e e e we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance so please stand Del The Pledge I pledge allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation
under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right agenda do we have any additions to the agenda um Mr chair I would like to add um to revisit the committee listing
for the Commissioners just to verify a couple of points there and you want to add that to your reports or your okay yes so committee is there any other additions
to the agenda do we have a motion to approve the agenda I'll make a motion to approve the agenda motion by Erica do we have a second second second by Barry do we have any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I
hi uh minutes from the January 7th meeting are there any additions or corrections I don't have anything right I had none what that's two that's two in a row now I just want you to know that's two
in a row I have Dad nothing any no no no Corrections or additions I'll make a motion to approve the minutes do we have a second second by Phil any further discussion all in favor signify by
saying I I I carried consent agenda are there any items in the consent agenda that would anybody would like pulled out I had some questions on one but I can ask it's under Denise's it's not that I don't I don't have a question
approving it I just have the questions on when this started the grant so so if that's all right I just ask those questions then yeah anything else for the anything else anybody else on the consent agenda do I have a motion to approve the
consent agenda make a motion to approve the consent agenda we have a second second all uh any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I carried Commissioners open Forum do we
have anybody on the open nobody on the open forum all right reports and correspondence who would like to go first I a so I guess I can and uh I would maybe not in the meeting but
afterwards you can tell me if this is too much or too little if you want too much too much all right all right the microphone oh you got to turn it on all right so I had the law library meeting uh went well uh two resolutions
there both of them passed uh one uh on the 14th had the recreational advisory committee meeting um talk a little about the Heartland Trail uh and then just for everyone's information I think everyone knows this Hank lekey is has some serious health issues and he is
resigning from all of his boards uh uh irq is one of them but I know he's on some other uh Boards of so he's still on Ed officially resigned from both of those so did we get a written res so he will need uh Replacements on
the boards he was on um uh had the Watershed on the 15th just the Bucks Mills Dam restoration south of Lake Melissa is well underway with the engineering uh portion of it uh and we have a Rice Lake Phase 2 up here north
of town are two big projects for the waters next summer um we were going to talk about um Dunton locks a little bit later down um so that's on the agenda so we we'll talk about that one other thing that we need to get uh hopping on is we need a
memorandum of understanding from the county and the Watershed um Watershed is going through its rules and uh we're in the public phase right now so 8:30 on was it February 12th um is the comments for for for for uh rules revision so we
we need to make sure that we're all on the same page um or at least have an understanding uh we've got it with the city already but we need to we need to have something with the mean the wed has to have it they have it with the city and Y that the 12th is
Wednesday it's a Wednesday yep at 8:30 so what what do we need uh they have desire we need to get a a memorandum of understanding but at that that's the public hearing so
if we need to in my opinion we need to streamline to make sure the county know what the watershed's doing the Watershed knows what the County's doing so there can be a better understanding there this is kind of like what we did with Corman Watershed isn't it so so we're not doubling up on permits and stuff like
that yeah so is that right so the customer needs to know where to go and what they need to do and it's just is that something they got to go to the county for is that something they need to go to the Watershed for so uh just and whatever that looks like I just
and if if if if the county doesn't want some of the rules or wants to um talk about some of the things the watershed's doing uh we need to have that uh they need to have that discussion before we come to this memorandum of understanding do we need a
do we need a board workshop on that or is it a Carri I don't know I don't know I I was just going to ask as far as a memorandum I think I we would need some information about what we want in this memorandum yeah I I look at the customer
I look at the the taxpayer I look at them and I say hey they shouldn't be oh you got to go to the water shed for that or you got to go for the county for that I think we have an obligation to make this as e it's it's Shore impact zones and it's it's tough enough already um we
need to be working together and make sure the customer has a knows exactly what they need to do to get their permits and stuff well we can we put that on our next agenda see just to clarify where we're at with it if we need to have a workshop after for the meeting or sure yeah do that okay
yeah okay um at Highway on the 16th me and Richard at Highway um going to be getting a new road sweeper uh potentially but then they just gave project updates and by two minutes the the the bids for those
and that was really about it uh except for the we're now getting bids for that Heartland Trail oh so the bridge to nowhere will now be the bridge to the turkey to the turkey to the turkey and that did I stayed for the bid opening after they
came in at about 20% under 22% under the exact Y what the engineer's estimate was so um and it was uh was it hog hog I got the got the bed so that'll be done this this summer is that do you have any more is
that it that's it who else want I go quick you want to go um just a couple more things on the rack we um had a lot of discussion on the rental of the dun lock shelter um that's possibly going to be open for the public on um the
the target date is June 1st um also applying for a grant through the DNR to address some of the Buckthorn out at dun light dun locks and then we just discussed we had a conversation about um like tax for forfeit land and um if
there are any that we could look at making a county park um we had our Ed meeting and then just back to the um openings on the rack committee with Han's resignation we do have two we have at large and District
three the district three um representative and then Richard and I had the Eda we had our annual meeting um we also will have a District 3 opening um from Hanks um in the Eda um we had there was
some discussion amongst us on the DL housing Summit so they had a DL housing or Detroit Lakes had their housing Summit in December where they went over their housing study um so just trying to look at ways to explore that maybe County and the cities could address our
housing issues in Becker County um we're also going to start to go over and update our Eda strategy plan and then just a a note that I thought was interesting we recently got um a little over $8,000 from recovery from a former
tenant so I thought that was um a good deal usually we don't when a tenant moves out and there's a lot of damage usually we don't see that but pretty amazing yeah we did just get over 8,000 from it was one tenant so um we went over our job descriptions for Planning
and Zoning had Human Services everything's on the agenda we also um discussed the job descriptions for um Human Services and then we had our white Earth meeting um we got an update on some of the legislative topics and we're
waiting for a updated quote from lobbyist just something on that housing study the city had it done yep and according to that study we need uh 37 to
42 new homes per year for five years units that yep so that so could it could be apartment two or three three bedroom units is that's what that housing study came up with yep that and that's just for the city that's not for the whole
County yep yeah was there any with all the money that the state dumped into housing last year um was there any is there any programs that new programs that we should be looking at or trying to I mean that's something to well we do have um I
think it's 230,000 dedicated for housing um to do something with but it but that's such a drop in the bucket nothing so we keep looking at ways to try and build a
house there are there have been programs out there but um you have to have a it you you have to have a plan and it you you can't find contractors really that are willing to build housing because they have to be
inome based for many of those programs and when you're looking at income based you don't make there's no money to be made off of them so do you want to subsidize them I mean that would that's really what it would have to come down to
that's our discussion we don't want to either but I thought that's what the the state was doing when they dumped how many what is it a billion dollars they put in didn't they added 60 60 new jobs at the state 60 new jobs to do that or
something and in the meantime we have like a million dollars of bar funds but that's we can't touch but that's we tried touching them and then they SLA it's a federal state program that's no longer there that we're just holding money on holding on to the money for well we can do things with current homes
with Merl but that's what we were trying to do we're still trying to do it there's a lady her house is falling in and we're working on is that the one in frezy yeah and we're trying to help her it has to actually be it's it's a
lot more complicated it's so complicated yeah it's a program that's been they they haven't had it now it's a federal program and and uh but you can't you got to end all of them before you can get rid of the program yeah and
I think our mural last mural payment is in 20136 I think so we have to hold on to this money until it's basically what it is is houses that we purchased with meral funds and then we're selling them like contract for deed to the back to
the owner back to the owner and they pay us back and then once all of them are paid then we give the money back to Richard Erica are there are there ways to collaborate with other Ed I know the city has a Development Authority Lake Park I think
has some crazy has are there ways to collaborate and together well Cody Cody has I know frzy for sure I believe he's he has met he's met with all the the edas and I think it's really just it's kind of like what we said at our joint
governance meeting in that I don't think that it's anything that one entity can do I think it's going to take collaboration and so yes so those lines of communication are wide open oh yeah MH and I believe actually
the we have somebody on the Eda from Lake Park Eda like our our Eda members are also Eda AB Abby yep Abby's pretty active and Hank was on the pH phy Eda but Karen Piper over there is yep on the
Eda too she's yep yep um Richard and I had land use I think that's um we had a Dun locks update and that's it's getting it looks like it's going to be on schedule to open up maybe even early but we're not going to take anything until till it's
finished any any reservations um we had a discussion about what we should do with the old shelter um I guess that's something that this board should talk about would we would we take a part take all the walls out of the old bathroom and and and
leave the shelter up or should we cut it down I think I don't think it should stay up as is I think it if anything it could be cut and then cut for just a couple picnic tables keep the concrete and then and then take the old part off where the
where we did talked about that at Rack too um that I think would be probably what I would lean towards more so we get more to get rid of that doesn't need to be that big in my opinion and we talked about matching it a little bit to the so
they're not so a well if it's a little bit farther away it would help not to be matching I don't I don't think we want to put a lot of money into trying to match that because that would cost too much money I think you just you know frame you know finish cut it off and finish finish the as cheaply as possible
or otherwise take it completely down and just have a picnic slab a slab there for picking tables with and nothing covered and nothing no cover I mean I'd probably that's probably my preferred one but if we just kept a small portion of it so yeah and then then the trails got to be
adjusted too you know a little bit I think it I think you clutter that up too much and you lose the appeal to that area two of them but we'll take a look we'll have go out there and look at it see when when it's complete but um um we we approved the grant for
trying to get some Buckthorn control out there um the South Twin Public Access that's the access that has that we cross DNR aquatic management area to get to a very small area and if they say we can't do that we' either have to um get an
easement from a private land owner to get on top because it's a rid that cuts that off pretty bad so we're just kind of letting it be you know nobody's really requesting it and it's pretty low use right now so we're just going to let it go and see what happens if we have to go off our own land we' have to cut that
Ridge down and and try to um it would be for what for what it is it's pretty significant for how low use that area is in my opinion so hopefully DNR just lets that access continue and and go with that Barry what what committee you
reporting from this is a natural nrm nrm so I mean these were the same conversations we had in the rack is there some duplicity there that we can well we can get rid of rack because that's what was suggested that's what I suggested
well um that's been a long discussion okay well I'm not up to speed on that but you know the rack would I mean all those things that went through rack always went through inter and we Ira to get Public public involvement on new trails on new activities is what this was
supposed to Ira is supposed to be because we we had we had requests to do ATV trails and and um horse trails and that those new trails that all these people were wanting to do on public lands were going to go through rack and
rack was going to try to um find out how to get those through or any activities on public lands uh it's evolved now I think I think Steve ad are just including rack and all the most of the discussions on what's going on or what what things are available in the county
so I'm not opposed to having that conversation I mean uh just because I mean their time has to be in two meetings and we're talking about a lot of the same thing so well I'm not even close to done with this so yeah we'll I'll be mentioning probably everything that that has been brought to Rack also
but okay um um let's see that was the grant uh Heartland we did discuss the Heartland Trail up opening uh design and we also talked about the designating tax corporate land as public parks or not um
whether what the pros and cons are we can't just we can't just do everything because then we'd lose pill payments but if there's an area where you want to have a public park then you can designate that um lose pill payments but if it's a small tract that's not going to be too
significant um woods and wheels had a grant and aid application we're supporting that um Timber sales are May 2nd October 23rd we looked at some potential land sales um for 2025 going to review those again Mary wasn't at that meeting she
was playing hookie so we thought we' wait for her um we reviewed the credit card charges that then there were I don't think there were even any um we talked about the forest maintenance Road um last year and Mitch had last didn't spend his full budget so we're working
on trying to make sure that we can get nice sports cars traveling on all our Forest Trails for Jerry sham so we can get us I wish Jerry was no but we we did emphasize that we want to try to maintain those but last year was a busy year for contractors and he had
difficulty um trying to trying to get um people out there to do those smaller jobs it's difficult Richard anything else to add to well we were we were talking about swimming beach es because we are short on swimming beaches and they probably don't cost that much
to maintain them um and they are important we are short on them and then we were talking about primitive camping too uh something probably hopefully something we don't need employees for maybe just some maintenance and and I think we were
going to check on if you have them if you if you promote and you sell I mean not sell or or have primitive camping there are some requirements for fac facilities bathroom facilities if you have those nearby so I think that was something that um I mean if we have one
portapotty you know in in an area but we also remember that on tax forfeit land you are free to Camp wherever you want for a period of up to what two weeks Steve is it or yep um and then you just have to move so camping is available it's just that there's no established
sites to go and just start camping um so it's a and as far as the swim beaches we have some areas that have opportun for swim beaches but we don't know if the population is in that area is close enough to utilize them so then you would then you don't necessarily want to
establish a swim Beach if there's nobody going to utilize that unlike middle Corman which on hot day is backed up as cars parking all you know all over so I think that's something we want to recognize is there a need in that area for a swim Beach and if there is
then we certainly move forward with it then and if I recall when I was on the rack commune one of the hurdles for the primitive camping that we ran into was the Minnesota Department of Health requires Minnesota Department of Health approved water supply um when a certain distance from
those primitive campsites that is that correct Mitch 4T yeah yeah so that was one of that was one of the hurdles too yeah we don't want to no we if if it is it's primitive and and carry in carry out type of stuff so and we were talking
about that Eagle Lake Swim beach too and I don't know what's going to become of that that yeah there was um yeah and that one's that one's has a more population based area so that would be usually a lot of people there yeah so I'd hate to see it get closed but and I think John was working on that one and
no so f it do we know who he was working with it um whoever own yeah it's a group it's a group of owners out there in Eagle Lake that purchase now I hav heard they close on that uh Mitch or Steve did you hear from frzy frzy sold it or they were trying to sell
it um and if they haven't closed maybe we should Carrie would you check on that to see if if crazy is closed on that and if if not we should probably drop the ball stick stick our nose in there and see what's going on and yeah I'd hate to see that get close
yeah would be terrible so so what that looks like is some some individual owners had purchased that from the city but I had heard that they were going to try to keep that open and that where the county would come in they I think they were
going to try to sell off a portion of it and then sell off The Landing in the swim Beach to the back to the county yeah it' be nice to get an update to try to to try to keep that open cuz that's the only public area on the whole lake
correct and it might help us if there's parking for you know for AIS we get paid but per parking you know it's a calculation per parking spot so if we add one add more parking spots we'd get a a bigger portion of that pie probably at the state level
but um the only other meeting I had was Carri Carrie and I I asked Carrie for a meeting with with Denise and about um some employee employee wanted to try to share a job and it's it's kind of a um it's
it's quite complicated so I don't car was going to look into maybe look into if if it was something that we were going to look into it should be a countywide policy um but then we did um did think that there was a Furlow policy in place already I don't know if you're
all aware but we we've had a Furlow policy in place for probably 15 years now where an employee with the with the Department Ed's you know approval can ask for a fur so in this case if someone wanted to do a you know that would be a
short term or you know a six Monon or one year for ask for a Furlow and if they wanted to go down to 80% then if in this case there was an employee that wanted to go part time and and pick up those hours because they have kids at home now so they're resigning their full-time position so that was something
that we were going to look into and I think car's car that would probably be something that would be able to be doable where the countywide policy will take some time um is that if if if employees but um what one thing that kind of brought up is now that we're
kind of back in back in you know employees there's more employees available for jobs MH I think we look at at part-time positions again I mean in the past now we've been traking all full or all part times and
just transferring them to full-time because but in the past we've we've offered that for part-time positions and looked at that I think now is we can move back into looking at that more seriously than just automatically going full-time so I think I think one one
issue with part part-time just from a human services perspective is many of the positions over at services are case management positions which make it very difficult to do part-time because you have a case load that you have certain
requirements that you have to complete every month on that case load so it's not something that you come and you you know do the same thing for your eight hour period and leave it it really depends on you know if
you have an appointment and can't make that appointment for whatever reason it's canceled you have to make that time up somewhere else so part- time is just very very difficult I can see where if you were going to hire management if you were going to hire like a point two would be silly you wouldn't you wouldn't
do that but when you have an employee that's looking that wants to reduce to that's already in that position and says you know I'm either I am resigning this because I I I have to spend more time at home I I I think we all know that there
are employees that are that put in a lot more work and there's employees and if you have a good employee that that you'd like to bring back someday I think you you try to work um in some of those ways to keep that employee engaged and and in your county but I think the F you know on a point
two countywide policy to hire a new employee would be you know not doable you can't unless it's just something in parks and wreck where there's not I mean it's where it's not something you have to have the big knowledge or the you know the the base yep um but as but as a
current employee a Furlow might be might be the option that you could make make this work in this a situation on a temporary um basis but um what does the cost to the uh what does the cost to the county like what would that be would
that change at all so if you had two part-time employees versus a full-time employee dep kind of it depends on that's why the part times have been pushed in the past because you get a part-time un under point eight and there's no B there's no health insurance
so if you have two 50% there's neither one get benefits so that would be a cost savings if you have an 80% and a 20% the 80% would still get full benefits and the 20% would get nothing so it' be a no a no gain or loss to the county um but
if you have a 50/50 then it's a it's a gain um most most of our employees need that health insurance so it's something that that's you know they want that full-time position um some people want a08 I mean I think I
think if you went across the county most people would probably want a08 rather than a full-time to keep their full benefits and get that extra day off but I don't think that's fair for the 08 and then you what are you going to get rid of you're going to get rid of the stuff you don't want to do I mean well it
depends on the positions I mean in in case management you can't there's there's you can't just get rid of anything you have that case manager um but but if you have a you know it's it's a difficult each each situation would be different I mean in in this case so but
I think it I think it um something to look into I I don't think they're going to it's going to be difficult countywide policy it'd be very difficult to do a countywide policy on that for what we're looking at if you have two employees two
full-time employees one is resigning but they'd still like to do some time because they love the job so much that is a02 and one is a08 because they want to spend a little more time with their family also and kids um that's a
situation where to change policy would be to consider everything would be a huge undertaking to try to figure out how that work but a Furlow option you know for short term might be something that would work um what is our do you know what our fur
is there a Max per year on our Furlow I think currently it's 80 hours a year isn't it I you know we modified some of that so off the top of my head I I don't know that they'd be able to tell you okay it's really been you know policy
has been um by department and situational you know individually each situation is looked at and back to um the question of the cost if you have two part-time that we'll call it co or job sharing um you do have you would the one
thing that you would be doubling up on would be workers comp you'd be paying workers comp for both um the other thing that you would be I think opening would be then if you have an employee that's working we'll say 30 hours and the other's working 10 just for the math then at 30 hours then they're then the
County's obligated to um furnish the health insurance as well and we historically haven't most of the time I there might be an incidence but most of the time part-time people have been kept under that 30 30 hour threshold because of the shirt I used I think though that in the
past Mary I'm talking 20 years ago in the past if you work didn't work fulltime 40 hours and you work 30 hours even you you would get pro-rated benefits with the new federal once once you hit the 30h hour threshold or above
then you so in the past it probably was Pro probably was pared differently um but once you consistently hit that threshold then we have to provide the health the full benefits yes yes I think another thing that's important to remember too
with specifically over at Human Services is many of those um case management positions so the social work positions and the public health positions are Income generating like they're they're when they're meeting with the families they're billable hours they're
yeah were they're billing insurances or they're you know getting money back from it so I think sometimes when we're looking at going part-time or splitting it that I think that's another thing that could have a
negative impact on because when you're only working 28 hours you're likely I mean you're still having 40 hours of um work time but it's is it the same
amount of money that's going to be able to be dedicated to that targeted case management that's billable hours so which of course would be a question for Human Service supervisors that would be considering it
but any any more bar you any more committee no um I think we're good Richard you the only other thing I had was a Safety Committee and so now we're talking about
training CPR training and we're talking about it for anybody that's comfortable doing it so any County employee that that is comfortable doing it we think should be trained for it um and then
another thing that you're probably going to see is we should have n we're supposed to have numbers on all of our doors big big numbers for emergency so say something happens in the courthouse you know it's it's more or less to
direct the police police or fire but and you and you notice this on a lot of other commercial buildings there's a big number there so that's something that we're going to start doing I think that's something you work work with um Judy and and the phone 911 stuff too I
think would probably be all relative to that yeah yeah how you and then and then we're going to have Panic buttons in certain places um should something go wrong somebody can push a button uh and then there's a call system them so you can
call I can't remember what what number did we dial 8800 8,800 yeah so 8800 and and if if there's a problem what's right on there Richard who uh for safety who who were you
meeting with who was directing you on or who was who's in our County it's Cody and I Cody Piper is in charge of it but we had a lot of somebody from every she is there some somebody from every Department almost didn't
we the goal yes I I believe we had probably somebody from the from we're trying to get all representation across the county um Safety Committee is is mandated there's statute statuto require there's requirements and we were really
just needing to get um back up to speed so it's been a work in progress getting everything going and we still a contract we still have a contract with safe assure yes safe assure a big go on site on premises and look for safety concerns and keep us in line
on that too they also do our online trainings and there's been some work in progress with the Safety Committee um to bring back on some on-site that'll start I believe it's either uh I think it's February some on-site I yeah I from what
I understand the county somewhat got away from the on-site trainings because of through Co and it just needs to be really drop back again sorry Richard yeah no yeah so yeah that training starts actually it looks like in January
and goes all the way through July and August different different training for different things but that's all I got I I'll be quick I had I had a couple I'll go fast it's the nice thing about being last is I can't talk as long as I um so I had a Historical Society
meeting actually I had a couple of them uh we had a regular meeting which uh I believe they did the Ice Harvest yesterday for the sculptur I that was the plan and and it was going to be they going to partner with project 412 um the American
Adventure is still there so if you haven't been able to go it's in the basement it's pretty cool is that the orgon trail one yep yep you'll probably die at disent but you don't but you can try again and then the the new the the car
Carri actually saw this too the new sign is going to should be I think it's up I don't know if it's it's supposed to be up this week I think the new Museum sign it's really cool it'll be uh so just drive by and see if it's up it'll it'll it's pretty cool sign um and then also they're having another a new
exhibit that they're going to roll out here pretty soon it's it's not quite finished but it's called the the the Pete bog bison exhibit so there was a a bison that was in a Pete bog and they kind of preserved it and then they or did they just make the I
don't know how they did it but it looks kind of cool it looks kind of the the bison bones are in the Pete and it's on its display and it looks it it wasn't quite finished yet but it was pretty pretty interesting looking and then we also met with a guy from his name is
Jerry from deed and that was a long process but we got it done we not done yet not done not done you're not done yet no it's close it's so that'll that'll work and and then he also had a tour of the fa faity and then so I got to go on another tour
it was actually pretty that part of it was pretty interesting um but yeah uh Becky and kri have working diligently on the deed stuff so I guess they got more work to do um then I also had a Lakes Country service quop meeting and it was the regular annual meeting um and so we
had the or reorganization organization of the board um basically everything was basically the same we had all the same officers and everything and then we have two new board members on that committee CU we had two that went off the committee or off the board um um so
they're met met those people and then also too on January 31st at 7 a.m. there is a uh I can't remember it's called coffee with for no other reason legislators and it's run and it's it's SP it's run
through uh West Central initiative and Lakes Country service Co-op and I know in our area Jim joy and Rob cek and I believe uty are going to be on that that it's a Zoomer it's a zoom meeting um and and they just you can just pretty much ask them any question you want but Mo
most of the questions will be curtailed to West Central initiative and Lakes Country service Co-op so but that's a and and a lot of probably Insurance questions um that's a big Hot Topic and then I had my first ever Northwest emergency communications board and that
was have to say it was pretty interesting it was it was on another Zoom meeting um based was their annual meeting and they had just had a meeting in I think in December so there was really nothing new so all the reports were not not not new but they but they elected all their officers and so forth
and did all through the process of that the next meeting is in in thever falls on March 12th at the courthouse and then there's a training after that meeting for new members so I'll be trained after that then then the last meeting that I
had um Eric and I also had we had our first portion of the AMC leadership Trading oh yeah and the it was it was actually really interesting and and actually we're all three going to be down there tomorrow in the cities uh at St Paul um for the second portion of the
training anyway it was it was really nice because in the first half of the training we got to we kind of learned what you do what you what you what you what what your obligations are what you should be doing as a board chair Vice chair or administrator trying to work together and then in the second half they give some ideas of how that works
and how you can do that how you can evaluate yourself or or or or and so forth so it'll be more explaned on that tomorrow and then the last meeting will be next week one of the speakers was a former Becker County the first ever Becker County Commissioner first ever
beer County Administrator he's administrated all in South in Sterns Sterns County yep so Mike Williams right Mike Williams yeah yeah is it uh anybody else have any more reports
anything all right appointments looks like we have uh do we have a Lakeland Mental Health appointment no actually um so this is kind of like like Buffalo red and and wild rice they actually make the appointments I think they're just
confirming that you want to continue with me on the board and I think we did that on our committee list I think we did do that in our commit I think we've covered that but um they actually make appointments at their annual meeting um for for that okay we just let need to
let them know that just let them know that we appointed him on our committee list do we have one for the Pelican River Watershed yeah we'll need to have an appointment for that and also the the recreational advisory committee yep do you have one for the pelic water shed or
uh I thought we were going to put something yes it's just um to bring it to your attention it is being advertised so we'll bring it back so we're it is current adver on Saturday and then your in your District Hank L key now has for the
recreation advisory committee and has now offic officially resigned okay um so we could appoint do you have John OAS he he volunteered to be on it yep do do you want would you like to appoint him sure okay so you just make a motion to
appoint John Oak to I'll move to uh appoint John oen as a RQ Committee Member representing District 3 District 3 I believe yeah second and that's to fulfill the existing term the remainder of the remainder of HL serm yeah so we
have a we have a motion go ahead of Hank term yeah yeah Hank is the I was a member at large actually yeah so we're doing it on hstr okay yep so we have a uh Motion in a second do we have any further discussion okay
all in favor of motion signify by saying I I I I all right carried and then there there's still a there's still a member at large opening right yep on that so we that that still needs to be filled yeah um are we waiting for
something or how do what's the process for that do do people apply there will be a there will be car will have something on the web saying that's a there's what all the openings are whenever there's openings okay um for watersheds there's a requirement for days post or time posted um publicly but
then we we do just everyone just tries to solicit someone they think would be good for that position and okay I think the the issue for this one is we have more people interested than what yes we have there's several people that are interested andarge when there's several people interested then we ask for a
short biography you know just y I mean it doesn't have they can do whatever they want if they're real interested they might get more and that might not help them but um if they should show some interest in and explain who they are what their what their maybe what their background is or what ever they
choose to write in there but I think we had talked at the rack committee that maybe if you had had conversations with anybody interested in the atlarge position that maybe we could address it at our February 3rd and I think it's
important to get to know for for us if we don't know who they are I think it's important for us to get a better feeling who they are um we appoint poor board members and I think they can cause some issues on board so um I think I think if we're in question I think it's best to
hold off than rather just make an appointment to make an appointment so um anyway um Mr chair there was one thing I'd like us to consider and I and I have mentioned I talked to John okas and I think with all his years of experience on high in in our Highway as a highway
superv as a road maintenance foreman and been on the board since then I would and I asked John would he be interested or be willing to serve on Highway committee if needed you know for some of those um and he said he would be so if there's um I would I would like to I would like to
have him as a member of the public on that committee if if called upon by the committee to give his I think valuable input for his all his years in that industry to um so I would like him I would like to see him
continue on on that committee for at least a while till we um what does that look like I don't I don't like that at all it would just be a a member of of the public on a on a committee just for input so I mean we
you know Barry you're opening up a you're setting a precedence that I don't I don't think that we should start doing that I can find you know I mean if you're worried about it I'll get you a road Builder who actually bids roads and but I I don't I think that me and Phil
can handle that or that committee well I'm just looking at the roads you know when he's worked here here 40 years ago what what culverts were in you know or what that's why we have we have an engineer that we have plenty of experience there it's my opinion that we shouldn't
start putting because I'm not saying John would be bad there I I don't believe we need him there but if we start doing this we could have again people from the public on human on uh Planning and Zoning or any of this you
know I mean we have those I I think these me and Phil can handle this well I'm not doubting you can handle it and your your two board members will bring that back to the board what what your recommendation I just thought the knowledge that he has on and the history and on our roads um would be valuable
for that committee um well and I don't know maybe he doesn't need to be on the committee itself but I I think if you turn your eye on on that knowledge you'd be silly well he's right there if we do have a qu if somebody's got a question
but we we do have qualified people on on Highway all three of the people in charge there at the committee uh are very good at what they do and well there's no question no question about that I did I did leave a message with Jim and let him know that's what I was thinking and talk to Jonah
also um I I just think it would be valuable for us to in transition to I mean when you hire new employees on big positions you transition people out and I don't think this board has any problem saying no to a some someone else coming into wants to be on Human Service
committee I mean they if they want to go to that meeting they're they're allowed to and they anyone can go to any of these meetings that they want to so and John could sure sure go to the meeting but I don't well I don't think John's going to go to a meeting if he's not asked to come well because that's I mean I wouldn't go to I wouldn't continue on
meetings unless I was asked to come so um yeah I would I would I guess I would I don't think we're going to not do do things or make things but I think his knowledge on there would help and and maybe you just want to
invite him for the first couple and and see if but I guess I'll leave that up to the highway committee if they think it's valuable I thought it would be valuable for I mean I if I was on Highway committee I'd certainly want his knowledge there but I I think the highway committee we
can leave it up to the highway committee and see if they would like to reach out to him and then we go from there and then see how that pans out is that yeah I don't care if he comes to the meetings I mean that's his value is yeah I I agree I agree with bar if he's not
invited he probably is not going to come or if he's not asked a question or something that would be he probably won't come but not but yeah but I I'm not sure we should appoint him well yeah I think I think the appropriate
would be invite as a non you know include a non prum a non prum or you know the question would be you want a prum or non- prum if if you I would say at least give him the option to invite him as a non- prum um consult you know for input or
but that's that' be my opinion I can um I I would reach out to him and invite him to the next meeting and see if he wants to come why don't yeah why don't you do that and see if see what his interest is at the at the
next highway so are are we paying him then to come meeting that's that's right now you would not I mean if it it had it would have to be board approved if you're going to so if you want to ask talk to him about it and see what the thoughts are and and I'm sure he would be happy to come to meetings without
being paid I don't think so is this so he was on a lot of committees would Highway be the only committee is going to come because like I'm I've I've been appointed to the the incinerator over there I don't know anything about incinerators I'm going to get a tour and
up to speed should he come to that too then well or can I just call him and say John what's going on here I think those are just you you call and he he's certainly willing to give input John's been on that for two years and you learn that those as you go he's has the
expertise that he has is is roads I mean he still does Consulting paid Consulting for numerous townships and counties so I think the point of the highway is just for his 50 years of knowledge but I think
maybe bring it back to your committee and see what see what they think I I will invite him to our next meeting and we'll see what happens if he's there I'll talk to him to and see what yeah I um did anyone get to his um farewell party yep I had I had a game so I I had
planned on it but the weather it was blizzardy I dropped off a a bottle of Jubilee for him and ju I got him a jubilee do it it uh it's easy for me to go to those cuz it was in the city and you get I don't live out in the tundra of actually I was in SAA girls
basketball jez that was fine yeah yeah it was good though it was a good there was a good turnout there's a lot of people there it was good good enjoyable time yeah Ron Zan showed up so didn't speak not not to everybody no is there any other does anybody else
have any other appointments all right so let's move on uh Carrie or Cony administrator report thank you Mr chair um I wanted to make note I saw this in social media and I thought it was uh noteworthy I think it was in like the DL Buzz or one of those
and it spoke to our DMV and uh the great service that they got there and that was in within the last week or so so uh shout out to the DMV office thought it was uh noteworthy um second item that I have under my report is my myself and and two
of the Commissioners as well as Clearwater County and manomen County um met with our uh potential lobbyist just to ask a lot of questions about going forward and what we may want may or may not want to do with any um potential
bills that might come through uh with regards to any land transfer and I just got a message I think it was probably yesterday from him because really we were looking at the price and and uh the original proposal that we had gotten in the and the price
for that and I know the other two counties had indicated that they were quite concerned and and sticker shock with that um so the The Proposal that I got in writing or email excuse me uh just yesterday the cost had lowered significantly um I believe originally it
was gosh I want to say 24,000 a month was a lot with all services with all services yeah um so the proposal at this point is 5,000 which potentially could be a cost sharing with the other counties so it's significant mon per yes
per month for the legis from January to May from when everybody would implement the uh proposal yeah so is that is that is that an AMC thing or is that a Becker County lobbyist it's a private lob it would be a Becker County lobbyist
yeah why can't we do that through the AMC or AMC is uh Statewide and Statewide it probably wouldn't be there would be individuals I'm sure in the metro area that wouldn't support our well sure but we have the what I learned down at the in December was we have the AMC we have
the metro and we have the Greater Minnesota AMC we met I went to AMC can't have a platform to to oppose it because they they would not get full support or it would just be a um controversial
enough that they're not taking it they won't take a a full-blown so they're not going to go and Lobby speak against it in the in the at the senate or speak against it at the now they may do stuff behind closed door showing that the the pros and cons are you know the negative
effects but um so they will not even MRC um has sent has sent um language now or AMC has a s gave us language so they're going to somewhat oppose the transfer without due diligence so correct um
without meeting all these things and explaining how how you'd address all the issues that we brought up but um they're not going to oppos it just to oppose it and and so this would be another level of just us and a couple other counties that this would be a private one and counties counties for a specific item
like there's lots of counties that have their own lobbies of course the big metros have numerous lobbyist on different different ends Klay county has lobbyists for trying to get Grant monies and Lobby for specific items um we T you we usually don't hire lobbyists but MRC
is another is a works with AMC but they're a Minnesota rural counties so they have different um they have they can go after more rural issues so their their issue their stance on it will be a little bit
more they will actually oppose it but not they're aligned with amc2 so they're not going to be going to the tables and and and speaking at the at the hearings I think bomen County also said that they have a lobbyist for like their
Healthcare so I mean every they do County depending on the County's needs and what maybe could potentially come to the legislative session that year would depend on you know what what they would need a lobbyist for this particular really has the potential to affect Becka
County so we've taken the stance of you know looking at a lobbyist to really make sure that we're as well informed and speak on our behalf especially when when session is active things can I mean that that bill was introduced and nobody was even aware of
it I mean you have you have Senators you know Steve Green said I'm I'm a tribal member I'm a senator and I'm not aware of it till it comes to my committee um so things can pop up just like that and this having someone there looking for these specific items is what we what we
did initially yeah I think last year we had what a two-day I it was about two days before from time was was vot it was very quick and they were going to talk to all the lawmakers these lobbyists to make sure
they understand how important it is to Becker County not to lose this property um and what was it manman that said they would they would pay a th000 a month was that monomen um they had all committed to be a part of this but again when we got the
initial proposal I think they were really second guessing that because of how high it was but I last one yes yeah it was monoman that he they said they they they could afford a th a month so if clear water was to do that and then
we picked up the other part you know it's a lot it is a lot of money but it's also a very important issue that we really need to stay on top of and these guys will do that I I did get a call yesterday from a reporter from the start trip asking about just
they were just calling random people I think but uh called me and talked to me about the the hopes of a new presidential election and um but we I ended up talking about the the tribal um concerns that we have and um she stated that she would like to come up and
actually look at some of the properties and um she was very supportive of our of our what our my agenda was why we think this is important why this should not transfer so she'd like to come up and write a story on that later on um and I
said well I'd take Mitch and Steve with and we could go out on sites and show specific things and she wants to see those signs that say no no trespassing and no no admittance and um she wants to help try to the Metro people to try to understand why this is such a big deal to us and why this shouldn't go through
and I think she'd write it in that in that effect so um anyway hopefully hopefully we can get some exposure explaining that you know these things these the negative things will happen if this H you know if this happens so and I don't think we have to worry about it so
much this session with the split house but um it'll be it's ongoing there is a bill introduced for transfer which I think is a little different that's that's different it's a $25 million payment to DNR for them to start buying private land to donate back to the tribe Y and
that I would think I just think that's ridiculous you buy private land on a lake to to give to somebody else another but that's another story so um with this um my intent is to
reach out again to manomen County and clear water and get some kind of a finalization of what their commitment to this is and then will bring once I have that I'll bring that back the concern I have on this on this lobbyist is are they going to get to the people that we
need to get to I mean I think and that's someone mentioned that to me this is a you know I think we look for people that can that will share our ideas and get them to the people that you know the the people in the middle of Road the
hopefully the the de the Metro people that you know that's what he talked about he talked about getting to EV talking to everybody we did ask some of those questions but we need to get to those ears and to say this is you know this isn't as simple and yes there's
things that are that have happened in the past that have been you know terrible um but we need to show what what two right two wrongs don't make a right so yeah he did specifically say actually that there were certain
Metro legislators that he was going to reach out too because they were the ones that were likely to maybe be swayed yeah and he was going to he was going to tell them explain to them how important it is to our land owners and access to their
property and so likely many people from the Metro be because they likely own land or recreate up here so it is goes beyond just homeowners up here but okay um I also got noticed in the last
few days that um the child care grant that had been applied for jointly with the city um that we were awarded that so I would anticipate that Cody will be bringing that back in for acceptance believe the dollar amount was 120,000 for that uh pod concept or
expansion of that as well I think yeah it wasn't having a county pod no no Acumen because I don't know that I would unless it's strictly for infants support a nope nope this was and this was for like
off hours yes I think like there there was it it was it was filling one of the part of those needs I know that yeah but that was a just the notice came through on that so I would imagine again next board
meeting probably Cody will be bringing that back so um the next item that I have on my uh uh report is I know that um you had asked about the the drainage
conference and and attending that um you had expressed some interest and I know we hadn't sent a board member so I was just bringing that up for discussion as far as board Direction that's a bigger issue here that i' I'd like to discuss yeah so I the AMC ditch conference was February 4th through the 6th down in
Alexandria Barry's on some watersheds I'm I'm on the pelan Watershed is that some we don't have a lot of ditches in our in our County I talked to Jim ol there are view but uh he was even considering possibly going to it but it's a bigger issue are we when we get
stuff from the AMC are we expected to go to that do we not go to that who is someone going to the legislative session the collaborative decisions team success in Sartell on February 20th the tribal relations do just the people on that committee go to that or should we all go
to that I I don't know and I'm trying to get some clarity on on that I am I am going the legislative com conference legislative conference is really up to you because we each have our own legislative committee that we're on I'm
on Health and Human Services I think you're on General the highway oh yeah highway so I mean so I think it's it's really up to you and if if it works into your schedule what they do at those conferences is they set their platform then for the following year that that's
what when you attend the the legislative conference in December it starts in February like the the conversation starts the the drainage ditch one I think I told you this on the phone that our watersheds take our big drainage ditches I mean so the county you know
back in the day the drainage ditch system was huge but our biggest ones are in the Buffalo red and the wild rice and then I I don't know if if if Pelican has some to and but the rest of them are are there's no maintenance there's no I mean
they're just there there is maintenance but the water shed does the maintenance within the within the outside the watersheds I'm saying we don't do any maintenance on any County ditches I mean unless it's something special and then if you do that because we had a request from one down by area they wanted to do
it then they realized that that would be assessed back to all the current property owners any maintenance and then they're like ah we don't need it we don't need this maintenance done and if you really want to get in deep then they then you should do a new um what's the word not a redetermination and that takes years is because there's only a
handful of people doing that and that's expensive and nobody is happy about those and most of them that aren't active are just they're not taking they're not where where it gets critical is where the Farmland gets flooded and and usually now when it's
backing up in these low use ones it's just a higher level in most swamps or most I mean it's not a significant financial burden you get in the watersheds in in Buffalo bread and wild rice and and where this gets in a lot of
in the state state committees is they're talking about ditches that are actually farmed through running through fields and now they're protected Waterway and then you can't you have to have buffers on them I mean so there's it's I mean so we don't have the big issues that a lot of the Southern and and Southern
counties do so we I mean you can choose to get involved in anything you want I choose it's not my area I'm going to spend a lot of time in because it doesn't affect our residents so much so it's it's whatever is interesting to you and what you feel is important that's what you
and as a commissioner this board will support you attending whichever meetings you go to most of the time you know the legislative is include I mean we all go we all are welcome to go to legislative and that's usually um in the cities
during session um AMC's the annual meetings in December there's a um spring uh there's a fall policy committee that we go to in the fall I mean so those are those are we usually go to those most
Commissioners go to those not not all not all the time and some go sometimes some so let me have our district four and we have yeah we have district meetings twice a year also in Fergus usually in Fergus Falls um but your committee is can also meet if you if you
get real involved then you'll be called down to to meet with you know if you're the chairman of a commit of a policy committee you'll be going to the cities quite often to to meet with like for I met with the DNR commissioner or the um Department of egg you know there's things that pop up that then they want
input from from Commissioners and as a chair or someone in invested or involved you are called down to have those meetings and and then often sometimes then testify at at senate or house so get as involved as much as you want as
fast as you want but the the board will support um your your going to AMC meetings when you when you choose to and I think the other important thing is is if you're going to have more than if more than three of us are going to be there we have to make sure and post it
right post it so you so what I'm hearing here is that as the new commissioner it's my choice if I I want to do that if it's sponsored by the AMC well yeah and most things sponsored by AMC the the board will I mean if you can tie it to your
your committee that you're on then then you don't even have to I mean then that's part of that committee assignment and I understand what the the the the ditches we don't have a lot of ditches the watersheds manage that the ditches we do have but when I've went to a lot of these meetings the peripheral stuff is some of the best benefits meeting
people in case something ever does come up but yes you you want to get involved so you can have those first name base contacts correct so okay well I'll make a decision on the D ditch committee then what about the the the tribal relations
uh we got that January 29th and 30th um is it you know that that request K's gon to bring that up in her report you want us just should we just go into that now no okay I I cut you off go back to what you were talking about okay so in your package you have
and I had communicated um with the government relations individual uh Richard Hanks Junior from from White Earth and he specifically had indicated or uh requested um this is a training the
agenda is in the packet specifically his initial request was for the invite to go out to the sheriff and one board member um I did speak to sheriff glander and he's not able to attend um so from what I gather we potentially would have two
spots um to send to this particular training and so I guess it's out there as far as if there is availability for for two board members or not well and this is another case if you
choose not to go you don't have to go this is nothing nothing that's even expected for a commissioner go to this is a request from the tribe if someone's interested in um State tribal and state relations training I mean we're neither of those um this I I did go online and
and uh on YouTube one of the individuals the main speaker there is a professor at the University of Minnesota duth I listened to some of his um talks um so if you if you can't make it I encourage you to you can go hear what their what his um what his message would be um
unfortunately I have prior commitments on both days so I can't attend so do I so yeah I'm unavailable to I'm I'm going but because I'm a state employee so I'm going so yeah on behalf of this well thank you thank you for doing that well
yeah you're you're I'm going I'm going because of my other job but yes I can bring back it's it looks like a short day on it's two days oh yeah I mean the second day is shorter than the first
anyway yeah yeah so if you're interested I I don't think so second one ends at five we got other committee meeting I I prioritize I I really I I don't know much about the the situation that kind of exploded last summer so I'd like to get up to speed a
little bit more and that seemed like an opportunity to do it I don't think this will have anything I don't think it'll talk about that at all okay all right car go go ahead go okay um the next training um can we just back up if I I I think if someone's willing
to do that I'd like I'd make a motion to authorize that as or are you on a are you on a committee you can relate that to um the I I will not take perdm for this just because I'm going for oh as a state represented if any for my state employment okay so we don't need a no
okay no anyone else was wanting to go put a pum on it but okay yeah I'm not hearing that so all right so the next item in your packet also is um an additional uh potential training is it uh whether or not it's of Interest or
not um just put it in here for information so this is the the Watershed district manager orientation Refresher training that there is a session in Detroit Lakes I believe it's in February 25th 25th of feu I would like to go to
the Detroit Lakes one so okay uh I went to that before um when I was on the Watershed but I found it valuable too I uh I'd probably go to it too okay so that would be just two of the
two of you okay thank you so the last item that I or actually second to the last before I get to my last item on the I'll skip skip over here um with the committee we just we're bringing this back I modified the agenda
just to clarify a few of these committees um the labor negotiation uh Committee in the past I believe we had chair and vice chair so again just wanting to clarify I don't think it had ever been
chair and vice chair I think it would had John and Dave yeah which ended up being chair and vice last time and Barry had suggested that we have names on there so we know who it is so it's not attached to seat is what you're saying it is nice to be to have the bo the chair and vice chair because then there's meeting and
and you know after Finance we met a lot on negotiation stuff just to it was easy but it's not necessarily necessary but I'm on it so I'll stay on it um let's just I would I would like to have just the names rather than the positions and
then we can them manually if needed and if there's a year where you want to roll that then you can do that so just just put the chair this current chair and vice chair's names on it okay that's what okay okay so Meer and Jepson yeah do do we need a motion for oh we can get a motion at the end here okay yeah yeah
the other thing was just the West Central initiative Economic Development District board yeah I I was on it but it it we didn't I had mentioned this at the last meeting then I don't think we I I believe I mentioned I'm not 100% sure that she that Eric and I were switching
would would recommend to switch the rack committee for the West Central initiative um if that's okay with everybody I'm willing to do that and I I don't know if I mentioned that last the other time or not I don't well do you guys tell us what you want then and yeah so you're not you're on rack and you're
on W Central yeah in West Central is the same that meeting is the same day and time as West River or West Central Regional Juvenile Detention Center or a so in the when it's in the morning it's so I would have to
miss one yeah yeah so it's change change that y so for claric clarification West Central should be Meer in beberg is that correct West Central initiative initiative yes and and then the last one Carrie go ahead um the cellie review for
um for elected officials and and that traditionally has been chair just listed well it's been appointed but certainly can put chair and vice chair's name this year and next year you adjust it again so Meer and jebson there is what you're
saying yeah usually I think we just nominate or appoint to during yeah so do we have a is there any other any other anything else since we have the she there any other issues Corrections or modifications that anybody
has I don't think so and just to be clear it says on there that all all all any and all board members can serve as alternates members as needed yeah it's applicable so if you can't go you should try to get someone else to go to cover
for you is that what that's okay do do we have a motion to approve the corrections to the committee list for 2025 I'll do that I'll make that move do do we have a second second any other any other a second the changes not Corrections or change oh sorry changes
yeah yeah do we have any other uh any further discussion okay all in favor signify saying I I Carri so the last item I have um is um hoping to have a discussion with this board to get some Direction with regards
to the Pelican uh River Watershed their storage building out by Dutton locks and I believe is it Tara are you do you want to come up here um I was asked to invite um Peggy can we pull up Tara in case she wanted to provide any input
[Applause] morning morning morning so in uh researching the history what I was able to I believe decipher was that some time ago the land is owned by the county the building was built by
um by Pelican Watershed and there's some need for uh additional parking out here as we have been building this new shelter and so really this hoping that the board can have a discussion about
how to move forward as I understood you have is it two boats and a vehicle parked in this we have two vehicles and a a boat and kayaks and other equipment in that shed and the history on it is that the
Watershed District had a state grant that they matched with their fund to purchase this site it's I look at the 1967 Watershed plan it talks about purchasing you know this property so the
district from its Inception has talked about was talking about acquiring this property and as part of that um the board said they don't want they didn't want to own land at the time so they transferred it over to the county and as
part of that um this building was built um cuz we had um Harvesters we owned three Harvesters we this shed was not big enough to house all the Harvesters but we had of equipment um I think Steve skook helped us move a conveyor that had been parked out alongside of the
building so thank you for that but um right now we we are bored from What U I think Phil you at our last board meeting we're willing to to enter into some sort of you know in negotiations
about moving off of that site because you know I get it but we also would like to have something more in that county road um Corridor because that area we pick up our boat we do all this monitoring and we have to drop off our samples at R&B Labs which
is right down the road because we have to be there by 4:00 we can't be you know Way north of town it's just doesn't work out for us and the other thing is that you know we this building has been paid for for years is we're also a taxing Authority and we're not looking to rent
a facility so much that's not in our don't not interested in that because right now we're paying nothing but I think we're open to if the county would um start thinking about helping us pay for a new facility um that we will not
be all on our own that be willing to work with you on starting some sort of process and help helping us locate another um area where we could be somewhere in this area for housing our equipment so this is the building we're
talking about at dun locks that's the building we're talking about right now that's the Watershed building um this is the current structure which we just talked about that we're thinking about gutting that and then just leaving that as a structure the red D oh right here y
so the new structure is right about here and it looks really nice I drove out there this weekend um so I was just being on the rack committee and the wed I was just thinking forward that you know it'd be nice to have all this area
for future parking the troll is up here somewhere so it got a lot of activity last year over by highway 59 uh the rack is actually talking to a land owner out over there about possibly getting some additional parking on Highway 59 which
looks positive but with the bowling alley probably going away and new apartments or buildings going in there in the city of Detroit Lakes this Trail gets used a lot already and I just think that parking is going to be an issue the Watershed doesn't exactly need to be
here I was just thinking futuristically that you know we may need that for parking or something else uh so that was the impetus for all these things coming together but finding the Watershed a home that is the
issue a new home Terry you said that you did you did the Pelican River Watershed P purchase this land from the county or purchase this land from a private private individual there was a state Grant and then we provided the
match money The Watershed District did I've got the minutes on that and then I think as part of the deal is like okay now we get to have our building here i' I'd like to see the the minutes on that because what I've looked at is that was
purchased under the assessed value and what our what we've discovered and that the county paid for it so I think if you can show that the that that Pelican Watershed has money into the property that would that might alter what I think
but I don't think it's our responsibility to find a place for you guys I I don't know how we would go and we are going to go look for a place and then ask you well will this do and then oh no no so then I think that's that's your responsibility to find out where you guys want to be but I think
regardless of who owns this and however um I think this property has to be clean I mean that building is end of life already and it's well that's not quite we we've we've got some action there's some people who have they're still looking for a price but they would
potentially move it off um I know there was one person that called me on the rack that said he had a bu a potential buyer so but we do need the we will be needing this space for for parking in the future
now I don't unless we can see in the minutes that that Pelican put money into this I don't know how the county could I don't know how we could financially support building you a new building is this a
pole building or what is it it is 30 by 50 approximately how long has it been there 7 76 7 76 here it's in your minutes here with the so you're talking a a 50-year-old P pole shed that yeah
well you know just in a lot of times you don't see it but those poles rot off right below the ground and it's easy to check so you could you could see how good or bad it is and it's just there's no insulation it's not finished inside or anything no we didn't need that just
it's cold storage dirt floor dirt floor dirt floor or cement floor dirt dirt dirt so I mean the value the value not a lot of value there and I I've not seen one that isn't I've taken them down and pulled the poles on them well you can shorten them shorten the buildings you
can but you know the poles if if it's sitting there like that they will start to settle that poles do rot right right below the ground 6 in below the ground they don't but right below the ground is where those poles rot and that's that's why I'm against putting money into any
pole building I won I so Tera do you have the minutes to see who cuz I don't know who owns the building either did you supply those for I think we know who owns owns the building yeah but who owned the I want to see if there's if Watershed put money in the property I would like to see that too cuz that's
where our what we have found is watershed did not put any money in the property but the county did you found when they put that in and I look at our stuff and I thought I read that we did so let's go look it does it does say here Pelican River water D District November 24th 1976 resolution to
transfer $16,779.23 Becker County treasur as the water district share of the pur but later on it shows that it was under that the price was 100,000 and it only cost us is it 85,000 considerably less and
that I thought that money was not used no was it to match a state Grant from the county parks yes they had 85,000 back then to do that I don't know I don't all I know is I see the resolutions in our minutes so I'll look
we better compare those with the county minutes then because it's pretty clear I mean from from these why would we transfer money I don't know yeah I think I don't know we we'll just let's just work to I think I was I was hoping we would work together on this and not to
say Hey you you're we're kicking you out of there we've been there since 1976 and I know we worked on that project because it's in our minutes and there was a well you put up the building why why why were we allowed to put up the building well we are part I
mean we were working in Partnership and we didn't have need for it need for that space I'm sure well I our board was really hoping to work with your with the county on this and otherwise we have to also put
up money and we felt that there's some value there for for the county to have that area for the parking lot and we're very open to to that transaction we're you what would success look like here I mean what what what well you were at the last meeting
what what what what was your feeling from the board well uh no the board felt that they owned the building and the county needed to buy them out or we had talked about finding a new space also uh but then I heard that oh if we just buy you out and you go find your own space some board members I mean we we were all
over the board there is what I I kind of heard at the end of the meeting as I was walking out I I think maybe what Carrie are you looking forward is there some direction to say is there a a commissioner or two who could sit down with us and we can look at some
exploring some opportunities here or just want to wait till next month get some more clarification I think we need all the information that we both have both have before we can do anything else okay I yeah I would suggest that whatever
information you have if you could get that and we could uh find a time in between board and we could review that and whatever other additional information Mary may have I think the really the question is is the building and and how that came to be on the land
um but I you know in my cursory review of this I would say when this was all done you know the it was a partnership perhaps that was put into place for you to build this building but I don't think anybody thought to the Future future once the life of that building was done then what I I think that's the missing
piece does Terry have you seen what you came up with Carrie here do she has she seen this oh send that to her yeah and I'll send you what I have it's in the board packet yeah and this this came from Guy Fisher it looks like in 2017 yeah well I mean if if Watershed put
money into this then that's a different story for for me what what we if we owe anything um when you they put money into are you talking land or land put money into the land that's what I thought um as far as the the building I I I think a
50 year old pole shed to 40 by what 30 by 50 is is at end of life myself I don't know that there's still value there as if you have it but um I imagine what was the it says I think the cost of that purchase or to put it up was
probably 5 $5,700 $700 I think that's depreciated out after 50 years so um so I think really what you're saying is the question that is before us is whether or not the Watershed put in money for the land specifically correct yes and if
they did then I then I feel we have an obligation to to buy that or get that pay that off to get I mean to be good partners to get get some solution or solution on that to
buy so so potentially you're saying to pay out their portion and then they have to go find their own new place or would we help them with finding I I don't know if the county has we've talked about several places in the county that you
know that aren't really conducive to what the Watershed needs either by proximity right if we can get in that Highway Six area and I think I think the struggle for me with that is is we're looking at
likely a large chunk of money to CU we would have to purchase you know the the land would have to be purchased for I mean for us to to do that would be a lot of money it wouldn't be fair Cony wide yeah
yeah right I I don't know what we're I think if start looking at some what would it cost for us to move I think that's the one thing because I we're taxing authority too and now I have to tax again the same people you're taxing to pay for our building that has been
working us and will probably continue to work for us so we're talking about the same set of people here one way or the other well you're no you're not because you're talking about taxing countywide for
something for a group of people MH that are benefiting within the county yeah the Watershed District yeah um as Jim since you came in you know that that uh little uh lot to the uh uh west of the
Public Works building would there be room for there in there now that's outdoor storage it's cold storage but it's secure that's not in her prime area she wants uh but you know the testing starts on Floyd Lake
and then it goes down to Detroit Lake and then down to Melissa Sally so I mean drop off at County 6 at RMB and back up to there is that a possibility West it's there's a parking lot a secure parking lot west of would we
own it or do we have to be at the mercy of saying you're kicked out again I I don't yeah not I see I hear oh now we need that space again and it's just not let's just see what our our records
show and um and but everybody is wanting to do the right thing for the park I mean there's no question on that so okay I I I think we get the data get the information um we see where then we go from there all right so I think we we
have it here where we show that the 16775 was trans we have a resolution so I think we need to we need to see if that 16775 was actually transferred yep well can you confirm
it back yep yep yep because it does it does say that what was thought to be um 100,000 ended up only being
65,7 and there is no record that state Grant funds were received for this purchase so it seems like there is a lot of contradicting information between what Pelican River Watershed and what our records are so I think we just
really need to clarify that to make sure that we need clarify that correct the other the other thing to consider is the we are looking at two two things actually we are looking at building a um impound building for the sheriff and
there could be added space on there for a lease I mean I'm not I'm not talking gift but a long-term lease to add to build more space onto that building as we move forward the the other option would be a lease on the
transit building that's at the fairgrounds because there will be extra space on the end of that y but the rack was potential yeah and that didn't work for us because we have to be kicked out of there for two or three days and that does not work with what our equipment is
it would not work so the wed has two vehicles a boat some kayaks or some miscellaneous stuff there too well I think that would be one of the best Solutions and if there was one stall that couldn't be utilized and boarded
off for I mean you certainly can move the vehicles out of there for a couple days and you certainly can move a boat out of there a couple days and I don't think kayaks are too hard to move out so I don't know why you wouldn't be able to move out most of your equipment and if it was one stall needed to be locked
continuously I mean we could build a wall within a building easy enough so I mean I don't think you should close the door on that one because that would be that would be the ideal yeah for everyone in most cases so let's get the rest of the facts and let's just bring it up again and see if we can let's try
to work together here I think there should be a reasonable solution very open to that so thank you you know but Tara I mean the Watershed is not paying a lease right now so I mean they've had zero we could look yeah good good point
we could go back and look at what the appropriate fee would be that's not what I was thinking I'm just k okay all right thanks ter just would like to monitor the laks and look at the house so yeah thank you uh thank you Mr that's that is all all y all
right uh Tiara human human resources job descriptions good morning Commissioners so you have a pretty lengthy packet worth of job descriptions for review these have all gone to the respective committees were approved at the committee level and just bring them
before the board um please let me know if you have any questions on anything there were no significant changes very minor gamical Corrections and things of that sort no grade changes or anything there was no grade changes in any of these not for these no okay than you
read them all I I looked at all of them too and I'm I didn't read I didn't read the details I looked at the like if the Committees if they no gr changes and committees support that I'm willing to move forward as it presented is that a motion I'll make a motion to approve
have a motion okay do we have a second to approve the job descriptions I'll second uh any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I job descriptions are approved thank you thank you I I I do have no you're a good TI I do have one comment
this about where the job descriptions go um the Planning and Zoning ones went to the planning and zoning committee which is fine um they're not really a planning and zoning committee they're a Planning and Zoning Commission so maybe in the future possibly they
come to the courthouse I don't I I don't know CU I know the budget comes to the courthouse for Planning and Zoning but like I said it doesn't matter to me whatever is easiest for people to do I just want to make it easy for everybody yeah we typically don't meet outside of the Planning Commission tour
and the Planning Commission meeting but again I mean if we need to K can coordinate it yeah we can coordinate that and figure that out yeah all right Human Services you guys have been waiting a long
time good morning good morning has everyone met Dave Dave is our new Behavioral Health supervisor hello Dave everyone um so this morning we requesting to pass resolution 01252 to approve a status change for a
current Behavioral Health case Aid position to go from part-time to full-time um a little context recently um Behavioral Health Unit gained the ability to bill for substance use disorder related Services uh specific to
the comprehensive use assessments and care coordination Services provided by staff um these services are build by this Casa position and the PVE position is currently 2 um Lucy and Dave are both here to
answer any specific questions well you came prepared um my specific question is can you break down um how you came up with the 114 4,758 per year increase in additional billing or what that what those look like and
and um I mean just where that money comes from and yeah the way we wrote that down was um we the our current labc she's a full-time employe employe and she we figure that we could bill for half of
her hours um for half for time that through the week I guess and then we have two other employees that will be um that are full-time but their duties will be um a quarter of their hour so 25% of their hours will also be build for care
coordination the current rate is $1.71 for 15-minute units that comes out to 4684 an hour for um chemical use assessments when we build medical assistance we are able to build $162 24 cents an hour for for the
assessment how long is an assessment it it really depends an hour to two hours okay so so the additional income is just basically what you're going to what you're charging back per employee then is that is what the reimbursements we're
billing for their time yep corre so one thing we talked about in human services committee Barry is it's it's a complicated billing process that there's a A system that they have to bill in and for the ladc and the care
coordinator if it were up to them to do it because it's so complicated it wouldn't it would likely they would have a difficult time getting it done where if we could dedicate this other 12 hours from the case Aid she can
go in and do the billing for those Services correct correct yep correct well it just strikes me as I mean if if this accurate it's a no-brainer I mean but it's hard to understand an additional 12 hours gains you $114,000 yeah we've never build before
for comprehensive use assessments and care coordination so that's something that's brand new for Becker so so if you didn't go additional 12 hours you would still get x amount of dollars if you build for the part-time person um so obviously she's been working the 28
hours um for a number of years um she's been attempting to do the billing on top of all of her other assigned duties um and has really been struggling to get all of the billing done on top of her assigned duties um therefore of course it would impact our ability to collect all the revenue that really we should be
collecting because it's services that we're providing so it's Services we're already providing correct really that are just being allowed to be built for now y that we're just now billing for correct so we were allowed to build before but now we have the capability if we do this we
have the capability to Bill more we'd have the Manpower the manpower to build okay correct and when we estimated about the potential use or potential income that this um position could generate we actually use the care coordination rate
so the lower of the two rate cuz we always try to um guesstimate at the lowest rate CU we don't want to overestimate so there's potential that we could be even earning more money than this um $114,000 this was our low estimate who who are we billing I'm sorry I don't
even know insurance or so we're building medical assistance M me m me and that's that's state right State yes yeah so basically there's there's there to be captured but um we need to
have some on built work so the Kate's not actually doing the work she's just doing the billing correct so my question is in so you've been doing these services and we haven't been able to bill for all these Services correct we just became functionally
eligible to Bill effective May of last year so now we're going back and doing all of that past billing that we are eligible to claim for correct okay well it's a I mean it's no-brainer I the numberb show yeah I think if you didn't do this we wouldn't
lose the full 14 but you wouldn't capture the whole work so where that dollar amount landed would be you know somewhere probably less than half because they have other duties rather than just this parttime so that's that's my that's if if I'm reading that kind of correctly
yeah so do I have a motion for uh 2E I'll make a motion to approve 2E I'll second uh any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I a question is this is this position going from offering it to a
parttime to fulltime or is that outside are we just curious if if you if the parttime is taking the full-time position correct she'll just you have to open that up no she'll take the 12 hours additional hours cuz she's been tring the billing she's been trained to do the billing
she's like I said already has been doing some of that billing I was just curious if it had to be does it have to be a new position that has to be posted as a full-time position or is it a part-time can we move the part-time to full-time you know that that is something that we'll look at to make sure we're in
compliance with contracts and such so I know we've had those issues it really just depends on how we're wording it really so it may need to be an internal posting maybe yeah all right thank you thank you thanks for that expanation veteran
services Matt I know I said this once before but glad to see you back well thank you Mr chair good to be here again today I'll be uh requesting approval of three resolutions two to accept the donations and one for the to
accept the operational Grant um so I guess I'll open up any questions on on these that you may have do we have a do we have a resol a motion for 2B for the 100 tokens donated
I'll make a motion to accept or to approve resolution 2B to accept the donations from Damen this item do we have a second second uh any any discussion on 2B all in favor signify by saying I I
all 100 tokens from the uh Damian Society for for uh Transit Transit travel all right all right the second one is uh donation from uh surviving spells Betty bger for $250 and her only
ask is that it's used for veterans and we've done uh We've accepted us for several years and and done various things um so it allows us some flexibility to respond to to needs of veterans make a motion to approve 2C and accept donation from Betty bigger of
$250 second uh we have a motion and a second any further discussion okay all in favor signify by saying I I I I carried and then the last uh resolution is uh a resolution to accept the operational Grant from the Minnesota
Department Veterans Affairs that's a $10,000 grant that helps uh helps uh fund a portion of uh the County's operational costs uh can be used for various things like Outreach um operational needs veteran software you
know phone um scanner printer stuff uh and even if we need to the uh the cost of some of our salaries since we had recently changed the a category of it do we have a motion to approve 2D I'll make the motion to approve 2D do
I have a second I'll second uh any further discussion so are is this one for Transit as well no this is uh this is for all operations um within the veteran service office it has to be used
for one of five things you know Outreach uh help reintegrate but how how the the previous two were for Transit specifically how do you make no no just the first one just the first one the 250 was for okay so the tokens will only be given out to Veterans then to ride the trans okay correct all right correct
yeah so we have a motion in a second for 2D all in favor signify by saying I I I I motion carries all right thanks Matt Matt before you go um I just wanted to touch Bas a little bit I you know for those of us non service members I saw
Matt one day and I and I kind of said well I'm glad to see you glad to have you back here was it was it uneventful or you know was your and he says well if you consider um what was it what did you say you know roadside bombs and grenades and landmines say uneventful you know
and we have to I think many of us don't realize what Harm's Way they are in even in non-combat or non stressed areas and I think it's it's it's just it's not easy to go over there and I thank you for
your service and and you know know we we forget how serious this is sending someone over in those areas and and how how dangerous it is everyday living is dangerous for our people over there so sincere thank you y thank thanks
appreciate it let's uh take a quick five minute break I had one question I got to go back to on Human Services um remember I asked to pull one thing and we didn't um that that that respit Grant was started on January 1 um and it states
later in the that you can't charge for anything until this is approved so have we lost money beings we have not approved that Grant oh I didn't think that is what my question was no I didn't great question I did see that to because it says right below right below you
cannot charge or incur expenses before that so that was my question I and I hope we can get more time is that is that before we approve it or before they before both approve they've already approved it on December 28th or December 20th
December 20th but we have not we did not improve until all things are signed so if we've done anything from January one till now we will not get reimbursed so if we provided any respit right so that was my
question if we and have we provided any respit that's non billable yeah or have we provided any maybe we haven't maybe I mean that's a possibility so that was my question and and I think if we have not been able to recapture that we are not
doing our job this should have been brought forward before before the end of the before the end of the year yeah that was it thank you okay all right with that let's take a five minute e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e [Applause] all right are you ready I don't know if we're ready all right we are ready to resume if if if commissioner Nelson's
[Laughter] ready all right uh Steve good morning Mr chair board members uh we got a number of requests for us today uh yes you do yeah the stuff for nrm has been approved already so we'll
just go into the Environmental Services request uh we have four Capital purchase requests I'll just go through those and then acceptance of a grant so the first capital purchase requ request request is to buy a scrap bucket and a grapple that we' use on our payloader and uh it's called a skeleton bucket something that
you could load or push and move brush around with uh basically what we really needed for though is to load shingles and in the past we had we collect so we currently collect sour separated shingles and the piles been growing a lot and Our Hope was to have a local
contractor take them and that didn't work out quite the way we planned and so we'd like to bring in a contractor to come and grind shingles and we're able to use our own P loader it's going to cut down some of our costs as far as uh grinding those shingles uh also works well with brush
so that that's the first request is that I'm I'm just curious if that um excuse me what what do you use
currently we haven't been doing our own shingle grinding currently you the way that you would normally load those are either going to use a payloader or a but the payloader had a bucket on them that's just got a a three yard bucket on it which doesn't have does not have a grapple and so that we don't have a
grapple right now no they they fall out you just can't get up they're they're tough to they're really you're talking shingles now yeah yes well I think moving anything around up there sure efficiently a grapple would be it helps in some ways yes this
is this is not the exact bucket this is the more expensive one here the one we were talking about getting I didn't wasn't able to find a picture of it but it's a skeleton bucket which would allow some of the debris to fall through so is a little less expensive than this one so it doesn't have it's
not it's not it's not a fall bottom bottom back oh so the the the bottom of the bucket's not solid have you ever seen from farming a a rock picker Buck yeah M why would you want why would that be
beneficial well it allow more your de if you're pushing brush so if they're going to use it for other stuff then so whenever you get into that I have one and you don't get any dirt you just get you just get your brush you know and so and it will it they're close enough
together so it'll work for shingles but it does it does keep you from getting a bunch of dirt rocks and stuff if you're moving brush around or anything actually if you're picking it up and you get and you need to get under it even even when you get down into the bottom of the
shingle pile you'll pick it up and you'll just have shingles you won't have all the dirt in there they're I I really like mine they're they're they're nice to keep stuff clean keep keep the dirt out of there so I guess you know seeing these come in you know we're in
January and do you operate your budget differently your five-year request from another department so so this isn't budgeted for and we're in January and you're you know you're asking for these in January um so it's kind of I mean I
know so I'm looking at your at the request I mean your your fund is diff a little bit different I mean you got a fund balance but I I kind of think we should see kind of that Capital plan prior prior to just coming and
asking I mean for these items I guess I had asked about that too in in finance like is this something that would be in a a capital plan but it seems like our Capital plan is more for larger which this is a large purchase in some ways
but when you when you look at all the requests I mean you're looking at you know over $100,000 for four requests and and it just strikes me as odd it's not budget for and we're in January and we're spending 100 grand so like maybe this these should have been brought forward
prior to our budget some of these just excuse me but these types of item these items are somewhat project driven and so some of these are based on uh changing our operational practices out there which
takes different equipment because you're dealing with different types of products so part of our goal in the past has been trying to find different ways to handle our waist stream differently and to do that generally takes more labor or equipment to make that happen
and so in the past when we started with shingles uh we contracted all that out it's fairly expensive to do that and hopefully ongoing we're going to be looking at more separation of those types of waste products and having building the capacity to handle some of
that internally if we can so that shingle pile is getting bigger and bigger and we were there was a guy going to be taking it and he's not taking it so now we did that land leveling for the new concrete pile so we can and so what we want to do
is grind these shingles into that concrete it makes a better product less dust and then we get rid of them CU we're not getting rid of them we still have to hire someone to grind them we still got to hire somebody to grind them but now we can haul them we can load them and haul them over there and and uh
so if we didn't get this then we'd have to ask the person grinding them to to to either grind them and put them in a pile or grind them and haul them to where you another spot where you want them that's correct but if they just dumped them in a spot next to you you could take your
regular bucket and pull them over there some of it so if if we contracted this out in fact I was just talking to them it's about $500 an hour just to have them come in and grind and it's going to be another what $125 $130 an hour from De man and a payloader or something some
way of loading this these shingles and moving them so we're able to utilize our own we yeah we still want to the PVE Paving Guy what's his name the guy that agreed to Jeremy to yeah so
we want to load him he's supposed to still be taking some of these and we don't have a way to load him and he's part of the problem he's grinding you mean yeah without grinding so so but then he's got to bring a loader and leave it there and that's becoming a
problem and we're not getting rid of him if he could just come and get a load what what does he I mean is he taking them as shingles with nails you know he does so your alternative way of loading these are using an excavator which with a with a pinch yeah with a grapple so
you can pick them up and and load a piece of or a truck with those so what he has did is he he's dedicated a week or two weeks to move shingles and he'd bring in his own excavator loads them that type of thing part of the problem with that is that from his standpoint
he's busy all summering there has a chance to to dedicate the time and trucks to do it whereas now our hope is that if he's got jobs this way and his trucks are going back empty that way maybe we can load them and then what is
he doing with them he grinds them and uses them as part of his assphalt he takes out his own he's got his own grind magnet yeah correct okay that has some yeah it's we've looked at
it different ways and and that something like that grapple even for brush for a lot of different stuff even wash machines you know I mean you can you can move a lot of material with that grapple we're not going to need another
payloader now no no no okay just checking just checking not yet don't uh do we have a motion to approve the purchase of the grapple I
just want to clarify and I know I clarified this in finance but I just want to clarify it today there is room in your budget for this so that it's not a budgeted item but you have the funds in your budget to pay for it we do yeah I'll make a motion to purchase to
Grapple is there a second a second any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I can I just have the amount of what that purchase amount 20 in the
25,300 oh yeah it's 20 U 5350 right yeah could we is that okay to add that to the motion include the price in the motion all right Steve second item is purching purchasing uh radios brought at the transfer station uh also with nrm parks
and wreck basically what we'd like to do is get enough radios so that and and radios that work that uh in the case of an emergency in the county if you have a natural disaster or something you can coordinate that with the sheriff's department that's that's been an ongoing goal we've had for a number of years uh
earlier this year earlier last year we purchased new radios cuz the ones that we had out there were Obsolete and you couldn't get parts for them anymore and uh the company we bought them from had assured us that these would tie in well they didn't really work the the signal
wasn't good enough it didn't go into across building into buildings and stuff on the campus out there so I talked to Shane Richards and uh he had a grant that he applied for for close to $50,000 to purchase armor radios now
he's got the armor system set up in the county so now when we purchase these he's got a dedicated channel for solid waste or for natural resources or parks and R he's got it all set up already so this would help meet that and so what
I'd like to do is to take and buy these radios and we'll turn back in the other ones we'll get a a rebate for the ones that we bought or a portion of that and lot of County pocket cost is so the total I think I think there's like 21 radios 19 radios that we'd be
buying 19 radios 20 radios that we'd be buying and it's $7,495 128 that's going to be paid from the Grant and then also from The Ref which Grant is this coming from that's that's the grant that Shane did through
the that through the Sheriff's Department um the the the state had that fund I don't know was it whatever am was it's not the grant that that the $900,000 grant no no no no it's a radio Grant it's a it's it's a for better
order purpose it's are separate radio Grant the sheriff's department doesn't need those radios at this time no apparently not they're the ones that approached us yeah well I'm just making sure that this we're not going to be asking
for that other grant money to cover radios in the in the Department in the sheriff's department are we I haven't heard that well I can support this if we're not buying radios out of other Grant funds
to that state the state Grant the public safety the public safety Grant if we're if we're buying radios at the sheriff's office then we should be using this grant for that instead of using taxpayer
dollars or I mean using general funds or this the other Grant so I make a motion to approve as long as radio grant money is coming is not being needed for radios for the sheriff's
department a second so we have a motion and a second and and do we want to include the amount that will cost the county the total amount of 57 49328 um including the funding sources listed I as okay as listed all right
excuse me do you want me to verify that and bring that back or just um I think just verify it with Carrie let Carrie know that it's verified and then go move forward I don't need to if it's verified just go ahead and do it okay SS good so we have a motion it's not if they need
it then then we bring it back to share for me that's so we have a motion in a second any further discussion Barry explain to me why what you said was important um if I don't know I don't know if the sheriff's if the sheriff's
department needs radios um we have and if they use General dollars rather than General Levy dollars then I wouldn't support this I think then this grant should pay for those and not pay out of our general fund money there's also a grant that the
sheriff got of 900,000 that we we have we we have many things we want to spend it on so if I don't I just don't think this is as important to have radios for for out at environmental to spend that
$47,000 with a grant money on that as it is to have them for the sheriff's department right if they need but if they're if they have no need for it and they've they've got this grant money and this would help for natural disaster I mean it obviously it's better but um if they plan on buying radios then I think
I'd rather not spend the grant money on that and not approve and I believe we just in the last 3 4 months didn't we approve radios for the Sheriff's Department we approved them for the jail which would be through
the Sheriff's I thought it was for the whole well we'll we'll verify yeah yeah and they're good at receiving grants so hopefully this was an emergency preparedness grant that that we can expand on our Steve are these would would your radios in an
emergency would they interact with the sheriff's department they can he can change the settings yeah armor armor is the state you know Statewide so the real difference was it the signal strength or length of length of the signal or the ones out there now if they're somebody's
in the pay station they couldn't talk to somebody necessarily consistently with somebody in a different building where this these other radios through the armor system are much better you can talk to anybody in the county and I think it's important to note too when we talked about these radios is that just
as Steve had indicated you can talk across depart Apartments there's a some type of a disaster but you could also Channel it so that you have outside entities or other partners outside of the county so everybody can communicate the state put the armor system
in 10 years ago give or take five I don't know um there's actually a tower right across from my driveway it's a AR a state armor Tower um so they they've put up their own Towers to in a lot of cases to it's a Statewide emergency
system in this and All State agencies are on it and counties are all moving to that so you can communicate across agencies so so we've moved to it a long time ago but so we have a motion in a second do
we have any more discussion all right so with that all in favor of the motion say sign I'm saying I I I I all right motion carries the third item is a concrete polarizer attachment this would be an attachment that you put on an excavator and it's able to break up L chunks of
concrete in a small one so you can take out the rebar currently Becker County gets a lot of waste concrete that has a lot of rebar in it because most contractors that are doing Excavating and taking their own buildings they don't want to mess with that so they bring it to us so
concrete that we get that we actually have that we contract out to have uh broken up into smaller or into crush concrete uh has has a lot of this Steel in it and it's more expensive obviously to crush that than it would be if you
didn't have it in it and what this last year we got particularly large amount of this and what we'd like to do is to buy this attachment that we could put on our excavator in the winter time when there's uh probably more hours of Staff time that we could put somebody on there
working on this they just breaking up that concrete and and taking out the steel then it preps it so that when we do bring in a concrete crushing company you'll get a better pricing on it as far as your cost per cubic yard or ton when you process it and also would serve as a good training program because right now
we use an excavator to load our waste our transfers trailers and the people we hire aren't necessarily skilled machine operators but this would be a way to get them uh trained how to run an excavator with a boom and so it's just a lot smoother for them when they do start
loading trailers if if we move them into that position does anybody have any question it's about three bucks a ton to have them take it out of there and we do have free time in the winter now there there there is free time to do it
and then we get the iron out of it too and there there there is quite a bit of iron comes out of it so a lot some some guys have their own muncher they call it um you know everybody brings in nobody's
got their own grinder they always bring in a grinder to do the concrete but some some guys got their own if you've got free time to do it and we in the winter time we do have free time for these guys and we have the excavator so um I'll move to approve the purchase of the
concrete pulverizer to for 29750 I'll second so we have a motion on a second do we have any further discussion I do have one question Steve sure um so when you are able to take the rebar out now you can do you can you do
you sell that rebar so you can sell so that so will generate more money that way instead of just them taking it all correct okay so you're you're selling the steel but then you're also getting a better price on when you do crush it yeah so we have a motion a second uh all in favor signify by saying
I I I motion carries the third grapple is a sorting grapple we use a mini excavator now to sort and and load our waste Transfer trailers in our transfer station and the the guys that are doing this they've got
a lot better at handling or using that grapple to sort so this last year they sorted I believe it's like 100 tons of material out of waste that's coming into the transfer station which we sell scrap metal we move demo over to the demo landfill rather than
sending it to uh to to a landfill like Fargo or or uh Grand Forks and that grapple that we have is getting wore out it's been added for a year and a half maybe that they've really been using it extensively for that how long have they been using it a
couple close to a couple years they've been using it four out in two years well what it does is when they're beating on it that you get cracks and stuff if you look at the grapple itself so this part in here you're going to get some cracks which you got to repair and that's
that's our means of packing so we really don't have any alternatives what we'd like to do is buy a different grapple it's not yeah it' be this type of a grapple so that when we switch them out we can take the one that's uh wore down somewhat and repair it and
just rotate them going into the future we do have a mechanic now that has the capacity to make repairs to him and he can do the welding and necessary plating and that type of thing so this is to purchase a grapple so you always have one in
working order we would correct so how long let's just say for example let's say he has to fix it and we don't have one how long would that be unable to use the grapple well you'd wind up taking out Parts it it would be a while because your alternative then is to use
either okay a large excavator which you you that large excavator does not work very well in our transfer station so you'd be using a basically a back just to pack it and use your payloader or that backo to load trailers it's used every every day every
day yeah it's Christmas not on Christmas well 364 days a year then Thanksgiving Easter I don't know if we got used yesterday yesterday probably not my my question is if I mean if that
if the one you're using is only two years old I mean that's that just doesn't seem like it's wearing well so this this one we're looking at buying is a different grapple it it's more of an industrial one used in the waste
industry than the original one that we got so the one that came with it was a cat made the was lighter I'm assuming it is no I don't have all the spect sure it is if if if if we're purchasing $23,000 grapple every two years something's
wrong is what I'm kind of getting no I no I get what you're saying so the hope is that we don't have to buy any more of them you know we can rotate them and and repair them repair them and that type of thing so they do get a lot of hours they get you know it's, hopefully this this one works this
one works and they don't have to I mean I don't I don't like having spare buckets just because one breaks down but um give this a whir hopefully this one is is better and um then when hopefully in anyway
motion to approve 23 23 25 250 and we have a second for the gra sorting grapple I'll second all right so we have a motion and a second there any further discussion okay all all in favor signify
by saying I I I motion carries the last item is accepting uh greater Minnesota waste reduction Reuse Recycling composting grant that we applied for earlier this year uh last year we applied and asked for a green Corps
member to come here ar ar deise is her name so she started working here probably August September and she'll be here for close to a year and the reason she came here was to get us started on a source separate Organics program and so
as part of that she applied for this grant to buy equipment that will allow us to move forward in that direction so this grant is going to be used to purchase some rolloffs uh containers pay for some uh collection costs uh just a whole bunch of different
things like that so then once we get it started she's going to be reaching out to businesses and we'll also have some public drop sites where people they want to bring just Organics they can put them in there we'll collect those using our trucks bring them to the transfer
station load them into a rolloffs and then once they'll roll off and we're going to mix in some wood waste with it once there's enough of that in there that we have a semi load we we ship it to a facility where they can compost it where they're permitted to do that compost what are Organics what are you
talking about so like food waste okay or it can include uh paper products uh soiled napkins that I mean we already got paper products at our blue bin recycle sites yeah that this would be more like the the soiled stuff
if you have an NA that's people are eating lunchrooms pizza boxes pizza boxes stuff that's soiled that that does not the people that are buying uh you can't have soiled food product cardboard in Rec and so this would be the
alternative this will be going to Central Market to Walmart to schools for all their bus businesses these aren't going to be sitting out at the blue bin sites I just I worry about the smell and I mean some of them would be okay but some of them would not be okay so if we did this we would put it only at the
really high volume blue sites I would not Advocate putting this out there otherwise they're going to have to be serviced once a week so it'd be basically a service I think that we would start around Detroit Lakes where your population centers and just leave it at that and then bring it back mix it with wood chips they do so when when
they compost it they have to mix in wood chips or yard way site with that to compost it so it gets enough you got to you got to do it properly you got to heat it or otherwise you don't kill off the weeds and the and the disease pathogens and and the final product is what dirt compost compost
black compost M the the issue I have is the hauling it away I mean the trucking away I don't know so legally we can't just you can't just click food waste and compost it on site without having or building a permitted facility there's
certain things you have to do like you were referencing earlier that it the compost itself when you initially get into it it's got to heat up and you got to be able to record that you have to have the thermometers there's a there's quite a few things that go in with that if you were to develop a facility so this would allow us to get going on this
and see if it works if it doesn't work sometime in the future you just quit doing it because it doesn't make sense to do it but our hope is that this does grow and we start getting more sore sepper Organics then sometime in the future if we get enough of it or there's
enough re interest regionally where you develop a a a much closer facility than you you do that here or in this region nearby so that way then you'd have less food waste going into your regular landfills what are the requirements of
this grant for for longevity of keeping in the program like six months a year or something like that it's it's not real long because I mean if you accept this grant the county will be obligated to put about 103,000 into it that's County money that would be that'd
be fun money that be fun money from the where where where is it hauled to as a final so this would be going down to hofman Hoffman there's the pope Douglas is a regional facility down there where they built a
facility or that's what they do so they collect all the Organics from aale Douglas County PO County and you know so is that our job to get it down there with a grant what no we're not or they would come and pick it up no we would haul it down there using our I agree with the transportation cost it's part of the
it's part of the fee structure that's in that what what but but you got showed what the grant would be think about it on the collection side we're going to have some cost are going to ur if you didn't collect it and do this you're going to have to have a cost associated with moving it to a landfill
irregardless it's kind of offset so so you're getting rid of it any no matter what you are whether you're getting rid of it for Organics or your hauling it to to landfill so Steve when you said in kind what in kind are there my time or staff time staff time okay mainly okay
did you if you looked at the breakdown there was all kinds of Staff hours in there that's I I just wanted him to so we're not taking $100,000 no no of Levy dollars no it would be our own a lot of it be truck driver time that type of thing Lo so do
we have a motion to approve 2f well I mean I do have I do have some concerns about the value versus um I mean I'm I'm just I just look we
take we compost everything just throw it in the field you know but it's not that much much product um if everyone could just have their own spot but you're you're looking at businesses now I mean um that's correct so one of our missions or did you do a survey before to see how
much there is out there that's so there had been a number of grants that had been given to counties around us as pilot projects to help determine how much of this you could actually pull out of the waist stream and aail had one Pope Douglas had them I
think uh hubard was part of it and just from what I've heard they said you might be able to pull up to like 10% of your total waste stream out of garbage once you maximize it so it doesn't seem like a large number but then when you start talking our our
waste stream is about 23,000 tons a year that actually is a big number I wonder we able to able to move forward they found out it doesn't work to do curbside and so we're picking out the parts that do work in those counties that have did
these pilot projects that's that's our goal and I know one of the things you had said is this um green Corp member was going to one of her duties is going to be to Market
this program um but what I what I would like to know it it just to make sure that by accepting this grant we're not saying that if 6 months from now it's no it's not working but we're going to have to
because of this grant do it another six months or a year whatever I think that is maybe something we should make sure we know like we know for sure when we're making it like what is what is the grant requirement that we have to provide the service
for how long commissioner I guess in response to that question that this size of a change when you're when you're dealing with things it's something it's going to take take a year or two years just to try to
get it going well I mean it it's not a change that you can change the public habit immediately yep so what we do is we target the places of business which would include schools or grocery stores
nursing homes those types of or or restaurants that generate a lot of Organics we would know fairly early on the amount of interest in fact we've been reaching out to them already as far as in the past past number of them have expressed interest in
this now it's a matter of actually putting it into practice and and seeing if we can pull this off which I I think we can I think it makes sense to do that because the cost of uh garbage disposal or solid waste disposal
just keeps going up this will give you some way of having some handle on controlling our own costs going into the future so so in these businesses how often would you collect it would be weekly weekly okay Steve what additional
equipment like let's say this doesn't work that's what I'm thinking I want it to work but let's say it doesn't what additional equipment would we have to purchase on hand and would have and would be sitting out there unused if that if this transpired and then quit so
initially what we're going to do is we're going to buy some rolloffs which so we could reuse those in another way those can be repurposed uh have to buy an attachment concrete blocks concrete blocks 15,750 worth of interlocking concrete blocks those are pretty generic
you can use those for just about anything uh probably the only thing I can think of that you might not be able to repurpose other things is there's an attachment that's going to have to go on the front of the truck which you use to load your frontload trucks so it's like
a small dumpster that has a cart Tipper on it that's probably that's on there but that's that would be probably the only thing I can think of the rest of the stuff you you know you might is there a cost to pick that up to the people getting
rid of it you know we we have not set that yet if I would think to get it going you probably would not charge or if you did it would be minimal but I think that's something that as you establish what those costs are then you'd have to have a conversation about
how you want to fund that going into the future so we're supplying the businesses or the schools with the dumpsters at this time we would be they would be Becker County dumpsters or and I see you know pales for those yeah
correct why would we buy pales for house is that just household pales no this would be more for schools or if it was for households you you could buy them and give them to them but they they'd be with Grant funds and we did it yeah I see that they're included in there but I
don't know why you'd I mean we use for individuals you I mean we have a ice cream pail and we throw it out one full so I don't I just the only thing is I just want to clarify that this isn't there is no requirement with this
grant for us to pay continue yeah like or for us to say you know this is a startup Grant you you started up but then we're committed to it for you know however many however no that's that's correct this type of Grant we've got
them in the past and there might be I don't remember exactly but it's like a two-year reporting or a year reporting requirement can't remember if it's one or two years but then after that it's it's done you once you've bought it and you've made is this similar to when we did the bail
wrap for that I mean that's been several years ago but yeah Oh you mean the was that a grant cycling yeah we didn't actually get a grant for that but oh we we've bought some equipment in the past uh the mini
excavator you we were talking about sorting equipment with that was purchased with Grant funds like this same thing with expansion to some of our murf equipment Steve how many dollars is the grant 178,000 178 17 it's on the
resolution y 178 966 where is it it's on well I one more question there's no new employees that's the green core person that's kind of running this program with this time so for the most part it's going to be using our own truck drivers it's basic we have
the capacity to do this without increasing hours or or vehicle or trucks that's correct as so the only equipment we need are the what's listed in the the grant the rolloffs the buckets the mhm
okay so let's say after a year or two years even we're we're losing money on this but we have to fund it ourselves now
what what is the what what what is your what's your feeling on that I mean what I don't even know my question you know some of that depends on how would we handle it how we handle that yeah so you know as a county depending on how from a policy standpoint how we want to
come up with a revenue stream to cover our costs that's what you'd look at right now we do charge businesses for providing Services as far as recycling yeah and you could look at it like that because then by that time you're going to have a better handle on what your actual cost are and that is a concern of
mine sure um right now we charge for cardboard D the pickup now we're going to charge for another weekly pick up as a business owner I don't know if it'd be worth my time to do that there's there's different ways of looking at it I like the idea I just don't know if I
want to pay for that sure yeah sure I mean I could throw in the dumpster sure and we have to look at it as a county yeah we have to weigh the everything um so if you throw in the dumpster then you pay you pay a tipping charge and as a
county I mean you have to put it in the landfill and as a county we are every time we put something in a landfill we are obligated we are liable for that tonnage in perpetuity correct so the more you put in landfills the higher your your long-term risk is and there
will be something someday I would imagine there's that and then like barrels what with something in it sure yeah as commissioner Nelson referenced there's there's other costs that aren't necessarily easy to monitor or to calculate but if you just think about it
in two different streams if it's collected as mssw it's going to go to a landfill we're going to have to build back a tipping cost and a solid waste management tax that goes with that on both the disposal plus the cost to to pick it up so when you have a dumpster
you're paying that you're you're paying for the size dumpster you have correct you're paying for that dumpster and that dumpster is going to be whatever you pay is going to be the cost of disposal plus collecting it plus correct I would imagine at some point in the solid waste management tax where
we're probably gonna and and collectors might be buing by the pounds rather than by the cubic yard dumpster that's what I'm getting then you would see then you would see a cost savings if you take this because it's a weighted then you will see significant savings by doing it
recycling until that happens there's not the big incentive now was my next question is that something that could happen in the near future or not in the near future but well I would think we would have to make sure that this program is going to yeah take out the work we would have to look at what if it
if it takes out for Becker County and we can look at this working as a region then we could look for Grants to have a facility where we wouldn't then be hauling it is that is that the ultimate long-term that long-term goal that's and you'd have to weigh the cost of the
facility versus cost of trucking you know what the benefits are and if there's any resale value of that compost I don't know that they're that where they're getting rid of their compost you know I don't know if they've generated that much that you know they I think they it depends on how you handle it if
you clean it up a lot then you can give you can get it to Residents and people want to use well I mean if you have compost and it's good clean it's been through the the heat cycles and there's no weeds or you know or disease I think Farmers would love to put that on their you know Fields especially on the clay
knobs you can get some residents for their GS yeah and we have we currently have a compost site on in the landfill now we do have but that hasn't went through the proven heat things and I wouldn't trust it myself but we have in
lakei had grass and leaf compost sites that we use regularly for the last five years since I've been on the board we we we use that it's not what you're talking about but you know you said Erica you said and I know I agree there's a lot of questions here but somebody's got to
start I think it's a right thing to do uh when it comes down to Dollars and cents then I you know to the taxpayer I I I want to back up on what I said but I would I would make a motion to approve this grant acceptance since we're so far into it already uh for 178,000 um but I do want you to come
back in six months and specifically talk about exactly how this program is going I'd like to know say six months enough time to it will be this will be something through the Environmental Services committee okay sorry it will be discussed probably every month just to
give you updates and it will help like for Prairie Lakes mhm because the drier that garbage is down there the easier it is to to burn it and the less maintenance they have to you know if if we could get everything out of there and
just bring dry garbage there the it would it would it would make a big difference on the main because they're already they're separating the organic stuff at at Prairie Lake so it's so there are benefits there are different benefits to it and it is a trial and error thing and you know I I wanted to
train bears but nobody nobody's listening to me but so so we have a motion and a second for 2f do we have any further discussion so all in favor signify by saying I I okay carried thank you thanks Steve thanks Steve thanks
Steve hey Steve one last question are you fully staffed Y and how many employees are are out there well depends on the time of the year but what we got about three fours five six seven
eight 10 I there's probably 10 fulltime and more in the summer yeah it varies yeah summer defin more but you're fully stabbed right now we are okay you have sentence to serve or yeah sentence to serve oh yeah I forgot about we got some truck drivers too truck drivers we got
people working at the thanks Ste all right I Jim Highway Department War Still Still morning morning morning Jim uh first item for your consideration
is a bid award um had the bid opening for the Heartland Trail phrase you talked a little bit about it earlier from our Highway 10 down to r z um had an impressive list of biders and more impressive bid results uh we're
recommending award to how construction they were the low bid for $668,500 that's 22% below the engineers estimate and uh should leave us some remaining bond funds hopefully with that we could still keep in our County in
use would would that help with um paying for that parcel that's what we were hoping because I believe the bond language did allow RightWay expenses and hopefully it'd be easier for us just have them give us the money yeah pay us back that would be nice
move to approve the 2G 2G second all right we any further discussion okay all in favor signify by saying I I carried be nice to get that project moving forward yep uh next item is the purchase
request uh this is for a product called base one used in our our um Road stabilization when we do re reclaiming on our asphalt Pavements um this is a um a pre- buby where we get a little discount we save about 16% when we buy a
little bit before the season and um then use it uh we'll be using it on County Road 34 and County Road 36 on Those portions that are being reclaimed and we've done this for years so motion to approve second uh we have motion and
second to purchase the stabilizing agent uh any fur or base yeah any further discussion yeah all in favor signify by saying I hi hi carried and then uh final item is
another purchase request um we had programmed replacement of our road sweeper uh for this year it's included in our budget uh the current model is uh I think it's just over 10 years old now um but um we've priced out a couple
different ones and we we're choosing the the brosie model Road sweeper it's a little bit uh bigger cab and it is more expensive than the other one but um we just feel it would suit us a little bit better it seemed better quality uh than
the other model that we looked at uh we will get a tradein value of $10 ,000 uh we are going to try and auction that though with that reserve and maybe we can get more money for our road sweeper what is the motor on the new
one is that a diesel or I'm I mean just saying 5500 that's a that's you know that's quite a few hours it's it's not it's not underused you know for being no we use it quite a bit in we had it since 2013 though right it seems like yesterday cuz I remember when
we got used we traded that or we got had an an old didn't I mean you didn't have anything that work before this one no it was they get a lot of use and wear on them so that's fine but I I'll make Mo to approve I'll second so we have motion
to second to approve the road sweeper do we have any further discussion okay all in favor signify by saying I hi hi carried um I have one final thing um we had a uh been having meetings on Westlake Drive uh plan
development down there by the beach uh the city council um I think they'll probably reaching out to you Carrie else you will but they're planning a uh kind of a work session to review kind of the plans and what's to go on in the beach and in the road on
that and that's on February 6 next Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 you would be invited to that if you'd like to You'll invite us you'll you'll do an invite um I'll confirm I'll probably have Kelsey reach out to you and then she can reach out and let you know but it's four what
time 4:00 on on February 6 I would consider that a highway a highway meeting yes appropriate prium and if so if you do attend it's a highway meeting I mean a fall under Highway meeting for prum and and
fees I was worried about having Quorum there well I think it's just highways I just say the highway department well you'd like to go for being in the city wouldn't you I but if if the highway goes that's fine you can you can report to me I report tell us if you want to go then you have to make a motion so it's p
so it is a full council meeting so oh it is and they inviting all of you if you'd like to go um so you can decide February 6th well then I'll I'll make a motion to allow how do I do that all five of us to go if we wish to go on February 6 from
46 for the West Lake Drive project meeting City can we do that if it wasn't on the agenda oh we can't do that and I can't make a motion to do that yeah I it's you're not you're not acting on you're just acting on a future meeting date
okay I I would suggest just the consensus of the council and then we'll notice it okay um let's do that for the meeting if you would like oh we will have a meeting on third also that's true but we but would we have to have it posted before the yes
the third yes so maybe just to be safe perhaps we'll just notice the we'll just notice it then okay but I still think the highway department would get up for DM so well you can determine that at your February 3rd meeting if you're asking everyone to go then you can ask
everyone to get yeah yeah if that's your wishes I mean there's not if if it's a full board discussion then you're not going to give two Commissioners prum and the rest of you not yeah that's true yeah that's good so we'll put it on the February 3rd agenda agenda but I would notice it I would put
it as a notice in the paper prior to that yep yes for the possibility of it in case you have a quorum yes so can I just I don't know if there's a point of order what Jim I think you um so we why did we confirm the agenda at
the beginning do we need to do that because I mean here's something that came up it's it's it's happening it's ongoing what uh do we need to confirm the agenda I mean something came up none of us
intentionally knew it was going to come up but it's it's it seems pretty important do we need to confirm the agenda at the beginning of the meeting is what I'm asking is that so I believe we have to confirm the agenda yes your agend and then we can't deviate from that you can I mean you're you can't you
should not deviate for Action items that involved I mean is this an action item this is an action item to to be at an action item you know so I would not consider this an action item this isn't this setting a setting open having a meeting you're scheduling a meeting for
future I don't think it's a you know it's you're not you're not doing business you're not doing you're not you're not setting policy or pres you know or expending money this is you want to meet you want to allow some allow us mean so I don't think this would fall
under you need a you need this on the agenda yeah right does that make sense I mean I I the thing with Roberts rules of orders it says what the first first thing you read is what works for your what works for your business I think you
I think we've had a standing rule that significant items have to be on the agenda so public you know you're worried about public uh transparency whether whether we have a ask for we have another meeting down the road it doesn't it's not affecting the public if we're announcing we're going
to have a meeting in three weeks I I it's I mean we're going to we're advertising a public meeting is what we're asking to do so but if you're asking we want to we want to send the Commissioners to Hawaii for a you know conference I think that would be
something that you'd want on the agenda so people could see that and I mean so I think it's you kind of got to deal with common sense some extent to my opinion when are we going to you can go but at your own expense my own expense we follow Robert's Rules of orders yeah in
okay but again Robert's Rules of orders is whatever what works for your meeting now the action items and and for minutes the only thing that's required in minutes is action items so we could a lot of the stuff in our minutes is information and the public likes to see
that they like to read that but there's a lot of things in there we would not have to include um in our official minutes and some of some of them might get Scaled down for the paper just because you get too lengthy it gets too expensive to put in so I mean it's it's
a compromise now if you come on this board and you say this has to be this way and this I mean we're going to probably have to accommodate you because if if the board isn't in agreement how you move forward then we have then we need to adjust because I think the full Board
needs to be on the same page on on this on you know these type of things so if you feel something if you feel strongly that this shouldn't be brought up today because of you know not not this but you know if you do feel free to I mean and we'll say well this isn't urgent this is something we can bring back to our next
meeting put on the agenda so the public has opportunity to review it thanks Jim that that answer a lot of things a lot of things that we used to do too went through Finance you know wasn't on the agenda and we run them through finance
committee bring to the board and improve them so that was a way and now we don't do that nearly as much so we've been more we're more transparent now than we used to be it used to be if you could get on the agenda you run through Finance bring it and approve through at Finance through the finance agenda um
now we get the fin you know in 10 years ago we had a finance agenda there there was half a dozen action items within Finance agenda that wasn't on the agenda so we we have changed consider and we can keep changing you know if we feel that there's a need to
keep changing for the better not for the worst Kyle good morning Mr chair Commissioners morning kle morning Kyle uh just wanted to update you on a joint planning board request from the city of Detroit Lakes many some of you may be aware of it already um in the month of
December uh pursuant to Minnesota statute the city's requesting a joint planning board between us themselves and Lake View town uh for all planning and land use controls uh we're still ironing out some things there uh the main thing will be
that you have two or they're suggesting two members um that's not set by Statute it's just an equal amount from each governing body um so at that time you will have two appointments to this board um once the board is
established um then ordinances and procedures will be established by that board I had a question um in in the decision on number under number one it states um to adopt the last sentence of number one it says the powers contained
in Minnesota Section statutes blah blah blah within that two- mile area and to and to adopt and enforce the state fire code Pro probated pursuant to Minnesota within that 2 mil so so are we adding State Fire code in that 2- M area and that that was a concern of mine that
we'd now have to hire someone to or we'd have those same state fire codes that the rest of the outside that that would be a very big concern for me sure and I read that as well um I'm not entirely sure what
this board has to do and what it does not one of the you know concerns I have is if is this for any type of permit application are you going to have to go to them for a site permit or anything like that um so I read that as well um
one thing the statute does say is that the city is responsible for administering it but obviously those are your constituents within that area so I understand that concern um but it's not something I could speak to right now well yeah I mean so there I mean that's that's a type of concern I would have if
you form this type of committee that that now that I don't know if was the whole area or just in Lake VI Township they're looking at and this one but and I don't know what that means if if that would require them to have a higher standard of building a house that
you now have to have State Fire code inspection rather than so right I would have those concerns I agree with you um I you know I think the intent of the city is for subdivision control only right um but it does make it very clear
that there's a board of appeals here there's a board of adjust adjustments um so that's something that definitely needs to be ironed out uh Lake View Township does have their own representation a legal council and Troy gilchrest who's pretty knowledgeable fell I could certainly ask him you know
about this there's some areas of concern with I mean just and just to iron them out it's not like they're good or bad but you better go in know knowing what the consequences are the unintended consequences might be very so I I I have
all the history on that being at the township taking back this extra territorial stuff and Kyle does too and so does um Roy Smith that's where it started so this was this they could have done this before any one of us us the township or the city or the
county could have forced this joint Powers all of us chose not to now with the annexation especially in Lake View Township the city has said you know we want a seat at the table which they can get without doing all of this um so
um if that's what they I'm looking to you for for because this is specifically Lake View Township so are you our fire contract is with the city so is eries so is uh uh U Detroit's we contract with
the city of Detroit legs for fire protection right so I I don't know I don't know that would be a Troy gilchrest who was a former uh Township attorne State Fire Cod is totally different than fire protection I mean that's that's that would be now your house is required to have sprinklers you
know rather than not outside my wheelhouse but that's it's outside mine too but those are the questions we need answer before but I mean are you saying that you don't want to consider moving into this agreement we don't have a choice there the city is forcing this on us on the
county and the township there has been I did speak with the city administrator Kelsey and there has talks about potentially maybe relinquishing some control back to
them within a certain amount of they call it like tears or rings like let's say half mile um if Lake View was willing to relinquish a half a mile of its zoning controls back to the city you
know they may forego this you know um but I do think we should probably meet with them um both commissioner jebson and Hansen are appoint to to my department so we could set up a meeting with the city and with Lake View and
maybe hash some of that out well the the concern I mean if we if we want to go into this you're going to have two representatives from this board you and Dave Dave and you'd have two from your Township the lake view and then you'd have two from the city now
majority rules on that board so you know they can get on the board you know then they can get an idea of what what's moving forward but it's these things like the the state fire code I mean is that going to change the building codes are we going to have to go inspect differently than in those are we are the
requirements different for those buildings rather than you know not or would the city is the city going to be doing those inspections or you know those are those are the things that are really worrisome to me I'm not worried about the board because between the city and the the township and the county I
think it'll be a pretty fair you know representation but it's the unintended things that worry me more you know for me it would scare me if now Larry if I live there and now now Larry Ran's in charge of my project that would be very
hard for me to deal with and so we hopefully the township and the county like you say they have more voting power hopefully we won't give them any of that and it's the same thing with building you know they building codes we don't have a building
code right um Frost footings all all all sorts of things come into this that's that's my concern that's exactly my concern I would hope that we would not agree to letting the city do well but it seems like we don't have a choice you
can vot you can vote it down if so if we have two Commissioners and in the meeting you you can vote not to do it we don't the statute's really clear though you know going back to it it says the board shall have all powers contained in
sections 462 351 and 462 364 and shall have authority to adopt um that fire code so so you the the this board would not have to adopt enforcing a fire code that's more strict than outside of that area right so essentially what you would
do is we' most likely acknowledge it right form it um work with the township to adopt the controls um the city as well but that board will decide what it's going to actually have for controls and I would think it's going to be
subdivisions only um I think that's all the city is really looking for um so I think we can avoid those okay may maybe well let me back up so is this in effect
like this is the the resolution if what I if what Phil is saying is the city has the right to do this so is it in effect and now we just need to figure it out now we need to appoint members yeah
well it's it kind of in lingo right um the township has acknowledged um the request uh but again you know I did speak with with Kelsey and he kind of threw out a few ideas to maybe avoid this um but it's not something I can
negotiate I'm going to need some of those ideas I don't I I think it'd be better have the board than relinquish some of the control myself right I think so so our preference would be to have the board well I mean unless it's very
minimal but I mean if it's just one item of working together with in the first half mile for I I think that's doable but I think a preference would not to be to have this joint Powers board the city is forcing The Joint Powers board to happen
so it's going to be one more level of government because the city wants to have a say and what happens I think that's fair right to encapsulate what's going on here right
um but again you know we depending on somebody like Joy gilr's opinion maybe you can potentially limit what this board actually oversees maybe it's maybe it's strictly plats you know maybe it's not minor subdivisions or something of that nature really where
this came up is there's a there's um a few Parcels of property on the south side of Detroit Lake there uh one where that gas station was going to go um and then one a little further south on Abbey Lake uh the gentleman came to us um looking to make lots and that spurred
the city to then go into I don't know what you want to call it forceful annexation or what have you um so really how it got spurred was that immediate vacant land that they are trying to you know Annex and
they were nervous that we were going to make lots or or what have you there um so maybe in a perfect world not every subdivision would go to this board maybe it would only have to meet you know once a year maybe they could just if there's
something that they see annexed within the next five years right M then then that board could have purpose so then does that board make the final decision that would be my question does that board that like it doesn't come to the Planning Commission it just goes
straight to this board and that's right the the final so they would be responsible to have a public hearing and all that which the city said that they would manage the they didn't say they required to city is required in a joint Powers
the city is required to manage the meetings and and the postings and the yeah from everything I understand y well that yeah that says that in them well what are you looking you're just updating that tell us where we're at with this yeah just to inform you I
wanted to bring it back that last meeting or the last meeting in December but I was not available um and I I think we probably should just have a little bit more conversations with them and Lake View as well um I haven't heard from Joy Gilcrest in a little while he
was going to begin working on this Brian was involved as well and Brian basically asked to lead off on it I wonder wonder if it would be helpful for in those conversations for to have a meeting with I'm assuming it would be Dave and Phil just because it's their
their districts um I me maybe a meeting with all parties of who would potentially be in the agreement I think that' be wise the I think I think we can avoid this this
joint Powers board by sitting around a table and hashing some things out I I think we kind of all want the same thing have the developer the county the city um and the township I I think we could do it without this extra level of
government but well I don't know that the developer would be involved in the conversation as far as the joint Powers so well they would be the one coming to the Joint Powers asking for a permit what what Kyle what's the process of the city annexing in property what what is the
process I believe it's through an administrative judges order um there's obviously different types but um if you have orderly annexation that's buying from the citizens and whatnot but this is a decision made by a judge um and I
would say Phil I believe you're at the meeting um you know the Planning Commission heard the concerns of the city and where they would like to be growing obviously they're limited different directions South is their priority um you know we tabled it we
didn't no one asked acted on it or anything of that nature they heard those concerns and the developer was basically told to go meet with the city and the township and see if they could come to some type of agreement so I think commissioner Hon's right there maybe
this whole thing could be avoided if there is a talk I mean this is specific for the one you're talking the one application right that well seems to be where this came from right um but we didn't act on it that's the point must been at the December finding commission
that I missed I think the would have been November the wend Wendell Smith or not wend Smith Chad wendle Chad Wendell um Chad Wendell yeah again we tabled it um so simply put at dispute here is what
Chad Wendell wants he purchased the property he's the landowner what the city wants as it being close to the city proximity what the township wants and what the county want requires uh requires administers um so like I said we can do this joint and that'll be the
the the legal way to do it but I think before we even get to that point if we sat down I think we could we could do that and avoid this which I think I think everybody would like to avoid this the city told me that they they want a seat at the table that's what they said um that's that's how that's what they
think this joint Powers is going to do I I rebutted you can do that without this joint Powers agreement um and maybe we should have a meeting I I think there's probably some value there I think we should we find out
exactly what they want I mean I I don't know if I want I don't know how I don't know if i' want them to have control right I mean the issue is we get past this one application and then the next application comes are we going to
be I mean is is the board the better way to handle it all well it depends on what it depends on what the city's requiring if if they're just worried about these these plots or these plots that are coming forward that
are looking to be annexed then I think then I think we could it could be avoided by just simple meetings um and I think that partnership is I mean we're we're I think our relationships are good enough where we could do that if they
want input on every single thing then then the board would have then it would be a full-fledged board similar to I mean monthly meetings and so it's it's kind of in their ballpark if if they because if this is this is the requirement to establish this and it's required to be established after it's
petitioned is that correct so it's kind of we we are going to have to do it if they want in and so we need to find out exactly what they want right it just you know speaking with Kelsey there does seem some type of appetite there to maybe
yeah avoid it m it was brought up at least you should be aware of that that and and then we need to find out what they want to avoid it right what what is our timeline on establishing I don't believe there is one um the statute doesn't reference you know so many days
or anything like that okay um the only thing I would say is we want to move faster than slower just because of some developers down there that are probably looking to do something because the one was it tabled by like we don't have the timeline on
the one contend with he tabled it he tabled it okay so that would be where the timeline would come in is if we have right an application deadline that we need to right so address a few are all of you going to
AMC so I I um the 22nd tomorrow so I could I could look at next week for the two of you to sit down with them and hopefully I think we'll most likely invite obviously the township at there
at Troy as well yep that sounds like a good point um the second item I have for you is a public hearing request on behalf of the npca we've had a few of these before basically the PCA doesn't have the capability to have a public hearing as
we do um so the request is just to open it um for any testimony if there is any um and then close it and then we just forward that testimony on to the PCA and Mr chair yep I'd like to make a motion to open a public hearing for permit to
construct the cap facility parcel 37 blah blah blah alary do we have a second a second all we have a motion in a second to open the meeting for that is it so we're going to request the public hear
or this is open public this is uh do we have any further discussion on opening to the public hearing all right all in favor signify by saying I I the hearing is now open is there anybody that would like to testify in the public
hearing Mr CH just like to recognize that the the screen is showing the Public Public uh it's a publication and the application Y and we've received no one
here to speak up there is no one Mr chair we'll just note the time that we opened and we open the meeting at 11:21 a.m. Mr chair with no one here speaking on this or on maybe you should ask online just to make sure we ask online
is there anybody online that would like to testify at the public hearing is there anybody online that would like to testify there is not M chair with nobody being online or present to speak on this
I make a motion to close the public hearing do we have a second to close the public hearing I'll second all in favor of closing the public hearing signified by saying I I public hearing is closed um Mr chair I think we should probably State a specific time for
public hearings though um in the future so we know so yeah on the agenda on the agenda we go to it at that time can we do them at the beginning or towards the beginning of the meeting then because I know you guys have in past we had to wait 15
minutes because we had a scheduled time for the for some things in the I don't know if they're public hearings but we had to wait but whenever we have Planning and Zoning there's usually interest in it so we' never move forward with that and that's the one we usually public hearings um are usually held when
in this case it's usually at earlier so you're you're just saying you don't want them something scheduled where we have to wait at a meeting when we're not doing it and and we have adjusted our agenda times but a public heing you could not adjust could not adjust the public hearing just like Planning and Zoning things we cannot adjust the time
on um controversial ones we wait till that yeah but I mean and if we're behind then we will like what do you mean we can't adjust them I mean you had it at the end of the meeting here we have a meeting time at 10:10 so sometime after 10:10 that public hearing is going to we don't
adjust them forward forward so we couldn't we couldn't have done it at never if we have because it's public because it's published that they will show they can show up at that time I think saying though in the future like right he's ask you're asking to move my items towards the front of the agenda in
the future right not during you weren't asking today to move this one no he's saying no I understand I was just explaining that you can move you can't Planning and Zoning items we do not move ahead of the agenda because there's usually people that will come and speak
on and that's what you're saying don't I think what Phil's asking is that in the future should we put Planning and Zoning at the beginning of the agenda public hearings or Public public hearings yeah um that's what I was asking I what is the reason why you're you're always
last oh yeah is that just is that just how it's always been yeah well I mean we're here to serve the public I I think if they don't want to sit around for the whole meeting I think we should accommodate them as well as well as we can is there appetite for that same
thought or am I missing something well it certainly can be moved forward but they don't have to they can come in and go anytime they want so if they see it on the agenda at 10:30 let's just for an example we're not going to move it to 9:30 and then have them come late I mean so they would miss it so whatever so we can put it at 9:30 if it's on the agenda
or 9:00 that's fine but plan if there's things that people want to hear we don't move it we don't try not to move ahead of the agenda even if it's Highway we even we don't like to move we don't like to take things before because someone might look at oh I want to come in and
talk about Highway cuzz That Base one I offered to buy sell it and they didn't consider me so I'm going to show up at 10:05 if we move that to 9:05 now we're not now we're not giving them the opportunity to speak not that we would but that's that's the mentality we don't
move things forward if they're controversial or possible but we certainly can move Planning and Zoning at 9:00 if you want 9:30 consistently I don't know if that benefits I mean that's fine it doesn't matter to me I don't know if that benefits the I mean
they're not going to wait the whole meeting they're going to show up at 10:30 yeah for cuz we're know they know that the public is the one that we are going to keep on not you got to kind of keep on scheduled because so many people come to yeah we're not going to move it ahead so would would it make for us to
have Planning and Zoning prior after car's report we can try it next time sure we could try it and if it doesn't work we fine the thing yeah the only thing is that they announce it at
at'll just have to make make sure you announce that whatever time it is that this will be discussed at the board at this time and that would typically always be the same time if we do it after County Administrator
report I mean that would maybe be more consistent but talk fast talk fast yeah that's a is there any anything else for the well to go back to that now in the past when when Finance did a lot of the stuff we would move Mary I to try to keep other things on schedule we would
move Mary Mary was going to be here the whole time so there's things that you can move to the end of the agenda that we would say well we're going to move this back because you know licensers you know there's so much in was hers that we didn't so even administrator report we could move I mean if we're behind
schedule we can move that stuff to the end so we don't want to keep people waiting like you know for different things we don't want to make them stay if they don't want to I mean for through so many things so we do we do especially if there's a judge here for something or
an you know we want to make sure that we accommodate their schedule to try to keep them on so if it's County reports or County usually there's not you know like Steve was here had a lot of stuff nobody's here to listen you know to his stuff but um just Nate yeah in George so
that's how we we can adjust without too much trouble internally but Kyle's the one that do you guys have some opinions on that too maybe we can talk about that next meeting to see if there's ways to reshuffle I think I think the consensus of the board is that we just need to be cognizant of uh citizens waiting to
testify and try to accommodate I think really what you're saying and I think I think we can do that okay anything else for the good of the order all right we are adjourned thank [Music]
you no