##VIDEO ID:vCbXTQ7Xnh0## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e y we call to order the board workshop for Washington County for August 13 2024 uh do we need roll call Mr chair we do not okay so we're going to kick it off here it's budget is basically uh uh two budgets and uh and an update on uh public health and environment so the budget workshops are the first one is uh Wayne Sandberg recommended budget for uh Public Works welcome all right thank you Mr chair and Commissioners good morning as was stated my name is Wayne Samberg I serve as a public works director be reviewing uh both items this morning our Public Works budget and our regional rail Authority and Gold Line budget I want to thank you for the opportunity to be able to present these to you today so we'll start with public works we'll review the overall budget principles of our public works department and our mission and values um we'll talk about some of the key factors that have influenced this budget proposal and then we'll go over a little bit more in detail the overall operating budget for each one of our Public Works divisions and we'll wrap it up with a high level overview of our Capital plan for 2025 so Public Works represents over 170 employees who have dedicated their careers to serving our communities to plan build and maintain a better Washington County our Public Works stars are our employees who do their work by following our Public Works values of safety teamwork accountability respect and sustainability this budget reflects their service the service they have provided to the public and the service in the past and the services they will provide in the future some key factors that are influencing our Public Works budget our highway state revenue which is one of our key Revenue sources has been in decline or very slow growth for The Last 5 Years for example this year our actual revenues were about $100,000 less than we had budgeted for this year so for 2025 we're budgeting a 5.5% increase in our highway state aid we do believe this amount is reasonable based on our collaboration with the mind. state aid office of what we can expect for revenues to come in for 2025 of course if we're off on that there would be a potentially be a hole there we' have to look at additionally and in addition to our state aid being relatively flat um in the past five years cost for materials that we use to maintain our roadways continues to increase so for example salt our 2025 estimate for salt is $11 per ton for um comparison just two years ago in 2023 that amount was $84 per ton that's a 20% increase in that material alone in the last two years we're also seeing increased cost for utilities Heating and Cooling and insurance um our overall Revenue has not increased at the same rate as these costs so to help offset that we're reducing some of our service contracts and moving these services in house for example in 2025 we're going to significantly our plan is to significantly reduce our Landscaping Contract Services perform that work with in-house staff and these types of strategies have helped us present to you today a balanced budget of course all this under the umbrella that um demand for services that Public Works provides does continue to increase total operating revenue for Public Works in 2025 is just over $34 million um property tax levy is our largest funding source in operations our operating budget next is miscellaneous Revenue this represents a cross-section of Revenue sources in public works including internal rent for our Building Services team fees for camping and other re rentals of buildings in our parks in our historic courthouse and miscellaneous sales which are Park sales of equipment and Rental such as kayaks in our Parks intergovernmental Revenue represents our highway state aid that is dedicated toward maintaining our highway system and Parks Revenue received through the med Council for operations of our regional park system other taxes includes use of the wheelage tax for our Fleet equipment replacement licenses and permits and park vehicle permit Revenue fees for services include our plat review fees for our County Surveyor and copy center charges in our building services and then other financing internal rent external rent um miscellaneous sales and other financing services for operating transfers from an expenditure standpoint our largest expend is our most valuable asset our people um in addition to that though we have materials and supplies I mentioned some of those things are salt um including fuel culverts gravel sand wood toilet paper cleaning supplies mops and brooms all going up in price as we as we move forward services and charges includes contracts such as Road striping traffic signal maintenance other services such as cell phones and radios for communication amongst our staff utilities and some technical assistance from consulting firms engineers and Architects the capital component is our Fleet replacement program so as we replace vehicles in our Fleet this is budgeted in our Capital Fleet and operations and other financing sources the amount we are putting towards Capital repair to provide funding for the repair and upkeep of our County facilities just some significant budget changes to highlight um Building Services um facilities and repair um has increased expenditure wise $160,000 um Road and Bridge maintenance Euro year increase of 18,700 um for maintenance again reflecting some of those increased costs and however we have had some onetime budget savings for reduced salt order 25 we um used less salt last year for that light winter we we kept that salt in our shed we're going to be able to buy less this year and that's helped us offset some of the increased costs on fuel for vehicles a year-over-year decrease of 58,800 this is um related to a a cooperation effort we do with our County Sheriff Public Works have been paying the fuel tax um fuel tax for fuel um we're going to shift that over to the Sheriff's Department to pay for the any of the fuel that's used by their vehicles so it's just really an internal shift of who's paying that tax FTE budget summary so we are proposing one new position as an engineer with a water resources Focus this is an important role for us in public works you know there's increased sensitivity and requirements related to surface water management both during and after construction this also is tied to our designs as we work toward building more resiliency in our built environment and being better stewards of the environment with our project designs we have been using heavily the use of Consultants to help us help guide us and help support this component of our work um we think we're at the point where bringing somebody in house would provide significant benefit not only to the work that we do but also to our colleagues to their colleagues to be mentor to others in in our department so we are proposing to bring on a water resources engineer um you'll note here we are deleting two FTE those are related to two special products that will expire so we're not laying anybody off they were special product positions that will expire next year so netting increase of one some division highlights just mentioned that remind Public Works is comprised of six divisions we have our internal services division which is comprised of our accounting and our Administration group Building Services which manages our facilities and grounds our Parks division our planning division our County Surveyor and then our Road and Bridge uh which is oftentimes referenced as Transportation or the highway department comprised of our Fleet construction traffic engineering and operations our design team and then our Highway Maintenance forces a little bit about each division some highlights our internal services division handles over 11,000 payable transactions every year uh averaging about $56 million per year that represents over 44 payment transactions toing over $200,000 per day coming out of this group nearly 1,200 purchase orders in contract managing over $135 million in Department Capital budgets um Public Works is at the board probably more than any other department with an estimated 160 board agenda items each year averaging four board items per meeting they all roll through this group here Building Services we manage over 1.1 million square feet of County facilities and surrounding properties Building Services team completes over 9,000 work orders annually about 35 work orders per day the majority of them are preventive maintenance is good we want to be ahead of these issues if we can be meaning we are proactively addressing issues before they become major expensive problems this team manages all levels of projects from painting walls and then and switching out light fixtures to building new libraries and service centers all whirling through Building Services these products not only provide improved performance but as an example here these upgrades also save energy and reduce our overall greenhouse gas footprint as an organization our County parks are comprised of eight Regional Parks two Regional Trails one Conservation Area and the historic Courthouse representing over 5,000 acres of land under the stewardship of our parks department division Public Works Parks is the largest single land owner and land steart in the county our parks are open 365 days a year we serve over 1.8 million visitors each year this number has steadily increased since 2015 our parks are unique we focus on the preservation of open space we enhance natural and cultural resources and we offer Recreation and educ ation to the communities our planning division are the forward thinkers in our department helping to define the future of transportation and infrastructure in Washington County this team staffs numerous projects and spends a significant amount of their time out in the public engaging our residents to learn more about their concerns and their thoughts and their wants for transportation into the future this team also leads our grant and funding request process a team that has been quite successful in bringing in federal money in the last few years and will continue to be in the future this team has brought in federal money for products such as our County 17 and 36 interchange our 19a realignment our Valley Creek Road and Settlers Ridge Parkway intersection Highway 61 and County Road 50 intersection and our centry Avenue improvements in our survey division we are responsible for maintaining the public land survey Corners these land Corners provide the framework for all the property descriptions across the county and the state our surveys are very busy they've ploted over 1,150 New Lots 950 new tax parcels and created over 1100 New addresses and um adding nearly 21 new name streets in the county and we see that Trend continuing moving forward in 2025 and then lastly our Road and Bridge division we maintain nearly 300 miles of County Highway including 31,000 traffic highway signs in any given year we are placing 70,000 tons of pavement that's 140 million pounds of pavement placed so switching over to some of our Capital products that we're proposing for 2025 our Capital program reflects our commitment to building and maintaining the infrastructure that supports our communities through the built environment this is important to serve our existing residents but also to welcome and serve new residents of the county that's important because since 2020 Washington County according to the Census Bureau has added has added and welcomed over 11,000 new residents this is more than any county in the state of Minnesota our overall pavment conditions in the county while still relatively High though are trending downwards and this is a visible measure of the condition of our infrastructure at something we're monitoring and does influence our future plan Investments we have been successful in bringing in substantial amounts of external funding especially Federal funding which does influence some of the products that we select and the demand for our services so we provide continuous increase for example today we are seeing 1.46 million vehicle miles traveled each and every day on our County highways that's equivalent to six round trips to the Moon there and back every single day traveled on our County County just our County routes in the county the last factor is operating budget challenges as our Capital plans continue to grow in size and complexity we are hiring more private sector expertise to help us deliver we've always had this balance of internal staff along with the external private sector expertise we value our private sector Partners they bring in new ideas fresh ideas new experiences knowledge we don't have in house and we've always had that positive relationship in Balance there but that ratio is something that influences advaning is it not advancing I'm good I think I'm good yeah sorry but the screen fell off but I'll just roll with it so the balance between our internal and external staff is something that we valued and will continue to have in the future but the ratio is starting to tip more towards having us think about having more internal support on some of these things so we're seeing the ratio go higher and higher for the external staff that we have and it's something that we want to look at moving into the future in other words maybe we should bring some more of that in house you'll see that if reflected in the budgets here so we have a wide variety of Revenue sources in our Capital program um the County transportation sales tax that's the largest at 11.6 million followed by our highway state a at 11.2 million like I mentioned other sources include wheelage tax County Levy Med Council grants federal grants the transportation advancement account which is a new funding source and more each type of funding has its own reporting requirements so managing These funds continues to increase in complexity our capital expenditure divided into four categories construction land acquisition buildings and structures and consultant costs and like I mentioned we're at right now about 28% uh for Consultants we typically like to see that number in the 20 to 25% range so it's an example of what I was saying is that we're pushing toward the higher end of buying in bringing in Consultants to bring in expertise we probably need to start thinking about down the line bringing some more of that in house for our Public Works Fleet we maintain all the vehicles and much of the equipment for the county over uh totaling over 650 pieces of equipment the replacement value of our Fleet right now is $57 million so our vehicles and Equipment are a large asset to the organization mean though there we go our Fleet is aging 39% of our equipment and vehicles are over a decade old so this is a testament to our ability to maintain our Fleet and keep it longer we have uh some of our Fleet the length of ownership we have some of the longest in the metro area we keep our plow trucks for example 12 years industry standard is 8 to 10 we're pushing 12 sometimes even 13 or 14 years in our plow trucks I think it's good it's a reflection of our great mechanics and how they maintain things but it also does cost more as those trucks get to the end of their service life and we have to be mindful of that ratio that balance so the total amount allocated Fleet replacement in 2025 is 1.7 million this includes a $1 million wheelage tax that'll be put towards Fleet replacement we did that last year and we're recommending continuing to do that uh moving forward in 2025 um again mentioning some Trends we have a growing Fleet increased duration of ownership increasing cost of of parts and replacement um and our outcomes are costly we keep the vehicles longer it does cost more it's a balancing act we're outside of warranties many times and you can have have more breakdowns so um we're working towards bringing some of those vehicle ownership years down the service life down to improve that balance and that and the budget we're recommending this year will for next year will help us with that but Building Services Capital revenues um so from our main funding source is Levy over 5.8 million um this is a capital redirect for Stafford library and emergency housing supplemental um so we'll be putting this money to work next year for both the Stafford library and the emergency housing project an operating transfer in of 1.5 million is for court security cameras and then a capital repair fund of 1.65 million Capital repair fund is what the fund we use to help maintain things in the building like replacing carpet painting walls light fixtures and so forth all of our funding goes to our buildings and structures some of the projects are shown here I'm not going to go over every single project I'll just highlight a few the Stafford Library renovation project kicks off in 2025 we've got the emergency housing funding project that we're supporting Community Services as a lead on that and upgrading court security cameras like I mentioned some highlights for our Park Capital proposal for 2025 the primary funding source of our parks in our CIP is med ccil grants through the regional park system and then the transmission line tax all of our all of it goes to capital outlay for Parks some highlights include Park and trail long range planning Battle Creek to the St Cy River improvements to Square Lake in point Douglas Park and then Central Greenway W finding bike and ped plan Vision so um Central Greenway by the end of this summer will have fully connect Ed Ravine Park to Lake Elmo Park next year we're going to start implementing some of our wayfinding goals that were in our bike and ped plan to help identify various stops along the routes way points um and really promote that as a corridor of value for our community and then rad and Bridge capital projects I do want to touch on the transportation advancement account we talked a lot about this last year for 2024 for this year for 2025 um reminder the transportation advancement account is a relatively new fund created by the legislature it's comprised of revenues coming in from the retail delivery fee and of packages the Metro sales tax and the sales tax and Auto Parts the fund has three categories directed by law the first is 41.5% of the money must that comes to Washington County must be spent for active transportation and Corridor studies we call that taa1 category 1 41.5% must go for rehabil itation of infrastructure without adding capacity we're calling that te2 and then tea3 represents 177% that's year marked for Transit expansion and complete streets projects now taa1 and TAA 2 were already included in our 2024 budget you might recall we had a workshop back in April to get feedback on how you want to see us promote and move forward with the ta3 category this slide here breaks down what we're proposing for 2025 based on your feedback so we'll bring in uh we'll be using this money to fund those two new FTE the one I mentioned earlier a water resources engineer um they will help bring some of that skill to the department and the one I'm going to talk about in our Gold Line and and Regional Rail budget of 101,000 for a regional rail planner Edition that planner will help us with a number of components you see here TR Transit circulator support so we're setting aside $200,000 for that we're setting aside $200,000 for a Transit needs study update that we'll look at Transit needs across the county um and where their priorities should be and then we're setting aside 75,000 for construction engineering and support of our construction program and the remainder about 700,000 estimate will go towards projects uh under the complete streets category overall Roden Bridge Capital uh Revenue coming in again a wide variety of sources I've touched on most of these already um County transportation sales tax are highway state aid and a taa1 12 and three now represent our three largest funding sources and again all towards Capital outlay 2025 we're looking at about um 47 thou $47 million program again um we break up our program into categories so the first one is engineering planning and Consulting this this is work on products that will be constructed in a future year so this is not the list that we're going to construct 2025 but it's a list of projects that we're working on that will be constructed further out in The Five-Year Plan um and I've mentioned before why we have to do this the way we do it typically takes about seven years for a project to go from conception idea to ribbon cutting and so what while we're thinking about what we're going to build in 2025 we also have to be thinking about what we're going to build further out and be working on those projects ahead of time uh another big component of what we do is the uh need to acquire and purchase additional land for our projects land is most often needed to support trails and sidewalks storm water ponds and site corners and clear zones for safety so these are a list of products that will be buying land from land owners private land owners on to um support the product moving into the future and then this slide does show the products that we are recommending for construction in 2025 and I'm not going to read the whole list but just highlight a few um Highway 5 in north of stillw water from Sycamore Street to Highway 96 we'll be adding a new pavement new Trad and and and replacing the bridge over Browns Creek Trail gassa 13 trail from helmo to olssen Lake Trail so this road is being repaved this year um the trail was very complicated to build a small section but real complicated a lot of drainage issues so we staggered that to be built next year and that trail will be an important link though will essentially connect majority of oakdale's system with all of the Woodberry system to the South so it's a really critical link we're really excited to get that one done kassa 15 from 10th Street to 30th Street so casassa 15 is also known as Manning Avenue and the section of Manning Avenue from 10 to 30th right now is the busiest two-lane Highway we have in the county there's no Center turn Lanes if you drive that during rush hour you you can it's common for you to experience the line of cars going as Bumper to Bumper as long as you can see it's very very busy Corridor and it needs to have some turn lanes for safety so people can safely turn off and on the side streets and so so we're I'm excited that we're going to be able to add that to the program this year um a preview into the future though is that that is going to help with some safety concerns from a capacity standpoint this road does need to be expanded to a fourl highway so it's something that you'll start to see us talk about out into the future as well down the line and then a Gateway Trail extension product in Scandia so we're working with the city of Scandia who's the lead to improve uh County Road 52 and build a tunnel underneath there to help support Gateway Trail extension all the way up to Scandia our P program these are the roads that we're going to repave in 2025 including cassad 25 or Century Avenue from County Road 16 Valley Creek Road South to 94 um it's it's a very um rough road and we're working cooperatively with Ramsey County to improve that whole section casassa 13 which is uh Inwood Avenue from 10 to County Road 6 that that travels along the western edge of our lakeo park reserve and we're doing significant Park Improvement Park pavement improvements across the park system Pavements are one of our largest Assets in Parks it's often forgotten because we're so busy building recreational components but we do need to maintain that pavement infrastructure Road and Bridge projects again um I'm sorry programmatic projects so in our CIP there's a number of programmatic components that allow us every year to set aside money for key Replacements we have structures and roadway stabilization so this helps us manage large culs large washouts every year that we have again tied back to resiliency in our system and we have countywide safety um where we can deal with a turn lane here or there that we as needed so be able to allow us to respond to safety concerns throughout the year a crosswalk what have you Corridor signal timing is super important um we have close to 100 signal stop lights in our system and many of them are tied together and they need to work together but as traffic patterns change and traffic grows across the county those programs become outdated typical shelf life is about 5 to 7 years for one of those programs so we need to be replacing those on a continual basis to stay on top of that improve the efficiency of our quarter that also reduces greenhouse gas emissions having a more efficiently run Corridor then intersection control which is adding stop lights or um stop signs at various intersections so to wrap up um increasing operating costs have D helped help inform this this budget materials fuel fuel and labor um we're experiencing increasing construction costs uh for example the national highway construction cost index is in a measure of how expensive it is to build highways that's doubled in the last decade so basically roads are about twice as much to build now as they were 10 years ago we're building all that into the budget include and also adding that increased awareness of overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as we build roads and our facilities we're mindful of that we're investing in the right things to help us reduce our energy use like I said said our demand for our services continues to increase traffic is growing in the county um safety continues to be a concern we're monitoring that all across the county and looking to make those key Investments to help improve safety and uh delivery of Rec construction program continues to become more more complex and more heavily regulated um that Water Resources engineer we're bringing in will help us build that stronger liaison with the npca for example who oversees many of our projects um and so this is uh um a component that we are Staffing up for but also continuing to monitor with that said the 2025 budget is going to provide outstanding service to the community um we're we're making significant progress on our infrastructure and looking forward to um a great 2025 with this budget so I'd be happy to stand now for any questions on the um Public Works budget thank you Wayne um good presentation a lot is happening in public works I'll leave it at that to start questions from the board m not so much question couple comments um Wayne I'm really pleased the leadership in bringing a Water Resource engineer on board I think um the timing is really good for that position there's a lot of work to do um I think in the county in coordination with um um with our watersheds and the work that we're doing but so many of our projects involve um surface water management and I think um having that in in house engineer is is going to be a good addition to Public Works and first of all I should have started out Wayne how fortunate we are to have you in leadership and the rest of the public work staff um that are many of them are here um today um there is just so much to manage within Public Works and you've got a great team and I just appreciate your um leadership um I had a a call the other day from a person that was watching one of our meetings and he commented about the number of grants that the county receives and um and the one particular meeting there were just a number of Grant acceptance uh that were on our agenda and um uh that has become such a important uh funding tool not only in public works but in many of our departments and um without that I mean the Reliance on the levy would be so much more but we do have to realize that you have to have good people writing those grants and I know that um Public Works is a recipient of many of those um I'm pleased with the focus on the roads um um you know I know 12 years ago our road index was going down and then I think we made some improvements and now we're seeing that index starting to drop again and that really does concern me so I'm pleased that we're focusing on on trying to level that or raise the uh the index and then um I'm also pleased with the initiative for U and the monitoring of our energy use and the greenhouse gas emissions I think um again that's a a critical issue that I think the public is paying attention to and and you're not only paying attention to um you know our our own um emissions and our energy use but the Public's emissions and energy use as you talk about adding turn lanes and people not sitting in traffic for periods of times with their cars idling and that type of thing so um good budget overall I I really um appreciate um the presentation thank you m Clauson yeah thank you thank you for the presentation um it was very thorough and I do um agree with the other Commissioners that there is a lot to manage in your department and um but I first wanted to to talk more about um the dependency on the contractual services or Professional Services as we discussed and I appreciate you um acknowledging that and us trying to bring on staff to prevent that from happening because I do think those costs as well are increasing as you mentioned um salt and sand and other um kind of products that you are having to um buy and um along with that though is and and I do really agree with um you know bringing on a position that is water um it really specializes in water but I also wanted to again talk about internships and talk about the entry level um importance of developing those programs because I do think what you're doing right now is adding the water um division is is more of like the protection and environment that I would like to see the direction go in I know I see that in other counties um the way that they separate departments is different than how we do it here in Washington County and I do see some some ways that we could potentially uh take parks and national resources into a different department for you so we can separate that a little bit more um now that we are doing climate action for our strategic plan um and I really like how Dakota County separates the way that they do that they do Parks a little different and their environmental um resources is separate I think that's a really um neat option for us as we grow cuz what we're going to do is just continue to grow and we see larger counties and how they've been able to change that over and I see that happening for your department um and you know I think talking about parks and trails together is really important I know you have them separated with Park preservation along with your Trails but um I also see value and it going together in a budget because we do look at that differently um but I do appreciate the multimodal aspect that you that the county and the staff always brings forward um but yeah so there's so much that you do Building Services Parks Transit surveyor Road bridges fet that your budget's almost bigger than the sheriffs and so I just you know want us to really look at how other counties are um organized and functioned um so that we can put them in kind of the right areas is is what I'm hoping for in the future but thank you for your presentation commer bigam thank you Mr chair uh thank you Wayne um I'm gonna Echo commissioner miron's remarks is just thank you for your leadership your team's leadership they do a tremendous job of being accessible and really collaborating with our stakeholders our cities and our townships watersheds and it's important because especially during this time we're seeing as you mentioned a Workforce shortage and the um really infusion of federal money through the igj and through the state bonding bill from a couple years ago which I'll get to in a second um has really put a lot of dollars into infrastructure and that has put a lot of pressure on Workforce because everybody wants those workers um and so the collaboration is especially key and I just think there's no one better than our national multi-national award-winning engineer um and Public Works director to to really be at the helm so just appreciate your efforts and and great budget um a couple things and these may be all over the place but after all these years Wayne I think you're used to that with with me in my comment um and so I have a question about we had a mild winter last year so are we able to obviously keep uh just for the viewers at home um salt sand we're able to utilize the supply that you purchased previously for this year and obviously you budgeted some you know in case we have a bad winter but we're able to utilize those resources again from last year that we didn't use yeah Mr chair commissioner thank you for that question so last year was a a lighter year a milder winter and how the salt works is that every year we submit a allotment that we want to buy to the state purchasing program so we buy salt off the state contract it's a Cooperative purchasing program it helps keep those overall cost down for all public agencies we typically submit about 10,000 tons as our request for salt um but because we had a mild winter last year we had a full salt shed when we were done we reduced we're reducing that for 2025 to about 8,000 tons request so we're able to buy less salt for 2025 budget um and then reuse what we saved so even though Salt's gone up in price that reduced amount has helped us balance that budget now we'll see how this winter is if we have a real rough winter and we don't have a lot left at the end of the season we may have to raise that allocation for 26 but we'll see how it goes thank you I appreciate that always balances out um so uh now I'm going to switch to to Parks a little bit um one uh without receiving our without passing a bonding Bill the state did not pass a bonding bill that is where the Met counil funding comes from which in turn um according to our budget uh is where the revenue for our Parks predominantly comes from how does that impact our planning for capital projects and programming Mr chair commissioner Bingham it's a Major Impact to our Capital program um as you mentioned State bonding is our number one funding source in our Parks Capital program and as I mentioned earlier these projects that we deliver um whether they're Highway products Park products building products they take years to plan and develop going through the regulatory process working with all the stakeholders and so we're working on projects through the pipeline counting on those resources that come from the state to the regional park agencies and that's a promise the state made in the 70s when we created the regional park system in the metro area as the state would provide significant funding to as they do to outstate to the DNR Parks um the state has slept on that promise more than we would like and so um not getting a bonding bill means we we've got a gap in our 5-year plan moving forward now we're working through that and we'll have to adjust projects and see how things go but when the state doesn't keep their promise and do those bonding bills when they when they should it does have Major Impact to our Capital program and thank you and the other programming that is dependent on whether they pass a bill or not is the lccmr uh Bill and one thing that I would like to see um maybe you can provide uh the Commissioners is a list of applications that we are going to be submitting for lccmr um I know we often justest up here about my desire to have bison in our Parks but it is serious um and I would I I know there are plans to First utilize um other I think it's sheep uh I believe we're going to try first and then bison the problem is is it takes a while for those applications to get approved and I admit that it's going to take planning and as you said without some of the money from our state partners that delays it but I do think maybe we will not be successful on the first time we apply for um a program so I would really appreciate a discussion amongst the the board here about whether or not we uh try to submit an lccmr application for the upcoming comment period they're they passed them now they have to go to legislature to get approved in the upcoming session but I would like a consideration of that and then a list if if we can of any other applications we're going to do for um like lard Sams lccmr any of those um my final just comment um now I'm switching back to um the transit and and um roads Bridges stuff Fleet stuff um one I couldn't be more excited about the additional service for circulator um service for our residents I hope that when we move forward um we're branding it as as um general service for our residents and opportunity for them to to utilize it not just for seniors not just for um people who have disabilities um it is for everybody to utilize if they need it we do have um single car and zero car households um that would be able to utilize that as well um and I look forward to the public comment uh on that because I think it's going to be an exciting opportunity it will not nearly be enough but um continuing to build on that opportunity is a really unique experience and I think positive step uh for Washington County and finally um utilizing that wheelage fee to help your Fleet um is really an efficient and prudent use of those funds and I just want to say that for the public because um it's it's an annoying fee I'm not going to lie and uh it's not one that this board likes to implement but it goes for a good cause you know to improve our streets in the in the um machines that various fleets that use and improve them so I just wanted to say that that it goes for a goes right back to what it's useful so anyway thank you thank you commissioner Cel thank you Mr chair uh Wayne I just want to commend you on your leadership word winning leadership I might add and awardwinning staff uh just remarkable uh What uh they accomplish and I know I've relied on you and other staff Joe and Corey Frank Lissa to fil me I get a constituent call and they're they're right there to help me uh sort out uh what the issue is and really appreciate that um I just want to I'll touch briefly on what's already been said so to speak I mean number one is there's no question inflation is driving a lot of these uh inflated costs now and hopefully that uh uh gets eased off uh in-house versus Consultants there I know there's times when it makes sense to hire a consultant and there makes it there's times when it makes sense to do that inhouse if you have the right resources uh I think uh interns is an interesting concept um the pavement uh index uh it's as you all know I'm preaching to the choir here you can't let that deteriorate too far otherwise then you're getting into fullblown reconstruction everything else that uh drives uh what that cost would be and it U makes sense to keep a good pavement index Transit need study I strongly support that uh you know we have to Define what the needs actually are and then build a case to how you're going to meet those needs salt versus other chemical Alternatives now I know there's been some talk in the past about uh some opposition building uh to Salt utilization from various U agencies are we moving uh towards more salt Alternatives and and uh I would assume that might be more costly and maybe not quite as effective Mr chair commissioner Cel we are actively moving toward more salt Alternatives in our overall snow and ice control efforts um a couple different things that we do so um prior to storms you'll see us spraying down some anti-icing some brins what that does is when it does uh snow falls it helps avoid that from sticking to the pavement so it can be more easily removed um that increases our response time and allows us to clear the roads quick quicker and use less salt on the back end of that we're also doing a lot of pre-wetting which is means we're adding a liquid to our salt as we drop the rock salt and um that can be done both at application right at the spinner from the back of the truck you can spray onto that we also do that um prior to even loading the trucks we'll we'll treat the salt in our shed and for that we're using um a sugar based product it's a byproduct of the distillation of rum and it's uh it's a product that has actually been proven to be extremely effective at increasing the immediacy of how fast that rock salt grabs a hold and starts melting the ice and the overall efficiency as a temperature drops um the salt can be efficient at a colder temperatures is what I'm saying and so it's been a great product it is expensive but we use it judiciously but and and kind of correctly as depending on the ambient temperature of the pavement in the air we take all those factors into account um but that is part of our effort to overall reduce overall chloride with that said salt Still Remains one of the most cost effective ways for us to manage and keep our roads safe in the winter so I don't see salt going away but we're actively searching and using different products to help reduce the overall salt usage in our county is that something that Water Resources engineer might uh dwell into a little bit Mr chair commission definitely that Water Resources engineer will be a resource for us on that topic as well uh I'm not a fan of rum but Brandy might work oh great presentation great uh such a great track record of keeping track of priorities and getting the most bang out of the taxpayer dollar and keeping drivers safe just outstanding uh work by you you and your team so thank you any other questions from the board I I'll wrap up with a a few comments uh I do agree I think the colleagues here on the board brought up some good points and some interesting questions um I'll just add um well like I mentioned I kick this off a lot going on you know and I see your budget and your staff kind of changing with the times you this is my eighth year on the board and really it's the environment uh energy uh the way we handle it's not just salt it's beyond that the pre-treatment I did notice on one of the slides that I think it said a a dumpl load truck of salt was like 11,500 $1,100 per per truck load yeah yeah so anyhow it's everything adds up I had a few several questions um one uh slide eight where the uh the uh your count is down one employee yes and just to hover around no grow growth and employment you know it just allows us put more money into the projects the way one way I look at it I do think like other Commissioners brought up it is kind of a balancing on how much you use consultant versus in-house so I think if you look at that and plan for the future um you know it's a right balance I think a mixture of both is you get the best work done for the for this citizens um I do like this with the one uh like you see one employee down you know uh but the adding the water resilience engineer uh actually Water Resource engineer what I was wondering is because I work with the uh Transportation Advisory Board we've been asking for a few years to start raing Road resiliency a lot of that is due to water where raw shels and that is this engineer going to provide some skill sets to a more robust weather resistant road if you could elaborate a little bit and Mr chair our road designs are changing we're taking into account the larger and more intense rainfall events that we're experiencing in Minnesota and and that's tied to our partnership with our Watershed districts are helping us helping inform us and helping us guide us towards some of those improved design standards um one of the challenges we have though is that um you know we we don't have that key expertise in house right now so we we think adding this Water Resource engineer will make us more um Nimble as it relates to being able to meet and exceed those requirements in our designs thinking about that stuff more upfront versus waiting till the end to be dealing with that um and also building a stronger relationship with the agencies that oversee and help us deliver those infrastructure products so improveed partnership relationship with all of our Watershed districts I mentioned the mpca and other state agencies having this in house we think will strengthen our ability to have those relationships great thanks fully supportive of that that position I was curious on slight 8 19 and 25 it talks about the capital projects and then 25 is the building service capit projects roughly uh I was just wondering if it's the same amount of Levy dollars is it we talking the same bucket of money there because on the capital project slide 19 uh it goes up 900,000 roughly rounded out and then on slide 25 it goes up a million one goes up 20% our Levy goes up 20% the other one 23% right is it I'm just trying to understand it for when I as I look at this budget closer in the weeks to come yeah Mr chair commissioner slide 19 shows the overall Public Works Capital program so that Levy you're seeing in there is the same that you're seeing in the Building Services SL which is a a subset of the program program and that like I said is related to um some Capital redirect and what that's referencing is you know as we reduce the bond debt that we have in the county The Debt Service that we used to pay off that debt we're now able to redirect that in directly into cash into projects and we're putting money into the Stafford library and the emergency housing project that's what you're seeing there okay and if I'm reading it right uh is roughly you've got a $35 million budget proposed and roughly 6 million is Levy which is property tax so 6 million out of the $35 million yeah I think um as we look at our so I want to make sure we emphasize that there's two budgets being shown here one is our Public Works operating budget that's the $35 million one and Levy going into that is let me pull it up here 12.3 million going into our Public Works operating budget so that's not any that's no Capital products that's how we pay it for staff salaries and equipment and materials and then our capital budget we typically don't see a lot of Levy in our capital budget with the exception of this Levy redirect that's um used to be Debt Service now it's being put as cash into the program so that's what you're seeing that 5.8 million is related to Capital Improvements right thank you um slide 34 you explained it so well that uh Transportation advisory uh advancement account I believe it's three uh you explain those items really well so I my questions went away but I did want to point out that on that was roughly in our workshops you were thinking it was probably a safe figure to mention it would be a million dollars but it's coming in about 1.4 million which is good because you've got more money to work for new money Mr chair I appreciate you bringing that up because it is actually a bit of a a a moving Target of what we expect to bring in through the TAA since it's a new fund a number of the early projections have been a little bit off um but as the as the retail delivery fee starts to be implemented since October or August of this year um we want to see how that plays out so we' um we have some of this money going into our complete streets program if we if the revenue does come in like we're thinking we'd be able to reduce some of that and so we have to stay Nimble on that one and kind of see how that one plays out since it's a new fund there's been a lot of projections and and not all of them have been that accurate so we're waiting kind of waiting and see how it goes out and I thought you directed the funds uh consistent with our workshops on this matter and then my last question is uh you you mentioned that a little bit over 11,000 resident growth in 2020 you 11,000 plus and then uh but our payment rating is going down a little bit it was there a correlation between the extra residents the extra we on the road and needing to appropriate money to get our payment index up because I I do agree with the other Commissioners that I'd really like us and it ain't going to happen overnight but over the next several years if we uh Target money towards getting the payment index up combine with uh I think some of us have talked about even looking at making an index for our Trails what if you could hey Mr chair thank you uh a couple things that cause our roads to DET roads to deteriorate then overall amount of traffic which is certainly tied to the amount of residents moving into the county our traffic volumes are going up countywide so more people are using our roads the amount of heavy vehicles on our roads so that includes our truck overall truck traffic all of our roads are the identified truck routes we're seeing an increase in trucking and shipping so that's also H having an impact on our road systems weather also has an impact on our roads and so what you're seeing there is we have more traffic heavier traffic but the inflation is causing us to have less buying power per dollar and so we're not able to reinvest as much on our Pavements so it's it's something we're watching and we're going to have to look at and it might be that down the line we need to think about putting more money toward the preservation program and less towards our expansion program but we have we'll work through that that's more of a fiveyear CIP discussion right I just wanted to to to acknowledge that the trend is going down right now it's something we have to look at yeah and I would I think at least a few other Commissioners mention it but I also would like to see the payment uh index improved and uh add a component of looking at our Trails too because I think both are big reasons why people love to live in Washington County so that's all I that's all I have today any other before we move on any other questions for Wayne in the public works thank you Wayne all right thank you and I'm still here for the next one so our next one is I don't have a mouse up here I don't think dude click that okay so um Tina's going to go Advance this slide so our next one is the regional rail and Gold Line budget here we go thank you so we'll go over some highlights on the regional rail Authority um key factors and then review the budget proposal for 2025 then we'll shift to Metro Gold Line review some highlights in the budget for the Gold Line moving in 2025 so the Washington County Regional Rail Authority is the respon is responsible for the preservation and Improvement of local rail service for agriculture industry and passenger traffic the regional rail Authority also provides for the preservation of abandoned Rail rideway and the planning and development of Transit corridors for the county Washington County established our regional rail Authority in 199 1987 um it is a separate entity from the County Board um you all serve on that Regional Authority and it has powers similar to the county related to Capital Improvements in Land Management some key factors that have influenced the 2025 Regional Rail budget um include continued changes in transit use and Regional route changes as traffic patterns fluctuate so we're seeing more demand for Transit more people asking for Transit options throughout the county um we also are looking at um additional uh key corridors um as we move forward from Gold Line these become a higher priority Highway 36 Corridor the Red Rock Corridor and Rush line and then also continue need to manage existing rights of way so like I mentioned we do preserve a number of of miles of Rights of way for future Transit options um currently the Hardway Creek Trail is the biggest example of that it's operating as a Regional Trail but that land is preserved for future options moving forward so from a revenue perspective uh County Levy is at 660,000 proposed 2025 that remains flat from 2024 no increase we're showing that ta3 account in here for the for a new planner that I mentioned in the public Works budget um so as we see demand for Transit options increase and our idea to provide more funding for circulator routes um adding this planner will help us be more um flexible and more guided on that process and help drive that um through for our communities the other taxes is rental Revenue that passes through Regional Rail to Building Services to help maintain some of the buildings that Regional Rail owns from a division expenditure standpoint again um looking at that Reg that planner one increase there is where that 30% increase comes from and then the 17% increases for additional Consulting staff as we've talked about so this is a summary um the overall summary is a net increase of one the new planner um that will be focusing on Transit service um through the county I'll move in Gold Line and then we can have questions kind of on both if that works so even with the wet summer uh we've had Metro Gold Line continues its forward progress the product is on schedule and on budget civil construction is underway we expect substantial completion by the end of this year and an opening date has been set for March of 2025 let's see so met council is in charge of delivering the Gold Line but it's really a partnership with the counties we are involved on a daily basis with the delivery of this project um and the timing of construction and activities um is coming from the contractor which which drives some of the budget is how often are we being invoiced for our cost share now the as you know the county cost share is funded through our County transportation sales tax and while we've been able to um fund the majority of the project with revenues coming in there is a need to borrow uh money in by the end of this year to fully complete our cost share for the project however due to excellent budget management by the Gold Line team including our own staff we will have we will be able to borrow internally to complete the project saving cost of going outside for bonding or a loan from revenue perspective uh non-levy Revenue includes um I command the County transportation sales tax um and the total budget um is at 12.34 3 million for 2025 proposed and then I mentioned Personnel Services um 10% less budgeting due to an open FTE and the anticip ated um loan we'll be able to cover our our sources of our expenditures for the year Gold Line Staffing remains flat at 1.25 FTE and no increase proposed and so Mr chair I do want to wrap up here I will stand for questions but as was mentioned you know I'm honored to be able to be up here to present these budgets but really the work is done by the outstanding staff and public works as you can imagine the budgets these large and complex there's many many hands hundreds of hours that go into it I do want to recognize one group one group because um this has been their this is their first Public Works budget and um they did a wonderful job and they did the heavy lifting for this budget so Aon Zelmer is our Public Works internal services division manager he's out there somewhere um hang trong our financial analyst 2 and Caitlyn werland our accountant weer and accountant to all three of them did the heavy lifting and this is their first Public Works budget so they were coming in fresh um they did a great job um they were very successful but a part of the reason why they were successful is the support we also had from the administration team saow has been through our budget a number of time a couple years and so she's an expert on it and then Trung Lee coming in new but also being a wonderful resource for our team so just wanted to recognize that team as being the heavy lifters but of course numerous hands went to build this so thank you for your opportunity to present this to you happy to stand for any questions thank you Wayne presentation uh questions we reach rail budget uh commissioner Clum um as the chair for the regional rail are do we are we planning on meeting this year at all Mr chair commissioner Clon I would have to defer to Alyssa if we have anything on the agenda for the year chair and Commissioners we don't anticipate any formal actions needed by the regional rail commission at this time with the exception of if somebody needs a permit that the dollar value is over the $75,000 threshold um that is very atypical um so generally we do not anticipate that at this time I mean unless you all have items you want us to talk about usually a good sign of for not meeting that means things are moving smooth same with the goal line joint Powers very few meetings means things moving good so questions about Regional Rail make sure on but I'll just mention Wayne and you know whether This falls into Regional Rail or or your general um capital budget for the uh um you know for the public works department but certainly we we've got two Transit centers that aren't being utilized to the extent that they could or should be and um you know uh ultimately and I don't know what's you know set aside or planned there for maintenance and upkeep and and that type of thing but I just have a concern about that investment and and um you know what it's providing for our citizenry and so I would appreciate um you know staff keeping an eye on that and and updating us on um on uh the costs associated with that and and The Limited services that are being provided yeah Mr chair commissioner Mir on thank you for that comment and we but we share that concern I what I can say is that we are not letting either of those facilities degrade or or lack maintenance we are still maintaining them and keeping them in great condition um and and both those facilities were built with an eye of Transit service but also as Trail heads for bike and ped and so that might be an option as we move forward about maybe thinking about leveraging that more than what we're doing now and so I'll be happy to come back and have that conversation we big up thank you Mr chair just to piggy back off of that um you know we have a new housing building going in the Newport Transit Center area there through the CDA and I believe this fall met council is coming to the Red Rock Corridor commission to talk about uh a redesign of kind of their routes that will be announced I believe after it's kind of the post pandemic um redesign or announcement of what met council is going to be doing and then I think they'll actually be turning on some of those routes next year um so I'm I'm hopeful at Le I'm not going to speak for Forest Lake um obviously but I think From newport's perspective I'm actually optimistic that we're going to um dust those moth balls off clean that up and get it out of uh you know get some routes going out of there um in a new way uh I'm very hopeful it's going to be Western route and it'll supplement off the gold line which will be um moving in as we know March of 2025 so I'm hopeful from the Newport perspective basically because of the Investments the CDA and this board uh has made um in that area so it looks like list is up there chair and Commissioners um wanted to respond to to both of those we are actually having Metro Transit um it's their Network now plan um it's first going to be publicly rolled out to the Met met council's Transportation committee on August 19th and then there will be a public comment so that is basically any route modifications that is deletions additions and modifications um for the next five years if and when resources become available that's both money buses drivers um and there are changes within Washington County so we're trying to schedule them for a board Workshop um for their staff to come and um present this information um we do have them coming to the red rat quarter commission um since there was a lot of things that came out of your most recent plan um but then based on what that looks like in the forest lake area coupled with the funds you know assuming this budget gets adopted by the board that 200,000 to expand the circulators you know whether or not that area could be served or could be a driver layer whatever it might be um but we can we can once we see what is in the information for Metro Transit um you know then we can respond to to some of the questions and concerns as well M Miran yeah just uh you know as we talk about this a summary of um some of the um investment that's gone into both areas where the transit centers are I think would be helpful to me because um you know as commissioner Bingham indicated certainly there's a lot of uh construction that was supported by the CDA and by the communities and the funding was tied to the fact that it was Transit oriented development and the fact that you know we've got limited transit services in those areas um makes me wonder about you know the the funding sources and so just maybe a summary of of some of the construction that went in under the basis of um Transit um services within the area chair yeah chair and Commissioners we can work on that um particularly with the CDA since a lot of them are projects led by them or assisted by them any other questions M sureel uh thank you Mr chair yeah I uh that's why I think this Transit need study that would Embrace maybe all of this to find out uh what's actually needed whether it's red rock or up at Forest Lake and circulator buses and all that I mean we got to embrace all this we uh you know because maybe way back when we built the dreed rock uh Corridor station site and uh it hasn't uh been utilized like it was originally intended to and I appreciate the uh Transit orientated de uh development but uh got to take a deep dive on that and truly understand what's actually needed out there the other thing Wayne you mentioned uh borrowing funds by late 2024 you said that would be done in house uh is that coming out of the transportation uh sales tax or it's not Levy dollars Mr chair commissioner thank you for that yeah no Levy dollars will go to Gold Line it'll be an internal shift of sales tax revenue um and I I use the term borrow because it'll be a temporary shift sure it'll be paid back but we're paying back within Public Works budget overall budget and I appreciate your comments about staff that have worked on this Public Works budget uh doing an outstanding job this just how this is laid out and everything else is wonderful thank you so thank you um any other questions I'll make one uh I agree uh you thanking uh your new staff to do up the budget I think the board strongly agrees great job because not only do you have to do a budget you have to make it understandable by as for a sport board members so we thank you um my question I think it's worth mentioning here is what shows in this budget is the uh the amount far less uh bonding uh to the point of none for the go line saving taxpayers a lot of money uh uh I think there's been a lot of pay as we go up till this point so that's coming in significantly uh a lot of it a lot of it's been paid uh maybe if you could elaborate I think it's really stunning um to avoid a big bond which was always you thought You' and you'd pay that back with sales tax yep Mr chair commissioner thank you for highlighting that it's it's been a a wonderful thing to see play out um both our sales tax revenues have been higher than expected and like I mentioned the way that the product has proceeded the way the invoices have come in the way we've managed overall cash flow in partnership with Metro transit in Ramsey County has allowed us to essentially pay cash for the gold line up to this point and um and you know we we did originally we we entered Gold Line expecting to have a significant Bond and of course as you know when we go out to the market and sell a bond there are overhead costs related to that um not then the interest you pay on the bond to pay it back we're able to save and not spend either of those by doing this internal borrowing mechanism um and again all wrapping up by saying at no point is Levy going into the Gold Line project so it's been a great um experience to see it play out and we're excited to see it wrap up here thank you I guess if there's no other questions uh thank you for presenting this one thank you appreciate it Mr chair and Commissioners the next workshop with the Department of Public Health will happen in uh conference room 5599 so if you want a short break we can um go to that conference room shortly uh should we try to get started before the 10:30 time can that happen so maybe uh 10:20 thank you for