##VIDEO ID:pPRIWvhcB9M## please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible withy justice for all thank you tce roll call please commissioner coring here commissioner luy here commissioner barrows here commissioner franzine here commissioner Lee here all members are present thank you our first item of business is the oath of office for the two newly elected County Commissioners commissioner coring and commissioner Lee if you would come down in front of the de please administrative Services director joory Danielson will ad ad Minister the oath of office where do you want his mic Sor can you use the mic at the podium if you'll please raise your right hand I I and state your first and last name k do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Minnesota and the constitution of the state of Minnesota and that I will Faithfully execute and I will Faithfully execute and discharge the duties and discharge the duties of the office of Crowing County Commissioner of the office of Crowing County Commissioner in the county of crowing Minnesota in the county of crowing Minnesota according to the law according to the law and the best of my ability and understanding and the best of my ability and understanding so help me God so help me God [Applause] congratulations after the meeting we'll have some opportunity for pictures if anyone wants to do some pictures as well at that point Commissioners this is the organizational meeting so the first order of business is to elect the board chair and vice chair for the year as such I will open the floor to nominations for board chair for 2025 I would nominate commissioner Steve barrows as the chair of the County board for the term of 2025 and I will second that commissioner coring nominates commissioner barrows seconded by commissioner ly are there any other nominations are there any other nominations third and final time are there any other nominations hearing none nominations will close and I would accept a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for commissioner barrows for County Board chair for 2025 so move a unanimous ballot for commissioner Steve barrows to be the County Board chair for the term of 2025 I have a motion by commissioner coring is there a second I will second that motion seconded by commissioner luy is there any discussion Tres will you call the rooll please commissioner coring I commissioner luy I commissioner barrows I commissioner franzine I commissioner Lee I motion passes I will now open the floor to nominations for vice chair for 2025 Madam administrator I would make a motion to not Nate commissioner franzine I have a motion for commissioner franzine for vice chair is there a second I will second that motion commissioner luy commissioner luy seconds the motion are there any other nominations are there any other nominations third and final time are there any other nominations hearing none nominations will close and I would accept a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for commissioner Fran for vice chair for 2025 is there a motion I make that motion a motion by commissioner barrows is there a second I will second that motion commissioner luy seconded by commissioner luy any discussion roll call commissioner coring I commissioner luy I commissioner barrows I commissioner franzine I commissioner Lee I motion passes congratulations to the new chair and vice chair let's take just a moment and swap chairs and name plates please make sure you get them just right okay and Mr chair I would turn it over to you for the rest of the meeting thank you very much welcome everyone we appreciate you being here this morning our next business is open Forum I don't have anything any forums in front of me I'm assuming no one is signed up to speak in Forum so we'll move on to review and approve the agenda any additions no additions or changes changes Mr chair I would move to approve the agenda as presented in our packet second motion by already that's all right commissioner coring yep commissioner coring and commissioner franzine seconds that all in favor sign ify by saying I I I motion all those not in favor same sign or motion passes thank you consent agenda motion to approve motion by commissioner franzine second by commissioner coring any discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I not in favor signify by saying no that motion passes County engineer good morning Mr chair and Commissioners morning so I am here before you today for um seeking a resolution to sponsor peat Lake School District for their transportation Alternatives Grant um also if there's any questions towards the end C Kurt stump the superintendent is also here in the room if you want if you have questions about the project specifically um but this is all a result of a safe rosta School plan that was done um a year and a half two years ago and they're implementing that project to do um some improvements around the peat Lake School um could you pop up the graphic please so here's a look at um and so none of this is along a county road but since peat Lakes is not a state aid City it requires a sponsorship and that would be from the county uh last year we sponsored Breezy points ta application that was along um Casa 11 um but this one you can see um along Patriot Avenue there's some sidewalk improvements um some rapid flashing be for safer crosswalks some sidewalks to get students connected to the Paul bunion Trail and then also to the north um some pavement markings and lighting upgrades where um in that safe R the school plan they noticed some patterns of where students were walking along roads where it was dangerous um but then a little bit about the transportation Alternatives Grant um it it seeks um projects for this specifically you know pet and bike safe us to school um some historic pre preservation and some environmental things as such um but the uh there is a local match that will be covered by the city of peat Lakes um our role as Fiscal Agent is to make sure that these projects are completed and we're also the Fiscal Agent as well so we're the money passes through the county and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any any questions I have none I would look for a motion to approve the attached resolution so moved motion by commissioner fanzine second by commissioner ly all those in favor signify by saying I I I those not in favor say no that motion passes thank you very much mat all right Tim you're next thank you uh good morning today I'm here to as a followon presentation to the um information that I provided last Tuesday at the board meeting and it has to do with the application for some federal money up to $25 million to make improvements to the 371 Corridor and over the last 18 months or so we've been working with mindat and our partners at Baxter and Nisa to put together Corridor safety plan from baxer to Nisa um and it came up with new near-term midterm and long-term Solutions or potential solutions for the corridor and we're continuing on with that uh that effort and it will wrap up in the next six months or so but the near-term alternatives are ready for to move into the implementation phase and uh recently mot reached out to me and ask that I present to you the the option to be the lead applicant for up to that $25 million for a raise Grant that's a Federal grant that's called that's the rebuilding America infrastructure and sustainability and Equity Grant and um um it's just a really good opportunity to fund these improvements that have been needed for many many years I think at the the last meeting I talked about when I left mot 15 years ago this was my last project and since that time there's been very little progress in getting those safety improvements that will reduce the serious and fatal crashes that continue to happen on the state highway system at the last meeting I talked about how this is uh firmly in alignment with the comprehensive plan that was just completed and I ask for your support to uh apply for this what's different from the last presentation is I've included the actual resolution for action and it's very detailed as you uh as you've come to expect from me but I wanted it to be very clear and I wanted you to understand the risks and exposure the potential exposure to Crowing County um it I did confirm over the last uh week that the Grant application will be for 100% of the cost of the project which is a little bit atypical normally federal grants are either 8020 or 9010 because of uh classification in the area that was identified in the 2020 census um allows us to apply for 100% of the federal funding and that's really good uh that doesn't happen very often and I've also mentioned that even if there is a c share somehow that the vast majority of the C share would be the responsibility mot because these near-term improvements are most um complete completely contained within the mot right away and so there are representatives from mot Jim hogen from mot he's the assistant assistant District Engineers here Tom krook shank who's a planner you've all met him at uh some some meetings he's from minda Tom blommer from the city of Nisa is here I believe Jenny Max would had planned to be here online she's the city administrator of NIS and then Brad Shulas who's the city administrator from Baxter I believe you one or more of you asked for those representatives to be here to answer some questions or just to lend their support um to this partnership and this application so I'll be happy to answer any questions I think excuse me go ahead commissioner cor Mr chair yes I I just wanted to make sure and if you remember what I talked about at the last meeting um if there is some cost share for example to the city of nisah or the City of Baxter and then let's say it's even 20 or $30,000 that's a lot of money to those cities and I just wanted to make sure and I'm sure you've done your homework because you always do I just want to make sure that they're okay with this also and I'm assuming they are and if you want to whoever the representatives are if you want to come up and speak you can if you don't want to but that's all I'm just concerned that that we're not taking an action it's kind of like and and with all due respect to Ben Davis the state does a lot of things that has a huge effect on the counties and I don't want us to make uh uh decisions here that have an effect on cities that cost them a lot of money so I I don't know if anybody wants to speak but I'm I'm I'm guessing that you guys are in favor of this niswan Baxter hi I'm Tom blommer I'm the Public Works director for the city of NWA and I'll just keep this brief because um Jenny was probably would prefer to have been here to speak but um we are in favor of this okay and we do have funds to if there were a need sure okay that's that's what I wanted to hear thank you administrator chipis welcome thank you chair uh thank you Commissioners U to answer your question Mr Corin yes um the city of Bair is aware we have many intersections with mindat that require cair and we would anticipate that in the event that 100% was not provided for through the grant that the cost share agreements that are in place would be enacted and and anticipated I do want to note that based on the timing of this uh request the city council will not be considering a a resolution of support until their meeting on the 21st but that being said the city council has been kept to speed throughout the whole study process and the improvements that are being proposed within the City of Baxter have been reviewed and uh have just general consent of approval from the council so Mr chair before you move Mr administrator this is kind of similar to this but just something that I've been wanting to reach out and it's as long as you're here the intersection where uh and I don't is it the one by Mills Ford and when you turn to go to Menard's wa wa wa I don't know I don't understand like on the other side of the road over where Deerwood Bank is there's a stop sign when you come up and then when you go down by Target by that hotel there's a stop sign there but yet at that intersection where you turn if you're coming out of Menard's it is a disaster trying to either get in there or to come out of there wouldn't it make sense to have a stop sign also there the that intersection is part of the 371 safety study that is being looked at from a short-term long-term perspective it's a little bit more difficult than the intersections that you referenc but it is something that is part of the scope of the study that's still yet to be completed okay yeah that'll be part of the midterm or long-term Solutions what you have before you today for the Federal grant does not include uh waer wrote it is on our radar screen very challing intersection very firmly and some of the we've working through some of those Alternatives we continue to to look at that one summertime I think Mr chair I'm going to bring a stop sign and I'm going to be directing traffic there possibly because it's uh it's difficult thank you thank you appreciate it Mr chair yes sir go ahead commissioner um what year is the projected start date for this so this grant would be for 2829 I believe um because we're ask also asking for uh engineering continued planning and then RightWay acquisition if needed we'll have access to the money but the construction of these major improvements or this string of improvements throughout the whole Corridor are expected to be in beginning in 2028 possibly uh no later than 2029 as you all know there's we are being very fortunate to receive a lot of funding support to make the improvements to the regional transportation system Brainard will be doing Washington Street beginning next year I believe and then The Interchange at 210 and 371 it's scheduled for I believe 27 and 28 and then this will be follow on too so we're very cognizant of all the things that are going on at once um so it will be after The Interchange is built barring um a major shift in the timeline for that okay and then if this uh Grant is approved when will we find out about that my understanding uh looking into a question actually you had the question for me I believe the award is June of this year so we have several months this it's a very competitive process uh at the federal it's going to compete at the state level and maybe even at the at the federal level so it it takes time the wheels of government and grants specifically take a lot of time because there's such competition and um based off the the diagrams and the the documents that you showed me last month I'm assuming this has been planned without the grant for some time correct it it's part of the ongoing 371 Corridor that we were working on with the partnership for 18 months and um so it has uh these are the concepts the near-term concepts are included in that and that that process has gone through public involvement uh there's still more to do but open houses and and surveys and those types of things and so these are have been out in the public and people are aware of them okay perfect thank you that's all I've got thank you so quickly T if I missed it um in your previous presentation you talked about if it goes through the county asking for the money there's a greater chance of success in receiving that versus the state which has a lot of requests in the hopper is that that's true or did I miss maybe you presented that already I I don't remember see hearing that yes we we did talk about that last time and with these grants uh there's a strategy that there's a strategy behind all of these and also menot um what I learned over the last uh month or so about this is that this area has been identified by mot is one of the top three in the state to apply for this particular Grant and so there are two and I believe it's third on the list number three the other two are I'm not sure where they are but those are um also a priority for menot and we thought as a as a partnership the strategy is best for us to be the lead who have we have proven that we are able to uh handle apply and follow up with federal grants and um us being in lead we felt was better uh for that rather than com m a third application you know third in line so now the Count's coming up these Grant the the people that evaluate grants and select them really like Partnerships if you can show that everybody in the region is on board and now um not just mot's in the lead but Crowing County uh is in lead we feel that that's a better strategy to be competitive for this very good any other questions or concerns for Tim I have none all right hearing none seeing none I would look for a motion to approve the attached resolution applying for the uh 2025 Federal raise Grant Mr chair I'll make that resolution authorizing crowing County's application for the uh 2025 Federal raise Grant to provide safety improvements on Minnesota 371 corridor from Baxter towa second second coring motion by commissioner luy second by commissioner franzine all those in favor signify by saying I I I not in favor say no that motion passes that resolution is accepted thank you very much for the work on this thank you project appreciate it yep thank you County Sheriff you're up next hi good morning I figured I better come up since I haven't seen you since last year um well another uh another good report I just wanted to share uh you know we just started the beginning of the new year so we don't have a lot of lot to uh share with you but we did uh um I got to tell you a good story on New Year's Day we had a lady that left her residence and had wandered off and got lost in the woods and and uh ended up uh becoming U um hypothermic and became delirious and ended up spending the night out there we got the call the following morning and uh there was a whole bunch of us that had gone down there uh to uh do a search we searched uh 80 acres um and then as you know it was very cold out that day we got everybody back to the uh uh command trailer and uh they were warming up inside and we were discussing all the areas that we searched and there was just there was this one area that we wanted to that I wanted to make sure that we finished up and uh I I asked them if they would if we could do it uh if we could go out and hit this area uh one more time uh just before dark and it was uh it was getting dark already uh so it did not look very promising that we'd be able to uh to finish that but um these guys without hesitation said that they would absolutely go out and and uh and finish that one uh area that we hadn't uh searched and lo and beh old we found her and were able to get her the medical attention that she needed uh and get her flowing out um you know she's not obviously out of the woods yet she's going to have some issues but uh we were hoping for a good recovery for her and uh but again it just goes to show you we have really good people working here um for the county and our volunteers are just excellent we had the M of Patrol down there our drone team I mean they all volunteer their time and and we just I just can't say enough about uh the good work they do they always you know they always make us look good and uh that is that's kind of the little story for you Feelgood story so I appreciate that with that I'll take any questions if you have anything or any concerns or fast questions anybody want to put him on the spot all right thank you Sheriff thank you very much appreciate it County attorney I don't have anything for you today other than to welcome commissioner Lee and congratulate commissioner Corin on his re-election and I certainly can take any questions any questions for the attorney very good thank you Don County Administrator we're back to you back to me again Mr chair uh senior management team report there was no senior management team meeting yesterday so there's nothing to report there item the second item I have for you is the award of the 2025 Printing and Publishing bid um as you all know my husband is the editor of the brainer dispatch so I have not been involved in this process teres has handled it I'm going to go sit in the audience and let her take this item thank you Mr chair members of the board in your packet is a summary of The Printing and Publishing bids that were received it is our recommendation that the combined bid of the brainer dispatch Pine and lakes Echo Journal Crosby Arington Courier be accepted using the five or 7.5 Point font and that the brainer dispatch designated as the official County newspaper for 2025 The Courier and the News Hopper both submitted the same bid for the second publication of the financial statement and so you will need to make a determination which newspaper you want to give that to so can we do this in one motion where we're we're yep it's the resolution on the screen and it's the final it's the now therefore be it resolved is the dispatch the combined bid of the dispatch Echo Courier and then the second further resolved is awarding the second publication but of the financial statement Mr chair so then we're making it then the only decision well I think the decision is is either the Crosby career or the news Hopper on the financial statement correct on the second publication of the financial statement why don't we just do it in two motions I would make a motion to uh award the bid to the brainer dispatch Pine Lakes o Journal Crosby iron C Courier for the term of 2025 to be the official paper of Crowing County second motion by commissioner coring second by commissioner franzine any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I not in favor say no that motion passes and then Mr chair I would make a motion that we award the being that there the same price I would uh move that we award the news Hopper to uh be the financial statement in the second public publication motion by commissioner coring to have the news Hopper get the second printing do I have a second I'll second it commissioner Lee makes a second to that motion all in favor signify by saying I I I those not in favor say no no that motion passes thank you very much thank you thank you Tes thank you Mr chair the next item before you is a resolution regarding closed meetings Mr chair members of the board every year there are a number of resolutions that we need to pass at this organizational meeting this is one of those and it specifies the reasons that we would close meetings they include cases of Labor negotiation strategy preliminary consideration of allegations against persons employed by the County evaluations of the performance of persons subject to the authority of the board and conferences protected by attorney client privilege any member of the board May request to have specific meetings open Mr chair I put forward for the board's consideration the resolution that's on the screen that would show the meetings that are going to be considered closed meetings so I would look for a motion to approve the resolution concerning closed meetings that's attached Mr chair I would so move coring would move the resolution on Clos meetings commissioner coring makes the motion second second by commissioner franzine all those in favor signify by saying I I I I those not in favor say no that motion passes thank you thank you Mr chair the next item is the resolution regarding the per meeting rates and meeting expenses inclosed in your packet is a request for board action to pass a resolution regarding the per meeting rates and meeting expens ens es this is also an annual resolution the rates are $75 per meeting for all appointed citizens who serve on advisory committees except for Planning Commission or Board of adjustment members who receive $150 per meeting and $150 per site visit this is a motion or this is a resolution that covers those per DM rates for citizen appointees not County board members just for clarification and if there are no changes I would put it forward for the W's consideration so I would look for a motion to approve Mr chair I'll make a motion commissioner L makes a motion to approve the resolution pertaining to the per meeting rates and meeting expenses commissioner coring commissioner coring makes the second all those in favor signify by saying I I I I those not in favor say no that motion passes thank you thank you Mr chair Mr chair the next item is the 2025 Association in Minnesota county delegate and policy committee appoint appointments enclosed in your packet as a request for board action to appoint our eight voting delegates to the association of Minnesota counties along with our AMC policy committee appointments the current appointments to the policy committees are commissioner luy to the environmental and natural resources policy committee commissioner Barrow to the general government policy committee Community Services director to the health and human services policy committee Comm commissioner coring to public safety policy no and commissioner franzine to the transportation policy committee commissioner coring has mentioned to me since commissioner Lee has over 18 years in public safety experience that it might be more appropriate for commissioner Lee to serve on the Public Safety Committee so I would suggest that you replace coring with Lee for 2025 are there any other changes that you would like to see to the policy committees that is if commissioner Lee is okay with that change I'm good with that so I would suggest that you would change commissioner coring to commissioner Lee for the policy committee the voting delegates are the five Commissioners the County Administrator and then we also have two senior managers that we have rotated in previous years who would participate as voting members for AMC as well both the administrative Services director and the community services director would like to be reappointed for 2025 is that a chair appoint Point e or yes that is a chair appointment and I will make those um appointments thank you Mr chair the next item then is additionally some additional appointments we have the list of your committee assignments in the packet and up on the screen this is the appointments that the Commissioners would serve the different committees you as Commissioners will be serving on if there are no changes to this list I would ask the chair to make these appointments as well there's no additional Chang changes from anyone the chair makes those appointments thank you Mr chair um the next item on your agenda is an appointment to the Crowing County Housing and Redevelopment Authority the HRA appointment is one that's a little bit different than some of the regular appointments this is an appointment that does need to have um an additional board action taken on it so there is a motion that would be required here we need to make an motion to the county H to to have Katie Hepner replace Zack tabi as the District 3 representative for a term expiring 123119 29 excuse me 29 that's just wrong to say 1231 29 and the motion would also include to authorize a certificate of appreciation to be prepared for Mr tavit so I look look for a motion I'll make that motion commissioner franzine makes the motion to appoint Katie Hepner to the H commissioner coring seconds that motion all those in favor signify by saying I I I those not in favor say no that motion passes thank you Mr chair the last item I have for you is the citizen committee appointments there is a list of Citizen committee appointments on your screen here you will see the um the ones who are looking to be need to be reappointed or the appointments that need to be made this is uh request of the chair these are chair appointments to be made so I would ask the chair if there are any changes or addition and then for the chair to please make those appointments so the ones that I would be approving are in the column that says notes and have a yes in that column is that correct Mr chair yes it would be Rebecca best Ray Griffin Sherry hobbyhorse Edward Rosen bomb uh Scott bricks Andy LaRon Shelly wnn and then see we did all of those I'm still waiting on the sanitary sewer district uh serent Lake sanitary sewer district for Crosby and dearwood to get back to me um I'm still waiting on Tom hegan for the Personnel Board of Appeals and then there's also the Brainard Lakes Regional Airport commission okay and I don't see um my appointee Beth passy who's on the Community Health Services advisory and she is a yes okay and Mr chair yes uh I would also like you to uh reappoint Brad Arnold to the en environment natural resources committee and I would also like you to reappoint uh James GAA to the transportation advisory committee and both are willing to serve yes okay and uh also Mr chair uh John O to the um Planning Commission board he he gave me a yes the other day I don't have uh back personally talked to the other two yet I will make those appointments and then Mr chair the final thing is the appointment for the airport commission we did advertise for a vacancy on the airport commission and received five letters of Interest by December 31st the chair has reviewed those and we are now asking the chair to make an appointment to the airport and that is a chair appointment that is a chair appointment all right and i' I have reviewed the five applicants their letters expressing interest we had some very good ones I appreciate everybody that did apply at this time I'm going to appoint Neil bratney as the appointee to the Brainard crowing airport commission thank you Mr chair that's all I had for today any additional business Mr chair I would just uh like to say that I I appreciate state representative Ben Davis is in the audience we are going to for anybody that's here and wants to listen into our meeting at 10:00 we're going to talk to our legislative delegation um I know that I talked to um representative heinsman last night he's busy with something in St Paul so he's going to try to be here via Microsoft teams but we're going to talk to our legislative delegation about issues that are concerning Crowing County and if our uh legislators can help us out with that so Ben Davis I want to just say thank you for being here appreciate it and I'll look forward to seeing you at 10 o'cl and Mr chairman uh and I believe we are going to we decided yesterday that we are going to move down in the administrator's conference room correct so that we're not sitting up here looking down at our legislators we're going to be at the same table kind of a Roundtable discussion all right if there's no other business I would look for a motion to adjourn so moved motion by commissioner franzine nobody else wants to go home wait a minute commissioner Cory let's get one from this side of the room yeah well before we do that I know that that's a non-debatable motion will you withdraw that or sure yeah I I guess you know this is my fourth time um I'd like to say a couple things but sure maybe commissioner Lee being that he's brand new maybe you'd like to say something uh I I don't know I'm just I'm not trying to put you on the spot that's okay nice job if you not not on the spot at all but that's just fine yep I do uh first of all I just want to thank everybody that's in the county for the warm welcome I've gotten back and this is um kind of a coming back home for me cuz my years with the the sheriff's department and some of these guys in the back that um I've grown to love and be with and it's just good to be back so I appreciate the support from our community and and uh putting me in this position and my goal is just to do the best I can for our community so we certainly welcome you y thank you thank you Mr chair I I guess I'd just like to say something I'd like to thank the constituents that I have down in southern Crowing County for sending me back here to a job that I actually have said this before before I've never really I never really sought this job I sought the Senate job very aggressively but um in 2012 some people talk me and running for County Commissioner I reluctantly um decided that I would run um at that time uh Phil trusty who was County Commissioner who was a very nice gentleman um and I kind of felt bad about beating Phil because he was he's such a good guy and then Doug Kern is sitting in the audience Doug ran too and uh and I think it was um no helped me out who was the other person um Monty Jensen Monty Jensen ran and I would prevailed and I will say after 12 years I have become I I really love doing this job um it's just it's it's an it's an honor unless you've ever been elected to any office you don't realize how it's a big deal because because the people that voted for you have actually put their trust in you to look out for their best interests and um it's a it's a big honor and I really I I um I appreciate it so anyway enough I'm rambling well thank you glair that motion to adjourn commission fine makes the motion commissioner coring took it over I was looking for one from this side to kind of get them engaged okay yeah thanks a lot commissioner coring makes the second all those in favor of adjournment signify by saying I I not in favor say no