##VIDEO ID:8qOCe1PBd58## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e right good morning everyone it's 8:30 we'll call this morning's meeting of the Clay County Board of Commissioners to order for Tuesday January 14th our first item is the approval of the agenda and it's my understanding that item number on number three on the agenda will be pulled to a later date I'll offer a motion to approve the agenda with the deletion of item three second have a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the same sign motion carried citizens to be heard do we have any citizens to be heard on items not on the agenda I see none in the office none online none Mr chair all right we will move on to approval of bills and vouches for approval of the bills and vouchers second have a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the same sign motion carried approval of minutes from December 31st 2024 to approve the minutes for uh the date second have a motion and a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same motion carried item number two request approval of letter of support for Casa 36 Bridge replacement good morning Justin yes so what I'm here today is approval of the letter of support for the casa 36 Bridge replacement so this is we are applying for a raise Grant along with P County and Norman County in Minnesota and Cass County and Trail county in North Dakota so we have applied for this one multiple times um so if approve or if we were to get funding it would be 80% federal funds there would be a bridge bonding match and also a local match this bridge is right now Engineers estimates about $10 million so it' be 8 million in federal about a million in Bridge bonding and a million in Casa if we were to get it this is a deficient Bridge just north of Georgetown it's the old trust bridge that I think this is the seventh or eighth time that we've applied for this raiseed grant any questions yeah okay no you I don't know oh okay move for approval all right second we have a motion and a second to approve the um the letter for the ca 36 Bridge replacement all right any further discussion I I guess I have one question okay J is uh when's the last time that was inspected that bridge that one's yearly so every other year mot does a fracture critical inspection and then every other year we do our own inspection on it and there's continually passing yeah it's deficient but it's still P I mean it's still it's load posted but it's still for can drive across it all right any other questions or comments seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried thank you Justin thank you our next item is the discussion of the Clay County tobacco ordinance and this was um a little bit early on this I don't know if I should just wait if there's because this one had interest in others I think we'll I'm going to kind of try to keep this on on the timeline that the agenda said here so um iort okay yeah all right we'll move into uh committee reports commissioner Mojo would you thank you last week I attended a meeting facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce with a city of Morehead legislative delegates and Clay County's interests as well regarding legislative priorities and asks as you know flood mitigation dollars um is a huge priority for um both the city of Morehead and Klay County for this upcoming legislative session which starts today and so we talked a little bit about what our strategy would be how we could incorporate the chamber as helping uh facilitate those asks in St Paul who's the contact and what makes the most uh sense there um going forward uh I think we have agreed um to Loop commissioner Campbell into those meetings uh having a standing weekly meeting as we've done with our prtf committee to make sure that whoever is having contacts or conversations in St Paul um we're adding to the dynamic of that conversation as we continue to go down uh weekly so I really appreciate the chamber and the city of Morehead for being part of those dialogues and um then I did have uh a several just conversations with different uh Representatives regarding our prtf ask um leading up to I I know what commissioner uh Krab knof and administrator Larson will talk about the presentation to mayak so I won't um spill the beans on that but I'm really excited about the work going forward with that and I believe that concludes my reports thank you Comm bear last week I had uh met with wild rice Watershed board they passed two permits one of which for the Klay County highway department to replace a box CT in Gooseberry Township and they also discussed cleaning out another portion of ditch 18 in Goose Perry Township and then we met with West Regional water district with uh the West Central ini itive board at the government center with Mr Campbell and myself and Steve Larson was there as well to talk about funding sources for the West Regional water district to help fund the phases of last phases of the engineering and the planning of that water district and then after that meeting we went down to myself and Mr Campbell went down to Holly also with the West Central water district to discuss H to Holly staff about planning and development of that of the water district there as well that's all I have to report all right thank you commissioner eer yes on the 18th I attend virtually attend the joint uh Northwest Mercy communication uh board uh rack and board combination meeting uh we elected officers for the year the rack selected Chris Miller of Bel trammy County as her chair uh Nancy schaer from P County as Co Vice chair uh on the board we selected Bruce Lawrence from Pennington County as chair and vice chair Jim ducked from Marshall we discussed the P NC 911 committee some of the formatting and some of the regional work that needs to get done uh for the gis it Norman County has got their GIS figures in we've had ours in for some time it looks like our entire region once uh Norman County once their their stuff's verified we're going to be total our Region's going to be up to speed on the gis submissions for the state and we discussed some training opportunities I believe March 12th I'm going to follow up on this but to be a training for board members and I made Ezra aware of that and we will both try and get to that which will be right after the the next meeting on in March um the 19th I attended the diversion authorities annual meeting it's just basically business meeting uh we confirmed uh a resolution on the meeting dates for the year and for the most part had a resolution of a appointment for 2025 meeting or members for the diversion Authority some project updates with a drone video and that was pretty much our entire business for that meeting can I ask yeah can I ask a brief question uh I know in the past commissioner gross was the alternate for the diversion Authority and um seeing how having three of us on an email chain would be a breach in open meeting violations how did we communicate with commissioner gross agenda's uping so that he could stay aware of issues if needed to step in so now that I'm the alternate on that how would that work yeah I I think in the past what's happened was um notification of of meetings and all that stuff went out but there there was no correspondence uh relating to if it was it would be re it would be replyed just to one and not to all I think you know that's needs to be very careful and I don't know that um I'm not even sure if if commissioner gross even received a whole lot of you're correct Mr Mr chair I don't believe Mr gross was on most of the emails I think I think what ended up happening there is if commissioner eing or I could not be there we would notify uh commissioner gross that one of us couldn't be there and then he would uh show up and in in our place so I'm I'm I don't even recall him ever do it was generally if one of us wasn't there we we were remote yeah yeah in my experience which is fine I I just will say that if there's a way to get agenda packets to me either through our administrator I would like to have those in case I needed to act without that I would not and there's there's there's no viol of opening meeting La simply sending um packets to board members and alternates because there's no no activity no discussion nothing being done in that process so uh Steve maybe you can um work through your committee there with the diversion Authority and make sure that commissioner moso gets the packets as necessary I get the joint Powers packets and I've notified them that I can't attend because there' be three of us right but I just every time I get it I respond with I will not be there I de CL and the agenda is attached to that so uh so we can make sure that you get those I I would want to know too if I this we in that have access to that information and by the way those packets are can be very yeah enormous uh so usually when we get them we get them you know we don't get hard copies of it it's just all on my all right unify um some policy and background for uh city um ordinances regarding backyard chickens um it was last year moread expanded theirs uh to allow um more chickens um and especially on bigger acreages um that had CAU the attention of commissioner Strand and wanted to be advised to find out what the different entities were doing now to uh bring forward defo potentially um um having similar rules of Morehead um but wanted the uh excuse me the food part or the F food Partners to uh bring forward a recommendation also then second uh I found this very interesting and I've been in these units uh we had a um presentation from G great plane greens there're a local producer of of uh uh vegetable supplies fresh produce uh grown hydroponically uh year round and uh they do it on a scale to uh their individual c customers it's uh organic um food and it uses 99% less water than traditional uh produce and to my surprise and I and I'm very grateful for this um they actually have been supplying fresh fresh produce to Holly and do school scho districts for a while so it was new to me and I've been in these units before uh elsewhere at a college in Central Lakes so I've seen the work that they do and pretty impressed by it then also on a local level and this goes back to U DTF uh there was a uh recognition uh done by our own uh Erica Frank with um or Frank excuse me uh with our Clay County um zoning and uh Planning and Zoning anyway uh Erica uh presented an award to um the DOR Felton um School uh this is from the uh 25 uh 20 or 2025 steering committee and it's just a recognition of D guilt uh London Felton schools as they uh uh provide uh um a program called share cart program which helps reduce food waste by allowing students to share The Unwanted or unfinished food with others students can place unopen prepackaged shelf stable items like granola bars crackers on the cart as well as fruits with intact skins and temperature controlled items like milk and string cheese this is initiative and part of a broader effort to combat food waste in Minnesota where Public Schools generate nearly 500,000 pounds of waste daily the program is not or the program not only helps reduce waste but also provides student for the students that need it and I just U was really moved by this so thank you to um that was presented by Shannon Noak their kit supervisor and certainly um Shannon hunstead the superintendent has also spoke about about this program so kudos to them so that was uh the main parts um food Partners uh excuse me one last part on that food Partners did work through a strategic plan throughout the summer um and they came up with a work uh work plan that includes three parts uh it'll have a connections which will be a continue growth of uh getting major key stakeholders involved with food partners then there's communication and education which will be the Action Network which is similar or have bits and pieces of what First Fridays used to look like along with other things and then C certainly thir third part is to bring recommendations to the uh food food commission uh for policies and and practices so that's uh into that meeting uh then I want to go to the prtf on Thursday and Friday uh Steve Lon our Administration along with Steve Summers um who was with um um behavioral um U oh I'm blank in here sorry folks Solutions Behavior plenty and anyway uh it was a one uh well worth our time going down to make a presentation on our PTF RF ask uh with the um the U the presentation to the um mayak the Minnesota uh Indians Association Council and uh with that we were able to Pro provide information give a pre presentation similar to what we did at AMC it was met uh with great reception and to get my notes here that's why I'm stumbling a little bit um and anyway they really right up front especially white Earth who we talked to privately a couple times their chair Michael um Fairbanks and uh we had met him on couple manners matters hoping to go to their council meeting and maybe give it direct up in monomen area uh we also met leaders out of the Red Lake and Lee lake so we kind of met quadron of people up to the north also had a nice talk with the uh chair uh down at Prairie Island and he was aware of some of the work that we did and certainly that whole that whole Council saw the need for what we were doing how we were doing it and again they they gave us very good recognition for the work that um they were aware aware that Clay County does in preventative mental health measures and all the work that we do in bringing um help to those uh with mental needs uh as they are in our juvenile system oh I was very pleased we had a resolution signed and we will have that in our packet and work with that um resolution as we advance forward with State Legislature so thank you can I just really briefly I just want to say thank you uh to staff for working with representative Keeler on that to have the full support of 11 sovereign nations in Minnesota is a um fantastic Testament to the need that all of us are seeing in our communities and I really appreciate you going to them on the front end to encourage them to help um provide insight as we look at what culturally infused care looks like within the facility that we're proposing so thank you very much thank you all right thank you all right we will go back to our scheduled agenda and the next item on the agenda is the discussion on the Clay County tobacco ordinance uh last week um uh commissioner bear had uh requested that this be placed on the agenda for discussion and so I'm going to I'm going to start commissioner bear with you on this and and we'll see where it goes I guess I have I have questions pertaining to this on how it all became to the board did it did it go through a committee before it came was there who assigned staff to look into this to decide we should go down this route I can answer that or go ahead Steve oh so as part of our public health and our and Social Services commissioner eer and I served on that committee so so was brought forward through us through you through that committee yeah did you did you ever see a Redline version of this ordinance no but we had the old one and we had the new one did did the rest of the board see the old one and the new one written that Senor packet I guess I I'm not in favor of the ordinance I I would like us to have another public hearing so I can look at it I mean and make it known for a Redline version for for everybody else that has not received one I get um if I if I can I just to just to discuss a couple things here and I going back to this and of course when it was presented on the 17th um you know we we've go through an awful lot of ordinance changes there's an you know in different varieties of things whether there's zoning ordinance and those types of things and typically uh when there's an ordinance presented and and I've always asked for Redline versions of things so you know what's going and especially uh when it's when when they say one ordinance is going to be completely thrown out and replaced completely by a new one then they you know then it's it's nice to know what changed I I know in this particular instance there was there was U language as a results to VAP but nowhere did I know was there any other changes with the document because because one I I think the way it was presented if I remember the way it was presented the old ordinance was completely eliminated with the new one and so when you have an old ordinance completely replac a new one what are the changes between those that you're actually voting on that brings it and I didn't see that um the other thing typically when we have some of these ordinances there there isn't an awful lot of uh public uh input or comment at at those hearings often times there's none in a particular case like this one where we had uh multiple people speaking both in favor and oppos the ordinance uh I would have liked time to digest that and what happened was is that hearing was closed and it was immediately voted on and I had I had asked our our administrator before the meeting I said how long do we have before we have to make a decision on these types of things I think the I think what he told me was 60 days is that correct yeah you would you had the ability to have multiple public hearings if that was your decision but you would have had you have time to make that decision after the public hearing yeah and and what what I found kind of and I had I had issues with it there was another dissenting vote on it as well and even during that even during that open testimony our commissioner elect stood up up and made some comments that to me suggested some concern and so to to submit an ordinance for approval you know at the last on December 17th at the end of the year with a new commissioner coming on I I just questioned um if we should be doing that and I still question it today and I still have an awful lot of questions that I would have liked to have asked uh in that process and and um and comments that I've heard from public since then as well and then I I've been trying to do some research myself and I know there was an awful lot of discussion regarding um doing this to protect kids and I and I I get that I get that and I did a simple thing and I just I went on to uh and I asked um my Safari web browser is is flavored Vapes available online and the answer is yes you know so so I don't know how we can control that you know and and and that that becomes a much that's why I even mentioned some of these things that we need to do needs to be done at the state and federal level and not at the local level um again I'm I'm kind of venting a little bit and I'm a little disappointed and I'm also disappointed in the fact that I wasn't even sure based on what we voted on when this thing took effect and you so we we you know we have businesses out there who may have invested in months of product and if you know and then we I later learned that if you if you don't incorporate a an effective date within what you're doing that the effective date becomes immediately and I don't know that I've ever had a proposed ordinance come before us before that did not include an effective date so that was another disappointing um situation with me um in the meantime I've I've since learned that our staff has has you know set a kind of an arbitrary date giving these people till April 1st to bring down their their product I I'm now I'm hearing that I didn't hear that directly from staff but I've I've heard that that's what's been said and I think it was in a in a article um but if somebody if if there's somebody who's going to be giving a time frame that that should be incorporated into what we do and what the board approves so I'm a I'm a little bit of frustrated on on on this one and in the um handling of it the implementation of it and the speediness of it um you know when when Morehead or Dorth when they go through their their ordinance like that they typically have a first and a second reading on ordinances that allow us time to we don't we don't have that in County government we don't have a first reading in a second reading but on on ordinance of this that can be uh controversial it can uh we we as a board should be allowed the time to digest what's been said in public hearings to you know to help incorporate I you know there's portions of of me that said that yes we should be doing this and there's portions of me that no we shouldn't be doing this and I just don't think in my mind we didn't have the the proper dialogue and I didn't I don't I think for a a a a policy and an ordinance that was going to be moving forward into the new year to not have the incoming commissioner be part of that uh dialogue and that vote I think is um it it just seemed rush to me so uh in terms of the uh in terms of the um discussion about another public hearing um you we'll see where that that dialogue goes and that you know somebody would have to move to do that but any other comments regarding just a couple of observations the process that this went through was months of discussion on our portfolio commissioner kravinoff and I uh with staff to say it could have been better in the process is certainly has Merit but the process complied with the all the expectations that we normally see we had a public hearing I'm not familiar with the county ever having more than one I don't think it'd be prohibited I know the city required too the county doesn't so we complied with the statute on that in my experience of being staff and implementing a number of laws including State statutes that are passed the um expectation was that I implemented it as chief of police and my agency followed the direction that I came up with with Command Staff and we had several statutes one of which we was a six-month Pro process to get an ordinance on drug paraphernalia and we went through six months of meetings and when we got the this the uh ordinance it passed and I gave 60 days to sell their inventory and that was a decision that my staff and I came up with can I ask a question though I mean I I here's my question in regards to date though I I really do appreciate how it was implemented before but I don't necessarily know if one commissioner or two Commissioners can direct staff to implement an arbitrary date and that was my email and question last week is who gave the decision that we're going to set an April 1st timeline to which it goes out in the media to business owners and whatever when this entire board was not even part of that dialogue I'll will answer that for you if you'd like none of the Commissioners that was a decision of Staff implementation of an ordinance that we approved and I and that is in in my experience excuse me in my experience that's how it works is the elected come up with the legislation a statute if you're State an ordinance if you're local and that is given to the enforcement entity in this case public health and they come up with procedures to implement it I would understand our concern if they went out and said it's January 1st happy New Year here's your citation but I think it was done with with the business needs were were acknowledged the implementation brought forward measures to where they could uh eliminate themselves from uh the with the inventory that will no longer be permitted or they can go to their local city government and have that government take over the lure and they can come up with whatever city ordinance they want that will allow them to sell whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate state law or federal law but without being preachy about this I just spent too many years in position to where I had to implement the enforcement of statutes and ordinances new ones synthetic marijuana a number of different different uh issues fact simbly weapons and it the electeds did not tell me how to enforce that if they're if you're going to hire staff they need to be competent enough to come up with an acceptable measured operational uh address of how a statute should be enforced and in this instance I'm comfortable that they did if they had gone out and started handing out uh citations on January 1st or the day after we we pass this ordinance I'd have real concerns but they came up with a professional respectful way and and the first enforcement actions are going to be educational they're going to make people aware what the problem is and give them a chance to rectify their their procedures you know we didn't come up with that and we should have if we if we want to have those kind of controls we need to come up with the operation order but that's stepping out of our lane we hire professionals to implement these things we just need to give them good laws to to and ordinances to to uh operate under and I don't don't think they exceeded that uh I don't know about commissioner krainov but I never gave them a directive on what was going to be contained in there in fact they gave us two versions and we selected the one that said uh that we were not we were going to grandfather in some of the Menthol products so you know I'm this is not a hill I'm willing to die on and if the commission feels like we need to start the process over again I'd be happy to listen to the citizens that came in here and gave us her input because we got a lot of it and I honestly think as far as what you can get on the internet I'll quote commissioner gross we can only do what we can do to address these problems and the problems are affecting our youth and to say they can go to Fargo get this or to say they can get on the internet and get it okay we only can control what we control we don't control the internet nobody does we don't control what state of North Dakota legislates and the ordinances that I I helped get past here in Morehead back in I think 2010 were response to the fact that we were way out of line compared to the laws of North Dakota and we responded to that if North Dakota wants to respond to legislation that we pass that's great but you know we can only control what we have the right to control and if there's a problem we can need to do what portion we can do to to address it and I think we did that if there's a different feeling in the commission now you know my opinion has not changed but I'll not stifle discussion that's how we operate we've always come to a consensus or we've accepted the fact when we Lo lost a vote we accept that it's time to move on and work towards the objectives of the people Clay County and that's what we've done we want to go back and start the process again that's something that we need to decide today thank you commissioner moo thank you uh I see there are planning and zoning department is here as well and commissioner Campbell and I have worked in a capacity there and I know commissioner be now has served in that committee because he was the chair of the Planning Commission and we've been working for months as you talk about at a committee level but every month we've had the opportunity for the public to speak on the proposed changes every month for over six to seven months correct it's almost been and I know you're this isn't a public hearing but just AE nod but we've had the opportunity Unity for folks to provide insight and input on that and with that we talked a little bit about the enforcement capacity which I think is part of my concern is that when I read there's a date of April 1st for uh potential enforcement going on in the county when when really um you know you can say that the county doesn't need to have a a say in that but really I'm a little concerned that the elected body needs to answer to the public when they call me and say well April 1 was never part of that dialogue at your public hearing and now I'm reading it in the paper we still need to answer to that whether we're on a committee or not because we are the enforcing agency and so I I certainly want to hear from public health if the enforcement has to do with a staffing capacity or a buy down capacity I think that's part of the overall all dialogue that we need to have because it does create this hardship if you will in the community that the governing board doesn't have an A A logical explanation about why we came up with the state and so back to the planning committee where we've talked about ordinances and the ordinance updates we've reported frequently in depth about the changes and even requested line item Redline versions to this board so you have the time and the opportunity to look at it and see what's changed and see wasn't change what may have changed to have the opportunity to provide insight and feedback and if you're saying that that's a commissioner micromanaging the process that I'm okay micromanaging that process um I did not request that this come to the board but I did provide pointed concern last week on how the date came out um you know we we work a lot whether we're on the committee or not in terms of how we communicate we have a Communications person now to our community on dates coming out and and frankly I felt a little blindsided that I did sit through that committee on the SE or commission meeting on the 17th was part of the dialogue did have raised concerns but if I misheard an April 1 date I apologize but I do not believe there was an April 1 date and so I I just felt it was um uh you know I think one I think that we could have done better and we will do better in the future um but I do appreciate the opportunity for additional time to make sure that whatever comes out is the most valid piece going forward and furthermore to say um North Dakota can do it or Internet can do can do it and and we should be okay with it because we can control control what we can control you know I want to have a pointed discussion about how we help the um the schools to enforce or to prevent I mean I know those are the dialogues you're having Jason but um what further can go forward because if you talk to the schools 90 to 95% of what their confiscating is Vape so let's let's talk about that but I think it's there's a lot of confusion about what was passed there's a lot of um concern that was raised forward to me that um from users non-users business owners alike boy that was pushed fast and it for government that seems to work fairly slow in certain capacities it seemed like that was really rushed commissioner grabov yeah so just a couple of comments I'm not going to uh go along and do a lot of repeating here but um I had always to the the question about it being in the ordinance it was um in the ordinance um initially uh when the first presentation was given in when we set the public the potential of a public hearing and uh I don't have that date but that would have been sometime in October 22nd thank you and then we we uh agreed to have a public hearing then that went to the 17th of December in that period of time uh going back to the early the first meeting we talked about pred sales of flavored Bait blank and or flavored tobacco excuse me flavor tobacco then we we start having I at least I did did uh with a few people the positive the negative I talked to a holly business owner he made very clear he didn't Sal vate but he wasn't why would we be doing this and and and it just seemed too much too quick with that when it came to the hearing that's why two things came on did we want to leave it as all uh the flavor products no person shall sell or offer any sale of any products or the one we passed that we would um uh have flavored uh not prohibit sale of flavored products uh excluding mental heal cigarettes and chewing uh flavored chewing tobacco and the point of that was to mitigate the ones that had higher implications and addic factors through nicotine and and it also seemed to help those few business owners that were selling flavored uh tobacco uh um you know not such a hard hit so I think consideration was made I think in commissioner gross's um uh motion I think that gave consideration the businesses for me the response and and again maybe this this is my world I don't know about other people's world all I got was thanks all I got was thanks for everything we did from people around the community that I'm interact with and I hope I had some things and it wasn't said to me of the fact that we had listened to the business owners and uh the one in particular that I talk to to help have a understanding that these weren't as harsh as the other ones the zims and the Vapes and yet an understanding of keeping a little bit that in the mix my heart goes to wipe it all out but you know that's you know I think we were conciliatory as far as the um as far as the the roll [Music] out I remember there being a discussion early on about what a potential roll out could be however that wasn't in any of the discussion of the ordinance it was going to always be a secondary part in my mind so is that a Miss maybe on my part that day you know I'll take the heat on that one maybe but yet at the same time and I'm sorry the way it worked out that the form got ahead of us you know I don't think that's right either but that being said it I don't know who in having this or ordinance wouldn't have some consideration for the business owners to have that period of time to get rid of inventory and and uh uh some leniency on on maybe first defenses or something like that but um I mean I I think and the last thing we talk about when they can get it here they can get it here and you know I view I I view when it comes to mental health when it comes to Public Safety these things we need help with prevention nicotine creates uh brain uh uh disorder and there's scientific fact about that so if there's anything we can do to mitigate it um I think this is is it the end all answer no but is it a step forward yes yes and right now 80% of Cl County already lives on a similar ordinance whether it's Morehead which is totally out or like Dorth and Barnesville that give the option for um fer chew and and menthol cigarettes so I don't think this is new to Clay County 52,000 people live under ordinance and I guess we're looking for the rest the County and I if we keep going on the Clay County side I hope someday Cass County will look at it region I think it's part of being the leaders in the world of good health and and Society so and in and just really overall doing the best we can for the kids okay any other comments I have one more comment I guess I guess I would like to see a second public hearing or a reading of this I believe was very rushed for having one public hearing to decide an ordinance for the other chunk of the county which you say 80% lives under this but the other 20% would like to see some more input on it I've I've had a couple people reach out to me other business owners reach out to me staff still has not contacted acted on this ordinance at all we were a month into it and those businesses still have not been reached out by staff saying an implementation date or what's happening they've asked me so can I sell it do I have to take it off the shelves so I'd like to see just another public hearing on this matter and if if I'll make a motion to that I'd like to make a motion to have a second public hearing on the tobacco ordinance that was pass December 17 Mr chair uh commissioner bear uh I just to just to clarify and Mr Milton apologizes for not being able to be here he's in trial this morning uh but in talking with with Mr Melton uh we we this board is has acted on the ordinance and so the the action before you this morning uh would be the one to to leave it as it is uh based on your motion that motion would then say we would uh request a uh or public hearing to look at repealing theing the ordinance uh it would be then subject to the to the 10-day notice in in looking at the calendar uh and the notifications if the board were to approve we would uh the earliest that we could have that would be February 4th then I will make a motion to resin this ordinance and have a public hearing on that matter could I have a clarification yes was this advertised that there would be a potential action oh we're we're not taking any action per se from the standpoint of of revoking the ordinance uh and so it's my understanding that we would be within our it would be as if at different times when you've provided me guidance to do something this board would be providing me guidance to to work with Jackie to set up a hearing date Mr Larsson and commissioner moo uh I I shouldn't even have allowed that comment to be made once a motion is made until there's a second there should be no discussion uh but I I guess I would I would just assume uh if commissioner be would um maybe hold back on that motion till we till we can at least understand the proper protocol uh to to move forward so that we can allow for that discussion ially when there's a motion made there's no discussion until there's a second and I I didn't want to make any motion unless I knew what legally had been right yeah so so uh so just a point of clarification here [Music] um on on our in our agenda packet today it was according to the the document here that said discussion only correct and that goes to what commissioner Mojo was asking what we auth what we had had advertised here in in terms of discussion um so is uh so we have an or we have an ordinance that's in place and and valid correct and so the the process to change that either change it or or amend it amend it y uh would require a public would require a public hearing and the and so would the public do do within the advertising of the public hearing do we have to State I mean we don't know if it would be recent you know you don't know if something's going to be resented until after you have your public hearing well I think you are correct uh Mr chair uh Commissioners in that the the request has to be specific uh as far as and in the motion from commissioner beay his his request was that send a open or excuse me a public hearing be held on potentially resending uh the ordinance and so um under that under that motion amending it per se wouldn't be something that would be considered um because there would then have to be I mean part of the challenge would be is I'm assuming we would ask the county attorney's office uh then to submit what uh what they wish the ordinance to look like um for that public hearing to be considered and that and that goes to my point so I you know I um you know if we're going to if we're going to hold a public hearing like when this last public hearing was held there was there was a document that was proposed and so if we're going to have another public hearing is the public hearing going to be to determine whether it's that or something else or well I mean that ultimately from a policy standpoint that's up to this board if this board wants to to resend I mean M much of the changes that were implemented were state statute uh and so really really the Crux of what we're talking about is is that one one sentence or couple sentences now the local yeah the local piece so I don't think there would be any option for this board to um change most of that other than that one that one so could you could you if I might miss go ahead so could there be a a motion to amend or resend because you said that would that would cover that would cover um all the possible actions because then if what we're saying we wanted the opportunity for full insight and input that would cover yes because at the end you could you could amend it you could resend it or at the end you may not have the support to change it at all and then it would remain the ordinance that that that the way it reads now if I if I may to uh try to get somewhere on this and to you know and it's it's unfortunate our County attorney couldn't be here today but he is in a significant trial that's why he's not here today so uh but I you know maybe I have an immediate concern and the immediate concern is this implementation as it as it's written today and that timeline and I don't know you know I mean this date of of April 1 was put out there I would like to propose at least in the time being that that that'd be moved back to say June 1 um and in in the meantime let's if if we're going to if we're going to hold another public hearing let's understand and and and be able to give the proper direction from a legal standpoint Point as to how you have to change an ordinance or modify an ordinance I I I don't think there's anything Earth shattering that says we need to do this by February 3rd as long as we have an implementation timeline that that allows these businesses to know they have you know they can continue basically with what they're doing until June 1st instead of April 1st you know so maybe you know maybe that can be the first step that we can take uh and that and that way it's it's not coming from a staff member this is coming from the board that says look the board has said as as of the way the ordinance reads right now you have till June 1st that's what I'm proposing you have till June 1st and at that point in time unless there are some changes your product has to be off the shelves uh and then and then in the meantime then we can I think we need to have more dialogue with Brian here to make sure that we set this next public hearing uh commissioner bear as you would like to have uh make sure that we do it right and I I don't we're kind of shooting from the hip here this morning and I don't know that I want to do that M Mr chair Commissioners if there's concern about the protocol I would I would then uh suggest that you don't take any action today that I would then put two separate items on the agenda for next week one um if it's the board's wishes to also then address when when the implementation would start from from the um public health stand point and then also to have an additional Dialogue on the motion that uh the motion that commissioner bear has made well I you know I I don't have a problem with I you know I we didn't we didn't advertise any uh dis or today was discussion only but in terms of um the implementation we had no we had no uh discussion on the implementation to begin with and and you know whether we do that today or we do that next week too that's fine or or whenever but I'll I won't I'll be I'll be gone next week but um Mr chair yes I want us to contemplate the position we're putting staff in I still hold that this is it's certainly appropriate for the commission to have input and direct staff on how we want this implemented but when we don't de facto they are the ones that have to implement the the legislation that we pass and not today but at least by next week we need to give him some directive commissioner be has indicated he's talked to business people that haven't heard from staff yet well they're not going to hear from staff after today until we give them the parameters that there's this expectation of what we expect I think it's legitimate to say if a motion pass es to to amend or uh remove this the the new statute we need to come up with something that brings state law into our statute which this did um that's a whole can of worms that they need to go out and educate the the public on so I would ask that we expedite this to next week and that we bring this forward uh if we're going to have a public meeting we set it but we we do what we need to do to make sure the staff is complying with our expectations and that means it has to be conveyed to them Mr chair commissioner Mojo thank you I know in the past when we've had issues that are um needing um the entire commission's Insight I know that our chair will be gone next week as well and so I just would would put that forward for the board's dialogue as well Mr chair commissioner moo I think even just looking back at our meeting minutes we did alter alter the hearing public hearing date for that reason before so I think that would be consistent with our our past past actions and so um what uh like I said commissioner or excuse me um County attorney Melton has been busy extremely busy uh and and so we've not even had the opportunity to talk much more than a couple phone calls and so uh that would allow time uh that would allow time to uh to uh I guess a couple different weeks I think that based on based on the discussion uh that this board has had and the express concern from a business standpoint I think that um you know your board your action would take place whether it's next week or two weeks from now uh I think that you've given them an idea of uh of your concerns and so I think from from a stand point of making a decision uh we would we could do that in in two weeks or three weeks depending on again the rest of I know that we have a busy we have a busy uh time off schedule here for for some of our commissioners so I guess my my point is earlier in your dialogue you said that you could present something next Tuesday for the board to vote on what they what they liked and I I don't know where we stand here but that would mean that there would be four with the potential of a tie correct yeah commissioner Krab enough so just two matters number one two matters uh going back to the ordinance itself so going back to the packet that we all received that day on December 17th the ordinance was all laid out there and the only uh if you care to take note uh it would involve the one line as far as the flavored tobacco EOS all in section 7 prohibitive sales and in regard of number c flavored products and it states what we were handed no person shall sell or offer any sale of any flavored products again because we talk to people that's what's written that's what we were given Public Health when they came came over came and uh talked to us or excuse me test or testified they had rolled out two options in other words excluding mental cigarettes and chewing tobacco once again so that language is the only change that has been um you know we're going to amend I guess or something that's to me the one that we should be um dealing with the rest of it has already been uh up toward updates the the other matter I want to talk about is the roll out you know I've read it in the form I haven't heard it from our people why are we trying to regulate something we even we haven't even heard yet so they're here today maybe they want to tell us are you asking them uh if that would help this group today yes I you know I read the form article once figured we'd be talking about it and I tress what they do but I'd rather hear it from our staff than media so yes if you give a consideration to yourself commissioner excuse me uh chair kampbell and commissioner uh Commissioners which question there's been a lot of questions that have been asked um I've been trying to keep track as we go which question are you asking me specifically to answer I would just tell us about the roll out what you had intended in the roll out absolutely um so when we uh this I brought the ordinance as well when we gave out the packet um if you look at the very back page on effective date section 14 um it does State immediately that the ordinance becomes effective on the date of its publication or upon the publication of a summary of the ordinance um so that was has always been I've I've worked I worked on the last ordinance that we did a long time ago um I've worked on many ordinances throughout the county and each time ordinances have always implemented immediately but enforcement has always been something that we've been very mindful of um one of the things I've learned after a decade of doing um Tobacco Control is that we need need to consider businesses in this we need to consider the product that they have um in their store right because they're they're ordering ahead of time so while Youth and health are always going to be public Health's Focus we we want to protect them we don't want to make an onerous burden also on those businesses um so as far as as what we wanted to do internally we talked about enforcement giving at least 3 months um we sent an email we we talked about it we sent an email we sent an email to to administrator Larsson to commissioner ebinger and commissioner C cof like this is what we would like to do what do you think um what we um heard back commissioner krainov talked with our our County attorney Brian Melton um who's told us it's an administrative decision yes that is that you guys can enforce it that way so that is a direction that we went with and so um we had a um uh request to give information um to The Forum that is why we proceeded as well because something I'm very aware of is as I'm I'm not a director I'm I'm down the totem pole so I don't want to be speaking for the for the county out on my own um but please do understand that our our goal is always to try to give the um the time for those businesses to be able to sell the product off to give that uh uh kind of a balance and a fairness also promoting health for our our community um I believe um commissioner beay had had mentioned that I haven't reached back out I have had a couple of uh emails that have come from different businesses asking like when is implementation we've been holding those until this email got out so we're in the process of making those those contacts back out that's very good good uh uh point because we don't want to leave anyone standing um wondering can I sell this can I not we recognize that most of our our businesses do want to follow the law they're not out there trying to do something wrong um and so um if it hasn't been if the if the call backs haven't been fast enough I do apologize we've been definitely been trying to do so one of the other things that I learned after the fact on this and I and I can't remember if it was through a through an media article or not but this basically pertains to 11 establishments in Clay County is that correct correct is that was that was that did that come to public hearing or was that did I get that someplace else that might have been in the the form article um I don't believe the number of businesses were ever asked during the public hearing okay so um so in terms of the implementation timeline um as as you've noticed today there's concern among some Commissioners about about the ordinance itself um in the meantime the the timeline that's been out there and I believe the April 1 date was something that you provided to The Forum is that correct correct after speaking with my supervisor and my yeah yeah so whatever I mean you probably consulted somebody to yes yes uh do you do you do you have ANS issue if that date was was April 1 versus June 1 not at all not at all we we want and again again I I and I propose that June one to give a little bit more time not NE not necessarily you know because as we're as we start talking about early February here holding you know the just the timelines that are involved uh maybe maybe we're not going to be ready to even have a public hearing based on what direction we we'd want to go within the the you know the details for the public hearing that's that's that's the point I'm trying to make is I'm trying to allow the the appropriate time here you know if if if there's a if there's going to be a a motion in the future to hold another public hearing I want to know what the details of what the scope of that public hearing is going to be about just a minute and and at the same point in time I don't want to be under the gun right like I felt we were under the gun on December 17th to vote on that ordinance and so that we can have the appropriate amount of time necessary to do it and to do it right and to allow the um appropriate people to be involved but I I I still think that that if we could just go out to these and out to these 11 businesses and say this you know and and reach out to them them say this is what was past and you know and you know we'd like to see something by June 1 instead of April 1 and that allows us to uh the time to have the proper dialogue about what change if any this board wants to see commissioner yeah we don't need a motion we've done the past that sounds great to me I think we need to see if there's a consensus here and give our staff some sort of Direction um rightly or wrongly they've had to make these decisions on their own and if we want to have them advise the merchants that are impacted by this that June 1 will be the potential start and even including your contact that there is a discussion on and to to to keep on top of it and as we make developments let them know what those developments are and if there's a public hearing let them know when it is but by consensus I think we can do this and what one of the discussions we've had here is about the businesses you know and and how prior ordinances have been done I I don't know that there's been an ordinance in the history of Clay County that's banned a particular uh item that's legal I don't know that that's ever been done within within the county you know so to to allow the appropriate amount of time and to allow these businesses that time I you know whether it's a consensus or or not I you know I think we need to move on um and I I guess I would just as soon see a motion be made directing staff to to put the word out on June 1 as the date for right now with the idea in mind that that future discussion is going to be had on the ordinance I don't know if we have we don't have a motion on the floor to well we that's what I want to step in we right now we do still have a motion even though we've it was never seconded he resed I resed it he rescinded his Mo thank you I'm I'll make the motion for June 1st if if the floor is open for that all right so your motion would be to have a implementation timeline for the ordinance previously approved ordinance at for June 1 and our Public Health uh contact the affected Merchants apprise them of that and deprise them of any any developments we make Public Health aware of that needs to go out let the let the communication start we have a motion is there a second we have a motion and a second is there any further discussion on the motion Mr chair yes commission moel I um while May um provide a consensus for what's being had will not be voting on this because we did not advertise that any action would be taken all right any further discussion and I and I I I might note too that there's often times that we do have things that are brought up sometimes even within committee reports would ultimately end up with the motion uh to act on that it isn't advertised you know I think the I think the fact that this is just um you know expanding on a timeline for the benefit of of our commercial establishments that are impacted by this ordinance I think it's something that needs to be sent to them so I have a question for staff if it's not not on the agenda can we make motions and act on things U we we have generally the policy has been that we don't with if there's funding money that's that's connected to that uh and so we we have we have taken I I mean I feel in of the two issues before this commission today um there was not a because as part of the the the policy you are the you're the ru makers right and so from the standpoint of from uh rolling this out uh standpoint um you have the authority to at any point to determine what what that would be and so uh I I don't believe that there be any concern with with addressing this during this meeting and and I might point out and and our administrator is correct I I know typically we we don't like to uh we don't like to um act on things that aren't but especially when there's uh Financial there's dollars involved if there if if we're uh acting if there's motion made to spend money for example and that hasn't been advertised we don't it's been our course not to do that uh I I like again I can state that I know there's times that through our committee reports we report on something and then a motion is made uh to act on I I I appreciate commissioner Mojo's concern that it wasn't uh you know actually stated in here uh but in all fairness to the commercial entities I think I think the direction is is probably appropriate to move forward and I think just just a clarify the I mean the ordinance is in in effect what essentially the motion would have to be is that the enforcement would not take place until June 1st and that's and that's what the motion in the second States all right any further discussion if we have a descent I think we'll do a roll call vote commissioner krainov yes commissioner Mojo no commissioner Campbell yes commissioner Bear yes commissioner eer yes motion carried all right and so um and then I as I mentioned next week I'm going to be gone but I think we we're going to probably then need to have um put in place an agenda at a future date when all five Commissioners can be here to establish what if any type of a new ordinance or what a new public hearing what we'd be asking for in that public hearing process I think that's we need to have that dialogue so we're going to basically be passing over the same thing again but correct so so just for clarification for staff perspective uh at that public hearing we would be providing the ordinance as it reads uh right now uh in the in the board agenda item um board agenda item for that first day uh we would be coming back asking um for for clarification of um repeal amend and then looking at setting setting the date because the board would have to the board although it although we we've talked about it the board still has to take action to set the public hearing date and it sounds like we're not comfortable doing that today so we can present the ordinance as it reads um uh several weeks from now um I guess that and and then again um well I'll reach out to you because I know that you each have busy schedules and then we'll set the date at that meeting one one place to start and it goes back to my comments on December 17th after the public hearing was held and be before the vote was taken one of the concerns I had is I never got to see a red line version of of what had what was and what is uh so I didn't know what we're yet you know commissioner Krab said all as it was is one line I don't know that I don't know that because I didn't see a complete comparison about what the changes were were updates okay then then we should know what those are so and it should be done in a Redline version so that we know what all the changes are Kathy McKay so do we have a do we have a motion still no that b okay okay all right oh yeah that is all right Kathy okay I just just a couple um things I want to clarify um as far as the um implementation time frame yes we did hear um Brian commission or uh Brian Milton our County attorney stating it didn't require board action that we could determine that so um and Jason didn't do that solo I just want to confirm that he did concur um with myself so you know I take the heat so that that maybe shouldn't have happened before it went out in to the um media we tried to communicate that but clearly wasn't the case so I um I'll take responsibility for for that um um getting out before we had discussion with everyone I also um did want to say in preparation for the ordinance I know that Jason and Rory tried to reach out to all of you um individually to have some communication I know it didn't work for for a couple of you but he they really intended to communicate with all of you um commissioner beay wasn't part of that obviously but um before that um discussion about the ordinance so um they were making the attempts to make sure that everybody understood what we were going to talk about so um I know that sometimes um uh the schedules didn't work out for a cou just comment on that piece we have to be really careful about circumventing the committee process in open meeting violations and so it becomes a daisy chain accidentally if someone were to say I did respond to Rory specifically on that and he were to have shared something that one not that he did I'm just saying something that one of the other Commissioners did say and so then it's an insight to me that violates the public component and so the reason I didn't respond is I I get really nervous about that um and so I rely really heavily on the conversations we have at this board um this committee does or commission does do work sessions and maybe this could have been a better opportunity for that so um in justifying why um it had nothing to do with schedule I just knew that this could be a controversial topic and I did not want to do that you know and I and I do you know I do going back to some of the com comments that commissioner eringer made and I I do understand that that we have a role in here and we you know we establish what the rules or the laws are sort of speak and then we have we depend on our staff to implement those um you know maybe there was a an error on all sides and not understanding uh the implementation piece of that component uh I don't I don't know that any apologies need to be out there in terms of of of that but I but I you know instead of instead of that just you know now that now that it's been brought to everybody's attention we've had we've had business people contacting certain Commissioners saying what's the date what's the deal with the state and these states and U and so now now the nice thing about it is what motion was carried here you can go to those people and you can say you know the board has given the board has given you the opportunity to have till June 1 um you know unless some other action happens in the future um yeah and I I guess we've kind of beat this to death this morning Mr chair and Commissioners I'm happy to talk about and and maybe for commissioner Bear's um um understanding about kind of public Health's role and what our responsibilities are in our community including policies um um and another thing so if there's um if you would like me to talk a bit more doesn't have to be today um but another time about our responsibilities and and kind of what we do in the community and why um and what and what we do for all of our citizens I'm happy to kind of talk about that very good and then um maybe Jason just moving forward and I and again I I you know in in terms of getting ready for the next public hearing if there's going to be one and more information that comes out there and and one of the one of the questions that I asked is you know you know that and there was an awful lot of um the public comment that were there were directed at kids and children right and and how these flavored things entice them to I still I still want to know how they're getting it now you know what what what what can what can how can that be addressed I I mean we can we can just say well we just you know the fact of the matter is when I ask that question I just I asked it on online here yes flavored Vapes can be purchased online however federal and state laws restrict the sale of flavored Vapes online retailers often violate these violate these laws you know I you know if we so if we you know if you really want to solve the problem uh Klay County's ordinance isn't going to do it it's there's got to be there's got to be other areas that are going to come into play and Mr chair and Commissioners it's would be similar to how our underage kids getting alcohol I mean I think yeah you know there're certainly people that are going to purchase for kids but do we ban alcohol no um no we don't um the the fact of the matter is with um tobacco it's just a there's no health benefit whatsoever it Gravely affects People's Health so does and when kids start but when kids start you know you got cardiovascular disease they have asthma in kids um and I think uh commissioner karabanov mentioned even the mental health piece so there's nothing about tobacco and nicotine so you're right and we don't know how they're getting it we assume that people are buying it legally and then um getting it to their to the underage um kids all right very good so um Paul will'll do one more comment and then we're going to move on just brief uh again uh the heat isn't all on you you didn't have to say that uh I'm a piece of this too communication there was a lapse and uh you know you could have done it better so I'm not you know let you take all the heat it's okay oh no yeah we don't want to point fingers we want to point things in the right direction so just quick clarification since we're going to prepare for setting a date for another public hearing is it um to to commissioner Mojo's question to make sure I don't do something incorrect here um it I always work with with commissioner Eiger and commissioner kraban because they're on our committee can we meet with the other three Commissioners individually to have conversation so that we can share with you and answer some of these questions that you might have I imagine each of you have individual questions as well because there's a lot of different things that go into this ordinance different things that can be done and if if ultimately flavored tobacco is not the uh the will of the commission there are other things that can be done well that we could present to you okay and that and and again I I I'm not a real fan of of Staff uh maybe who were working on promoting one thing to uh have being having individual conversations with board members uh out you know out and again I you know I um to me it might be a way to gauge if you have the support or not to do something uh you know and and you know I these these things to me should just be done through through a what you do in your normal committee things as was mentioned way early on where you put it through these committees and then the Committees can have a recommendation that comes before this board uh but we typically and like in my highway tracking committee and solid waste we I we don't have our staff going in on any issue that's coming before the board we don't have individuals going in and for a lack of a better term lobbying uh for a particular ordinance or just I I I and I'm speaking for myself I don't I don't I don't really think that's appropriate yes commission uh providing some sort of um perspective and um educational components certainly can go through our administrator and come to us but I said earlier I think that um sometimes the the best legislation comes out of hearing from as many voices as possible and this could potentially be something that makes more sense coming to a work session this is what the board this is why we started those is to make sure in a environment that we're not um making decisions on WE the entire board has the opportunity to provide insight to the crafting of a project so and maybe that can still even be done before we even determine on on what another public hearing would be and that's another reason why June 1 so maybe we could have a a work session on this to have the you know have some more dialogue um Mr Mr chair U Commissioners how our how our system is set up right now is the the board chair has the authority to have a work session if it would seem from a from a stepping standpoint if if we're going to have a rather than set a public hearing if the wishes of this board is to have a have a uh work session it would seem that we would it would be beneficial to set that first yeah and and again I you know we can we can talk afterwards right right now um right now the the idea has been to what what would go on to a future agenda to create this uh but maybe a maybe a first step can be a work session all right with this again it goes back to this June 1st date that I talked about if we have that if we move that back a little bit it allow us for the proper time to dialogue what do we really want to accomplish here uh we have a a different board now uh than than was in place on December 17th and um yeah it's thank you for coming today it's um we'll we'll see see we'll see what develops all right we'll go back to um committee reports I think the only one you were all done right okay um my committee reports are as follows on January 7th we had a diversion Authority planning meeting [Music] um and we we had some more information that's going to be coming out on the classification and compensation study that's now complete for diversion employees um originally we had that that presentation was going to come to the Planning Commission in February with the idea in mind then then it would go to the full board for consideration uh as it stands now that uh that information might be available sooner and it might go directly before the diversion Board of authority on I think is the 23rd of January yeah it's that whatever that Thursday is i that's that's a Thursday yeah so that that compensation uh might might be I don't I can't see it it might be on the agenda for that date for discussion uh we did talk about we talked a little bit more about the 202 25 governance plan um we had a co-executive director update I believe our new uh our new manager of the uh diversion Authority is going to be back and in place sometime in February early February yeah February 2nd I think yeah and it was uh very uh disappointing news that we got about uh our lands committee lead Jodie is leaving to go work for the state of North Dakota she will really be missed uh she's done an awful lot of really good things on behalf of um both the MCC jpa and the uh C County Joint Water Resource District as well is really trying to negotiate in good faith with all of the land owners that have been involved so wish her well in her future rooll on Wednesday the 8th we had a um dispatch uh budget and finance committee meeting and basically went over um the 2024 budget and it's I think it's kind of in line with what we anticipated there still is a few outstanding U bills that need to be paid and revenues coming in so but it's nothing Earth shattering there and and then um we did approve the continuing our second Wednesday of every month for that board meeting or that meeting to for the budget committee um Thursday the 9th I attended the Lakes Country service Cooperative meeting in Fergus Falls and it was nice to see U newly elected board member Scott stephus was uh on behalf of Mor at schools is now going to be on that board I think he'll add a lot of good Insight on on School District issues um as um there is some work being done on establishing a new location for a school in Morehead that Prairie Lakes like similar to ones that Prairie Lakes has or Lakes Country excuse me has in Fergus Falls and Alex Andria and these are for a um I believe there's I think there's like eight or 10 kids right now that are bust daily from Morehead to Fergus Falls to for that school because there's and that used to be I think it was was more than the S program but um these are for kids with real significant needs outside of the normal uh School curriculum and so um so we're looking at a they're looking at a potential site here in Morehead uh and I think right now they're I asked the question what what's the long-term goal in terms of a square footed capacity on something like this and so uh one of the there is a short-term goal of maybe 12 to 15 students But ultimately they'd like to have the capacity maybe as for as many as 30 some kids from Warhead have the ability this is something that it's my understanding that Brandon lunix supports as well and and uh so we we we ended up we did put Scott stus on the on the building committee so he'll I think he'll do a good job on that and trying to help find a solution for our morid kids so they're not traveling so far to to have that education on January 9th we had the diversion Board of authority meeting I commissioner eringer reported on that and I don't really have anything to add um that all the Committees were established on the eth excuse me going back to the eth uh we did have a um as um commissioner bear had reported him and I along with Steve met with the Greg and mark from um West Central initiative excuse me and we're uh obviously we're we're looking for as I'd mentioned in a previous meeting that our $300,000 planning budget planning for um legal engineering is just about up and so we're looking for additional planning dollars and so we met with West Central initiative and and we kindly asked of them for like $300,000 in planning they were you they were very I mean they're they're really encouraged about what we're doing they think this is a tremendous idea uh that's out there for uh and the and understanding of the need um Greg Wagner was you know very very good and Mark was um he was he was really they were really looking an awful a lot of different directions we're trying to so it's good to have them they're going to be working hard on our behalf to try to find additional planning dollars for this for this project yes um Mark um oh gosh you had to ask yes with yeah with West Central initiative yeah yeah it's uh yeah I've got his last name here too and I I can't even okay um so and then so then uh after that then we we did go one of the one of the things that um one of the things that we're trying to do as a board for um what central regional water is to reach out to all of our small cities within clay well not within all three uh counties and so part of the process is uh you know we started the process and a meeting with set up by Steven slick and Lucas spaith our board chair to meet with Holly and and so on that that afternoon uh commissioner bar and I attended along with and we were kind of there to hear what the presentation was going to be between Lucas and Stephen they did a really nice job and and going a little bit further into what than what Ezra reported you know we're we're trying to determine what small what are the interests of the small cities when it comes to Rural Water whether are they are they looking or would they be looking at the potential of being a supplier of water you know so your communities like Holly might be able to do that where your where your communities such as Ulan and Felton would not be able to do that and so so we met with Holly and there there was I mean there there was very a lot of positive feedback from them in terms of this process and they I think they're they certainly understand U the issue that's that's there with the poor water quality that's in a lot of the rural areas and you know I I they kind of expressed in that early stages that they'd be interested in being a supplier of water uh for you know and so then it's they'd have to determine what geographical outlined area they could handle in terms of capacities and those types of things so it was a really good meeting it was a good start and I think if we if we meet with all these other cities and we have that same uh sort of I I think that's going to really really push this thing forward and as Greg and Mark said from uh West Central initiative these this makes a lot of sense even for some of these small communities who going to it's going to be very difficult for them to deal in the future with their own Water Systems uh on their own so that was a really good meeting and that concludes my report Steve uh thank you Mr chair on the eth part participated in County management uh we welcomed anda Anna to our management team so it's great to have her on board uh we talked about the intergovernmental Retreat uh legislative priorities our uh upcoming Clay County management Retreat and and received update from Darren and Anna on some HR issues uh on the eth I also had a department head evaluation and participated in the West Central initiative meeting that's been well covered by commissioner Campbell and commissioner bear also participated in the flood mitigation uh meeting with the chamber and City Morehead which has been covered by commissioner Mojo um last week I've spent considerable amount of time either on the pre-design uh owners report for our prtf we have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow uh that we we want to have that completed as part of our packet as we move forward for funding um um on the ninth and 10th was with commissioner kravinoff participated in the mayak quarterly meeting again on the 9th had the opportunity to meet several tribal chairs and presidents uh and talk about uh talk about what's uh our Pro our program and how we feel that it could be impacting on all our residents uh and then on the the 10th participated in the presentation with Steven Summers uh and commissioner kraban off uh as was mentioned I think that overall it was well well received we appreciate representative Keeler for uh for providing us the the the opportunity and the platform to uh to discuss that and making introductions to several of the people uh that we met I think um as was as was said it was great to see the engagement of that of the committee uh and the great questions that they had and so uh we'll continue to work with them in any way that we can as was mentioned if they want us to come and present to their individual tribal Nations uh we'd said we'd be happy to do that uh on the 13th uh again worked on the the uh prtf documentation and also uh working on the MMB documentation uh for the prtf uh if uh one of the requirements for federal state funding is if we're not part of the tour we have to complete them more uh the m&b documentation uh so I was able to submit that yesterday uh for consideration um yesterday I also met with Joe uh for considerable amount of time and looking at their strategic planning uh for uh for the the courthouse uh there Joe's I think has talked that he's been working closely with Department of Corrections uh Court Court Administration even attorneys uh public defenders about trying to make this a True Justice Center uh and I think that uh I think I know that from building committee standpoint that's going to be something that we're going to uh take a take another look at here in uh in in January uh or early February um one of the things just wanted to touch base on commissioner moo stated earlier that the legislative session start starts and so hopefully we'll uh have a productive session um one of the other points that along along that uh that way Morehead day at the capital with the with the um the chamber has been been as a final date now of March 4th and 5th on the evening uh the evening of the 4th There's an opportunity to get together uh with legislators and then the and and the fifth uh be at the capital and so I think given the stance that we have I know that we've gone uh to the more dat at to Capital different times I think would be beneficial uh for for uh for us to have our two two Representatives I did talk to uh commissioner Campbell he's going to be un available at that that date and so we would be looking to along with commissioner moo i' be looking to have another commissioner participate yeah I we did talk I did talk with Steve about that yesterday and I you know I think when we're if we're there and it's legislative issues and I this board has kind of uh leaned on commissioner Mojo and kraban off to handle that and so I believe the appropriate person to go in my in my place would be Paul um I'm available that's correct yes okay and then and Mr chair would that be with pdem and mileage or would that just fall underneath his his legislative piece yeah well what nor he would just be taking my place so whatever I got he would okay um and then uh just a a reminder we have our Eda EDC meeting uh today at 1:00 p.m. and then just uh just here while we were talking I received an email training opportunity from Bowser um they're going to be having having a a water district um refresher they call it for any crint or new Commissioners uh to attend they're offering it two separate times obviously we couldn't have everybody go but if there's any interest uh please please let me know and I will uh I'll forward the information out to you if anybody interested it's a refresher that means you get to jump in Lake 15 next week Ezra are you are you signed up for that send the information we do all right you're always do a nice job I I think if it's information I don't Paul I think you're well well tuned on that U then that concludes my report thank you Jackie didn't I did you come have a request or something earlier regarding commissioner information on a website or something you want yes yep yep we've updated the commissioner page um so yeah there was a just a question um with regards to adding some additional information if you'd like about each of you so but we have each of your pages now um up there in the districts map the yeah each map and then a list of your districts and then um um your committee assignments as well so right I'm sure commissioner AB you're going to put on there that you're a hog fan this year not as big a fan is our new commissioner here commissioner bear he L I was referring to the sports team all right my little boy is not a Vikings fan anymore he just was um neither is this big boy it's too soon gang introduced to the Heartbreak that is being a Vikings fan it's just too soon let's not talk of that I still wore purple today and you know anyway yeah all right any so Darren you got anything else for us just a reminder we're having the buffer program uh meeting after this one oh um it's uh and commission mayor all right very good with that we are Jed --------- ##VIDEO ID:o5vUQtdmaLM## all right good morning everyone it's 8:30 we'll call this morning's meeting of the Clay County Board of Commissioners to order for Tuesday January 14th our first item is the approval of the agenda and it's my understanding that item number on number three on the agenda will be pulled to a later date I'll offer a motion to approve the agenda with the deletion of item three second have a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the same sign motion carried citizens to be heard do we have any citizens to be heard on items not on the agenda I see none in the office none online none Mr chair all right we will move on to approval of bills and vur for approval of the bills and vouchers second have a motion and a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the same sign motion carried approval of minutes from December 31st 2024 room to approve the minutes for uh the date second have a motion and a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same motion carried item number two request approval of letter of support for Casa 36 Bridge replacement good morning Justin yes so what I'm here today is approval of the letter of support for the ca 36 Bridge replacement so this is we are applying for a raise Grant along with P County and Norman County in Minnesota and Cass County and Trail county in North Dakota so we have applied for this one multip times um so if approve or if we were to get funding it would be 80% federal funds there would be a bridge bonding match and also a local match this bridge is right now Engineers estimates about $10 million so it' be8 million in federal about a million in Bridge bonding and a million in Casa if we were to get it this is a deficient Bridge just north of Georgetown it's the old trust bridge that I think this is the seventh or eighth time that we've for this raiseed grant any questions yeah okay no you do I don't know oh okay move for approval all right second we have a motion and a second to approve the um the letter for the ca 36 Bridge replacement all right any further discussion I I guess I have one question okay J is uh when's the last time that was inspected that bridge that one's yearly so every other year mot does a fracture critical inspection and then every other year we do our own INSP on it and there's continually passing yeah it's it's deficient but it's still P I mean it's still it's load posted but it's still for can drive across it all right any other questions or comments seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried thank you Justin thank you our next item is the discussion of the Clay County tobacco ordinance and this was um we're a little bit early on this I don't know if I should just wait if there's because this one had interest in others I think we'll I'm going to kind of try to keep this on on the timeline that the agenda said here so um I can do the report okay yeah all right we'll move into uh committee reports commissioner Mojo would you thank you last week I attended a meeting facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce with the city of Morehead legislative delegates and Clay County's interests as well regarding legislative priorities and asks as you know flood mitigation dollars um is a huge priority for um both the city of Morehead and Clay County for this upcoming legislative session which starts today and so we talked a little bit about what our strategy would be how we could incorporate the chamber as helping uh facilitate those asks in St Paul who's the contact and what makes the most uh sense there um going forward uh I think we have agreed um to Loop commissioner Campbell into those meetings uh having a standing weekly meeting as we've done with our prtf committee to make sure that whoever's having contacts or conversations in St Paul um we're adding to the dynamic of that conversation as we continue to go down uh weekly so I really appreciate the chamber and the City of Morad for being part of those dialogues and um then I did have uh several just conversations with different uh Representatives regarding our prtf ask um leading up to I I know what commissioner uh Krab knof and administrator Larsson will talk about the presentation to mayak so I won't um um spill the beans on that but I'm really excited about the work going forward with that and I believe that concludes my reports thank you Comm bear last week I had uh met with wild rice Watershed board they passed two permits one of which for the Clay County highway department to replace a box Culvert in Gooseberry Township and they also discussed cleaning out another portion of ditch 18 in Goose Prairie Township and then we met with West Regional water district with uh the West Central initiative board at the government center with Mr Campbell and myself and Steve Larson was there as well to talk about funding sources for the West Regional water district to help fund the phases of last phases of the engineering and the planning of that water district and then after that meeting we went down to myself and Mr Campbell went down to Holly also with the West Central water district to discuss H to Holly staff about planning and development of the of the water district there as well that's all I have to report all right thank you commissioner eer yes on the 18th I ATT virtually attend the joint uh Northwest Mercy communication uh board uh rack and board combination meeting uh we elected officers for the year the rack selected Chris Miller of Bel trammy County as her chair uh Nancy schaer from P County as Co Vice chair uh on uh board we selected Bruce Lawrence in Pennington County as chair and vice sh Jim duckstad from Marshall we discussed the psap NC 911 committee some of the formatting and some of the regional work that needs to get done uh for the gis it Norman County has got their GIS figures in we've had ours in for some time it looks like our entire region once uh Norman County once their their stuff's verified we're going to be total our Region's going to be up to speed on the gis submission for the state and we discussed some training opportunities I believe March 12th I'm going to follow up on this but to be a training for board members and I've made Ezra aware of that and we will both try and get to that which will be right after the the next meeting on in March um the 19th I attended the diversion authorities annual meeting it's just basically business meeting uh we conf confirmed a resolution on the meeting dates for the year and for the most part had a resolution of a appointment for 2025 meeting or members for the diversion Authority some project updates with a drone video and that was pretty much our entire business for that meeting can I ask yeah ask a brief question uh I know in the past commissioner gross was the alternate for the diversion Authority and um seeing how having three of us on an email chain would be a breach in open meeting violations how did we communicate with commissioner gross agendas upcoming so that he could stay aware of issues if needed to step in so now that I'm the alternate on that how would that work yeah I I think in the past what's happened was um notification of of meetings and all that stuff went out but there there was no correspondence uh relating to if it was it would be it would be reply just to one and not to all I think you know that's needs to be very careful and I don't know that U I'm not even sure if if commissioner gross even received a whole lot of you're correct Mr Mr chair I don't believe Mr gross was on most of the emails I think I think what ended up happening there is if commissioner eing or I could not be there we would notify uh commissioner gross that one of us couldn't be there and then he would show up in our in in our place so I'm I'm I don't even recall him ever it was generally if one of us wasn't there we we were remote yeah yeah in my experience which is fine I I just will say that if there's a way to get agenda packets to me either through our administrator I would like to have those in case I needed to act without that I would not and there's there's there's no violation of open meeting La simply sending um packets to board members and alternates because there's no no activity no discussion nothing being done in that process so uh Steve maybe you can um work through your committee there with the diversion Authority and make sure that commissioner moo gets the packets as necessary I get The Joint Powers packets and I've notified them that I can't attend because there'd be three of us right but I just every time I get it I respond with I will not be there I decline and the agenda is attached to that so uh so we can make sure that you get those I I would want to know too if I had this you'll end to have access to that information and by the way those packets are can be very yeah enormous uh so usually when we get them we get them you know we don't get hard copies of it it's just all on my all right e unify um some policy and background for uh city um ordinances regarding backyard chickens um it was last year Morhead expanded theirs uh to allow um more chickens um and especially on bigger acreages um that had CAU the attention of commissioner Strand and want to be advised or find out what the different entities were doing now to uh bring forward defo potentially um having similar rules of Morehead um but wanted the uh excuse me the food part or the food food Partners to uh bring forward a recommendation also then second uh I found this very interesting and I've been in these units uh we had a um presentation from G great PL greens they're a local producer of of uh vegetable supplies fresh produce uh grown hydroponically uh year round and uh they do it on a scale to uh their individual c customers it's uh organic um food and it uses 99% less water than traditional uh produce and to my surprise and I and I'm very grateful for this um they actually have been supplying fresh fresh produce to Holly and do school districts for a while so it was new to me and I've been in these units before uh elsewhere at a college in Central Lakes so I've seen the work that they do and pretty impressed by it then also on a local level and this goes back to U DTF uh there was a uh uh recognition uh done by our own Erica Frank with or Frank excuse me with our Clay County um zoning and uh Planning and Zoning anyway U Erica uh presented an award to um the DOR Felton um School uh this is from the uh 25 uh 20 or 2025 steering committee and it's just a recognition of dor guil uh lendon Felton schools as they uh uh provide um uh a program called share cart program which helps reduce food waste by allowing students to share The Unwanted or unfinished food with others students can place unopen prepackaged shelf stable items like Rola bars crackers on the cart as well as fruits with intact skins and temper controlled items like milk and string cheese this is initiative and part of a broader effort to combat food waste in Minnesota where Public Schools generate nearly 500,000 pounds of waste daily the program is not or the program not only helps reduce waste but also provides student for the students that need it and I just uh was really moved by this so thank you to um that was presented by Shannon Noak their kitchen supervisor and certainly um Shannon hunstead the superintendent has also spoke about about this program so crudles to them so that was uh the main parts um food Partners uh excuse me one last part on that food Partners did work through a strategic plan throughout the summer um and they came up with a work uh work plan that includes three parts uh it'll have a connections which will be a continue growth of uh getting major key stakeholders involved with food partners then there's communication and education which will be the Action Network which is similar or have bits and pieces of what First Fridays used to look like along with other things and then C certainly thir third part is to bring recommendations to the uh food food commission uh for policies and and practices so that's into that meeting uh then I want to go to the prtf on Thursday and Friday uh Steve Lon our Administration along with Steve Summers um who is with um um behavioral um um oh blank in here sorry folks Solutions Behavior plenty and anyway uh it was a wonderful uh well worth our time going down to make a presentation on our PTF RF ask uh with the um the U the presentation to the um mayak the Minnesota uh Indians Association Council and uh with that we were able to Pro provide information give a pre presentation similar to what we did AMC it was met uh with great reception and let me get my notes here that's why I'm stumbling a little bit um and anyway they really right up front especially white Earth who we talked to privately a couple times their chair Michael um Fairbanks and uh we had met him on couple manners matters hoping to go to their council meeting and maybe give it to direct up in monomen area uh we also met leaders out of the Red Lake and Lee lake so we kind of met our quadrant of people up to the north also had a nice talk with the uh chair uh down at Prairie Island and he was aware of some of the work that we did and certainly that whole that whole Council saw the need for what we were doing how we were doing it and again they they gave us very good recognition for the work that um they were whereare aware that Clay County does in preventative mental health measures and all the work that we do in bringing um help to those uh with mental needs uh as they are in our juvenile system oh I was very pleased we had a resolution signed and we will have that in our packet and work with that um resolution as we advance forward with State Legislature so thank you can I just really briefly I just want to say thank you uh to staff for working with representative Keeler on that to have the full support of 11 Sovereign nations in Minnesota is a um fantastic Testament to the need that all of us are seeing in our communities and I really appreciate you going to them on the front end to encourage them to help um provide insight as we look at what culturally infused care looks like within the facility that we're proposing so thank you very much thank you all right thank you all right we will go back to our scheduled agenda and the next item on the agenda is the discussion on the Clay County tobacco ordinance uh last week um commissioner bear had uh requested that this be placed on the agenda for discussion and so I'm going to I'm going to start commissioner be with you on this and and we'll see where it goes I guess I have I have questions pertaining to this on how it all became to the board did it did it go through a committee before it came was there who assigned staff to look into this to decide we should go down this route I can answer that or go ahead steeve oh so as part of our public health and and Social Services commissioner eer and I served on that committee so so it was brought forward through us through you through that committee yeah did you did you ever see a Redline version of this ordinance no but we had the old one and we had the new one did did the rest of the board see the old one and the new one written that Senor packet I guess I I'm not in favor of the ordinance I I would like us to have another public hearing so I can look at it I mean and make it known for a Redline version for everybody else that has not received one I get um if I if I can I just to just to discuss a couple things here and I going back to this and of course when it was presented on the 17th um you know we we've go through an awful lot of ordinance changes there's an you know in different varieties of things whether there's zoning ordinance and those types of things and typically uh when there's an ordinance presented and and I've always asked for Redline versions of things so you know what's going and especially uh when it's when when they say one ordinance is going to be completely thrown out and replaced completely by a new one then they you know then it's it's nice to know what changed I I know in this particular instance there was there was a language as it results to VAP but nowhere did I know was there any other changes within the document because because one I I think the way it was presented if I remember the way it was presented the old ordinance was completely eliminated with the new one and so when you have an old ordinance completely replaced with new one what are the changes between those that you're actually voting on that brings it and I didn't see that um the other thing typically when we have some of these ordinances they're there isn't an awful lot of uh public uh input or comment at at those hearings often times there's none in a particular case like this one where we had uh multiple people speaking both in favor and oppose the ordinance uh I would have liked time to digest that and what happened was is that hearing was closed and it was immediately voted on and I had I had asked our our administrator before the meeting I said how long do we have before we have to make a decision on these types of things I think the I think what he told me was 60 days is that correct yeah you would you had the ability to have multiple public hearings if that was your decision but you would have had you have time to make that decision after the public hear yeah and and what what I found kind of and I had I had issues with it there was another dissenting vote on it as well and even during that even during that open testimony our commissioner elect stood up and made some comments that to me suggested some concern and so to to submit an ordinance for approval you know at the LA on December 17th at the end of the year with a new commissioner coming on I I just questioned um if we should be doing that and I still question it today and I still have an awful lot of questions that I would have liked to have asked uh in that process and and um and comments that I've heard from public since then as well and then I I've been trying to do some research myself and I know there was an awful lot of discussion regarding um doing this to protect kids and I and I I get that I get that and I did a simple thing and I just I went on to uh and I asked um my Safari web browser is is flavored Vapes available online and the answer is yes you know so so I don't know how we can control that you know and and and that that becomes a much that's why I even mentioned some of these things that we need to do needs to be done at the state and federal level and not at the local level um again I'm I'm kind of venting a little bit and I'm a little disappointed and I'm also disappointed in the fact that I wasn't even sure based on what we voted on when this thing took effect and you so we we you know we have businesses out there who may have invested in months of product and if you know and then we I later learned that if you if you don't incorporate an effective date within what you're doing that the effective date becomes immediately and I don't know that I've ever had a proposed ordinance come before us before that did not include an effective date so that was another disappointing um situation with me um in the meantime I've I've since learned that our staff has has you know set a kind of an arbitrary date giving these people till April 1st to bring down their their product I I'm now I'm hearing that I didn't hear that directly from staff but I've I've heard that that's what's been said and I think it was in a in a article um but if somebody if if there's somebody who's going to be giving a time frame that that should be incorporated into what we do and what the board approves so I'm a I'm a little bit of frustrated on on on this one and in the um handling of it the implementation of it and the speediness of it um you know when when Morehead or Dilworth when they go through the their ordinance like that they typically have a first and a second reading on ordinances that allow us time to we don't we don't have that in County government we don't have a first reading and a second reading but on on ordinance of this that can be uh controversial it can uh we we as a board should be allowed the time to digest what's been said in public hearings to you know to help incorporate I you know there's portions of of me that said that yes we should be doing this and there's portions of me that no we shouldn't be doing this and I just don't think in my mind we didn't have the the proper dialogue and I didn't I don't I think for a a a a policy and an ordinance that was going to be moving forward into the new year to not have the incoming commissioner be part of that uh dialogue and that vote I think is it it just seemed rush to me so uh in terms of the uh in terms of the um discussion about another public hearing um you we'll see where that that dialogue goes and that you know somebody would have to move to do that but any other comments regarding just a couple of observations the process that this went through was months of discussion on our portfolio commissioner Krab off and I uh with staff to say it could have been better in the process is certainly has Merit but the process complied with the all the expectations that we normally see we had a public hearing I'm not familiar with the county ever having more than one I don't think it' be prohibited I know the city required too the county doesn't so we complied with the statute on that in my experience of being staff and implementing a number of laws including State statutes that are passed the um expectation was that I implemented it as chief of police and my agency followed the direction that I came up with with Command Staff and we had several statutes one of which we was a six-month Pro process to get an ordinance on drug paraphernalia and we went through six months of meetings and when we got the this the uh ordinance it passed and I gave 60 days to sell their inventory and that was a decision that my staff and I came up with can I ask a question though I mean I I here's my question in regards to date though I I really do appreciate how it was implemented before but I don't necessarily know if one commissioner or two Commissioners can direct staff to implement an arbitrary date and that was my email and question last week is who gave the decision that we're going to set an April 1st timeline to which it goes out in the media to business owners and whatever when this entire board was not even part of that dialogue I'll will answer that for you if you'd like none of the Commissioners that was a decision of Staff implementation of an ordinance that we approved and I and that is in in my my experience excuse me in my experience that's how it works is the electeds come up with the legislation a statute if you're State an ordinance if you're local and that is given to the enforcement entity in this case public health and they come up with procedures to implement it I would understand our concern if they went out and said it's January 1st happy New Year here's your citation but I think it was done with with the business needs were were acknowledged the implementation brought forward measures to where they could uh eliminate themselves from uh the with the inventory that will no longer be permitted or they can go to their local city government and have that government take over the lure and they can come up with whatever city ordinance they want that will allow them to sell whatever they want as long as it doesn't violate state law or federal law but without being preachy about this I just spent too many years in position to where I had to implement the enforcement of statutes and ordinances new ones synthetic marijuana a number of different different uh issues fact simbly weapons and it the electeds did not tell me how to enforce that if they're if you're going to hire staff they need to be competent enough to come up with an acceptable measured operational uh address of how a statute should be enforced and in this instance I'm comfortable that they did if they had gone out and started handing out uh citations on January 1st or the day after we we pass this ordinance I'd have real concerns but they came up with a professional respectful way and and the first enforcement actions are going to be educational they're going to make people aware what the problem is and give them a chance to rectify their their procedures you know we didn't come up with that and we should have if we if we want to have those kind of controls we need to come up with the operational order but that's stepping out of our lane we hire professionals to implement these things we just need to give them good laws to to and ordinances to to uh operate under and I don't think they exceeded that uh I don't know about commissioner krainov but I never gave them a directive on what was going to be contained in there in fact they gave us two versions and we selected the one that said uh that we were not we were going to grandfather in something the Menthol products so you know I'm this is not a hill I'm willing to die on and if the commission feels like we need to start the process over again I'd be happy to listen to the citizens who came in here and gave us their input because we got a lot of it and I honestly think as far as what you can get on the internet I'll quote commissioner gross we can only do what we can do to address these problems and the problems are affecting our youth and to say they can go to Fargo and get this or to say they can get on the internet and get it okay we only can control what we control we don't control the internet nobody does we don't control what state of North Dakota legislates and the ordinances that I I help get past here in Morehead back in I think 2010 or a response to the fact that we were way out of line compared to the laws of North Dakota and we responded to that if North Dakota wants to respond to legislation that we passed that's great but you know we can only control what we have the right to control and if there's a problem we can need to do what portion we can do to to address it and I think we did that if there's a different feeling in the commission now you know my opinion has not changed but I'll not stifle discussion that's how we operate we've always come to a consensus or we've accepted the fact when we Lo lost a vote we accept that it's time to move on and work towards the objectives of the people Clay County and that's what we've done we want to go back and start the process again that's something that we need to decide today thank you commissioner moel thank you uh I see that our planning and zoning department is here as well and commissioner Campbell and I have worked in a capacity there and I know commissioner bear now has served in that committee because he was the chair of the Planning Commission and we've been working for months as you talk about at a committee level but every month we've had the opportunity for the public to speak on the proposed changes every month for over six to seven months correct it's almost been and I know you're this isn't a public hearing but just a head nod but we've had the opportunity for folks to provide insight and input on that and with that we talked a little bit about the enforcement capacity which I think is part of my concern is that when I read there's a date of April 1st for uh potential enforcement going on in the county when when really um you know you can say that the county doesn't need to have a a say in that but really I'm a little concerned that the elected body needs to answer to the public when they call me and say well April 1 was never part of that dialogue at your public hearing and now I'm reading it in the paper we still need to answer to that whether we're on a committee or not because we are the enforcing agency and so I I certainly want to hear from public health if the enforcement has to do with a staffing capacity or a buy down capacity I think that's part of the overall all dialogue that we need to have because it does create this hardship if you will in the community that the governing board doesn't have an A A logical explanation about why we came up with the state and so back to the planning committee where we've talked about ordinances and the ordinance updates we've reported frequently indepth about the changes and even requested line item Redline versions to this board so you have the time and the opportunity to look at it and see what's changed and see wasn't change what may have changed to have the opportunity to provide insight and feedback and if you're saying that that's a commissioner micromanaging the process that I'm okay micromanaging that process um I did not request that this come to the board but I did provide pointed concern last week on how the date came out um you know we we work a lot whether we're on the committee or not in terms of how we communicate we have a Communications person now to our community on dates coming out and and frankly I felt a little blindsided that I did sit through that committee on the SE or commission meeting on the 17th was part of the dialogue did have raised concerns but if I misheard in April 1st date I apologize but I do not believe there was an April 1 date and so I I just felt it was um uh you know I think one I think that we could have done better and we will do better in the future um but I do appreciate the opportunity for additional time to make sure that whatever comes out is the most valid piece going forward and furthermore to say um North Dakota can do it or Internet can do can do it and and we should be okay with it because we can control what we can control you know I want to have a pointed discussion about how we help the um the schools to enforce or to prevent I mean I know those are the dialogues you're having Jason but um what further can go forward because if you talk to the schools 90 to 95% of what they're confiscating is Vape so let's let's talk about that but I think it's there's a lot of confusion about what was passed there's a lot of um concern that was raised forward to me that um from users non-users business owners alike boy that was pushed fast and it for government that seems to work fairly slow in certain capacities it seemed like that was really rushed commissioner grabov yeah so just a couple of comments I'm not going to uh go along and do a lot of repeating here but um I had always to the the question about it being in the ordinance it was um in the ordinance um initially uh when the first presentation was given in when we set the public the potential of a public public hearing and uh I don't have that date but that would have been sometime in October 22nd thank you and then we we uh agreed to have a public hearing then that one to the 17th of December in that period of time uh going back to the early the first meeting we talked about prived sales of flavored Bait blank and or flavored to excuse me flavor tobacco then we we started having I at least I did uh with a few people the positive the negative I talked to a holly business owner he made very clear he didn't salate but he wasn't why would we be doing this and and and it just seemed too much too quick with that when it came to the hearing that's why two things came out did we want to leave it as all uh the flavor products no person shall sell or offer any sale of any products or the one we passed that we would um uh have flavored uh not prohibit sale of flavored products uh excluding menal cigarettes and chewing uh flavored chewing tobacco and and the point of that was to mitigate the ones that had higher implications and addictive factors through nicotine and and it also seemed to help those few business owners that were selling flavored uh tobacco uh um you know not such a hard hit so I think consideration was made I think in commissioner gross's um uh motion I think that gave consideration to the businesses for me the response and and again maybe this is my world I don't know about other people's world all I got was thanks all I got was than for everything we did from people around the community that I'm interact with and I hope I had some things and it wasn't said to me of the fact that we had listened to the business owners and uh the one in particular that I had talk to to help have an understanding that these weren't as harsh as the other ones the zims and the Vapes and yet an understanding of keeping a little bit that in the mix my heart goes to wipe it all out but you know that's you know I think we were consolatory as far as the um as far as s the roll [Music] out I remember there being a discussion early on about what a potential roll out could be however that wasn't in any of the discussion of the ordinance it was going to always be a secondary part in my mind so is that a Miss maybe on my part that day you know I'll take the heat on that one maybe but yet at the same time and I'm sorry the way it worked out that the form got ahead of us you know I don't think that's right either but that being said I don't know who in having this or ordinance wouldn't have some consideration for the business owners to have that perod of time to get rid of inventory and and uh uh some leniency on on maybe first offenses or something like that but um I mean I I think and the last thing we talk about well they can get it here they can get it here and you know I view I I view when it comes to mental health when it comes to Public Safety these things we need help with prevention nicotine creates uh brain uh um disorder and there's scientific fact about that so if there's anything we can do to mitigate it um I think this is is it the in all answer no but is it a step forward yes and right now 80% of f County already lives on a similar ordinance whether it's Morehead which is totally out or like Dorth and Barnesville that give the option for um flavor chew and and menthal cigarettes so I don't think this is new to Clay County 52,000 people live under ordinance and I guess we're looking for the rest of the county and I if we keep going on the Clay County side I hope someday Cass County will look at it region I think it's part of being the leaders in the world of good health and and Society so and in and just really overall doing the best we can for the kids okay any other comments I have one more comment I guess I guess I would like to see a second public hearing or a reading of this I believe was very rushed for having one public hearing to decide an ordinance for the other chunk of the county which you say 80% lives under this but the other 20% would like to see some more input on it I've I've had a couple people reach out to me other business owners reach out to me staff still has not contacted them on this ordinance at all if we are a month into it and those businesses still have not been reached out by staff saying an implementation date or what's happening they've asked me so can I sell it do I have to take it off the shelves so I'd like to see just another public hearing on this matter and if if I'll make a motion to that I'd like to make a motion to have a second public hearing on the tobacco ordinance that was passed December 17th Mr chair uh commissioner bear uh I just to just to clarify and Mr Milton apologizes for not being able to be here he's in trial this morning uh but in talking with with Mr Melton uh we we this board is has acted on the ordinance and so the the action before you this morning uh would be the one to to leave it as it is uh based on your motion that motion would then say we would uh request a uh or public hearing to look at repealing theing the ordinance uh it would be then subject to the to the 10-day notice in in looking at the calendar uh and the notifications if the board were to approve we would uh the earliest that we could have that would be February 4th then I will make a motion to resend this ordinance and have a public hearing on that matter could I have a clarification yes was this advertised that there would be a potential action we're we're not taking any action per se from the standpoint of of revoking the ordinance uh and so it's my understanding that we would be within our it would be as if at different times when you've provided me guidance to do something this board would be providing me guidance to to work with Jackie to set up a hearing date Mr Larsson and commissioner moo uh I I shouldn't even have allowed that comment to be made once a motion is made until there's a second there should be no discussion uh but I I guess I would I would just assume uh if commissioner bear would um maybe hold back on that motion till we till we can at least understand the proper protocol uh to to move forward so that we can allow for that discussion I typically when there's a motion made there's no discussion until there's a second and I I didn't want to make any motion unless I knew what legally had been right yeah so so um so just a point of clarification here [Music] um on on our in our agenda packet today it was according to the the document here that said discussion only correct and that goes to what commissioner Mojo was asking what we Au what we had had advertised here in in terms of discussion um so is uh so we have an or we have an ordinance that's in place and and valid correct and so the the process to change that either change it or or amend it amend it y uh would require a public would require a public hearing and the and so would the public do do within the advertising of the public hearing do we have to State I mean we don't know if it would be recent you know you don't know if it's something going to be resented until after you have your public hearing well I think you are correct uh Mr chair uh Commissioners and that the the request has to be specific uh as far as and in in the motion from commissioner beay his his request was that resend a open or excuse me a public hearing be held on potentially resending uh the ordinance and so um under that under that motion amending it per se wouldn't be something that would be considered um because there would then have to be I mean part of the challenge would be is I'm assuming we would ask the county attorney's office uh then to submit what uh what they wish the ordinance to look like um for that public hearing to be considered and that and that goes to my point so I you know I um you know if we're going to if we're going to hold a public hearing like when this last public hearing was held there was there was a document that was proposed and so if we're going to have another public hearing is the public hearing going to be to determine whether it's that or something else or well I mean that ultimately from a policy standpoint that's up to this board if this board wants to to resend I mean M much of the changes that were implemented were state statute uh and so really really the Crux of what we're talking about is is that one one sentence or couple sentences now the local yeah the local piece so I don't think there would be any option for this board to um change most of that other than that one that one so could you could you if I might miss go ahead so could there be a a motion to amend or resend because you said that would that would cover that would cover um all the possible actions because then if what we're saying we wanted the opportunity for full insight and input that would cover yes because at the end you could you could amend it you could resend it or at the end you may not have the support to change it at all and then it would remain the ordinance that it that that the way it reads now if I if I may to uh try to get somewhere on this and to you know and it's it's unfortunate our County attorney couldn't be here today but he is in a significant trial that's why he's not here today so uh but I you know maybe I have an immediate concern and the immediate concern is this implement mentation as it as it's written today and that timeline and I don't know you know I mean the date of of April 1 was put out there I would like to propose at least in the time being that that that' be moved back to say June 1 um and in in the meantime let's if if we're going to if we're going to hold another public hearing let's understand and and and be able to give the proper direction from a legal standpoint as to how you have to change an ordinance or modify an ordinance I I I don't think there's anything Earth shattering that says we need to do this by February 3rd as long as we have an implementation timeline that that allows these businesses to know they have you know they can continue basically with what they're doing until June 1st instead of April 1st you know so maybe you know you know maybe that can be the first step that we can take uh and that and that way it's it's not coming from a staff member this is coming from the board that says look the board has said as as of the way the ordinance reads right now you have till June 1st that's what I'm proposing you have till June 1st and at that point in time unless there are some changes your product has to be off the shelves uh and then and then in the meantime then we can I think we need to have more dialogue with Brian here to make sure that we set this next public hearing uh commissioner be as you would like to have uh make sure that we do it right and I I I don't we're kind of shooting from the hip here this morning and I don't know that I want to do that M Mr chair Commissioners if there's concern about the protocol I would I would then uh suggest that you don't take any action today that I would then put two separate items on the agenda for next week one um it's the board's wishes to also then address when when the implementation would start from from the um Public Health standpoint and then also to have an additional Dialogue on the motion that uh the motion that commissioner be has made well you know I I don't have a problem with I you know we didn't we didn't advertise any uh dis or today was discussion only but in terms of um the implementation we had no we had no uh discussion on the implementation to begin with and and you know whether we do that today or we do that next week too that's fine or or whenever but I'll I won't I'll be I'll be gone next week but um yes chair yes I want us to contemplate the position we're putting staff in I still hold that this is it's certainly appropriate for the commission to have input and direct staff on how we want this implemented but when we don't de facto they are the ones that have to implement the the legislation that we pass and not today but at least by next week we need to give him some directive commissioner be has indicated he's talked to business people they haven't heard from staff yet well they're not going to hear from staff after today until we give them the parameters there's this expectation of what we expect I think it's legitimate to say if a motion passes to to amend or uh and remove this the the new statute we need to come up with something that brings state law into our statute which this did um that's a whole can of worms that they need to go out and educate the the public on so I would ask that we expedite this to next week and that we bring this forward uh if we're going to have a public meeting we set it but we we do what we need to do to make sure the staff is complying with our expectations and that means it has to be conveyed to them Mr chair commissioner Mojo thank you I know in the past when we've had issues that are um needing um the entire commission's insight I know that our chair will be gone next week as well and so I just would would put that forward for the board's dialogue as well Mr chair commissioner mooso I think even just looking back at our meeting minutes we did alter alter the hearing public hearing date for that reason before so I think that would be consistent with our our past past actions and so um what uh like I said commissioner or excuse me um County attorney Melton has been busy extremely busy uh and and so we've not even had the opportunity to talk much more than a couple phone calls and so uh that would allow time uh that would allow time to uh to uh I guess a couple different weeks I think that based on based on the discussion uh that this board has had and the express concern from a business standpoint I think that um you know your board your action would take place whether it's next next week or two weeks from now uh I think that you've given them an idea of uh of your concerns and so I think from from a standpoint of making a decision uh we would we could do that in in two weeks or three weeks depending on again the rest of I know that we have a busy we have a busy uh time off schedule here for for some of our commissioners so I guess my my point is earlier in your dialogue you said that you could present something next Tuesday for the board to vote on what they what they liked and I I don't know where we stand here but that would mean that there would be four with the potential of a tie correct yeah commissioner Krab left so just two matters number one two matters uh going back for the ordinance so so going back to the packet that we all received that day on December 17th the ordinance was all laid out there and the only uh if you car to take note uh it would involve the one line as far as the flavored tobacco Zin section s prohibited sales and in regard of number c flavored products and it states what we were handed no person shall sell or offer any sale of any flavored products again because we talk to people that's what's written that's what we were given Public Health when they came over came and uh talked to us or excuse me test or testified they had rolled out two options in other words excluding mental cigarettes and cheering tobacco once again so that language is the only change that has been um you know if we're going to amend I guess or something that's to me the one that we should be um dealing with the rest of it has already been up to updates the the other matter I want to talk about is the roll out you know I've read it in the form I haven't heard it from our people why are we trying to rate at something we even we haven't even heard yet so they're here today maybe they want to tell us are you asking them uh if that would help this group today yes I you know I read the form article once figed we'd be talking about it and I trust what they do but I'd rather hear it from our staff than media so yes if you give a consideration second to yourself commissioner excuse me uh chair Campbell and commissioner uh Commissioners which question there's been a lot of questions that have been asked um I've been trying to keep track as we go which question are you asking me specifically to answer I would just tell us about the roll out what you would intended in the roll out absolutely um so when we uh this I brought the ordinance as well when we gave out the packet um if you look at the very back page on effective date section 14 um it does State immediately that the ordinance becomes effective on the date of its publication or upon the publication of a summary of the ordinance um so that was has always been I've I've worked I worked on the last ordinance that we did a long time ago um I've worked on many ordinances throughout the county and each time ordinances have always implemented immediately but enforcement has always been something that we've been very mindful of um one of the things I've learned after a decade of doing um Tobacco Control is that we need need to consider businesses in this we need to consider the product that they have um in their store right because they're they're ordering ahead of time so while Youth and health are always going to be public Health's Focus we we want to protect them we don't want to make an onerous burden also on those businesses um so as far as as what we wanted to do internally we talked about enforcement giving at least three months um we sent an email we we talked about it we sent an email we sent an email to to administrator Larson to commissioner ebinger and commissioner C kinof like this is what we would like to do what do you think um what we um heard back commissioner C enough talked with our our County attorney Brian Melton um who's told us it's an administrative decision yes that is that you guys can enforce it that way so that is a direction that we went with and so um we had a um uh request to give information um to The Forum that is why we proceeded as well because something I'm very aware of is as I'm I'm not a director I'm I'm down the totem pole so I don't want to be speaking for the for the county out on my own um but please do understand that our our goal is always to try to give the um the time for those businesses to be able to sell the product off to give that uh uh kind of a balance and a fairness while also promoting health for our our community um I believe um commissioner beay had had mentioned that I haven't reached back out I have had a couple of uh emails that have come from different businesses asking like when is implementation we we've been holding those until this email got out so we're in the process of making those those contacts back out that's very good uh uh point because we don't want to leave anyone standing um wondering can I sell this can I not we recognize that most of our our businesses do want to follow the law they're not out there trying to do something wrong um and so um if it hasn't been if the if the call backs haven't been fast enough I do apologize we've been definitely been trying to do so one of the other things that I learned after the fact on this and I and I can't remember if it was through a through an media article or not but this basically pertains to 11 establishments in Clay County is that correct correct is that was that was that did that a public hearing or was that did I get that someplace else that might have been in the the form article I don't believe the number of businesses were ever asked during the public hearing okay so um so in terms of the implement ation timeline um as as you've noticed today there's concern among some Commissioners about about the ordinance itself um in the meantime the the timeline that's been out there and I believe the April 1 date was something that you provided to The Forum is that correct correct a after speaking with yeah my supervisor and my yeah yeah so whatever I mean you probably consulted somebody to yes yes uh do you do you do you have an issue if that date was was April 1 versus June 1 not at all not at all we we and again I again I I and I propose that June one to give a little bit more time not NE not necessarily you know because as we're as we start talking about early February here holding you know the just the time timelines that are involved uh maybe maybe we're not going to be ready to even have a public hearing based on what direction we we'd want to go within the the you know the details for the public hearing that's that's that's the point I'm trying to make is I'm trying to allow the the appropriate time here you know if if if there's a if there's going to be a a motion in the future to hold another public hearing I want to know what the details of what the scope of that public hearing is going to be about just a minute and and at the same point in time I don't want to be under the gun right like I felt we were under the gun on December 17th to vote on that ordinance and so that we can have the appropriate amount of time necessary to do it and to do it right and to allow the um appropriate people to be involved but I I I still think that that if we could just go out to these and out to these 11 businesses and say this you know and and reach out to them say this is what was past and you know and you know we'd like to see something by June one instead of April 1 and that allows us to uh the time to have the proper dialogue about what change if any this board wants to see commissioner abinger yeah we don't need a motion we've done the past that sounds great to me I think we need to see if there's a consensus here and give our staff some sort of Direction um rightly or wrongly they've had to make these decisions on their own and if we want to have them advis the merchants that are impacted by this that June 1 will be the the potential start and even including your contact that there is a discussion on and to to to keep on top of it and as we make developments let them know what those developments are and if there's a public hearing let them know when it is but by consensus I think we can do this and what one of the discussions we've had here is about the businesses you know and and how prior ordinances have been done I I don't know that there's been an ordinance in the history of Clay County that's banned a particular uh item that legal I don't know that that's ever been done within within the county you know so to to allow the appropriate amount of time and to allow these businesses that time I you know whether it's a consensus or or not I you know I think we need to move on um and I I guess I would just ass soon see a motion be made directing staff to to put the word out on uh June 1 is the date for right now with the idea in mind that that future discussion is going to be had on the ordinance I don't know if we have we don't have a motion on the floor this well we that's what I want to step in we right now we do still have a motion even though we've it was never seconded he resed I resed it he rescinded his motion thank you I'm I'll make the motion for June 1st if if the floor is open for that all right so your motion would be to have a implementation timeline for the ordinance previously approved ordinance at for June 1 and our Public Health uh contact the affected Merchants apprise them of that and deprise them of any any developments we make Public Health aware of that needs to go out let the let the communication start we have a motion is there a second we have a motion and a second is there any further discussion on the motion Mr chair yes commissioner moel I um while May um provide a consensus for what's being had we not be voting on this because we did not advertise that any action would be taken all right any further discussion and I and I I I might note too that there's often times that we do have things that are brought up sometimes even within committee reports what all timately end up with the motion uh to act on that it isn't advertised you know I think the I think the fact that this is just um expanding on a timeline for the benefit of of our commercial establishments that are impacted by this ordinance I think it's something that needs to be sent to them so I have a question for staff if it's not not on the agenda can we make motions and act on things U we we have generally the policy has been that we don't with if there's funding money that's that's connected to that uh and so we we have we have taken I I mean I feel in of the two issues before this commission today um there was not a because as part of the the the policy you are the you're the ru makers right and so from the standpoint of from uh rolling this out uh standpoint um you have the authority to at any point to determine what what that would be and so I I I don't believe that there would be any concern with with addressing this during this meeting and and I might point out and and our administrator is correct I I know typically we we don't like to uh we don't like to um act on things that aren't but especially when there's uh Financial there's dollars involved if the if if we're uh acting if there's motion made to spend money for example and that hasn't been advertised we don't it's been our course not to do that uh I I like again I can state that I know there's times that through our committee reports we report on something and then a motion is made uh to act on I I I appreciate commissioner Mojo's concern that it wasn't uh you know actually stated in here uh but in all fairness to the commercial entity I think I think the direction is is probably appropriate to move forward and I think just just to clarify the I mean the ordinance is in in effect what essentially the motion would have to be is that the enforcement would not take place until June 1st and that's and that's what the motion in the second States all right any further discussion if we have a descent I think we'll do a roll call vote Comm commissioner kraban yes commissioner Mojo no commissioner Campbell yes commissioner beay yes commissioner ebinger yes motion carried all right and so um and then I as I mentioned uh next week I'm going to be gone but I think we we're going to probably then uh need to have um put in place an agenda at a future date when all five Commissioners can be here to establish what if any type of a new ordinance or what a new public hearing what we'd be asking for in that public hearing process I think that's we need to have that dialogue so we're going to basically be passing over the same thing again but correct so so just for clarification for staff perspective uh at that public hearing we would be providing the ordinance as it reads uh right now uh in the in the board agenda item um board agenda item for that first day we would be coming back asking um for for clarification of um repeal amend uh and then looking at setting setting the date because the board would have to the board although it although we we've talked about it the board still has to take action to set the public hearing date and it sounds like we're not comfortable doing that today so we can present the ordinance has it read reads um uh several weeks from now um I guess that and and then again um we I'll reach out to you because I know that you each have busy schedules uh and then we'll set the date at that meeting one one place to start and it goes back to my comments on December 17th after the public hearing was held and be before the vote was taken one of the concerns I had is I never got to see a red line version of of what had what was and what is uh so I didn't know what we're yet you know commissioner Krab said all as it was is one line I don't know that I don't know that because I didn't see a complete comparison about what the changes were were okay then then we should know what those are so and it should be done in a Redline version so that we know what all the changes are Kathy M so do we have a do we have a motion still no that okay all right oh yeah that is all right Kathy okay I just just a couple um things I want to clarify um as far as the um implementation time frame yes we did hear um Brian commission or uh Brian Milton our County attorney stating it didn't require board action that we could determine that so um and Jason didn't do that solo I just want to confirm that he did concur um with myself so you know I take the heat so that that maybe shouldn't have happened before it went out into the um media we tried to communicate that but clearly wasn't the case so I um I'll take responsibility for for that um um getting out before we had discussion with everyone I also um did want to say in preparation for the ordinance I know that Jason and Rory tried to reach out to all of you um individually to have some communication I know it didn't work for for a couple of you but he they really intended to communicate with all of you um commissioner beay wasn't part of that obviously but um before that um discussion about the ordinance so um they were making the attempts to make sure that everybody understood what we were going to talk about so um I know that sometimes um uh the schedules didn't work out for aoup on that piece we have to be really careful about circumventing the committee process in open meeting violations and so it becomes a daisy chain accidentally if someone were to say I did respond to Rory specifically on that and he were to have shared something that one not that he did I'm just saying something that one of the other Commissioners did say and so then it's an insight to me that violates the public compos opponent and so the reason I didn't respond is I I get really nervous about that um and so I Rely really heavily on the conversations we have at this board um this committee does or commission does do work sessions and maybe this could have been a better opportunity for that so um in justifying why um it had nothing to do with schedule I just knew that this could be a controversial topic and I did not want to do that you know and I and I do you know I do going back to some of the comments that commissioner eringer made and I I do understand that that we have a role in here and we you know we establish what the rules or the laws are sort of speak and then we have we depend on our staff to implement those um you know maybe there was a an error on all sides and not understanding uh the implementation piece of that component uh I don't I don't know that any apologies need to be out there terms of of of that but I but I you know instead of instead of that just you know now that now that it's been brought to everybody's attention we've had we've had business people contacting certain Commissioners saying what's the date what's the deal with the state and the states and U and so now now the nice thing about it is what motion was carried here you can go to those people and you can say you know the board is given the board is given you the opportunity to have till June 1 um you know unless some other action happens in the future um yeah and I I guess we've kind of beat this to death this morning Mr chair and Commissioners I'm happy to talk about and and maybe for commissioner Bear's um um understanding about kind of public Health's role and what our responsibilities are in our community including policies um um and other things so if there's um if you would like me to talk a bit more doesn't have to be today um but another time about our responsibilities and and kind of what we do in the community and why um and what and what we do for all of our citizens I'm happy to kind of talk about that good and then um maybe Jason just moving forward and I and again I I you know in in terms of getting ready for the next public hearing if there's going to be one and more information that comes out there and and one of the one of the questions that I asked is you know you know and there was an awful lot of um the public comment that were there were directed at kids and children right and and how these flavored things entice them to I still I still want to know how they're getting it now you know what what what what can what can how can that be addressed I I mean we can we can just say well we just you know the fact of the matter is when I ask that question I just I asked it on online here yes flavored Vapes can be purchased online however Federal state laws restrict the sale of flavored Vapes online retailers often violate these violate these laws you know I you know if we so if we you know if you really want to solve the problem uh Klay County's ordinance isn't going to do it it's there's got to be there's got to be other areas that are going to come into play and Mr chair and Commissioners it's would be similar to how our underage kids getting alcohol I mean think yeah you know there's certainly people that are going to purchase for kids but do we ban alcohol no um no we don't um the the fact of the matter is with um tobacco it's just a there's no health benefit whatsoever it Gravely affects People's Health so does and when kids start but when kids start you know you got cardiovascular disease they have asthma in kids um and I think uh commissioner karabanov mentioned even the mental health pie so there's nothing about tobacco and nicotine so you're right and we don't know how they're getting it we assume that people are buying it legally and then um getting it to their to the underage um kids all right very good so um Paul will'll do one more comment and then we're going to move on just free uh again uh the heat isn't all on you you didn't have to say that uh I'm a piece of this too communication there was a lapse and uh you know we should have done it better so I'm not going to let you take all the heat it's okay oh no yeah we don't want to point fingers we want to point things in the right direction so just a quick clarification since we're going to prepare for setting a date for another public hearing is it um to to commissioner Mojo's questions to make sure I don't do something incorrect here um it I always work with with commissioner Eiger and commissioner kraban because they're on our committee can we meet with the other three Commissioners individually to have conversation so that we can share with you and answer some of these questions that you might have I imagine each of you have individual questions as well because there's a lot of different things that go into this ordinance different things that can be done and if if ultimately flavored tobacco is not the uh the will of the the commission there are other things that can be done as well that we could present to you okay and that and and again I I I'm not a real fan of of Staff uh maybe who were working on promoting one thing to uh have being having individual conversations with board members uh out you know out and again I you know I um to me it might be a way to gauge if you have the support or not to do something uh you know and and you know I these these things to me should just be done through through a what you do in your normal committee things as was mentioned way early on where you put it through these committees and the Committees can have a recommendation that comes before this board uh but we typically and like in my highway tracking committee and solid waste we I we don't don't have our staff going in on any issue that's coming before the board we don't have individuals going in and for a lack of a better term lobbying uh for a particular ordinance or just I I I and I'm speaking for myself I don't I don't I don't really think that's appropriate so yes commission uh providing some sort of um perspective and um Ed educational component certainly can go through our administrator and come to us but I said earlier I think that um Sometimes the best legislation comes out of hearing from as many voices as possible and this could potentially be something that makes more sense coming to a work session this is what the board this is why we started those is to make sure in a environment that we're not um making decisions on WE the entire board has the opportunity to provide insight to the crafting of a project so and maybe that can still even be done before we even determine on on what another public hearing would be and that's another reason why June 1 so maybe we could have a a work session on this to have the you know have some more dialogue um Mr Mr chair U Commissioners how our how our system is set up right now is the the board chair has the authority to have a work session if it would seem from a from a stepping standpoint if we're going to have a rather than set a public hearing if the wishes of this board is to have a have a uh work session it would seem that we would it would be beneficial to set that first yeah and and again I you know we can we can talk afterwards right right now um right now that the idea has been to what what what would go on to a future agenda to create this uh but maybe a maybe a first step can be a a work session all right with this again it goes back to this June 1st date that I talked about if we have that if we move that back a little bit it allows for the proper time to dialogue what do we really want to accomplish here uh we have a a different board now uh than than was in place on December 17th and um yeah it's thank you for coming today it's we we'll see we'll see what develops all right we'll go back to um committee reports I think the only one you were all done right okay um my committee reports are as follows on January 7th we had a diversion Authority planning meeting [Music] um and we we had some more information that's going to be coming out on the classification and compensation study that's now complete for diversion employees um originally we had that that presentation was going to come to the Planning Commission in February with the idea in mind then then it would go to the full board for consideration uh as it stands now that uh that information might be available sooner and it might go directly before the diversion Board of authority on I think is the 23rd of January yeah it's that whatever that Thursday is i that's that's a Thursday yeah so that that compensation uh might might be I don't I can't see it it might be on the agenda uh for that date for discussion uh we did talk about we talked a little bit more about the 2025 governance plan um we got a co-executive director update I believe our new uh our new manager of the uh diversion Authority is going to be back and in place sometime in February early February yeah February second I think yeah and it was uh very uh disappointing news that we got about um our lands committee lead Jodie is leaving to go work for the state of North Dakota she will really be missed U she's done an awful lot of really good things on behalf of both the MCC jpa and the uh C County Joint Water Resource District as well is really trying to negotiate in good faith with all of the land owners that have been involved so I wish her well in her future role on Wednesday the 8th we had a um dispatch uh budget and finance committee meeting and basically went over um the 2024 budget and it's I think it's kind of in line with what we anticipated there still is a few outstanding U bills that need to be paid and revenues coming in so but it's nothing Earth shattering there and and then um we did approve the continuing our second Wednesday of every month for that board meeting or that meeting to for the budget committee um Thursday the 9th I attended the Lakes Country service Cooperative meeting meting in Fergus Falls it was nice to see U newly elected board member Scott stus was uh on behalf of Mor at schools is now going to be on that board I think he'll add a lot of good Insight on on School District issues um as um there is some work being done on establishing a new location for a school in Morehead that Prairie Lakes like similar to ones that Prairie Lakes has or Lakes Country excuse me has in Fergus Falls and Alexandria and these are for a um I believe there's I think there's like eight or 10 kids right now that are bust daily from Morehead to Fergus Falls to for that school because there's and that used to be I think it was was more than the S program but um these are for kids with real significant needs outside of the normal uh School curriculum and so um so we're looking at a they're looking at a potential site here in Morehead uh and I think right now they're I asked the question what what's the long-term goal in terms of a square foot of capacity on something like this and so uh one of the there is a short-term goal of maybe 12 to 15 students But ultimately they'd like to have the capacity maybe for as many as 30 some kids from Morhead have the ability this is something that it's my understanding that Brandon lunic supports as well and and uh so we we we ended up we did put Scott stephus on the on the building committee so he'll I think he'll do a good job on that and trying to help find a solution for our morid kids so they're not traveling so far uh to to have that education on January uary 9th we had the diversion Board of authority meeting I commissioner abinger reported on that and I don't really have anything to add um that all the Committees were established on the 8th excuse me going back to the 8th uh we did have a um as um commissioner bear had reported him and I along with Steve met with Greg and mark from um West Central initiative excuse me and we're uh obviously we're we're looking for as I'd mentioned in a previous meeting that our $300,000 planning budget planning for um legal and Engineering is just about up and so we're looking for additional planning dollars and so we met with West Central initiative and and we kindly asked of them for like $300,000 in planning money they were you they were very I mean they're they're really encouraged about what we're doing they think this is a tremendous idea uh that's out there for uh and the and understanding the need um Greg Wagner was you know very very good and Mark was um he was he was really they were really looking an awful lot of different directions we're trying to so it's good to have them they're going to be working hard on our behalf to try to find additional planning dollars for this for this project yes U Mark um oh gosh you had to ask yes with yeah with West Central initiative yeah yeah it's uh yeah I've got his last name here too and I I can't even okay um so and then so then uh after that then we we did go one of the one of the things that um one of the things that we were trying to do as a board for um what central regional water is to reach out to all of our small cities within clay well not within all three uh counties and so part of the process is uh you know we started the process and a meeting was set up by Steven slick and Lucas spaith our board chair to meet with Holly and and so on that that afternoon uh commissioner bar and I attended along with and we were kind of there to hear what the presentation was going to be between Lucas and step they did a really nice job and and going a little bit further into what than what Ezra reported you know we're we're trying to determine what small what are the interests of the small cities when it comes to Rural Water whether are they are they looking or would they be looking at the potential of being a supplier of water you know so your communities like Holly might be able to do that where your where your communities such as ul and Felton would not be able to do that and so so we met with and there there was I mean there there was very a lot of positive feedback from them in terms of this process and they I think they're they certainly understand the the issue that's that's there with the poor water quality that's in a lot of the rural areas and you know I I they kind of expressed in that early stages that they'd be interested in being a supplier of water uh for you know and so then it's they'd have to determine what geographical outlined area they could handle in terms of capacities and those types of things so it was a really good meeting it was a good start and I think if we if we meet with all these other cities and we have that same uh sort of I I think that's going to really really push this thing forward and as Greg and Mark both said from West Central initiative these this makes a lot of sense even for some of these small communities are going it's going to be very difficult for them to deal in the future with their own Water Systems U on their own so that was a really good meeting and that concludes my report Steve uh thank you Mr chair on the eth part participated in County management uh we welcomed anda Anna to our management team so it's great to have her on board uh we talked about the intergovernmental Retreat uh legislative priorities are upcoming Clay County management Retreat and and received update from Darren and Anna on some HR issues uh on the eth I also had a department head evaluation and participated uh in the West Central initiative meeting that's been well covered by commissioner Campbell and commissioner beay also participated in the flood mitigation uh meeting with the chamber and City Morehead which has been covered by commissioner Mojo um last week I've spent considerable amount of time either on the pre-design uh owners report for our prtf we have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow uh that we we want to have that completed as part of our packet as we move forward for funding um um on the ninth and 10th was uh with commissioner crin Hoff participated in the mayak quarterly meeting again on the 9th had the opportunity to meet several tribal chairs and presidents uh and talk about uh talk about what's uh our Pro our program and how we feel that it could be impact imp acting on all of our residents uh and then on the the 10th participated in the presentation with Steven Summers uh and commissioner kraban off uh as was mentioned I think that overall it was well well received we appreciate representative Keeler for uh for providing us the the opportunity and the platform to uh to discuss that and making introductions to several of the people uh that we met I think um as was as was said it was great to see the engagement of that of the committee uh and the great questions that they had and so uh we'll continue to work with them in any way that we can as was mentioned if they want us to come and present to their individual tribal Nations uh we' said we'd be happy to do that uh on the 13th uh again worked on the the the uh prtf documentation and also uh working on the MMB documentation uh for the prtf if uh one of the requirements for federal or state funding is if we're not part of the tour we have to complete them more the MMB documentation so I was able to submit that yesterday uh for consideration um yesterday I also met with Joe uh for considerable amount of time and looking at their strategic planning uh for uh for the the courthouse uh there Joe's I think has talked that he's been working closely with the Department of Corrections uh Court Court Administration uh even attorneys public defenders about trying to make this a True Justice Center and I think that I think I know that from a building committee standpoint that's going to be something that we're going to uh take a take another look at here in uh in in January uh or early February um one of the things just wanted to touch baseed on commissioner moo stated earlier that the legislative session starts and so hopefully we'll uh have a productive session um one of the other points that along along that uh that way Morehead day at the capital with the with the um chamber has been been as a final date now of March 4th and 5th on the evening the evening of the 4th There's an opportunity to get together uh with legislators and then and and the fifth uh be at the capital and so I think given the stance that we have I know that we've gone uh to the more dat at to Capital different times I think would be beneficial uh for for for uh for us to have our two two Representatives I did talk to uh commissioner Campbell he's going to be unavailable at that that date and so we would be looking to along with commissioner moo i' be looking to have another commissioner participate yeah I we did talk I did talk with Steve about that yesterday and I you know I think when we're if we're there and it's legislative issues and I this board has kind of leaned on commissioner Mojo and kravinoff to handle that and so I believe the appropriate person to go in my in my place would be Paul um that's correct yes okay and then and Mr chair would that be with PDM and mileage or would that just fall underneath his his legislative piece yeah well what nor he would just be taken my place so whatever I got he would okay um and then just a a reminder we have our Eda EDC meeting uh today at 1M and then just uh just here while we were talking I received an email training opportunity from Bowser um they're going to be have a having a water district um refresher they call it for any crint uh or new Commissioners uh to attend they're offering it two separate times obviously we couldn't have everybody go but if there's any interest uh please let me know and I will uh I'll forward the information out to you if there anybody interested it's a refresher that means you get to jump in Lake 15 next week Ezra are you are are you signed up for that send the information we do all right he do a nice job I yeah I think if it's information I don't Paul I I think you're well well tuned on that up U then that concludes my report thank you Jackie didn't I did you come have a request or something earlier regarding commissioner information on a website or something you want yes yep yep we've updated the commissioner page um so yeah there was a just a question um with regards to adding some additional information if you'd like about each of you so we have each your pages now um up there in the districts map the yeah each map and then a list of your districts and then um um your committee assignments as well so all right I'm sure commissioner AB you're going to put on there that you're a hog fan this year not as big a fan as our new commissioner here commissioner bear I was referring to the sports [Laughter] all right my little boy is not a Vikings fan anymore he just was um neither is this big boy he was just it's too soon gang introduced to the Heartbreak that is being a Vikings fan it's just too soon let's not talk about it I still more purple today and you know anyway yeah all right any so Darren you got anything else for us just a reminder we're having the buffer program uh meeting after this one oh um it's uho and commissioner Bear all right very good with that we are adjourned