The Washington County Board met last night and they met in the old courtroom, as it was vacated due to the new Judicial Building.  They might put another table in the board room to hold committee meetings.  County Highway Engineer Mitch Burdick says bids came in for the rock materials for the roads, which comes out of the Motor Fuel Tax Funds.  These bids were approved by the Board.  He says work has started up on the Stone Church Road Bridge.  He also updated the Board on the snow situation up to now.  They had 31 days of snow work, as opposed to 18 last year.  They averaged nearly 218 hours per snow removal, compared to an average of 76 hours per snow removal last year.  The price tag is $140,000, which includes $40,000 for labor, $65,000 for equipment usage, $21,000 to purchase 400 tons of salt and $14,000 to purchase 1,200 tons of cinders.  They actually used 550 tons of salt and 1,500 tons of cinders.  They have also found damage to the roads, due to the hard winter, and they will be making repairs throughout the year.  County Clerk Tom Ganz reported that the new Land Record system has been installed due to the company not being able to come out because of the bad winter.  He also said election time is here and they still need some Election Judges.  Anyone interested in working that should call 327-4800, extension 300.  It pays $100 for the day and $20 after attending the class.  Washington County Treasurer’s Treasurer Ronda Groennert made her report on the final 2012 Real Estate Tax distribution, the 2013 Mobile Home Tax distribution and a Back Tax distribution.  She says the final real estate tax distribution, plus interest and fees collected, was $1,874,987.87 for a total amount of $18,869,405.90 in real estate taxes.  The previous $16.7 million was already distributed to the taxing districts.  The total mobile home tax distribution, plus back fees, was $18,052.11, as the total of back taxes collected and distributed was $11,816.58.  The Board approved a special use permit for Dolan Reality Advisors, LLC for a 280 foot tall cell tower to be put up near Oakdale.  Emergency services have said this will help with communications in the Oakdale area.  Most everything going from the Courthouse to the new Judicial Building has been moved, except most of the files and records, as well as some benches.  They were originally moved over, but once in place, they did not match anything and looked bad.  The Board approved the purchase of 6 benches for the price of $5,975 through Sauder (So-der).  They will match the pews in the new Courtrooms.  There are still some small things needed to be completed, but the fund set up for this is running low and an additional $1,795.13 is needed, so the Board approved this to complete the work.  A dedication or open house was discussed, but it was tabled as the building committee will put together a proposal for Sunday, April 27^th at 2 PM or so.  They also decided to keep to the original landscaping plan and have grass planted, as opposed to rock or some other material.  Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows XP as of April 8^th.  Many county systems will be affected, as viruses will be more of a problem, as XP will no longer be updated with virus patches.  The Board agreed to $14,130 for 9 computers for the Sheriff’s Office.  An additional $29,333.07 is needed to replace 23 computers and refurbish 21 others.  This included $6,000 for labor and the Board approved this.  They also agreed to a contract renewal with Miken for $30,155, as they had credit not used last year.  Finally, the Board approved a letter of support for the Washington County Enterprise Zone, which expires in 2015.