Le Sueur County will be honored Monday, Dec. 3 during the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MCIT) Annual Meeting in Bloomington.
MCIT announced last week that Le Sueur County has been selected as the 2018 County of the Year.
"The county has distinguished itself in the areas of loss control, risk management, claims administration, and responsiveness to MCIT," MCIT Executive Director Robyn M. Sykes said. "MCIT commends the county's commitment to managing exposures that jeopardize employees and citizens of the county to loss."

Le Sueur County has a furry, four-legged crime fighter.
The county’s newest K-9, “Jett”, started work on November 20.
The county secured Jett, a purebred German Shepherd, last autumn when he was around nine-weeks-old. Jett was bred locally from Kozie Shepherds in southern Minnesota and attended his K9 academy with Le Sueur County Deputy Joe Kern at Performance Kennels in Buffalo. Nationally Certified K9 Trainer, Steve Pearson, was responsible for training Jett.

A new meal option is available in Waterville for those ages 60 and older who would benefit from others cooking healthy meals for them.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) opened a new Senior Dining location at The Village in Waterville on Monday, November 12. The kitchen and dining site will provide hot, nutritious meals that will be available not only at the community center at noon, but also by delivery right to the doors of area residents, a service known locally as Meals on Wheels.

A Le Sueur County judge has ordered the Le Sueur County Historical Society (LCHS) to turn over all of its financial records and books, hold a fair and democratic election for members, and allow the additional members to join the lawsuit against it, among other things.
This order was filed on November 8.
A lawsuit was filed against LCHS on February 21 by 16 members who allege the existing board of LCHS has mismanaged the society, has murky financial dealings, and followed anti-democratic processes, which, they state are contrary to Minnesota law and LCHS bylaws.

Her son was just two years old when she boarded a military plane bound for Afghanistan.
Leaving was hard. Really hard.
But, the young mother knew that her military service was important and embraced her one-year deployment.
Sara (Southard) Warner of Waterville enlisted in the Army Reserve shortly after earning her General Education Diploma (GED) in 2004. She was 18.

Due to a decrease in funding from the state, Le Sueur County veterans will see a change in their transportation provided by the county.
Veterans utilizing the Le Sueur County Veterans Van will now be charged $10 per trip to the Minneapolis VA Hospital.
This change was approved during the Tuesday, Nov. 6 Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners meeting in Le Center.
According to Veteran's Service Officer Jim Golgart, the funding his department receives from the state has dwindled to between $1,500 and $2,000.

New mayors have been elected in Elysian and Morristown Tuesday, Nov. 6. Tom McBroom has been elected the Elysian Mayor, receiving 145 votes. Pat Nusbaum received 127 votes and Shawn Anderson received 78 votes. In Morristown, Tony Lindahl was elected mayor with 182 votes. Kurt Wolf received 156 votes and Rick Vollbrecht received 97 votes. The WEM building bond was approved by a wide margin, with 1955 people voting for the $19.3 million dollar bond and 1,154 voting against. In Waterville, Al Schmidtke remains the mayor, and David Wollin and Roy McIntyre remain the city council members.

Le Sueur County voters chose to keep incumbent Sheriff Brett Mason and incumbent Auditor/Treasurer Pam Simonette in office, along with three other county officials who were unopposed for re-election in county-wide races. 
 
They also returned two incumbents to the Board of Commissioners and chose Danny O’Keefe to represent District 2 on the County Board. 
 

As of 1:30 p.m. Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, a total of 363 people had cast their votes at Waterville's City Hall.

The Waterville-Elysian-Morristown volleyball team claiimed its 4th straight South Sub-Section Championship Thursday,. Nov. 1, defeating St. Clair 25-27, 25-23, 25-15, and 25-16 at Mankato East. The Bucs will face the North Sub-Section Champions, Mayer Lutheran, for fourth straight time in the Section 2A Championship. The Crusaders knocked off No. 1 seed BOLD in five sets Thursday. Mayer Lutheran is the two-time defending State Champions and handed WEM one of their two losses at the Class A Volleyball Classic in September.

The Waterville Area Chamber of Commerce held an election October 18.
Bill Conlin, Del Point, and Todd Schwartz were elected to serve three-year terms on the Chamber’s Board of Directors. Wendy Davis and Sean McCaslin were elected to serve two-year terms on the board. This filled five of the seven open positions.

The Lake Region Area will feature a number of races in local community elections. The WEM School Board will also have an election and a building bond to vote on. In Elysian, Shawn Anderson, Tom McBroom. Pat Nusbaum, and Roger Quiram are vying for the position as mayor. Bobby Houlihan, Dennis Schnoor, Bryan Suemnick, and Derek Westby are looking to fill two Elysian City Council positions. In Morristown, Tony Lindahl, Rick Vollbrecht, and Kurt Wolf will be running for mayor. Justin Duncan, Tim Flaten, Jake Golombeski, and Seth Prescher are seeking two council positions.

The Cannon River Watershed Partnership (CRWP) staff gathered stories from watershed residents about how their community and lakes are doing.
This project of the CRWP dealt with “Lake Stories” from the Waterville Creek Watershed.
The CRWP staff interviewed eight community members about the following:
* Concerns for the future and their local lakes;
* Ideas for how partners can work together to strengthen communities;
* Recommendations for improving water in our lakes, rivers, and wells.
Among the community concerns were:

A Waterville woman sustained non-life threatening injuries after a one-vehicle crash Monday morning, October 29, in Elysian Township.
Christina Kepner, 50, of Waterville was driving a 2008 Mazda 6 westbound on Highway 60 in Le Sueur County when the vehicle drifted off the roadway to the left and continued down the south ditch. The vehicle vaulted and rolled, landing on its side.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol incident report, the accident occurred at approximately 6:30 a.m.

The Lake Area Historians hosted local speaker Chester "Chet" Hrdlicka of Elysian during the organization's October 15 meeting that was held at the Elysian American Legion. Hrdlicka shared "Part 2" of his historic tales of Elysian.
Hrdlicka's grandfather, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, settled in the Elysian area when there was no electricity and Park Street was the Main Street of the British/English community that was called Logan at the time.

Le Sueur County and the State of Minnesota have entered into a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) pertaining to Sanborn Lake.
This JPA was approved during the Tuesday. Oct. 23 Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners meeting in Le Center. Tim Koppelman, an assistant manager with the Minnesota DNR in Nicollet County, presented the agreement which makes the county the drainage authority for County Ditch 54 which is located near this lake which is 1.5 miles northeast of Montgomery.