By Rebecca Houg, staff writer

Freeborn County, acting as fiscal agent for the state on a $350,000 loan to SoyMor, will benefit from a revolving loan fund to encourage business development.

Commissioners presented representatives from SoyMor with the ceremonial check at the Tuesday morning at the Freeborn County Board meeting. The funds are being accessed through the Department of Employment and Economic Development and given to SoyMor through Freeborn County.

The DEED money will be used to help launch SoyMor&8217;s operation and the company will be required to pay back the loan with moderate interest. Freeborn County acts as the fiscal agent for Minnesota on the loan and will channel payments from SoyMor back to the state. As a benefit, the county gets to keep 20 percent of the loan amount to start a revolving loan fund to continue encouraging business development.

&8220;The State of Minnesota realizes helping our economy is good for the state,&8221; County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen said.

SoyMor was chosen for the loan program because it fits in with the strong agriculture base and uses cutting-edge technology.

&8220;It is a high tech company, using our local resources to produce a product we can all benefit from in years to come,&8221; Gabrielsen said.

The commissioners also scheduled a public hearing at the start of the 8:30 a.m. Nov. 21 meeting at the request of Al Larson to consider the use of tax abatement for upgrades to Albert Lea

Public Warehouse 4, the former Streater warehouse on 14th Street at Margaretha.

Larson would like city and county government to consider a tax abatement to reimburse him for certain costs to upgrade the property to a food-grade facility for Malt-O-Meal. Al has contracted with Malt-O-Meal to bring some of their warehousing to Albert Lea, said Paul Sparks, executive director of Albert Lea Economic Development.

The project will create approximately 20 jobs with the majority contracted through Cedar Valley Services.

&8220;As a part of that move, Cedar Valley will operate a special or controlled environment production facility for Malt-O-Meal, employing approximately 20 people,&8221; Sparks said.

Larson will also add six people for the warehousing part of the contract. There are about $400,000 in improvements needed to create the food quality work space and an environment for the CVS production area, Sparks said.

In other business, the county board:

– Approved conditional use permits for three properties. The first was a request from Gary Seedorf for gravel excavation to put in a driveway.

&8220;The exact location of the driveway will be determined after meeting with the highway engineer and approval is given by that office,&8221; Wayne Sorensen said.

Kenneth Farr requested a conditional use permit to put up a fence and have a commercial kennel on his property at 83155 320 St. near Ellendale. He plans on using the location to train dogs for

coyote hunting.

&8220;We&8217;ve set the permit up with a one year expiration date, so if there are any problems we can choose not to renew it,&8221; Sorensen said.

Aron and Melanie Attig requested a permit for the construction of a partial confinement barn with an earthen or dirt floor with runoff controls to house 65 feeder cattle. The location on their property where they plan to locate the barn is just outside the one-mile limit from the town of Glenville.

&8220;We&8217;re trying to enable them to do something on that parcel and still follow the rules,&8221; Sorensen said.

– Approved the advancement of $723,465 of 2007 construction state aid dollars into the 2006 account.

&8220;The county has authorized advanced funds several times in the last few years to complete larger projects and leverage state bonding dollars in accordance with our five-year capitol improvement plan,&8221; said Sue Miller, Freeborn County engineer.

– Authorized Freeborn County Highway Department to process final payment on the Exol Road in Freeman Township. The project cost $462,627 and the resolution authorizes the final payment in the amount of $23,131.

– Authorized the resolution to enter into agreement with the Union Pacific Railroad and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to install and maintain railroad crossing signals at the intersection of County Road 35 near Geneva. The county&8217;s share of the cost is 10 percent of total project costs and is estimated at $14,549.

The project will be completed by the DOT and the railroad in 2007.

– Heard an update on the progress of the Freeborn County Veterans Memorial. Last week Larson Contracting excavated the site and will soon be laying down sidewalks. The granite will be ready in late October and the brick pavers will be laid soon after that, said Jon Rhiger.

&8220;The project should be completed by Dec. 11,&8221; Rhiger said.