Lake County board minutes highlight veterans events, county operations

Lake County residents paying 2026 property taxes online are now using Municipay, the county’s new payment platform through AutoAgent, while veterans are getting a monthly coffee break and movie night backed by local volunteers and Harbor Theater. Those were among the most practical items discussed when the Lake County Board met March 24 at the Lake County Service Center in Two Harbors.

The five-member board, led by chair Rich Sve and commissioners Joe Baltich, Derrick Rick Goutermont, Jeremy Hurd and Richard Rick Hogenson, met with county administrator Matthew Huddleston, interim county attorney Lara Nygaard, interim auditor-treasurer Ronelle Radle, HR director Cammie Young, land commissioner Nate Eide, environmental services assistant director Tanya Feldkamp and clerk of the board Laurel Buchanan. Lake County sets its meeting schedule each year at the January organizational meeting, and the March session showed how many departments are tied to the board’s decisions, from taxes and land sales to services for veterans and health care claims.

Tanya Bruzek of Operation Volunteers for Veterans told the board about monthly social events planned with Harbor Theater: a coffee break for veterans on the first Thursday morning and a veterans’ movie night on the third Thursday evening. Veterans attend free, and public ticket proceeds help cover that access. The programs matter in a county where the U.S. Census Bureau estimates 683 veterans lived in the 2020-2024 period, in a population of 10,905 in the 2020 census and an estimated 10,698 on July 1, 2024. Lake County Veterans Services says it helps veterans, dependents and survivors with claims, benefit counseling, advocacy and help obtaining military discharge documents, and it offers Wednesday appointments at the Silver Bay Service Center.

Land management also stayed on the board’s radar. Eide said he planned to testify on Senate File 1245 and reported healthy bidding on a land sale. Lake County says it regularly auctions tax-forfeit or county fee lands online or in person through PublicSurplus.com, a process that can return property to private use and alter the county’s tax base over time. The board also approved the consent agenda, including Health and Human Services claims payments, a reminder that some of the county’s biggest financial responsibilities move through routine action with little public spectacle.

Radle’s update on property taxes may have been the most immediate item for residents. She said tax notices had been mailed and that the new online payment system was working well. Lake County says the Minnesota Department of Revenue oversees the property tax process, and its 2026 tax-year payment pages now direct residents to Municipay for online payments and in-person credit card transactions. The county’s audited financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, provide the broader fiscal backdrop for the board’s work as it balances service delivery, land administration and day-to-day financial oversight.