had been fighting an aggressive brain tumor for the past three months that quickly deteriorated his health.
John was born to Gloria (Brower) and William VanNyhuis on February 12, 1951, in Luverne, Minnesota, the third of five children. The family moved to Nevis in 1961, where John later graduated high school. While in high school, John met his future wife Carol (Weaver) at a Dance at the Armory in Park Rapids. On January 17, 1970, John married Carol at his parentâs home in Nevis. Soon thereafter they started a family. After completing an aptitude test on a whim, John accepted a job as a forestry technician at the Effie DNR ranger station. John moved to the Bigfork/Effie area where he raised his family and remained there for 50 years. Coming full circle, John and Carol recently moved back to the Nevis/Park Rapids area where they were in the process of building a new home to continue retiremen
Itasca County Commissioners Ben Denucci and Terry Snyder, along with Itasca County Health and Human Services (ICHHS) Division Manager Eric Villeneuve were in Bigfork this week to admire a brand new ambulance that the county purchased with Coronavirus Relief Funds provided through the CARES Act.Â
As a whole, Itasca County received $5,640,508 of Coronavirus Relief Funds last year. More than $2 million was distributed to area businesses in the form of Business Grants. According to Villeneuve, the qualifying expenditures that Itasca County spent with the aid had to be necessary, which was defined as incurred due to the public health emergency respective to the Coronavirus Disease and had to be incurred during the period of time of March 1 through Dec. 1, 2020.