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MARSHALL -- Southwest Minnesota doesn't just have infrastructure in need of updates -- getting the funding to improve streets and utilities can be a challenge, area mayors said Wednesday.
In a videoconference with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said legislation like the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the inflation reduction act gave cities some possible funding opportunities.
"I think one of the limitations that we would have is the ability to access some of those dollars," Byrnes said.
Jackson Mayor Wayne Walter voiced similar concerns.
"There's money that's been designated for it, but it just don't seem that we ever hear about how to get it," Walter said.
Klobuchar held a virtual roundtable discussion with a panel of area mayors on Wednesday, including Byrnes, Walter, Fairmont Mayor Deb Foster and Blue Earth Mayor Rick Scholtes.
"I thought this would be a good opportunity, as we're going to be back in Washington after this election is done," Klobuchar told the group. She said Congress would not only be working on n end-of-year omnibus bill, but would also be looking ahead at infrastructure projects. "As you know, the infrastructure bill we passed back about a year ago, the bipartisan infrastructure bill still has funding that's going out."
Klobuchar said she knew many Greater Minnesota communities have ongoing infrastructure needs from roads and bridges to broadband Internet access; as well as needs for child care, housing and workforce development.
"You've touched on so many things that are important to all of us. I'm just going to touch on two of those things," Byrnes said. "One of those is infrastructure. All of the cities represented here have infrastructure needs."
Byrnes said it also wasn't necessarily easy for cities to access the help they need to get funding for infrastructure projects.
"I know the Minnesota Department of Commerce is looking at ways to perhaps assist our cities, large and small, in doing that. But that is one of the challenges," he said.
Walter said the city of Jackson is faced with many streets in need of work, but a shortage of money to do it with.
Byrnes thanked Klobuchar for supporting the Minnesota Department of Transportation's application for a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to help fund reconstruction of Highway 19 in Marshall. Unfortunately, the grant funding wasn't approved.
"I think MnDOT had high hopes. I was really surprised when that did not get approved," Byrnes said. "We will be submitting that again."
Byrnes said he also wanted to call attention to workforce needs in southwest Minnesota.
"You mentioned earlier that certainly Minnesota has a very low unemployment rate. Southern Minnesota and southwest Minnesota has an even lower unemployment rate than the rest of the state," Byrnes said. "That's really limiting our ability for economic expansion."
Walter, Foster and Scholtes all said their cities were also struggling with needs for housing and child care to help allow the local workforce to grow.
Last year, the Southwest Minnesota Council of Mayors proposed a tuition forgiveness program for students at technical colleges in specific career areas, who agree to stay in the region for at least three years.
"That bill, our workforce proposal was not passed by the Minnesota legislature, because the jobs bill was not passed. It was in the final bill," Byrnes said. "We will propose it again," with some modifications, he said.
Scholtes put one particular workforce shortage in the spotlight: a lack of rural veterinarians.
"Blue Earth and other small communities are facing what will become a crisis due to the lack of available large animal veterinarians," Scholtes said. He said Faribault County currently has only one provider who does both large and small animal veterinary care, and that provider has had no luck finding someone to take over his business.
"Many communities in greater Minnesota are feeling the same pains, or soon will be as veterinarians are aging out of the workforce," Scholtes said. "How can we recruit people to come do this?"
Klobuchar said she could work to support infrastructure projects in southwest Minnesota, as well as advocating with the governor and state legislators.
"I think the time to do it is right after the election," she said. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this, is just to make this case for some of the rural projects that are sitting in there."