##VIDEO ID:yCU39y-4j10## e e e e e o'clock on Tuesday afternoon September 3rd 2024 and I call this meeting of the Bel tramy County Board of Commissioners to order please rise for the pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all do we have any citizens that wanted to address the board on an item that's not on the agenda seeing none we'll move on to agenda itself I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda Mr chair I'd like to make a motion we approve the agenda as presented there second second any discussion all those in favor I opposed I would entertain a motion for the approval of the consent agenda move is there a second I'll second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed motion passes moving on to the regular agenda item number eight Township and city road maintenance rates Bruce Bruce this is your day I think it's your month right sept trying to look up the statutes to a question here but it wasn't quick enough so the topic I have for you here is uh Township rates um the we've discussed this a couple of times brought this topic in front of the board um and really what we are looking to do is to change how we charge townships for the work that we do and the work that we do is our summer blading of gravel roads and our winter plowing uh on on all types of roads but uh right now we charge an hourly rate um and moving to a per mile rate would make uh things a lot easier for save some uh Administration time um but it will also help us um it is easier for us to um figure out our unallocated costs on a per mile basis and so moving to a rate structure on a per mile basis we can help start covering those unallocated costs that uh we keep we do keep track of um that are not covered um in our hourly rate or an easily converted to an hourly rate so moving to that uh uh per mile rate would be easier for us uh and then also to to in making that change and setting those rates uh setting them such that we're um not uh doing our work uh unfairly uh with the competition with the contractors out there uh we want to make sure that we're not uh taking work away from them the work should go to them first in my opinion and then we should be the fallback or the back up for the townships that need somebody to do that work for them um we have I have proposed some rates for a consideration uh snowplowing gravel would be 650 a mile uh plowing snow plowing paved roads would be 250 a mile and then the summer blading is 850 a mile um I provided a chart that shows the townships that we do the different uh maintenance work for the summer blading and the winter uh blading and uh What uh we have charged them I us the highest amount over the last three years and then had a comparison of um of what the proposed rates would how that would impact them in comparison to that what we had charged them in the past and there's also the dollar amounts there on a per mile basis you can see what it would uh how it kind of Compares on a the the new rate to what we have charged them on a per mile basis on average uh looking at the how much we had charged them and and how much we would be charging uh those revenues are fairly close to the same with the rates that are being proposed to what we had uh brought in um on those on that higher year so at the bottom of that chart you can see the the revenue that had been brought in and then the what Revenue would be brought in with those new rates and those so those are fairly um similar um however when you look at each individual Township there is a there is a swing uh some townships are up some townships are down and uh there's um again don't have a real great answer on that I mean it's a a lot of variety of different things on how different townships are um have been charged in the past it is the amount of uh anything from the time that we're maintaining that road if it takes more to how much dead time Road time it takes to get to that Township you know they're if they're being charged from the shop all the way out you know if they're 30 miles away um you know there's a lot of uh time that it takes to get out there for that Township um so there is a variety of uh what we have charged and what we would charge the townships and there's a change um again both up and down for the township that are out there but again the moving to the per mile basis would would uh make it a lot easier for us that's the big thing for me is the this the administration time um and a Township also will know um how much uh their costs are going to be they got 10 miles and we have a per mile rate basis it's very um easy for them to to do that math and what it would cost uh versus again uh us tracking our time that we're spending the hours and then billing them accordingly but guess that's kind of my summary of where we're at okay uh questions Craig yeah thanks Mr chair um I know Bruce and I talked briefly about you know there's a discrepancy in the miles for for Hope Township on here that um I know he's confirmed and will correct so the numbers aren't correct for my Township where I where I live but um and I see that there's a few townships that are really high increases and I don't know if uh maybe jod could answer i' been I should remember but from my Township days so if we Levy in in March or the Township's Levy in March typically that is that do they receive the proceeds for that Levy right away that may or is it the following year that's what I thought and and that's what I mentioned to Bruce cuz my concern was some of these smaller townships that are in the outer Ling areas that you know that are receiving a pretty good increase like benville Township for instance uh I was just concerned about um whether or not they have the Reserves to absorb that prior to actually receiving the money for it you know because this win this this following winter then would be when this would be in in Winter of 2025 would be when they would re get this implemented where these bigger increases would affect and they wouldn't actually receive that money that they Levy they know how much to Levy but they wouldn't receive it until until the following May of 2026 that's what I thought so I just wanted to confirm that and and um was a little bit concerned about that because you know what we had talked about before of letting the townships know so yeah they know how much to Levy for but some of them with the larger increases in smaller rural areas whether they've got The the Reserve balance to handle that increase because they wouldn't get reimbursed for it so to speak until the following I wouldn't really would get reimburse for it at all because they need that for that winter of 2026 so um just wanted to make sure that was brought to light when they would receive their money so to help further explain that so this the proposal was to wait until next spring to implement this right with the idea of giving the township some time to prepare for it but if they're setting their Levy in the spring for the following year they um they're going to be short that one year of right of change that's what I wanted to make sure that others were clear on that they are going to be short for the winter of 2025 they won't have received any of the levy that they have applied for yet um at that point because they they'll do it in March and they won't receive that first tranch of money until May of 2025 or 2026 excuse me y right yeah yeah yeah and there's not a lot of those but but some of them there a couple on here that are pretty significant increases not a um I mean they're really large percentages um not a huge dollar amount but I know some of those townships don't have a lot of residents either so it could be a significant you know tax increase for them as well so I just was concerned about that there's only one that's really in my district that that I had a little concern over but it's not a not a huge dollar amount and so I'm hoping that that's not a problem for them so that's it Mr chair uh other questions for Bruce Bruce I had a couple questions um is this a the per mile rate is that a fairly common practice amongst counties that help out their townships on their road maintenance uh itasa County does however I'm not aware of others the ones that I checked with um were hourly but itasa um does it and has been doing it for quite a while per mile have you had any preliminary conversations with any Township officers about this possibility of moving in this direction none no not since the last year when it was proposed and then changed I I think generally I'm supportive of the idea but I'm I'm really concerned with what Craig brought up that that perhaps if we set something in motion that maybe we need to put the implementation in in the following years to give the townships all a fair really should have done it before March of this last year you could have brought this forward so that they could have had it for the for 2025 Richard uh I I'm I'm also affected by what you brought up uh but when I look at the amount of money it's not I mean 60% sounds like a big raise until you look at what that would entail you know if it's uh most most townships that I'm aware of have uh some balance that they could absorb it uh I was when it was first brought up maybe it's because it's a new idea uh or out of the box thinking I was against it and I think there was part on my part misunderstanding of it but I am now in favor of it and think it's it makes sense that we're treating all townships then equally we're not just as you ter use John you said help the county helping out the township well there's a lot of townships that were were not helping out that I think this would kind of make the Slate uh even so I'm I'm for it but I don't know um I would be more comfortable if we could send it out or some have some type of feedback from the townships still have time to pass this uh if we don't get a lot of uh anks from people be nice to to get the townships to send out the townships here's what we're proposing you know and and see if they have any issue especially those those few that are smaller rural ones like vanville and Moose Lake and and a couple of those where where yeah may not be huge amount of money but you know for them it could be a two scen budget too how difficult Bruce would it be to uh send out a letter and I it sounds like we generally in favor of the idea but just it would be really I'd really like to get some feedback from the townships um if we if if a letter could be crafted in such a way that the County Board is um looking at going to this rate structure and this is what this is and they can do they they'll they'll do the math very quickly on what it's going to affect how it will affect them um and then we kind of Judge to see maybe set a timeline of somewhere um in another month or so to say what kind of feedback did we get um are we going to have a boardroom full of angry Township supervisors or I I I mean it'd be nice to know uh I wouldn't want to get blindsided by what their thoughts are it'd be nice to if we could come back and say well these These are this is what we're hearing from the townships that is that a reasonable request yeah there's there's a couple of different options there of that of sending out the letter getting their input and then because you do have I'm going to say time to to put this into place um with their um setting their levies in March um the other thing that you could do is just implement it a whole another year after what was proposed here you know instead of implementing it in the in 2 you're implementing it in 26 so they can set their Levy in 25 and just you know give them that far warning that it's coming so then they'd have plenty plenty of time to to set their Levy for it I guess my thought was if if we don't have a lot of negative then we could put it into effect right away but if but we're but if there's a fair amount of negative then then I think you know maybe holding off another year but but but as he said just put it we could still pass it but just say that will implemented in 26 Yep this matter you know it would be nice to get some feedback from the townships first you know some of the ones that I was referring to are in your District yeah looking at I was looking at O'Brien you know uh for the summer they double their their cost um which is kind of concerning to me um and also for the winter uh there would be what the 30% 37% increase so I mean um I do have concerns um and a lot of these are you know in my district so um I haven't heard from anybody but uh often times we don't hear from from folks until after the fact so um I think U I would be in favor of you know reaching out and doing a little bit more due diligence and inquiring um but also would you know be in favor of you know if something did pass that it would implemented until 2026 but um those are my thoughts um you know and I think this is just the county offering a service that may not otherwise be available for them correct all they would have to do a private contractor most most of these townships either private or they could go with the c and have so I mean I I guess I don't know if we would be saving them money or not or if they'd be paying more um so I I think a little bit more information would be helpful um but you know I I just don't like kicking the can down the the road you know either so um you if we have it another month I think maybe that would give a time for townships to respond uh I'm hoping that some of them are are watching or or they kind of watched the the past few meetings to kind of get a uh an idea of what we're talking about um Mr chair yeah just a just a maybe point of clarification I'd seek to maybe help us on this is the concern from the board Associated more with the townships I think commissioner gosig brought up that the the sort of implementation time period where by which it's possible that a Township might not have the revenue received in order to pay the bill that the County's charging or is it about hey we just want to hear from townships in general because if it's the first we could adopt this and then just delay the implementation to the fall of that same year instead of the spring of that same year allowing them because remember it's a summer and a winter uh maintenance period so we could just skip the summer one and delay six months later and then they would have conceivably received their Revenue um in sufficient time to then pay for the costs if it was to increase and then you know they they wouldn't they would essentially be whole if you will because they would have had a time to set their Levy a time to collect the revenues from their Levy before the county implements so I'm thinking if that's what is at issue is it possible for us to continue the path we've been on and just delay the implementation in additional six months uh and then that sort of resolves the concern around whether or not a Township would have received the funding to be able to pay for the potential increase is six months and enough or does it have to be 12 months they wouldn't receive the money until the first money until May of 2026 so it would be pretty much so basically implement the spring of 2026 yeah but for the for the summer grappling season and there's not nearly as many of those anyways but you know but the other the other concern I have to your point um and very VAR the this um I'd like to give them some po warning and find out is this untenable for some of these townships they just don't have enough residents to where it' be a huge tax increase for their property taxes to go this much of a jump in some of these townships um you know is it just too much for some of them if they I don't know have 100 residents in the township and it's going to be you know a pretty significant increase per resident I don't know it would be nice to give them that opportunity to know here's what we're proposing for costs and and just you know let them know that you know unless they really really push back this is what we're planning on doing and then we can implement it sooner if we don't get that push back we can implement it next year like we plan I could go either way I could pass it now and say don't implement it until 2026 which kicks the can down the road for quite a while for you Bruce or we could notice notice these few townships and let them know here's here's how much we're looking at charging you and then go forward go ahead Bruce so kind of along that note of all right you implement it instead of implementing it with the summer blading you implement it with the winter plowing um the couple of different ways you could do it there also is normally we're if we go to this process we're going to ask for that payment UPF front 10 miles send us the the payment at the beginning of the season one thing we could do when we first implemented is wait till the end of the season you know the end of the winter season is going to be that that may and so they will get the funds you know about the same time that we would send them the bill so that is one way that you could kind of defer the the the the payment that they would have to make but that would be you know one way of implementing it in the the fall are you concerned about the are you concerned about um as far as if we were to notice them that You' get a lot of push back or or because it's not that many townships to send letters to right um you know we did it the first time and I can't remember how many time trips we heard from tan or something like that um we have reduced the rates quite a bit from the initial proposed um so it's going to impact less but yes I still think there are the ones that you see on here that are going to have a increase of some kind and uh you know are they gonna voice concerns or not I guess I'm I'm not sure I would expect some to but I'm not going to know the number but um I yeah know if Jody's officer or anybody would be or who would be able to give us any idea what kind of impact this these changes might have on um some of these smaller townships would that be the assessor's office or I the assessor's office and put something together I think also keep in mind that these townships have also they've already leved a portion of that that they will get in 25 so that difference of the increase could be deferred as well so that would you know instead of getting one billion the year they would get two Billings that year I I think if it's if it's a rout the board wants to go I can work with Bruce and uh the assessor's office and find options available for some of those smaller towns I would like that I would that would be good you I just think that we have talked about it quite a bit we and this is a fairness issue with other townships as well and it's not a it's not a large amount that hopefully they could come up with but uh if there's ways to make it less painful if there is pain then I think we should do it right I think the other thing that I really am thankful to you for Bruce is that what we're saying is that we really would rather see private contractors get to work and if they just if a Township just can't find someone then at least they do have a fallback so I I appreciate that so with that does anyone want to make a motion to approve the rates um for the Township road maintenance with knowing that we wouldn't um invoice them until the end of the season or or what is that what I mean you're comfortable with that Bruce that not getting paid until the end of the season would be over or would you prefer to have the motion be that we would not do it until implementation until the year 2026 year uh my my request would be to implement it sooner and then work on our end far as the payment work it work it out so some townships might be fine with paying in advance others if it you know give them an option if it's a hardship for them to say hey you can ly for it and then pay us after the at the end of the season after you've received the funds yeah and our we have maintenance agreements that will ensure that they pay okay that would be the concern is oh hey we plowed your roads all winter long and now they're not gonna pay well we've we've got those agreements and and at some point we can it sounds like a motion is it you can go ahead so let me repeat the motion that I thought I heard commissioner G no no don't put words in my mouth why don't you why don't you repeat one day you think it I you know John do you know what has been said I'm gonna have commissioner our administrator Barry rephrase that motion and then someone will well we know he wrote it down so we're we're in good no I I believe what uh what the motion uh that you're contemplating is to go ahead and adopt the rates now and Implement at the schedule that was originating uh in the motion in the original motion that you have in your paperwork but to allow flexibility for staff to collect at the end of the first season as opposed to the beginning of the Season yeah so move that correct well would as proposed it was going to be implemented in the spring um and the so to to change and Implement in the fall with the winter plowing and wait until they end of plowing of May to to get the payment as an option is or sorry I I thought that's where the discussion had gone but with with I think that for the the summer plowing is for the for the townships that might might be a hardship for that we would then give them the option of paying for it in the rears if it is a hardship if they express and show us that it's a hardship then they could pay for it in the rear in the spring of 2026 for the winter plowing but they would yeah we wouldn't implement the the blading probably until until 26 the following 26 then yeah so implementation would be2 not spring of 2025 right so I guess I thought that's that's what I'm thinking yeah okay so that's different than what I mentioned so you're resending I resend my Mo all right let me let me let me ask it this way um I'm going to entertain a motion to approve the rates as outlined on the handout in the agenda for implementation beginning fall of 2025 with flexibility for the highway department uh uh to work with townships on collections point of clarification on the motion uh I would recommend a specific date since you're implementing a fee you wouldn't want to just say fall because we might think fall is October 1 you might have intended September one I we say November 1st okay November 1st or or you can say it for winter for winter plowing you know that starting with the winter service well okay right so so I I'll I'll I'll still entertain that motion to adopt the rate schedule on a for Township maintenance on the roads on a per mile basis as outlined in our handouts to be implemented with the plowing season 2025 is there anyone that would like to make that Motion sounds good John all right we have a we have a motion is there a second I'm I'm I'm the chair I don't do seconds go ahead all right I'll second all right we have a motion in a second is there any further discussion so again our motion is to adopt this rate schedule for Township road maintenance to be implemented with the plowing season 2025 all those in favor say I I I opposed no motion passes thank you sorry that was it was kind of like climbing up the Rope a little bit wasn't it thank you Bruce just tring to make sure we are flexible for the townships and especially the ones that are more remote that don't probably have another option and not not not be super heavy-handed and and I do hope that we have private contractors that want to step up and and take that on some of those I think are stretch where they're located we'll see the location yeah and then a timing to get to those new new C all right thank you Bruce wow the long and waited moment moment Leela [Laughter] huh I'm Leela Roth the um license center division director and I'm here to discuss once again the marriage ceremony services that are being proposed we discussed it last work session last meeting and I just will go a little overview for it um we're looking at implementing the service during scheduled hours um by appointment but if we have sufficient staff and it's during those order hours we could do it as a walk-in service um the couple we're proposing a fee of $50 um on the day of the ceremony the couple would bring their marriage license or apply for it both parties would have to have a valid governmen issued photo ID um six guests would be allowed um another thing is they cannot be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they come for it we're asking them to arrive 15 minutes early um and at the end of it we would give a copy of their certified copy of their marriage certificate and I believe in your guys's packets was the different policies for it um there'd be no refunds once they come apply and come there that'd be the first policy is no refunds once we have them there go through the process with them next one the efficient registration we'd be using our own staff to be the officiant anyone aged 21 or over by Statute can register as an officient as long as they have their photo ID we have that we actually do that in our office is another process that we do um attendance we' allow up to six guests along with the couple and then under the influence all parties and guests must not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol otherwise we have the right to cancel the ceremony so I guess the couple things I would be asking the board today is um first of all to approve the marage C Service the fee of the $50 and then those few policies that I just outlined and if you have any questions i' like to answer any of those for you right now questions for leilo Craig yeah Leela the the fee is that in line with what other counties are charging or is it lower or higher so it's right in the middle um I know I think it's um Clay County their Commissioners actually upped it to 150 that's the highest um poke Count's at 25 and he said for now so it sounds like he's upping it's because pipin's at 45 and majority of the ones that I have seen is at the $50 okay just wondering if that's enough for the amount of time that we will have staff time and stuff involved with it or I've got the application and everything um far as I've the group that I've talked to that's done this takes 5 to 10 minutes to do the paperwork and five to 15 minutes for the ceremony depending on what they need okay I have spreadsheet that you just put their names in it put puts it throughout the full ceremony so it takes a couple minutes to do that part and then a couple application processes that sounds sounds reasonable then Richard uh do we have uh people within the your department that are willing to do it yep so before I was even going to look into the the service I made sure we had staff on board and um there's only two that said they wouldn't care to do it but they also they issue licenses and do all that part but they didn't care to do the portion of actually doing the ceremony so we have four or five people along with myself thank you questions Tim uh so in the agenda bill here it says additional revenue and and so what's the the plan with the additional Revenue the additional Revenue would go into our license center budget in the general fund and I also had a same question as commissioner gsbg about the time commitment and and if it if we were you know charging enough so that was thanks my only question thank you so I just want to say I had the chance to talk to Leela before we started the meeting when we had our our break and and I thought it was interesting that you brought up something that I hadn't thought of and I wanted you to share with the other Commissioners this idea of making sure that they're that they're two willing participants so could you yeah so part of our application um there's two they ones swear and affirm to certain items and part of that says um I knowingly and willingly agree to enter in a marriage with this individual listed on this marriage license and we have we go through this oath ahead of time and then we have them sign on here that they agree to everything on this form at we go through with them and we do the same thing with the witnesses that that they're at least 16 years of age they've given us their ID to show as such to make sure that we're abiding by all the the laws and rules of the ceremony well and I think one thing further is that the whoever our officials are our fishs are they have the ability if they're reading body language that it makes it appear that someone isn't really as willing as they say they are that they have the ability to to stop stop ceremony basically we're to make sure that we're not tra trafficing Y in hennipen County during our our training they said that they check that check for body Lang and everything else especially as much as they do down there they they've done over 400 in the last four months 400 ceremonies that they watch for those things and by doing this application having them sign this watching the body language that's um showing that they've checked for that made sure that they're being diligent in that was there any anecdotal evidence that that they sto some things that you know what I the one g that's on the board with me she's the head of their vitals department and she said so far nothing's come up but it's just something they wanted to be aware of I thought that was important so yeah yeah uh with that I'd entertain a motion to approve the proposal of adding a marriage ceremony services to license center at a $50 cost anyone want to make that motion here I'll make a motion if we approve it uh 0 second we have a motion in a second to approve the proposal of adding marriage ceremony services to the license center any other discussion all those in favor say I I opposed motion passes thanks Leela thank you all right any other additional items no um any legislative or lobbying issues that you know of Tom no sir not at this time then let's go to commissioner reports uh Tim anything Richard Greg I just one Mr chair the Planning Commission um at our last meeting we had a few variance requests and stuff but um Brent is gathering inform information from other counties regarding the Cannabis uh ordinance language and we are going to start tackling that at our next meeting our next meeting uh we had a couple of members that were not going to be able to make our regular meeting would have been on the 23rd so now we have moved that to the 30th of September so that's when we're going to start reviewing the uh cannabis ordinance language that's all I have okay um we had an airport since we met last we Craig and I had an airport meeting um and I have attended a couple of Northern Township meetings uh regarding the sewer project uh one was with lenia residents and another one was with the birchmont court residents giving them updates on what was going on with the sewer project um I had a special meeting for dancing Sky to review Grant proposals um and I did attend the Minnesota paid leave information session that they had at the Hampton Inn that was interesting um and just a note that September 10th will be the jasb meeting at 2:30 they did switch to 230 but now they didn't need to but but anyway so uh so that jzb will meet uh at the airport conference room on September 10th at 2:30 in the afternoon to formally adopt The Joint um airport zoning um rules plan um with that that's all I have anything else anyone has Tim uh Mr chair so looking over the um meeting schedule it says that I have uh the management team on September 11th um I'm hoping that maybe I can switch with someone um or attend a different date next uh September on September 11th I will be at the uh at the uh AMC board of directors meeting that morning so um but I would like to attend a management team meeting and I have to be at Alexandria for the Minesota real County's meeting so I'll have to leave and we won't be able to do that um September 11 yeah and so you're not available that but you have a you have emergency I was actually to ask you I was actually to see if you could do the Northwest emergency communications board because that one is in direct conflict with what what time is the management team meeting usually over uh we're usually done at 10: amm uh okay I I could I could Tim because I don't have to be in Alexandria till 2:30 so I I could do that unless you I you need me for the Emergency Management I I would really like to know if you could make it for the emergency communications board that starts at 10 as well um so that' be after management team but you'd be driving at that point probably I don't know well I have to leave by by 11:30 probably at noon so if you could zoom into the mergency communications board before heading out that work you could possibly still do the manag team with you that it's up to you yeah no I I could unless Richard wants to are there two management teams per uh meetings per month we yeah yeah there there are two per month and the one the every other is when um Commissioners are invited to attend if you wanted to switch up with another week we could possibly do that and have two Commissioners back to back and then have two weeks where we didn't if that made things easier for you as well they're they're typically the Wednesday before the meeting uh the next board meeting because we do agenda setting as well at those meetings I can switch you want to you want to take October 9th I will be um I won't be available in the 9 too popular busy well I could take it and be glad to be there but I don't have one to switch I've already used mine um I don't have but if we needed to do wanted to do that well Tim I I will be happy to do that on September 11th [Music] um and and if no one can take October 9th I'll just do two back to back I whatever I don't career okay you want to do October 9th I don't think I have anything on my calendar for that okay so then so then I'll take September 11th Craig will take October 9th and then Tim you want to take November 13th I can do to 13 okay you get that Diane okay thank you guys yep okay um so next board meeting will be September 17th with work meeting starting at 3 o'cl followed by the regular board meeting at 5 o'clock um please come prepared [Music] to discuss the budget that'll be the big thing I'm sure um um and then September 17th um administrator Barry will have the chat about session that I'll entertain a motion to adjourn second there second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed we are adjourned thank you --------- ##VIDEO ID:mElJyU5RtSY## to close session pursuant to Minnesota statute 13d .05 subdivision 3B for the purposes of discussing attorney client privilege information don't move is there a second second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed we in CL session yeah e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I'll accept the motion to end the closed session and return to the open meeting make Mo return to the open meeting is there second second all those in favor say I I opposed motion passes it looks like we have an entire cohort of new employees is that correct Sheriff anybody else beside they're slowly trying several of these people have been here for a little while so uh bear with us but they didn't get their their day in front of you guys so we're going to have them come up and introduce themselves so go ahead I'm Tristan Rudnick started at the jail and end of July I'm welcome thank you where you from Jus I am from Staples Minnesota originally I know some really nice people down there come from good stock then very goodard thank you I am Colton Patterson been working at the jail for about a year now um came from Andover Minnesota I'm just excited to be up here awesome thanks for moving up north oh yeah no problem my name is Cordon whortley I'm cor officer of the bcj I started on December 4th 23 all I got any questions where'd you go to school um I went to to bla high school and I'm currently a senior at bidi State super are you in the criminal justice program oh yeah awesome all right great thanks thank you hi I'm Tina chener I just started two weeks ago wow the Newbie yeah where did you go to school uh Crosby ironon nice all right they have a great bike mountain biking down there don't yes they do yeah heard about that thanks yeah welcome Christopher War been here about six months from Santa barar California welcome any other new employees thanks go ahead Richard I just want to say that I visited with the sheriff and he kind of assured me that in the contract it's for at least three years right Mr chair yes um welcome everybody uh question for the sheriff um where where do this put you at your Staffing levels we're still I believe sir we're still down like I want to say we're at about eight or nine okay down okay um we've got I think we're backgrounding right now now uh at least two or three and so we're hoping that uh that moves along okay so hopefully this helps yeah combination of the jail and the deputy sheriffs or just primarily of the jail right now so we're fully staffed with field Ops and dispatch uh dispatch our our last dispatcher just started today and you'll probably get getting to meet jool in uh in two weeks from now so okay awesome thank you yep right thanks thank you all moving on anyone have any future work meeting topics that they want to bring up seeing none let's move on to the 2023 financial statements review good afternoon this is on um I am Doug host I'm a principal with Clifton Larson Allen I went to high school in Browerville Minnesota and graduated from St Cloud State University thank you Doug well and even and that we we forgive you for that which part the Browerville or the STV is fine but St CLA hus you know that huskies and the beavers have a little bit of History yeah there is a bit of a rivalry there yeah that is for sure but uh I'm really excited to be here today to present the audit it's actually been done for just about a month already now um so as in Prior years we put together this PowerPoint and uh we'll kind of just walk through that on page two is the agenda I'll give a little more of an introduction then there's some things required by audit standards that we're required to communicate to the board then there's some stuff the state auditor's office requires us to do then we'll look at the financials and wrap it up should be out of here by 6: PM no later all right all right so as far as the introduction I um mentioned I'm the principal on the audit and uh it's been quite a few years and the in charge for your audit her name is Shauna Jensen and uh she hasn't been on it for quite as many years as me but she recently has been promoted to manager so we're really excited uh about her advancement and her helping with keep the audit keep keep the audit going smoothly along with all the county staff so as far as required Communications on page five of the PowerPoint the audit standards dictate the testing and the reporting that we do and there's some requirements that we have to to let you know about and we in your handouts there should be about a four-page letter and it's all very boilerplate and I'm just going to touch on some high points here or just a couple reminders um just know that in your audited financial statements there are some estimates like how long does the county depreciate vehicles or how long do they depreciate buildings um and when we do our audit it's just to provide reasonable Assurance not absolute assurance that everything is materially correct and I just want to note that we received great cooperation from all staff they were uh the staff were responsive they were prepared they were mind um it just makes the audit go very smoothly and we appreciate all the the kindness and understanding that we do receive from the staff that we know we're bugging a lot when we're working on the audit so we appreciate that um once we're done with the audit we're required to issue an opinion on your financials and which we did it's in your bound financial statements and it's a clean opinion it means your financial statements are materially correct as presented and also as part of that audit um the county receives a lot of federal grants and the FEDS like to see uh they require um the county to have an audit to test the controls in compliance we completed that this year and there's a few items we'll touch on in a couple slides here but ultimately we didn't encounter any difficulties in performing the audit we didn't have any um disagreements with Management on accounting issues or financial reporting issues but if there were we'd have to tell you about it but I'm happy to report there weren't any on page seven we we'd obtain an understanding of uh the controls that you have in place over receipts dispersements Contracting all kinds of stuff and as part of the testing we did identify a couple uh items that needed to be adjusted they related mostly to this net pension liability and other post-employment benefits and and it's all based on Actuarial calculations from the state or the actuary so uh in the big picture of things um actually very few audit adjustments it's just we're required to let you know we had some um there's another item that we're required to communicate and it's been around probably since the first year we did your audit and that's about segregation of Duties and you know we audit we rotate we do a little bit of an audit in the various departments with in the county each year it's on a rotating basis and some of them smaller departments if they're receiving money or have like a separate checking account they don't have the staff to fully segregate those accounting functions we're not talking big dollars here it's usually in the smaller departments but we're just required to communicate that to you I mentioned earlier on page nine uh you receive a lot of federal grants so we test the controls and the compliance requirements for each Grant and this year it was H medical assistance temporary assistance for needy fam supplemental nutritional assistance program and one more I think it was Highway planning and construction so a couple different departments I can check quick no local assistance and tribal consistency was the other one and Foster Care but as we obtain our understanding of the internal controls and we do compliance testing we're making sure tees are crossed eyes are dotted and um there were a few items that were required to to communicate One deals with tanif again we use a lot of acronyms but if I got to keep saying temporary assistance for needy families it might be six o' before we get out of here but in we tested 60 tan of cases and uh in two of them one of the teas to is looking for documentation of citizenship another one is when there's continuance of benefits past 60 months there's some documentation in the two of the 60 uh we didn't see that documentation for SNAP that's the supplemental nutritional assistance program one of the 60 cases we tested did not have proper documentation um of the applicant's income uh uh for medical assistance one of the 60 tested did not have social security number documentation two of them did not have the citizenship documentation and Case Files one of the internal controls it's really good that we see a county levels is to have periodic case file review to help make sure those t's are crossed and eyes dotted and for Ma tanif and snap um there there wasn't uh wasn't properly document I think some of it was maybe being done just not documented so we're required to communicate these things do you and I would say on the bright side that they're all relatively easy probably to address to just maybe take a little closer look or a second look as the you know the case files are being worked on so um we'll have to follow up on those uh in the next year and hopefully there's the little closer attention to those te's getting crossed we'll then we can res resolve those I am happy to report that there were two items from last year's audit that we checked on this year and those were rectified similar kinds of things but different so I think that's good on page 11 the state Auditors puts out this like 25 page checklist of all the different statutes that we have to test the County's compliance for and there's just one item we're required to communicate about publishing the claims in the newspaper it's kind of been around for a little while but you all have made a cost benefit decision that um the the cost far out weighs the benefit of complying with that so um understandable so any questions so far otherwise we'll jump into the financials all good cool page 13 so I I don't know when uh I have a question about the documentation of citizenship when would when would ahead okay sure all right so um I always hear that you know that there's undocumented uh people you know receiving benefits and things like that I guess my my question is is is there followup to see if um these two cases um provided any follow-up documentation to prove citizenship I think that may be some of the documentation we were looking for was okay because I believe if I remember right you know it you still be on Ma and not be a citizen okay yeah because I would like to uh dispel any rumors or or right Mis uh representation that you know Beltrami colony is is you know allowing undocumented citizens you know uh services so if there's some way that we can get some sort of followup on on this documentation to prove that you know we are trying to do our best and and right providing out the proper yeah I think I may have not summarize that real well but I think I'll have to do some check I'll follow up and I get back to you for sure cool okay all all right financially page 133 this is a slide we've included in previous years where it's a key metric you know how many months of reserves does the county have uh as you ended 12 uh 2023 and we look at the three big funds here the general fund Road and Bridge and health and human services and if you look at the chart last year there was 6.2 months of reserves and at the end of 23 it dropped to 4.78 um there's various National organizations in the state auditor office that recommends uh that there be no less than five months while you're about this much under right now but there's a really good reason and kind of how this metric is H calculated it's based on total expenditures in 2023 your expenditures were up you had a lot going on um the jail project some uh expenditures going on for that so even though a decrease about 1.4 million from last year um because there was some unique items in the expenditures that sort of raise the expenditures when that happens your reserves this calculation is going to go down so it it should even out after uh this next year assuming um those unique expenditures don't occur in 2024 as well so on page 14 we look at all the County's governmental funds that's the big ones and all the smaller ones and for the year the revenues were up about 6.4 million and the expenditures were up about 15.4 this is the first time uh in five years for where the expenditures have exceeded the revenues so when you mush them all together they they kind of even out um but there's uh as far as the increase in revenues the primary factors were some new grants interest Revenue increase significantly and then uh property taxes were up a little bit too so those were the primary drivers of that increase which we can see a little more of the detail on page 15 where it shows the different categories uh the property taxes was or taxes in total was up about 1.4 million the intergovernmental revenues was up 2.1 million and basically the in the main increase there there was in the road and Bridge fund because there was an increase in What's called the highway user tax that flows through from the state of Minnesota um interest in Investments was up about 2.4 million last year it actually showed uh negative investment earnings there was the market conditions at the end of 22 were not good when it comes to Investments and that has rebounded in 2023 so that is good news for the county on page we look at where the County's expenditures occurred um the general government function that's that includes the board Administration recorder auditor Treasurer all those General government types functions those were up about 3.3 million for the year you know wages and benefits were part of it um there was I think about 2.1 million Sanford Health uh related expenditure in that category Public Safety up about 3 million again wages and benefits there was some vehicle purchases the prisoner boarding costs were up and then there was some sophomore software purchases highways and streets there's two new projects two pretty good siiz projects that accounts for the increase there and then Human Services was up about 3.5 million again wages and benefits uh were a part of that and just increase in in uh costs and the demand for services so all in all at the beginning of the hour we have a planning meeting read the minutes do some inquiries and as far as the money coming in and going out that kind of all fell right into kind of what we expected before we we started testing a whole bunch of the activity now once you mush all that together for the year the County's fund balance levels basically stayed the same it was like a difference of A1 ,000 across all the different funds so that that's a pretty stable year so the next slides we look at the the individual funds on page 17's the general fund its fund balance increased about 2.6 million and this fund all by itself has about 9.2 months of reserves which is above the recommended minimum so that's good you know for the year the revenues were up about 2.4 million and expenditures up about 5.3 so general fund Reserve sitting pretty solid pretty healthy on page 18 the Road and Bridge fund its fund balance decreased about 4 million in 23 but this fund is kind of unique with uh on a lot of the projects you got to incur the expenditures but the money might not come from the state or the feds on until the following year so that it does tend to fluctuate uh quite a bit from year to year this fund's reserves are about 3.3 months so a little bit less than the the no less or than the five month sort of threshold and it is down uh not quite 3 months from last year so uh for the year revenues were up about 580,000 and the expenditures were up about 4.3 million when that happens you're going to see that ratio decline a bit page 19 Health and Human Services fund for the year its fund balance was down about 214,000 and ended at 1.7 million and the reserves in this fund are pretty slim just about not not even one month now I do see that pretty frequently in the Health and Human Services fund just because unlike let's say um there's a lot of Grant reimbursements in the Health and Human Services fund which will come in monthly which can help but yeah overall the the fund balance levels in Health and Human Services fund are uh I would say the low side currently page 24 fitted tax fund um the revenues are up about 500,000 expenditures up about 600,000 so its fund balance increased it's it's been increasing pretty consistently um and uh there's just more forfeited uh tax type trans activity in 2023 page 21 we got the solid waste fund and and um for four years in a row now the revenues have exceeded the expenditures here uh for the year fund balance was up a little over a million dollars to 2.4 and it's sitting at 5.06 of Reserve so right at that magic threshold of five months so all in all pretty solid year I'd say for the county financially um the your financial position other than 100,000 has been basically unchanged and and it was sitting good in uh at the end of 22 so page 23 um the general fund fund bounce levels are healthy Road and Bridge uh is below the recommended minimum as is the health and human services fund Solid Waste funds are improving um right at uh yeah it's now at that five Monon magic uh threshold no overall fund balances were down but as we talked about we know why it's because of some of the unique expenditures that were occurring in 2023 and planned especially as it relates to like some of the construction each year we do our audit there's seems like a whole bunch of new accounting standards that need to be implemented and for this year there was two of them one of them uh is gby stands for governmental Accounting Standards Board number 94 and uh through her inquiries and and research really didn't have any impact on Bel tramy County so that was good but then there was this one called gasby 96 for subscription-based information technology agreements it's when you have long-term agreements for software right and what we have seen is Counties have a whole bunch of these that need to be evaluated so uh County staff went through identified them all got copies of the agreements then there's some some guidelines you need to assess and analyze them for to see if this needs to be reported or not and how long's the term and after all I don't know how how many hours the staff uh had to put in to get it there and make some conclusions then we got to come in and audit it and there's a whole bunch to audit and get all said and done and um from a financial standpoint uh the impact is pretty minimal for the county so and that's consistent with what we've seen with the other County audits we there's a whole bunch we got to sift through and they get kicked out for one reason or another and don't need to be reported and that's what we we ran into here so um with that page 24 hey thanks a lot for allowing us to work with you uh the whole team enjoys it and um as do I and I got time for question questions any questions for Doug looks like you're off the hook all right thank you for your service thank you apprciate all right thank youin budget are you doing that one [Music] Tom all right good afternoon Commissioners uh it's that time of year where the uh fiscal budget and Levy that we're proposing for next year gets presented so I've got that information for you here in a short presentation and see if I can get this uh running here all right first of all start off with the budget committee for this year uh I believe you're already aware of this but uh we had two Commissioners commissioner Anderson and commissioner gosig that served on the committee and then the other three commission or the other three members of the committee were myself uh the auditor Treasurer and then our finance director as well uh the budget process is a long process that starts pretty early in the year uh actually even before we even recognize its official start in June uh we have a lot of activity occurring inside the finance department typically back to March and April uh but by the time we get to June we have an official kickoff that kickoff essentially starts with the preliminary development of the budget and that means that we're collecting worksheets and revising worksheet line item budgets and those sorts of things uh developing narratives uh developing enhancement requests those are things that are going to be added to or changes in the budget uh and then developing the capital Improvement plan so those documents are done pretty much in June by the time we get to July we have what's a formal or I should say informal administrative review process that's where typically myself or maybe the finance director and auditor Treasurer will'll review information with various department heads uh and try to refine budgets kind of behind the scenes get different clarifications to requests and such look at different budget strategies funding sources those types of things uh then eventually we'll enter the data and review the the the preliminary um development of the budget eventually that goes to the management team which has been a fairly new process that we've Incorporated where the management team then gets to present to one another and hear more holistically about the issues challenges opportunities that we have as a uh as a County uh from that and I should maybe pause there for just a second because that's really an important step in that we tend to get um even better and more refinement of the budget uh this year we were able to drop the levy request as an example by almost a point a percentage and a half uh through the management team process so that that was really good um then we go to the next step of the process which is where we assemble the budget committee budget committee goes through the process uh makes recommendations based on all the presentations made by the department heads uh we make adjustments uh we do a final review uh both administratively and and finance wise and then we put the budget book together and that's essentially where're about we are today you all should have budget books that we uh either gave to you today or that you picked up earlier last week um today is the presentation for the proposed budget um uh for fiscal year 25 as well as the proposed Levy um after this uh we'll lean to you for your review and modifications questions changes those sorts of things uh and then later this month uh presumably at the next commission meeting there will be formal adoption of the preliminary budget and the preliminary Levy so that's that process um that we've just gone through let's talk a little bit about what are the drivers that we found in the development of this year's budget uh there are several uh the economic climate continues to be a challenge for us um if you just look at the statistics year-over-year um even though the current uh Consumer Price Index or measurement of sort of inflation is running about 3.3% year-over-year compared to last year we that did follow a three-year average of about 5.6 per year uh that means that essentially in the last four years alone we've had about a 20% increase in operating costs driven largely by inflation inflation related um activities uh mostly this is still being felt in our facilities and Highway departments uh we have seen a decrease in the amount of inflation we've had but that doesn't mean that that's everywhere we're still seeing very high costs of doing business particularly buying supplies or equipments and materials in some of those sections the other area that we're having uh continuing Challenge on is Workforce and we've talked to you about this throughout the year Recruitment and Retention of staff and wage pressures uh continue to mount for the county uh we also have a classification compensation study we're in the middle of and of course implementation of that will also strain the budget uh which we have Believe We Believe accommodated uh in this fiscal year budget uh but again we haven't quite got all the results from that yet so uh hopefully by the next meeting we'll be able to share a little bit more information for you on exactly where we're at and what that might mean for the budget uh County reserves as we've been monitoring I know that you just heard from the auditor that the reserves were low last year they've come up a little bit at least of what we're anticipating so we still believe that we're in that five to six month threshold uh with this budget uh so that's some fairly good news uh as our fiscal policy is a target range uh between four and six months um just a reminder the property tax base this is mostly a reminder for the the folks maybe listening in we have a very small property tax base and a very uh high demand for services and of course that makes it very challenging for us uh to deliver Services um since we do have that low tax base also we do notice that there is continuing growth in value as it relates to building uh but that growth has started to uh slow the last several years particularly on the residential side we've seen accelerated growth in market value but uh that's that slowed uh we are seeing some shifts maybe to Commercial and in large Parcels of land uh but for the most part residential seems to be slowing quite a bit um and we don't have a whole lot of new building so we rely largely on a tax capacity of existing uh building growth or building infrastructure a couple other things that are driving the budget uh continue to be the County Jail uh medical costs have continued to escalate we've seen these medical costs uh just a matter of four years or so ago we are running about 300 to $350,000 for for our medical contract right now it's it's about a million dollars so we continue to see this rise in these medical costs as it relates to jails uh across the count across the uh state for that matter but it's certainly hitting us um ATT of County Housing costs remain High um we don't anticipate it increasing what we've been budgeting for the last while U but it is something that we still are budgeting quite a bit of money for so um so that's a particularly um High number uh correctional officer turnover and vacancies continuing to uh uh cause us some grief as it relates to keeping the jail staffed and of course the more we can staff the jail the more of our own inmates we can keep at the facility and the less we house out of the county so that's an important uh consideration and then lastly the new jail project is under way of course that's a totally separate funding stream uh that's a sales tax as you all know um but it is underway and you'll see some of that manifests itself in our budget here just a little bit as all explained Hospital level of care expenses are continuing to rise this has been a problem for the last several years that uh We've brought up and talked with you about both the Health and Human Services director and myself um there's really unfortunately no way of slowing this down uh but it is something that we have to budget for as a mandated Service uh and requirement and so the state legislation uh the highway department we are saving for a maintenance shop uh we are doing that through different funding source right now through the highway tax uh which is good so we don't have to strain the levy uh but it's going to take us a little time to save up for that um so that is a a driver that's going to impact um future budgets and then roadway conditions are always a concern right I mean everybody uh has an idea of different ways that the roads should be maintained and to different levels of of quality uh so we just do the best we can with the resources that we have um I want to pause here just a second and say that uh as we started this year particularly April May June I believe that this budget was actually going to be pretty straightforward that uh we'd be able to see um a budget that was uh something that we had sort of left last year and predicted would be fairly easy and straightforward developed this year um unfortunately after doing some review particularly in the Health and Human Service fund uh we found some some challenges there that needed to be addressed and um the challenges included essentially a projected def budget deficit for fiscal year 2025 of about $ 2.46 million um this was a pretty big swing from this fiscal year 24 budget to fiscal year 25 uh we had significant losses to a few specific revenue streams primarily the federal Title 5 urements and state outof home placement Aid uh we also have these uh Rising costs around mental health uh for criminally involved Youth and and others uh and as a result we experienced a loss in uh of over a million dollars of revenue for Health and Human Services and an additional increase in cost of $700,000 uh alone just in 2025 uh if you add to it the inflationary and wage related pressures in Health and Human Services you can see we quickly ramp up to this deficit that's uh that was quite concerning uh so this required unfortunately us having to develop um some pretty significant cost-saving measures some approaches that we had to apply inside the department to try to Stave off um this budget deficit and to get Health and Human Services more back on track as it related to revenues and expenses um leadership inside Health and Human Services worked with the auditor treasur and myself and uh we pursued uh reductions in three primary areas uh one area was in programs one area was in processes and another was in Workforce and I wanted to just run through these really quickly because they are uh what we've seen for sort of the first time as some modifications in Service delivery um that we typically don't end up having to do through the budget process but this year unfortunately we had uh to consider so the program changes that we're considering are that impacted teams uh will be reviewing mental health placements with adjusted parameters in place um there will be more scrutiny around those mental health placements as well as uh reviewing client expenditures and adjusted requirements associated with um those reimbursements and expenditures Health and Human Services is also foregoing the purchase of a vehicle uh in uh 2025 and they will not PS pursue the vehicle that they were going to replace in 2024 that has not been replaced so that's two vehicles uh computer purchases will also be postponed we're sure that we can do that without uh really any major impact on the operation at this point in time uh process changes uh Health and Human Services will be limiting operational training to essentially those that are Grant funded or um and uh I I should say that all of the required training for licensures and certifications and all of that sort of stuff is still going to be provided so we're not taking any of the training away for that this is just sort of optional uh in EX in addition to training uh unless we can find alternative sources that don't cost the county like grants and those sorts of things uh travel is going to be also reviewed much more closely than it has been in the past and then there also be no lunch reimbursements uh for uh day travel which aligns that operation into the uh rest of the County's operation so uh Workforce changes uh the agency is also going to be sunsetting five total positions uh essentially the treny social worker Adult Services case Aid and Community Health worker uh which are currently vacant right now so we just won't be filling those uh two positions are not vacant but we're going to rely on attrition uh to try to move uh staff and and not have to um not have to have any kind of layoff situation essentially one parent support Outreach social worker will be reduced and the licensing team social worker will be reduced as contemplated in the fy2 budget uh these uh these announcements or these these recommendations have been communicated with health and human services staff uh and so they should be aware of these as well wanted to make sure they were wereare that before we presented this publicly uh despite all of these cost-saving measures um which did save approximately a million dollars uh inside the Health and Human Services budget we were still about $1.3 million over uh the budget uh that we had for this past year so that required us to uh essentially increase the levy by that much to make up for that difference we looked at mandated services and we tried to reduce the service levels in Health and Human Services to the to the minimum mandated service levels we feel that that's about as far as we can go at this point in time so we are making a recommendation for 1.3 million of an additional Levy increase and I'll get to that here in just a moment uh to cover the Health and Human Services budget uh just looking ahead uh wanted to touch base on the budget highlights for fiscal year 2025 uh you'll notice that revenue is up about 13.8 million this is a quite a big jump as it relates to uh looking at the fiscal year 24 to the fiscal year 25 budget if you look at the taxes line item that's up about $8.2 million when I looked at that I had to look two or three times um but then after looking at it more closely it sort of ends up making sense so um 2.43 million of the 8.2 is in property tax adjustments and I'll get to that here on the next slide 2.5 is uh the addition of new revenue from the local option sales tax so that's coming in and we have to budget for it we have to budget the revenue and then we have to also budget the expense an additional 3 million of Highway Department um sales tax reserves is going to be used in this next year's budget so this is reserve money that we've already taken in from the highway tax that we haven't used yet but now we have some big projects for next year we have to budget for that Revenue in the year that we're going to expend it and so you'll seeing a big jump that way too so of the 8.2 million only 2.4 roughly is new taxes essentially associated with the levy you'll also notice that there's a small a bit of mortgage and DED tax and nrm apportionment pass through dollars this is money in money out so it doesn't really impact um our bottom line uh the other line item that you'll see here is intergovernmental is up about $5 million this is pretty significant as well but again it's pretty easily explained when you look at what's going on particularly in the highway department as you know we get big money from both the state and the federal government for Highway projects and some years are better than others um this year is going to be a healthy year for us we're going to have a $4 million increase in state and federal aid money for Highway projects so we have to budget that revenue and of course we expend that Revenue as well uh and then there's also a $1 million increase in state reimbursement for Health and Human Services so despite the fact that the Health and Human Services budget is um is is under strain at this point in time there are is some relief uh that's all been factored into the budget and that relief comes in in the way of about a million dollars of additional State reimbursement for Health and Human Services had we not gotten that the budget deficit would be much larger than what we have uh predicted at this point in time okay so let's talk about the proposed tax levy uh this is what it looks like when you look at all the the change from last year to this year both in dollars and percentage and sort of where those dollars are coming from uh you you'll notice that um the 2.4 million is being requested uh as an additional increase for 2025 in Total Property Tax uh that comes out to essentially 7.88% and the budget committee can ATT test we worked really darn hard to try to bring that number down as far as we could uh if we bring it down any further we are going to see reductions in service levels there's just really not really a way to to do that um so wanted to just brief you on kind of what the drivers are in regard to the property tax levy essentially 525,000 of the levy so this is of the 2.4 million uh 525,000 or 1.7% is going to the Sheriff's Office uh for JA medical uh largely remember it's about 400 I think it was 30 or 450,000 was just the medical contract the differences in operations with inside um the Sheriff's Office uh so there's 1.7% % of the 7.8 uh 2.6% is kind of the standard churning for wage adjustments you know as you know we have a cost of living adjustment for staff wages uh that cost of living adjustment essentially turns every year it ends up being around 2 to 3% typically um and so about 800,000 is going to salaries insurance and benefits for staff uh the remaining 3.6 um percent sorry I'm slow on the clicker I'm notice that apologize about that that but the other 3.6% or 1.1 million is going to the Health and Human Services budget uh to balance their budget deficit so all total there you can see it's a 7.8 uh8 or roughly 7.9% uh increase needed for Levy and there's really only three substantial drivers wages and benefits uh the medical contract largely for the sheriff's office with some other ancillary uh increases in expenses there and the Health and Human Services deficit those are the three driver for the budget uh Levy uh adjustment for this year uh so what does that mean in regards to the total anticipated Revenue sources not much has changed here in the allocation of the makeup of Revenue a couple percentages or maybe even tens of percent uh and dollars but essentially uh everything's about the same we see that taxes and intergovernmental uh revenues make up the vast majority of the revenues that the county receives we have charges for services uh this is like fees for services that people get through the county or sanitation and that kind of stuff um as well special assessments those all add some money to the general or to the revenue uh stream but by and large it's taxes and intergovernmental uh the combined funds for expenses uh do show that uh we continue with the same sort of allocation of expenses across the county where Health and Human Services and Highway May are the among the higher uh expense areas or cost centers with General government and Public Safety coming in uh next and then sanitation after that so uh that's not changed really too much even though the numbers have changed uh substantially between last year and this year when we get to Staffing modifications we're always very careful about how much uh adjustment we make in the staff uh I wanted to just mention that we did do an audit this year uh in comparing last several years and we found a couple discrepancies and it's always nice to do these audits just to make sure that we have the number of FTE that the board has approved or authorized uh one of the things that we realize is that sometimes these midyear approvals don't actually get added to the list so in the audit we ended up we ended up finding about 3.5 FTE that were actually added to the budget um and to the authorization but ended up not making it to the final Matrix so we've made that adjustment here uh and so the final count for 2024 is 432.32 FTE now we start from there we say Okay now what's happening for the FY 25 budget and here's what you can see uh essentially FY 2025 budget includes the addition of 2.38 FTE but there are a lot of adjustments that are going on so that's actually net position if you uh look at each of these uh what we're doing is uh making a recommendation for adding a quarter time FTE to the existing GIS survey support uh technician position to make it full-time as the work in that department has continued to escalate uh we are also adding making the recommendation to add 0.13 FTE this was discussed a few times throughout the year most recently when we did take that last lease uh and we needed additional custodial services for the the last large lease that we took with public defenders uh so that's already that's that's being covered essentially by the lease uh we are adding an account technition 2 position which is 1 FTE and an RN or social worker which is 1 FTE to Public Health that's funded by annual grants which we've been assured are going to continue they're not one-time grants so those essentially are funded uh also we're making the recommendation add four correctional officers uh We've looked closely the sheriff's uh staff myself the sheriff and audit treasured and others have looked at the return on investment of adding a couple more correctional officers versus the expense reduction that we could uh realized by reducing out of County Housing costs and it pencils out two to one essentially so we're we're believing that we're going to be saving money on out of County Housing to the tune of about $500,000 by adding about $240,000 worth of additional expense to get a net of about what is that two 260,000 or something like that saved uh so that pays for itself and then adding a financial um oops there's that finding an adding a financial specialist to the auditor treasur office uh that particular office has not had any growth essentially for a very very long time and there's uh enormous workload still there and that workload has continued to grow as we get more reports more financial statements more funds more things to track uh so there's being a request uh to add a financial specialist to the auditor's office and then uh with the five Health and Human Services positions that we're going to be reducing that's where you get your 2.38 net change on Staffing modifications um I think I have maybe two more years to talk about American Rescue act or American Rescue plan act funding or arpa funding because that's about the trajectory we're on before it's all gone if we continue to spend at the rate we are uh might just remind everyone that we did receive 9.17 million of arpa funding uh we use that predominately as one-time funding for the county um it's an important offset for the county this year the offset is about 1.9 million doll and uh this is where the requests have been made and what the budget committee is recommending for you to consider um in the Sheriff's Office uh buying squad cars for about $400,000 in addition to cameras and an investigator Squad so that's another vehicle um the highway department a grinder attachment 25 radios to be armor ready and then the backhoe uh for 40,000 GIS a large format printer and scanner and a remonumentation contract to continue uh the two Township remonumentation program that we've been sort of pursuing remember this last year or the fiscal year 24 we had relied on a grant we were hopeful that we would get that Grant to continue that work we did not get the grant that money does not look like it's going to come back for next year so we're budgeting for that and then finally um a couple miscellaneous funds here the storage building for um The Soil and Water Conservation District environmental services and natural resources management all three are contributing uh but there's a little bit of additional funding to close that Gap that's needed of about 300,000 and then labor costs uh uh 580,000 you might recall when we did the last Labor contract and you might say well wait a minut how are you paying for labor on this is supposed to be onetime money it is remember it was a weaning off and a weaning on of one funding source to another so that uh that's not going to be requested on an ongoing basis so just to summarize here uh here's the arpa accounting essentially uh there's the allotment and then what's been encumbered for 21 through 24 and then if uh if fiscal year 25 is requested at 1.9 and that's approved then that will leave us with an ending balance of 1.36 million for arpa funding so I just wanted to make a couple acknowledgements as we wrap up here um you know deel budget development is a group effort it takes a lot of people to put this budget uh together and a lot more to look at it and scrutinize it and make it you know what it is so I just want to thank the County Board the management team budget committee uh the finance team Diane's done an excellent job helping us keeping us on track with schedule and putting all the materials together um as it relates to next steps remember we have a statutory approval requirement by September 30th of this year um in sure we meet this deadline I would just ask that you review the book um please ask any questions that you have directly to me or any of the department heads uh and don't wait I mean I would I wouldn't just wait till the next meeting if you've got something uh that's on the top of mine just give us a call so we can make the adjustment sooner than later uh that way we can keep on schedule um please have any questions asked and answered prior to the September 19th meeting so that way we can have a smooth meeting for Budget approval um you are entitled to additional work sessions like if you want to meet again we could have a special meeting we could talk about budget the entire board could essentially roll up his sleeves and and dive into the budget if it wanted to we just have to finish our work and get to an adopted budget and Levy by September 30th um just a reminder tax statements are going to be mailed to Property Owners beginning mid November and then the state mandated bu pget budget hearing is slated for December 3rd and then uh the final budget adoption is scheduled for December 17 that's all I have for you but I'll stand for any questions you might have questions for Tom good job good questions thank you very much thank you Bruce good afternoon I get to show you the chart that was brought up here I think it was the last meeting or at least a previous meeting but uh the state of the system um and on that note uh the handout that I gave you that that ended up in your your uh that you got in your pamphlet there is outdated on Friday we got our pavement data for this year and so I um quickly put that into a new did you put it into the spreadsheet um so state of our system just kind of going [Music] through I hit the wrong one that was me now sorry uh just a quick summary our bridges and gravel roads um they're in Fairly good shape uh we do inspect Township Bridges uh there is one uh Township bridge that is up for replacement and we're working with that Township to to get that done but otherwise uh Bridges across the county and the townships are in good shape and overall our gravel roads we just continue continue to uh maintain and do our graveling and uh and stabilization and keep those in good shape I don't know D next please how it work for Tom but no he just got two yeah so really the presentation is mostly on our Pavements that is a big investment for us and that is really what uh a lot of what the the public sees and drives on and complains about or is happy about is our the condition of our paved roads uh we have uh just over 400 miles of paved Road and it's quite uh expensive to maintain them or to construct them and so it's an investment that we need to maintain and so we use payment preservation and that is uh uh doing projects that help preserve the payment extend its life uh so we do types of projects like chip seals overlays they're a lot cheaper you get more bang for your buck versus uh letting a a pave Road uh just deteriorate and then having to replace it uh just as it uh when it's at end of its useful life uh so when you look at a the the life you can get out of those types of projects and the cost again it is more economical to do those chip seals and overlays uh that the payment preservation and so we prioritize those projects however we do have the bad roads out there that we do need to address and improve um so again our priority is to keep our good roads in good shape and then address other ones when we can this is a chart that I like to use but it shows the a road a pavement that deteriorates over time uh it starts out very good at the top and then as time progresses the it goes kind of you know downhill um however if you do projects that are kind of shown in blue there you can do those chip seals and overlays and you keep that Pavement in good shape and you get a lot more area under the curve or more benefit for for what you've got there another chart that I've used is to kind of show the explain the condition of a payment when it's going down that curve um the the description is kind underneath the curve uh where you're going from minor cracking to moderate cracking and then you get some ruding on down to the major roughness but then on the other side the top side of the curve is the types of projects that uh kind of fall into place um in those different situations of pavement and and then I used my crayons and colored that slide and that kind of goes with our our green blue and and red uh categories that we use the good Fair por uh in the chart that I've also gone shown and so this is again kind of shown that the the a good roads where we're doing the chip seals are in the in the green then you get into the blue you're doing your more of your overlays and then your red you're doing a complete replacement uh but what does that mean out on the road here's a couple of examples uh of uh roads that uh are in good shape on down to the bad shape we use pqi it's a pavement Quality Index and it goes from 4.5 down to zero a lot of our good roads brand new roads around that 4.0 and so that's what we have here in this picture um here's the end of the green category the 2.8 and so you can see there is quite a variety from the brand new road down to this one you know we've got cracks we've got starting to get some patching and so this this is still considered a you know a good road this is uh the the start of the the blue the end of the green uh this is the jump from the blue down to the red so good to down to the pore sorry fair to poure uh here you've got a lot more cracking uh a lot more patching and really what comes into play here is the ride uh the the previous picture you know you had your cracks but it was you know more of a smooth ride now those cracks are CED or dipped and the the road is really moving around so it really that's the big difference is you're getting more cracks and the ride is getting worse and here is the bottom end of our our pavement scale and and here you've got I mean again more cracks and the the ride is even worse but so that's kind of examples and we will see these uh types of roads out on the road tour but these are kind of picture in mind when you're looking at uh our chart so where are we at uh my prediction that I had in your handout my estimated for 24 was I was a little high I was a little over uh over on the green um so this is the actual uh numbers here for 24 we pretty much stayed the same from 22 to 24 uh there's a change in a a couple of Miles um in the green and the red but overall our condition percentages uh CH or stayed the same and the reason being is because our roads get uh older every year every year every single road that we've got gets older uh moves down that curve and so again that's why we're trying to do those projects to keep the ones up in the green and keep those prioritize those but also address the ones in the red going forward um in the next couple years we will be addressing quite a few miles in the red so that chart should change uh come around the next time we do our payment data collection which gets done every two years and now I was going to have this preloaded but I just go to that other slide are you able to pull it up or otherwise I can pull we've got two software programs and seeing that I'm close to time here um I was going to pull up those software programs and go through them with you but my backup in case that didn't work is I put them in a a slid show here instead but we've got two software programs that we use um the first one is uh path web uh this is a program that is available to All Counties all of our payment data that is collected uh gets uh sent to this this uh program and this is a screenshot of what where we can see all of our pavement data and so we have um actually I'll go to the next slide we have a video log and so this actually we can play it um and so you can actually go both directions on the road because it's taken video forwards and backwards and uh and so we have a good video log of all of our roads and we actually we use this quite often for uh for checking um conditions of a road because we would have this video log for every every two years so we can see um mailboxes or driveways and things like that but the next slide is just a general map we can see where we're at you can just pick a spot on the map and it'll jump right there the video log will jump right to that location and again you can go drive both directions play it and the next slide this is the high-tech data that we get the image on the left is a video uh screen going down showing the road and so you can kind of see the cracks but we've as you're driving as you play the this you're driving down the road you can actually you'll see it move along and you'll see each crack that white stripe is actually the the yellow stripe in the middle of the road and uh again you'll see those all those cracks as they're coming in the video log then you'll see that crack show up on on that image there the same thing on the the image on the right is it's actually has a high-tech scanner that it's measuring the elevation or change in that cross-section across the road the next slide um this is exaggerated it's kind of constricted you know side to side but that's actually the the two ruts in the road two wheel ruts so the the left hand side is the center of the road and then you've got the two wheel ruts going across that again it's kind of constricted but and so we we have that information for all of our paved roads um on so we got all of that this is our high-tech our High um not high-tech but our high resolution and high it's lots of data there that we've get we've got uh the other thing that we can if you zoom out and then there's another option on the map is it'll it'll show us the ride and so again we use a pqi or pavement Quality Index part of that index is the ride and so in this program that's what it's collecting is that ride information and so green is good and red is bad orange is in the middle um again I don't know the the the numbers there but in the end that's kind of the summary you look at those the ones in red those are are you know roads that are in poor condition next Slide the next program that we have is called grit uh it was developed by NDSU their transportation Institute it was developed for North Dakota uh counties uh but then it was expanded into Minnesota and it is a simple uh gis-based program that uses Google Maps and this is actually available for anybody to use um you could log on right now and and see this data because it's out there for for viewing for everybody um and so part of the it is a map viewer if you go to the next slide and then again there was there's North Dakota layers but Al then there's the Minnesota layers and not all counties are using this but but if you go to the next slide here's a view of what you would see for belamy County and this one is uh just a simple age of payments so green being zero to five down to Red is older older than 26 years um and so you can get a snapshot of just how old our payments are Bruce how often do they update that information just knowing that 21 just got done it's well so that would be 22 okay and they they will need to wait for the state to to put the data into that path web program and then they can get it into this grit program so it's it it will take some time but so yes right now we're looking at 22 data still my chart my chart I was able to put that in my spreadsheet and that had the 24 data but uh another slide that they had and this is a neat um part of the program is the is the payment condition so here's where they're taking that pqi or payment service rating whatever um and then uh so this is that payment quality and again they have more categories than than we do with the red blue and green you know here they're going from they got five different categories and so it doesn't quite exactly match up with ours but you look across uh this is now this picture here is actually in 2024 because this program uses this part of the program uses the 22 data and then it uses that deterioration curve and says year here on that curve and over X number of each year you're going to fall down that curve and so it deteriorates that payment um then also if we put the construction projects in there it'll make those go back up to the top condition so that's what we have with this is it has a couple years of deterioration but also a couple years of road construction projects that's shown on this map here now this one you can hit play and it will show the roads deteriorate over time and so this next slide is actually would be at the end of our five-year program that is being proposed right now um the roads again deteriorated we got the road construction projects in there um and so hopefully again this is prediction of how that road might deteriorate and if we follow through with our projects there is a lot less roads in red um but you will see that we are getting to be you know more yellow and again we're kind of those roads are following down that curve and so those will be needing some type of uh um again payment preservation project a chip seal potentially an over and then the next slide if we don't do anything at all after that five years and go for another five years now we got a bunch of roads that fall into that red category um and so again that's if we don't do anything for five years after that but this is a a neat program that's out there again uh anybody can go on that and look at that and see where we're at at some point I'm going to get that on our website and to for people to at least see maps Andor being able to go to and look at that program I think that was my last slide so the previous map I didn't see anything up in the ker wash area the map just you just fell off the Earth there yeah well it seems like that a lot of times when when we uh try to advocate for things uh for our area so I just kind of curious um if if you can provide some sort of maps to help me I mean it looks nice down in the bidi area but you know it' be nice to see what it's like you know in the northern part of the County as well yeah and I can send you clips of those I cut her off at 32 because there's just a few miles north there plus we also have stuff up by gria um we have a I think it's what five or six miles on the on the county line with Marshall County and so when you get the whole County in there it gets it distorted so I do that's why I cut those parts of the county off thank you Richard it helps me to see though that what we've been after for the last number of years is is working out I mean the chip seal was one of the ones that I got lots of phone calls at first and now there's kind of an appreciation of knowing what why that's there so close whereas folks living 20 miles from there say how come they're getting another nice road so it's it's it's a balance hey Bruce the um only thing about the chip seal I just thought I did get some complaints about contractor um not putting the the stuff down quick enough or something and and a lot of rock sitting windshield because of it up on I think was on 32 actually or or whatever our 30 yeah yeah I was um we can't Point our finger out one reason or one thing that they did differently but this year was uh a bad year for um windshield complaints um we have passed them on to the contractor's insurance company and uh also our insurance company has I believe got involved and try to put the thumb on them to to address them so uh just a quick question BEC it just seems like the mill and overlay on 21 was really fast I mean I I mean I that was incredible how fast we got from what Knife River all the way up to Turtle River was like whoa does that is is that mean it's costing less because we can do it so fast well we did good good prices uh this spring uh the bid prices um that came I mean there was what four million and we were estimating six million so there was quite a big savings there so yes it is uh um being done cheaper part of it is they were very close to the plant and so the shorter Hall distance uh helps um they can get that the material out there quicker and get the work done and again you're a contractor likes those long stretches you know versus stopping and going and having to Mo remobilize or or move if they've got that 10 mile long road they can they and put out the product and they that contractor was able to do that on that road any other did you have anything else or do we have any other questions for Bruce Bruce thank you for the update can you remind us again the road tour date is oh maybe that was my that last page the last page of that handout there September 30th I believe 8 AM start out here in the parking lot come come back uh roughly 3 3:30 so a long day okay coffee Donuts lunch couple bathroom breaks and you get to see lots of road miles all right thanks Bruce County Emergency declaration do we is that is that you Tom or Chris hey Chris hi good afternoon Commissioners can you hear me yes perfect uh I don't have a lot for you today I just uh have an update uh uh on the uh emergency declaration that you guys uh approved uh at my request uh on August 20th uh regarding the July 31st storm um that impacted Southern uh Beltrami County uh and including the city of buiji as I reported out at the last meeting we were within about 5% of our state indicator to uh uh enable us to pursue uh disaster reimbursement assistance with the emergency declaration and the fact that um the city uh reported one additional light pole uh that was damaged put us just over our threshold uh so we uh invited the state of Minnesota's Homeland Security and Emergency Management to come visit us on August 27th uh we conducted that uh preliminary damage assessment and with their professional assistance we uh identified additional um work that was not claimed but was also eligible so that uh got us uh to 127,000 $855 well uh exceeding our state damage indicator so the next steps are uh I submitted a letter to Governor walls today on behalf of belamy County requesting um The Disaster Assistance contingency account uh reimbursement and upon approval of that uh the HSM staff uh will work directly um with the applicants and how it broke down is a beltram Electric Cooperative uh came up with about $10,000 and reimbursable uh damages in Beltrami County we also pulled in solid waste because uh obviously with all the debris removal in uh the usage of the landfill they were able to get nearly $122,000 the County highway department was the big one they got $55,000 approved and the city parks a little over 15 and the City Public Works was a little over $35,000 so um this is 75% uh rate reimbursed from hscm I'm sorry from the state of Minnesota through HSM so roughly $100,000 or so is going to come back to our local entity uh to offset our expense in the response to the July 31st storm it's not a million dollars like I got last time but as a member of the uh Co-op and a taxpayer in Beltrami County uh we'll pursue whatever we can get to offset our loss so that is uh my report and i' just like to uh thank the county entities the city staff as well as the state staff for their cooperation uh in answering all of my numerous questions uh and emails um with that I'll stand for any questions any questions for Chris I guess not thank you Chris great job good hope your grandpa's doing okay he's doing great awesome thank you all right on to crush concrete Bruce I'm going to cover this one uh the Solid Waste Department with our demo landfill we received uh uh concrete concrete waste and every so often we will have it crushed um most contractors out there are keeping their concrete and crushing it and using it themselves so what we see at the demo landfill is usually the bad stuff with lots of rebar in it Andor the smaller stuff that we get from households or homes um and so we do end up with um some material out there that we Crush um roughly 7200 cubic yards on the last time that Solid Waste did that the highway department utilized the material we had some projects out on that area and uh used it as shouldering on those paved roads out there that we did um right now the highway department we don't have a need for this much material and so we would the Solid Waste Department would like to um make it available for the public to purchase and to do that we need to uh the County Board needs to set a rate on what we would sell that for um we did a quick survey of what other contractors providers are selling the material for out there and we've come up with um $23 as kind of the um common number that uh fits what others are selling it for out there and so what we would like to be able to do is uh put this as a a change or an addition to the 24 rate structure that County great structure any questions for Bruce on the crush con I guess not thanks Bruce okay so the I believe this is on the consent consent agenda yeah okay thanks all right thank you administrators update thank you Mr chair uh just a brief update for you wanted to start off with the jail project let you know I I believe I've already said this before the design is completed if back today I took the last invoice I believe uh that we'll be getting from Klein McCarthy unless there's any other incidentals but those should be small um essentially uh we did submit plans for review to the city and the state uh We've also paid those permit fees to the state uh it's a pretty hefty bill of over $200,000 and now we wait for about five or six months to uh see what they say in regard to the plans uh also was going to let you know following up from the last meeting uh we did have aotter Tail Power uh record their easements on the property uh which was great and I expect payment for those easements uh sometime this week might recall we got about 42 $43,000 for that uh we are currently in the prequalification stage for biders that's uh Pro part of the stage will last for another uh week and a half or so uh after which we'll conclude with an announcement of who's been pre-qualified or what not it is possible that we'll get a couple other biders that might uh come in uh anybody who's going to work on the project does need to be pre-qualified uh so we're trying to get the bulk of that work here done between now and and the actual formal announcement for request for bids um we are attempting to reschedule the Paul benan Transit joint Powers meeting that uh meeting as you know was cancelled uh due to some public noticing uh associated with that uh so we are looking for another date we thought we might have had one uh that didn't end up working out so we're back to the drawing board I'm uh I'm sad to say that it might take actually a few more weeks before we can get something pulled together with all the people especially with school starting uh there's some folks that have schedules that are impacted by that uh but we'll continue to look for dates uh and let you know when we settle on one uh also uh while the meeting has continued since the auditor gave his presentation in regard to uh the 2023 audit now was a question that commissioner suner asked in regard to undocumented citizens so we've been collecting uh information behind the scenes while the meeting's been going on and information from Health and Human Services so I I want to just let you know that uh um we are aware that there was a Cas or two that was transferred to the county from another County uh where we had assumed essentially that uh that case was a legitimate case as the person receiving benefits was documented uh and uh in fact was not so what we are doing now and changing the process is look anytime we get a transfer case from one County to another we're looking at the verification status to make sure that that particular individual or group of individuals is documented before services are are provided uh through Bel try County we can't speak on what happens to other counties but that's uh that's been a correction that we have made so uh that is true there's been a very small uh I shouldn't even say number but just a case or two where that has occurred also you should be aware that uh there are sometimes newborns that are born and don't have a Social Security number because they're not required to get that within except to the year one essentially so they are technically undocumented but may receive services so that that is you know just in a technicality basis uh another area where there may be uh an allowable Excursion from the documentation requirement because obviously newborns aren't going to have the documentation as required until year one so bottom line I've been assured by Health and Human Services leadership that there are no undocumented residents in belamy county that we're aware of that are receiving any uh types of benefits or assistance um all residents are receiving assistance have either uh the appropriate US Department of State documents or they've had a social security number except with the newborn situation I just mentioned so uh if you are aware of anyone uh that we're not we'd sure like to know because that should not be the case uh going forward uh so I just wanted to kind of follow up since that was uh that was an important question um also just lastly wanted to let everybody know that uh under the important dates tomorrow uh September 4th is the solid public hearing that's going to be occurring uh you might recall this is at Bel trammy Electric Cooperative is held by the state uh and it's uh going to be from 1:00 to 4 o'clock but if you'd like to get a little networking in early you can show up at 12:30 uh and uh and meet and greet different folks before the meeting so that's what I have for you for the administrator's report I'll stand for any questions you might have any questions for Tom Jim uh Mr chair so um the the last part at the Bel try electric is that that's open meeting or is it publicized uh well it's a meeting that's being hosted by the state it's the state's public hearing to collect information on the new demolition landfill rules okay so so it's not a county meeting uh you're free to attend if you happen to be there on a quorum uh you just can't talk about County business but you're free to attend and provide your feedback and comments to the state uh that's their hearing okay great yeah just it's uh being just being held at the community room there commissioner suar um at belr electric community room and it's the mpca is the state agency that's putting that on and they're the ones that we trying to convince to help fund our our demolition landfill our ount deal that we put together that they didn't fund and so a us go voice our our opinion to saying if they don't help us with that then you know they shut down our landfills and people are going to either be burning their stuff or they're going to be throwing in the woods because they won't have any place to bring it so hopefully people will show up and let them know that thank you any other questions for Tom any other business uh in reviewing the the upcoming agenda does anyone have any changes in the board meeting agenda that needs to be changed I seeing none it looks like that's a goal then at this time um call for adjournment