##VIDEO ID:G15wd0v3X_0## this full whatever the full total cost number is is going to be put towards the system yeah her benefiting percent would stay the same the benefited percent would say the same yeah so the actual dollar amount would go up a little bit right yeah so you take I think 4,000 to get to that $4,000 cost they looked at what the unit prices the contractor provided for a channel clean up it may be less than that actually but um that cost will be spread out over all so it could be several cents to a dollar or so what do you mean by that Julie well with the water trying to like it is right now the water is trying to come up into mine and across my back field or my front field in my pure the the road that the cattle used to get from the pasture to the hill is washed out I have gained nothing as far as where it sits right now excuse me goad do you believe that if we clean out that 200 feet that that water will move faster and that will eliminate some I hope so but what if it does I don't know I yeah and that's our that's our hope too go back again and see deeper yeah well all right we have an option to do a full repair we could you could say okay let's go ahead and do a full repair at station 84 plus 00 to 86 plus 00 and expect about $57,000 a cost and not recommend doing that to the other ones um I think that was our concern from the beginning if we do all these four locations full death repair 370 yeah mitigate for the Wetland impact that added to that cost of construction and we were bumping up against our benefited ra you know benefit value so there's two ways to look at that one is that the 370 is a fair amount of money but they have this new rule where you know if you haven't done anything in 25 years and hopefully going forward that the county boards look at this before 25 years right because that's the biggest hang-up is this you know we can't do anything if it hasn't been clean for 25 years but we know what the history of Bon County was m and there's not I there's not enough support to change that law from you know within AMC because we're rare on counties that haven't done a lot of ditch work especially the ones that have the voice at at policy committee so there's not not a lot of change a lot of interest in changing that rule so I mean if we went ahead and cleaned it all out and got it all done and did the ditch system hopefully they'd be good for the rest of the life Chris do we know that we're going to be able to grab these these uh uh Cattails and pull them open at the roots or is it going to break off halfway down and then be up there the next year you know well that comes back to our maintenance I think for some of these we're going to be maintaining them every year until we you know establish you know good vegetation that's easily remain Point Mr chair you know and commissioner kinsky you're right the only way you're going to remove all of that rot ball is to get under it yes to remove it and to that point if we're to say maintenance maintaining it what happens on the maintenance level when we get to the 200 foot section and we're going to pick up our shovel again and say oh we can't clean this out I think we need to be very clear with the the agencies that we're not going to go in and pull them we're going to go out and scrape them to get the roots out unless they agreed to pay next year to come back and do it again well that's not going to happen I know but we give them that option I think we almost get forced hand to do the Full Repair on that on that station oh so 4 86 yeah on that station well Mr Cher If we can if we can get the okay by the ti to get down to 18 in maybe it add that that will take care of the rook and I think I exaggerated I think six to 12 and I went to 18 I know I I know you did commissioner pop but that's a good point though legitimately I asked though is what about the maintenance in the future right M well if you don't get the Cattail Roots out they're coming back next next year right and that root ball is 2 feet deep hopefully right oh they're I mean you should there's lot of you're out there and look at it it's like you can't believe it could over the years that much you know Chris do you know at that station approximately how much sediment we took out on either end of it yes we can um I mean because PL sheets my point is if it's at 24 in let's repair it and be done right if we're going to tear out 12 yeah I mean it was a a foot and 4/10 so oh but that's what came out on well it's a $50,000 difference costs though too if it's a foot and 410 and they let us take out six to 12 yeah yeah if that's right we're not we would have only taken it back to says 15 to 24 in yeah what does root ball oh there you for Cattails okay so we need clarification because yeah yeah to 24 is more than we took out so so if we would have repaired it we would have only taken a foot and 4/10 well back to originally constructed uh yeah constructed wow approximately CU yeah the existing elevation was 1098 12 and we proposed uh Excavating down to 1096 84 so oh can I say a question not quite a full two feet go ahead Monty says Chris does the te do a post post construction inspection to ensure no no impacts as planned do they do post uh I don't know how often they they do that um it takes one adjacent land owner to mention it though and then they fully would fully have the right to inspect cont deeper than everyone and water's draining off going to be a problem like a violation that we have to fix I don't know good question I put my road engineer hat on and say we've been replacing Wetlands at 2 to one for years but how come we're still running out of wetlands right right shouldn't we have twice as many Wetlands but see that's why I'm a little lary about not doing the repair we do the repair we put it back to its as constructed position and then there's not a question of whether or not yeah so that you're right we go back up to here we can fill out the application say at station 84 plus 00 to 86 plus we're going to take it down to that as constructed I think the tap agrees with us it's 024 Acres of impact that we we look for a wetland Bank to buy 0. 48 Acres of credit whatever that cost is hopefully it's less a little bit less than $100,000 an acre and be prepared to spend about that much the T would sign off on that and we can move forward and get it estimated vegetative alternative do we know that number yeah it's a gray area but they seem to be okay when we said 6 to 12 Ines so I think we would put in our application is a no loss Wetland application of you know vegetation management with root balls up to 12 in but we don't know what that cost is though yet to do that correct so to have the contractor to yeah bring a machine out there and and walk it out to that location I5 Grand correct yeah then you're better off going repair it and we should maybe get that first yeah I think so yeah we'll have to get that estimate first to really be nice to get this done for these people this next spring they're done to normal yep I agree me and I mean personally as a staff person I do have concerns are like the adjacent Landor to these other locations if we do a full repair they're going to say why can't you do it at my location to maybe the answer is well the cost um the vegetation management seemed to be acceptable next to this type 3 Wetland but not acceptable to these other ones one part of the argument Chris be that those are open water Wetlands correct completely different type I mean this is where it's flowing yes yeah okay well there's a lot of different stuff on dredging of cattails and stuff it makes me nervous to go in there so I I'm here to open to your direction how would you like me to to proceed I guess Mr chair I'd like to see them what the cost is going to be to go out there and do six in versus the whole thing six to 12 in the the vegetative management alternative repair right yep I would have to agree with commissioner pop on that one too and is there any way we can get that number from Helman I will certainly make that call this afternoon and see if he can do it I mean we know he's in the area he's working on our road reconstruction project so and we know the t's more than likely not meeting in the next week so if we next Tuesday have an answer and say that says we're going to go with the alternative or we're going to repair it then the te has that information for final approval and we can give Helm and to go ahead to get it done yeah I will make those calls if that's and water will through that place and we won't get stuck next time yeah did you get wet and I think if we're off a few inches in depth I don't think they're right Monty okay my official responses we're just doing vegetation management correct so you just have consensus works for you on this yeah yes yes I'm okay with consensus to contact contractor and get estimate of actual uh work costs okay I guess Mr my worry was I don't know we've ever done anything like this before so I was a little worried about post construction inspection and saying oh you've reduced the water flow so now you've got to restore well that's part of my concern about not doing the Full Repair this becomes a black hole right yeah but if we do a full repair we don't have no worries right that well we have no worries we have no worries that's right but I think the due diligence is we've got to know this alternative cost versus the repair yep I think everybody pretty much says if it's 35 or 40 Grand to do the alternative we're going to repair it for 57 y yeah correct and find out what the method is going to be to get those yeah yeah okay maybe this is common to them I don't know anything else in the ditches if you want to come up the podium so we could hear you a little better that'd be great okay my name is Mark spitzka live at 18353 90 Street Northeast o Park and that ditch runs through mine now like he was saying over there they took like a foot foot and a half well they got four to five feet in m they took out so the water sits there now and it back flows underneath the ground MH so I've gained nothing out of it because of the plug that's sitting down on the lefor property that plug is holding everything back yeah we've seen that we agree with that y we agree 100% the other thing I've got on that ditch too they didn't slope the ditch because they only dug the one side Wildlife can't get down in there I got Critters going through my yard left and right now skunks and things I really don't want well let's see what happens here Mark when we move ahead to take care of this plug because that's the intent to get a lot of this stuff resolved yeah cuz like I said if they don't slope it it's going to be like south of me the banks are already washing out well and I would have to think part of that's coming because it's hitting this plug too the water can't move and so it's finding other places to go well there down there south of that it's moving yeah right yes that's where the banks are washing out they're undermining well we've had a little bit of a rough year with the spring with all the what we have seven n inches of water yeah rain coming down there and well but and those Banks you're right that's going to be part of our our future maintenance because we're going to have to stay on top of this that's that's part of the plan here is to get the repair done and keep them maintained and that's going to be part of it CU like I said working for the DNR I found out yeah you got to slope that bank and sometimes you got to put down a they've got a a concrete plastic mesh that you can lay down that'll let the grass grow through but it won't wash away I know yep interesting okay thank you you Julie anything else no I'm just GL you're looking at the whole thing you know originally when I received the report that the ditch was going to be done it didn't show a but and then all of a sudden there was 100 foot but but none of that was nailed to you see what I'm saying all there was a 200 PL to include three Bieber DS that we've been knocking out for years okay yeah yep very yeah well and that's we're hoping we get we we're hoping we can make a decision next Tuesday when we get this uh estimate back on the alternative and then give some direction because I think it's safe to say unless the T says know for some reason on this which they shouldn't at a minimum it's going to get a vegetative part done or it's going to get repaired yeah so is that fair to say y yes all right we're just as kind of as well probably not as frustrated as you but we sit up here and we're trying to um push these things forward and and people get in front of us and then we can't blame them but they put it all on us and we've got no say in I like a bunch of unelected rats making the decision it really is and then they throw the Alternatives in afterwards yeah I know anyways anything else ditch thorney all right we're adjourned at 10:35 I'll turn it back to the board chair all right commissioner meeting updates I can start if you'd like sure commissioner pop and I Chris mentioned it uh went and looked at cd14 on September 4th and I'll leave the story at that it was a little it was plenty wet out there and muddy so we certainly can understand what uh Julie and Mark are saying is going on in that area um September 6th I was on a has disturb a wetland or not actually we may have may have September 6 they had a br uh meeting with Foley engines that was very uh well attended uh Amanda and Pam and then both owners were there myself uh it was a very good meeting uh extension committee meeting on September 9th of course on the next day we had our budget for or call for our budget preliminary budget meetings which we approved today attended the fall conference Wednesday evening and into Thursday I ended up leaving Thursday afternoon uh the 18th that was on the highway 23 Coalition meeting and um last Thursday evening uh the Bon County area townships meeting down in glender which actually was very well attended I thought yeah I thought it was too um so that was a good meeting that's all I had um I had pretty much the same thing the ditch extension uh fall policy if you read your your fall polic policy committee that you're on and there's something that comes to that you think should be a a part of the initial that we vote on let me know before uh October 2nd or 3rd because that's when your fall policy chairs get together and then we pick a certain ones like we'll pick one from Transportation one or two from public health and we'll put them out for voting at our district meetings I think our district meetings are going to be a little bit more consumed about salaries than they are about uh the policies because we are they're looking at a salary increase and I think Monty got the memo on what they're looking at right for AMC fall increase in our dues down yeah and I'm still not um I'm not quite sure that that was the right right way to go because it was $2,000 or 10% whichever is greater um some of the counties are going to push back on the 2,000 because that's going to be 30% 40% of what they pay now so I think we'll have some push back and in turn um you know the dtas and the Carvers and them um 10% of their dues is going to be you know 89,000 bucks so um I don't know if that's really going to work but somehow somehow we got to get that settled out because we're going to lose policy people that are really good um and then I did have Micah with with that uh commissioner pop with that said though you look at what Julie ring and and everybody has done for us especially with the opioid funding and stuff so that brings me back to an important question Monty do you got that list of what they done for beton County yeah I said it's an email y it was in an email and how much money they got to beton County I mean you know there were some things like I think our um Pelt money was 83 bucks more that that wasn't much but some was pretty substantial but when you look at some of some of the smaller counties you know that was a small amount and then you're asking them to increase their their dues by 40% I think that's um maybe a little bit out there I don't know um but as long as we got a say and we're we know you guys got any policies that you want me to bring forward and speak a little harder on I'll do that okay let me know and then of course we had in chrisopher in DC and that was good I think we uh oh he left you yeah he left me I see we uh found out while we were out there that Gilman was denied their um USD USD loan um or Grant yeah so we didn't it didn't pay after the first day to go and talk about that because you know more than likely they knew so we did more thanking them for the last money we got and surprisingly that's we should do that because they appreciate that more than they do about ask ask ask like I told commissioner pop for the5 million return on investment to two people out there I think it's a pretty good payback I mean I couldn't believe the you know when we were at Emmer's office it was like okay we were still there and they yep we know about it we know about this well then the next day it was um Lloyd Al sent a deal that it was denied so then we just said well thank you for this and um we did let uh Blue Earth County tag along with us to um kashar and Smith's office um and we would have had in uh kar's office we would have had that group to ourselves for 40 minutes if we wouldn't have let them come along but I'm telling you I going out there and doing this is big difference it's a big difference and and like you just said just thanking him yeah that probably personally personally yeah yeah you know yeah you can write him a card or write him a letter but it doesn't you know I mean I Anna from Senator Smith's office was like wow we don't hear this very often you know she went on and on and on yeah she went on and on and on about you know that we did this and did that and then we had L sitting there Vance and their County their County engineer were sitting there you know kind of like okay we need this we need this we need this you know and they do have a big problem in that Dam they do I mean um they're looking for USDA funding and they'll get it because the USDA person from Minnesota lives in her County when did you end up coming back was it Thursday or Wednesday Thursday night we actually made it back for the township deal really did wow cuzz when I when I landed kard was walking through the airport oh yeah yeah twoe point though commissioner pop about Gilman being denied that means that we're going to be talking with Chris about what to do with CA 3 and five yeah so that's what to do with that money sector where to go with it happening next year oh I I think it's still happening they got the money for that no matter what I think I I should mention they've already build us for the full 400,000 for design cost for design I understand but that doesn't mean that they're moving ahead with it so for us to do Casa 3 won't happen next year probably won't happen so that's a major project that's going to we'll have to look at a sand mix or something bi us over there I thought for sure they had something they no matter if they got the money or not I thought they had that figured out they think they were they were hoping on the USDA Grant no that's something we'll have to yeah well I'm just thinking the discussion's coming yep okay really again yep again interesting well I want to thank you commissioner pop for going out was good it was good Chris is a really good partner to go with I seen you fly over me you know um you know found an interesting place to eat that he knew about and we we actually met with uh um the somebody on City ccil from St Michael elville and the engineer that Buffalo's got and the Buffalo mayor we ate with them that and was really good you know Chris knows I will say Chris knows a lot of Engineers out there he I mean the engineers on Wednesday night they sat at their own table and discussed projects that they were and jod was there so you know you had to kind of like okay Jody we need to talk you know well hence another reason why he for sure is going every year yeah yeah y yeah I mean it's it if you were a new engineer had be left you know you might be kind of out in the cold but uh well respected yeah you know so yeah it was good um that's all that I had okay I'll go next Mr chair uh I had a housing infrastructure meeting that I attended still a lot of conversations and that's all it's going to right now was conversations uh the budget meeting of course attent and then I actually did the criminal justice meeting nothing new I think the jail is at 32 yeah yeah Jail's low I think that's the number Troy gave the other night did uh yeah did uh um what call let you know I wasn't going to be on I'm sorry uh I'm who's the head of that uh that sends out the meeting invites and everything Tim Hoover yeah I let him know that I was on a conference so yeah yep and that's all I had because I was on vacation last week okay okay um started out with the minion Township orderly annexation and they're um talking about the renewal that um we'll have to come after 2 25 and thinking about um going south of 23 out to um cassad 25 maybe annexing that far um and then they're working on a development in the area uh then I have first steps and the men in Township meeting Consul on [Music] Aging the fall conference consent meeting uh the quarterly Business Report businesses um yeah it's it's down the business is down and it's that there's a drop that went down that they're thinking there could be a recession or something like it did the last two receptions but yeah it's getting tight on which who was doing that um there they had less um people that responded to the with the businesses this time but do something King banion presented or yeah oh okay yep okay and all the other CS that was pretty much it okay I had the cows the budget meeting stuff like that I was also out last week so I did miss the criminal justice and the fall conference and stuff so that's all I've got one of the highlights from the fall policy was that so I played with uh Scott County on the beanie bank and uh Mike beard is his name I don't know what he does but he was kind of like a Jared you know buying points and all this stuff and had to throw we had to throw backwards I threw it backwards and it was dead ass in a hole and somebody from the other team paid money to see that so that's the best part that was the best highlight yeah that was Jesus and we we only lost once but we weren't two teams didn't lose at all oh who who was your partner um um Barb Brey oh okay and him and I didn't know the other person I didn't know if Melissa was your partner no they were they were our first competition they won right no that's weird no they didn't let all right we'll move on to uh there's no cows so yeah no cows so we all right Mr did did anyone did anyone attend the airport ribbon cutting ceremony no we can skip that was that last week yeah yeah no the AMC District 5 meeting is October 14th at 8: a.m. at the Crowing County Land Services building uh in brainer October 14th 8 a.m. I should mention too is that date was also we had scheduled one of those standing Human Services committee Committees of the whole so obviously we need to reschedule that one so um let's see here is it possible nope so again that was scheduled for the 14th nope AMC yes the AMC District uh five meeting is that morning through you know about noon 1:00 um we could move it a week earlier a week later what seems to work with that one is it something that they need cuz remember I thought we set these up and if they don't need we haven't had one for a bit uh if we could go ahead and get it on the calendar today if it's not necessary we can cancel it um can we just have one a month ago wasn't yeah it wasn't that long ago I suppose I think it'd be important to actually schedule one yeah let's schedule if we may and then again cancel if it's unnecessary August 12th and typically again that also includes Public Health topics correct so again the week before the week after I'm available both I'm yeah I'm more available on the 21st so I go to the 21st okay oh I'm not in my calendar yet not that how about the 28th 21st Works 21st Works Steve yeah 21st okay put it down nine o'clock um Beth when is that what's the start time on that previously that human services at 9: at 9: okay 21st at 9: all right um Sandy has given us some new dates you may recall the board was rigid going going to tour the River Crest facility today but given the the me meeting time we've rescheduled that so she offers up October 1st or the 8th October 1st to the 8th or your two board meeting dates in November the 5th and the 19th so on the first we have him employ Forum also don't we from my standpoint I'd rather do it November I got Harvest coming up here with the October yeah October's like somebody said we were scheduling AMC board meetings any day in October you don't schedule anything's good for me if we do it in November I'd like to do it the 18th okay I'll agree to that so she she offers us the fifth and the 19th the fifth and the 19 after Bo so presumably it's going to be right we're going to go to of these after the board meeting I can't the 19th but that's if the rest of you can you go right ahead I'm a little nervous about scheduling on these board days because we don't know how long the board means is going to be uh and we could have ditch we could have Community Health Board and we could be here till 11: um she didn't offer the 12th the 12th let let me let me find out if the 12th is going to work could we set it next meeting maybe get a couple more options we could yeah again with the benefit of hindsight I should have questioned these dates a little more is we can't fine we can't give them a guarantee about when we're going to be there right so um I agree so maybe I'll ask him to steer away from board meeting days and Monday Tuesday but steer away from board days because again we can't guarantee an arrival time so okay I know you're busy on the 21st but if we did that cow then went 21st of October October and then tour afterwards that would be yeah that since you're already got the morning shot right yeah and if I can't come I can't then you can't go you can't you can't go yeah if I can't come I can't go yeah I could do that were you batting around a date there what was that again October 21st after the cow after the Human Services C October 21st after the Human Services C sure uh let me propose that to Sandy and see if that works and I think that's when we know we can wrap it up more definitely right you could say okay we're done in two hours and we're out of here right exactly yeah okay got it well and maybe for commissioner popside Maybe we see if we can't start that at 8:15 I don't I don't think they Human Services don't want to start their meetings before 9 I think they kind of like to get they got a lot of stuff going on right away right away in the morning so 9 to 11 and then maybe the tour yep right okay got it approximately 11 yeah so maybe we could wrap up Human Services in 90 minutes and it gives you some time to get over there by 11 okay let's see if that works okay okay that's it move for approval of the cows Mr chair second what which tour was this the one that's the River Crest uh facility there in in Sherburn County um you may recall there thinking about opening another facility I think the board want to kind of see how how's this place run you know and so on yeah so yep okay we got a motion and a second and a second to set the Cs all in favor i i f same motion carries we are adjourned at 1053 --------- ##VIDEO ID:igrO01fzv68## e e aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all roll call Beth sure commissioner schlong here commissioner Heinen here commissioner ginsky here commissioner Johnson here commissioner pop okay thank you 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 Order 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 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 your cell phones to vibrate thank you all right we've got open Forum Dennis Schmidt if you can come to the podium and uh state your name and address thanks Dennis good morning good morning good morning my name is denner Schmidt um I am here talking about talk about County Road 50 uh my land the north of my farm joins County Road 50 and I've lived on the farm out there all my life except when I was in the service and uh I'm 79 years old and I was told ever since I was in my mid 20s that that road would be black topped within three years and I've heard that over and over and over over the years and I heard that from the first time from Leo bowly Jake's dad and he got things done when he said he was going to do it he got it done but he passed away shortly after that I was told that and uh and I wasn't the only one in the neighborhood that's been told that Tom like it moved out there shortly after I was married he moved out there and uh shortly after he was married he raised 11 kids out there he lived just North uh couple hundred yards north of County Road 50 I think it's County Road 51 he raised 11 kids on the farm all the kids are gone off of there he moved to town and he passed away three years ago he never did get to see County Road 50 block topped there's always seems to be some excuse not enough funding but they seem to have funding to do all the other roads around the county and excuse was uh well they had to do the bridge with new Culver's in with the bridge was and the bridge was so bad they had to close it for a year before they got the calverts in and they said black top shortly after the culbert were in well the culbert's been in now what two three years the road still isn't in and they keep kicking the can down the road and uh and and I've sold sold feed beside farming for 35 35 36 years 36 years I think it was I drove PR every road around in the county not way on the far East but from Sherburn County to Buckman and to the west and of all them roads over the years and always the roughest Road I had to drive on all the time was County Road 50 and it's still that way today I come in on County Road 50 and uh it still as wash boardy and rough is what it is most of the time you can leave after the meeting here today and take a journey down County Road 50 and back and I'll guarantee you by the time you get back to town you'll have to go to the bathroom CU it'll Shake everything out of you go forb from one end to the other and I think it's about time that road gets black topped and now I heard some excuses about the solar panels solar panels won't have nothing to do with that road at the very most of you a short distance from where Jake's land is to County Road 25 but that's not certain yet they might go south out of there so it not might not be at all affected by the solar panels I I've signed up for the solar panels on my farm if I get them it's very doubtful I will because I'm the only one in that area that's north of 9 95 everything else is south of 95 and if they get more land down there they probably won't need mine so that and mine wouldn't affect count Road 50 anyway cuz I asked him this spring had a meeting where the line will be buried and be buried in my field until it gets pred up to my buildings then it'll hit the Township Road and it'll go out along Primrose Road and uh I've heard there is enough traffic on that road well if it wasn't enough traffic on it uh it wouldn't be wash boardy all the time traffic creates washboard and uh and that road the people avoid that road as much as possible that's why they're probably your road counters aren't up as much as they are because people come well with old leet Farm is there's about nine eight or nine houses on the leot farm that's just shortly a little ways up 51 and they they come and hit County Road 50 they come up the Township Road which I'm just a little bit West Township Road it goes up it's uh uh 90th Avenue it's where Primrose Road and on on the township road is for 50 uh Primrose Road meets 25th Street and you go north of there they come up that Township Road and go to St Cloud to come up down Primrose Road and hit 95 go to St Cloud every morning there's string string of vehicles going up there coming back in the evening they stay off as County Road 50 as much as possible a lot of times they see people come up come up that Township Road and go to the east of me and they you see the dust uh well Primrose Road is block to a little bit past to the bridge but they go east I can see dust all the way up to County Road 23 so why didn't they just they come from County Road 50 why didn't they go straight on County Road 50 instead of coming up on the Township Road because R County Road 50 is so rough they do anything they possible they'll take any road possible it's so they can stay off the County Road 50 and there's absolutely no reason why that road shouldn't have been blocked many years ago that's the only County Road within 10 miles of St Cloud that isn't block topped and it should have been black top many years ago this end County Road 20 from County Road 62 to the east at that's County Road 50 it's been blocked out many years ago and the last time that was reblock topped that road I really didn't think it needed BL topping yet but there was a County Commissioner living on the road and it got black topped that black top could have went on County Road 50 that road has been neglected and neglected and neglected and there's no reason for it and don't tell me there isn't funding for it because you always find funding to do all the other roads there's absolutely no reason why that road can't be black topped and as soon as possible cuz there is another road in the county that's as rough as that road now you can drive around the whole County cuz I drove around the county for 36 years selling feed and that that County Road 50 is always the roughest Road in the county Now can anyone give me a reason why it isn't blocked up yet well looks to me like it's going to get BL top then no it's it's on the it's on the uh the fiveyear plan yeah I've heard that how many up times on the fiveyear plan when Jake was on there was on the three-year plan and it would have been done if you had have stayed on the board but he he got voted off the board so it didn't get done again well I hope you understand that's not our we didn't vote them off the board I know you did I know you did but it didn't get done it was on the board to get done I mean it was on the plan to get done but he got voted off the board so it didn't get done and it really got done I don't want to speak for the uh the rest of the board but I do I do believe that our plan is to get County 50 we've had numerous discussions on this yeah and I I there's there's a lot more that goes into the solar part than you probably I mean we've we've had numerous meetings on on solar on this and it's not a matter of um where it's potentially going to go on the solar it's about what the damage could come too with all the trucks coming in and stuff because they're not going to re they they only have to repair it to a certain point so there there's a lot of things that come into play and we've been debating this for probably two years probably been on the board yeah because it's been on longer yeah it's well as you said it's most of the traffic would be coming in from the south yeah not on County Road 50 wow and so it does there's a lot of other trucks that run up and down call 50 they're not going to damage driving on it any more than any other vehicle there's trucks that come down our Township Road you should have seen the I'm sure it wasn't legal land wear come down our Township Road this summer with a great big Crane That Thing took up the whole Road the guy was on the road he had to pull into a fuel driveway so he could get down that road he come down right north of us where that new house is going up and it was muddy so they couldn't get out the roof with their lift so they parked in the driveway and they reached out to the house and lifted the rafters from there onto the house you go see how far that house is off the road and you'll know what size crane he had out there it took a huge one cuz it was out there a long ways if he was over with and over overweight he should have got a permit from the highway department well yeah get there yeah should have he wouldn't I don't know if he would have got one from the county road not Lo the township and he went back the same way he could have took County Road 50 because it's it's just a couple hundred feet off of County Road 50 but why didn't he take County Road 50 yeah we didn't have a lot of discussion on County Road 50 from what I can recall until we passed sales tax deal right that's when it actually came into play prior to that and that was in 2018 I believe 2019 2019 we started collecting prior to that so I spent four or five years on the board we never heard about County Road 50 until then and then that's when it was brought back they ever heard about it well not not that we were going to Asphalt it no do you ever check your roads you ever drive around on your county roads and check them oh yeah we had we had a lot of other roads that were a lot higher traffic that were needed fixed in what county Ro 50 did yeah I know a lot of them and you take the roads that get BL topped right close to fulley around here I travel them selling feed too and when they got rebl topped they looked in really pretty good shape yet there was no holes in them might have been a crack here and there that black top could have went out on County Road 50 okay so don't tell me I've been around the county I lived there all my life I'm 79 years old be turning 80 in January and I hope to see it blocked off soon so I get a little bit of use out of it out of my tax money that I paid all these years maybe what do we got to do in that area get together and everybody say not going to pay no more taxes until that road gets block top maybe then we get a little action I don't know it' be a thought but you know I think it needs to be done all the older people around there are PR are all dead and gone the oldest ones that live on the on the County Road 50 all the older people you know from years ago that I knew growing up they're all gone and even on even on our Primrose Road uh in conroad 25 it goes from 95 uh 62 uh Jerry bow and his wife and I and my wife were the oldest four people that live on that road and there's 20 that's another thing you know there'd be a lot more development on that road if it was if it was blocked up you take Primrose road that goes from and and County Road 25 that's three miles that goes from 95 to County Road 22 uh 62 um I think there's 24 24 uh family houses and well a couple of businesses in there too if you call uh the guys that uh uh horses what's his name over there Ro M Carl Backus got about 50 horses there he boards and the people coming you know night after night they come and look at their horses you know and horse trailers going up and down the road you know and uh it it gets our road gets a lot of traffic because of that but but I mean yeah and then you take just uh you go half mile east of my place from County Road uh from town Primrose Road to 25th Street where I live half mile to East and go south part of that road the township black top about the first what is it about half mile maybe not quite coming from 95 up look at the new houses going up there there's three new houses went up there in the last year and a half or so two years and then there was a couple other ones before that where you put black top to BL top down you'll get new development people aren't going to build on that rough Gravel Road they're going to come ride well I'm not driving this every day in my vehicle I got roads like this how many new buildings would would there be up now on County Road 50 that have been black top 20 years ago youd probably have 10 15 20 more buildings there don't cuz that land maybe not quite that many but there's a lot of land there that could be developed or housing if not close by and and just just so um we're clear too it's more than just black topping there's a lot of prep that has to take place and and stuff and just and and even if we did put it on the the role this year for it would be a year and a half out because of all the design and and all that stuff so no matter what we're out for sure till 27 correct Chris that's when it's in thee yeah and I think I I do believe that that the board has talked quite extensively on this and um I think we're in a good place for it to be done yeah I don't want to see the can kicked any farther down the road and and I'm going to tell you I know we've kicked the can but I think a lot of people before us kicked the can I know that yeah agree with you yeah so I I think uh I I think we're in a good place moving forward there uh I don't want to have to get the whole neighborhood around there in here at your board meeting and have them all screaming at you a lot of them can scream a lot louder than I can thank you thank you thank you Dennis did you have something okay let's get this out of the way okay you're please state your name and your address hello hello my name is Michael Williamson I live at 915 7th Street South in St Cloud uh former Sock Rapids lifelong resident now I work in fley um and I thank you for your time today uh Mr chair honorable Commissioners um I'm here to talk about the parks in Benton County um I really enjoy our County Parks I think our parks department does a great job I was out at Benton Beach not too long ago and um you know looking at their Frisbee Golf Course and uh you know was really nice um the only you know downside was there wasn't any Maps or you know anything like that that I could find online or in that little box that they have to keep the frisbee golf maps in um but it was it was still a really beautiful day um great Parks um and you know I was down in the Twin Cities yesterday they have you know even more beautiful and I think as St Cloud expands Sock Rapids East End of St Cloud especially kind of expands out you know we're going to need those kind of green spaces for the larger community so um I thank you for listening to my comments and um thank you for the beautiful Parks thank you thank you it is always good to hear the the parks are doing well and and good comments coming so thank you all right with that we'll move on to the consent agenda what would the board like to do move for approval of consent agenda items 1 through n Mr chair second okay we got a motion and a second to approve consent agenda items 1 through n all in favor I opposed same sign motion carries Monty all right here maybe just a little preface Mr chair is uh Minnesota's budget law requires you to adopt your budget really in two steps first is called proposed budget Levy and the proposed budget Levy what it does it primay serves the purpose of the truth and Taxation notices which go out later this fall and your tooth and Taxation public meeting that you'll have in December so we we first call this with the proposed budget Levy and then you'll consider the final budget Levy at your last meeting in December excuse me Monty can I just is your mic on I just want to double check it all right thank you we're good thank you um so Mr chair uh the board recently had a a budget work session fa the linked discussion about the proposed budget Levy and the consensus from that mean is Illustrated in the um attachment that's in your packet and it's also on the screen with us if I may I'd like to go through this quite briefly and highlight a few things that are in the proposed budget and Levy it was the board's consensus to uh have a levy increase of 4.98% or $1.2 million from 2024 um that's a on a 10 year average where we have a a 2.7% Levy increase on average over the past 10 years one thing is different this year is we've seen fairly substantial tax capacity growth over the last 10 years and that as Brian fer our County Assessor told us that trend is going to change for payable 2025 and he described two factors is one is the increase in the Homestead market value exclusion and second was some actually some residential property valuation reductions primarily in Northeast stock Rapids which which resulted in a 7% reduction in our in our um payable 2025 tax capacity so that does result in a small increase in our tax rate we expect our tax rate to go grow from 44% to 46.5% but I want to make sure I know though that's still down from a peak of 77.6% in 2014 so down substantially from its peak in 2014 we like to include in here you know often folks will ask well how does it affect a a a residental property our median value right now is 276,000 uh based upon this proposed budget and Levy uh County property taxes on that again stressing County property taxes would increase $38 a year or $322 a month the operating budget shows a fairly substantial increase but most of that is due to as you heard from Chris one of the largest Road programs that we have planned in 2025 uh that explains most of the increase uh from 2024 so let's jump on down Mr chair then to well what makes up this life increase and it's typical with County governments a people intensive operation uh Sal employee benefits and compensation make up most of that increase so for example January 1st uh with all of our labor agreements we have a 2 and a half% general wage increase you also have step increases there's also um included in this is the cost to implement year one of the class comp maintenance program we just we talked about that in in the close excuse me in the the budget session and then uh any related health insurance increases uh the board chose to use all of our uh certified 2025 County program aid for Levy reduction you can see that took $583,000 off that increase so used all the uh certified CPA for Levy reduction there's a new position in this proposed budget we'll talk about those in a second and a few other things we're seeing increase out of the home placements in human services uh the Department Corrections is assessing us for uh the central office administration costs uh we have local Correctional agents here in St Cloud but they're supervised of an office in St Cloud so that's representing excuse me the administrative cost of those of those positions here in in in Foley the board also decided to add a a comprehensive D coverage for employees uh fully County funded uh currently employees just have access to a preventative Dental uh coverage this would give uh more comprehensive coverage for things like you know braces and and so on uh we're seeing increased usage of a East Central Juvenile Detention Facility it's also known as line of lakes uh as we heard from Lori from extension uh we're going to see fairly substantial increase in our extension costs what we heard there was that extension is experiencing substantial turnover and difficulty and retention of those local Educators and felt that they needed to make some substantial adjustments to help attract and retain those local extension educator positions moving on down Mr chair then some of the things that are in the proposed budget and Levy to full-time Detention officers as you heard from Sheriff HEC uh we heard that uh we have all of our posts in our jail must be staffed to 24 hours a day 7 days a week and ultimately under the docc rules I if I recall correctly it would require possibly if I remember eight additional uh correctional officers Sheriff hack proposed an interim step of a so-called five poost jail and that would reduce the need at least in the short term to just two additional correctional officers um excuse me one thing I wanted to stress in this in this agenda excuse EXC me in this uh bullet point and Mr chair I've conveyed this to sheriff it was the board's discussion and I believe consensus is that at least in the in the in the in the short term the STS program would be suspended and this would allow the STS uh detention officer to work full-time in the jail to cover uh for open shifts and again I've conveyed that to to sheriff act that's the board's intention on and in approving these two positions moving on down then the board approved environmental Tech ditch inspector position for high for excuse me for Highway as Chris told us the the complexity of environmental permitting grows and grows it's extremely time consuming very detail oriented also of course the board has embarked on a very ambitious program to uh clean and maintain our County dishes and felt that it was important to add a ditch inspector to make sure that those ditches are inspected annually and the maintenance is kept up on them and they don't um get clogged up again uh L and Human Services a few new positions eligibility Specialists uh two social workers for men Choice assessments and two social workers for what's called Home and Community Based waiver Services one thing it's important to stress here Mr chair is say Human Services uh said is that these positions are all offset by Revenue um they either they earn they can earn Revenue um and uh backing up if I may to the eligibility specialist we received a special appropriation from the legislature for What's called the unwinding of of medical uh assistance eligibility As I understood is during the pandemic redeterminations were put on hold so you had all these that were this Cas had been built up so counties got I believe we got 230 some thousand um for this so-called unwinding so that is helping to offset the cost of this position and again we mentioned earlier the fully the fully ured Comprehensive Dental Program the last bu Point Mr chair just talks about our fund balances they're in pretty good shape uh General funds Revenue fund balance is at 6.1 months of expenditure coverage where our standard is five months and like we have for many many years we use a little bit of fund balance each year to help fund our Capital Improvement program this year's proposed budget uses 623,000 to help fund all the various Building Maintenance projects in the CIP and Mr chair I believe that is the rest of this are just spreadsheets and things that I like um which I didn't intend to cover in and I believe that's it happy to uh address any questions of course if board members have comments or I well I think we work this over pretty well well in our cow and um I understand Monty that this sets the levy we cannot go higher but we could go lower if we found money right yes sir that is today is the maximum Levy that's right yeah you can go you can reduce it between now and December yeah right and uh a key note is we are in the Micah counties we are one of the lowest ones for a levy increase yeah correct yep we've been seeing a lot of 9% 8% 7.9% I well Sherburn and Sterns are going to be a titch lower than we are but not much yeah well I think sherburn's going to be because they get a big refund check from yeah the Northstar project so with that Mr chair I'll make a motion to approve the um a proposed tax levy so M chair we'd ask you to do take this in two steps the first would be a motion to adopt the levy and the second would be the budget okay I make a motion to adopt the levy second okay we got a motion and a second to adopt the levy I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries okay Mr chair I'll move to approve the 2025 budget as presented I'll second okay we got a motion in a second to approve the budget as presented I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries all right so Mr chair we'd ask you to fulfill your statutory duty to announce the date time and place of the truth and Taxation public meeting and it's in your it's in the action section of your agenda item all it requires is just simply an announcement Mr chair and it goes into the minutes by the chair okay yeah he's getting to it hold on here here you go all right uh let's see here conduct a truth and Taxation meeting on Tuesday December 3rd 2024 at 6 pm. in the bton county boardroom we're good all right thank you thank you Heinen all right my computer's gold star okay okay moving on all right so I believe the next thing is the David the DDA maintenance program recommendations and I see Tessa is with us so Tessa uh would you do you good morning good morning um so Tessa would you like me to share screen with you and you go through the PowerPoint or would you just like me to go ahead and and load it up here locally whatever is easier for you um I know last time we had little yeah we had we had the lag issue I tell I'll just go ahead and and I'll we'll load it up here then and then I I can I can advance I can advance for us so I think you got a nickname last time had a lot of nicknames Tessa Tessa thank you thank you for reminding us about that which one were you referring to which one were you referring to Tessa I may have called on van because I needed help I'm presenting so but that's a nicer [Music] nickname how much longer tell me when you're ready you know uh today's my today is not my day uh we're having some issues here okay we're there we're almost there yeah this is right here we go so I am going to uh share screen myself so uh folks that are watching online can see this Monty a quick question before we get started on this I know that there was some questions have those been addressed yes sir you'll you'll hear that okay perfect all right Tessa take it away just you just tell me whenever you want to advance okay perfect if you just want to move to slide two it just explains that the benchmarks again were approved by the board and then on slide three it just identifies those benchmarks that we're using because that's always a question that's brought up so I always like to just discuss that um on slide four it just again I just like to remind people what we're doing so the classification of jobs are strictly done for internal purposes on the job description to create internal Equity Ed for pay equity and also in aligns with your organizational structure then we go and look at the market and we look at competitive pay where the board wants to be and we create we create a pay grid that is basically calculated by updated job descriptions classifications pay equity and competitive pay so I always like to just kind of explain um the difference between those two and kind of what we do and why we do what we do um on Slide Five it just shows all of the jobs that were reviewed in 2024 so again as the ongoing maintenance what we do is we look at all of your jobs to the market but we specifically focus in on these third so we do a third a third a third look at the job description go into details on the market to make sure they're classified correctly looking at career Lads which the board has talked about um but again the ongoing maintenance is like your payment Improvement plan for the highway department we look at the road surface every year and we try to do minimum changes um that's exactly what we're doing here and these were the jobs that were included in this first round on the next slide um slide six is the findings and basically your current pay grid is calibrated about 3% under Market on the mens um and they're right at the market on the maximum so um you have a 37% spread so meaning from the Min to the max it's 37% um versus The Benchmark is 38 so you're well within there there's a few jobs that are starting to deviate from the market based on just things that are going on and also with structuring in the county um and then one thing I just note here is the removal of the salary cap is impacting the County administrator jobs in your leadership or your department heads because we're seeing those salaries just going up so I'm just for warning the board of that and then entry level positions for the retail they've kind of pushed your lower um your entry level positions in the county as well and I think we've addressed those before but I just kind of say 23 24 we really focused on getting jobs up to $20 an hour and now you're seeing kind of the other end of that um with the salary cap removal the next slide just talks about the classifications because today we're just kind of finalizing those classification Appeals um I just like to remind people that the classification of jobs is not based on the person or the performance it's based on the position so the job description is written as if everyone wins a lottery and we need someone for that position tomorrow um these are the things that we use for that um piece of it um and it's pretty standard around but again it's not about the person in it it is about the position the next slide um is basically our recommendations for the classif ification changes um and it just starts with the Patrol Captain moving from a 14 to a 16 the patrol 11 to a 12 Chief Deputy 16 to an 18 Social Services Supervisor 13 to 15 jail program coordinator 8 to9 Human Services director 20 to 22 County Administrator 22 to 24 the next slide continues um with that the county assessor moving from a FES are we okay the people online just can't see the slides yeah we're just having a few technical excuse me Mr chair y go ahead just having a few technical things making sure people online can see this okay I can wait oh okay well it was sharing screen earlier well and these haven't changed like the last time I presented so those should be in the packet we can always send that out too it's more just the classification appeals that we received in some of there yeah well we we uh we sent the draft out I did test it to um okay department heads and I'll send this out too I I think of course a lot of folks have asked for it and I'll I'll send it out afterwards okay okay then if you just go to the next slide just contines some of those other changes um making those um so it starts with the county assessor if you can move to that slide yes yes sessor we are that we are on that one yep we're good okay perfect um Public Safety lead from 600 to 7 senior assistant County attorney 18 to 19 um assistant County attorney 1 14 to 15 assistant to County attorney 2 16 to 17 HR specialist to HR manager 7 to9 HR assistant to HR administrative strative specialist 3 to5 um and then final the recommendations are for the career ladders um so those would be public health nurse so a nine and a 10 so it's basically the one and the two Deputy Sheri of nine and 10 case a three and four registered nurse 8 and N Community Health um was asked for a career lad it's not supported by the market meaning it's not a multiple incumbent position and it's not something I typically see so I'm not recommending the career letterer but again the board can um decide to change that it's just not one of those that I see in the market so on my professional recommendation I hav't recommend their career lad here okay then for the classification appeal so of those that we changed we sent out if a job was reviewed and didn't receive a change they can look at it and say hey something's missing or Wars another review they can't ask for more money um and of the appeals that we got on the next slide it starts with the patrol um Sergeant they had some minor changes just in the job description we did that I would still leave that where it's at the county assessor had an appeal it's basically on how it was written for the S other positions underneath that nothing changed with that grade bubble um detective had a a classification appeal for compression um originally when we did the kter was moved up for a deputy 10 11 and it should be a 9 and 10 so meaning it stays where it is and then one goes above and then the detective would be at 11 so that compression issue would not exist um so we think we identified that um Deputy um had an appeal um nine and 10 um their appeal was just the lower steps to the market meaning so when they're hiring people in they're you know starting them up higher but that's the whole purpose of the career ladder is if they have those experience they should should move up so we think that with the career letter we're addressing that and you have flexibility as a nine have 10 you know multiple steps and also as that um Deputy the second level so we think that that addresses that you know you might not use some of your steps but you have plenty of movement before they would move up to that next career ladder um the public safety telecommunication lead says it supervises it was not intended to supervise so if that's the change we just want to make sure that it's an approved by the board because you're changing the intent of that job and where someone else supervises that would change that should go through the board process not a classification review because that's a major change to the job and I don't want to circumvent that process and then the last page is the chief Deputy um wanted more money and the step movement so not necessarily A classification of the grade but where the grade placement is um social worker minor changes there's no grade change warrant social worker had minor changes in the job description no grade change um Community Health Specialists wanted again that deep um career ladder I don't think that it warrants that and I think that there was no changes to the job description so I think the classification is correct and then the lieutenant which was brought up by the teamsters because of the other movement in the sheriff's department it created compression so we are moving that one from a grade 12 to a 13 Monty did I get all of that correct yes there's I know there's a lot of changes in the board is probably like oh my um typically we don't anticipate this many changes but it's been a little while since you did this study I me the market is just moving and um especially some of those jobs with the career ladder it kind of compresses and snowballs the whole department so we have to adjust according Bard any questions no I think she explained it very well and I know she's put a lot of time into it and I'm very satisfied with what she came up with yeah I I agree thank you guys for looking at all the questions that did come in and stuff so that compression I believe was a a touchy point at at some point so and I guess from my standpoint if we wouldn't had questions and asked to look at different things I would feel like maybe we were not quite doing we what we should have done for the constituents of the county yeah I look at it this way no matter what we're behind again even though we just implemented this right but I would foresee we're going to have questions next year when we do the next third yep correct at least we're moving in the right direction though trying to keep up with it y all right okay I'll make a motion to approve go ahead Monty no please why don't you make that and I have just want to elaborate just a little bit if I okay I'll make a motion to approve the DDA maintenance program recommendations for 2025 with implementation to the following County Personnel policies I'll second that okay we got a motion in a second Monty so I following up on what M commiss just mentioned so taking this in sort of two pieces so if the position is going to be reclassified in other words moved to a higher grade then January 1st they would move to whatever step in the new grade is higher than than where they are now and that's how we've been doing these reclassifications forever so again you just move to whatever step is higher if it's a career ladder that can occur at the discretion of the department head you know anytime next year uh and following Personnel policies the the the person would get a minimum 5 and a half% increase when they're promoted to the new the new grade but again that's really up to the department head and there is some discretion involved because you need to make sure that the person is in fact meeting all the requirements of the senior job description in other words you know you you go through this do they meet the mqs do they do they fulfill all the responsibilities of a senior do they have no disciplinary in their in their record the past couple of years so there's again a little more subjectivity involved in those and they're not necessarily just automatic so and I should mention too Mr chair is is is this afternoon then I'll be sending draft letter of understanding to each of the bar un affect I believe six of our groups are affected by this recommendation so I'll be sending draft letters of understanding to each of those six groups asking them to consider those and possibly approve them and some may want to meet and if they do of course our negotiating committee will will of course meet with them um over the next few months Mr chair Monty if I could just for clarification so you said department heads have the ability to advance that person on on the career ladder is that their sole responsibility or does that need board approval the policy does not require board approval no it just involves the HR Director to sign off on it and verify hey yes the person does meet the what we've done in the past commissioner uh Johnson is we've created like a revaluation tool for each department to use kind of like a checklist and you put in this checklist all the requirements of the senior you just kind of go down to the checklist is person meet this you know so on so forth it's pretty straightforward yeah we we we've not wanted to make this overly complex and time consuming that folks can get promoted than to senior um but again I think it's important for the for their the supervisor Department had to pause and really evaluate that person and say are they have they demonstrated their capacity to move to the senior position so thank you yep and I think as we noted Mr chair in in the proposed budget the cost of this is about $155,000 in next year and it is included in your proposed budget Levy and that's all I wanted to add any other questions from the board if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Tessa thanks mon thank you Tessa thank you Tessa see you yep when do we when do we get going on the next one then right away can we so is that the fuel station one no the next the next class the next class in comp oh [Laughter] okay long sigh yeah well I it's worth knowing Mr sh I mean this this this process has been substantially timec consuming uh for folks in the administrator's office and departments and so on uh and if if of course if it's necessary to have means with our bargain units it will consume substantial amount of time and it's important point to remember this is something I think the board has decided to do in perpetuity so it's every year there's going to be this activity so it's it's added quite a bit to the plate so I will uh I will throw one comment out there that I usually throw I hate the way government moves where it's you know like snails pace all the time or even slower yeah I'm used to being able to approve something and get it done with so Mr chair Monty will we be doing the next one this spring then starting this spring um I would s yes yes I believe we should probably start May is right you know that next third at least people out there in the audience has an idea of when we're going to start on the second phase yeah the next third would be then early early spring you of course thank you hope keep it rolling that's impact all right is the fuel station next yep all right uh highway I'm glad Chris is here U Mark ebnet and Chris bird brought this up forward oh my God and as gen item says we're operating with an 18-year- old fuel control system which has unfortunately failed on us at the worst possible times so this is like the card access system so if I go up and I want to get fuel I you know I have to swipe my card and I go into that shed and I punch in my coat and so on so it dispenses fuel it tracks it tracks fuel uh usage by vehicle uh and it it also monitor let's see what else it does um monitors fuel levels and tanks and so on so forth obviously it's a critical system and needs to be functioning close to 100% if possible and Highway recommends its replacement they obtained a a quote from a vendor of 22486 and as I mentioned Mr chair in the agenda we do have cash reserves in a CIP fund which could cover this cost so given again it's a critical system to keep keep things running uh I would recommend that we move forward with this replacement Mr chair move for approval Mr chair second we got a motion in a second uh one comment on that this is very critical I mean without any um logging in of fuel or anything or finding out where we're at when there's a snowstorm we're out of fuel it becomes a major issue because we all know we just can't go to Brenny's or anything like that and just do it it has to be pre-approved and and everything so with that any other CH yep uh this is kind of related to it have we found the leaks and everything in the fuel tanks did you want come up CHR give an update on yeah I can provide you an update so today actually they're on site uh cutting open the concrete uh to open up the that tank tomorrow is when the inspector with the warranty information is supposed to be entering the tank along with the the repair people uh to see where that leak is and see how extensive the repairs are so those are happening now as we speak uh so keep your fingers crossed that the repair that they find is a warranty covered under warranty if not then then I believe we'll have a fight on our hands because we don't that that's another $30,000 worth of repair that hopefully we don't have to pay for if it's warranty information Mr chair go ahead so with with this new system I assume that that would work if we had to replace and we went um to different tanks or whatever this system will still work on that right yeah so it's kind of like it's all related but two different things so regardless of that you're using old tanks or if we have to put a new tank in you this this system will work with all that and and is needed so sorry the other the other morning when we left or when we came back they we I what rode with Chris and so these tanks which is makes absolutely no sense to me are sitting like this under the concrete and they're in the winter and you know what kind of soil we had have out there commissioner Johns they drive over them every day with snowplow trucks and that this makes absolutely no sense when these were put in I mean correct you would never do that on the farm on the farm or in a co-op or any place and I know your gas stations do you know they all do but it's just like okay this why would we do that when we could have put them off to the East and never had to to run over the top of them Mr chair just for clarification Chris so I know that commissioner pop and the rest of us talked about in the future if we were to replace those tanks that we would maybe look at the option of going above ground so will this system work with above ground tanks uh do we know I think the computer system was if you look at the invoice there's a lot of cost over $2,000 wor the cost of electrical connections and sensors and stuff that would need to be replaced because now instead of underground you got a above ground tank and then conduits main system itself I I believe it it should so um yeah basically I would I would assume that this is no different like an access control like it was talking well and correct me if I'm wrong but our discussion was if we've got the $30,000 repair that's not warranted we're going to have more discussion about what we're going to do with those tanks yep yeah okay so hurry up and wait so yeah that's the thing we were told a month ago at the beginning of this month that we would we would be looking at that and then at the last minute uh had they had to cancel and redo it so hopefully this week we have some better answers so fortunately for us we have a board me next week uh maybe all things go well I can have some more answers and I will confirm that question about above gown tanks if the system um I would like to think so but I'm not 100% sure so I'll bring back that that information Mr chair yep Chris uh if this is approved today when can the vendor do this uh they say right away uh I don't have a good timeline but the idea is while we're doing all these repairs let's let's do that too while we have it open and access to the tank so um if it's approved um we'll let them know today that it's approved and and start getting okay parts and stuff in place I just I was just Mr chair I was just hoping that they could do this coincide with fixing with the repairs and Mr chair I assume Chris County vehicles are running to Bernies or wherever they're running to yeah so diesel is still available for we us and I guess fire department or that Sheriff's got a couple diesel vehicles but yeah leted having to go elsewhere right okay thank you okay I think we had a motion in a second we did correct I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries all right arpa Mr I thought we needed to check in on arpa funds we are approaching the December deadline to obligate those resources and uh we're getting down to just a few hundred th000 that's remaining unobligated so this Focus today if I may is on the city allocations so here's my quick recap if I can focus your attention on the column original allocation so back a couple of years ago the board committed by resolution $175,000 the city fi fully to run fiber to its City facilities like Wells and and Wastewater and so on so forth uh just back in May the board uh actually obligated via contract 500,000 for residential lot development move on down then city of rice originally 300,000 for New City well in stock Rapids original commitment and this was via contract was 350 for residential lot development and then on Down the Line uh 450 to City of sartel for the mill District city of Gilman 400,000 for its sewer system and then more and this actually hasn't been done by contract yet the contract is in the works $100,000 to the city of St Cloud for Pate complex renovation so that's kind of where the world stands out right now so then focusing on the revisions so again knowing we have to obligate these dollars by a contract by the end of this year uh I had a conversation with the city of Foley are you still wanting needing these resources for the fiber and really answer was no could you use it instead for the water sewer yes we can so this would basically move the 175 from the fiber bucket to the residential lot development bucket 175 and I've confirmed that with Sarah that's fine I believe they're prepared to adopt that moving on down the city of rice uh has told me and I have a letter from Julie um FAL City rice she says uh the bids came in about 700,000 and they're about 250 short they're about 250 short for the well so uh this recommendation here Mr chair would give them another 100,000 uh towards their well for total 400 maybe you could come back let me if I may just go through all these and please let's have discussion then so moving on down to stck Rapids they have finished the water and sewer in the so-called Windsor Estates too those lots are done um and I'm not aware of any other Lots in development or so on and so forth that leaves they used 180 for that we paid the city the 180 so that leaves 170 left this would move then the 170 to uh water and sewer extensions if you can picture the intersection of kha 1 and 29 the Northeast Northwest Corners the city has proposed to extend Water and Sewer to those those Corners they seem to have substantial commercial Pro possibilities so extends Water and Sewer there this 170 would cover it according to the estimate that they gave us then this would basically then take the remaining arpa dollars 625 and say okay city of city of Sock Rapids whatever you can do as far as you can take the the water sewer with a Twain extension here's 625 go as far as you can um and then the the remainder of these would stay the same so Mr chair this this action here would obligate virtually every dime that's left over of our arpa funds there's a little bit that Jack I need to talk about and make sure we're completely clear on EX exactly what's left obligated but this basically takes care of it so I want again my goal this morning was to check in make sure everyone is okay with this discussion please a a quick comment on the Sock Rapids that would get us that would get that extension underneath that Riv River the creek the creek yeah and then we don't have to deal with the the fees and all of the what do they call that the environmentals and stuff like about how far is that east of the inter section oh man so they have water they have yeah they have water sewer just to the end of rice creek creek site okay and then they're going to step onto that and then they're going to go another yeah quarter mile something like that and then that'll get them under the creek third me we've done all the studies and everything right now it would get us past that Creek so they wouldn't have to go through those studies open up a lot of development to where they just got it just taken butt right in butt right in but right in so I bounced this idea off of the folks at the C sock rabbits and they appear amendable to this and and eager to use these resources to do what you just described so it's a little different than like city of flei were or and the the first part of Sock Rapids where it actually directly went to Lots this is as long as we're doing the extension on 29 and having it all ripped up putting it now so it doesn't have to get ripped up again did the lots that they did for 180,000 just come in a little bit cheaper or they were just no cuz we had two developments that were originally use that yeah and the First Development actually I believe was pretty much sold for the I know Mr Cher Mr Johnson the in the agreement with the city the the total lot price was capped so the developer could charge more than no more than I believe it was 54,500 for the lot there was a cap on that because they were getting the subsidy of $15,000 per lot right okay thank you so I'm not necessarily asking for any action just uh just making sure everyone's good with this plan and if you are then I'll start working on amended agreements with Foley with rice and uh and Sock Rapids and get those to them and back to you all I'm good I'm good I look at it this way I I I I think the whole board staff and everybody should be feel pretty proud of this cuz we're one of the few counties that actually didn't take this for lost Revenue we rare we very rare and it got reinvested back in the community this is this is $3 million we use 3.2 2ish for Rural Broadband rural Broadband so I mean we literally invested in the county right over the last don't forget the half a million into the revolving Loan Fund oh yeah the revolving Loan Fund too yeah right and was under was able to stay under 5% on our Levy too yep yeah it uh so great job to everybody okay we're good thank you chair all right Chris all right speaking of 29 and one huh there we go exactly right you that's what I was thinking as well so all right so we're still progressing with our roundabout design at 29 And1 next year um but to fit that roundabout Circle we need a little bit of additional rideway so I have before you a resolution for consideration uh to authorize rinky nunin uh to do the direct negotiations uh with these Parcels for the additional rideway we need um it also would authorize the county attorney's office to exercise power of imminent domain uh if necessary our goal is always to direct negotiate with land owners uh but considering our timelines of a 20125 construction timelines are are extremely tight so uh this would be just the first step just to ensure that we can still meet timelines with notification allowing um land owners to consider the offer counter offer um get their own appraisals all that adds time to the timeline so this resolution would authorize the negotiations um and then if needed only if needed the attorney's office to exercise the imminent domain power um the uh attached to the resolution are our RightWay exhibits uh showing the parcels that would be affected and the easements that are that are needed uh to construct uh the roundabout there so those are attached uh as well to the resolution so mostly it's these in these Corners if you can imagine you got a square intersection you put a circle in there you need a little bit more than than the existing Square uh to construct that roundabout so that was a that was a I admit a quick summary of The Resolution uh but I would entertain any questions you may have commissioner hinen Chris have we been uh in talks yet with any of the land owners yeah I I believe all the land owners are aware of it uh and we sent out early notification letters uh We've hired an appraiser to do the appraisals uh but yeah there have not been any offers made or anything like that up to this point okay thank you any other questions if not motion to adopt the resolution to acquire additional ride Road rideway second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions for Chris on this if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries okay the next item I have for you on the agenda is to award a Construction contract so if you were to go out to our Five-Year Plan that we adopted uh right now and you see look for this project you would see that this shows up as a 2025 project well looking at our staffing levels and our workload next year this was a project that we decided to go ahead and accelerate due to its Simplicity uh that we could go ahead and accomplish it this fall uh this is the full depth Reclamation of our County Road 53 basically it's Oak Park the paved Road in Oak Park would be ours so like I said a relatively straightforward and and somewhat simple project that we could accomplish still yet this fall um so we received uh three bids and Knife River uh was the lowest responsible bidder and they be they came in uh almost 11% under our Engineers estimate so we were pleased to see that uh they're excited to get work uh get started on this actually my assistant is messaging me now wanting to know as soon as it's approved if it's approved uh let the contractor no because they they want to jump on this this right away and knock this out this this fall still so uh bid price of $45,881 35 so if it pleases the board uh approve the bids and and authorize adopting this resolution to enter into a Construction contract and authorize the board chair to sign uh when those contracts come back from our contractor Mr chair looks like somebody's hungry for some workc being that they want to get it done start right away I think that's a big part of it uh pick up a lot of work this summer so they're looking for still and I would assume that's why the estimate came under yeah I would think so too yep it's always good to see yes it is move for approval Mr chair I'll second we got a motion on approval any other questions for I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign motion carries good okay did we want to go right into ditch real quick it's your choice Mr chair why don't we turn it over to actually we we don't have a uh heal board um are you guys good with uh turning over commissioner Johnson for ditch let's go all right Chris don't go too far we'll call our ditch Authority meeting to order 10:04 uh we have been through the roll call already with everyone and present move on to consent agenda approval our amend the minutes from September 3rd so move okay second motion second to approve the minutes from September 3rd any other discussion hearing none all those in favor I I oppose that's carried uh update on cd14 Wetlands Chris okay um just kind of provide some history so we had ordered a repair of County ditch 14 at the time we were considering ordering repair we knew that there were some Wetlands adjacent to the channel the ditch channel that under existing law would require some mitigation um at the time the impacts weren't fully known so an estimate was provided what may cost to mitigate for impacting those wetlands and at that time that put the cost of the repair project greater than the benefits provided by that ditch so uh a partial repair was ordered ESS we cleaned out most of the channnel except for a few locations where we we said no repair in the plans uh and left the existing sediment in the bottom of the ditch uh so as to not impact those Wetlands well since that time we've been asked to go back and look at those locations and see if we can narrow down a little bit better what the potential impacts would be uh of those locations um and consider maybe uh repair of those or partial repair or something in between there were four locations along County ditch 14 where there was no repairs um the first one well I guess I'll just keep this up on the screen is at this location between stations 84 plus 00 and 86 plus 0 0 um it's a 200t section uh in this this area right here where the existing sediment in the bottom of the ditch was uh left in place uh there was a type three what land complex on the east side of the channel so uh our engineer Houston engineering provided a memo after a consultation with Bowser uh we looked at what they have what they call drainage setback tables and those tables are used to estimate the lateral effect of wetlands by lowering uh the water table uh through those um a lot of them a lot of these tables are are used a lot of the times for uh tiling projects if you have a known depth of that tile and you're draining water to that tile you use those tables to estimate how far left and right of that tile you would be affecting the Wetland um so we we use those tables at each of these four locations but uh I'm going to page up here to the summary table considering Wetland Bank uh credit cost uh in our bank service area we looked at that that first location and if we were to clean out the sediment to the bottom of the as constructed elevation as we did on up upstream and downstream sides of this no repair location uh we determined it would have .24 uh Acres of impact the Board of Water and Soil resources or Bowser would require a 2:1 replacement ratio so so we'd be essentially buying a half an acre of wetland credit and assuming that credits are about $100,000 in acre um we would be about $48,000 uh of wetland credit cost um some so we throw in some cost of construction to pull that sediment out there a little bit of administration cost we're estimating about $56,500 if we were to do that clean that no repair section to the the full depth um I wanted to focus on this location because through our conversations with Bowser that type of wetland that type three Wetland um it's what they kind of consider a flow through or pass through meaning it's it's fed by water outside of the Wetland going through that to get to the ditch these other three locations are more of depressional wetlands Open Water Wetlands um uh there was no like in between where you could do a partial depth repair and not impact the wetlands and I'll kind of explain that further here in a minute but uh similarly using those uh those equations uh you see the costs here for these these other three locations of these kind of open body depressional Wetlands Open Water bodies if we were to repair the ditch in all four of these locations to that depth we're still looking at about $370,000 of uh mitigation costs and that's most of that cost is buying the credits that would be impacted for this location this first location specifically since it's that that past through type Wetland at type three um we we discussed with Bowser some other options can we do some kind of partial depth repair a and we got to this idea where we could do some vegetative management which is allowed under the Wetland Conservation act and and as it agree and Bowser seems to be agreable to that so we're not necessarily removing any sediment from the channel but we would be allowed to remove the vegetation um commissioner pop and Johnson we were out there recently you saw The Cattails they were over our heads growing in that channel uh at that location Bowser seems to be okay with the idea if we were to be remove those Cattails uh in that Channel and some depth that includes the root ball or the root mass of those plants but but not remove the sediment below that that elevation and they seem to be okay with the idea if we did that we would have little to no impact on the wetlands adjacent to that so therefore the cost to do that work is very minimal basically the cost of having a conture grow out there and remove that vegetation it still would require us to complete a no loss uh application to the T panel and have that reviewed at their their next meeting uh but once again if we're look at to consider our cost to benefit ratios it would be little little cost to maybe having some some restoration of drainage that that location Chris I know this a little bit after the fact question but did Bowser give any reason why this wasn't an option from the get-go instead of coming back six months later and n months later no um and as you're aware uh it's all new people than what it was almost two years ago when we were having those conversation so Bowser has a new representative for our area um of course we have a new lgu um don't know if that's the reason but there was no indications what previous uh individuals why they ruled the way they were so um Mr chair go ahead Chris please explain to me how they're going to remove the vet vegetation well it would require some some sort of piece of equipment out there to to either cut and then grab that that root ball out of that channel and and remove it so I'm try I'm trying to picture this in my head how they're going to do this without call back yeah I call that a back without disturbing you know the sediment well and how deep does the you know who's going to determine how deep the root ball goes correct I mean they're saying 6 to 12 in it could be 12 to 18 yeah I think we'll have to specify that in our application to the te and that maybe we have to self-impose a limit just to get approval of that and say higher the limit the better I think on a on a side note attended the fall conference Transportation committee and all they did up there is whine about not having Wetland credits available in our service area yeah um and so brought up the idea of how about talking to the legisl and getting these County ditches Exempted so that the Count's not going after these credits credits yeah oh we haven't we haven't thought about that at all was that less this was last week was that less that was given the less and then Dave was in there too okay I I know less extremely well extremely well so they hadn't given any thought to that he said so I don't know that that's coming anytime soon but it's just it just shows the idiocracy of some of this stuff we're fighting against each other for credits and driving our our Wetland cost up to $100,000 an acre in our service area mhm which I believe commissioner Pop's highest in the state isn't it yeah we're the highest in the state I did mention the Bowser at the fall policy if we could get moved to another deal that was I must that wasn't received really I thought I was going to have to go to I had to go to confession after that I think anyways Chris go ahead so I guess I'm looking for some guidance uh from the drain Authority on which the direction uh you would like to to proceed um Mr chair I'd like I think we should proceed with this part but I guess before we go in there and start doing anything I want to know what you know if we're going to take out six inches I don't think that's going to help the people very much if we're going to be 12 to 18 maybe you know um and I think me and Chris talked about I think if we take out some of that and we having to get a nice rain afterwards I think maybe some of that will take care of itself you know as water flows through there I mean we were out there and we there's it's never going to cut its own path we've seen that no yeah so I think you know I think we need to know what they're going to allow us to do before we do it and again this projected $57,000 with a cost would be to the ditch system yeah would go to corre yeah it's a cost to the system so assess to back to the benefited owners so so are they saring where it currently is to where it's going once we take these root balls out that is the concern that they have mentioned they don't want uh erosion to cut it deeper um therefore draining additional water to that channel therefore affecting or impacting the Wetland so under current Wetland Conservation vegetation management is mentioned and and permissible um there's no clear guidance on statute of what that depth is so but if I'm also understanding you right today even if the ditch Authority gave approval for this we still have to have the t's blessing even correct but meetings to this point they seem to be amable to the idea of vegetation management and root ball uh so hypothetical timeline ditch Authority approves this point then it goes to the tap they're going to meet hopefully in the next month yes once that's approved does it have to come back to ditch Authority or can we move um I think that would be up to you if you want to give me approval to move forward now with contractors that would be the only thing I guess at this point it would be I can foresee we still have the repair contract open with a contractor contractor requesting a change order um Mr chair go ahead so if approved when would this get done um time I would say still that this fall um how are they going to go in there and not disturb the rest of the Wetland that's a I mean they can go on the what would they call it the buffer the buffer area I mean we we know that a track machine can get in there yes you're right yeah we found that out Mach trouble but I'm just kind of curious of how you know can it get out too they can get in there and without disturbing the rest of the Wetland so again Chris hypothetically ditch Authority gives approval uh based upon the idea that te would approve it um could we have an answer back on a change order from helmet construction for a meeting next week I could certainly try we have a number then that we can approve to move ahead once te approves I will certainly make the contact to the contractor yeah you're right because I'm not sure when the T will meet again but I can certainly have those conversations now with the contractor say hey really what would it cost you to to walk a machine out there and grab those because we have an right yeah okay commissioner pop so I guess he's going to want to know though to what depth because if he's doing six inches or 18 inches is going to make him a little difference well but he may not I mean if he's grabbing and pulling the ball out that depth is going to be controlled by what he pulls out hopefully it's more than less that's what actually that's what I foresee Bowser actually saying in our application writing something to what you just described saying that you're grabbing the roots out but you're not putting your bucket back in there to scoop out so so there's some gray area I got got two words Mr chair yeah let's hear them permission and forgiveness y yeah I I I just see that this is such a gray area but I I I think everybody's kind of in a in a peculiar spot right here to where they know that if they don't approve it it's bad I mean the the government's getting in their own way here on these ditches yeah I guess the Mr chair the disappointing thing is that this was not brought to at the beginning I yep and that was my point it was never in original right correct considering to W I would I think in the initial reports we were being overleaf conservative and saying there are wetlands here there's going to be costs and if I recall we were you know a few hundred, estimating you know to mitigate those so um I think we the decision was made to go ahead and move forward with some sort of repair so we can get water and I think that did help now that we've got the channel open we can better analyze and and take a look at the locations that are actually going to be impacted by Wetlands or impact Wetlands well I think it's a good start and see if we can get some kind of when we were out there I was I mean there was some water running through you could hear it that it was you know on the on the south end of where they didn't clean it was running through so I'm kind of thinking like hopeful that this hopeful that this will help to some degree I mean I'd like to see it deeper than shallower butut ditch that runs behind mine into the ditch a secondary ditch there's a tributary ditch that's been in there forever that feeds the main Channel yes we didn't touch that no that would be a private ditch that would be the private land owner's responsibility so for so many years I don't think our original record IND a branch at that location South of nothing South there is one to the farther south farther south that was that Branch three through so the so the uh Mr chair MH if it is not a tributary ditch and it's a privately owned they would have the ability to go in and clean that right well they'd have to get it permitted oh I see that I'm sorry Julie you said you didn't own that land right that's yeah yeah that's the neighbor's property my M it's yes it is it's over okay but it's not an identified branch of the ditch system correct yeah yeah okay so what benefit what percentage of benefit is going to help me if they just remove the rug B what is my perc does ity my I would assume correct me if I'm wrong Chris ass