##VIDEO ID:0sdCQkoahog## e e e e e you tell me when you're ready geez jump in the gun a little kind kind of itchy call to order the County board meeting for October 15th we'll start with the pledge allegiance pled aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right Beth roll call sure commissioner schlangen here commissioner Heinen here commissioner ginsky here commissioner Johnson here commissioner pop present thank you okay approve the agenda is anybody got any ads Monty yes sir so right before 905 County Administrator if you could please add the Emergency Management Paramount planning agreement please okay and then next is so uh right before the rinky n and retainer on County Administrator if we could please add the St Cloud H arpa agreement the St Cloud H arpa agreement and then Mr chair following that then there's three memorandums of agreement on the class study the first should be abme and then items the second and third would both be the teamsters 320 moas so three moas on the class and comp uh maintenance program implementation and that's it okay who for approval the excuse me I would like to add just a quick discussion on the airport Authority Monty where do you think we should add that should we add that at the end of Chris Birds how about that's a great idea right before meeting updates yeah airport all right Mr chair I'll move for approval of the I'll second it okay we got a motion and second all in favor I I post same sign motion carries County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube please refrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that viewers can hear you the County Board observes Robert's Rules of orders for its meeting so please obtain the board's chair consent before addressing the County Board public comments are generally reserved for the open Forum segment or public hearings however public comment or on other agenda items may be allowed at the discretion of the board chair as we begin today please turn off your cell phones or turn them vibrate thank you nothing for okay all right no public or open Forum consent agenda as items one through one through six Mr chair just for clarification there's already an item on uh item five amended contract with Paramount are we to remove that and please thank yeah uh we did not have the actual contract itself for inclusion in your packet we thought since we have it today we should explain it okay so it's yeah so it's it that's a good point it should really not be voted on as part of the consent agenda thank you okay Mr chair I'll move for approval of the consent agenda items 1 through 4 and item six second okay we got a motion in a second to approve items 1 through 4 and six any communication or dialogue if not I'll call a question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries with that we'll move right into Emergency Management good morning Commissioners thank you for your time um about a month ago I brought a contract to you to work with Paramount planning to do five continuity of operations tabletop exercises for every Department in Benton County um an amendment to that contract once that was sent back to the contractor he pointed out that their insurance policy does not match what our contract had stated so Michelle graciously did an amendment to the contract and I'm bringing that back to you this morning for approval um it does State some lower liability limits as well they don't have cyber security insurance coverage okay Monty were will our mcit insurance cover that portion well what I know Michelle always hopes to achieve is dollar amounts that are equal to the governmental tort limits yep so when you have a gap um that does create some potential exposure uh that would be covered by the county uh and not mcot okay and and you know this happens from time to time one of the the problems is about 12 years ago the legislature ined increased the torque caps and they went from 1 million to 1.5 and we've been told often times this insurance is sold in million dollar increments and that second million is extremely expensive so sometimes it's a challenge for vendors to obtain that extra million so we've seen this many times and I guess it's a matter for the board to decide is you know you've got cost benefit risk risk reward is it is it okay to accept some risk there right yeah in the future maybe what we could do is uh have them provide a cost what that cost would be to go to that so we could see if it's $10,000 and there's a lot of risk it might be worth it adding to their contract to add that you know that's a good point yeah in the future I suppose asking a vendor okay if you give us the the amount that we need what's that going to cost because they're going to pass along to us yeah exactly then we have the opportunity to say yes or no yeah this has come up many times over the past decade yeah Jer Kristen do you have any personal experience with this these people um I do I worked with him quite a bit he's one of about one Emergency Management vendors in the state of Minnesota okay um so my experience with him has always been good um he also has a team of people that works for him he works for Region 4 the Emergency Management region that's made up of 18 counties um as our regional contractor as well to do exercises for us um actually in the future probably next summer sometime I'll be bringing back another propos contract to work with him to do an emergency Operation Center exercise for us um a little bit larger scale so my experience with him has always been good um I know as well he's looking into cyber security coverage because we are not the oldie County that's asked for it doesn't mean he's going to get it he definitely doesn't have it now but it's something he is digging into and did you say Region 4 is 18 other counties okay all right move for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion in a second any other question and I can just add is that the Cyber coverage is in M MCAT now is recommending that you try to obtain that from vendors it's sort of a new thing and I could see a lot of vendors like what is this we're not really used to this at this point okay okay we got a motion in a second to approve I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign motion carries thank you thank you all right Monty you I believe we're ready for Northland Securities update and it's up on the screen for you did I say security you did I me Northland reliability I'm sorry that's okay um my name is good morning more bonds we don't know about it's our bond Council that's right it's our bond Council my name is Brian Hunker and I work for Great River Energy as a transmission permitting project manager I'm here to provide an update on the Northland reliability project um I believe this is my third time here possibly it seems like we come back about every six months or so to give you an update um so again this project is proposed by Great River Energy and um Minnesota Power it is a new high voltage transmission line that extends there we go um that extends from the Iron Range substation outside of Grand Rapids down to the Cuna series compensation station which is side of kayuna that's going to be new as a part of this project to the Benton County substation right here on the southern side of Benton County that will be expanded and then down to the Big Oak substation Big Oak substation is going to be built as a part of excel Energy's Alexandria to Big Oaks project so this is a double circuit 345 kilovolt transmission line and it's planned to be adjacent to existing transmission for roughly 85% of the route and it's about 180 mil long so the project was um first approved by myo which stands for Midcontinent independent system operator and they're our grid operator for the um actually the central uh portion of the us we're in the upper Upper Midwest so there's a series of 19 projects that were proposed here in tranch one our project is highlighted in blue and the other projects are shown down in in Orange so as you can see the projects extend from North Dakota to Michigan down into Iowa and Kansas so specifically um this project enhances the reliability of the grid it'll enable uh different types of generation to be carried on the grid as well as providing resilience during weather events and have the flexibility to carry the different uh generation sources you can think of the project as uh two segments so segment one is shown in Orange that extends from Iron Range down to Benton County and that's going to be the new transmission component that's built adjacent to existing transmission as well as expanding the Iron Range substation expanding Benton County and building a new series compensation station outside of kayuna second uh segment is shown in green and that is replacing two existing transmission lines both of those lines are roughly 20 mi long they both extend from the Benton County substation one goes to the existing Shero substation where nothing will change except for a couple interconnections and the second one um will be down to the Big Oak substation and that will be new so back in August we filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission and that was for our combined certificate of need and a route permit the Department of Commerce held scoping meeting in October of 2023 and that was to collect feedback from the public and agencies regarding potential route or alignment Alternatives that would be studied within an environmental ass assessment that environmental assessment was drafted by the Department of Commerce it was published in June of 2024 in July the um actually I should say the the state within that time period hired an administrative law judge or an assign an administrative law judge that judge held hearings um in July of 2024 in September of 24 we filed responses to public comments and we filed two proposed routes within that time period I'll um they're both shown on the maps in front of you and I'll I'll get into them in the presentation here in November we anticipate a report from the administrative law law judge on the record so that means all of the route proposals route Alternatives and that will be provided to the Public Utilities Commission we anticipate a decision from the Commission in the later part of December or January of 20125 for more information I do have the docket numbers down here at the bottom of the slide and a link to the E doet site so in July the alj held hearings across the project from um Grand Rapids all the way down to Sock Rapids and these are some of the common comments we've heard uh specifically in in Benton County there were a series of Alternatives route Alternatives that are called the J Alternatives I'll show you a picture of those in a bit here we heard some concerns regarding those we heard concerns and comments regarding following the existing transmission line uh concerns for um houses property value vales and along with easement values as well that was fairly common um across the entire Corridor obviously down here we heard a little bit more regarding Center pivot irrigation systems farming practices than perhaps we did up in Grand Rapids where we heard more about Timber value and clearing of Timber this shows um the route that we proposed in our route permit application so the orange line is the new transmission that's adjacent to the existing transmission during scoping um the J Alternatives were proposed and they're shown in the pink I'm sorry the purple dashed lines that are west of our existing transmission they essentially follow 55th Avenue the reason those were proposed was to move the proposed route off of the um Elk River kind of snakes through our transmission line to kind of move it off of the Elk River area in September we filed two routes one is called the modified proposed route the second is called the collocation maximization route so the modified proposed route follows our existing transmission except um you can kind of see here on the right hand portion of the slide it's it it sort of bows around um Golden Spike Road where there's a few large oxos of the Elk River that goes in there and then it maximizes the distance between the homes at that location otherwise for the most part it would be built west of the existing transmission line adjacent to it the collocation maximization route this one's a little little harder to explain but you can see in the aial photo at the bottom of it there's a blue line that comes in from the East that is is an existing 230 kolt transmission line at the top of the picture you see a green line that also comes in from the East that is an existing 69 KV transmission line so in between the green line at the North the blue line at the bottom there's a 230 KV transmission line and a 69 KV transmission line we would propose to for that stretch that's shown here it's roughly about five six miles we would propose to double circuit those two lines so build them on a common structure place our new NRP transmission line adjacent to that so what that does is that allows us to collocate or share rights of way of the existing transmission line with the the current one and there thereby reducing the amount of new RightWay that we would be needing so uh both of these are going to be studied by the administrative law judge and uh published in their report we can't so roughly where the transmission line comes in so the blue one on the south side we can't double circuit it all the way into the Benton County Sub because there there are within that area there are two existing 230 lines that are already double circuited so we'd have to have the double circuit 230 with the 69 and then NRP through there so last year weed started field surveys um so this included cultural resource reviews Wetland delineations uh rare plant habitats and we were able to collect most of that data here between um May and October of 2024 should there be any changes within our route we will need to go back out in 2025 and resurvey those those areas soil borings are planned to begin in segment two so the two transmission line Replacements they'll probably begin here in in the November time frame so south of the Benton County Sub you'll see folks that are out staking the proposed structure locations staking the soil borings locations and then soil borings will begin at those proposed locations we also have started the real estate process as a part of that and that starts out with the right of Entry agreement so that's getting a land owner to um be informed about the surveys that are going to happen whether they're soil borings Wetland delineations cultural resources and then we obtain an agreement for them to enter their property that would be followed by easements and then construction and restoration so easements will be in 2024 26 Construction in segment two will begin in 2025 and we'll build in a South the North fashion and then we've got um in service in late 29 early uh 2030 the bottom of this slide shows a graphic of what the proposed transmission line will look like so in segment one again north of Benton County we have uh the proposed or the existing H frames there and then we have the proposed monopole structure so that' be a steel monopole with the two circuits on E on either side of it and that's going to be on a concrete pier Foundation south of the Benton County Sub the two transmission lines will be removed and they'll be replaced with that double circuit monopole so as I mentioned um we have begun the land rights process and um oh I feel like I oh no I didn't skip okay sorry about that so we have begun the land rights process the land rights or land owners were contacted regarding a right of entry and also in Benton County um while it's not showing on here but we are going through the option process so many land owners have been presented with an option and um should they exercise that option that will be transitioned into an easement once the final route is selected once the structures are staked we have conversations with the landowner about where those structures are located and then um we'll be able and then we obviously we can address any other questions that they may have so that's box three here and then box four is uh construction and um restoration of that transmission line so currently we are going through engineering design of the transmission line of the substation expansions um we are concluding the state pu permitting process again we expect that route the later part of this year early part of 25 at that time we'll begin ancillary permitting with the DNR um the DNR um core of engineers with wetland impacts um as well as the board board of water soil resources uh soil borings are going to begin here in segment two and then we anticipate Construction in 2025 again those boring locations will be staked for uh land owners knowledge so as we continue through this process we do maintain our project website and that's got an interactive Google Earth type interface of of our route we do have our modified proposed route on there as well as the collocation maximization route as well as the scoping Alternatives that were proposed so right now the map looks really busy but that's kind of the phase that we're at in the routing of this project we've got our our hotline up we do anticipate sending out newsletters and postcards informing people of when the route was selected um we also have land agents that are out there so all the land owners that have been contacted are assigned an agent and should they have any questions encourage them to connect with that person um and then we are also continuing with uh presentations to County boards if Township associations want a meeting we'd be happy to meet with them as well and lastly this is our project website we do have the email address and hotline up there so that concludes the presentation if there's any questions I'd be happy to address them questions for the record how big of a project is this in dollars in dollars it's going to be slightly over a billion wow yeah it's quite the investment well good luck thank you right thank you appreciate the update Monty culture team okay uh so members of the culture team are here and I'll just turn over you all you got a plan okay thank you first good morning Commissioners good morning um thank you for the opportunity to come before you today um briefly before I get started I had several members of the culture team that wanted me to extend our gratitude to the board for the adoption of the dent plan for 2025 as all of you are aware um that was one of the major themes teams that came out of the culture team benefits survey and so that that was a big hit with employees so again just wanted to express our gratitude for the adoption of that dental plan it much appreciated thank um today I'm just going to give you a very brief overview of the culture team um as you know um the county saw a need and the board is willing to help us as employees identify and work on areas where we could improve the culture at Benton County we met with Andy from employee strategies and had three meetings where we identified areas of in Need for improvement at the county and we developed three subcommittees where will further focus on areas where we believe we can improve the culture at Benton County those three areas identified were improving benefits at the county improving the employee and employee management relationship and improving the training on boarding process the goal of those subcommittees is to further explore ideas where we can improve the culture and benefits at Benton County but we as employees will be doing the comparables the research ourselves so we can narrow that Focus down we don't want to bring a blanket of issues to the County Board and just throw something out there and see what sticks so we're planning on doing the research ourselves seeing what's working with other organizations out there how are those organizations whether public or private sector improving that training and onboarding process how are they improving the employee management relationship or what benefits improvements that have they done that they believe have helped um improve Recruitment and Retention of employees so I'm the chairman of the benefits committee we also have the chairman for the two other subcommittees here they'll be talking to you a little bit about their subcommittees um once we've narrowed some of the focus down for those subcommittees um we plan on further exploring a health insurance plan which would be looking at instead of just single or family coverage seeing how feasible is it for the county to offer an EMP employee plus one health insurance plan um a deferred compensation match and a benefits education representative so we know to improve the culture at the county we just can't ask for things that cost money you have an obligation to Residents but how can we improve the culture without it costing the county anything one of the items that came out of the surveys is sometimes just the lack of knowledge on the part of employees of what benefits we actually have out there uh when new employees are hired by the county or sometimes existing employees might not have all the knowledge out there new employees who are hired might have a lot of information coming at them they might not follow up and oh tell me more about that deferred compensation match so our goal with like a benefits education representative position would be a volunteer position and how they could work with HR to further expand the knowledge of newer existing employees and what benefits are out there so those are some of the ideas uh that we have and that we'll be further exploring you have any questions before I turn it over to Katie and Michelle no I know the insurance uh came up yesterday at the uh at The District 5 meeting just about the different kinds of or different levels of insurance sure okay thank you thank you good morning thank you morning I'm Katie duing um this is Michelle REO we're both at the sheriff's office um we are representing the relationship subcomittee of the culture team and it's quite Broad so we we have started with um with trying to get together with commissioner kinsky or Commissioners ginsky and Heinen and um I think that's next week so we appreciate that a lot um our relationships committee isn't just between employees and board but it would also be between employees of different divisions in in the county so we can all understand what our roles are and and how we're all interconnected um we just want a a full a full um broad picture of and transparency between everybody and everyone's on the same page um with how things are run and how things work and what things need to be improved on and what is um what's going well um I being that it's such a broad um sub committee it what questions do you have that we could address I think we'll learn a little bit more next week right from from from the meeting and then that's when we'll have questions yeah that's which we'll address with you guys after the sub committee right yeah so that's I mean that's kind of it in a nutshell but um we appreciate that you guys are open to this and we'll keep plugging along and going from there well we appreciate everybody on this panel because it it means a lot to us I mean you've seen we did act on on the dental and stuff like that so it's not going on deaf ears is what I'm trying to say yeah that's and Mr chair appreciate the update even today kick off start that we can get together and talk so that's great thank you yeah it's mutual thank you okay okay I'm kind of short so I want to make sure if I can hear me fine okay okay so I'm Leah um the subcommittee that I'm here for is the training and onboarding we were initially going to be it was kind of like employee retention over you know like the turnover rate but that was way too broad and we realized we you know a lot of it was benefits or relationships we're like this is too broad so we narrowed it down um kind of a common theme and just talking amongst people in different departments is they don't feel like they were trained properly they were kind of thrown into the position you know different things so we want to kind of obviously this would be very close working with you guys and lady because some of the things that we're going to be asking for we cannot achieve without your help um kind of in a nutshell we want to try and get these training curriculums implemented and some departments may have them they're in a back closet somewhere nobody knows some may be utilizing them so one of the things you know we're going to be asking of you is kind of if we need some of these management teams from different departments on board they don't currently have something that's where you guys come in to kind of help give that push to maybe you know further that so yeah yeah we're definitely on board with this exactly questions from the board anything okay well as we have more stuff and kind of work we maybe want to do little sub surveys Department you know individual to each department and find out hey you know where do you feel your training is do you have something so we kind of have a ground to start from because if they have it it may be a matter of pulling it off the shelf dusting it off and getting it ready for being used and then maybe a policy coming out saying this is what you do cuz you may use it and he may not and it's not fair to the people that are coming in to the ones that aren't being offered the same resources Mr chair I do have a question and I realize you're going to be starting to meet with these Commissioners next week um do you how often do you see yourself with an update with the board I mean I that's not in stone yet I understand that but I guess my encouragement is I'd like to hear some updates not just from them but from your group quarterly and I mean if y'all would like updates you know more frequently this is an open communication it's just not us asking of you cuz we need your feedback as well because this is you know we're going to be working very closely together you know and and I realized you two will be bringing updates back to the board a board meetings but it's nice to hear I think hearing it from them is I think it you're right it means more contacts coming from them than two bar members and I wanted to say this touches on their subject but one thing that as a board y'all may not be aware of a lot of the employees are kind of intimidated or afraid to come to the board you know so I mean y'all may or may not be aware of that and that's kind of where they want to touch on really building the relationship and starting with the board so that people that are watching and listening in can know that you guys are approachable and that's what you're here for you know and maybe we can kind of mend the bridge and people will start voicing their opinions and they won't just leave when they have a problem they'll try and find a solution so that's a that's a great point and that's I the the employee engagements that we do or or the meetings that we do the forums we we actually we listen to a lot of that and we we talk about it and stuff like that um the only thing difference between us and you guys is we put in $50 you know and be honest I mean it could be anybody up here sure and stuff and and I think the whole board is really approachable and we we want to be a part of your guys' team so we thank you for including the board and that's what we want people to see you know and kind of like Sean said you're you know the things are not going unseen the things that have been presented I've been a part of the culture thing since before we were a team with the initial surveys you know the group meetings and stuff before we actually formed our team and being that I've been here from ground zero to where we're at a lot of the things pretty much everything that was addressed from day one has come to light and you guys have you know made adjustments and fix the things that have been brought to you so if the people if there's anybody watching you know I want them to know you guys are listening so we not speaking for the whole board but we made a real commitment to be approachable and we're going to keep on that yes my opinion we're going to keep that yeah well it's appreciated you know absolutely thank you for taking time to come in today thanks for thanks for your whole team all right Monty mon show it's the Monty the Monty show back to Northland securities okay I believe the next item is appointing an interim Human Service director of course as you know our human service director resigned effective October 4th and uh and in inter we we certainly need the guidance of a director in that position so at this point Mr chair I'd recommend that you appoint Sandy scharg as our intern Human Service director with compensation adjusted to the director of payra and I should mention that Sandy previously served that position and we did make that pay adjustment during that period of time Mr Sher so she's been in this position just not having the title for almost a year of I I know our subcommittee will be meeting shortly we need to get this matter and take care of it and address it yes M Mr chair we're going to attempt to organize a meeting this week of our selection committee for some discussion about um next steps yep I'll make a motion I'll go ahead no I'll make a motion look you make the motion you can second it Mr chair that's fine for the record Mr chair the recommendation that appointment be effective retro back to October 7th that was that first Monday after our person departed so I'll make a motion to appoint Sandy scherg Steinbach as interm human service director effective October 7th 2024 with compensation adjustment to the HS director's pay grade I'll second that okay we got a motion in a second any uh questions for Monty or Sandy she's here as well she'll Pro she'll probably say it's about time I don't have any question not putting words in your mouth Sandy okay been through this rout before y all right with nothing uh uh needed for questions we'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thank you Sandy thanks Sandy thank you s thank you for everything you've done so far y absolutely Mr chair uh next I believe is you you have in your packet a letter inviting Ben Cony to join the Minnesota rural counties the letters from the chair Luke Johnson Pipestone County Commissioner and chair of the MRC um it describes also the the due structure uh for membership and I a couple board members wanted this on your agenda so I'll certainly turn it over to you all uh for a discussion on this group okay well I called my Dev it put on um we talked about this in the past and I think we were kind of holding out because Sterns County wasn't a member and there was a gap between know some of the western counties and Sterns County and now Sterns has joined along with a lot of other counties they've they've taken a new uh management they got uh a really good lobbyist person in I think they've picked up nine or 10 counties in the last year um some counties that were um I know hestad County joined um I know that otter taale Count's looking at it they haven't been joined yet um at first I thought well we're kind of in Micah and you know it's different than that but uh there's counties to the east of us that are members too I believe so um I think it we can do it on a two-year trial or something to see how it works if we don't think we get the benefits out of it would be my my suggestion I don't know Mr chair so that is my question what is you know Mr P or whoever what is the benefit of joining this I mean know for somebody from you know his district is all city right what what is the benefit you know they deal with more rural issues they won't they're not going to take on a lot of the issues that happen within the larger cities um and sometimes those issues get pushed you know to the side or our people that we have through AMC or lobbyists don't don't uh deal with them as much as what they Will's a map who the in green I guess that would be the members MH from my from my standpoint I think at the legislature a lot of these counties in green don't get the proper representation anyway they kind of get thrown to the side so I look at it as $22,900 as if they get one thing in the next five years it's good we we've made our money back well there's a good partnership there with them and the AMC also I mean they're going to hold their board meeting at AMC confence that you know 6 eight years ago when they had their real County deal at AMC there was you know there was a handful of people that actually attended and now their rooms ain't big enough there's so many people that attend so we looked at it you know uh I think um former commissioner pesel was there a couple of times and look we looked at it in the past but you know when there's a gap it's kind of hard sometimes you wonder do you're going to get service like you should but um and I I believe that Sterns County did a two-year trial too Mr chair so what I'm trying to understand is this is the gap that's going to be filled of what AMC cannot do for us yes yeah you know the AMC has environment natural resources and some of that stuff that deals with egg but they don't have anything that's just really rural you know after attending their conference that they had at they were at the fall conference meeting you know it was really pinpointed into rural issues not you know downtown Minneapolis issues if you will so and and the map kind of reflects that you know I was encouraged to see that Sterns had joined that's last year I believe within the last year I guess Mr chair I guess I need to uh come to a meeting to have a better understanding then you know I'm not opposed to this don't get me wrong I'm just trying to understand you know well Mr chair correct me if I'm wrong um but we are invited to join for the 24 session yet which we could come to the annual meeting down at and that'll be at the conference yes at the conference and get a taste of what it is they do I mean we missed the one in October I believe there was one just a week or so ago yeah I was in ellex I believe so may be a good opportunity to stop in see what they're about and right question will they uh is there a chance that they can uh address kind of what you brought up at The District 5 meeting about the ditches and I think that's that's something that they would entertain definit that that's worth it right there and thank you Mr chair because I was going to that was my next comment you know is this going assistant help us with the ditches plus there not only one lobbyist I believe there's three or four on staff I don't know I know their their their new person they hired like their CEO or whatever her she's got Lobby experience and okay Connections in the legislator well and it's like a lot of some of these others it's we sit on multiple different committees with a lot of these Commissioners so and we get one voting delegate I believe I Mr chair you know I definitely not oppose to this but I do believe you know they're looking for a a regular and then an alternate to sit on these boards I think it would be better I'm just throwing this out for the future is to have the alternate some that's from a city area commissioner oh yeah you know so that or or myself or the new commissioner that's going to sit over here but somebody that is from the city area that doesn't understand this rural stuff that they're trying to help us with just to get a better understanding that's all that's just my opinion sorry no I'm not sorry but my opinion Y no Mr Sher y and part of the AMC is the stronger together and the the advocating for everybody to join in to help you out too mhm this doesn't have anything to do with AMC though no nothing at all well this is add it this is an add-on yeah this is its own separate uh they call them Affiliates they're they're yeah they they work together but they're separate they actually have a a seat on the board of AMC though oh do they yes okay Luke Johnson's been he's been he's been on that board since that happened maybe three years ago that they give AMC or rural counties a seat on the AMC board so they get update you know AMC board of directors get updates every month they have a meeting from rural County so do we want to does anybody have any more questions do you want to make a motion I'll move for approval two-year trial MRC I'll second second okay we got a motion in a second by commissioner slan um to approve this two-year membership uh trial uh with the was it AR arcc MRC uh if there's any other questions if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries Mr chair then probably your next step would be to appoint your primary representative and an alternate to this group so who would be your primary and then alternate repres Representatives Mi Mr chair the primary should be one of the two gentlemen sitting down to the north of me you know I would I would recommend that we appoint commissioner Johnson because I got a a little bit of say yet on that uh through my environment and natural resource committee so oh so you got two voices plus with that I have a feeling somebody's going to be sitting on the one Watershed one PL sartel oh yeah I I smell that coming more than likely than okay so you making going to I'm going to I'm going to make a motion to put commissioner Johnson as a primary to this and an alternate do you want an alter we haven't we haven't discussed the alternate yet would you like to be the alternate I would like to be the alternate just to learn a little bit more for the first year I'll make a motion commissioner H is the alternate got it okay any other bu want to throw their hats in theing for this all right we got a motion for commissioner Johnson to be the primary and commissioner Heinen to be the secondary or alternate no other question I'll call call the question all in anybody any County Board member can go any even like the administrators sit on their their meetings when they have them at the conferences sure yeah looks like the next meeting is at the AMC annual conference it's a Sunday before just only one you get one vot yeah Sunday evening before yeah I got to believe the ditches is going to be a big thing in this so thanks for doing this you guys all right I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign motion carries all righty ARA agreement G some arpa agreement so this topic was discussed at the September 23rd Committee of the whole and um the first one is the amended agreement with the city of rice the city of rice told us that the bids for the well came in quite a bit higher than expect expected think about 700,000 I think total for the well the new city well and the board reached a consensus to provide an additional $100,000 to the city of rice for its well project the city council has approved the attached Amendment on September 23rd uh that was quick and uh so that's that is there for your uh consideration Mr chair the total obligation would be now $400,000 to the city of rice I'll move that Mr chair second okay we got a motion in second Ed thanks for bringing this back yeah they will they contacted me if we had any y I'm just Mr chair I'm just glad we can help all the cities in the county and I don't think from the way their lots are selling that they're going to have it done any too fast yeah yeah good for them well that was the point yep gift that keeps giving MH all right uh got a motion in a second uh all in favor I post same sign motion carries all right next is the city of fer city of fing fer was that I'm not sure what that was uh uh actually back in 2022 the board reached actually was a um a resolution to dedicate $175,000 to the city of Foley to help them take bring fiber to their City facilities uh the city is telling me that they they think that a better use of these resources is for the water sewer infrastructure to serve new residential lots uh so this amendment would basically take that 175 and move it over to the water sewer category uh the city council did approve that agreement you see that on on October 1st uh the council approved that and the and the the mayor has signed so that would provide then a total um obligation to the city of fully of $675,000 again for water sewer infrastructure to serve residential lots Mo for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion in a second uh once again thank you commissioner Johnson for working with fley on this this is another good example of what what commissioner ginsky and I did with the city of sock rapid so this will definitely help the city of Foley yep okay I'll call the question all in favor I poose same sign motion carries all right same the last aror agreement is the one with the city of St Cloud H to provide $100,000 of resources to assist with improvements to two uh low-income apartment complexes uh that would be Riverside and Eastwood they describe the need for new roofs uh heating cooling systems and so on uh to improve those two apartment complexes that are in Benton County so the city excuse me the H has approved this agreement and has signed it and it's here for your consideration so move I'll second all in does anybody got any questions no I think it's a good faith agreement if anything you know I'm not real fond of doing a parking lot on a roof but um I think in good faith we we move forward with this we we have Mr chair we have a lot of clients and everything that we service over there too so I mean I I agree to some extent but at the end of the day it's all about helping yeah with that I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign motion carries so so Mr chair the last AR agreement that is not on your agenda today is to the city of stck Rapids and I sent them the amendment I believe it's on the 23rd so they're taking a look at that and that uh provides pretty much then once that is done virtually every scent of our op our arbit dollars will be obligated so I'll make sure and follow up with the city and make sure that's on your agenda quite soon okay let's see I believe the next thing is you have three memorandums of agreement with our various sparging units to implement the class and comp Mage program so just a bit of of background message here it's a wellestablished labor law uh concept that whenever you do a class comp study you've got to negotiate its implementation so that's why you have these moas in front of you the class en comp maintenance program Year One uh affected six of our eight collected bargaining units so I've been able to receive three of those six two groups have asked to meet those meetings will happen in November the final one I heard back just recently that they are reviewing the mo MOA so hopefully we'll have that one soon uh but you've got three here in front of you the first one Mr chair is asme and uh basically hmoa is is virtually the same other than having unique Provisions for positions that are affected in those Collective barguments for example with ask me it just simply creates some senior positions the case Aid the public health nurse and registered nurse you can see those positions listed and it says that promotions to senior will follow the counting Personnel policies so that's the that is the first one Mr chair is the asme Moa so move second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions if not I'll call the question all in favor I I oppose same sign motion carries next Mr chair is Teamsters 320 representing licensed supervisors in the Sheriff's Office you can see under this MOA you've actually got some reclassifications you have the investigative Lieutenant going up a grade the Patrol Captain also a actually is going up two grades and then the patrol Sergeant going up one grade and following past practice this says that um Step placement will be at whatever step is an increase over that person's uh January 1st uh step level so again that's following consistent past practice with how we've done class comp studies in the past this POS this particular M does not have any seniors recommended it's just reclassifications so that's there for your consideration Mr chair move for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions if not I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign motion carries and the final one Mr chair is the teamsters clerical uh unit that has employees scattered throughout the county and and uh various a departments and in this one we've actually got both we have reclassifications you have the HR administrative specialist going up a couple of grades you also have the Wetland and solid was program manager going up from grade 8 to 11 I think we've discussed that you know given the board hopefully a lot more flexibility uh in recruiting that for that position this also then creates a senior counterpart again the the notion there is additional flexibility recognizing uh the uh technical nature of that position um comparative wages in the private sector and so on so this also again Happ has vision of the senior position move for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions if not I'll call the question all in favor I I post same sign motion carries on all right I think we're wrapping up with the rinky the the rinky retainer we'll call it so Mr chair Kathy was not able to be here this morning to discuss this with you and um my recommendation is uh I know Kath would like to to see uh some agreement as to how this agreement is going to work on a day-to-day basis in other words an issue comes up who's going to make the contact with rinky how's that going to be coordinated I think those are her interests and concerns what I suggested to her is perhaps a couple of board members and Chris I certainly could as well could meet with Cathy and try and work out a good informal agreement as to how this will work operationally kind of dayto day uh so again not not um in position to ask you to approve this today pending having that discussion Mr chair I was just going to say maybe in the sake of doing two different steps here how about we'll table this agreement to a future board meeting make a motion to do that I'll second that okay we got a motion and a second to table the agreement I'm I'm in favor of that as well I think I agree she needs to be here and and we need to get a yeah she's in a big trial going on y so we'll call the question on tabling all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries um I think rather than kicking that can down the road we a couple board members should meet with her and get this figured out and Chris yeah Mr chair and this will be only pertain to ditch items yes exactly I know commissioner Johnson and myself have met with m and her in the past you know one thing that comes to mind Mr I guess it's it's maybe goes without saying but I I I want to just make sure you clarify that that this is a simple retainer $200 a month for limited limited consultation that if it gets a lot more in depth uh then you might go to a build at an hourly rate Arrangement exactly uh so but initially it's just simply the monthly retainer at $200 a month and I just want to make sure that that's the level of representation you all are comfortable with mhm at least to Get It Started Mr chair I don't know if it's appropriate maybe we can get consensus from the rest of the board instead of Reinventing the wheel I can continue with yourself and myself and Monty and Chris okay meeting with Kathy if that's are you guys good with that that's okay with the rest of the board I'm okay with that oh I'm sorry yes okay okay okay excellent well I will make the arrangements then sounds good thanks Monty y thanks all right roxan you've been waiting patiently maybe Brian has been too uh Mr chair uh good morning Commissioners morning morning so the item that I'm bringing before you is uh a resolution for True County uh we discussed this back in July at the committee of a whole in pretty good detail I guess um also brought this to the city and Township meeting on July 22nd to um you know let everyone know that this is where we were heading or looking at and also uh at the township meeting on September 19th um and and I believe that you know we've been pretty clear with uh you know that I'm willing to work in good faith with all of the jurisdictions that are currently uh hiring their own local assessor um but I also have let them know that you know that that local assessor now would be uh Direct supervis by me and the county itself and so the expectations are that they follow uh policies and procedures that are you know set forth by the county assessor but so basically this this resolution and what I'm asking is um it would basically enable the county assessor to uh provide the assessment for all taxable property that would start on January 2nd 2026 um so we'll finish up the 25 assessment all assessment books would then come back to us 90 days prior to that um and that's something that we need to work I guess towards with the board on you know a fee schedule because we're going to continue to charge a per par parcel rate uh so we'll get that added to the fee schedule coming up this year and then just with the timing you know January 2nd is our magic assessment date you know so October is not the greatest time to take over right three months prior to that date so you know do we let them finish up on January 2nd 2026 and then go from there so um you know that that to be worked out and I think that the you know the the townships and cities are are aware of that so M Mr chair if I could just for clarify I'm a little little bit confused understand the true County thing and I understand the timeline you're talking about my understanding was is that the couple townships lake or city of rice that they would continue on with that until they no longer had a local or chose yeah yeah availability and so I just want to clarify yeah so if the true County resolution is passed on January 2nd of 2026 they will no longer the the city the local jurisdictions will no longer have uh the uh authority to hire a local assessor but that does not mean that I can't hire them to work in that jurisdiction for under the county yeah so in other words just like we are doing it now with our current agreements with Eric gullquist and Glendo um he has an agreement with us to be the local assessor in that area but we charge that jurisdiction then we pay him a portion of those you know fees or the charge to him so but that wouldn't necessarily hold you to do that right no it doesn't it doesn't well like this Eric I don't know who yep let's just say you determine that you're no longer on to work with them correct so as the assessor then you can do that and there that is correct and I I've had the same call with the city of R they are not they don't do not uh really appreciate this agreement yep they want to be able to hire their assessor and do the county you know do what they're doing now if their Assessor doesn't want to do them or retires then they would they know they have to go to the county but they don't want the county involved in the hiring and everything else that goes with it I think this this uh um uh situation or this agreement that we're entering into is going to allow that we keep the rice one on provided they follow our rules and everything and but we're going to set the rate and everything like that and they don't that's not what they really want I don't know how we do this at you know CU cuz here's the deal we we go and hire two assessors which we already got a staff of that then all of a sudden Granite ledge Township and and glender Township say oh next year we're going to take our own back on now we're back to the drawing board trying to figure out how to pay for these individuals I can't we do it in some way that will allow these entities to continue as they are until their accessory their retires that was what they were under the understanding was from that meeting is that they would be allowing to operate as they are until their assessor either no longer wants to or retires Mr chair and Commissioners I know at the at the township and City meeting I guess I I believe I was pretty clear that you know they would no longer have the authority to hire a local assessor but that doesn't mean that we can't keep them on right and I think through the county and I I believe that that was discussed um you know in pretty good detail with them but I mean I do understand their point but I also want to make sure that we have stability in the assessor's office with what's the difference in the fee based on what they're charging than what we propos to charge the fees the fees that they charge I don't necessarily get those agreements but I know that they're fairly close um I I I believe that and I guess I you don't quote me but I believe the city of rice is paying between $10 and $11 a parcel and that's I believe what you know yeah they never said yeah I and again I I don't think it's so much the fees I I I do believe that you know they want to have the authority to hire that person I understand that um but with um the the number of local assessors going down the stability we've hired enough capacity I think this is more to to if they want to keep their local assessor as long as they're working under the parameters that are that are being uh offered to them um that they would be able to stay on and do that the pricing would be set at our you know at the annual you know what are we charging as far as the county and obviously um we can't be paying them more than what we're charging so we wouldn't be subsidizing the other way so it' have to be an agreement just like it is now between uh the county and the local assessor that they would stay on in that jurisdiction Mr chair Brian are you are your expectations that the ones that are currently doing that can work within the parameters of your office or is there well I want to give them the benefit of the doubt I have had several issues with um one of the local assessors that we've had and I've had to work through a lot of that and I spent a lot of time of my own time um which is above and beyond costing the county money um you know as far as you know may Lake and and I know that they uh you know joose kapany on the supervisor there has really um you know they've had the same local assessor for 30 years and then Eric took over and worked with that local assessor and wants to keep that I have no issues with that whatsoever and you know all three of them are may like langola and and rice and I I don't believe any of them want the county to take over their assessing at this point they will when something happens but is it a fair statement that it's your intent to keep them on at this point yeah it's my intent to work with them and absolutely keep them on if if they're you know if they're willing to just you know work within the parameters that and it's the that they've been given the last couple years so it's not when I have a local assessor meeting you know policies and procedures and things that we do Under the county assessor in our staff within the office the expectation is the same of them as what is in the office so the expectations the same but you know what it's losing that control of of bringing them out that yeah the mhm I think with having the assessment occurring in the county assessor office we are having a more fair assessment across the county versus differing opinions of how the process should occur sure in differing areas so if if a local assessor is continually undervaluing properties in a specific City or Township that affects the county as a whole so you're you're not getting that tax base from that specific County or that uh Township or city because it's continually undervalued and so we're spreading it across other areas when we have to increase taxes yeah um so if we're keeping this the entire County under the county assessor's office you you do have that control with Brian overseeing everything how many total Parcels between those the langola Graham and rice I and this and Alberta Township as well okay there's Alberta Township Alberta Township too correct are we talking 30% or no it's about like right now I would say about 2,000 parcels and we currently are about 165 is what we're doing in house so so about a half a staff person correct and the townships will still have that ability at their um Board of Equalization y they still would hold their local boards just as they do now so they still have that authority to make changes to the assessment classification evaluation as a local they still hold their meetings just like they can hold them now Mr chair commissioner pop are they looking for additional in uh I think they need additional information before or do they want additional language put in this contract stating that they can have I mean the only I know Mayo lake is really set non set to go this route they don't want to and the City of race just called me well she actually called this morning that they didn't like some of the language that it had said they were under the understanding they would be able to continue as is for as long as they want I think that's this is not going to happen this way Mr chair I think sorry I I think the way Brian has explained it at least my opinion is that you guys still have they still have that ability to have that assessor it's just that Brian will be overseeing them but but I I think the change if correct me if I'm wrong is now January 2nd of 20 six they're not going to have that option well from what Brian is telling me right now is that they will have the opportunity under Brian only if we hire them and that's the part they're not they're not happy with well is there some language that we could put in there you know maybe maybe we table it but is there language that would appease everybody because I I'll be honest with you I'm I'm in favor of of the true County so am I because of the liability we have on the assessing but is there is there some language that we could put in there is hey as long as you you meet this parameter this parameter I've got we've got no problem hiring you yeah I I don't think that there's langu and true County when you pass a true County resolution that puts all of the Authority Under the county sessor office so I mean that's I don't know that there's necessarily language other than you know no what I'm saying is would you put some language in here saying hey as long as your assessor meets this this and this meets all the criteria we've got no problem I I don't know that that's necessary because they are held to the those standards anyways by Statute have they have to follow certain criteria it's just some are more difficult to work with and do the absolute minimum am I reading between the lines here a little bit on yes things okay is this something that's got to be done in a timely manner like is there statutes well I mean it it goes in the resolution once passed would go into effect the second assessment after so you know if it's passed in 2024 would go into effect January 2nd of 2026 but what I'm saying is is if if we push this to the next meeting if we tabled this to the next meeting so that you could have a little bit more Comm because it sounds like you just got some questions today on this yeah I did one one I answered or one I didn't talk I'm just wondering if I think I don't think they really want answers from me I think they want answers from yeah well and and I think it comes down to I I mean I understand that they want the authority to hire a local for all of eternity until their current one leaves which then a then a true County resolution cannot get passed because it I don't think that necessarily um you know once you pass a true County resolution I can hire them which is what we you know or the county can hire them yeah um the problem I see if we have this linger then all of a sudden we're going to Lo we're going to lose a few other townships that were doing this cuz they got somebody that comes in and proposes you know 50 cents less but that 50 cents less we have agreements with them townships now right we do um many of the agreements expire in 2027 okay um but again you know we have had agreements and we usually do a fiveyear agreement with the teed step like like you've seen um it's just uh I think getting everybody at the same level and and and you know I'm hoping that down the road in the future that you know that fee schedule can slowly be weaned off and then maybe the townships don't then have to Levy for that you know I can slowly taper that down I that's the hope that we wouldn't then build them but I just at this point that I just don't think that um I don't think they're informed enough I don't think you know there was one one one um councilman uh Campa was at the township meeting and I don't know what she went back and told the city of rice but they were not under the understanding of this I thought it was pretty clear to I did too but so did I yeah yeah um well in in essence of this if we passed or denied this at the next board meeting would that still allow us to do it 20 26 of January it would okay okay would that give you enough time to talk and Brian enough and Brian yeah I I I personally think this is a way to go and I if we just got to communicate a little bit more to them on understanding but we also got to we got to make sure that they're following what scares me if something's undervalued it affects the whole County MH and if that's been happening that that's not a good situation either yeah move to table to the next board meeting Mr second okay we got a motion in a second to table to the next board meeting any other questions all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Brian thanks thank you Brian thanks roxan all right looks like the next item we have is the Moa for the Mississippi River sartel Watershed Water Management planning process um this is our third and final one Watershed one plan and then I'm sure we'll getting it we'll get into updating all the plans on a continual basis um but this is the final one it does include the counties of Sterns Morrison Benton of course and then uh the maax band of ojibway are included in this uh primarily Morrison and Sterns County um s swcds are doing the majority of uh the work on the plan we are participating and and a member of that um but they're doing the fcal work and um drafting all of the materials so we are looking to sign the Moa and to appoint a primary and ultimate commissioner for the policy committee Mr chair y so MC or morison county is going to be the Fiscal Agent yes okay I'll do the first motion I'll make a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement second okay we got a motion uh uh a second any other questions for roxan on this memorandum of agreement if not I'll call the question all in favor I I post same sign motion carries all right I will make a motion for commissioner pop to be the uh uh primary and I'll make a motion or I can we do it all in one motion yes we can do the primary and the alternate one motion and I I'll do commissioner Johnson as the alternate Mr chair I believe that's because they've been working on all the other Weds correct and actually the The Rum River is down to four me a year I believe right now so that one's you know and we're such a small portion of that and I thank both of you for your work you've done on these should be pretty easy I would think after going through the other two right professionals by now and it's easier to appoint a primary and an alternate that have been working on them for quite some time sure appreciate your votee of confidence Mr chair even though it runs through all of our districts finally well see as no more questions y I'll call it all in favor I oose same sign unanimous yep all right commissioner pop look for an email okay they're they are ready to start holding these meetings so as soon as I submit this uh signed agreement and provide the primary an alternate they'll be sending out emails to set up the policy committee meetings there you go can't be too soon nope you check your emails in a tractor or the comboing nope I do not all right get another screen y Boart Peterson all right here's the fun one so we received our first bill from Bogart Peterson for um the Wetland Conservation act Administration and some Shoreland work that bill is $7,923 that those amount of hours we would have pulled out $1,368 64 and then for Shoreland um we do have a significant amount of funds in the Shoreland account so we can charge back everything um that was Shoreland related so that's $770 and then um we generally pull out from the pnz revenue $2,121 that leaves a gap of $3,659 that we cannot account for through through the pnz accounts um while I would like to charge all of this back to the Natural res the nbg funds um we those funds have to last us through uh December 31st 2025 and because we pull salaries out of that we pull fuel out of that uh supplies out of that account we do need to make sure that we have funds in that account um so I am here to ask if the County Board is willing to pull the requested amount uh from the commissioner contingency fund and to cover that Gap from the commissioner contingency fund until we have uh paid Bogart Peterson uh for all of the services through their contract and I will note that we did post um on uh I believe it was La late last week we did post the Wetland uh position so that will be the first poll of those applicants will be on November 4th and we do have commissioner Johnson and commissioner pop on that selection committee um and then I did talk to Bogart Peterson about having their current Wetland um delineator assist us with those interviews uh Robert uh P patter Patterson um and they believe Craig has indicated that that would be acceptable to have him sit in on those interviews just so we have someone who is qualified um and understands wacka and identifying Wetlands part of that uh interview process Mr chair I'm trying to understand why this is why this is coming out of our fund isn't there different funds or anything that this could have came out of instead of throwing it to us I'll defer to Monte uh sure sure well uh I suggested to roxan contingency because I was unable to come up with some other source uh as roxim pointed out is we have a finite amount of Grant um we call it wacko Wetland Conservation act dollars MH and you know certainly the issue is the the the billable all rate for Bogart is substantially above the arly rate for employee so there's just simply not enough resources in that bucket for the bogart bills what what do we have what do we have coming yet that was another comment what other project are they working on for us and do we know about what them bills might be it it really depends on the applications that come in we have a significant amount of wetland projects that happen in Benton County um and this just goes to show the amount of work that that position does on wetlands and I mean it it actually supports the rationale behind um increasing the grade and classification for that position Mr chair I we had a discussion earlier Monty uh from my perspective I have zero issue with the billing I I thank you for putting together all the information my personal opinion is I don't believe it's a commissioner contingency issue I'd be much more in favor of just running a line item over budget with board approval I realize the end effect is probably the same but to open the door to commissioner contingency funds because we can't find funds somewhere else I'd much rather because this is something we established is we over but we overspend that line item whatever that line item is yeah it's it's Professional Services yeah that's just and if we had somebody in that position right now we wouldn't be getting this invoice that is true right I mean we the as as roxan said is it you know it's the positions cost are spread across several different sources Solid Waste wetlands and General Revenue too and I I mean I want to be really clear is that we created this position position I just don't feel it's a commissioner contingency line item sure I see that I I I like your your train of thought there just for the fact that there's other positions within the county that if they're vacant there's you know we're not paying anybody to be in those positions now obviously with uh with uh um uh Sierra not being here well about a month and a half now mhm I mean there there's a few funds that we would have paid out that could could be transferred over there until it won't be enough probably to cover everything but yeah again the issue is again that hourly rate is substantially more than what $75 an hour more possibly again I think we are aware of that I think you know the expense is what it is at this point it's just where it's coming from as from my for my position I like your your point of having it run over and let Monty and roxan decide whatever that line item is in that area and we run it over with board approval y if that's your consensus we wouldn't need any action um we just have that understanding it would be charged the plan z a budget and and um and until those bills end right but she but but roxan shouldn't get penalized on this either no and that's not the point I don't want to penalize our budget it's just we've approved that yeah we are okay going over on that line at him I think that happens okay okay you know if she had a major event show up or something probably approve it and she'd be over on that budget line it's kind of the same thing same thing yeah I I just want to make sure that she doesn't get penalized by all this coming out of her budget I agree 100% that's not the point yeah okay okay okay appreciate it thank you thank you thank you the Birdman he wasn't back there flipping through Facebook was he good morning Commissioners good morning morning all right uh so the first item I have before you speaking of Consultants is uh consider awarding a consultant contract for the design of casat 2 reconstruction this is a construction project that is scheduled for 2027 we had received some federal money for it but since that time we've able to transfer that Federal money away from that reconstruction project to another Rec uh another construction project in our Five-Year Plan but it still requires the services of of an engineer um we just don't have the staff in house to to accomplish this so we issued a request for proposals and RFP is it's commonly called and we received proposals from five uh very good uh engineering companies uh just some numbers to run through for you uh the prices ranged from as low as $176,000 to over $400,000 to design this this project so when we look at Professional Services uh we we we don't go with the low bid we look for the best value alternative and so we we are chosen or choosing KJ to to provide the best overall uh value for this uh they they're providing uh a fee or their fee to design this project would be just under $270,000 $269,950 when we are evaluating proposals uh we have them provide us with a writeup of how they approach to to complete the work and that's what I've attached here we also asked him to provide a fee schedule um that provides the name of the staff or certainly the positions of the staff working on it and the hours that they plan on working on each of those tasks so that's a big part of what we do when we look at uh proposals We compare those and we look at the hours that they're setting aside to do each task to design that project and see if that's reasonable sometimes we'll see projects or proposals that we don't think have enough hours on it and that could potentially open us up to a contract Amendment if if they use up all their hours and all their budget they make and don't have the project done they may try to ask for more money or also we look and say did they put too many hours on there and will there be a tendency to try to bill up to those hours that they proposed when we don't really think it would take that many hours to do that task so we selected KJ they're kind of in the middle um they they they showed that they're going to spend about 2,55 hours designing that um one of the lowest was only 982 hours uh where the highest was about spending about 2600 hours to design this project so so almost a year for one person to design this project yeah correct yep so um that's that's really what it takes um so then we use those hours and their total fee and although they have different positions working different hours at different rates we kind of look at maybe an overall hourly rate and once again that equates to the range of on the low end was about about $128 per hour whereas the highend was $179 an hour the average of these five Consultants was 147 $47.76 so that's another way of looking at it too to design you know this is about F mile project reconstruction even in sand country uh it could cost using a consultant almost $150 an hour to have that designed um that's why we need to get started on this now this isn't going to be completed we're giv them in our proposal or request for proposal our timeline was about a year and a half we're giving them to to design this so we're hoping in the spring of 2026 we have final plans that way we can get all the approvals that we need make sure we have all the rideway that we need for the 2027 construction season so commissioner he Mr chair Chris in the future M I'd like we'd like I would like to sit down to have an understanding of why it takes that many hours over 2,000 hours what's put into it okay I mean just like the comment you brought up Mr chair is that it's almost one full year of one individual right going through this process I need to have a better understanding of what this really takes you know what what's put into this so I kind of I was going through it and I look too Mr chair that I had the same thought it's one full year for $269,000 I mean can't we hire one of these people away from this deal for $200,000 and put 69,000 in our pocket I mean that's that's discussion yeah that uh we try to have when you look at our labor rate for engineering technicians with their benefits we're paying about $50 an hour for them um so the hourly and once again because yeah we're we're hiring a private companies we're paying overhead um to that company to get to that point it it I mean we had a brief conversation when it came back the comp and class study for our engineering technician position and the recommendation was no increase um I think this is this is what we're competing against if we don't have it in housee we have to go out outside to to provide these services so but the question do we want to compare ourselves to the private Market or not no we don't want that but there's a happy medium yeah yeah Mr chair Chris Monty just for clarification so source of funds local Levy correct so this is a casa Road correct so are we not we can't use Casa funds towards this or when when I see local Levy me that's y right so we don't use Casa funds towards it and does this mean we're using wage tax no this would be Levy and it's Bud it was part of my 2025 budget was part all engineering on this correct that happens it's in the it's in that cost okay okay soering cost even on a cassad road yes so okay and okay so we could recoup uh some engineering from our casa fund uh we we traditionally have not uh because we try to maximize what we can design in house and think about it that would take $270,000 away from a construction project so you know that's 2 miles of an overlay we wouldn't be able to do uh or something like that so but the but this cost for engineering is in your total budget for that casassa 2 that's in that's in there right well it's it's in my 2025 rod and Bridge budget for for next year at least part of the costs are and I anticipate some more of the cost to be in 2026 so no when we're looking at $5 million that's just the construction cost so a lot of times in the 5year plan you're just seeing the construction costs it maybe the rideway costs so then historically engineering has come out of the levy cor correct yeah for us yeah regardless of the road number yeah we've tried to do as much as we can um with Levy so so you know just thinking outside the box your engineering teexs let's just say they make $70,000 a year whatever whatever that number was MH yeah that's be about $35 an hour yeah why wouldn't we bump them to the $100,000 and bring this stuff in house because we can't find them and well I think you could for additional monies right but so then you unbalance that whole pay scale right well I think we're unbalanced the way it is I I it's I want to be respectful with this question are they qualified to do this yeah so KJ recently completed the reconstruction plans for Cassat 7 I'm sorry uh are your engineering techs qualified to do this um well we only have one right now okay so that person be qualified to do this uh if they had the the time yeah okay but but um so they have the qualifications it's an issue of time and yeah commissioner pop oh that was Tim okay don't blame me for Tim's you're so much more fun to blame I know so I I didn't attach the whole fee schedule but uh that's something that we can drill down at a future meeting meeting if you like I mean this cost also includes surveying because we're looking at our time uh well even yet this fall hopefully we can get surveying done this fall we couldn't provide that there was $330,000 just for surveying costs in there um then then you have the actual CAD person you have project management uh public Outreach acquiring the the storm water permits from us uh we don't anticipate a lot of wetland work but still you got to go through that process to prove that you're not going to be impacting Wetlands got a cemetery there you're dealing that that's that's one of the challenges yeah Chris how would do you know off the top your head how this quote unquote hourly $147 average compares to Casas EV project engineering yeah so the average of the five I think it was very similar so um a kg their their hourly rate comes out to 137 or 13 $131 37 so they're below the average for the hourly rate even though their total price was uh more in the middle so they got more hours they're going to take more hours yeah yeah so and since once again the hours were kind of in the middle um we see that that gives us some flexibility if we look at the task and say we make a determination okay we don't have to do all that engineering work you planned on that saves some hours there maybe we need to throw that to a different task or um whatnot so I I try to to shy away from the highest because there's going to be a tendency on their side to to invoice us for those those maximum amount of hours that they put on their their proposal um I I do like the fact that it's a low dollar amount but more hours so I mean if we could take some of that stuff back in as long as they're willing to credit us you know dollar for dooll on those hours does that happen or one of those things like you you know you recently approved a new position that we haven't got filled for next year environmental Tech it's conceivable in the future that we we can handle all the environmental pering environmental documentation but that was in their proposal uh as well because that position is vacant now some of that work may need to start immediately with early notifications things so so let's just say we're doing this in 2027 we got some time here don't we not really we're hoping cuz remember the trees we got to start removing trees in the winter 2026 so there might be a oneeyed b in there so how do you really feel about that so hypothetically if you were full staffed and we had this this uh this ditch Tech or whatever engineering Tech or whatever it is environmental Tech coming on would you be able to take on most of this design your on yourself I think maybe maybe not all of it but a lot of it I mean we could save some cost with um preliminary survey 70% 60% savings H yeah it's tough to say I mean on the spot now years ago we we would 2014 Casas 6 we can reconstructed that that was a federally funded project that was designed inhouse um kind of since that time that position's been a revolving door we have not been able to design a reconstruction project inhouse so if we had three highly qualified technicians um I would say if they were all three at that senior level maybe we could do at least 70% of that but if we we're hiring three right out of college or are there tech school probably probably not where I was going with this is wouldn't we I mean just thinking outside the box if we partnered with another County or two and hired one lead designer and everybody knew that they had to have two engineering techs to to do the the grunt work couldn't we couldn't we get a little further along on these projects without without going outside into a Private Industry I I I like that plus we may be able to use them for a for a little bit or B for a little bit you know we may be able to spread them and spread that cost out my question is over the past since we did let's go back as far as 78 so since we did 78 what else have we designed that we went outside we did seven um you know if you start adding all them up maybe we need to reassess our who we have in house yeah I mean no doubt the number of projects have increased too due to our uh increase in Revenue sources so your five-year Road plan shows 50 million that's right projects and and when you think of this so yeah we're about 10 to 12% of the construction costs for uh consultant cost so 5 million Mr chair you know just to in sake of moving forward I think we you know in the future we need to have a sit on conversation with Chris and talk about engineer Tech salaries wages you know being being we farming all this out and the amount of money that is costing us to farm this out okay we need to have a better look at this but we have to slow down the revolving door for Chris because correct you can't work with one Tech through half the project and then another one comes on that's got to be just a nightmare for you it is because we're constantly training and we're not been able to maximize our productivity because um in many cases they're still just learning how counties Opera and Mr chair you love the math again it's a $50 million 5year road project at 10 but the numbers are just going through my head I know that's not that's going to be ly if you can't if we can't hire somebody for 5 million bucks for five years we got troubles Chris probably apply for that job he's got enough jobs already yeah I know yeah and that's the thing in our world there are people that provide that same services for us and I can show you invoices of what it cost per hour to do that we're not going to get away from Consultants okay 100% of the time we do a better job we can do a better job of minimizing it in the future and that's a good point the the real point is what how are we spending the 270 Grand right they hug I mean you evidently didn't like the 176,000 versus you know well they because they they had a lot less hours so the hourly rate uh ended up being the highest so you look at that and it's like you try to raid their their how they ride up and you think okay what if we get into it and we need them to do a little bit extra boom that's another you know $180 an hour just to do some extra tasks but ain't a contract a contract I mean well yeah unless we we have extras that we get into something and they like for example we our roundabout project uh we get into that and all of a sudden boom Excel says $935,000 to relocate okay we go back to our engineer and like okay they're they're saying it's going to cost this much can we do something can we move our design around well we didn't anticipate shifting design around in our proposal that's additional engineering hours those kind of things can come up I don't anticipate things like that a lot of times things things come up in RightWay though a land owner says well I've got this I've got this drain tile in my field or no no I I I don't like where you're wanting to put my driveway so we got to redesign something on the roadway to cuz they're becoming an unwilling negotiator so I'm just move Gotan future discussion yeah just B at the 269,000 bucks on a five mile road on a five mile road Chris in sand not that I want to uh kick the can but how bad would this beat you up if we ended up tabling this one until uh next meeting um I mean they're hoping to get started I mean they all the proposals were written that they'd hope to get started right and and that would be the goal was still do a toppo survey this fall before the ditches get filled with snow so we can you really need to see this time at year is actually pretty good vegetation gets mowed down and stops growing you could see all those changes in in the ground way ground that you survey and then bring that into your design well I'm just wondering maybe there's some some negotiations with them that we could we could figure out you limit their scope yeah and that's what we're looking at we just don't have the staff availability to really take on any of this right now Mr chair and that's correct if we don't have the staff there's not a lot of negotiation we can do because they're going to have to do it all because we can't and by the time we get staff ands yeah this project would go on hold for H it'd go on hold yeah yeah and then we'd have another project that be best spot to be in because here spend this or else put a off right just anecdotally last week we talked about the Gilman project and um I was secretly kind of relieved because with the recent resignation of our one technician it was anticipated that they would be inspecting project next year and so since they resigned and then Gilman asked to delay the project that's why we were open to it because didn't have what was the number one reason that they resigned you think was it wage one of the reasons was Counties have been known as one of the biggest benefits that they can provide is time off and I I agree I think we've got a very um generous time off acral rate but when we're telling them things like well next year year we've got a busy construction season we're going to have to limit time off requests during the construction season that was one of the reasons why they came to work for a county was they they thought they could take off you know when they needed to and and it's a compounding effect since we had a vacancy already we don't have another a third person to kind of spread that workload off to um yeah we our workload and lack of being able to fill these positions has in some ways taken away a benefit that the county can provide if you look at time off as a benefit and it is to some you know some companies don't have as much time off allowed to the employees but yet but yet you look at the contractors that are doing the work I mean what a year ago when they were doing County Road one they were out there at 8:00 at night yet yes yes I mean the companies that are paying the money for people doing the work are there till 8:00 but our engineer techs think they can go home at 5 well I do know that Mr chair I do know that some of the engineer techs have stayed there until the construction people have stopped working hours correct Chris yeah but not everybody wants to work like that and that's you get to this time of year our one technician is still out on Casas 7 working long hours but when the contractor shuts down for the winter then that's when they would like to take off so that's when the design work would happen is in the winter time but those those were our field people well now they finally get to take some time off well Mr chair you know we we we we've come to a roadblock that we have to fix but today we're not going to fix that no okay and and in order to keep this project moving forward whether we like the proposal or not I am more in favor of having somebody that has more hours on the table instead of somebody with less hours on the table now Mr chair I'm going to make a motion to accept the proposal of KJ engineering authorized engine professional service contract second okay we got a motion in a second to approve this I I would like more time I'm going to be opposed to it to be quite honest with you I want I I would like to see us move it to one you know the next meeting only for the fact that this is a compounding issue that we have with all the projects we got coming up and I know that we got to get this one going down the road but this is a perfect time for us to take take a little bit of a step and go holy cow what have we got Mr chair would it be a fair thing to limit to keep things rolling to limit their scope to start out with until we can have more discussion on how we're going to go because it sounds like we don't have a full consensus here I don't know if there's a way to limit their scope and get them going but the next step would be to enter into a contract negotiation so theoretically we could just write the contract to to say what we want them to do now and then then we could either enter into a second contract or amend the original contract to add that additional scope so um and possible there's there's always risk for that too they could say well we didn't have the full scope so we scheduled our employee to do other jobs now the fee is going to be a little bit more or something I and and for the record I get the motion and I I get moving forward 100% but I see this I I the only reason I'm opposed to it is is we need to have conversations and it this has got to be driven right now mhm with all of us because if it's if it's because we're not allowing people vacation it that's the same thing we found out with comp and comp time and overtime in other departments around here if we're short-handed there but yet the class and comp study doesn't allow us to go up in pay grades that that you know you know it just compounds the issue when you can't you can't hire anybody M Mr chair you know this go ahead oh please no I'll go next this will push it back three more weeks before our first board meeting or our next board meeting just so you're aware of that yeah and and like I said I I I completely agree with you guys's motion I do I just I want to be on the record to just to say we let's get down if we got to move this one through let's move it through and and stuff and and get it going but this is going to be a major issue with all this work coming coming forward in the coming forward so miss Cher If I could just add this has always been a tough position to fill and to keep is I think here's why you're asking someone to bring to the table very high level technical skills but you're also asking to spend their summer sitting in a pickup you know taking tickets doing Soul samples and so on and you know the long hours and their Summers is basically gone it's a tough position to fill and to keep so I think some we need some decisions I think what in my opinion you really have to sort of separate the two and they really have two different positions one is your high level technical person that's mostly in you know in doing design work in house and another person is more the boots on the ground position MH for the first position the high level Tech we're going to need to pay what that person could get in private sector that's the only way we're going to attract and keep someone so we got a sort of kick out you know the county comparisons and really pay what they could get in private sector if again you really want this to be done in house and we can't pull that together really quickly it's going to take some study and time but I've I've had this thought for a long time is we've got to deconstruct this position and really it's two different positions it really is I I would back up what Monty said those those are some of the things that we when we have been able to interview individuals those are some of the things we've heard from those that haven't accepted position is like well I was really interested in doing the design part of it but I don't have an interest in being out on a project 60 hours a week in the summer or vice versa I'm an outside person I I want to be on the construction project I don't want to sit at the computer all the time just designing so we we've heard one or the other it's been tougher to find somebody that's like yeah I like to do all things on the project and and do all that so it's right we have basically javascripts as that have in existence for decades right and it's probably time really to to turn the corner on this sounds to me we know what direction we need to go now right yeah and if I may it sounds like a discussion for a committee of the whole too I think we should bring Tessa into this and we need some Market studies and again I think it's a different position than what we have now agre okay I agree yeah and I guess we got to move forward and you know can't look backwards on what we're spending now but maybe we can look forward what we can save in the future well I'm hoping that we we can write the contract a little bit to where if we can get our we'll call it Nest cleaned up maybe we can take on some of those starting next year if it's any consolation I at the time of my budget proposal or budget you know submittal that you approved some of this I mean most of this was budgeted for 2025 and some of it was budgeted for 2026 so um I don't see this increasing the uh the highway department you know proposed budget at this point so if that's any consolation it is a little consolation it's a little a little smile just wait till 2026 no I'm kidding call the question Mr CH okay we got a we we got the question all in favor I I oppose same sign motion carries I voted for it because you because of we we need to get on this though and I mean I agree Chris I I'd like to give you a call I got some ideas after okay very good all right uh okay since we're talking about costs um the next item I I would like you to consider um is our plow truck situation so we're still waiting on the replacement of plow trucks that was authorized to be replaced two years ago we're still trying to P replace uh two plow trucks that were new in 2002 so at the budget time um I presented on a fiveyear kind of a five-year replacement schedule of equipment so in that five years in 2026 was proposing to retire uh two more plow trucks so in 2026 retire a plow truck that will be 21 years old and then rep retire one that will be 20 years old but considering it seems to be taking about two years uh I would like the board to consider go ahead and authorizing putting in an order now uh with the understanding that that it'll be delivered in 2026 and that's when we would pay for it um in 2026 so it's kind of a as you know we do budgets one year at a time um it's hard to budget that far out you know two years um maybe a benefit was if we could put it in order now we can get some kind of assurance on what the price is today yes as opposed to waiting until 2026 M Mr chair Chris any down payment needed you just order this no we'll we'll uh I I didn't get it included into the agenda item but I would like you to consider ordering or adopting a a resolution we would use the state Cooperative purchasing venture or state bid so we can kind of lock into a contract and those if we sign a purchase order they they usually guarantee the price at that time and no down payment is needed until till delivery well you Mr chair you're bringing up good point Chris and we've had multiple conversations you're going to pay for it today or you're going to pay for two years it's going to be more money and this is something we've committed to in the capital Improvement yes with that I'm going to move for approval to order the two new plow trucks and adopt the attached resolution that Chris showed us I'll second that okay we got a motion and a second I just think this is a smart business I I mean especially if we're not we don't have to pay for it until the until it's delivered let's get today's price uh for tomorrow's delivery yep any other questions all right all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Chris on that all right so if you'd like it to uh I was going to give you a little update on the department uh so nothing real formal but on the maintenance side uh we've kind of finished our graveling for the year a lot of our maintenance activities are kind of wrapping up right now we're in a mode where our motor graders are out on our gravel roads just uh re re scraping those and they're going to run continuously probably until the roads freeze up so you can expect to see those out there our mowers are out and now we're trying to mow the ditches and the back slopes out to the full width of the ride of way we do know this year we have had a lot of just windfall wind trees downed by the wind not necessarily storms so we know there's still a lot of trees out there uh in the ride of way our goal is always when they when they blow down get them cleared off the road uh so there's anticipate a lot of brushing to happen in our ditches and backs slopes this this fall so um that that's kind of what maintenance is doing and then yeah on the equipment side our mechanic is busy getting all of our trucks doed before winter and it's always our goal every year to be saddled up and plows attached uh by October 31st so in case we ever have another Halloween blizzard we're we're ready to go um what happens though is the do we find a lot of things sometimes that need to be replaced it's kind of like routine stuff your your brake drums are not within spec or your pads are too thin or or tire tread isn't within spec and so um you'll see our if you were to look at our invoices a lot of parts go out the out the door this this time of year on the construction side County Road 53 that reclaim project is going along nicely we reclaimed it two weeks ago uh replaced pipes two weeks ago let it sit last week and then yesterday they were able to put the the first lift of ainus down the second lift is planned for Friday the next week they'll be shouldering and striping so by the end of next week that project should should be done uh I'm really glad that we were able to advance that this year even though it was in the the fiveyear plan is a 2026 uh 2025 project Casas 7 still very busy with reconstructing that so they started from 95 and worked 1 and a half miles to the north they've got that they got that sub cut uh they were building up the base and then they started hauling sand on it last week week and then we saw a lot of soft spots starting to show up in the subgrade so they've been spending a lot of time reworking those uh and trying to see if they can get uh uh the Pete that's coming out of there so what happened is what we saw is that they started hauling trucks on there to bring the sand in it it started pumping that muck from down below up into the subgrade so if we can't get that addressed we may end up having to just use more fabric on the project so we can uh build on top of that but they have a a hard stop date of November M 1st for this fall the intent was to get that regraded get the sand and gravel up to minus 2 in of the gravel this fall um and then next spring uh you know open up the rest of the project and and then a similar date next year to to finish and have it all paved and and stuff so that's what's keeping our inspector busy in fact uh my assistant had to go out Mark had to go out into the project yesterday because we had the technician busy with the grading and those sof spot and then he was out inspecting the paving yesterday in in Oak Park so uh keeping us busy we'll busy be busy the rest of the month and then then we got to catch up on all of our paperwork from the summer I know it's ways out yet Chris but have you had conversations of leaving that for the following year before you pave it again or you're going to pave it regardless no we're going to leave it gravel over the winter over I'm talking winter of 25 oh no we haven't really had any more discussions about that so that's something the way how the plan is to PVE it by November 1st correct yeah so I could see them wanting some adjustment on binus prices if oils go up again over one more year so um uh but we we want to do what's best for the project I guess regardless of cost if we look at if we have some issues and we think that it's better to let that sit then maybe that's the correct course of action and adjust the price based on oil prices so okay get all the trees out of the road yeah stumps stumps yeah all right so that's all I had I'll step aside and be here for a ditch meeting later thank you all right thanks Chris all right uh I'll go next on the airport airport Authority you know Monty we you sent the email and we still haven't had anybody I know I know the assessment all that stuff got pushed to the side and everything for the year but you've mentioned you've asked them to be here before I I I am I don't I'm I'm uphold to be quite honest with you on how we can't get anybody that we appoint to come to these meetings and explain what was going on and I don't want to let this let this go at this point right I mean I I Mr chair I I agree I think at this point it's been pushed off a year but we should certainly should be able to request that they come in and update us at some point in the short term future you know maybe within the next two meetings and come in and have a discussion and just bring us up to date on how they got to the point they were at and what the plan is for the future I'd feel a lot differently if they hadn't pushed this off yeah right but I think let's give them a formal request to come in and update us we did well I think we got to do it one more time and then we're going to have to move on to another option I don't know other appointees in my book I I'm I'm very concerned because of just some conver ations I've had with other individuals that the city of St Cloud has a lot to do with what's going on and we in in my opinion I'm looking for a way to get out not move forward because if we can't get our own appointments to come forward to to be at the board I know other counties are having that same same issue same issue is this really a Tri County agreement or is this a St Cloud agreement that's pushed off to the counties right and I came here honestly to to basically and and I know one of our appointments just got appointed what 3 months ago or whatever but at some point we need these people to come in front of us and we've asked I I I asked Monty expressively to to get them there within three days of our last meeting and then we sent another email or Monty did and the individual never even responded to me that's not an appointment no no um Mr chair maybe it's appropriate at this point you draft a letter and have you sign it requesting that they the next two meetings Y and if they don't show up then then we then we're going to move on discussions about the appointments the appointments what else you going to do get the attention I don't I can't believe we'd have to do that commission let's just not jump the gun right away I agree I mean for somebody in my position to tell somebody they have to be there in the next two days at that board meeting and change everything that they've got going on is not realistic now I do agree you know sending out those notices and I think we should let Monty you know send out notices to both our appointees and I will get a a hold both of the appointees to to set up a time to come in front of the board to address the board about a what happened and moving forward in the future and at that point in time then we can address it with those appointees uh letting them know that we would like them to come in front of the board three or four times a year just to give us you know what's going on with the airport I mean we have never had any there once once we've had we've had had them here and when they did come it wasn't our people that were going to speak it was the chairman of the board and the manager of the airport and I don't want to hear from them i that's correct there we're going to hear from them then we don't need that we don't need that appointment we want to hear from our two appointees and maybe they need to know where what the agreement was and what the agreement going forward is so that they got better grounds for next year because this agreement was not with what they brought forth and what's what's frustrating to me is is m i i I talked to Monty about this and I was very direct about making sure that these individuals came and explained what's going on and the last email Monty never even got a response that's right I was looking at I was I said it September 27th and I addressed it to our two appointees and suggested that ask them if they could attend either the O October 1st or October 15th day meeting uh I specifically said that you know our board chair wants to hear from our appointees bill and and Brian could certainly attend uh and I did not get a response to that email my my personal feeling is we got two people driving that board and they're not our appointees y i you know I did my initial email I did get a response and that's where you you saw that reply and it was suggested that all three County boards could meet with the authority as a big group meeting I don't know if that's still in the works I've not heard anything so well that's that's the problem no nobody's heard anything yeah and we we we dodged a land slide of this being on the tax rolls and now it's silent again right and to me there need there needs to be some kind of a shakeup here yeah and because I've heard it's supposed to be 10 years out right well probably about and that's what Sterns County said yesterday on and then I hear it's because of mismanagement yeah from the St Cloud side of things well we're in this three count agreement and if one entity Mis mismanages everything and pushes all the funds the next moving forward onto counties that's not good so the glaring thing to me in the in the proposal was no allegation allocations were sent it's just here's the levy exactly now I realize Betton is probably going to be the lower one probably I don't care it's the principal of it it's a principal I did ask a lot of people aren't going to be impressed seeing St Cloud Airport Authority assessment on the property tax data I did ask Bal about that he did not have that number he referred me to the County Auditors to to get that number yeah they know the dollar a million dollars even they don't know the allocation yeah so I you know if we were told to be somewhere on something that was a levy potential I'm pretty sure that we'd all be there MH and and to commissioner Heen point I agree to to say be here in two days I get it it sounds like they were given an early option of October 1st and then they were given another two weeks later y of today today yeah but not even an email back no right I know I don't understand that I'll reach I'll reach out to them Monty you reach out to them too so am I hearing there's a uh is there consensus for a a letter from board chair to our appointees asking them to to be at a future board meeting is that I actually want it to be a little bit more strict if we're doing that because they got to realize that huh go ahead no they got to realize that that we're we appointed them we entrusted them to make sure this runs the way the agreement was and I don't believe they're doing it and and the these people were were appointed after the agreement was put in place John was one of our original original John quady and then of course Kevin's replacement from May huner right been there since the beginning well there again the little beginning with the agreement you know they drafted all of this agreement but if you if you read the email from our Point e it's almost almost like they're the boss and we conform and and I don't want to be cuz I I'm I can assure you that if this gets put on the tax roll and and it's it's seen on everybody's taxes we're going to get the calls oh yeah not the airp not the airport Authority tell them we'll put their name and phone number yeah if they want to put their name and phone number down below they will do that but this this is we're in in agreement that this could be this could be a long-term issue and we got no say other than and and our and we got no say under than our Pointes Pointes and I I we're not alone St count is the same way and I and and Sherburn and I think if push is going to come to shove in this thing I think the three out of the four can petition to get out mhm and we'll get out as fast as we got in tell them well getting in was pretty slow and I'm a big back I I'm a big backer of the airport I really am I you know yeah and it's probably not for public use it's more for business growing business communities in our in our Central Minnesota right but this is a good way to take away support very quickly yes all right good agre yeah I agree I think we'll it was a St Cloud area because it was beneficial for that they wanted to enlarge it to be a regional area so we could have it better services but the cities are the ones and the businesses are the ones that benefit the most from it and they need to be um aning up instead of just taxes on all the all the people in the county city of St Cloud's supposed to be anting up for 10 years yeah they are they're on the for it it's all in agreement so everything's in agreement for all that they just want to get out of it they want pull their commitment down by running levies off the county well I think they got to still do their their certain amount yet yes but if if we got if it's been misrun to the point of that's I mean now it's all hear say what I've heard because you don't hear it from anybody else but if it's been misrun then we got to fix that the part that's being misrun and then move forward and move forward I I agree commissioner ginsky you know but we're just speculating right now so let's just get which which raises it a great point of come in and talk to us right yep but I I want to hear it from our employe not from Bill and and Brian I agree if we got to go off speculation we're going to go down hard with the hammer yeah I like I like we all said we're there other counties are in the same boat as we are yeah and and the other Commissioners in the other counties I have the same opinion as we have up front here and all counties were on a 3-2 vote too not on a 50 vote when this is approved mhm so you know you got a couple Commissioners that are sitting there that are just eager to say get out yep all right we're going to take just a short break he needs to take e e e e e e e e e board we call it or B County Community Health Board everybody's in presence a mo anything to add the agenda fun thing um looking to see if I could add a question about the DDA agenda excuse me got it excuse me nothing I'm sorry go ahead oh yes I was wondering if I can add a discussion relating to the DDA got it on my computer too DDA okay sure DDA David Drone drone and Associates okay move for approve of the amended agenda Mr chair second got a motion second any further discussion if not I'll call the question all in favor say I I opposed motion carries consent to agenda item 1 and two what would we' like to do with that move for approval second got a motion in a second any further discussion on that if not I'll call the question all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries thank you Jacqueline consider res resolution to accept funds from Medica County Innovation funding go ahead yes so um B County Public Health if you recall um back at a a board meeting in August we had requested some um opportunities to explore some potential funding sources from Meda via Grant application we did apply for that after board approval and we did receive an allocation of about $8,000 um so today I would just be here to ask that we accept the resolution for us to receive those monies and wanted to give a little bit of an update on how we will be planning to use this work um really excited about this uh we'll be working in partnership with the nonprofit at dental clinic to come out and do drop in um mobile clinic services for both hygiene and restorative dental services at various locations throughout their County on six different dates um so part of those funds will be used for that um it will help cover travel and mileage for that nonprofit dental provider as well as time that they need for setup most of those Clinic appointments that they'll have when they do those drop in appointments will be um built back to the the individual's insurance plan so those costs are retained in that way so with a small lot small amount of money where able to really um try to make some effort in in meeting the Gap um I do want to note on the topic of dental though that we you know this is not intended to be the long-term solution for our Dental challenges that we're facing so this is really to just fill the Gap in the meantime and as we'll continue to talk about um potentially new dental clinic at some point in the future this would be one of those efforts to help meet individuals um in community with those Dental needs Jacqueline these drop-ins are they going to be sporadic through the county or yep yep so we uh um our community health specialists will work together to identify different locations on where they best be suited kind of looking at different opportunities of different locations looking at data feedback access all those kinds of things and determining where those spaces would be great um and then on an additional note for that um another topic that we'll be working on is in partnership with Sherburn Stern centri care um and hoyo hour which is a nonprofit support group for moms we'll be holding three Community sessions regarding measles mums and rubella um with the goal really to create education and awareness around that topic and of course um importance of vaccination in that space um so at that time I would just ask that we consider the resolution for us to accept those medical funds move for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion a second any further discussion on that item if not I'll call the question all favor say I I I motion passes next all right so um if you recall back to our budget meeting for public health I had put on the back side of my handout that day that there would be a potential funding opportunity coming up that wasn't announced early enough to get it into the official packets but that would be coming um we have an opportunity through the Minnesota Department of Health um to apply for What's called the state infrastructure fund um this funding is really intended to support Community Health Board foundational Health responsibilities and Benton County public health staff as you know member of the central Minnesota Alliance so that's our regional group of um Benton County Sherburn County Public Health Sterns County Public Health and then our central care healthc care system um so what I'm here today to talk about is um this RFA that's now become live um it's and through consensus of the cental Minnesota Alliance and talking um together as a group we'd like to apply for funding in the amount of $400,000 to support our regional Community Health assessment and Community Health Improvement initiatives this is required by us through our local public health act Minnesota statute 145a um for all of the public health departments across the state to complete that Community Health assessment and Improvement plan so as I mentioned in working in partnership with our Central Minnesota alliance members with Sherburn Stern and centri Care having the ability to complete these requirements together as a region adds a lot of support to Benton County and our capacity um and being able to impact the health of our community um one of the things I just want to kind of get get us thinking about in and why we do this work regionally is thinking about you know how many times during the last month have you or your family your friends you know across the region obtained Services you know banking housing gone for food groceries education um you know we we know that all of these things impact health and the ability for our community to be healthy and so we've really partnered as public health entities and Healthcare entities to do this work together um so really um you know you heard Courtney present a little bit ago on our community health assessment that's live and all of the work that goes into that it's a lot um a lot of work that goes into developing our health assessment completing the health assessment and then analyzing the data implementing the plan evaluating the plan um all of those things collectively is a huge undertaking um so today what I'm asking is just that um if we could get approval to submit a Grant application um asking for funding in the amount of $400,000 and then um if that is awarded I would come back to board to talk about further plans Staffing plan that kind of thing board Mr chair Jacqueline how um is this a one-time Grant opportunity right now this is a one-time Grant opportunity through the state infrastructure funds um and the amount of we can request up to amount of 400,000 um it would be a two-year cycle with the opportunity to renew at two years so it' be a total of four years um at that point you know our Central Minnesota Alliance Group has talked about how could we sustain this long term because we'd be looking at two Regional positions and really we would be looking at either identifying a new grant funding source to carry it into another cycle and to carry it over um or using foundational Public Health funding between all of the agencies and when do you expect to have an answer on the grant so the application due date is on December 3rd and it looks like estimated start dates for projects would be April 2025 so we would be looking around that time frame okay Mr jar doesn't hurt to apply no no absolutely yeah yeah go ahead all motion to approve applying for this $400,000 Grant yep I'll second that too anything else add to that Jacqueline I was just going to say you know um just thinking about the beauty of this work with public health and the success that we've had in working in these collaborations and these relationships and the amount of capacity that it brings back as it really does permeate into everything that we're doing here at Bon County and the ability for us to change the system you know you kind of think about taking a bunch of different ping pongs and throwing them at a bucket and they're all working on really important things but in this model that we've come up with um with our Central Minnesota science it's kind of getting all those ping pongs to move in the same direction towards things that we know our central region needs which ultimately impact Bon County as well so really fortunate for these Regional works the regional work that we have across our central region and for our partners in this work as well so great thank you any further discussion on this if not I'll call the question all in favor say I I I opposed motion carries thank you updates Jacqueline yeah I'm wondering if before we jump into updates could I do could we do the DDA agenda item be okay sure okay um so I know recently um DDA had provided recommendations to the County Board related on that first third of positions that were under review and for public health we had our casate positions our public health nurse position our registered nurse position and our community health specialist position um in the final round of uh review we had one appeal form that was submitted for a community health specialist position primarily around the idea of the career lading or the senior position and I'm wondering um and I know that the board has already voted on these recommendations um and has decided to move forward but wondering if there's any opportunity for us to have further conversation about the senior position for that role um and the opportunity for some career lading for that position I'd almost have to refer this to Monty well I believe Mr chair uh the board was deferring substantially to your consultant as to when a senior position was appropriate uh based upon various factors um this this issue of course is a countywide matter and I I it's possible that lots of other departments and positions would also like senior counterparts I think on this question a substantial amount of discipline is necessary and I I would recommend that you stay with the recommendations of your consultant M and uh and not open that door um I think Tessa has given you good justification for where in the senior is appropriate and when it isn't and I I think we should stay with that so Mr chair just for clarification Tessa saw the appeal absolutely yes yes I would totally agree with Monty I'm not willing to open that up we're going to do another third and if we run down that road we'll be opening it up to everything every every position that thinks they need a step or a lot you know or rate increase so I'm not will to go down there I concur okay thank you for yeah thank you for hearing my question um okay so next we'll jump into some Public Health updates here all right um so quite a few different things going on um I'm going to kind of jump around a little bit on topics but the first thing I wanted to talk about is uh potential Regional Dental coordinator uh last week Friday I received a phone call from Blue Cross Blue Shield who has heard that we're starting to look at dental work Dental expansion um this is primarily through the work of our community health specialists they're involved in a lot of regional groups um and meeting with our health plans and Community Partners and working on oral health um so through those conversations of our community health specialists outworking with our partners um they had heard that you know we may be looking to expand that dental care in Bon County with Bon County residents maybe in the near future potentially maybe through the form of of a dental clinic um for example so they are reaching out offering about $75,000 um to hire a position to work on those components I don't have a lot of information today I just wanted to bring it up and let you know um the individual contact is on vacation for the next couple of weeks so we plan on connecting in early November early to mid November to have more conversation but wanted to just get it on your radar and let you know that that conversation occurred um and I could invite Gary to come and talk with the board about what could this look like um you know the funding itself um and kind of what parameters for what type of work they could be doing this position would be a regional coordinator position that is um allotted to work on exploring and expanding um challenges and issues around dental and oral health so that's kind of the first update um when Mr chair go ahead when you talk about Regional it would that would that position be you know looking at Sterns County MAA County it would be this whole central region so similar to how we look at a lot of our work um but if you recall back we had a a speaker come Greg from Wright County when we were having those conversations at our committee of the whole he was a regional Dental coordinator and so his position really is to support in whatever way work that's happening around dental so in this case you know he was really instrumental in helping get that right County clinic developed and the kind of coordinating and planning and holding those Regional partner meetings this would be very similar to that um they would have the opportunity to work on anything that we were establishing as well as build Regional capacity so if another County had questions about how do we get something going in this space or what data do we have around dental or whatever they can collaborate and coordinate so it' be a person designated to that role that work Mr chair who employee who does he work for um that at that time that was a right County so same situation Blue Cross Blue Shield had provided funding they hired it and paid for that position so he's a right County employee servicing the central Minnesota Alliance yep uh well just the central region in that capacity yeah yeah yep now this position would be it would so essentially would be Bon County would hire a person using these funds and when those funds go away then that position would go away but that would really be the concept of it and that person could help the central Minnesota area also absolutely yep it would be a regional work yep and again going back to that that notion that you know we know that our community is not just living working playing and growing within our County borders you know we know that people are going to St Cloud or Sherburn or El um you know other locations to receive health care and access and food and housing and funding and you know anything you can think of arts and entertainment so it goes back to that model that we know that if we align as a region it's only creating more opportunities for people to thrive so and right I'm sorry oh oh I am the chair right I'm a little tsy right now red count has received this funding for five six years I think they had it for about I don't know how many years he was there but I know it was few years yeah we at least yeah we've been working with him for what three years ago two three years ago so yeah I don't know exactly how long um and Blue Cross is not able to guarantee how long the funding would be for either but like I said we would you know we can get him to come talk with us have a meeting or I can sit down and meet with him and bring more information back to the board and just hear more about what the offer is um but it's really exciting to think it's it's good timing because if there is some going to be some movement with future plans this would be a really timely position to get in place um and and be able to Corral all of that work um so Mr chair that was a good point what you brought up because I I thought it was a I thought it was that 75,000 for one year and then cuz I'm like we always talk about how government moves yeah we're like we get a we get a we get the contract done in the first year right and for him to come on and then then we we're already out of money well and it wouldn't be Greg's specifically it' be somebody but yeah it would be somebody but you know I with this type of funding this is through a health plan so it's a little bit different it doesn't have to follow come through our state um system so it's a little probably a little bit quicker moving and I think by the first of the year we could end up getting these things in place I'm all in favor something for us to think about um all right next update um cannabis funding so we have been talking about getting our cannabis funding for a very long time since Minnesota um had changed the legislature we finally received our award amount um so it's just simply an update to let you know that we'll be expecting a contract to come related to cannabis and substance use prevention funding um this came out of the new state legislature um change with the Cannabis legalization um so public health will be receiving to Our Community Health Board around $ 106,7 to work on cannabis prevention and substance use prevention um that funding formula is coming from um a recommendation from Sha which um again um is really giving us a base funding and then takes into account the social vulnerability index and then your population size and that funding amount so we are receiving quite a bit um for that cannabis work and that will be expected to come here shortly in a contract okay um next update our women infants and children program they are going live today with a new documentation system called Winnie and so we are thinking about our staff today because it is a massive feat it's a whole new um kind of like if you think about like an electronic medical record or like your my chart your documentation system charting um appointments everything so brand new system um going live and so um we're just thinking about them and hoping for a smooth implementation today our Wick Clinic um we have two Wick certifiers who are averaging around 212 Wick appointments a month so they're very busy and uh we're hoping that it goes well today as they implement this new computer system technology 12 a month 212 uh between the two of them okay a month yep of what Clinic appointment so it's about 30 appointments a week yeah yeah they're quite busy um recruitment update on our public health nurse position so we are currently recruiting for our our public health nurse position who will work in with our Wick program um our family home visiting program and then in our child and teen checkups um we'll be looking at applications on the 28th of this month so far we haven't found a candidate um and then the the last one here and then I'll flip to the next couple of slides for some updates um our last quarter report for our family home visiting Services uh we have that first steps collaborative which is um the collaborative among the Three Counties um Benton Sherburn Sterns and then Wright is an addition to this one um our first steps model had a quarterly report that was due and we're at 100% case load for a family home visiting nurses which is pretty great we've been able to stay up above the the targeted metrics we've also seen a 99.8% increase in families served over the last quarter in comparison to the previous quarter so just update on that family home visiting model and then a couple of other updates here um our Central Minnesota Alliance was highlighted in the state newsletter and so I'll pass out as soon as I'm done here the newsletter copy um but we were highlighted in the local public health ass Association Statewide newsletter for our work for the community um Health assessment in our partner meeting that we had and so a couple of the Commissioners were at that meeting um Monty has a photo debut down there in the corner too um along with some of our community health specialists so pretty cool to see the central Minnesota Alliance being highlighted across the state we also um recently L assistant commissioner Dr Tura visited Benton County Public Health from the state of Minnesota um had come out to talk with us just a little bit about what our local community priorities are what collaborations exist talked a lot about those region the regional work we do in the central region as well as needs of our community um the other thing we we talked a lot about was the need for data infrastructure um as well Dr Tura um found found us over at sha and was talking about you know just really impressed with the central region and all of the collaboration and coordination and Partnerships that are happening and then lastly I was just going to give a little bit of an update um this is a photo here of one of our Public Health nurses so recently she has done a presentation to a senior center about human trafficking and wanted to highlight this um she's been doing this quite a bit with a lot of different partners she's been in our school system um over doing uh during teacher Workshop doing presentations on human trafficking and how to identify um promote healthy safe relationship ship look for risk factors and those sorts of things but as well as meeting with many many different Community Partners at some point in time we'll have her come and do a presentation to the County Board um you know why is this the public health issue when you think about human trafficking well um we know that 32% of victims become pregnant before age 18 um we also know that over 90% have substance use disorders um and in addition about 50% of kids regularly attend school during exploitation but the average age for child trafficking is about around the age of 12 so it's a really important um Community issue Central Minnesota has the third highest rate of human trafficking in Minnesota and so we've been working in collaboration on this from a public health perspective as well um and that's it so like I said just wanted to provide some updates and um with that that's all I have thank you very much any questions for Jacqueline thank you very much Jacqueline for the updates too yes absolutely very good yep with that I'll adjourn the uh Ben County Community Health Board at 11:33 and turn it back over commissioner board chair sorry thanks commissioner Hiner um Monty on your text about our meeting at 12:45 I don't think the uh the ditch is going to go that long I could be wrong but what time is your meeting 11:45 I think Chris we could rock rock and roll through a ditch Authority meeting in 10 minutes going it's just an update y y okay well turn it over to you all right so we'll call our ditch Authority 11:50 yeah 5 minutes we'll call our ditch Authority meeting to order at 11:33 uh we're all present uh is there any changes to the agenda I have none is there a motion so move second motion a second to approve the agenda is presented all those in favor I I oppos carried move on to consent agenda approve or amend the meeting minutes of October 1st 2 move for approval motion to approve I'll second that any other discussion in regards to the minutes hearing on all those in favor pose is carried Chris update on County ditch 14 Wetlands all right so as you know we've talked a lot about those additional repair areas the guidance was to go for a full depth repair at uh the one station 84 plus 0 to 86 plus and then just do vegetation Management on the other three areas um the te was able to meet on October 8th and we got an application into them that same day for this work uh which included withdrawal of wetlands and so that got approved at the T on the October 8th and then we also got an approved purchase agreement to withdraw those credits from a wetland bank so I just wanted to show you this is the actual invoice or I should say quote but this is what the cost is $90,000 uh per credit and we needed to purchase 048 credits to mitigate for that full death repair at that location which comes to 43,200 this is why we say bu for $100,000 cuz with the fees sometimes you get a little bit closer so to less than a half an acre of wetland credit comes to $443 one12 and so that's being withdrawn um based on the approval there's a 15-day comment period after the notice of action was published make a long story short November 1st I can have approval or we have approval on November 1st to have the contractor go out there and do this work so Chris the state uh fee on there of thousand bucks or 956 Bowser get that or who gets that I think that does go to Bowser for managing the Wetland uh Banks all right he wants to Mr chair go ahead I I have a question when we had our last meeting about vegetation removal yeah okay you were saying that when we do this we're uh only authorized a foot I think it was for the settlement to take out so that's what yeah if you read through this application for The Aquatic resources and all that that's what was approved is 12 in of material total on those vegetation Management areas so so is that going to leave all of The Cattails in no we should be able to grab The Cattails and then 12 Ines below the surface below the cat tails yes yeah yes okay so it could be okay that's that's that's what I wanted to understand because if we pull The Cattails out and it takes a foot of vegetation are we going further down or a foot of sement with that now that you clarified no that's about what it is if we so we on the surface you see Cattails we grab that cat tail and 12 Ines of uh root mass and sediment comes with it that's probably all that we'll be able to to take so okay so that brings my next question we're spending a lot of money of getting settlement out of there that will not take care of all of The Cattails because some of the Cattail rots will always stay there and we'll always be doing a maintenance program on Cattails in the channel itself yeah so and then we' we've also talked a lot about on the the buffer trip area to doing some Mowing and and things like that so um because there's no guarantee when we do when we do that that it's going to take the ruts out at least the first time we could have pulled all the roots out quandry was that I don't know what the repair elevation is in those three spots where we're doing vegetative we can only go down a foot but I mean if we were to repair them how deep would we have gone was it a three- foot channel that were not opening I don't know that that is a good question and I don't know that off the top of my head so that was kind of the difference um and this it could be right there or it could have been uh a lot deeper I think though these other three locations though the Wetland impacts were greater sure if we did remove that to a full depth and that's I get that that got that considerably a lot more expensive they were open water I get that I don't think there's any way that they could go back to us and say oh that root bull was you know 15 in I know well that was some of the concern about the repair at that other station of why we just did the repair so there was no question in there exactly but if we if we take pictures of these root balls and we find out that they're you know it's I I got to believe that what are they going to ask us to do cut some off put it back in you never know you don't know you don't know I just wanted clarification you know I just think if somebody was out there talking to the escavator he could just go deeper and deeper you know nobody's ever going to check it thank you this is recorded all right the documentation reflects that it'll be 12 in so that's just an that's just an update because that's what we approved that's right I just wanted to bring that back so everybody knows that that's the goal uh that'll be you know that 90 or $43,000 will be you know part of the or 44,000 be part of the assessments future assessments okay and first week in November we should be able to get that going and are we also intending to go for some quotes on maintenance on cd6 uh correct yes yes yes so and and three I plan on getting some quot for cd6 and three meeting updates Mr CH all right uh anything else Chris anything else from ditch Authority no I have nothing more to say okay ditch authorities adjourned at 11:39 turn it back to okay uh I think what we'll do is does anybody got any important updates on commissioner meetings no no I got two that real quick uh the enoka treatment oh yeah the enoka treatment our beds went up yep pretty good heard yeah is pretty good uh I think about 15,000 a year whoa per per bedow okay yeah it was a big increase uh and then um uh atp3 meeting I had uh the St Cloud APO is working at getting some Chris you are a part of that meeting but there's some discussion on on uh on the funding um guidelines and and and the things that haven't been changed or the guidelines haven't been changed in like 25 or 30 years so the APL stands to gain which we got to be careful cuz 7w is part of Bon County to loses a little B yeah sure and which we're a part of both right so there there we'll keep going on that um uh the raise debriefing I thought went you know I think how I put it on the meeting is they padded us on the back and it slapped Us in the face oh one of those those are always nice but honestly I think at the end of the day deal I think Monty I Chris I think that's we're sitting in a good spot we are if I was a beton man yep and I am I think one I think the next turn we could get we talk about but I at a meeting yesterday I learned that that grant that we receive to hire the consultant to put the application together that is available again for us again we get $30,000 per year so I can apply again for 2025 up to 30,000 and did we apply last year for it too yeah and we re it was for 2024 yep okay so so that offset the cost we could yeah and as we talked we don't think it should cost the same amount yep but I think we're close uh we we went up on three and went down on one so I don't know how that happens but anyway that's all I have okay anybody else commissioner up commissioner uh calls none okay yes of course oh good we could be so lucky uh Evan is unable to attend the October 17th Government Center meeting and asked to reschedule uh I want to propose to you Monday November 5th I know that date works for Evan it does not work for commiss that's that's hunting Monday November 4th you said I uh I believe I said the 5th that's Tuesday oh excuse me uh meeting oh Tuesday yeah that'll work hang on after the board meeting what's my email yeah that works you know um got Library Insurance meeting at yeah one o00 I did say excuse me is I did mean the fourth uh but I if I recall correctly Evan was pretty free that week so um I'd be fine after the board meeting if if it worked I don't know I can do that I don't so uh the best state would be after board meeting on the 5th on conclusion of County board on the 5th approximately 10:30 yep we just try and keep it a short compress yeah comess compress it so 10:30 11-ish on the 5ifth okay he's got it to 11 already yeah just like that okay and that's all that's all we had oh okay move for approval of the cow we got a motion a second to set the one cow all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries one very final 30 second things since we've got two minutes Chris very 30 second quick update on the fuel uh project highway it's operational again okay so paperwork has been sent to the the warranty people and we're waiting to hear back from them on how much they will cover great how much was the C was the repair uh we're just under 40,000 now under our estimate cuz it they end up having a doing an epoxy liner on the whole inside of the tank which was um more about thous $7,000 more than the original quote hopefully that seals her off for a while yeah yeah whatever all right with that we're going to be adjourned at