WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 2
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=FIjCMy_m8OA
Video-2: youtube.com/watch?v=VxTCjWzhRZE

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: FIjCMy_m8OA):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Call to Order, New Employees, Future Work Topics
- 00:04:13: Economic Assistance Team Recognition from State Department
- 00:07:39: SNAP Employment and Training Program Funding Overview
- 00:14:28: Public Comment: Addressing Employment Barriers for Ex-Offenders
- 00:15:17: Property Tax Exemption Principles, Tests, and Application
- 00:16:38: Public Comment: Trek North Building Tax Exemption Question
- 00:23:49: Clarifications on Tax Exempt Status, Nonprofit Definition
- 00:27:57: Public Comment: Retroactive Waiver for United Way Tax
- 00:30:09: 2026 Midterm Elections Preview, Candidate Filing Information
- 00:33:47: Public Comment: Candidate Filing Clarification
- 00:35:11: Absentee Voting, Early Voting, and Mail Ballot Changes
- 00:43:53: Public Comment: Polling Location Change at BSU Campus
- 00:46:00: Mississippi Headwaters Watershed 2627 One-Waters Plan
- 00:55:31: Administrator's Update: Jail Project, Road Project, Legislation

Part 2 (Video ID: VxTCjWzhRZE):
- 00:00:47: Meeting Called to Order: Pledge of Allegiance
- 00:01:06: Addressing the Board: Public Comment Guidelines
- 00:01:50: Agenda and Consent Agenda Approval
- 00:03:00: Opening Public Hearing: Land Swap Proposal Introduction
- 00:03:43: Land Swap Details: Parcels, Access and Timber Value
- 00:07:16: Financial Benefits and Landowner Agreement
- 00:09:39: Access to Landlocked Parcels, Public Access
- 00:11:52: Public Hearing Process and Next Steps
- 00:13:13: Closing Public Hearing: Motion and Discussion
- 00:14:07: Tax Forfeited Parcels: Conservation Classification Request
- 00:15:47: Land Swap Parcel Classification and Bemidji Parcel
- 00:19:09: Resolution for Non-Conservation Classification Approval
- 00:22:08: Approval of Resolution: Move to Commissioner Reports
- 00:24:28: Commissioner Gold: Juvenile Center and BSU Tree Planting
- 00:26:42: Commissioner Carlson: Surgery, Union Negotiations, Meetings
- 00:30:05: Commissioner Updates: Health Board, Extension Meeting
- 00:31:30: Adjournment


Part: 1

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--------- 4:00. Call the work session to order. Introduction of new employees. Any new employees? None. Any future work topics >> there? Where

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>> I'm wondering if we could get um I think Corey, what Corey's last name? Bushy from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation and the the um money that we that went out of the housing fund last year to the

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Community Land Trust and Northwest Minnesota Foundation. Just kind of get an update on where they're at with the money that we spent on that if we could do that. That's actually at Cory's request. He'd love to come and give it a report. So, yeah, >> I told him I'd do that.

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>> Yeah, I got something too if uh the organization 211 could come in and do a presentation. We got a email from them recently. They're kind of going around to the different county boards in the area and uh just kind of doing a PR about >> what are they?

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>> Who they are, what they're about. Uh 211 uh first call for help. um community connections uh organizations. So they're based out of Grand Rapids, but they serve uh uh Bel Tramy counties in their service area. And so they're uh going

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around making presentations and they are interested in uh presenting in front of us. Okay. Anything else? Sound good? All right.

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Economic assistance. >> Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, commissioners. Um Kurt Anderson, economic assistance division director. Uh today I I appreciate the opportunity to be in front of you to um inform you about some recognition that uh members

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of your economic assistance team received from uh the department of children, youth, and families here this past month. They held a MIP tanniff conference which is our Minnesota family investment program. Uh it includes both the eligibility for um families as well

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as the employment services that we do with those families. And with that um there were a total of 13 awardees uh that were identified by the state and Belrammy County awardees teams that were awarded and Bel Tramy County had three

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of the 13 that were recognized by the state and so if I get this no I always go the wrong way. So, um, for us, uh, the first individual that was recognized as the eligibility worker of the year was our team lead in our family and

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intake team, Melissa Mystic. Um and so uh with that um she has she has done a great job and was recognized for her her mentoring of her team um as well as the collaboration that she does uh both within our economic assistance and

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outside of our division. Uh the other team event that we had is our employment services team which is uh workforce impact. And so that includes the supervisor um Bryce, team lead, Chad. We have our business account representative

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uh Amy as well as our navigators. You have Amber hiding in the back behind the uh poll. And then uh you've got Jerica, Nicole, and Lauren. um all have done exceptional work with our clients and actually that's going to be the team

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that for the next presentation when Bryce gets up and talks to you about is going to be instrument instrumental in our snap employment and training. Thank you guys. I guess I do need to show their um AI photo. And then um really kind of the biggest

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thing uh one of the biggest cogs uh in our in our wheelhouse down in the family and uh was a long time within our intake team um is Val Cyverson who was uh picked for the lifetime achievement award. She's been working for 25 years

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done an amazing job and I never want her to stop shopping at Hobby Lobby because I need her to continue to work for us. So with that, um, again, you've got a great group of individuals, a great team, um, and it was great to see the

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state recognize them for the great work that they do for our county residents. So that's my presentation pending your questions. All right. And then our next presentation is on the SNAP employment

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and training program. Uh the county uh has received a grant, a pilot grant. Um, and that is to help us uh expand our ability to help our clients who qualify for the food support, otherwise known as

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SNAP program. And uh, for that, I'm going to let Bryce And that's the clicker. Yeah, how do I click? >> Yeah. Right. All right. Hello. I'm Bryce Britain, economic assistance program manager uh, with Health and Human

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Services. I'm my presentation today is about our approved SNAP ENT funding we recently received. All right. Um what is SNAP ENT? Uh it's a voluntary workforce de development program connected to food support. It

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helps individuals uh gain work experience skills and move towards sustainable employment. At its core, the program is designed to reduce barriers uh to of to employment and increase self-sufficiency.

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SNAP ENT provides particip participants with job search support and career coaching, access to education and training programs, uh up to two-year programs. Um this is like a technical degree. Uh, with our program, you can't

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participate in an associates that builds up to a four-year degree. So, it's it's meant to be kind of short-term training. Um, paid or unpaid work experience opportunities. This isn't just a benefits program. It's a pathway to employment. Uh, it connects

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people to the necessary tools, enhances training, and provides the support they need to advance in the work workplace. pledge funding. Uh the fall of 2025, we uh applied for pledge funding through DCYF uh to increase supports to the SNAP

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program that we can offer our recipients. Uh March of 2026, we found out we were approved for an additional $183,000 in support of the program. What's important to know about uh the

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funding without a case load we can't tap into that funding. So first we need to build a case load of participants in order to utilize that funding. Uh the other important piece to this program um a limiting factor or a barrier for us is

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that it's a voluntary program. So we don't really can't require people to participate. SNAP overview um programs designed uh to assist particip participants in self-sufficiency through three main

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areas. Uh non-education, non-work supports. Um the examples of these are supervised uh job search uh workfare and job retention. Uh the second area is the education and training programs. A few examples of

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these are AB, GED, ESL. Um again those short-term trainings like that two-year degree and certificates. The third area is uh work experience placements. Uh a few of these examples are on the job training, supported work,

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and internships. And again, the idea is that 183,000 uh and funding will help our participants full advantage of the program. All right. General flow of our of our SNAP ENT cases. Once we get a referral,

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um, our workforce impact team will set up an overview, schedule an overview for our participants. They'll show up, um, give them a program overview of our responsibilities of the program. Um, we'll conduct an employability measure,

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uh, to identify barriers to employment. We'll take that information and, uh, draft an employment plan. Uh from there we'll move on to ongoing case management where we can do assessments. Um we'll check in weekly, see how

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they're doing, get updates, u verify log activities and uh check in on on how things are going. Uh to date we have 50 referrals in our in our snap ent. Um this the 7th of May we got 20

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registered. We conduct that session every the first and third Thursday of every month. Again, voluntary program. It's kind of the barrier to to to uh our case loads. All right. Local impact for both Tramy

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County. Um SNAP ET plays a crit critical role in strengthening both our workforce and our community. Supports local employers who are struggling to find reliable trained workers. helps cover additional cost burdens such as

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clothing, tools, um licensing fees, etc. Uh connects participants to local education and career pathways. We can make referrals to MI2, uh the Sanford Genesis program, etc. um why it matters to us. Reduces

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long-term reliance on public assistance, builds a stronger, more stable workforce, and keeps residents working and contributing locally. Obviously, it's very important to our community like ours. All right, community outreach. Some

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things that we've been doing, um, we've been actively working to increase awareness of the SNAP ent program through multiple outreach efforts. Our financial workers have scrubbed their case loads looking for eligible folks and making referrals to our workforce

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impact crew. Um, we've uh created an article and released that to the community. We have currently have a 3-week 302 advertising through Paul Bunny Broadcasting to talk

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about our program. Um, and lastly a 3-week run in the Bumiji Pioneer and by line something like this. So, all right. Any questions? I have one. Um, one thing that I hear

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um are people who've been convicted of crimes that have a lot of trouble finding work. Is that anything that that are in this type of program? Is that something that you have avenues to help? Yeah, we do have a believe it's a new leap program we can make referrals for.

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Um again, if they're on SNAP, we can get involved and make those referrals and do our best. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> All right. Property tax exemptions.

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Good evening, gentlemen. this this evening I'm just going to run through a few things with you regarding property tax exemption um first off we will start with the core principles property tax

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exemption uh taxation is a is not the default stat is the default status of a property um in Minnesota exemption is the exception and exemptions are strictly interpreted and not broadly applied meaning we we

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grant them based on the letter of the law. Um here there's there's a there's a test that we typically do for property tax exemption. Here's the main three tests that we we perform. We look at the

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ownership of the property. If the person or the entity that owns the property is is an exempt entity like government or nonprofit or religious, um how is the property being used? Is it being used for the exempt purposes and the

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necessity of ownership? So, is it necessary for the exempt entity to own that property in order for them to run the uh entity or the the uh organization? If any one of those three things is missing, then um it's likely that the

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property does not qualify for property tax exemption. >> Go ahead, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Caleb, I just I remember this is many years ago. All these things happen when you get so old.

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Um, but when Trek North remodeled and took over the what used to be the Naylor um appliance and Naylor electric building um out on Alan Drive. I remember that there was some confusion out there whether that was going to be

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taxexempt land or not because originally it was not because it was used as a business and then they and they had a maybe a lease I guess probably a lease arrangement I'm thinking they had with Trek North. Um, can we can you tell us how a situation like that works

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>> where it where it goes from taxed to taxable >> with the taxable business and then they closed up their business and then they leased their building out to Trek North. >> Sure. >> But they land was still owned by whoever owned the >> neighborhood.

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So >> yeah, whoever owned it, I guess. But yeah, but now all of a sudden it's a school. >> So did did Trek North own the building? I don't believe they did at that time. They were just leasing, right? >> Well, charters can only lease. They >> Okay, there you go. Okay. Yeah. >> So, in that case, who owns the property?

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I would ask would be the question that I would ask. And then what are they using the property for? And so, that would be that's how we would set the classification for that property. >> So, then that becomes tax exempt because it is now a school and not Is that correct?

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>> Right. Now that the school owns the property? >> Well, no. If they don't know, even if they don't own it, they if they're still leasing, but but the use of the property is now a school, charter school, would that make it tax exempt? >> As far as I know, is making money as a rental.

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>> Right. >> Right. >> So, that's where I guess that's where I'm that that's when you talk about the use of the property. That's where I get confused because it's been >> it's used for an exempt purpose. So, I >> it sure is, but the it's not owned by the exempt entity. >> Okay. So you have to start at number

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one. >> Start at number one. >> So if like I said, if one of these three tests does not pass, then it's likely going to be a taxable piece of property. So, if if it's not owned by uh an exempt

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entity, in this case, the land is owned and building is owned by someone who's leasing it to to the school, then um technically it's not being used for exempt purposes because the person that owns it is using it to

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make income. >> Gotcha. Okay. Just just want to clarify that. >> No, that's a good question. Thank you. Um just just just to uh I guess pulling from from statute and from our property tax administrators manual which is what we use to to administer the property tax

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laws. Um the applicant the applicant for any property that wants to become or any person entity that wants to become taxexempt they actually have the burden of proof on their on their side. Um and then as assessors, we're expected to be

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cautious and actually um not just grant exemptions easily because when in in granting a property tax exemption, it shifts the burden of the tax through the rest of oops, excuse me,

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to the rest of the county. Um just some common property tax exempt uh property tax types. And then here's some some information about filing. So on a property that's owned uh by an entity or a person who

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wants to become who wants to apply for property tax exemption, the application deadline is February 1st. So if they've owned that, if I purchased a property for my my organization, my nonprofit organization, and I want to apply, I need to apply. If I purchase that in

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November of 2025 and I want to apply uh for property tax exemption, I need to apply by February 1st um of the of the assessment year 2026. Caleb, is there any notices that go out to these that

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like if they currently have something, is there a notice that says your your time is up or is that just on them to to have to keep track of when their three years are up? Um, so the three years um that they must reapply, that is in

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statute and I do believe we send out a a notice, a letter letting them all know. Okay. >> Um, but to be honest with you, I would have to double check that in our calendar to make sure that that's what we're doing. Um, and then the assessor can request documentation to make sure that this

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property does actually qualifi qualify for property tax exemption. And some of the things I typically ask for are articles of incorporation, the bylaws of the organization, the form 990 um and which is in the their 501c3 letter. So

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there we go. And here's the statute. Um, so in in the case that I purchase a property in November of 2026 and I would like um to

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um establish property tax exemption for that property, um Minnesota statute says that property except property taxed as personal property under section 273.125

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um that is subject to tax on January 2nd is that is acquired before July 1st of the year is exempt um for that assessment year if the property is to be used for an exempt purpose under subdivision 2 through 8. Um that kind of

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gets to your question, John. Um if you if a propertyy's when your question about where that timeline is maybe a little bit um if a property is purchased after July 1st by an exempt entity um then the time for them to be exempt

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for the following year has has already come and passed for taxes payable the following year. So and then we treat exempt properties like any other property. Um,

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as far as valuation goes, valuation and classification, if it would be used likely be used for a commercial type of property, we would value it the same way that we value commercial type of properties. And if it be if it would be um makes the most sense to value it as a residential property, we would value it

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that same way. Even though they don't pay tax on it, it's still valued the same way we would. So, we have uniformity in our assessment. Um, and then we just we just um we listed on our assessment role as exempt as an

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exempt status. Is that clear as mud? Make sense? Any questions? >> Is there a difference between uh nonprofit and not forprofit? >> Um, that's a good question,

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Commissioner Winger. Um, I'm not sure that it matters for property tax exemption. >> Okay. >> Actually, I think I just off of the limited, you know, it it's probably best for me to do a little research on that before I would get back to you on that. >> Okay.

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>> Um, but the statute does say uh nonprofit to my knowledge. I do not remember seeing not forprofit in there. So >> that go back to the 501c. >> Yeah. Which is a nonprofit status,

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I believe. So >> can you go back to the slide that lists the three that they need to meet? >> Yep. >> To be exempt. Um >> because I'm pretty sure the United Way would qualify for each of these. Um but

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they're looking at a $15,000 tax bill apparently. Can you >> talk about that a little bit? >> Sure. Sure. So, United Way purchased their property that they're currently in. I believe they were leasing it previously. Um, but they purchased their

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property on August 1st of 2025. and that does not meet our deadline. Um, in statute here of if you look at it, it says that the last half of of that first

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sentence says the subject uh a property that is subject to tax on January 2nd that is acquired before July 1st of the assessment year can be exempt for the assessment year. So in 2025, we're

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working on the 2026 assessment for taxes payable in 2027. If they apply before July 1st of 2025, they would have been able to receive the the exemption for taxes payable in 2027.

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Um, but they didn't own the property on July 1st of 2025. So in that case, by statute, I can't grant the exemption. Um, so is there like a a variance or a

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waiver type of process where the county board could wave that $15,000 fee? Because >> I I'm not aware of any >> um you know, a lot of times the legislature will sometimes people miss a eligibility deadline for PAR benefits or

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pension benefits and the legislature can um you know grant an exemption um through the pensions committee. Is is there like a similar process where if a nonprofit misses a deadline, um the county board can still

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retroactively um dismiss a potential property tax bill. >> Um I might ask for Tom's help on this. I'm not aware of any policies. >> Yeah, thank you Caleb. Thank you for the question, Commissioner Gold. We're not either. So, um, this rose to the

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attention of both myself and Caleb, Representative Bidal Duran. Um, we weren't able to find a way that the county would be or have authorization to wave uh, this as much as we would like to. So, we petitioned um, the state

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legislature for the exemption that you're talking about. Um and that was not supported both um in part because we couldn't get support for it and that also it was retroactive and um neither on those fronts could we get traction for it. So there isn't a solution that

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we are able to find to resolve that particular concern and we're stuck with statute that enforces the um requirements under the law to the county. >> What if we just did it anyway?

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probably was legit >> that I don't know. We'd have to look into that. >> Could we be potentially in violation of the law and and a lawsuit could be brought up against the county board for the pre-tax bill? >> I would imagine that that would be a

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liability that would be uh possible. I do believe that that would open the door for others to potentially uh come to the board and argue that the board was arbitrary and capriccious capriccious in its decisionm along that front and open

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it up to further liability. Uh and then I don't know what the consequences on the state side would be. Um, so I think I don't see the county attorney here, but those are all great questions maybe for our county attorney to evaluate if that's something that uh you want to

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entertain as a board. >> What would you think about next legislative session introducing a bill to fix this situation? Uh, potentially I can see how we're running out of time this legislative session for such a thing, but maybe next year. I think next

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year is um I mean we can always put in for it, right? I mean there's no harm putting in for it. The the difference between this year and next year is yes, this year was compressed. Um next year we'll likely to have a whole group of new legislators based on the election.

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Uh that'll happen this fall. Um but admittedly when we when we were when this issue was brought to our attention it was pretty early in the session and uh Badal and I worked together to try to get something in along with our legislative uh lobbyist

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and we just we couldn't get anything in even though we had time before the committee deadlines. So so on that front I'm not sure how successful we'll be. However, um with a group of potentially new legislators in certain positions, uh there may be an opportunity to entertain

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it. And I don't I would think if that's something the board wants to do, there's no harm trying for it. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you for your time. >> Yeah. Thank you.

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Okay, back to 2026 midterm elections. That'll be Jody. Good afternoon, Jod Treat, Bel Tramy County Auditor Treasurer. Um, we are headed into election season.

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So, I'm here this afternoon just to give you a preview of what the next 6 to9 months looks like in our office and countywide. Um, our main attraction is the general election which is November 3rd. Leading

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up to that is the primary where we narrow down those candidates to get to the general election. Primary election then is on August 11th. So, just to review quickly the offices

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that are up for election this year. Uh, federal offices, we have one state senator seat and that's Tina Smith's seat that will be up for election. And in Belrammy County, our US representative is district 8 and that's

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Pete Stabber's seat. four state offices. We Bel Tramy County will be voting on state senator district 2 and also state representative district 2 A and 2B.

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So two the county is split with A and B. Um depending on where you live in the county, you will vote for 2 A or 2B. We'll also be voting governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state,

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state auditor, attorney general, and then the judicial offices. As far as county offices, we'll have county commissioner district 1 and district three of her election this year. Those will be four-year

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terms. We'll also have the county attorney, auditor, treasure, and the sheriff up for election and soil and water conservation district 1 and two. So, our candidate filing period, anyone

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that lives in Belrammy County that would like to file for any to be a candidate in any of those races can file at the Belrammy Auditor Treasures Office. So, that's our office just upstairs on the

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second floor. Candidate filing is open Tuesday, May 19th through Tuesday, June 2nd. Um, regular business hours 8 to 4:30. Of course, we're closed Memorial Day, so

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that that will be taken into account there closed on May 25th. To file for office, you just need to either fill out at the office or bring in a notorized affidavit of candidacy.

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Um, and then the fee that goes along with the specific office that you're filing for and the those fees do vary per office. Those >> Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. U, so Jody, just a

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clarification for anybody that's interested in filing. You talked about a notorized application. Is that something that they can get notorized here or or do they have to go somewhere and get that? And can you explain that just for anybody that's interested in running for something? I

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>> sure either either one will work. Those affidavit of candidacy can be found online um just through the county website, secretary of state's website or if they want to come into our office, we

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have them available there. They uh the Secretary of State has changed the affidavit of candidacies a little this year to be specific for each certain type of office. So if you want to come in and you're running for county

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commissioner, we would give you an affidavit for county offices. We you would fill it out there. We would notoriize it for you. We have a couple different notaries in the office. we could notoriize your signature. Um, you

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pay the fee and file and be on your way. Yep. So, for our primary election, our primary election is August 11th. We've had some law changes the last couple of legislative sessions that will be taking

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effect this year. The biggest of those is a clear distinction between absentee voting and early voting. You'll know in the past other states have had early voting and we were always still calling it absentee. The um Secretary of State's

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software now has the ability for us to run early voting and so we will be doing that um honoring that distinction. So our absentee process is June 26 through 23rd.

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So approximately a month we are we will be processing absentee voters. And that is a process similar that has always happened in the past. The voter fills out an application. is issued a ballot.

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That yellow secrecy envelope, the signature envelope that they have someone witness. Um those those are then returned to our office, put in the secrecy envelope, put in the

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signature envelope, dropped off either at our office or voted and handed into our office. Those envelopes then go through a ballot board process. So, we have two election judges accept and reject all of those ballots based on

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information that's on that envelope on the signature portion of that envelope. So, with the law changes this year, starting July 24th through August 10th, we will have what's considered early voting.

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This early voting process is meant to mimic the election day experience. So, it's all in person. You'd walk into our office upstairs. We will have a poll pad for the voter to sign in on. Um,

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they will be issued a ballot at our counter, can go back into our voting room, vote the ballot. When they come out, that ballot can be put directly into a tabulator. that tabulator then accepts that ballot.

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So there is no accepting and rejecting from a ballot board. As soon as that ballot is voted and put into the tabulator, that tabulator accepts the ballot. There's an error on the ballot, it will kick the ballot back out and

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say, "There's this sort of error on this ballot. Would you like to correct your error?" That voter then has the opportunity to hand that ballot in. We spoil the ballot and issue them a new ballot that they can vote. So they know

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the voter knows when they leave that day whether their ballot has been accepted or rejected or they know that it has been accepted. Now, those results won't be >> those results are not not tallied, not

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tabulated, not not given out or not even looked at until um we can start processing absentee ballots or start processing ballots. Correct. >> Yep.

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Um we are open the Saturday prior to the election for early voting. So early voting upstairs auditor's office from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. um on that Saturday before the election. Then some smaller townships within

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Belrammy County have voted to become mail ballot precincts. Our mail ballot estimated mailing date is the week of July 6th through July 10th. In Belrammy County, we outsource that

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mailing. So, our or outsource company, that's the estimated mailing date that they will mail a ballot to all registered voters in those precincts. The auditor treasures office is also the

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poll site for all mail ballot precincts. So, if someone moves into a mail ballot precinct and needs to register and vote, they can come up to our office, register, we can issue them a ballot upstairs, they can vote their ballot and

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be on their way. Or if for some reason it doesn't come in the mail, they can come into the office and say, "We didn't get our ballot." Um, we will then spoil the ballot that was mailed to them in the system system and issue them another

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ballot. Move back one here. And then of course, primary election day is Tuesday, August 11th. So all of these opportunities to vote then lead lead up to Tuesday at the 11th where any

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election night precinct will be holding elections at their poll sites. So for the general election, we finish up the primary. The um top candidates from the primary move on to the the general ballot.

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We finish up the primary election night. We proof the results. We canvas the results. Um, and then we move right into ballot development and machine programming for the general election.

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Again, kind of the same timeline. Absentee voting is about that month between the middle of September to the middle of October. Early voting. Again, we're mimicking the election day experience and voters have the

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opportunity to walk into the office October 16th through November 2nd and that's the 18 days prior to the election. Um, legislature added three additional early voting days to be open.

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So, we're open the Saturday and Sunday prior to the election, October 31st and November 1st. And we're also open two Saturdays prior to the election in October um 24th. So, any voter has the

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opportunity to come in and early vote in our office on any of those days. Again, we have an estimated mailing date for those mail ballot precincts of September 28th through October 2nd.

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And then on nove Tuesday, November 3rd, the general election where all of the election night poll sites will be open. Um all of those poll sites then bring their results in here on election night. We tally those results, upload them to

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the state, and then the next day starts our proofing process to get um ready for canvasing. You as commissioners would canvas the results. Two commissioners canvas the

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results. Um we then do an uh it's it's called in the public an audit. It's a post-election review where where we handc count selected precincts to make sure the results that the machine

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reported do tie out with with what actually are on the ballots. So, we actually handc count the ballots of a couple of selected precincts. After that, we give voter credit to anyone that voted and our election then

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election season wraps up mid to the end of December. And then so any citizens that would have questions, if commissioners have questions, um either reach out to myself,

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uh the auditor treasurer, or Edie Franen, our election specialist. Both Edie and I spent uh some time the end of April at the state's election certification conference. So we are all

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schooled on the new laws and ready to hit the ground running. So if anyone has any questions can either contact Edie or myself and then if you have any questions I can answer those as well today. Um, can you talk about the board one

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polling location change and the uh um I know the student senate voted last week at their meeting to have a location on campus as well um because they are moving it off of campus to another place and um I don't I don't know if you've

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been notified of that or not. It was just last week. >> Sure. I have not been notified of that. that would be considered a popup location similar to the popup locations that we did at Red Lake Nation and Leech Lake at

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the last election. So, it would be um a popup location on campus. They put that notification or put that request into my office. I would work with them on timing, location, that sort of thing of what we would do

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for that popup location. For tribal reservations, that can be for the primary and the general. For colleges, it's just for the general because of course in August, um students aren't in college, they're not at the campus. So,

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they reserve that for the general election. The whole site that was at the Indian Resource Center on campus has been moved to the building by Slumberland which is

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so it is if they were in Ward one it's as you're going by Slumberland the building with the mural on it will be the new polling location. The city of Bumiji set that location prior to the end of the year last year and all voters

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in Ward One when that when that change was made in the state system would have received a little card, it's called a PVC card in the mail that notified them of that change of polling location.

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Very good. >> All right. Thank you. >> 2627 Mississippi Headwater Watershed. >> Good afternoon. Um I am here uh we've got a work session agenda item. Um just give you some information and background on the Mississippi headarters one waters

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one plan. And then on the consent agenda, there's a a budget and a work plan for the 2627 um grant application that we just applied for. Um just a kind of a highlight, the the plan is is a 10-year plan. This year is the midpoint of that

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plan. We are um expecting that Bowser is going to be coming and reviewing progress towards um goals established in that plan. And uh there may be a plan revision or there may not be depending on what's found at the midpoint review, but um we're kind of nearing halfway

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through that that 10-year plan. So um this particular grant will be the third one that we've received. Um in the plan it there there's just a list of the the issues that are priorities and identified in the plan. Um some are higher priority, some are lower priority, but but those are all the main

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issues there. Um, here's some just some photos of examples of projects that would fall under some of those priorities. So, lake stewardship, people ask, well, what does lake stewardship mean? Well, it means a bunch of different things, but the most common and easy one to say is shoreline

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restoration projects. Um, that's a pretty simple, easy one to to grab on to and show pictures of. Um, agricultural stewardship. There's a picture there of um there's they're loading seed into a no till drill. They're doing some no

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till work with land owners who were previously doing standard tillillage. And then the picture on the right is actually um I I think that's of our experimental one we did. There was a gentleman who wanted to um play around with doing like wider corn rows and

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doing a cover crop underneath so that he could harvest the corn and then graze cattle on it after the corn was harvested and have a have a standing crop there grazed further into the winter. um if that's the field I think it was it was it was highly successful. So that's something that we'll probably see a little bit more of in the future.

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Um, I skipped one. The urban stewardship. Um, the two big ones are storm water BMPs like the BSU storm water project you see on the left. And then, um, we've been doing a lot of work in this watershed with counties and townships and cities and private people

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about doing low salt workshops and trying to reduce salt usage um, education for people to do better management. Um, getting into kind of the the draft budget. Um the back up and say the the

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budget that was um that's brought to you but today is is developed at the very beginning by staff on a steering team amongst all the five different counties and five SWBCDs and the Leech Lake band. And then from there it's taken to the policy committee. The policy committee

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is made up of one elected official from each county and from each soil and water conservation district. Craig Gazwig is our chair of our policy committee. Um and so the the policy committee were were presented with this budget and um I don't think they made any changes

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to the proposed budget and they they adopted that and recommending approval for this budget. So um kind of a step back there, but the the budget is kept as simple as we can. So it's three pots of money in this budget. One is for

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staff, one is for projects, and the other is admin. Um, I'll show you a little bit more what that really means, but the reason it's kept so simple is because we're not, we haven't created a joint powers entity. So, each individual board retains its own autonomy to

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approve, deny budgets, things like that. So, the policy committee doesn't really have legal authority to approve a budget. We rely on all 10 boards approving a budget. And if you can imagine a scenario where somebody's trying to manage a grant with a bunch all these different partners and it's a

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three-year grant where two years into it things change, projects change, some projects fall through, other projects pop up and and things change and you want to be flexible and and tackle those projects. We don't want to have to go back to 10 boards to revise the budget any more than we absolutely have to. So

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that's why it's kept in this this big big pot here. um we can move dollars around, but we're limited in the amount of dollars we can move around between pots. Um so that's why it's it's done like that. Um this is an example of in

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the in the work plan. Um I think I I attached the the document with the bud or with the agenda item that has the actual work plan in there. This is just one lake stewardship one just showing an example like there are there are two goals under lake stewardship. One is to

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improve lakeshore habitat on tier one and TMDLs. Um and then the other one is to reduce phosphorus in the tier one lakes. And then 2627 outcomes. Those are identified um projects that were that we are hopeful that will get accomplished

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during the 2627 grant with this funding. Um, and that's based on all of the five SWCDs and five counties bringing their potential projects to the group saying, "We think we can do these projects in this time frame and get this done." Um,

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here's kind of a little bit further breakdown of the dollars and how it plays out. Um, on the left you'll see kind of those the staff time, projects and programs, and admin. It's further broken down a little bit into there's project development dollars and technical assistance and engineering

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dollars. And then on the right hand side um shows how it's broken out by county and and it's a it's a soft budget by county. So, the steering team, so like we've had this happen in the past where um Hubard County has a a project that

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popped up that they're looking for additional engineering dollars and Itasa County hasn't spent all theirs yet and they talked to the group and Itaska says, "Yes, use some of ours on your project. That's a good idea. That's a good project. Let's move forward with that." So, the group is pretty flexible working together, but we we do this to

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guarantee people that they have this their budget unless we all agree that it changes. Um, and then these are the project dollars. So, these are the the projects that were brought forward um during this round. And as you'll see, the the far

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right column is new projects that we're actually going to be probably paying for out of the 2024 grant that's still in effect right now and it likely will be extended one more year. Um couple of things I'll try and highlight out is um in the Bel Tramy County section at the

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top you'll see brining equipment Lake Bamiji storm water one lake Bamiji storm water 2 and vacra and those projects are all partnerships with our county highway department. Um one is outfitting a um one of their one

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of their big trucks with a liquid brine tank so they can go out and do some pre-application before snowstorms. um they're not able to do that right now. So, this would be retrofitting an existing truck with with all of the um the new equipment to do um a pre-application before a storm happens.

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And then the VAC trailer is something that, you know, as we work with smaller towns, townships, and the city of Bumiji and Belrammy County on some of these storm water projects, um there's maintenance that's required with a lot of these storm water projects. And right

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now, uh, the city of Bamiji bought a vac trailer, vac truck. Um, smaller towns, Black Duck, Kellier, Sway, Walt, Wilton, none of those own vac trailers or vac trucks. So, in order to help install BMPPS that we know are going to need to be

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maintained, they're going to have to hire like Vit to come at 600 bucks an hour from the time they leave their shop in the north metro to come and vacuum out one of these facilities. So, uh the the idea, the brainchild was that we would work with the county highway

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department to purchase a vac trailer. the county highway department would own it and then Turtle River or Northern Township or BSU or whoever needs a vac done that that trailer would be available for rent for use for our storm

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water maintenance and management in this area and and also for the the county projects that we're working on building with them. So, it's kind of a cool partnership. Um the other thing on this that I'll point out is um you'll see Bel Tramy and Itasa are probably taking up

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the biggest parts of this list and it it's logical because Bel Tramy and Itaska have the most percentage of area in this wershed. Um that's where most of the projects are. It's where most of the people are in this wershed. So um yeah

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and that's all I put together for you. if you have any questions or would like any other additional information, but just try to give you kind of a highlight reminder of what this is all about. So, >> thank you. >> Thanks. >> Administrator's update.

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>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, just keep it kind of brief this afternoon, commissioners. Uh, we'll start with the jail project update. Uh want to let you know that the masons continue their work uh to lay block walls in area C, the interior kitchen walls, and above the day room frames in area B. Electrical

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continues its work as well along with the mason setting boxes in these new walls. And uh they've also been pulling wire in multiple spaces throughout the building. Uh the mechanical team is working on piping, plumbing, duck work, pretty much everything, insulation and such in preparation from some for some

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of the hard lid, ceiling, uh installation, framing that's going to be happening in many locations throughout the secured area of the facility. Uh also, our cell installers uh from all phase are back here uh this week and they're working on detention door frames

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as well as um the pre-cast openings and the day room frames in the housing areas. uh communications contractor has been uh pulling data cabling throughout the entire facility uh but focused most recently in the admin space in area C uh getting ahead of the ceiling grid

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installers uh which are just beginning here as well. Uh they're staking for light poles and curb and gutter and those sorts of things on the exterior of the building on the north side uh so they can start the exterior site work and uh hopefully rough grading in the

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next couple of weeks. Um and then the fire and smoke walls throughout the facility are being identified with stent stencled signage. So we'd be able to identify those once the ceiling uh after the ceilings go in as well. A mount manpower continues to be around 90 people uh which has been pretty

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consistent for the last u several months for that matter. Uh so that's what's going on in the jail right now. Uh just brief brief update on Cass 20. This is Birchmont Beach Road. We continue to meet with the township and uh been working out a the development of a home

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hold harmless agreement which would essentially uh ensure that the county won't be responsible for any potential delays of the county roadway project that occur after December 31st of 2026. Of course, we're trying to work cooperatively to to get this thing bid

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and and under contract before then, but in the event that doesn't happen, uh we wanted to just make sure that we had our ducks in a row and that both entities kind of had a understanding of what was going to occur going forward. Um so, I hope that uh we'll bring something on

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that front to you maybe by the next meeting or so, but been trying to keep you updated as to the work that's going on behind the scenes around that project. Uh next I'll just update you on the legislative uh process. Uh the legislature as you might know must adjourn by May 18th. And as this date

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quickly approaches um activity at the capital has been noticeably intensified. So there's just a lot of things going on. Um you can see long hours on the floor sessions um both in the House side and the Senate side as well. Um it is still too early although things are

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starting to show um in regard to omnibus bills as in regards to like what's being included and what's not. We we don't know very well what our what the state of our bills are except for maybe just a few. One example is uh house file 4421.

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This was the economic disadvantage carveout uh legislation that we were looking for some relief from the state based on cost shifts that was unfortunately not supported in the omnibus bill. Uh so Ann Lin Seth and I submitted a joint letter today to the

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house ways and means committee uh which is going to be uh hearing the house human services omnibus omnibus finance bill which is known as house file 4338. Uh and then uh we're petitioning them to include that as part of the omnibus

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bill. I'm not optimistic that will happen, but you know, we're doing all that we can. Uh the impact of that bill alone on the county is roughly about $1.2 million. Uh it's huge for us. So um so that'll be pretty disappointing if uh that doesn't happen, but again, you

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know, we're doing the best we can. Um, lastly, I just let you know that I did attend the BSU community announcement and celebration last week where the university did receive its largest donation to date uh in its history, $8 million, which is pretty phenomenal. Uh,

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that money will go to help several colleges including the entrepreneurialship uh, business and arts uh, colleges. So, that was pretty exciting uh, to be a part of that. That's what I have for you today, but I'll stand for any questions you might have.

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Okay, thanks Sean. Thank you. Okay, anything on the agenda that be shifted or >> Good. Okay. All right. Let's take a quick break. We're going to adjourn.

Part: 2

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meeting to order. Rise for the pledge. Pledge algiance to the 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.

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Okay. No general comments. Go to uh anyone wishing to address the county board on an item not on the agenda may come forward at this time be recognized by the board chair. Please state your name and address for the record.

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Comments are limited to 5 minutes. A personal complaint against an individual county employee may not be heard uh initially at a board meeting. Personnel complaints may be submitted to the board in writing through the county administrator's office. A person addressing the board may not use

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profanity or vulgar language. Have anybody online? And nobody here. Okay, we'll move forward looking for somebody to approve the agenda. >> Mr. Chair, I would move that we adopt the agenda as presented.

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>> Okay. Second. >> Second. >> In favor? I >> The motion carries. Now we need approval of the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chair, will I fix my microphone?

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>> I would make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. Okay. Any discussion? Okay, we're good. Uh, all in favor? >> I

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carries. Okay. The regular agenda public hearing. Do we have to do anything other than go off of this one? We have to close this one temporarily. >> No. Okay. All right.

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Okay. Okay. I have a I need a request to a motion to open a public hearing. >> So moved. Second. >> All right. Uh all in favor? >> I >> I >> I motion carried. Opening hearing with

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staff comments or presenter Shane. >> Good evening. Commissioners, I'm Shane Foley, director of the natural resources management department. Um Diane, do you have a PowerPoint? Oh, good. Perfect. Yeah. So, I regularly get

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approached about purchasing land or land trans or land swaps and very rarely do they make any sense and they're, you know, right off the bat, we know they're not going to work out. Um, but this is one that was very intriguing that was

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presented to me several months ago. Um, I thought it was a great idea. So, I talked with my foresters um that knew the specific land pieces. Um, they were in agreement that they thought it was a really good idea, too. Um, then I brought it before the land

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review committee. Um, described it there. Land review committee also was in favor of it. And so just kind of setting the stage, I'm just going to briefly explain where the parcels are and why I think this is a good idea for the county. Okay. So, the two parcels that are being

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proposed for an exchange, the parcel that we currently um administer is up in Alaska Township. So, it's the red square up in the northwest corner of the of the part of the county

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I'm showing. And then in the southwest corner of the county, right on the county line, is the property that is being proposed to be exchanged to us. It's currently privately held. So, these two parcels, the privately

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held parcel is in Jones Township. It's three three parcels, but it adds up to about 130 acres. Um, currently this land blocks access to, as

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you'll see in the next slide, about 330 acres of um, tax forfeited land that we also administer. Um, and so this parcel, not only is it have some timber value on it currently, is also good productive

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pine ground that we can plant and utilize for a long time. It also provides access to these other landlock parcels that currently have a pretty high investment of pine on them as well. And luckily, this was pine that didn't blow down during the windstorm, too. So,

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it's kind of a remnant um older pine stand that we now can get into really easily. The state and trust parcel that we um that we own um is made up of a few different parcels and they would actually have to be split to make this 160.

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So, the landowner who owns the parcel and this the private parcel, their family owns several parcels adjacent to these ones. And so to develop what I'm guessing is their hunting camp. This 160

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ties in with theirs very well. Um it's beautiful ground. It that the stuff up in Alaska Township. Both of them are really pretty parcels. I've been on both now. Um it's nice and rolly. It's land that

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would be desirable for people to own. Certainly. The reason that it's not too stressful for us to get rid of it is that it's mainly maple, some oak, basswood forests, and those are our lowest value tree species that that we

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manage. And so although it's good for recreation and for um value as far as aesthetics, it just doesn't have the same timber value that the parcel in the south has potential for. So just from a

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financial standpoint, it makes sense for us. But then when you add on top of that that we gain access to 330 acres that we currently don't have good access to or really any access, um to me it's kind of a no-brainer. Um the private parcel, I talked with

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Caleb and he said the the value of that parcel is um $321,500, about 24 or $2,500 an acre. The parcel further up north is about $2,100 an acre

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for a total of $336,000. Um, land exchanges have to be equal in value. And so the land owner um has agreed to pay us the additional 14 roughly $14,000

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um in addition to doing the swab to make the trade even. Um, we have to have an assessment of the timber value as well when we do the land swap and when we send that to the land exchange board. There's more timber value on the Jones

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Township parcel right now than there is on the Alaska Township parcel. So, that we're coming ahead on too. >> Does that come into play with that value then? >> It doesn't. it it needs to be accounted for um that it was thought through but

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because it's in our advantage then we don't need to do anything else for that. So um >> so does that value of the land at Jones Township get deducted from the difference that the land owner would pay

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to get the swap >> one more time. >> So it looks like the Jones Township is currently owned privately. Yep. >> It's a higher timber value. >> Yeah. >> But we we can't assess the timber value.

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So when that's done separately, is that subtracted from the difference that the landowner has to pay between the two parcels? >> We've agreed tenatively. Obviously, you guys make the decision, but they're okay

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not dealing with the timber value and just saying this is in their best interest, too. That's why these are so rare that they work out. This guy is awesome to work with. I mean, he understands that we need to we need to protect the public interest

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and he's willing to make that work and so it's really good. So, um, here's a a little diagram that shows, so in blue, that's the parcel that we would be trading for, and all the stuff shaded in red is all stuff we

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currently don't have access to. The state of Minnesota does have access all the way to the Sand Hill Road. Um, so technically there's public access all the way, but because of the river and there's a big bluff um, in the only

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corner that touches, there is no access for any timber use. I mean, you could walk up the bluff, but you could never harvest timber or get any equipment in there. So, this really preserves our interest in the timber. And on top of that, that the parcel that's just south

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of Moose Lake that has all that shoreline on it. Right now the public there's a little camping site back there. I don't know how they get back there. It's not there's no legal access for the public to be back there. But now all of that would be opened up as well that not only for the recreational

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benefit along Moose Lake but also for potential sale of property in the future to have access to Lakeshore is pretty valuable. So >> and this would be county land then not >> it would be state and trust land. it

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would be uh because that's what we're swapping it for. So, it would stay in the crust and be managed accordingly to that. So, >> do you anticipate uh going in there to harvest uh next year or so? Or >> um in the parcel that we're trading for

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itself, um there is some thinning that has to be done for the pine um because it hasn't been managed in a little while. So, there will be some immediate revenue off of that. As far as the the landlock stuff, I don't know on that if there's anything that's ready in the

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next year or two there. Um I just know that they're managed pine plantations because we have been able to gain access through private land owners from the south historically to get in there and access. But yeah, so

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so for this the first part of the process was um to have this public hearing in case there was any comments that needed to be heard about it or any objections by the public. Um the next step will be um well there's a

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resolution coming up in my next thing, but eventually this will have to get sent to the land exchange board if you if you all are in favor of it. And so that's the board down in Minneapolis, the governor, the state auditor, the Keith Ellison

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attorney general. Um they all sit on that land exchange board and they are the ones that would have to vote on it to finally approve it since it is state and trust land. Um but if you all are okay with it in the future, there's a couple resolutions that'll have to come before the board. I would probably just

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put those on consent since we've discussed it. Um, but if there's any in the future if there's any apprehension about doing the swap or anything, feel free of course to pull them. We can talk about them more. But I think that's all I have unless you guys have any

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questions on it. So >> none. Thank you. >> Okay. We didn't have anybody online that was there for Okay. Uh,

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need a motion to you. You guys didn't have any other comments or anything about any. All right. I request a motion to close the public hearing. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I.

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>> Okay. Debate the issue. And nothing to concern not a lot to debate. I think Shane did a great job explaining it. So yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. >> On the >> discussion.

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>> No. Make a motion to take action. Do we have to move to accept the >> Oh, we would have to, wouldn't we, >> after the hearing is done? >> Not this time. >> Okay. We don't have to do any action. >> Okay. No respiration.

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>> Okay, we're good then. >> Later. >> All right, that one's closed. We'll move on to classification and review of tax forfeited parcels. Yeah. So, hello again. Um, believe there's a real short

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PowerPoint on this, too. Um, I've come before you guys a few times with this class classification request. All tax forfeited land has to be um once it goes tax forfeited, it has to be classified as either conservation land or non-conservation land. Um conservation

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land is land that's expected to be held in the trust for a long time to be managed for timber production and other recreational uses. Non-conservation land, we have then the flexibility to sell that or to do some other things

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with it. Basically, all of our land is classified as conservation land until I come to you guys and ask for it to be classified as non-conservation. As a quick refresher,

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um the guidelines and statute to consider when deciding the conservation status are things like transportation, roads, drainage, um what does it do to help with government expenditures? Can we make

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land management more efficient? Um, what does it do with conserving natural resources? And then fostering agriculture is something that the state tries to do. That's not as not as common of an issue for us, but some of those other things are what we look at. But I

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only have two parcels here. The first one is the parcel we just talked about that we currently own for this land swap. In order for the land swap, the next step is to classify that land as non-conservation so that we have the ability to trade it. Um once it would be

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cons classified as non-conservation, then I can submit it to the DNR for review for the land swap as well. So there's a resolution um that highlights both of those things in the packet that after this I would ask that you would approve that resolution. Um so that

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one's a little pretty straightforward. Um the new one is the city of Bumiji. Um well in the city of Bumiji we have this crazy parcel. It's 8 acres in size and as you can see all the outlines in green

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all these road rightways are all one big parcel. That building in the middle is the Nimore Arena. I have no idea how this ever happened, why it's like this. Um, but I talked to the city and said, you know, all of your

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sewer infrastructure, all of your roads, all of the rightaway stuff is all in this parcel. It seems to make a lot more sense that the city would have that parcel, but this was brought about because um I don't know, do I have a pointer? If

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so, right to the east of the Nimmore Arena, you see a little tiny building. um that's in that road rightway. Well, that's a building that's been there for quite some time. The lady just

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to the east in parcel 327 owns that structure. They approached me to see if they could buy that piece of road right away from us. And to me, I think we have no use for that. So, I would be in favor of

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this is down the road, more decisions that have to be made, but the long-term plan of this is to break off the little parcel um that would adjoin to her parcel, sell that parcel as an adjoining land owner. It would clear up that

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encroachment. When you move further north in there, the sewer infrastructure starts and runs under the driveway to the north. So, the city wants to keep that parcel or that part of the parcel or they would like to

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acquire that part of the parcel. So, the only things that would be split off of this parcel are the little finger that has the encroachment on it and then all the way in the north, the big swamp that's right across the road from the Sanford Center, that's parcel 298.

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Um, we would split that one off as well. Not with any specific purpose at this point. Um, except that it's just a contiguous piece of land that if something comes up in the future, we would deal with that. But so all of that

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sets the stage for I need approval for the resolution to classify this as non-conservation, send it off to the DNR to get their approval to sell or to um give portions of it to the city. It

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clears up a big mess in our mapping. It takes off the liability of all the roadways for the county um and clears up an encroachment. So, so I would ask that you approve that resolution. >> Are there any questions? >> Super confusing.

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>> I I have I have one uh not so much on the Biji one, but your the land trade you were saying is 160 acres and this says 240. What the >> the reason >> is that just to square it off or what?

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>> Yeah. So, um the the square in the middle is what they're looking for. >> Yeah. But there's two 80s in the northeast and in the southwest. There's two 80s. So there's a 40 on both sides >> that would get split off. >> In order to do that, it has to be

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approved by the DNR. So the whole thing has to get sent over. And then those 240s, we could reclassify them as conservation or just leave them as non-conservation, but those would remain in the trust. >> Okay.

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>> Yes. So Shane, if if if this all works out and the land committee, the St. Paul, they approve all of this those 40s, then we wouldn't have to reclassify as conservation. Is that correct? We then

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that we would be free to sell those. Is that correct? If if they were desirable or not desirable and whatever, right? Is that it that makes it more sellable than not? >> Oh, yeah. they would be immediately sailable after this decision would be made. >> Okay.

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>> One more time on the uh city of Baiji one on the north end the north end the 298 is that uh city or county right now >> it's count it's state and trust. >> Oh it's state and trust. >> Yep. >> Okay. Yeah.

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Um, I've driven past it a million times, but what do you foresee? Is that developable at all or? >> It's not >> pretty low. >> Um, the reason that

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I just didn't want to deal with it beyond what I am right now is because there's a note in the online mapping that says to hold on to that parcel. So, at some point, someone that I don't know um whoever said why or what we're

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holding that on to for or holding that on for. Um >> but this this frees us up to do whatever we want with it. If >> if we decide later that it's a sediment basin that makes sense for the city to have, we can do that. If there's a

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portion of it that maybe that can be developed a little bit, we could do that. Um, it's at least 90% wetland though. Yeah. So, >> okay. >> Yeah, that's all. >> Thank you all.

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>> That's it. Thank you. >> All right. Commissioner reports. >> Well, >> did we have to >> Yeah, there's a resolution. Uh >> oh, we had the resolution. Oh, I didn't see it. >> So, Mr. Chair, I don't have unfortunately my computer in front of

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me. It's upstairs being worked on, but um I'm sure there's If you could Diane, if you could get to that. Um, >> must not have gone down quite far enough. There it is. I got it. >> So, I would make the motion that we um

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approve the classification um of those parcels from conservational to non-conservation. That what we needed >> correctly. Yep. Okay. So, we have a motion

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a second. >> Yeah, I seconded it. >> We did. >> We have a motion in a second. >> Oh, I didn't hear it. >> Yeah. No, we had a motion in a second. >> Oh, okay. All right. Any discussion then? No. Okay. All in favor? I opposed.

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Okay, it carries. Now we can go on to John. You want to start? >> No, I need a moment of >> Yeah. >> pretty light on this me uh committee

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meeting front lately. I think the last one I had was a um Northwest Juvenile Center board officers meeting. Um director evaluation is coming up for uh Mindy there, the executive director.

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Um and so we'll be working more on that at our next meeting. And the only other thing I wanted to mention uh um yesterday there was a wonderful event held at uh Baiji State

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um entitled replanting our roots and uh BSU lost about 200 trees in the storm last June. And this event yesterday was uh meant to engage donors. There was uh several donors and volunteers that uh um

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all morning uh planted 80 trees on campus uh mostly along Birchmont um but also in the uh uh dorm area by Oakall and and uh um really all over campus and and it was a u feel-good uh event. Uh a

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lot of pictures, a lot of joyous moments. uh people were able to uh make a donation to BSU alumni and foundation and in honor of a loved one um um and you get a little plaque uh with your

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tree. And so we we made a uh my wife and I made a donation uh in honor of uh Jim and Lorraine Cecil um who have both um passed away now and they were both professors at BSU and and uh so we um uh they planted a um a tree yesterday and

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their honor right outside the AC Clark Library. Um so it it was a it was a good event. So, um, engage the community and donors and volunteers and so, um, still got a long ways to go with what we lost, but, uh,

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we're we're on our way now on campus. So, that's kind of all, Mr. Chair. So, thank you. >> Sounds good. Thank you, >> Commissioner Carlson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, uh, Commissioner Gold. Um, having known Lorraine, I think she's really gonna

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appreciate that. So, thank you for doing that. Um, I was uh sorry I was absent at the last meeting. That was the day of my surgery for my brand new shoulder. Um, thankful for Sanford Health and

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all the good, excuse me, for all the good uh doctors that we have here in town. I didn't have to go out of town for that. And got a brand new shoulder in town. Thank you, Dr. Wells. And, uh, my PT people are saying I'm ahead of schedule, so we're in good shape. Uh, I was able that Thursday already to uh

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attend the union negotiation um with Commissioner Barry and um Sherry and Jordan. Um, and that went well. Um, I think for the most part um

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that more to come at it later, I guess. I don't know where we're I think that's headed for Not sure where that's headed. I think it went okay though. I don't know if Tom wants to re talk about that or not, but uh the other item would be uh we had

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jail um design operation meeting on Tuesday and um I was able to attend the first half of the rural Minnesota counties on Monday. Then I had to leave for a funeral, but at least there's some information about Joe. Do you remember

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what they were uh the the deed thing that we that we need to take some action on that MRC was talking about? Um >> I need to I need to go back and look at that um and see if there was anything that we needed to do with regard to

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Belrammy County was included. There were some counties out in our area that were not included um in some grant opportunities for some economic development um >> economic development zones or

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>> Yeah. Yeah. >> kind of like the old job Z program. >> Yeah. Something like that. I just wanted to make sure we revisited and if there's anything to take advantage of there was the only thing that was like the whole first half hour and then I had to leave. So, I don't know what happened after that, but um that was on Monday. Um

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>> optimistic of a bonding bill. >> Yeah. Yep. Um and I didn't even look like the numbers were that far off between the Senate, the House, and the governor. So, it looks like you're probably going to be somewhere around a billion. >> Yeah. >> Um so, I'm not sure what we have for

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projects in there. Um we had back Laura the Belmy County Lakes and River Association meeting. um kind of got postponed last night because we didn't have a quorum. Our chair wasn't able to attend and uh

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our vice chair tried to run the meeting and he did a good job but there was not he was the only one there beside I was there and our our county staff was there but I don't count as a member. Um I'm only there as a I don't know whatever we are when we go to commissioners on some

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of these we're not members. Um so that was unfortunate. Um, and then next Monday I go to St. Cloud for Magic Fund meeting, right? >> Be in Alexandria Thursday, >> right? I'll be in Alexandria this

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Thursday for five minutes. >> And Jim's retired. >> Jim's retired. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, I had the Prime Health Board meeting. >> Yeah. a lot of numbers and things crunching

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there. Uh we're one of the big the big numbers they have. We're probably the largest group I think so as far as the county goes. So um then we had an extension meeting. Uh

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there's they're having some printer issues, but other than that, things are going well there. um kind of starting to gear up for what's all happening this summer. Um one thing they did send out um so

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anybody who didn't see one and would like to uh if you want to do an award for the 4 stuff, it's $25 and then whatever name you want will go on uh one

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of the awards. So, anybody listening or anybody here that hasn't done that and would like to, they would really appreciate it. Uh, the more of the $25 ones they can get, the more award they can give the kids. So, that's all I got.

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Anything from anybody? No. Motion to adjurnn. So, moved. Second. >> We're done. Thank you.