GRANITE FALLS — Yellow Medicine County Board Chairman Gary Johnson was upset to read the rumors alleging the board refusing to do anything about the Prairie Land Childcare/Preschool pulling out of Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Granite Falls.

“We’ve had several meetings and worked hard, but nobody’s gotten anything done,” Johnson said.

Prairie Five is one of the agencies for which Johnson sits on the board.

“We met on May 27, June 21 and in July. Head Start was originally part of it, but we lost $30,000 last year,” Johnson said.

Johnson blamed lack of community support. He said a child daycare is not used by everyone like parks or streets.

“I met with the mayor, and we had a healthy talk,” Johnson said. “But the first of December, Prairie Five will not reapply for the day care license.”

“It’s not a Yellow Medicine County (project),” YMC Administrator Peg Heglund said. “I don’t believe it’s our job to lead this (cause), just support it. The city should go to the RDC (Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission) and get someone to work through this.”

Johnson added that the two city employees involved do not have time to do anything, either.

“If anyone wants to approach the (county) EDA for a family daycare permit, we would consider it,” Heglund said. “But I don’t see this is as a county problem.”

Nanny care is legal in Minnesota, she added.

“We should have a multi-organizational meeting,” Johnson said. “The county is not taking the lead on this. Prairie Five is not coming back to do this.”

Prairie Five has 15 citizens on the board, Johnson said, but they are not professional experts in the field of daycare. They deal with a plethora of services, including senior dining, Meals on Wheels and transportation of carless citizens.

Daycare is a big topic in Clarkfield, too, Heglund said. City Administrator Amanda Luepke is working on it.

Johnson said rumors are running rampant about trying to put a daycare into the old public school or build a new one. He also said one of the rumors was that they are moving forward with starting a before- and after-school program in the charter school and making room for a preschool.

School director Kathy Koetter said that they had hoped to provide summertime daycare while they continued to research options, however, that did not pan out.

As early as January, Koetter said, she started hearing from families of the charter school students about the shortage of daycare.

“They asked if we could add a daycare to our school,” she said. “Our authorizers said “No.” That prompted me to go to the city and other organizers to see what could be done. There are a lot of young families moving into Clarkfield. If you don’t have a daycare, it could be a problem. Even the businesses are concerned.”

Koetter said Luepke agreed that the need was too great to ignore. The two began working to find locations and resources to satisfy the need. Koetter even attended Yellow Medicine County daycare task force meetings in Granite Falls spearheaded by Granite Falls EDA Director Cathy Anderson.

Eventually, Koetter and Luepke diverged onto their own path and focused on the Clarkfield community concerns. They soon became aware of the need to construct a new facility to meet the needs of the community.

“Amanda (Luepke) and I have been targeting a center for infants and toddlers especially,” she said.

“We’re already 50 percent occupied (waiting list), and we haven’t even broken ground, yet,” Luepke said.

The two set out to get bids for the new construction once some property just north of the old school was donated to the cause. It was donated by the Yellow Medicine East School District.

“It already has play equipment and plenty of room,” Koetter said.

Luepke added that the property came with a small building equipped with plumbing and electricity which will be used at some time in the future.

“We were just going to add onto it, but it’s not a permanent structure,” Luepke said, “but it will get used in the future.”

The daycare project went before the Clarkfield City Council Tuesday evening with the council voting to contribute $25,000 toward project management and architect fees.

“After Tuesday night’s council meeting, we’re definitely moving forward on this project,” Luepke said.

Koetter also said she and Luepke have been working on an application for a Busch Foundation Community Innovation Grant to help fund the venture and that the new day are would be run like a business with attention to the “bottom line.”

“The Clarkfield initiative is really taking off,” Koetter said. “I’m so thankful for the community support. It is something for the whole community to embrace.”

Prairie Land Childcare/Preschool management was contacted but unavailable for comment at this time.

Anderson and the task force continues the search in the Granite Falls area for a replacement for the Prairie Land Childcare/Preschool. Anyone with pertinent information, resources or other ideas can contact her at 320-564-2255.