##VIDEO ID:TzIujO_U4Rs## 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 e e e e e e e e e morning it's 8:30 and I'm going to call the Clay County Board of Commissioners meeting for September 10th 2024 to order first first thing on the agenda is approval of the agenda I'll offer a motion to approve the agenda as presented second have a motion the second any discussion if not all in favor of the motion say I I I oppose same sign motion passes next we have um citizens to be be heard do we have any citizens uh present who want to address any issue that's not on today's agenda Steve do we have anybody remote we do not Mr chair okay next approval of payment of bills and vouchers Mo approve I'll second the motion have motion to Second all in favor say I I oppose same sign before we go further in the agenda just want to welcome commissioner gross back we've been we've been like a ship of that or other here for a few weeks and it's good to have you back with us Frank thank you coming up we have uh request for approval of Housing and Redevelopment Authority HRA of Clay County I'm sorry or yes that is I've got my packet mixed up going up ladies have Don bacon and dar Lee with Clay County h good morning chair Commissioners um I'm sure it feels like you just saw us a little bit ago and so we are coming back um with our actual request for consent to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority Levy for 2025 that was approved by the Clay County HRA Board of Commissioners in August if you'll recollect at our conversation at the Joint meeting we discussed that the Housing Authority board had determined a minimum amount for ongoing operations to be $350,000 um given concerns expressed we went back and sharpened some more um pencils and dug a little deeper and have reduce that request to 300,000 along with the request for consent to repurpose some of the state affordable housing aid that was awarded to Klay County HRA through an RFP process last year we have had savings on that um primarily due to a reduction and costs on the anticipated cost to reroof uh Agy apartments in Ulan Minnesota for two reasons uh I had budgeted um conservatively concerned about ongoing inflation in that area and those costs had stabilized and then our contractor accidentally put down put on one level lower um shingle quality and so we received a 10% reduction in cost due to that so we are requesting those two items um as you will note the Housing Authority has already undertaken a number of measures to try to increase revenues as well as decreased costs um we've um reduced our Workforce through attrition by approximately 12% we have worked on um eliminating programs that were unable to be self- sustaining over the long term we have Consolidated programs to make them more efficient we have taken over the management of the Morehead uh public housing agency which generates revenue of approximately $800,000 per year although there are of course accompanying costs associ assciated with that and we are looking at long-term sustainability of a few of the properties by trying to adjust the type of subsidy that is provided in those units in both our UL Ulin development and then we are taking a look at the hogi Estates development subsidy in Dilworth so I am happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding this request for consent questions commission Mojo thank you uh thank you for the presentation and the recap both of you I want to go a little bit back to our discussion that we had at our work session about the billion historic housing funding that was signed into law a year ago and the the the gates that may be in place to slow the trickle to agencies um from that uh you identified any funds that you would be allocated and two if have they come in um as we discussed before for the relief for affordable housing fund we have received an allocation of $15,600 to be applied towards hogia Estates sharp View Apartments in Morhead Minnesota has been awarded $1.4 million we have the RFP is anticipated to be released in November but we have been um designated to receive over $ 86,000 through the bring itome Minnesota rental assistance program um as you know for Clay County those State affordable housing aid which was part of that have been awarded for 23 24 and 25 and uh the rest is still to come there have been some uh homeowner options released that is typically um funneled through the private banks in the form of low interest loans to low-income populations so in terms of those have you been given any inclination as to when they'll come in uh I am unable to give you an no I don't know except for the 800 some thousand which we anticipate hopefully is operational by next late spring early summer so is that typical for funds to be allocated and then 24 months later come in depending upon the funding source uh I would say it typically takes six months to 18 months on average thank you other questions Mr are are there two requests here one is the 300 and the other one is the those other funds uh commissioner Campbell yes that is correct um whether or not it needs formal commission approval to reallocate I don't know but I think it does as a m as a matter of fact it has to be another RFP if if my understanding is correct I think Mr chair commissioner commissioner Campbell I think we're talking about two things uh you're talking you're talking about the additional Saha 2025 numbers and you're talking about reallocating the 2024 I I'm talking about things that have already been awarded to the HRA oh okay and they they weren't used in 2024 so you want to use them in 2025 is that correct um we had savings um that came out of our budget for the 23 and 24 U funds and the other portion of that is that the legislature retroactively changed the uses for the 2024 funds and expanded those eligible uses so there was a change legislatively as well as cost savings so that's that 40,000 he was talking about 4,140 or 4,414 is that an action that we need to take as a board or is that in internal I think you as a board you delegated those funds for for usage based on the RFP I think that Miss Lee and Miss Bacon are bringing it forward to to show the board that there were some additional dollars that were saved and that they would they would look to you to um approve their continuing to utilize those funds for other projects so yes so we're looking at two two separate motions here I I think there's just one uh maybe I'm R the ly unless we're the other part do we need the but I mean it it depends on from a clean cleanup standpoint I mean you've already made the the allocation of the funding uh and so um so if I can so so on the original allocation of the funding it was meant to be used in 2024 that and so now it's my understanding that that because of other savings they didn't need to use all that money in 2024 is is that a my yeah um uh commissioner Campbell if I may um no there was no um time frame I believe it was up to four years actually to use the funds it's just that we're changing the use of funds and I would defer to the county attorney and County Administrator on whether that requires formal action those funds have been awarded through an RFP process to Clay County well then maybe we should just get that straightened out uh and give give our attorney or whatever time to review that that I think the thing that we're under critical time frame on is the is the part where deals with the levy outside of the levy whether we we do an extension or modify the previous actions isn't Tim restricted like what we have to do today no but it did in Impact our board's decision to be able to reduce that Levy request from 350 down to 300,000 um I just would like to point out that our overall budget increase we were able to keep at a 3.6% increase across the board for our budget which I believe is less than uh other government entities I was told that on average across Minnesota it was at 8% um and we were only able to keep it at that level uh by asking for these reallocations um I took the conservative approach and put it in here um I I'm not I'm not I'm not suggesting that we would not reapproved component of what's already been dedicated to your use but just just to from the standpoint of making sure that that we've done it the correct way I I I'm not for one minute suggest that we do the 300,000 today and then oh next week we're say oh sorry darl you're not going to get the other money that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about just making sure that we follow the proper protocol in in how we previously allocated that money and I do think commissioner Campbell uh Mr chair it would be cleaner just to have a vote on both I think that would be better so I I don't know if the board wants to handle both those today or not but it would be cleaner just to make sure that's CLE clear how that money is being allocated and when you say both this would not be one motion it would be two no we need two two and the 68,000 Saha funds were advertised in the agenda packet so we could take action on it today thank you well for sure I I guess I'll make a motion to approve the um for them to to collect a special benefit tax of 300,000 we have a second sake a discussion I'm going to second that motion discussion I'll just make comments uh you know I I look at homelessness and I look at the the work that they do and what I've learned over the last three four five months and and how the eff of Co how the effect of the state having have a moratorium on on uh on leases you know affecting totally wiped out their reserves over the last number of years I I don't quite understand why would wouldn't um as we have you know she's gone in deep de detail the use of the money how they're doing it I think we have to have a place to help them succeed and if they don't have any reserves what they you know where they going to go from here we need to be able to Li them so that they succeed to get these properties they they've already talked about during our work group how they repurpose uh re um renovating hogi how they've already redone the work up in uland so that people that did get evicted and destroyed the properties they got them back in order so that they can get rent on the books again and um that's my side of it I just uh I I think we need to put them in position to succeed and I hope they do and we won't down the road you know if they get these other grants and whatnot you know they won't be in this position but I everybody needs a little something to bat themselves on so you know my observation there is some discomfort on with the commission through the throughout the commission with some of the stuff we find out late and even in your presentation we get get the income of what uh Moree heads public housing produces but we're given no idea what the expenses are going to be and a lot of that particularly the highrise are of concern and if the city of Morehead it is a Morehead issue and if the city of Morehead wants to fund and maintain those premises that's fine I don't know if we need to assume their liabilities and I think there's some general concern that it's not what we're hearing it's what we don't hear and we don't hear it until later um so there is discomfort with this chair Iger if I can uh clarify that sure we have assumed no liabilities for the Morehead public housing agency um on the properties that they are own that they own and so we are happy to share at any point in time if we are proposing that that would change right now we are simply managing the properties and the only expenses associated with that to the Housing Authority the the Clay County Housing Authority are Staffing and administrative expenses Dar you you did you did have it in your goals though yes it is take it over um it's a five-year process and and uh we will certainly keep you informed along that way our goal is to have the buildings renovated prior to that and to have them taken out of the traditional public housing realm and repurposed so that they are Income generating prior to any acquisition of those properties so we shall do our best to keep you informed for every step along the way but at this point in time there is no ownership of those properties nor is there any Financial liability on behalf of the Clay County h i i i just want to comment on and commissioner karov I appreciate your comments I you know and you you mentioned the homelessness and all those issues that are that go on and and part of my argument that I always make is is you know to to put that the solution to all that on counties and on property tax I think is wrong uh I think the the appropriate entities who should who should be stepping up or the states because because all of a sudden if you start putting it down on individual counties if one County starts to do something to really do some things then then the availability of that is going to come from other County people from other counties are going to come there you got to you got to have a solution that's going to work no matter what county you're in and the funding mechanism has to come from what county you're in and not to use the most regressive form of tax that you can have to solve that problem that's that's that's all I'm talking about I'm not one bit I agree that that we have issues with housing and especially affordable housing and and homelessness um it's just that everybody seems to look at property tax as the last answer and it should be the absolute last answer I'm going I'll I'll support this motion further discussion commissioner Mojo thank you I just want to talk a little bit about the fact that we have you heard our suggestion about having by anual meetings so that we could be updated meet with your board ask questions about projects or be more in the loop so I really do appreciate that and and two I I we're all dealing with fiveyear plans and what looks best and how things can change and certainly we're um very well aware about dealing with older buildings particularly the one uh to s to the south of this building we are doing our best to renovate that but we also realize that as buildings Age The Big Ticket items really linger out there and so uh that's where our concerns about the high-rise may be certainly um what I really appreciate about the HRA is you're doing work in all corners of the county and I think that's really important to note I think the um the homework starts at home piece is really important and our community would really rally about around knowing what that is and so Kudos there my my huge frustration is uh really more targeted towards State designated funding and how it um really forces you to just be in this this pattern of unknown and so you have programs and projects and needs that you're planning for just like you're planning with your Five-Year Plan on how to mitigate that with this magical billion dollars in housing funds which is fantastic if it's getting to the local entities that need it um so just to have this you know bureaucratic red tape if you will to actually access the funds is is really a disservice to the agencies that do the work um I will say in regards to your request it is um being uh fiscally conservative I will say in regards to what other entities throughout the state are doing uh I like that you have um been cautious and came back with an additional fund you know a number for us so I appreciate that I appreciate that you're looking at ways to save money within the projects that you are doing I think that we can continue to work with you on on how to um manage or maybe deal with a clientele that is drr destructive uh I think you're coming to that um awareness unfortunately that sometimes that just isn't going to be a mutually benefiting agreement so I appreciate your proactive stance on that um and you know I I it's never uh in an easy thing to ask for additional funds for the projects um but given what your requests are I I do support this and I do support uh reallocating that $68,000 for additional projects because of the savings but with that I will say we need to take a really proactive stance to advocate for funds if the community and the state at large knew how many dollars are being held in transition when there are children that are homeless getting on school buses at homeless centers we should be outraged you know I again yes commission Campbell um more good comments um and I share those comments I I you know I I'm a little concerned I was more concerned not so much with your financial request today but with that 5 your goal and I there was an item on there that quite frankly really concerns me and I I look across the river and I see where two similar type buildings over the last few years have been taken down and they've been taken down because they were that they were old and just not worthy of being redone uh I you know I would I would encourage and and a lot of that was done not with local dollars uh and and what's nice about it is where those are going down you can it's something new is coming back up that's supposed to also still help and I would encourage you know every effort being made to um you know compare the cost of remodeling that thing to uh looking at what and I think it was the Housing Authority on the Fargo side that did that and how they were able to um obtain those funds to get rid of an old thing that quite frankly I think it's going to be hard to make that thing last another 50 years so but that's anyway I'm I'm I just I just think that that's something that should be seriously looked at chair ringer commissioner Campbell um I just want you to know that as tenants at the family service center there are more fundamental issues with that building than there are with the high-rise I can assure you uh having uh officed in both locations that there are ongoing issues even though there have been significant Investments made into that we have analyzed those issues because I agree with you completely there's no use of throwing good money into bad um and although it might not be the most attractive building at this time its bones are good we are not in the same position as the Fargo H was in that they were able to um convince HUD that it was no longer a usable building we would not be in that position because all of our internal and Donna is going to be an expert at this compared to me but our boilers are new our elevators are new our water risers are new it's the bones that are new and because of those funds that we're waiting for to get released by the state um we are hoping to do another $6 million towards windows and doors but we're really down to windows and doors and facade and so we hear your concerns we've had engineers in there we've had architects in there and we will have this ongoing conversation over the next five years to see where we can get that but um I hear and understand what you're saying about old buildings in the family service center and the Fargo highrise but this property is not in that same condition but uh we are looking at every option including repurposing that land and looking for some re Revenue generating opportunities and I would also just say it's the federal government is much as the state as far as what we're waiting for to get some funds out the door Commission off just and maybe it was a lot maybe you just answered it but I was um wondering um you have a state Coalition you work with yes and what's the name of that the Min the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment officials otherwise known as Minnesota Naro okay thank you and because I didn't want to say it uh so anyway I'm just is this tell us what's going on to commissioner Mojo's Point what is that group doing what are other groups doing to try to help them move I mean they're certainly aware correct chair commissioner kavanov yes um I am the immediate past president of Minnesota Naro and the co- legislative chair of that entity and we have advocated strongly for more federal and state involvement with these programs programs par particularly the ongoing support of the public housing entities that were created by the federal government uh Senator Smith is introducing legislation this week regarding fully uh funding the um outstanding backlogs of capital needs of these types of projects and we can continue to educate on this issue and encourage those resources to be made available as we all know there's a a nationwide housing crisis well the federal piece I kind of get that but I'm going back to the billion dollars who do who do we yell at for that um I can assure you the governor's office has been yelling uh primarily at Minnesota housing and the Department of Human Services uh we have been actively engaged with that process and have Minnesota housing officials coming to the um this conference will be be at we will continue to reiterate that message Statewide um once again the primary funding is from the federal and state dollars this is why um as commissioner Mojo pointed out our request is relatively uh light compared to most housing authorities and they're requesting 18% of our maximum and the Statewide average is 58% because they're all looking for some type of a local buyin to go along with these state and federal funds thank you any further discussion we do have a motion on the floor no further discussion uh this motion will be in reference to the uh motion to approve the Housing and Redevelopment authority of Clay County to Levy and collect a special benefit tax of $300,000 all in favor of the motion say I I I oppose same sign motion passes Mr chair in regards to the 68,000 2025 Saha funds those those were never previously directed were they were they Steve no Mr chair commissioner Campbell you are correct I think that the request that is that we've talked about two different things I think the request that that is brought forward by the HRA is to reallocate 40,000 $443 the the $ 68,69 will most likely come out in an RFP in the future okay that's what I because that's what I was saying that that that 68,000 would need to be through an RFP right and I so um but that 40,000 that's just kind of redirecting the use that's previously been approved correct I would make that motion I'll second that have motion a second discussion if no discussion all in favor of the motion say I I I poose same sign I do appreciate airing that you aired the side of caution bringing this last item to our attention um it's things like that that develop the kind of trust we're going to need here particularly when we look fiveyear plan if we're going to move through that together so I do appreciate that and chair we do appreciate all of you and your interest in this and are looking forward to those future conversations that impact a lot of residents of Klay County thank you next up Darren Brooks R HR Director request approval to purchase the ukg recruiting and onboard modules to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of applicant tracking and onboarding procedures for cl count save you all that thank you that was a long title um well thanks for having me thanks Frank for coming and listening to mine after your near-death experience I know this is what you really wanted to hear so that's why you're here maybe after my presentation you might not be so happy but U all right um so as you know in in 2022 uh we implemented our new ukg HR payroll system and that has helped a lot in automating our our services that we provide to the to the employees but in the last 12 years I've been here 13 in the last 12 years we've gone from 452 employees to 687 employees and in that time I've added uh one half halftime part-time position to my department and last year we received 799 applications and we hired 181 employees which is pretty typical for for our um department and in that time we've kind of had a patchwork of of solutions to get people recruited get people in processed and so my request today is to purchase a module that is a recruiting and onboard module that fits right into our it's a ukg product and I'll go through here in a minute what that will help us with um right now we use a multiple to manage the Personnel actions within HR we use jot form for applications and seamless docs for other forms we use RT vision for time management we have app extender for file management we use Adobe for some of other forms we use SharePoint for application storage and and so that departments can department heads can get into the applications and look at them and I and the way things have gone in the last several years in the HR world there's been so many things that have been added to our plate that we have to do some of those including earn safe and sick time that you know we had a very difficult time implementing last year the Affordable Care Act you don't hear about that too much but it's still something that we have to track new Union regulations and and administrative things that we have to do based on the legislation that passed the last year um parental leave pregnant workers Fairness Act work comp and FMA claims have all gone up and the one that worries me the most is in 2026 the Minnesota Paid Family Medical Leave Act uh which goes into um into effect in 2026 which I think is going to be very difficult to track um that program so with all of that being said what will this these two new modules do for us so what it does is it tracks the applications and it makes job postings and it posts things out to job pre-selected job boards all at the same time so we don't have to keep going to different websites and posting our job we we post them now right on our website but we also go to other websites and post them this will post them throughout with one job posting um it allows the department heads and supervisors uh to see the applications right away that uh they get notifications when an application comes in uh it tracks the progress of the applicant through the process so if it's been if they've been reviewed if they've been interviewed if they've been uh notified it has templated letters in there that we can send for people that uh aren't selected um so that that helps out a lot um it allows the applicants to store their application so right now every time a person applies for a job they have to fill out a whole another application some people don't like to do that with this they have a sign in they fill out their application once and then they can apply that application to different job openings um it allows us to do screening questions so if somebody is not let's say a job requires a a CDL or the job requires a a male applicant sometimes in our Correctional Facility we have hires males or females um we can use a screening question to screen out the people that aren't qualified for that and that's just a small example what we can do with that um it also automates our whole process basically the the it goes from the application the applicant fills out the application if once they're selected interview selected all that information goes right into our HR payroll system so there's less likelihood of um typing errors or entry errors um so that that definitely cuts down in our on our time as well um it also allows human resources to send the applicant their higher paper paperwork their new new higher paperwork their w4s their I9 and all that so that it's already filled out and we can track the progress of the new new applicant or new employee of filling out that paperwork so that it's done and completed by the time they come for impr processing with human resources on their first day of uh of employment um and it also uh stores our job postings and our job descriptions within the system so we don't have Word documents PDFs and and uh all of that it will all be in one one location um I think the reason I'm asking for this is we've gotten to the point where we're just getting too big and not enough people and I think we've patchworked everything together as long as possible we are a big County now and I think our HR department is still pretty lean when it when you're talking 675 people we're only getting bigger and bigger and I think that I'm hoping that um you know by doing this you can cut down on having to hire another person which you know if we were just to hire an HR generalist you know you're talking $ 89 $90,000 uh the the cost of this uh Sol solution for us is uh 94 $9,450 for an implementation cost and then it's about $112,000 $2,156 per year after that so a little over $1,000 a month some of the funding sources that I have for that or funding recommendations because I don't have all of that money um we did uh save some money on the uh Market study uh I B I budgeted 25,000 for that and U that that came to 18,6 75 uh we did have a pck meeting that we discussed all of this and it was recommended to bring this to the arpa committee and then the arpa committee met yesterday and also recommended that I bring this straight to the the full board so that's why I'm here today uh some of the other funds would be the uh using some of the arpa funds to pay for that it is already obligated $10,000 to pay for the implementation fund it will take about 60 to 90 days to implement this and I'm hoping to do this right away so that we can um get get it all in place hopefully before the uh turn of the new year um and then also if we do this we would get rid of seamless docs which is another one of our fors programs and that we that contract goes through August of 2025 and that's about $9,000 per year as well um I also get funds or I don't but it goes into the general funds of our improve performance Improvement plan and that's approximately $99,500 per year that we get from the state at the end of the um at the end of the year from the report that I submit in June and uh that has been continuing for the last proba probably 10 10 years or so so um that is my request to the board today and I'm open for any questions questions commissioner Campbell Mr yeah so this did go to the pck committee which I set in for for commissioner gross and and the pick committee had recommended that it go to the arpa committee for the potential use of the remaining arpa funds arpa did meet yesterday and and the arpa committee's recommendation is is to use the 12,000 for implementation through the arpa remaining arpa dollars um and so not so so you have the 9,400 that's that's a hard C onetime cost right uh correct the and that's where the it money comes from that 10,000 yes I talked to Rory already he has $10,000 in his budget that he can put towards that implementation cost so anything as far as if we were to use arpa funds or something would come out would be the ongoing cost for next year so that 12,000 would be basically for the year 2025 yes for which after that of course then it would have to we would no longer have the arpa money but it would be an ongoing right I would just put that in my budget from there on out and and I think Mr Mr chair Commissioners is that uh that contract that Darren has through seamless docks ends next August and so for the budget process for 20 26 realistically we'd be needing $3,000 it' be yeah right because one would go away right yeah yeah actually that that seamless docs money is in um Mark Sloan's budget so so question I have um commiss C is the uh what's the remaining amount right now in ARA um so uh we have could give you that we're gonna on the agenda for next right after me we're going to talk about that yeah we're going to be talking about so so right right now before and there's some other things we're talking about today but right now there is about 144,000 that's available and ARA's got other recommendations that we're talking about later but of that 14412 is is this okay so I'm Dy was just a curious question but number two you're um if this is an appropriate time you feel that is a good place for this first absolutely okay okay and then the other question maybe for Darren or whoever knows um it's an annual subscription obviously correct and at this rate at the how long is that sub subcription good for for one year one year yeah and then you you find out sometime what their increases are is say online yes yeah they base it on how many employees we have so oh um but yes well I I will find I would find out what the cost would be for the following years and then I'm assuming over time you know this is a good good program there'll be also um new software that comes out from from time to time um yeah this would this is all would be cloud-based so we would we wouldn't be having the server here this is all through this would basically uh merge right into our HR payroll system that we currently okay so um and where I'm coming back on that is not holding you to it at some point there will there be other types of implementation costs uh I don't foresee that okay at this point um as with our HR payroll system they will uh put out updates or fixes or whatever and that that's no cost to us okay um at this point okay thank you any other questions Mr chair I if there's no further questions I would move that we um authorize $2,156 um to cover the implementation for one year um by using the ARP available arpa funds second the motion that includes uh the approval to purchase the system the ukg system yes that that but that that's not arpa funds that would come out of it have second motion well they yeah so yes this one this one is just the delegation of the arpa funds that's what this motion is okay so we'll we'll limit this motion to the arpa funds FS any further discussion all in favor say I I post same sign do we need a motion for the it yes or for the approval to purchase the UK G recruiting an onboard mod module for HR Mr J make that motion using the available it funds as as suggested I'll second that motion second any discussion all favor say I I oppose same sign thanks Dar next up request approval to designate remaining arpa funds for the 200 or 2025 budget and Steve Larson our County Administrator uh thank you thank you Mr chair uh as U we've transitioned into this discussion uh just kind of just a little bit of feedback at uh through the through the uh covid pandemic uh the county received uh through the arpa funds received uh 12 million4 $474 $370 excuse me 12,474 $372 in two allocations uh earlier uh this this board uh assigned a committee uh to to look at the funding requests that came forward and additional ideas to bring forward to the board for recommendations um we are to the point uh as through this process that uh that designation of the arpa funds have to be done by December 31st 2024 and spent apologize for the error in the memo but spent uh by December 31st 2026 uh as was mentioned uh through this point uh the the arpa fund has $144,700 remaining we also have $25,000 that is still under consideration as you may recall this board approved $25,000 for Red River communication border-to-border Grant I spoke with Red River Communications uh yesterday uh and they've still not heard uh whether or not uh whether or not they've rece will receive those funds and so with that the the the remaining dollars as was mentioned uh is $144,700 with the board's previous action uh that took that down to $132,500 allowance a one-time standard allowance which allowed uh the county City's townships up to $10 million uh in Revenue loss regardless of of utilizing uh the complicated structure uh of of showing loss and so as long as it was spent on governmental Services uh and also for the auditor simplified reporting uh this board with that has still followed the true nature and true intent of of the spending uh and so uh the request before you of utilizing the 1325 77 uh would be appropriate I did hand out in some of our discussions that we talked about in our budget update last week on our new requests uh this document that's before you um shows that what we'd be looking to allocate is uh $ 998,199 to a victim witness Advocate uh that uh that position has been funded previously uh by arpa and we would be just requesting that it be uh covered that would cover some of those the cost this year and also uh it would also cover 20 000 within Kathy mccay's budget uh for vaccine that's no longer being covered by state government and that would leave an additional $1 14,390 uh to apply towards the levy and so um with that I would yield for any questions questions commissioner Campbell yeah thank you um you know just to reconfirming the discussion of the ARA group yes uh yesterday uh you know know going to commissioner kar's questions we have 20,000 that we still want to keep in there for public health for the vaccine issue um the restorative justice as Steve mentioned that was actually covered by arpa funds for 2024 and I think 2023 and so this would be a good use of those funds moving into 2025 and that would actually then be able to take away take off of our Levy uh um and then and then the 12,000 that we just did and so then as Steve mentioned that would bring us down to 12 thou or $1 4,586 roughly that amount and I think the what we talked about is whatever that amount some of these things are going to be slightly different by the time you actually pay for them but I think what the arpa committee suggested then whatever balance is remain ing uh by 1231 that that would that would go just into our general fund um for the purpose of reducing the levy uh and that would include um if Red River Communications if that Grant is not awarded that 25,000 would also then be able to be transferred over to to pay down the levy so we'd be looking at anywhere from 39,500 to 14,000 somewhere in that number that would the additional amounts that we well actually the the 98,000 also reduces our Levy so additional questions I got one question you said the 20,000 you want to keeping arer funds I thought we had to spend all the arer funds well I uh commissioner gross I think the arpa funds have to be spent by the end of 2026 oh excuse I think we I think we need to allocate the funds by the end of 2024 okay very good thank you y other questions more motion Mr chair I would I would uh I would move that we um designate the um I'm G I'm going to do this by I'm going to I I would move that we designate the $20,000 uh remaining arpa funds to Public Health for vaccines uh that we designate $98,700 and so that any remaining money that is left be uh designated towards the general fund okay motion a second discussion on the motion and that would meet our requirement to fully have all of those arpa dollars designated by December 31st any further discussion not we have a motion on the floor all in favor of the motion say say I I oose same sign motion passes you're up next Eve for the uh thank you thank you Mr chair and if I if I could just make a a quick note uh I just wanted to thank the the commission uh for their guidance over the the last ironically uh it was four years and two months since we met the First first day yesterday I want to thank that the board is part of your packet you see uh the many things that you approved and the impacts that that you made with those covid dollars uh I think that having that committee uh to to review and and look at the best ways to provide that those funds I know that it was important not uh to make sure that you know the different business uh the business multiple business uh funding opportunities that were provided when businesses were shut short or closed uh when we had different uh different entities within our communities uh that were struggling uh we able to to meet to allocate those so I appreciate appreciate the the guidance and the direction from the board and also appreciate our committee members uh we are hoping that uh that that was our last meeting uh there may be some clean up that we have to do but uh but again appreciate uh the board's commitment to that the committee's assignment thank you um the last item is just a cleanup action from from May May 7th if you recall Greg stman from the Clay County Trailblazers Snow beile Club came forward and Pro provided an update on the on the season that wasn't last year um but also came forward with resolution 2420 uh 24 20247 uh allowing us to continue to act as a legal sponsor uh for their snowmobile club uh for the next season on August August 15th Mr strowman and I met with representatives of the DNR who who are reviewing their programs as a whole and and one of the things that uh that the Trailblazers snow bill Club does is uh for the for where the map is each year that that's utilized for the trail they get permissions of for RightWay uh from the citizens uh of the of that property and we uh they they they've processed that but we had nowhere uh in our agreement that stated that they were doing that on your behalf uh as a board uh as through the sponsorship and so uh when you turn over to the resolution 24-25 uh the addition from what you approved earlier this year as be it further resolved that Clay County as the legal sponsor grants the authority to the clay Trail Alliance snowmobile club to obtain landowner permission in the name of the club and sponsor uh and then they keep that on files uh for the DNR with that I'd yield for any questions questions for Steve or motion allow for a motion to approve resolution 2024-25 second have motion second all in favor say I I I oppose same sign can I did review review this with Mr Mr Melton it doesn't have any additional liability in the county okay we'll move on to committee reports and ironically enough we're going to start with commissioner gross it's your turn [Laughter] you want to hear the whole [Laughter] report uh I'm going to stick with uh it's glad to be back it's good to have you back thank you commissioner kraban off thank you Mr chair um so last Tuesday afternoon uh we had our quarterly meeting of the um play County Li library and uh with the number of cases coming in Vues keep going up and they have a balance of about 82,000 at this point and with that amount um I know some of it is being worked on uh getting tablets for people in court there's still some work to be done with that and um as far as the legal Library itself um it's constantly being looked at what's relevant what are the things that can be discarded and so what um with the extra funds um seem to be getting a little higher we're going to meet next month in the LA Law Library itself to kind of look at uh what maybe inside could be repurposed to be used uh uh for people coming to the library in a better way and with more efficiencies so uh anyway the number of people coming in for the uh legal checkin is steady and I believe it was about 45 people that came in uh mostly for regarding family law getting help at the the legal CL um checkins that they have down in the library um the next let's see then we moved to Thursday September 5th that day started out with our Clay County intergovernmental um committee uh this committee includes cities Township representatives from cities townships and school districts County Commission and I guess that's it uh always a great disc discussion to have uh we did have uh Dan Farnsworth from Metro Cog come and give us an update on the Heartland Trail study um mainly about the potential um from their open houses and and getting citizen input mainly from the area of Holly into into Morehead uh although that Trail will go all the way to Detroit Lakes um that was part of it then we talked a little bit what will be uh ideas for our Retreat uh in January and three items mainly came up uh about opioids at that discussion helping the reduction and and uh um prevention and then Heartland Trail was also discussed maybe have an update on that and then certainly uh hopefully um join be joined in with some legislative updates with our legislators that can attend uh with that commissioner Campbell was that the meeting maybe has a couple more things to add uh later that morning I had my monthly um Children's Mental Health um monthly meeting very uh good discussion there uh full group we heard a lot from Lakeland Mental Health they were very active in the discussion but um mainly it was uh agencies reporting with what one another the things that are going on what what uh they're very uh think they're having good successes with and areas with the state that are still um problematic in trying to keep up with the needs of mental health um I it was a pretty broad uh discussion all over so um um that was that discussion I did bring up about the prtf and the steps uh steps that were taken as a as a board in uh um maybe the repurposing Juvenile and then also uh into a prf and then that future of a potential um unsecured for uh women's building being built um right after that I had the um uh family resource CL te uh again this is moving along with the grant that the FRC received for planning um through the sour Foundation uh where there at and this will go through November these meetings um and and at the point they're at right now is uh creating a uh family advisory uh board and so they set up the um the gu guidelines for people that want to um throw their name in the Hat to see if they want to be part of this nine member board uh people on the board will be as from uh a broad spectrum uh to keep that uh knowing that any type work that this um um Resource Center would do uh would be for all families so um uh just making sure it's spread out to throughout the county um then uh toward the end of the day I had the uh it' be our cly Clay County collaborative meeting um right now uh our coordinator is considering um kind of walking away from this job so we're going to be opening up a search for a new coordinator uh but in the meantime Marissa wants to hold on to the work she really doesn't want to leave without any um transition plan for the new person that might come in whenever that is so it's not like she has an exact end date but she wants us to be working toward that so at the same time uh there will be a form member group here that'll start uh two from the governance two from the admin group um and we'll um not only start the search process but we'll also so what transition type things can we do uh to make this job more effective and efficient but um the as far as the work we do in in the collaborative it's tremendous um um you know large number of grants 439,000 in Grants went out this year uh we found out through some internal auditing work that um they we have a sizable fund um there's probably somewhere close to uh $350,000 left in that fund so how can we utilize those funds over a period of time so it was a much bigger number we had in our our account than I think anybody expected a year ago so we want to be prudent with that and make sure those funds are uh being used in useable ways which they always are but um you know also making sure that we're um maximizing uh the potential uh for not only the groups we have applying for funds at this point but maybe even get some more people involved um and the next day it was an honor I will say that on Friday it was fun going to our uh past uh um Assistant Attorney and for the investigat of uh Mike lucer and seeing him becoming a judge and um it was special and uh he was there with his family and two active young lady girls especially the one and a halfy old and she was the uh kind of the star of the program but anyway it was it was fun it it was really um I just am very grateful and respectful of all the uh work that Mike did for the his past uh the stories with him you know and his which I didn't know about we had a um uh um uh David uh Paul spoke who was uh executive secretary of the board of judicial standards he's retired but Mike worked with him for several years and that's really your Ethics Committee of the judicial system in Minnesota and with that background obviously that elevated my to this position uh very well um anyway we'll have he'll he's got B shoes or the next ver has B shoes to fill and I'm sure attorney Melton will take care of that and seeing that's done well but anyway it was a pleasure being part of that and all the best to Mike uh as being a judge to serve in our seventh District in Clay County so even gets to be in town still uh yesterday on Monday had a couple of things uh through the cay food Partners we had a a food Forest event out at MB Park Johnson Park I was there for about an hour uh went from 4 till 7 in my hour that I was out there there was roughly I'd say around 40 people uh it was interesting to hear about their planning of a food Forest uh it involved um uh three uh Berry Gardens and then also 138 Apple trees and or no trees excuse me of which uh two of them are Plum and two are pear and the rest are apples 10 different varieties so uh for our public um go out there anytime there it's all open to the public if there's fruit you can take the fruit you know enjoy it take a little but it's uh for the community to share and also they'll be doing uh education along with that over the years and then last night I was at the uh Buffalo red Watershed District things of note there uh John Hansen who had been on the board for many many years uh did not choose to work for come in for another term so beer County now has appointed Tom andri or Todd I I hope it said that Todd D he's a grain farmer KF operator uh up just north of Detroit Lakes toward the Callaway area so he was very uh for first tonight he was um spoke quite a bit and asked good questions as far as permits we had three uh drain tiles one in clay one in woke and one in Otter Tail um as far as local projects in in uh Clay County I'll just say that we have um the Stony Creek rest restoration the work has been completed there's still some final work uh needing to be done as as far as grass seating that type thing also the Glendon East tributary on the east side going south of uh Glendon that one in the same spot uh work uh is completed and just again getting that grass down um as quick as we can this fall and then last I want to report is on the um snaky Creek over by on 11th Street just north of the cemetery going down there they have about two weeks left to that work so all these three projects that were near us uh uh the mo area out to Glendon uh are being being completed the last thing uh which has always been a discussion here uh especially since two years ago when we had that heavy flood that area of the restoration of the Whiskey Creek starting at Barnesville going up as you will uh toward um County Road 20 that area south of Baker that continues on uh anyway that area and there did go through its eaw that was completed and no no issues found so that that leads the way so they in fact did approve the AIS and so we're in good shape to move forward with the work and they've um I think they've already pursu are pursuing the bids so that completes my reest thank you commissioner moo thank you Mr chair well last week and I uh was a poor excuse for uh subbing in for commissioner gross at the highway tracking committee we did have updates in regards to the transmission that went out on a blade a pretty substantial cost but um grateful that it didn't happen during the winter season we did have an update on Staffing there's some internal movement also we'll be advertising for applicants for a few positions within the highway department the 5-year plan meeting will be September 24th here at 9:00 a.m. uh projects will remain the same as they've been communicated there's just some updates to cost we discussed the least numbers for the 2025 pickups we'll be reviewing that and bringing forward a recommendation updates on the casat 10 box Culvert and cassad 26 Paving update and striping there are a couple box covers that are remaining on there and they were able to get County Road 51 Bridge funding approved did have a discussion about the state a Highway 12 and 52 open house in regards to the open or the roundabout construction that will be um needing to happen soon uh targeting a late September meeting at the highway department but also felt because of uh commuter traffic it would be helpful to have a meeting either in the Sabin uh city council or Barnesville city council that information will come forward at a later date I attended the AMC committee on taxes and state assessed properties and I've been appointed I have been appointed to that uh committee we did talk about the local sales tax discussions Statewide and was able to update how Klay county has utilized and leveraged those funds for projects we did have a Department of Revenue presentation and gross operating receipts uh had perspectives from a couple different counties on their County program Aid Ramsey County and laap parl County were able to give their insight and did have um a next steps planning it was really interesting to see the wide representation on that committee from all areas of the state um there are a couple counties that are in such Dire Straits financially they are seeking advice on declaring bankruptcy as a County uh so there are um huge implications in how the state assessed some properties um particularly state-owned and utility properties but also um we're just uh there's so many state unfunded mandates you know a lot of counties are in really difficult positions so I appreciate that um while it may seem we're being critical um it is really important that we maintain um vigilance in regards to um taxes it's it's a burden uh but we're also able to utilize some great things with it as well uh the next day I attend the Red River Basin commission meeting that was held in Morehead it was the uh annual ex officio joint meeting with the uh Basin commission we did have an update from U Melinda Barons from the National Weather Service in regards to the 2024 2025 winter Outlook it appears that we'll have a mild and warm fall followed by a wet and cold winter hopefully that's not true on the lighter but I'll I'll go for the mild fall uh we did have then an update from Daryl Richardson on the the North Dakota it's ND Dawn improvements and really it's the radar and the reporting in North Dakota and H that's also been mired in Minnesota it's really quite a fantastic update on that it's helpful as you uh do planning but also um estimates for precipitation we had an update from Chris Boyard on the FM area diversion project update I reiterated to the group uh since there were Minnesota leg legislators and Minnesota agency represent Representatives uh from Minnesota how important it will continue to be to advocate for funding uh that project will not be certifiable until the Minnesota components are complete and uh the North Dakota Representatives particularly commissioner Shirlene and commissioner pepcorn were're grateful that I uh presented that component but um certainly will take a um group effort to continue to lobby for that we had an update on the net Le Liu Marsh restoration project we've heard so many projects updates on that uh up on the south area of Lake Winnipeg I believe really fascinating to hear how that Delta has really um gone away uh and sediment has really been an issue um and it's now they're restoring that and so they're able to have some netting and uh components in there to get that sediment to fall there again so a cool update on that then an update on Minnesota North Dakota soil Health Partnership believe that concludes that report yesterday I attended the metrocog executive committee meeting we did uh General business and approval of the AAC Morehead agreement on their project that was approved and reviewed the draft Financial audit and had agency updates we will need to have a special meeting in September to approve uh proposals and then did talk there was a a reduction in the ask for some agencies for next year we did see about a $30,000 reduction in that ask there's a Slowdown in projects and so um they're they're working really hard to utilize all the cpg funding that they were able to get um hopeful that they can work through that but it's looking uh like there's just a Slowdown of projects so that is why see the reduction there sorry then yesterday I also attended the withdrawal management detox facility construction update we did have a good update on the um progression there uh they have completed the exterior components on that they're working on concrete and dirt work uh Landscaping uh we did have a couple uh proposal request which would be um several addition or deductions in the cost or due to some savings there was a coiling door upgrade one there uh and we're waiting on the card reader revisions there was a discussion on TV brackets I believe staff was able to work through that and discussed owner transition plan we'll have the uh FM extra will be walking through the week of the 16th which is also I believe the week that you're updating to the more Business Association that piece and then our groundbreaking will not ground not groundbreaking uh ribbon cutting and media day will be on October 1st and I think we're looking at having one more meeting there and then we'll be able to wrap that up and then we moved into the DMV discussion for the uh construction uh Mason Morton m Morton and masonry completed all the brick on the building working on the monument sign they installed the countertops um and same thing there they're working on finishing items uh let's see and a transition plan there too there was a discussion on the iPad station uh for the kiosk I believe the staff is working on that in regards to contingencies on both projects about 191,000 remaining in the contingency and the withdrawal Management Facility and about $26,000 remaining on the contingency there uh we're um certainly not anticipating um drwing down those substantially so that's good to see uh there will be some components as we finish up that will need to come out of that and I don't believe I updated on the access management for the field approach that was approved and we'll move forward and I believe that concludes my report thank you commissioner Campbell thank you on September 3rd I also attended a highway tracking committee meeting which commissioner moo gave a very good report on I the only thing that I would um add to that we did have a conversation with Justin about uh if you recall in his um budget request there was the $400,000 that was um that had been being paid to the city of Morehead for many years for a turn back project the last payment on that was in 2024 so 2025 he wanted to use that $400,000 to go towards striping projects and those types of things and um we talked to him about um reducing that from 400 to 325 and that $775,000 would go towards his budget to um I can't remember if was Steve was it a new request new maintenance worker yeah the new maintenance worker so that so that 75,000 would fund that the first year keep in mind that would still give him $325,000 that he never didn't have before uh to be able to uh do do some of that work he did mention something that he still might have some other areas within his budget that could make up and still allowed some additional things to be done so so we had that conversation with them um and then on the September 5th I had the intergovernmental committee which commissioner kabanoff reported on and I really have nothing to add to that report uh yesterday we had our as commissioner Mojo mentioned we had our both the detox construction update and the um motor vehicle update I I want to just point out one thing um that on the contingencies the 191,000 that we had there we did we did authorize um through Joel Olson's request on that on the more I believe that was 15 about $155,000 that that uh come from that project that project pay for it uh it it really didn't impact this sort to speak but it was because it was an FFN issue his FF and went up which means we still have to take it from that contingency so rather than the 191 it would probably be about 175 or somewhere in that area but other than that commissioner Moto I I don't really really have anything to add everybody that's was at the same committee as I did and they give good reports so I can just be quiet well I forgot to report on the arpa so you like to report I got that over here so we have the arpa committee and we acted on all that stuff so I have no further report perfect okay well I'm going to be short and sweet I have one meeting on the fifth the uh Minnesota safe and secure courts advisory panel that I'm on uh representing AMC Public Safety Committee um we met uh virtually with judge Cochran Jennifer super from Minnesota judicial branch and all the applications are in 25 of them from 22 different counties Scott County has three separate applications for grant funding for secure courts so we have a total of $84,000 in requests and we have $500,000 in Appropriations so we're getting to work on the um reading these grants and holding it up on the standards for application um and by the end of September we hope to meet uh with an idea to get all the grants read by all the participants and the score sheets figured out by the beginning of November and so that is going to be an ongoing process and it's kind of dawning but I'll put my reading glasses on and get to work and other than that I have nothing else Steve thank you Mr chair last week I participated Highway tracking it's been well covered I think just the only other point and maybe I missed it uh Justin's going to be coming forward with the five year plan to a public hearing during this board meeting uh on September 24th um I met that afternoon met with commissioner krainov on a series of County issues on the fourth we had our strive for excellence meeting uh we have several employees that are going through the N high performance leadership training the second cohort group started this week uh so we had some discussions on that we're going to have a wrap up or followup at the end of December when the last group goes through uh to kind of process that whole the whole training piece um one of the requests that came forward is uh in in the discussion is uh we used to have an At Your Service customer service training uh and there's been some discussion from our department heads uh that that would also so be beneficial to bring back and then we also talked about our inter Department Retreat that we're looking to host uh sometime this spring for for uh within the county on the fourth I met with Mr Melton Joe Olson and Corey bang in regards to the Red River uh or excuse me the resource recovery door issue that we're having we did send a letter uh to construction Engineers cin McCarthy uh to uh encourage some uh move move forward movement on that as we've been having issues with our doors out there for roughly two years um Clay County intergovernmental committee that's been uh on the 5ifth that has been addressed also participated on that afternoon uh with Jill surm uh that Matt Jacobson and I are going to be part of a panel committee talking about our cannabis ordinance uh uh at the AMC conference on Wednesday morning and so just went through some of that process on the fifth also talked with Sheriff EMP on a series of issues on the sixth I met with Dan Molly Derek Le Point um they're they're going to be starting the the remodel of City Hall and so um Administration is moving over to the mcom center uh with the other departments moving over to the old US Bank uh um building this week and so um one of the things we we talked budgets uh we talked about legislative priorities again uh they hoping to uh that we'll can have some sort of meeting here this November uh to make sure that we're on the same page moving forward uh with flood mitigation funding they're also focusing uh some uh additional work on Border legislation um participated in N leadership uh training uh on the 6th uh also was also present at judge liser investure uh yesterday participated in the owners meeting and also the arpa meeting that been well covered uh and then I was invited to uh the metrocog 2026 2030 Transit development uh plan study committee uh I'm not sure if I'm the right person to be at at that uh uh that meeting but I appreciated the invite uh I talked about looking about what are the future needs uh as far as the Fargo Morehead area uh they talked about 1.3 million Riders annually of of our bus systems uh we've seen a consist rise in usage uh in the bus even as the service hours went down during covid uh with the largest uh the busiest part of the day of course is the noon hour and then also the busiest day of usage is actually Saturday so they hope to have a draft of this uh this uh thing this excuse me um study review by June 2025 uh but they'll be looking at some public for some public input starting here uh in September and so um I just wanted to last thing I guess is the is the followup from from last week's budget discussion um a number of recommendations were brought forward that you requested that Miss Johnson and I uh look at we also went back and made those adjustments based on your actions today with the arpa funds we also had uh had uh some additional savings with the market study uh in uh Market study implementation uh Social Services receives some additional uh receives partial funding in some of their positions that was roughly over $80,000 additional savings uh that we would get through reimbursement uh and then the figures for the tax abatement numbers came in about $100,000 lower than anticipated uh and so um with the board's approval next week uh next week Miss Johnson and I would be bring bringing forward a resolution to establish the preliminary Levy um and allowing Miss joh to meet the certified requirement of Statute uh with a with a net Levy um give or take a a a uh tenth of a percentage of 4.19% so we're able to lower it lower it just about uh just about three Levy points from from the presentation that concludes my report thank you Miss Melton thank you Mr chair I just thought I would highlight a I know as you're aware in the consent agenda today there was a item uh from the crime victim Services where the Minnesota office of Justice programs uh had an amendment uh where our uh Grant one of our grants within the victim Services crime victim Services went from 70,000 up to 8,154 and so it's not a humongous sum but an increase of $10,000 and so I appreciate that both the state and then the county um you know signing off on that and and that money will go uh and be well used to help Service uh victims within the county obviously one of my main roles and Main roles of our office is uh holding offenders accountable uh but uh second to that is also making sure that victims are are well served uh well treated understand the system uh and are working to make them as whole as possible when they unfortunately have uh become victims of crimes and so I think some of this money will mainly go toward U uh some of that after you know post uh um adjudication helping to to find out if uh those victims need any other services uh or there's any other things left that uh they need uh assistance with and so again I appreciate the uh the state uh uh approving some additional funds and the county signing off on it very good thank you that is a critical part of the criminal justice system that a lot of people don't think of but uh once the case is solved and adjudicated there's still people who have to live with the results of what's happened to them for years and it's good that we've got some additional funding in there try to mediate some of the issues that they've got to deal with hey Daron anything Jackie thank you Mr chair um as commissioner Mojo me mentioned on the the um October 1st we have the withdrawal Management detx Facility in DMV openhouse and ribbon cutting um we will be getting invite sent out this week so we're looking forward to that event very good commissioner Campbell yeah I just wanted to um going back to the intergovernmental Retreat um for those who may not have that on their calendars the Retreats date is scheduled for January 31st uh with a weather date of February 7th Ezra you might want to make sure you note that in your calendar moving forward that um that those are the scheduled dates of that anyone have any additional if now we're adjourned thank you for --------- ##VIDEO ID:35_fFok_eGo## morning it's 8:30 and I'm going to call the Clay County Board of Commissioners meeting for September 10th 2024 to order first thing on the agenda is approval of the agenda I'll offer a motion to approve the agenda is presented second have a motion second any discussion if not all in favor the motion say I I I oppose same sign motion passes next we have um citizens to be be heard do we have any citizens uh present who want to address any issue that's not on today's agenda Steve do we have anybody remote we do not Mr chair okay next say approval of payment of bills and vouchers I'll second the motion have motion to Second all in favor say I I oppose same sign before we go further in the agenda I just want to welcome commissioner gr back we've been we've been like a ship of that or R here for a few weeks and it's good to have you back with us Frank thank you coming up we have uh request for approval of Housing and Redevelopment Authority HRA of Clay County I'm sorry or yes that is I've got my packet get mixed up come on up ladies have Don bacon and dar Lee with Clay County HRA good morning chair Commissioners um I'm sure it feels like you just saw us a little bit ago and so we are coming back um with our actual request for consent to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority Levy for 2025 that was approved by the Clay County HRA Board of Commissioners in August if you'll recollect at our conversation at the Joint meeting we discussed that the Housing Authority board had determined a minimum amount for ongoing operations to be $350,000 um given concerns expressed we went back and sharpened some more um pencils and dug a little deeper and have reduced that request to 300,000 along with the request for consent to repurpose some of the state affordable housing aid that was awarded to Clay County HRA through an RFP process last year we have had savings on that um primarily due to a reduction in costs on the anticipated cost to R roof uh aacy apartments in Ulin Minnesota for two reasons uh I had budgeted um conservatively concerned about ongoing inflation in that area and those costs had stabilized and then our contractor accidentally put down put on one level lower um shingle quality and so we received a 10% reduction in cost due to that so we are requesting those two items um as you will note the Housing Authority has already undertaken a number of measures to try to increase revenues as well as decrease costs um we've um reduced our Workforce through attrition by approximately 12% we have worked on um eliminating programs that were unable to be self- sustaining over the long term we have Consolidated programs to make them more efficient we have taken over the management of the Morehead uh public housing agency which generates revenue of approximately $800,000 per year although there are of course accompanying costs associated with that and we are looking at long-term sustainability of a few of the properties by trying to adjust the type of subsidy that is provided in those units in both our you Ulin development and then we are taking a look at the hogi estate's development subsidy in Dorth so I am happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding this request for consent questions commission Mojo thank you uh thank you for the presentation and the recap both of you I want to go a little bit back to our discussion that we had at our work session about the billion historic housing funding that was signed into law a year ago and the the the gates that may be in place to slow the trickle to agencies um from that uh had you identified any funds that you would be allocated and two if have they come in um as we discussed before for the relief for affordable housing fund we have received an allocation of $155,600 to be applied towards hogi States sharp View Apartments in Morhead Minnesota has been awarded $1.4 million we have the RFP is anticipated to be released in November but we have been um designated to receive over $860,000 through the bring itome Minnesota rental assistance program um as you know for Clay County those State affordable housing aid which was part of that have been awarded for 20 23 24 and 25 and uh the rest is still to come there have been some uh homeowner options release that is typically um funneled through the private banks in the form of low interest interest loans to low-income populations so in terms of those have you been given any inclination as to when they'll come in uh I am unable to give you an no I don't know except for the 8 7,000 which we anticipate hopefully is operational by next late spring early summer so is that typical for funds to be allocated and then 24 months later come in depending upon the funding source uh I would say it typically takes six months to 18 months on average thank you other questions Mr are are there two requests here one is the 300 and the other one is the those other funds uh commissioner Campbell yes that is correct um whether or not it needs formal commission approval to reallocate I don't know but I think it does as a m as a matter of fact it has to be another RFP if if my understanding is correct I think Mr chair commissioner commissioner Campbell I think we're talking about two things uh you're talking you're talking about the additional Saha 2025 numbers and you're talking about reallocating the 2024 I I'm talking about things that have already been awarded to the HRA oh okay and they they weren't used in 2024 so you want to use them in 2025 is that correct um we had savings um that came out of our budget for the 23 and 24 U funds and the other portion of that is that the legislature retroactively changed the uses for the 2024 funds and expanded those eligible uses so there was a change legislatively as well as cost savings so that's at 40,000 he was talking about 4,140 or 40,4 14 is that an action that we need to take as a board or is that in internal I think you as a board you delegated those funds for for usage based on the RFP I think that Miss Lee and Miss Bacon are bringing it forward to to show the board that there were some additional dollars that were saved and that they would they would look to you to um approve their continuing to utilize those funds for other FS so yes so we're looking at two two separate motions here I I think there's just one uh maybe I'm R the levy unless we're the other part do we need the but I mean it depends on from a clean cleanup standpoint I mean you've already made the the allocation of the funding uh and so um it TI you whatever so can so so on the original allocation of the funding it was meant to be used in 2024 that and so now it's my understanding that that because of other savings they didn't need to use all that money in 2024 is that a might yeah um uh commissioner Campbell if I may um no there was no um time frame I believe it was up to four years actually to use the funds it's just that we're changing the use of funds and I would defer to the County attorney and County Administrator on whether that requires formal action those funds have been awarded through an RFP process to Clay County H well then maybe we should just get that straightened out uh and give give our attorney or whatever time to review that that I think the thing that we're under critical time frame on is the is the part where deals with the levy outside of the levy whether we we do an extension or modify the previous actions isn't Tim restricted like what we have to do today no but it did in Impact our board's decision to be able to reduce that Levy request from 350 down to 300,000 um I just would like to point out that our overall budget increase we were able to keep it a 3.6% increase across the board for our budget which I believe is less than uh other government entities I was told that on average across Minnesota it was at 8% um and we were only able to keep it at that level uh by asking for these reallocations um I took the conservative approach and put it in here um I I'm not I'm not I'm not suggesting that we would not reapproved component of what's already been dedicated to your use but just just to from the standpoint of making sure that that we've done it the correct way I I I'm not for one minute suggesting that we do the 300,000 today and then oh next week we're say sorry darly you're not going to get the other money that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about just making sure that we follow the proper protocol in in how we previously allocated that money and I do think commissioner Campbell uh Mr chair it would be cleaner just to have a vote on both I think that would be better so I I don't know if the board wants to handle both those today or not but it would be cleaner just to make sure that's clear how that money is being allocated and when you say both this would not be one motion it would be two oh we need two two and the 68,000 Saha funds were advertised in the agenda packet so we could take action on it today thank you well for sure I I guess I'll make a motion to approve the um for them to to collect a special benefit tax of 300,000 we have a second sake of discussion I'm going to second that motion discussion go I'll just make some comments U you know I I look at homelessness and I look at the the work that they do and what I've learned over the last three four five months and and how the effect of Co how the effect of the state having have a moratorium on on uh on leases you know affected totally wiped out their reserves over the last number of years I I don't quite understand why would wouldn't um as we have you know she's gone in deep de detail the use of the money how they're doing it I think we have to have a place to help them succeed and if they don't have any reserves what they you know where are they going to go from here we need to be able to leverage them so that they succeed to get these properties they they've already talked about during our work group how they repurpose uh re um renovating hogi how they've already redone the work up in uland so that people that did get evicted and destroyed the properties they got them back in order so that they can get rent on the books again and um that's my side of it I just uh I I think we need to put them in position to succeed and I hope they do and we won't down the road you know if they get these other grants and whatnot you know they won't be in this position but I everybody needs a little something to bat themselves on so you know my observation there is some discomfort on with the commission through the throughout the commission with some of the stuff we find out late and even in your presentation we can get the income of what uh Moree heads public housing produces but we're given no idea what the expenses are going to be and a lot of that particularly the highrise are of concern and if the city of Morehead it is a Morehead issue and if the city of Morehead wants to fund and maintain those premises that's fine I don't know if we need to assume their liabilities and I think there's some general concern that it's not what we're hearing what we don't hear and we don't hear it until later um so there is discomfort with this chair Iger if I can uh CL verify that we have assumed no liabilities for the Morehead public housing agency um on the properties that they are o that they own and so we are happy to share at any point in time if we are proposing that that would change right now we are simply managing the properties and the only expenses associated with that to the Housing Authority the the Clay County Housing Authority are Staffing and AD administrative expenses Dar you did you did have it in your goals though yes it is take it over um it's a five-year process and uh we will certainly keep you informed along that way our goal is to have the buildings renovated prior to that and to have them taken out of the traditional public housing realm and repurposed so that they are Income generating prior to any acquisition of those properties so we shall do our best to keep you informed for every step along the way but at this point in time there is no ownership of those properties nor is there any Financial liability on behalf of the Clay County h i i i just want to comment on and commissioner kof I appreciate your comments I you know and you you mentioned the homelessness and all those issues that are that go on and and part of my argument that I always make is is you know to to put that the solution to all that on counties and on property tax I think is wrong uh I think the the appropriate entities who who should be stepping up are the states because because all of a sudden if you start putting it down on individual counties if one County starts to do something to really do some things then then the avail ability of that is going to come from other County people from other counties are going to come there you got to you got to have a solution that's going to work no matter what county you're in and the funding mechanism has to come from what county you're in and not to use the most regressive form of tax that you can have to solve that problem that's that's that's all I'm talking about I'm not one bit I agree that that we have issues with housing and especially affordable housing and and homelessness um it's just that everybody seems to look at property tax is the last answer and it should be the absolute last answer I'm I'll I'll support this motion further discussion commissioner Mojo thank you I just want to talk a little bit about the fact that we have you heard suggestion about having biannual meetings so that we could be updated meet with your board ask questions about projects or be more in the loop so I really do appreciate that and and two I I we're all dealing with five-year plans and what looks best and how things can change and certainly we're um very well aware about dealing with older buildings particularly the one uh sou to the south of this building we are doing our best to renovate that but we also realize that as buildings Age The Big Ticket items really linger out there and so uh that's where our concerns about the high-rise may be certainly um what I really appreciate about the HRA is you're doing work in all corners of the county and I think that's really important to note I think the um the homework starts at home piece is really important and our community would really rally about around knowing what that is and so Kudos there my my huge frustration is uh really more targeted towards State designated funding and how it um really forces you to just be in this this pattern of unknown and so you have programs and projects and needs that you're planning for just like you're planning with your Five-Year Plan on how to mitigate that with this magical billion dollars in housing funds which is fantastic if it's getting to the local entities that needed um so just to have this you know bureaucratic red tape if you will to actually access the funds is really a disservice to the agencies that do the work um I will say in regards to your request it is um being uh fiscally conservative I will say in regards to what other entities throughout the state are doing uh I like that you have um been cautious and came back with an additional fund you know a number for us so I appreciate that I appreciate that you're looking at ways to save money within the projects that you are doing I think that we can continue to work with you on on how to um manage or maybe deal with a clientele that is drr destructive uh I think you're coming to that um awareness unfortunately that sometimes that just isn't going to be a mutually benefit fitting agreement so I appreciate your proactive stance on that um and you know I I it's never uh an an easy thing to ask for additional funds for the projects um but given what your requests are I I do support this and I do support uh reallocating that $68,000 for additional projects because of the savings but with that I will say we need to take a really proactive stance to advocate for funds if the community and the state at large knew how many dollars are being held in transition when there are children that are homeless getting on school buses at homeless centers we should be outraged you know I again yes commission Campbell um more good comments um and I share those comments I I you know I I'm a little concerned I was more concerned not so much with your financial request today but with that five-year goal and I there was an item on there that quite frankly really concerns me and I I look across the river and I see where two similar type buildings over the last few years have been taken down and they've been taken down because they were that they were old and just not worthy of being redone uh I you know I would I would encourage and and a lot of that was done not with local dollars uh and and what's nice about it is where those are going down you can it's something new is coming back up that's supposed to also still help and I would encourage you know every effort being made to um you know compare the cost of remodeling that thing to uh looking at what and I think it was the housing authority on the Fargo side that did that and how they were able to um obtain those funds to get rid of an old thing that quite frankly I think it's going to be hard to make that thing last another 50 years so but that's anyway I'm I'm I just I just think that that's something that should be seriously looked at chair iringer commissioner Campbell um I just want you to know that as tenants at the family service center there are more fundamental issues with that building than there are with the high-rise I can assure you uh having uh officed in both locations that there are ongoing issues even though there have been significant Investments made into that we have analyzed those issues because I agree with you completely there's no use of throwing good money into bad um and although it might not be the most attractive building at this time its bones are good we are not in the same position as the Fargo H was in that they were able to um convince HUD that it was no longer a usable building we would not be in that position because all of our internal and Don is going to be an expert at this compared to me but our boilers are new our elevators are new our water risers are new it's the bones that are new and because of those funds that we're waiting for to get released by the state um we are hoping to do another $6 million towards windows and doors but we're really down to windows and doors and facade and so we hear your concerns we've had engineers in there we've had had architects in there and we will have this ongoing conversation over the next 5 years to see where we can get that but um I hear and understand what you're saying about old buildings in the family service center and the Fargo highrise but this property is not in that same condition but uh we are looking at every option including a repurposing that land and looking for some re Revenue generating opportunities and I would also just say it's the federal government as much as the state as far as what we're waiting for to get some funds out the door commission grabin off just and maybe it was a lot maybe you just answered it but I was um one you're um you have a state Coalition you work with yes and what's the name of that the Min the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment officials otherwise known as Minnesota Naro okay thank you and because I didn't want to say it uh so anyway I'm just is this tell us what's going on to uh commissioner Mojo's Point what is that group doing what are other groups doing to try to help them move I mean they're certainly aware correct chair commissioner krainov yes um I am the immediate past president of Minnesota Naro and the co- legislative chair of that entity and we have advocated strongly for more federal and state involvement with these programs par particularly the ongoing support of the public housing entities that were created by the federal government uh Senator Smith is introducing legislation this week regarding fully uh funding the um outstanding backlogs of capital needs of these types of projects and we can continue to educate on this issue and encourage those resources to be made available as we all know there's a a nationwide housing crisis the federal piece I kind of get that but I'm going back to the billion dollars who do who do we yell at for that um I can assure you the governor's office has been yelling uh primarily at Minnesota housing and the department of human Services uh we have been actively engaged with that process and have Minnesota housing officials coming to the um this conference will be be at we will continue to reiterate that message Statewide um once again the primary funding is from the federal and state dollars this is why um as commissioner Mojo pointed out our request is relatively uh light compared to most housing in authorities and they're requesting 18% of our maximum and the Statewide average is 58% because they're all looking for some type of a local Buy in to go along with these state and federal funds thank you any further discussion we do have a motion on the floor no further discussion uh this motion will be in reference to the uh motion to approve the housing and redevelop authority of K Clay County to Levy and collect a special benefit tax of $300,000 all in favor of the motion say I I I oppose same sign motion passes Mr chair in regards to the 68,000 in 2025 Saha funds those those were never previously directed were they were they Steve no Mr chair commissioner Campbell you are correct I think that the request that is that we've talked about two different things I think the request that that is brought forward by the HRA is to reallocate $ 4,414 3 the the $ 68,69 will most likely come out in an RFP in the future okay that's what I because that's what I was saying that that that 68,000 would need to be through an RFP correct and so um but that 40,000 that's just kind of a redirecting the use that's previously been approved correct I would make that motion I'll second that have motion a second discussion if no discussion all in favor of the motion say I I I oppose same sign I do appreciate airing that you aired the side of cost and bringing this last item to our attention um it's things like that that develop the kind of trust we're going to need here particular when we look fiveyear plan if we're going to move through that together so I do appreciate that and chair we do appreciate all of you and your interest in this and uh are looking forward to those future conversations that impact a lot of residents of Clay County thank you next up Darren Brooks our HR Director request approval to purchase the ukg recruiting and onboard modules to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of applicant tracking and onboarding procedures for Clay County save you all that thank you that was a long title um well thanks for having me thanks Frank for coming and listening to M after your near-death experience I know this is what you really wanted to hear so that's why you're here today maybe after my presentation you might not be so happy but all right um so as you know in in 2022 uh we implemented our new uh ukg HR payroll system and that has helped a lot in automating our our services that we provide to the to the employees but in the last 12 years I've been here 13 in the last 12 years we've gone from 4 52 employees to 687 employees and in that time I've added uh one half halftime part-time position to my department and last year we received 799 applications and we hired 181 employees which is pretty typical for for our um department and in that time we've kind of had a patchwork of of solutions to get people recruited get people impressed and so my request today is to purchase a module that is a recruiting and onboard module that fits right into our it's a ukg product and I'll go through here in a minute what that will help us with um right now we use a multiple to manage the Personnel actions within HR we use jot form for applications and seamless docs for other forms we use RT vision for time management we have app extender for file management we use Adobe for some other forms we use SharePoint for application storage and and so that departments can department heads can get into the applications and look at them and I and the way things have gone in the last several years in the HR world there's been so many things that have been added to our plate that we have to do some of those including earn safe and sick time that you know we had a very difficult time implementing last year the Affordable Care Act you don't hear about that too much but it's still something that we have to track new Union regulations and and administrative things that we have to do based on the legislation that passed the last year um parental leave pregnant workers Fairness Act work comp and FMA claims have all gone up and the one that worries me the most is in 2026 the Minnesota Paid Family Medical Leave Act uh which goes into um into effect in 2026 which I think is going to be very difficult to track um that program so with all of that being said what will this these two new modules do for us so what it does is it tracks the applications and it makes job postings and it posts things out to job prel selected job boards all at the same time so we don't have to keep going to different websites and posting our job we we post them now right on our website but we also go to other websites and post them this will post them throughout with one job posting um it allows the department heads and supervisors uh to see the applications right away it they get notifications when an application comes in uh it tracks the progress of the applicant through the process so if it's been if they've been reviewed if they've been interviewed if they've been uh notified it has templated letters in there that we can send for people that uh aren't selected um so that that helps out a lot um it allows the applicants to store their application so right now every time a person applies for a job they have to fill out a whole another application some people don't like to do that with this they have a sign in they fill out their application once and then they can apply that application to different job openings um it allows us to do screening questions so if somebody is not let's say a job requires a a CDL or the job requires a a male applicant sometimes in our Correctional Facility we have hires males or females um we can use a screening question to screen out the people that aren't qualified for that and that's just a small example of what we can do with that um it also automates our whole process basically the the it goes from the application the applicant fills out the application if once they're selected interview selected all that information goes right into our HR payroll system so there's less likelihood of um typing errors or entry errors um so that that definitely cuts down in our on our time as well um it also allows human resources to send the applicant their higher paper paperwork their new new higher paperwork their w4s their I9 and all that so that it's already filled out and we can track the progress of the new new applicant or new employee of filling out that paperwork so that it's done and completed by the time they come for impressing with human resources on their first day of uh of employment um and it also uh stores our job postings and our job descriptions within the system so we don't have Word documents PDFs and and uh all of that it will all be in one one location um I think the reason I'm asking for this is we've gotten to the point where we're just getting too big and not enough people and I think we've patchworked everything together as long as possible we are a big County now and I think our HR department is still pretty lean when it when you're talking 675 people we're only getting bigger and bigger and I think that I'm hoping that um you know by doing this and cut down on having to hire another person which you know if we were just to hire an our generalist you know you're talking $89 $90,000 uh the the cost of this uh solution for us is uh 94 $9,450 for an implementation cost and then it's about $112,000 $2,156 per year after that so a little over $1,000 a month some of the funding sources that I have for that or funding recommendations because I don't have all of that money um we did uh save some money on the market study uh I B I budgeted 25,000 for that and U that that came to 18,6 75 uh we did have a pck meeting that we discussed all of this and it was recommended to bring this to the arpa committee and then the arpa committee met yesterday and also recommended that I bring this straight to the the full board so that's why I'm here today uh some of the other funds would be the uh using some of the arpa funds to pay for that it is already obligated $10,000 to pay for the implementation fund it will take about 60 to 90 days to implement this and I'm hoping to do this right away so that we can um get get it all in place hopefully be before the uh turn of the new year um and then also if we do this we would get rid of seamless docs which is another one of our fors programs and that we that contract goes through August of 2025 and that's about $99,000 per year as well um I also get funds or I don't but it goes into the general funds of our improve performance Improvement plan and that's approximately $99,500 per year that we get from the state at the end of the uh um at the end of the year from the report that I submit in June and uh that has been continuing for the last probably 10 10 years or so so um that is my request to the board today and I'm open for any questions questions commissioner Campbell Mr yeah so this did go to the pck committee which I set in for for commissioner gross and and the pick committee had recommended that it go to the arpa committee for the potential use of the remaining arpa funds arpa did meet yesterday and and the arpa committee's recommendation is is to use the 12,000 for implementation through the arpa remaining arpa dollars um and so now so so you have the 9,400 that's that's a hard CAU onetime cost right uh correct the and and that's where the it money comes from that 10,000 yes I talked to Rory already he has $10,000 in his budget that he can put towards that implementation cost so anything as far as if we were to use arpa funds or something would come out would be the ongoing cost for next year so that 12,000 would be basically for the year 2025 yes for which after that of course sen it would have to we would no longer have the arpa money but it would be an ongoing right I would just put that in my budget from there on out and and I think Mr Mr chair Commissioners is that um that contract that Darren has through seamless docks ends next August and so for the budget process for 2026 realistically we'd be needing $3,000 it' be yeah right because one would go away right yeah actually that that seamless docks money is in um um Mark loon's budget so so question I have um Comm Cel is the uh what's the remaining right now in arpa um so uh we have could give you that we're gon to agenda for next we're right after me we're going to talk about that oh yeah we're going to be talking about so so right right now before and there's some other things we're going talk about today but right now there is about 144,000 that's available and arpa's got other recommendations that we're talking about later but of that 14412 is is this okay so I'm D was just a curious question but number two you're um if this is appropriate time you feel that is a good place for this first absolutely okay okay and then the other question maybe for Darren or whoever knows um it's an annual subscription obviously correct and at this rate at the how long is that subscription good for for one year one year Y and then you you find out sometime what their increases high as they go onine yes yeah they base it on how many employees we have so oh um but yes I I will find I would find out what the cost would be for the following year and and I'm assuming over time you know this is a good good program there'll be also um new software that comes out from time to time um yeah this would this is all would be cloud-based so we wouldn't we wouldn't be having the server here this is all through this would basically uh merge right into our HR payroll system that we currently okay so um and where I'm coming coming back on that is not holding you to it at some point there will there be other types of implementation costs uh I don't foresee that okay at this point um as with our HR payroll system they will uh put out updates or fixes or whatever and that that's no cost to us um at this point okay thank you any other questions Mr I if there's no further questions I would move that we um authorize $2,156 um to cover the implementation for one year um by using the ARP available ARA funds second the motion that includes uh the approval to purchase the system the ukg system yes that that but that that's not arpa funds that would come it have second motion well they yeah so yes this one this one is just the delegation of the arpa funds that's what this motion is okay so we'll we'll limit this motion to the arpa funds any further discussion all in favor say i i i o same sign do we need a motion for the it yes or for the approval to purchase the UK uh G recruiting an onboard mod module for HR Mr J make that using the available it funds as as suggested I'll second that motion second any discussion all in favor say I I oppose same sign thanks Dar next up request approval to designate remaining arpa funds for the 200 or 2025 budget and Steve Larson our County Administrator uh thank you thank you Mr chair uh as uh We've transitioned into this discussion uh just kind of just a little bit of feedback at uh through the through the uh covid pandemic uh the county received uh through the arpa funds received uh 12 million uh 400 $474 370 excuse me 12,47 4,372 in two allocations uh earlier uh this this board uh assigned a committee uh to uh to look at the funding requests that came forward and additional ideas to bring forward to the board for recommendations um we are to the point uh as through this process that uh that designation of the arpa funds have to be done by December 31st 2024 and spent apologize for the error in the memo but spent by December 31st 2026 uh as was mentioned uh through this point uh the the arpa fund has $144,700 remaining we also have $225,000 that is still under consideration as you may recall this board approved $25,000 for Red River communication border-to-border Grant I spoke with red river communic ations yesterday uh and they've still not heard whether or not uh whether or not they've rece will receive those funds and so with that the the the remaining dollars as was mentioned uh is $144,700 with the board's previous action uh that took that down to $132,500 there was a standard allowance a one-time standard allowance which allowed uh the county cities townships up to $10 million uh in Revenue loss regardless of of utilizing uh the complicated structure uh of of showing loss and so as long as it was spent on governmental Services uh and also for the auditor simplified reporting uh this board with that has still followed the true nature and true intent of of the spending uh and so uh the request before you of of utilizing the 132 577 uh would be appropriate I did uh hand out in some of our discussions that we talked about in our budget update last week on our our new requests uh this document that's before you um shows that what we'd be looking to allocate is uh $98,700 arpa and we would be just requesting that it be uh covered that would cover some of those the cost this year and also uh it would also cover $20,000 within uh Kathy mccay's budget uh for vaccine that's no longer being covered by state government and that would leave an additional $1 14,390 uh to apply towards the levy and so um with that I would yield for any questions questions commissioner Campbell yeah thank you thank you um you know just to reconfirming the discussion of the arpa group yes uh yesterday uh you know going to commissioner Krab's questions we have 20,000 that we still want to keep in there for public health for the vaccine issue um the restorative justice as Steve mentioned that was actually covered by arpa funds for 2024 and I think 2023 and so this would be a good use of those funds moving into 2025 and that would actually then be able to take away take off of our Levy um and then and then the 12,000 that we just did and so then as Steve mentioned that would bring us down to 12 thou or $1 4,586 roughly that amount and I think the what we talked about is whatever that amount some of these things are going to be slightly different by the time you actually pay for them but I think what the arpa committee suggested then whatever balance is remaining uh by 1231 that that would that would go just into our general fund um for the purpose of reducing the levy uh and that would include um if Red River Communications if that Grant is not awarded that 25,000 000 would also then be able to be transferred over to to pay down the levy so we'd be looking at anywhere from 39,500 to 14,000 somewhere in that number that would be additional amounts that we well actually the the 98,000 also reduces our Levy so additional questions I got one question you said the 20,000 you want to keep in arer funds I thought we had to spend all the arer funds well I uh commissioner gross I think the arpa funds have to be spent by the end of 2026 oh excuse I think we I think we need to allocate the funds by the end of 2024 okay very good thank you other questions or motion Mr chair I would I would uh I would move that we um designate the um I'm G I'm going to do this by I'm going to I I would move that we designate the $20,000 of remaining arpa funds to Public Health for vaccines uh that we designate 998,199 uh from arpa to restorative justice and we've already taken action on the 12,000 and so that any remaining money that is left be uh designated towards the general fund okay second motion second discussion on the motion and that would meet our requirement to fully have all of those uh arpa dollars designated by December 31st any further discussion not we have a motion on the floor all in favor of the motion say say I I oppose same sign motion passes you're up next Eve for the uh thank you thank you Mr chair and if I if I could just make a a quick note uh I just wanted to thank the the commission uh for their guidance over the last ironically uh it was four years and two months since we met the First first day yesterday I want to thank the the board as part of your packet you see uh the many things that you approved and the impacts that that you made with those covid dollars uh I think that having that committee uh to to review and and look at the best ways to provide that those funds I know that it was important not uh to make sure that you know the different business uh the business multiple business uh funding opportunities that were provided when businesses were shut short or closed uh when we had different uh different entities within our communities uh that were struggling uh we were able to to meet to allocate those so I appreciate appreciate the the guidance and the direction from the board and also appreciate our committee members uh we are hoping that uh that that was our last meeting uh there may be some cleanup that we have to do but uh uh but again appreciate uh the board's commitment to that the committee's assignments thank you um the last item is just a cleanup action from from May May 7th if you recall Greg strowman from the Clay County Trailblazers Snow beile Club came forward and pro provided an update on the on the season that wasn't last year um but also came forward with resolution 2420 uh 24 20247 uh as allowing us to continue to act as a legal sponsor uh for their snowmobile club uh for the next season on August August 15th Mr strowman and I met with representatives of the DNR uh who who are reviewing their programs as a whole and and one of the things that uh that the Trailblazers snow bile Club does is uh for the for where the map is each year that that's utilized for the trail they get permissions of for RightWay uh from the citizens uh of the of that property and we uh they they they've processed that but we had nowhere uh in our agreement that stated that they were doing that on your behalf uh as a board uh as through the sponsorship and so uh when you turn over to the resolution 24-25 uh the addition from what you approved earlier this year is be it further resolved that Klay County as the legal sponsor grants the authority to the clay Trail Alliance uh snowmobile club to obtain landowner permission in the name of the club and sponsor uh and then they keep that on files uh for the DNR with that IDE for any questions questions for Steve or motion I'll offer a motion to approve resolution 2024-25 second have motion second all in favor say I oppose same sign and I did review review this with Mr Mr Melton it doesn't have any additional liability in the county okay we'll move on to committee reports and ironically enough we're going to start with commissioner gross it's your turn you want to hear the whole [Laughter] report uh I'm going to stick with uh it's glad to be back it's good to have you back thank you commissioner kraban off thank you Mr chair um so last Tuesday afternoon uh we had our quarterly meeting of the um Clay County Li library and uh with the number of cases coming in revenues keep going up and they have a balance of about 82,000 at this point and with that amount um I know some of it is being worked on uh getting tablets for people in court there's still some work to be done with that and um as far as the legal Library itself um it's constantly being looked at what's relevant what are the things that can be discarded and so what um with the extra funds um seem to be getting a little higher we're going to meet next month in the LA Law Library itself to kind of look at uh what maybe inside could be repurpose to be used uh uh for people coming to the library in a better way and with more efficiencies so uh anyway the number of people coming in for the uh legal checkin is steady and I believe it was about 45 people that came in uh mostly for uh regarding family law uh getting help at the the legal plenty um checkins that they have down in the library um then next let's see then we moveed to Thursday September 5th that day started out with C Clay County intergovernmental um committee uh this committee includes cities Township representatives from cities townships and school districts County Commission and I guess that's it uh always a great discussion to have uh we did have uh Dan Farnsworth from metrocog come and give us an update on the Heartland Trail study um mainly about the potential um from their open houses and and getting citizen input mainly from the area of Holly into into Morehead uh although that trail will go all the way to Detroit Lakes um that was part of it then we talked a little bit what will be uh ideas for our Retreat uh in January and three items mainly came up uh about opioids that discussion helping the reduction and and uh um prevention and then Heartland Trail was also discussed maybe have an update on that and then certainly uh hopefully um join be joined in with some legislative updates with our legislators that can attend uh with that commissioner Campbell was that the meeting maybe has a couple more things to add uh later that morning I had my monthly um Children's Mental Health um monthly meeting very uh good discussion there uh full group we heard a lot from Lakeland Mental Health they were very active in the discussion but um mainly it was uh agencies reporting with what one another the things that are going on what what uh they're very uh think they're having good successes with in areas with the state that are still um problematic in trying to keep up with the needs of mental health um it was a pretty broad uh discussion all over so um that was that discussion I did bring up about the prtf and step's uh steps that were taken as a as a board in U um maybe the repurposing a juvenile and then also into a PF and then that future of a potential um secured for uh women's building being built um right after that I had the um uh Family Resource Center cour team uh again this is moving along with the grant that the FRC receiv received for planning um through the sour Foundation uh where there at and this will go through November these meetings um and and at the point they're at right now is uh creating a uh family advisory uh board and so they set up the um the guidelines for people that want to um throw their name in the Hat to see if they want to be part of this nine member board uh people on the board will be as from uh a broad spectrum uh to keep that uh knowing that any type work that this um um Resource Center would do uh would be for all families so um uh just making sure it's spread out to throughout the county um then uh toward the end of the day I had the uh be our quarterly Clay County collaborative meeting um right now uh our coordinator is considering um kind of walking away from this job so we're going to be opening up a search for a new coordinator uh but in the meantime uh Marissa wants to hold on to the work she really doesn't want to leave without any um transition plan for the new person that might come in whenever that is so it's not like she has an exact end date but she wants us to be working toward that so at the same time uh there will be a for member group here that that'll start uh two from the governance two from the admin group um and will um not only start the search process but we'll also what transition type things can we do uh to make this job more effective and efficient but um the as far as the work we do in in the collaborative it's tremendous um U you know large number of grants 439,000 in Grants went out this year uh we found out through some internal auditing work that um they we have a sizable fund um there's probably somewhere close to uh $350,000 left in that fund so how can we utilize those funds over a period of time so it was a much bigger number we had in our our account than I think anybody expected a year ago so we want to be prudent with that and make sure those funds are uh being used in useful ways which they always are but um you know also making sure that we're um maximizing uh the potential uh for not only the groups we have applying for funds at this point but maybe even get some more people involved um and the next day it was an honor I will say that on Friday it was fun going to our uh past uh uh um Assistant Attorney and for the investigator of uh Mike luer and seeing him becom a judge and um it was special and uh he was there with his family and two active young lady girls especially the one and a2y old and she was the uh kind of the star of the program but anyway was it was fun it it was really um I just am very grateful and respectful of all the uh work that Mike did for the county his past uh the stories with him you know and his which I didn't know about we had a um uh um uh David uh Paul spoke who was U executive secretary of the board of judicial standards he's retired but Mike worked with him for several years and that's really your Ethics Committee of the judicial system in Minnesota and with that background obviously that elevated M to this position uh very well um anyway we'll have he'll he's got B shoes to or the next first has be shoes to fill and I'm sure attorney Melton will take care of that and seeing that's done well but anyway it was a pleasure being part of that and all the best to Mike uh as being a judge is serving our seventh District in Clay County so even gets to be in town still uh yesterday on Monday had a couple of things uh through the C clay food Partners we had a a food Forest event out at MB Park uh johnon Park I was there for about an hour uh went from 4 till 7 in my hour that I was out there there was roughly I'd say around 40 people uh it was interesting to hear about their planning of a food Forest uh it involved um uh three uh Berry Gardens and then also 138 apple trees and or no trees excuse me of which uh two of them are Plum and two are pear and the rest of their apples 10 different varieties so uh for our public um go out there anytime there it's all open to the public if there's fruit you can take the fruit you know enjoy it take a little but it's a for the community to share and also they'll be doing uh education along with that over the years and then last night I was at the uh Buffalo red Watershed District things have note there uh John Hansen who had been on the board for many many years uh did not choose to uh work for come in for another term so uh Becker County now has appointed Tom Andre or Todd I I hope it said that Todd and D he's a a grain farmer KF operator uh up just north of Detroit Lakes toward the Callaway area so he was very uh for first night he was um spoke quite a bit and asked good questions far as permits we had three uh drain tiles one in clay one in woke and one in Otter Tail um as far as local projects in in uh Clay County I'll just say that we have um the Stony Creek restor restoration the work has been completed there's still some final work uh needing to be done as far as grass seeding that type thing also the Glen and East tributary on the east side going south of uh Glendon that one in the same spot uh work uh is completed and just again get in that grass down um as Qui as we can this fall and then last I want to report is on the um snaky Creek over by on 11th Street just north of the cemetery going down there they have about two weeks left of that work so all these three projects that were near us uh uh the moid area out to Glendon uh are be being completed the last thing uh which has always been a discussion here uh especially since two years ago when we had that heavy flood that area of the restoration of the whiskey Creek starting at Barnesville going up as you will uh toward um County Road 20 that area south of Baker that continues on uh anyway that area and there did go through its eaw that was completed and no no issues found so that that leads the way so they in fact did approve the AIS and so we're in good shape to move forward with the work and they've um I think they've already pursu are pursuing the B so that completes my re thank you commissioner Mojo thank you Mr chair well last week I uh was a poor excuse for uh subbing in for commissioner gross at the highway tracking committee we did have updates in regards to the transmission that went out on a blade a pretty substantial cost but um grateful that it didn't happen during the winter season we did have an update on Staffing there's some internal movement also we'll be advertising for applicants for a few positions within the highway department the 5-year plan meeting will be September 24th here at 9:00 a.m. uh projects will remain the same as they've been communicated there's just some updates to cost we uh discussed the lease numbers for the 2025 pickups we'll be reviewing that and bringing forward a recommendation updates on the casad 10 box covered and casad 26 Paving update and striping there a couple box coverts that are remaining on there and they were able to get County Road 51 Bridge funding approved did have a discussion about the state a Highway 12 and 52 open house in regards to the open house or the roundabout construction that will be um needing to happen soon uh targeting a late September meeting at the highway department but also felt because of uh commuter traffic it would be helpful to have a meeting either in the Sabin uh city council or Barnesville city council that information will come forward at a later date I attended the AMC subcommittee on taxes and state assess properties and I've been appointed I have been appointed to that uh committee we did talk about the local sales tax discussions Statewide and was able to update how Klay county has utilized and leveraged those funds for projects we did have a Department of Revenue presentation and a gross operating receed uh had perspectives from a couple different counties on their County program Aid Ramsey County and laap Paro County were able to give their insight and did have um a next steps planning it was really interesting to see the wide representation on that committee from all areas of the state um there are a couple counties that are in such Dire Straits financially they are seeking advice on declaring bankruptcy as a County uh so there are um huge implications in how the state assessed some properties um particularly state-owned and utility properties but also um we're just uh there's so many state unfunded mandates you know a lot of counties are in really difficult positions so I appreciate that um while it may seem we're being critical um it is really important that we maintain um vigilance in regards to um taxes it's it's a burden uh but we're also able to utilize some great things with it as well uh the next day I attend the Red River Basin commission meeting that was held in Morehead it was the annual ex officio joint meeting with the uh Basin commission we did have an update from U Melinda barens from the National Weather Service in regards to the 2024 2025 winter Outlook it appears it we'll have a mild and warm fall followed by a wet and cold winter hopefully that's not true on the lighter but I'll I'll go for the mild fall uh we did have then an update from Daryl Richardson on the North Dakota it's ND Dawn improvements and really it's the radar and the reporting in North Dakota and how that's also been mirrored in Minnesota it's really quite a fantastic update on that it's helpful as you uh do planning but also um estimates for precipitation we had an update from Chris bigard on the FM area diversion project update I reiterated to the group uh since there were Minnesota legislators and Minnesota agency represent Representatives uh from Minnesota how important it will continue to be to advocate for funding uh that project will not be certifiable until the Minnesota components are complete and uh the North Dakota Representatives particularly commissioner Shirlene and commissioner pepcorn and we're grateful that I uh presented that component but um certainly it will take a um group effort to continue to lobby for that we had an update on the nly Leu Marsh restoration project we've heard so many projects updates on that uh up on the south area of Lake Winnipeg I believe really fascinating to hear how that Delta has really um gone away uh and sediment has really been an issue um and it's now they're restoring that and so they're able to have some netting and uh components in there to get that sediment to fall there again so a cool update on that then an update on Minnesota North Dakota soil Health Partnership believe that concludes that report yesterday I attended the metrocog executive committee meeting we did uh General business and approval of the AAC Morhead agreement on their project that was approved and and reviewed the draft Financial audit and had agency updates we will need to have a special meeting in September to approve uh proposals and then did talk there was a a reduction in the ask for some agencies for next year we did see about a $30,000 reduction in that ask there's a Slowdown in projects and so um they're they're working really hard to utilize all the cpg funding that they were able to get um hopeful that they can work through that but it's looking uh like there's just a Slowdown of projects so that is why see the reduction there sorry then yesterday I also attended the withdrawal management detox facility construction update we did have a good update on the um progression there uh they have completed the exterior components on that they're working on concrete and dirt work uh Landscaping uh we did have a couple uh proposal requests which would be um several addition or deductions in the cost or due to some savings there was a coiling door upgrade fund there uh and we're waiting on the card reader revisions there was a discussion on TV brackets I believe staff was able to work through that and discussed owner transition plan we'll have the uh FM extra will be walking through the week of the 16th which is also I believe the week that you're updating to the morid Business Association that piece and then our groundbreaking will not ground not groundbreaking uh ribbon cutting and media day will be on October 1st and I think we're looking at having one more meeting there and then we'll be able to wrap that up and then we moved into the DMV discussion for the uh construction uh Mason Morton m Morton and masonry completed all the brick on the building working on the monument sign they installed the countertops um and same thing there they're working on finishing items uh let's see and transition plan there too there was a discussion on the iPad station uh for the kiosk I believe the staff is working on that in regards to contingencies on both projects about 191,000 remaining in the contingency and the withdrawal Management Facility and about 206,00 ,000 remaining of the contingency there uh we're not um certainly not anticipating um drying down those substantially so that's good to see uh there will be some components as we finish up that will need to come out of that and I don't believe I updated on the access management for the field approach that was approved and we'll move forward and I believe that concludes my report thank you commissioner Campbell thank you on September 3rd I also attended the highway tracking committee meeting which commissioner moo gave a very good report on I the only thing that I would um add to that is we did have a conversation with Justin about uh if you recall in his um budget request there was the $400,000 that was um that had been being paid to the city of Morehead for many years for a turnback project the last payment on that was in 2024 so 2025 he wanted to use that $400,000 to go towards striping projects and those types of things and um we talked to him about um reducing that from 400 to 325 and that $75,000 would go towards his budget to um I can't remember if it was Steve was it a new request new maintenance worker yeah the new maintenance worker so that so that 75 5,000 would fund that the first year keep in mind that would still give him $325,000 that he never didn't have before uh to be able to uh do do some of that work he did mention something that he still might have some other areas within his budget that could make up and still allowed some additional things to be done so so we had that conversation with them um and then on the September 5th I had the interg committee which commissioner kraban reported on and I really have nothing to add to that report uh yesterday we had our uh as commissioner Mojo mentioned we had our both the detox construction update and the um motor vehicle update I I want to just point out one thing um that on the contingencies the 191,000 that we had there we did we did authorize um through Joel Olson's request on the on the more I believe that was 15 about $15,000 that that uh come from that project that project pay for it um it it really didn't impact this sort of speak but it was because it was an FF issue his FF went up which means we still have to take take it from that contingency so rather than the 191 it would probably be about 175 or somewhere in that area but other than that commissioner Moto I I don't really have anything to add everybody that's was at the same committee as I did and they give good reports so I can just be quiet well I forgot to report on the arpa so youd like to report I got that over here so we have the arpa committee and we acted on all that stuff so I have no further report perect okay I'm going to be short and sweet I have one meeting on the fifth the uh Minnesota safe and secure courts advisory panel that I'm on uh representing AMC Public Safety Committee um we met uh virtually with judge Cochran and Jennifer super from Minnesota judicial branch and all the applications are in 25 of them from 22 different counties Scott County has three separate applications for grant funding for secure courts so we have a total of $840,000 in requests and we have $500,000 in Appropriations so we're getting to work on the um reading these grants and holding it up on the standards for application um and by the end of September we hope to meet uh with an idea to get all the grants read by all the participants and the score sheets fix figured out by the beginning of November and so that is going to be an ongoing process and it's kind of dotting but I'll put my reading classes on and get to work and other than that I have nothing else Steve thank you Mr chair last week I participated in Highway tracking it's been well covered the I think just the only other point and maybe I missed it uh Justin's going to be coming forward with a five-year plan to a public hearing during this board meeting uh on September 24th 4th um I met that afternoon met with commissioner karanov on a series of County issues on the fourth we had our strive for excellence meeting uh we have several employees that are going through the N high performance leadership training the second cohort group started this week uh so we had some discussions on that we're going to have a wrap up or followup at the end of December when the last group goes through uh to kind of process that whole the whole training piece um one of the requests that came forward is uh in in the discussion is uh we used to have a At Your Service customer service training uh and there's been some discussion from our department heads uh that that would also be beneficial to bring back and then we also talked about our inter dep Department Retreat that we're looking to host uh sometime this spring for for uh within the county on the fourth I met with Mr Melton Joe Olson and Cory bang in regards to the Red River uh or excuse me the resource recovery uh door issue that we're having we did send a letter uh to construction Engineers clein McCarthy uh to uh encourage some uh Mo move forward movement on that as we've been having issues with our doors out there for roughly two years uh Clay County intergovernmental committee that's been uh on the 5ifth that has been addressed also participated on that afternoon with Jill sterm uh that Matt Jacobson are going to be part of a panel committee talking about our cannabis ordinance uh uh at the AMC conference on Wednesday morning and so just went through some of that process on the fifth also talked to sheriff EMP on a series of issues on the sixth I met with Dan Molly Derek Le Point um they're they're going to be starting the the remodel of City Hall and so um Administration is moving over to the mcom center uh with the other departments moving over to the old US Bank building this week and so um one of the things we we talked budgets we talked about legislative priorities again uh they're hoping to uh that we'll can have some sort of meeting here this November uh to make sure that we're on the same page moving forward uh with flood mitigation funding they're also focusing uh some uh additional work on Border legislation um participated in a n leadership uh training uh on the 6th uh also was also present at judge liser investure uh yesterday participated in the owners meeting and also the arpa meeting that have been well covered uh and then I was invited to uh the Metro Cog 2026 2030 Transit development uh plan study committee uh I'm not sure if I'm the right person to be at at that uh uh that meeting but I appreciated the invite uh I talked about uh looking about what are the future needs uh as as far as the Fargo Morehead area uh they talked about 1.3 million Riders annually of of our bus systems uh they we've seen a consistent rise in usage uh in the bus even as the service hours went down during covid uh with the largest uh the busiest part of the day of course is the noon hour and then also the busiest day of usage is actually Saturday so they hope to have a draft of this uh this uh U thing this excuse me um study review by June 2025 uh but they'll be looking at some public for some public input starting here in September and so um I just want to last thing I guess is is the followup from from last week's budget discussion um a number of recommendations were brought forward that you requested that Miss Johnson and I look at we also went back and made those adjustments based on your actions today with the arpa funds we also had had uh had uh some additional savings with the market study uh in uh Market study implementation uh Social Services receives some additional uh receives partial funding in some of their positions uh that was roughly over $80,000 additional savings uh that we would get through reimbursement uh and then the figures for the tax abatement numbers came in about $100,000 lower than anticipated uh and so um with the board's approval next week uh next week Miss Johnson and I would be bringing forward a resolution to establish the preliminary Levy um and allowing Miss Johnson to meet the certified requirement of Statute uh with a with a net Levy um give or take a a a tenth of a percentage of 4.19% so we're able to lower it lower it just about uh just about three Levy points from from the presentation that concludes my report thank you Miss Melton thank you Mr chair I just thought I would highlight I know as you're aware in the consent agenda today there was a item uh from the crime victim Services where the Minnesota office of Justice programs uh had an amendment uh where our uh Grant one of our grants within the victim Services crime victim Services went from 70,000 up to 80,1 1554 and so it's not a humongous sum but an increase of $10,000 and so I appreciate that both the state and then the county um you know signing off on that and and that money will go uh and be well used to help Service uh victims within the county obviously one of my main roles and Main roles of our office is uh holding offenders accountable uh but uh second to that is also making sure that victims are are well served well treated understand and the system uh and are working to make them as whole as possible when they unfortunately have uh become victims of crimes and so I think some of this money will mainly go toward U uh some of that after you know post uh um adjudication helping to to find out if uh those victims need any other services uh or there's any other things left that uh they need uh assistance with so again I appreciate the uh the state uh uh approving some additional funds and the county signing off on it very good thank you that is a critical part of the criminal justice system that a lot of people don't think of but uh once the case is solved and adjudicated there's still people who have to live with the results of what's happened to them for years and it's good that we've got some additional funding in there try to mediate some of the issues that they've got to deal with hey Aon anything Jackie thank you Mr chair um as commissioner Mojo me mentioned on the um October 1st we have the withdrawal Management detx Facility in DMV openhouse and ribbon cutting um we will be getting invites sent out this week so we're looking forward to that event very good commissioner Campbell yeah I just wanted to um going back to the intergovernmental Retreat um for those who may not have that on their calendars the Retreats date is scheduled for January 31st uh with a weather date of February 7th Ezra you might want to uh make sure you note that in your calendar moving forward that um that those are the scheduled dates of that anyone have any additional if not we're adjourned thank you