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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Hst4XR_LpUY

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order. Uh, introduction of new employees. We want to do Shane first. >> Yeah. >> Shane, you want to do yours? Hello board. Um Shane Foley, director of the natural resources management uh department and

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we're we were lucky enough to find a good forester to replace um Corey Campbell moved over to the DNR. Um, but Brandon Schultz is going to be our new district one forester, which is the southwest corner of the county, which as

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history um taught us is the most windstorm damaged area. So, he's going to have a lot of tree planting over the next few years to manage um and kind of looking for wood that's left there. So, Brandon and his wife live over by Walker

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right now, but are looking for a house in the area. So, if you know of any good deals, pass them on. Do you have any questions for Brandon? >> Where's Brandon? >> Southern Minnesota. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We've been coming up to Leech Lake

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for about 30 years. Dad's uncle owned a resort on Leech and so he retired up here as a mechanic and built his dream house. >> Well, thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you, gentlemen. >> Jason

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Good afternoon, Commissioner. Sheriff Jason Riggs. We just hired uh this young man here. I'll let him introduce himself. >> Hi. Uh my name is Jacob Dubois. Uh grew up in the metro area. Moved up here about a month ago after graduating

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school. And I'm excited to get started. >> And we are going to be swearing him in today if that's okay. >> Absolutely. Okay. Do you want to handle We're going to have his uh >> Yeah. >> significant other. Yep. Okay.

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>> We'll give you that. >> All right. Raise me a hand. I, Jacob Dubois, do solemnly swear >> I, Jacob Dubois, do solemnly swear >> to support the Constitution of the United States >> to support the Constitution of the United States

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>> and the Constitution and laws of the state of Minnesota >> and the Constitution and the laws of the state of Minnesota. >> to serve the citizens of Belrammy County >> to serve the citizens of Belrammy County. >> The state of Minnesota >> the state of Minnesota >> and the United States of America honestly and faithfully. and the United

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States of America honestly and faithfully >> to conduct myself at all times in accordance with the high highest moral standards >> to conduct myself in accordance at all times with the highest moral standard >> and never commit any act that would reflect discredit >> and never commit any act that would

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reflect discredit >> uh on the Belrammy County Sheriff's Office or any member thereof >> on the Belrammy County Sheriff's Office or any member thereof >> and at all times fulfill my oath >> and at all times fulfill my oath >> as a Belrammy County Deputy >> as a Bel Tramy County Deputy.

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>> All this I do solemnly swear to the best of my knowledge and ability. >> All of this I do solemnly swear to the best of my knowledge and ability. >> So help me God. >> So help me God. >> Make sure you get an extra five bucks if you poke a

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venues. >> Yeah. Did >> you almost had a work comp incident at the parade yesterday? >> Oh gosh. >> We had somebody cut their finger on one of the freezy packs. I had to get band-aid for harder to put on than you think.

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>> Magnetic. >> No. >> Well, we can watch. >> Awesome. >> All right. Congratul Congrats. >> All right. Identify future work topics. We have anything?

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Nothing. Okay. There weren't any other new employees back there, were there? No. Okay. Uh legislative overview. Hi everyone. I'm Lily Hijazzi Sakai, one of the lobbyists for um from Flareity

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and Hood. >> I'm Darren Lee, also lobbyist with Flity Hood. Thanks for having us. Uh this is my second year up here. If you remember, I was up here last summer. Uh things are a lot cleaner around the neighborhood from when I was up last time with all

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the trees down. So good to be back. >> Great. Um thanks for having us. Um we're going to do a little bit of a legislative overview. Um feel free, you know, we'll have time for questions at the end. So >> So um I'll start out here with a few of

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the past outcomes for Belrammy County. Uh uh sales tax exemption on uh construction materials for the new jail. uh local sales tax authorization in 2023 and then the cost of uh debt at a Noa

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County uh regional treatment center for that does not meet criteria uh case. Um Oops, there we go. And then Lily's going to talk a little bit about the past year here. >> Yeah. So, this just kind of sets the

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stage for what this legislative session looked like. Um you know, we continued on with the Tide House. Um, you know, last session you saw the DFL boycott the session for about a month um until they figured out that par power sharing agreement. Um, there was also a

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projected budget deficit um in the past year. We also saw the murder of Melissa and Mark Hortman. Um, in the metro there's an enunciation shooting. There was seven special elections. Um, fraud has continued to explode as an issue at the legislature. um Governor Walls

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decided not to run for a third term um in Operation Metro Surge and this really kind of sets the scene for this um past 2026 session. Um so with that closely divided legislature, so in the House, you know, we had the um 6767 divide. Um

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it was kind of a struggle to the last minute to make a final agreement. Um but I think it exceeded expectations for a lot of us and what ended up happening. The last day of session, 24 different chapters of law were passed. Um and you know unsurprisingly the beginning of session and throughout the session you

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know kind of the common thread there was um a lot of focus on fraud, guns, school safety um the fallout from Operation Metro Surge. Um additionally you probably saw um $300 million in cuts to human services were made and that was made um uh as a leadership agreement

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between the GOP and the DFL. Um and then HCMC and Royal Hospitals got a huge chunk of money to save their operations. So, let's talk a little bit about the forecast. So, because this kind of sort of set the stage for the session. So, if you remember way back, I think it would

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have been February 2025, we had that $6 billion deficit. So, this February, the budget situation improved um partly based on what the legislature did in 2025 where they had to pass the

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budget. Um, this year was not a budget year traditionally. Uh, it's a bonding year. So, they passed the 2-year budget in 2025. But, um, on this slide here, I think you know the outyear that thin balance in, uh, 2829 is kind of what to

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focus on. Um, that structural imbalance of course sometimes people say, what's the difference between a structural imbalance and a deficit? Well, the structural imbalance is just the difference between the money coming in and the money going out. So, if they don't change that, you know, you will have a deficit going forward. So, they

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did have some work to do yet. Um, there's a lot of numbers on this slide. They're kind of small and hard to read, but I think the main takeaway on here is that human services was an area, as you know, there's so much growth and

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spending in that area. you know that was kind of a target for cuts uh this year. And then at the bottom there, you know, I think they they improved the bottom line for the next bianium um over what

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had been forecasted in February. So, um you know, we'll see we'll talk a little bit about this as we go, but um we're kind of waiting to see that November forecast is going to be what comes next. So, a little bit about the tax bill.

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Um, so luckily there wasn't a lot of discussion about local government and aid cuts or county program aid cuts this year. So, no CPA cuts in the final bill. I think the big highlight from that bill that both parties, you know, want to

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take credit for is that property tax relief 125 million uh for that. So, if you qualify for the homestead credit, um you'll be getting a little bit more than you otherwise would have been getting. Um and then of course tab fees. The the

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Republicans talked a lot about that during the session about how tab fees are relatively high in comparison to some of our neighbors. Um so there's a one-time tab fee relief uh for 2027. So, in and when you renew your tabs, you'll

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there'll be a note uh reminding you that you can thank the legislature for that slight reduction this year. So, you can be sure to thank them for that. Um, no local sales taxes were uh included in there. And then tax conformity, which I think raises a little bit of revenue.

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One of the interesting things in here that we wanted to mention is that there's a a program for uh seasonal tax base uh replacement aid program is what they're calling it. So if you have a vacation home uh that you don't live in more than six months of the year, you

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currently don't pay the school levies um there. But this for so for school districts that are impacted by that they created a formula uh to sort of supplement that loss of revenue and then they updated tip provisions for a few

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cities in there. So the hub and spoke system or demolition landfill rule making. I wanted to talk a little bit about this. Um there still is not a timeline uh yet as to when the pollution control

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agency is going to post a final rule. Um they published draft rule tax last summer um and they're proposing a transition period uh up to eight years to close those online landfills um and

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uh transition to a new landfill. So, I think and I might get to this a little bit later, but um we've got some ideas for uh suggestions going forward. There's going to be a new bianium, so new legislation will have to be entered.

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Steve Green was helping uh on one of these bills that we had, but uh I'm hoping to get some ideas from the board as well, and I've got some of my own for how we can handle this one going forward. But um that one we're still

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kind of waiting on the rule making process uh at the moment. Um and we could have a bill related to the rule making process too next year. Um bonding. So this was kind of another highlight or one of the big highlights

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of the session uh that the legislature um accomplished. Of course you need 60% uh to borrow according to the state constitution. So this is one area where the minority party does have some leverage. Uh big ticket items in there

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were quite a bit of money for the public facilities authority which distributes money for water and wastewater projects which are so expensive. Uh business 2 million for business development public infrastructure

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program. Oops, I went too far. Uh 177 million for transportation projects. Uh, a lot of those were earmarked projects, but you had 47 million for local road improvement program, 25 million for the local bridge replacement

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program, which helps locals with uh some of those projects that are not otherwise covered by state assistance. And then you had 4.5 million for the local road wetland replacement program, which is a fraction of what's needed for

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that program to uh really build up those credits. I think they need 15 million, but we got four and a half on that one. Um to help replace wetlands for road projects. And then I'm going to let Lily take this next couple of slides.

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>> Yeah, these are um the next two slides are kind of high level overviews of what happened in the health and human services and human services um spaces. We'll get kind of into more of the nitty-gritty of what um what happened at the legislature that impacts the county a little bit more, but just generally

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what happened in the HHS committee is there was $10 million set aside for um SNAP administrative support funding to kind of make up that gap that is getting cut at the federal level. Um, I mentioned earlier that HCMC and Hospital Stabilization Fund um was established

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and then um the Minnesota African-American Family Preservation Child Welfare Disproportionality Act or as some people call it, MAFPA. Um, counties are going to get a minimum of $100,000 um to implement that. Um, we'll talk a little bit more about what that looks

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like. And then in the human services, like I said, fraud was a continued theme at the legislature, especially in the human services space. unfortunately. Um, and one of the things that was negotiated was establishing a new office of investigative general to kind of take on

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some of those things. Um, like I mentioned earlier, there is going to be, you know, they passed $300 million in combined cuts. 150 million of that is ongoing within the human services space. Um, and the governor originally proposed at um the beginning of session in his

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budget a um 50% uh cost share um for the behavioral health fund. um that was defeated and it remains at the 22.95%. Which would have impacted um HH HHS departments within counties.

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>> So the IT modernization I think so the way I look at this one is the idea here is to save in the long run. Save money in the long run, right? Um the 65 million for state and county systems. uh

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15 million for minute fraud prevention and detection and then the 10 million uh for county systems. So, one of those things that on the federal level that they passed with uh SNAP benefits is that error rate some of those uh

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benefits are contingent on the error rate in the states. Hopefully, this will assist in getting those error rates down. Um, so, uh, the state and counties won't have to make up some of those benefits based on those error rates. Uh,

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I want to note the 10 million for systems used by counties, that money has technically now become available on July 1st. However, there's a IT modernization board that is kind of overseeing that grant process. So, they're coming up

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with an application process for that money. Um, that can be applied for and they're going to be going through those applications. Uh, that'll be later this year, maybe next year even, maybe. >> Yeah. So, the the task force has to meet um have a report to the legislature by

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this February. Um, so likely what that's going to look like is they'll come out with an RFP process. So, we'll keep you all updated as soon as we know more. um that $10 million to update systems used by counties, those that will be a grant process for counties to use, but that money is available till 2031. So, you

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may not see that further down um the line. >> There we go. >> All right. So, we're going to talk a little bit about what was on your guys's agenda. Um I'll start out with, you know, we had that human services card out carve out to address a few issues

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within the human services department. Um we did get a hearing in uh the Senate. It was included in you know kind of the final omnibus bill at least on the Senate side. Um it ultimately was taken out as you saw from um the leadership target agreements. There's $300 million

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in cuts to um human services and um I think the the political will behind that was um hard when you are given negative budget targets. um >> the windstorm recovery one. Uh you know,

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I should thank Representative Duran for being a big help on this one. Um unfortunately, I just have to say I feel like the governor kind of pulled the rug out from under us on this one because we had a hearing and uh his department of public

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safety sent put out a letter the day before the hearing opposing this bill. Uh, and my understanding is that he sort of left the impression when he was up here that he was supportive of this. Um, and so that was that was disappointing.

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Uh, on that we um had talked about doing an amendment uh later on on the on the House floor or the Senate floor, but uh weren't able to to get that through. There are some competing priorities uh in public safety of course as you know

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you know uh funding for law enforcement that sort of thing uh which chairs have competing priorities on some of those things. So um that's kind of the story on the windstorm recovery. Um I think we might get to this in recommendations but

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I'll just mention it now. um you know, we're going to want to know what our governor candidates think about that um going forward uh because Governor Walls, of course, is not going to be there next year. So, um we want to hear from our candidates uh going forward to see if

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they're supportive of a similar effort next year on the property insurance uh appraisal legislation. Again, we got a hearing on this one. We had some testifiers. Commissioner Carlson came and testified. Um,

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we ran into some stiff opposition from the insurance industry on this one. Um, so it was it was a tough it was a tough uh sledding on that one. We had uh the Republican chair of the commerce

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committee in the House who was just adamantly opposed to doing anything on it. uh he's also going to be retiring. Uh the DFL chair in the Senate of the Commerce Committee uh was opposed to

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this as well. Uh we worked on it with Representative Duran. Uh we discussed trying to do a floor amendment. Um we did have some Democrat support for this one and I think we're going to we'll talk more about this too, but we're going to have a

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>> working I'm getting ahead. I'm doing all the recommendations first, but um we're hoping to meet with uh stakeholders in the insurance industry and work on some consensus on that one. I think uh I'll let you take these next two. >> Um additionally, that was on your agenda

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was the SNAP. Um so there's some loss in funding from um HR1 that passed at the federal level last summer. Um and as a result, there was a few ideas thrown around at the legislature um to kind of fill that gap um that counties are going to face within SNAP. Um and so it kind

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of partially passed. There was 10 million set aside, what I mentioned earlier, as a one-time appropriation to, you know, kind of absorb some of those federal cuts. We'll get into kind of the fiscal side of that and what that looks for looks like for the county. um that

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ultimately won't fill the full gap that counties are facing in what's being cut at the federal level. And so um you know we'll talk more about recommendations in the uh future slides. And then with MAPPA I mentioned that earlier um there were some ideas thrown around. I know

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there was conversations to um kind of delay that implementation date and that was ultimately um shot down by you know the original authors of the bill. um you know, it did get a hearing um with an unknown appropriation amount, which we found out, you know, kind of the last few days of session what that amount was

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going to be based on those budget targets. Um and so there was $15 million was passed to allow counties to implement that and we'll kind of get in this next slide the recommend or the fiscal impacts. So continuing on, MAFPA

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was originally passed in 2024. Um and the minimum amount that counties are going to get is about 100,000. The estimated cost from the federal and state level that is pretty fluid because it's um you know it's going to be requiring to

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hire some people to implement that but it's that 325 is um from what I've talked to with your HHS department is kind of fluid. Um but that is uh starting to be implemented this month.

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um SNAP administrative cost shift. Um so you're you know that 10 million that was passed at the state level that only um you know that only fills about a third of the gap that you guys are facing. Um and so there's ultimately going to be some recommendations that we have and

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other groups have to kind of address that gap. We'll get to that in a second. Um and then for the IT modernization funds that um Darren was talking about earlier, again that really hinges upon that task force and what they decide and where that money goes

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>> and hopefully there'll be savings there. Uh >> yeah, long term. >> Um you know, kind of the intent of that was to lower error rates to also address fraud within the IT modernization fund. Um, you know, if you ever saw counties doing uh info sessions on how Maxis

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works, it's very confusing and very outdated. Um, and so it's very needed. Um, additionally, two other things that wasn't on your agenda but will have fiscal impacts to you all is they because of the cuts to human services, um, there is a forecasted decrease in

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spending for medical assistance. Um, so there's likely because of what happened with HR1, there's going to be less people eligible or being um kicked off of MA and the state is going to have to fill in less people that are going to be um enrolled in that. And the same goes

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with the behavioral health fund. So there's about $122 million in forecasted savings come uh fiscal year 2027 for um MA and then another 19 um.248 million

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Additionally, this is something that I added. Um these are fiscal impacts of the county on things that passed previously. So for long-term services and supports, um there are some cost shifts um that happened in 2025 and that

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starts July of 27. So that's going to cost roughly the county about $350,000. That was something that was passed at the state level. um the SNAP benefit cost share um again again something with HR1 um that implementation starts

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October 1st of 26 and so with that error this is what is tied to the error rate so if the error rate is above I think right now we're at Minnesota's at 12 13ish% um they're going to have to pay a certain percentage of that benefit cost share >> if they can get it below 10 or if a

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state can get it below 10 then that impact that 115,000 impact to Valranian County should go would go down theoretically if we can reduce those error rates. >> Yep. Um and then age of delinquency that was something that was passed in the um

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legislature in 2024. So if you previously have been following that um you know the age of delinquency was previously 10 years old. It is now moved up to 13 years old as of um next month. um that's going to cost the human services department an additional amount of money to be able to place those kids

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that end up being in that range um that age range. And then um there was a men choices rate change in the 25 session um that was passed um and it was ultimately decided to make um savings in the human

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services department um and ultimately that's going to cost the county money and it's going to be implemented next year. So recommendations for 2027. Um >> I can start with this one. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Um so our recommendations we had that human services carve out um for Bel

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Tramy County ultimately with the budget cuts that happened in human services that didn't end up happening. I think you know moving forward our recommendations are really heavily dependent on that November and February um for budget forecast that comes out. If the drivers of the spending are again

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human services um it's going to be an uphill battle. But I think there's some way that we can work around that. Um it also is really dependent on um two studies that were passed and funded this past year. So they're doing a um medical

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assistance eligibility and a human services county tribal administer administered program study. So they're what the legislature is trying to do is trying to um see if it is more efficient and cost-effective to have the state overtake some of the human service programs and administer those instead of

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the counties. on the windstorm recovery. Um, like I said, you know, we're going to have a new governor, so hopefully that new governor is supportive. Of course, you know, as you know, the farther we get away from a disaster, the

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more diff, you know, the momentum helps you keep that momentum built up for that um effort to do. Uh but depending on the outcome of the election and who the new governor is, um that's something we can work for again uh if that's something

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the board wants to pursue. And then on the property insurance, >> I can take this one. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So for property insurance, I had a conversation with the Department of Commerce. Um this is likely going to be put on their um agenda, their policy agenda that coming this next year. Um

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I've also met with a number of lawmakers in the House and Senate. um from both sides of the aisle who are willing to work on this next year. I think um we'll talk more kind of what the this upcoming election will look like and what that looks like for the legislature. But given kind of where historical headwinds

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are, um it is likely there will be somewhat of a DFL trifecta. Um and I think that bodess well for the property insurance, especially if Department of Commerce is willing to lead on this. Um and so continuing to have conversations with lawmakers and and find authors in

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the next um few months or you know after the election is kind of um my recommendation going forward. >> We love to have Commissioner Carlson be part of those meetings or any of the other commissioners who are interested uh in being part of those um want to use SNAP.

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>> Yep. And then um SNAP administrative and benefit cost share like I said that $10 million is not going to fill the gap for what counties are losing from the federal level. And so ultimately, you know, we're going to continue working with Paul from Maxa and AMC to figure out what is a longterm solution to

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filling those gaps for counties because it's not sustainable at the end of the day, what what you guys are losing for that. Um, and then again for MAFA, um, you know, I'm going to continue to engage with your awesome HHS director an over here on on how that looks. I think

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this will be more fluid in how that implementation goes. Um, and so, uh, we'll we'll see how that goes. And then I also continue to engage with Maxa, um, and Paul. >> I think those two on SNAP and then NAPA,

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you know, depending if if if the Democrats gain control, full control of state government. Um, there will be a push to find ongoing money for for both of those for sure on the SNAP

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>> uh stuff. Uh, and then on the demolition landfill rule making, um, I've got some thoughts on this one, uh, potentially, uh, you know, Senator Green had that had a bill that would, uh, preempt the

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pollution control agency from doing ro rule making on this. Uh, I think there's been bonding requests. I know you're working with some other counties up here on that. And is it Pulk County that's the lead on that? And I I I don't know if they have another bonding request in

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or if they're going to be lobbying on that next year, but they should. Uh or maybe the counties as a group should. But that is a that's a big um dollar figure for a bonding bill request. And

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so, you know, if there's another solution where we can maybe get an extension on it on the rule making or some sort of assistance account. Um, you know, we'll be working on coming up with

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some ideas and would love to, you know, talk with the board about coming up with some solutions on that one and getting some new legislation introduced early in session uh next year. So, >> okay, just two more. So, one of the

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things that was on your agenda that we didn't work on this year, just it was it wasn't a budget year. There was a lack of momentum for this was the IQUA out ofome placement aid. So, um for those that may or may not be familiar, if you don't meet 100% compliance of IQUA out

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of home placement, um you get your funding cut in half. Um and I know you guys have previously been in compliance of that. Um but I know that's a significant um you know detriment to the county in terms of you know it doesn't quite make sense um to cut that in half.

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Doesn't really help the program. So uh ultimately what we're going to do and I'm actually going to Grand Rapids tomorrow to meet with some of the Itasca County folks um is hoping to get a stakeholder group together with Itasa County, St. Louis County, um you all and then possibly Henne County. These are

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all counties that are not in compliance. So, they're getting their funding cut in half, but also get a significant portion of money from this aid. And so, um, what, you know, my hope is we can get this group together and kind of, um, figure out ways that we can solve this.

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Um, and we've thrown out a few ideas between some of the folks that I've talked to um, and come to the 2027 uh, session with, uh, kind of a fix for that. >> Oh, go back. >> Oh, >> sorry. I have one more thing. Um and then their long-term services and

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supports cost shift. So last session, I believe it was um we had a looming $6 billion deficit. One of the things that um the kind of the human services uh committee decided to kick the can down the road a little bit was to do some of these cost shifts if they couldn't find

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savings elsewhere. Um unfortunately, this is going to impact um many counties and their human services departments. And so, um, we're going to continue meeting with the agency and MAXA, um, and other human services committee, uh, members and other stakeholders because they know how impactful this is, um,

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negatively to, uh, local governments. Uh, then we'll go into elections. We only have a couple slides left, you guys. Uh, so there is 43 retirements so far, um, between the House, Senate, and both caucuses. Um, all constitutional

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statewide offices are on the ballot, including governor. We have one US Senate seat and then those congressional seats that are up. And that will kind of play into what Darren's going to talk about in terms of what we look for in 2027. >> So, yeah. Um,

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historically speaking, Republicans facing headwinds being that it's a midterm, the president's party is in control of Congress. Um, so oftentimes the pendulum swings back the other way. Um we're going to be meeting with

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lawmakers after those elections um and getting them up to speed on unique challenges that Belrani County faces uh on some of those things that you're all familiar with. Of course, demographics, poverty, taxable land uh and then working with the board uh and Tom

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developing an agenda for next year. Um, so we really uh hope to come up with a list of priorities that we can go into next session and uh be ready to advocate for and I think the last one is just

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questions for us. Thanks again for having us. >> Y >> I have one quick question. Um talked about the school tax on the seasonal housing and there's going to be some kind of replacement that's coming from the state. Correct. Yes. >> Do you know what percentage they're

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talking about? >> Uh, so there's a there's a formula that I I'll have to go back and and look, but it's based on the percentage of homes that are, I guess, considered vacation homes or homes that people

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don't live in year round. Um, I think it was back in Palente's days as governor where that was originally put in place because people who don't have kids in school where they, you know, do vacation in the summer said, "Well, why are we paying

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for school, you know, in in this uh district where we don't our kids don't go here? We don't live here during the school year." So, that sort of posed a problem for those districts. they still pay the county uh and city levies uh in

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those places, but um that's based on a formula. And if you want to, I can get you the list of all the districts in the state that shows what every districts in get is getting. I don't believe there's any districts in Belie that are going to

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get funding from that formula at the moment. So, but I will I will get it to you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Joe was told to come up with some good ones for us. >> Well, I've been in your shoes before, so

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I'll take it easy on you. >> Go easy on us. >> Thanks for everything that you did do for us. I mean, the sales in the past, the sales tax exemption and and getting authorization to go to the uh voters

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and then the $387,000 in debt with the Noah Henipin thing. Um, you guys have been super helpful for us and appreciate you every day down there. You're, you know, we can't be there every day, but you can. Um, so having

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your eyes and ears down there and I know you were in constant communication with Tom and and uh tweaking strategy as session moved along. So, um, thanks for thanks for everything really. So,

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>> well, thank you all and I just want to say Tom's been a great partner. So has Ann. Um and I thank especially John and um Tom for bringing we had numerous testifiers um come to multiple hearings. So and that's just like a hu that makes a huge impact. Um you know a lot of these bills

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um didn't make it into the final omnimous bill but they did almost all of them got hearings and I huge thanks to you all and bringing testifiers that makes a huge impact. >> Mr. Co. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. When I was talking with some of the representatives from the insurance

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industry when we were down there, I got was under the impression that they were willing to meet even this summer to start. Is there a reason why we have to wait to get together and start working on the insurance um issue?

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>> No, we can I think we can start getting meetings scheduled as soon as people are available. So, I mean, if if you want to we can try to get something on the calendar. I think the sooner the better. I mean, there's there's obviously issues that they have that we have that I think

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there's a way to come together >> for sure. Yes. >> And and some of their and some of their some of the insurance concerns are are very legitimate. I I get that. >> Um but there's got to be a way for us to provide some relief for the insured. >> Yeah. Um one of the conversations I had

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with um Peter from the Department of Commerce, um he's in communication with some of the industry folks. um and that's a meeting that uh he wants to have with them and and invite us all as well. So um but in the meantime I think you know meeting and

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figuring out what we want to do next um for next year and having a better plan would be I think the right step. >> I think specifically Adam Axfig was very interested in starting to get together as soon >> we'll get in touch with Adam and Aaron and we'll get in touch with you commissioner and we'll try to get

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something on the calendar here >> soon as we can. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Extension office updates Tony. >> Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and

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commissioners. Tony Hansen, regional director with the University of Minnesota Extension. Before I turn it over to my colleagues to share a little bit about uh the work the 4 program is doing here in Belrammy County, uh wanted to also highlight uh some work that our master gardener program here in Belrammy

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County is up to. Um let's see. The Belrammy County Master Gardeners uh continue to be a very impactful program both here in the county and within the region. Uh they have a dedicated network of up to 40 uh master gardener volunteers actively

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serving in the area. Uh their volunteer hours last year were uh nearly 2,000. Um that incorporates uh service through educational programming uh sharing researchbased gardening and horiculture

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knowledge within our community. Uh this master gardener team is actually a regional leader. um they have stepped up support to support and mentor neighboring counties like Cleor Water and Cuchaching that do not have as active a master gardener programs of their own. Locally here in the county,

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these volunteers are the driving force behind our open class horiculture program at the Bel Tramy County Fair, which is a major attraction that draws many visitors from multiple counties and states every summer throughout the year. Of course, they also teach community education classes and provide expert

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guest speakers uh to various local organizations and public's events. Um from April through October, our volunteers are very busy. Uh they help to support our dedicated gardening hotline through the extension office answering questions uh from county

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residents. Uh they provide seasonal support to local residents by also assisting on site with different questions about plants or weeds and things that come into the office. Uh food production, landscaping. They're kind of up for whatever we get there at the office. So I always appreciate their

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engagement in energy. Um and I maybe don't always do as good of a job at highlighting the wonderful work that that solely volunteer uh based group does here in the county. So, just wanted to uh give a little credit to them this afternoon. Um, of course, we're always

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very busy at the extension office. Uh, before I pass it over to my colleagues with the 4 program, though, I just wanted to pause and see if the commissioners had any questions for me this afternoon. Very good. And I'll invite my colleagues from the Belranny County 4 program up here to share a little bit more about

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what they've been up to. So, thanks Tony and we want to thank all of you for uh inviting us and uh we've got some guests uh with us today to talk very specifically about their 4 experience. So, um if you want to advance the slide for us,

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>> can we do that? Can we do it? >> We have a clicker. Awesome. Looks like it's on. >> Oh, there we go. Okay. We're going to give you a little bit of background about the 4 program very briefly and then we're going to talk specifically about what we are doing currently in 4

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here in Bel Tramy County and then we're going to wrap up with our our young guests who are going to talk about what they're doing uh within the program. So, um, if we think about our goal in Minnesota 4, our mission is really to, um, help young people thrive, um, in

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their happiness, success, and connection to others around them. We're really about helping them reach their potential, recognizing what it is that they're interested in, what they have a passion about, and developing those skills that go along with that. In addition, our department goals are

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that we want young people to learn by developing a passion in their area of interest, engage in that learning ongoing, and things that they're going to carry with them to adulthood. Um, we want youth to lead by being innovators and positive change agents, and you're going to hear very specifically about

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that today. Um, also, we couldn't do this alone. And so we want to make sure that we've got a lot of adults who work with our program, screen volunteers who support young people in a variety of ways um in uh those learning environments.

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Now introducing staff whoops. Um so I apologize if you can hear me. Okay. Um, in our Bel Tramy County for office, we have myself, I'm Ashley Roy, your extension educator for Bel Tramy County, and then we also have Christina Johnson, who's our Bel Tramy County

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Extension Support Staff. So, us working together um is your Bel Tramy County office. >> And so, along with um Ashley and Christie, I'm figuring out this clicker. We have a team of regional educators. And so

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myself, I'm Jan Dowski and I'm the program leader for the Northeast region. And you can see we have we have the largest region in Minnesota. Um and uh we also have Jenna Clayool who was a local 4 her herself here in Bel Tramy

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County. She's our volunteer systems educator. David Foley works with our animal science programs. Cassie Gerling, who actually is in the back of the room because she supports civic engagement and leadership, and she's worked with these young people behind me to help them prepare for today's presentation.

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Um Lori Hall, who is all about operations, so anything having to do with risk management and finances, she's a resource here for Ashley and and the local team. Um and then Kate Prinry who is our regional uh quality programs uh

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specialist who deals specifically with developing programs, ensuring that there's high quality elements, does a fair amount of training as well. And so yes, you have Ashley and Christina that are in that local office, but behind them supporting them is is this group of

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of folks who are here on a regular basis uh supporting program I'm going to turn it over to Ashley so she can hear a little bit more about the specifics of the local program here. Thank you, Jan. Um, so yes, in Bel Tramy County, we we consist of 11 community

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clubs which vary in location around the county. Some are farther north, some are very close to Belram or the Bamiji city limits itself. And we also have four project development committees. So this is a committee that specializes in just one project area. We have a livestock

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PDC as we call it, a shooting sports PDC, a dog and a horse PDC. So those volunteers and youth also being um the chair and the key volunteers of those programs, they see those projects and

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try to develop them as best they can for the county needs. Um enrollment numbers, we have 344 youth that are currently enrolled in our program and of those we have 85 that are first year members and 74 that are cloverbuds. Clover buds are kindergarten through 2 grade members. Um

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and then we also have a great volunteer um group of 86 screen 87, excuse me, screen volunteers, which honestly some of our programs led by those volunteers make them what great programs they are nowadays. And the retention rate of

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these youth is a great number of 81%. So I'm very happy to see that. Um and we also have that great continued involvement in Belrammy County for I hope to see that grow year to year. >> So I just want to acknowledge working within the region that 87 or 81%

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retention rate is really high. Um that is something that you all can feel real good about. That means kids are having a great time and they they want to continue. >> Mr. year and one what's then the retention rate um is some of that affected by do I assume they age out at

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a certain time and um is this year a more significant number of them aging out or you know with the 85 new members >> that's a very good question and I can definitely follow up with you on that too but yeah when you get to their 13th year is when they're they're aging out

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of the program >> but to have a retention rate that high oftent times we see young people when they enter middle school or high school in particular because they have so many mo more opportunities that are in front of them. Um, but if actually if you were to look at Bel Tramy's numbers, you'd see that we retain a large number of

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those high school students. And I think that is due to the project development committees that Ashley talked about. Horse, livestock, um, dog. Those are things that those kids are seriously interested in and make that commitment. And so I think that contributes, which is really important because we know the

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longer those kids have opportunity to work with adults, the more likely they're going to be engaged in positive behaviors in the community. Great. >> Thank you. Okay, so moving on to our communications. Um, so I've just listed a few different examples here. Um, we have several different communications

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that go to youth, their families, and even volunteers throughout the year. Um, our S'more newsletter, as you can see in the top right, it's called the Belrammy County 4H Thursday update. So that goes out every week to all of our families via email. Um, and that has a lot of our events, um, reminders, um,

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announcements, things like that that 4 families, um, would love to know. And we also have our website which is the top left. So that is our extension website for Belchami County. Um we've added different links in there such as our premium guide for the upcoming fair

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showcase season. Um different things on how-to guides and also contact information for our office as well for myself and Christina. Um we can move kind of a little bit down further. We have our Facebook page that we keep updated quite often with different posts and different interactions with people

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to see. Um, and then we also send out different types of mailers. Um, this year we sent out first year 4 mailers to different families if it's their first year coming into this showcase season. Um, this is kind of what to expect, important dates, things like that. And

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then, um, I will just pick on one of our little spotlights we've been doing is our ambassador spotlight. So, we had some kids do a little questionnaire and then we kind of put that on our Facebook page to see, you know, this is what really excites them about 4 and just kind of bringing it out to the community, too.

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can move forward to the next one. Thank you. Um so Belchammy County 4 offers something for everybody. Um the youth can explore their different interests through projects focusing as far as from animal science um into the dog project. You can see a few pictures there. Our

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horse project and then even leading into events such as our fashion review, um performing arts and then even club project participation too. Um there are different club projects that clubs participate in. They plant flower beds at the fairgrounds. Um, so the bottom left picture over there is from this

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year, one of our clubs doing that project for that. Um, it makes the fairgrounds look really nice and really uh, presentable um, during our events during the year. And the clubs really like taking care of those flower beds, too. Um, and also, I mean, these photos, oops, go back. Sorry, you clicked it a

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little bit. Um, these photos showcase just a few of our many projects. Um, and our members participate in every year. They build skills, they build confidence, they build leadership styles um through all of our hands-on learning opportunities. So, >> and Ashley's talked about the community clubs that we support, but I also want

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to mention briefly the work that we're doing in tribal communities. And so, if we look at our partners in Leech Lake, um it's sort of like the the three counties come together, Cass, Itasa, and Bell Tramy. And we've had a partnership there for the last two years. Um, I've

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done uh training pieces with their staff out there. We work primarily with the Boys and Girls Club, but we've done some other work uh out there as well. Um, we um this summer are working with their summer program and we will be at Boys and Girls Club when summer school ends, which is six weeks. Then we're there for

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the rest of the summer at Boys and Girls Club. We're out there two days a week. Um, in the during the summer program, we've got four staff that are assisting and supporting the work of uh summer school. we provide the enrichment activities. That's been about two years that we've partnered with them. Um they

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have a 21st century grant. So we are fortunate in that they're willing to offset some of our our costs when we have to hire additional staff to come out and deliver program. Um I've done training with them. I also work with them on some of their evaluation materials that they need to submit to

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Department of Education. Um more recently we've developed a partnership in Red Lake Nation. Um we have a community club out there with um Audrey Roy. So I work directly with her um in terms of supporting that group. They have a very strong shooting sports

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program out there. Um provides some other educational components along with that. Um and uh I met I met Audrey last year at the um Belmy Fair and we're looking at um doing something locally

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possibly in collaboration with the POW. We don't think we can we have the time to plan for it this year, but we're looking forward and so that those young people have something within their community uh a showcase event. Um and I think that work is really important uh

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and uh we're seeing an increase in our numbers. The other thing that we've done is um recognizing that they're their own sovereign nation. Um so they are no longer technically under either the Bel Tramy County or Itaska County, but they have their own way of tracking um

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enrollment screened volunteers. And so we have a Red Lake Nation program, a Leech Lake tribal program and so to give them that autonomy and recognize um their their contributions and connection

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to the 4 program as a whole. Okay. Um just a few highlights from this past winter. So um we also have a event called Project Bowl. Some kids are very involved with that. It's different species. Um kids compete in a regional competition which is typically held in

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Baiji every March. Um and then we've had some dog teams this past year. We've had some general livestock teams and we've also had some poultry um teams as well. So, and that actually from the regional competition, our dog teams advanced to our state competition and they both

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ended up placing um which is super exciting. So, there's a couple pictures here from the past Project Bowl season. Um this is something like I said in the winter time some kids um take on as their next activity. So, >> be familiar with Project Bowl that looks

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like. So, you think of Quizible, if you remember that show that was on TV a while ago. And so, kids have to be quick, they have to be able to buzz in, um, develops a lot of skills in terms of communication, confidence, the ability to kind of read the room and their opponents. So, um, it's it's really

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quite an interesting event to watch for those young people. >> Thank you, Jen. Um, one more little project that, uh, Belrammy County for is working on at the moment. So, we we were really excited to highlight our recent relaunch of our ambassador program. Um, so these are youth in grades sixth grade

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and up that would like to be more of an ambassador for the program as a whole. Um, it brings kids from different clubs, different age groups together. And it was actually formed with the very large help from Cassie Gerling who's sitting in the back of the room here. um as our

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civic engagement and leadership educator. She had connected myself with two BSU students um that have planned to come back in the fall and we'll kind of make sure that this goes on. But we have 13 youth ambassadors at the moment that

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have taken an interest in the program. We meet every month. Uh we strengthen our communication skills, um develop different relationships through our different hands-on activities. Um and we also some of the pictures here they had helped out with the egg day breakfast um last Sunday. So we had a little booth

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there had played some 4 bingo different things where families could come and interact with those with those youth. So >> the two students that Ashley mentioned from BSU were state ambassadors with 4 program and so to have that level of expertise be able to come back and

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support the the local program I think is really you're we're pretty fortunate and pretty significant contribution. Just touching on a few service projects that 4 youth have participated in. Um I'll kind of speed this along a little bit. Um so and Commissioner Winger and

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um Craig, you you both have been familiar with the Deer Lake Flyers doing their turkey donations. Oh, Commissioner Sumar as well. Yes. >> Um so last year, last fall actually, they had donated their turkeys to the food shelf. Um they typically do that every holiday season and they had

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applied for a award through this and they received it this past commissioner board um the AMC recognition award. So that was really exciting for them. Um different events that different clubs have done. They've also done a pancake breakfast where they've served at their

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church. Um that's where they hold their meetings. So it's it's nice to bring in the community, show how 4 can um teach those skills and also give back at the same time. Um and then a different club had also done a donation of Mayday

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baskets uh last May to the residents of the assisted living. So just a few different highlights here for pictures and my I think this is my last slide before we move on to my youth behind me. Um but obviously this program would not be what it is without our volunteers. Um

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they lead in many different ways such as leading a 4 club um even coaching our project bowl teams through the winter and any many other things such as workshops and serving on committees and advisory boards. Um they they really

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help this program move along sometimes and there's there's ones that have a lot of knowledge. So I'm really thankful for that too to to bring in all those kinds of kinds for that. All right. So, next we will introduce you to a couple of our 4 youth that are

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behind me. Um, they'll tell us a little more about their about themselves. They'll introduce themselves first and then talk about their 4 experience. >> Uh, hello, my name is Zayn Halls. Um, I'm in ninth grade. This is my second year in 4. Um, my favorite project would

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be dog. I enjoy the dog project because I get to make new friends and bonds with my dogs. Uh my favorite activity is spending time at the dog shows um and learning new things. Um and then I was inspired from classes

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I took at Bark Avenue um and Lori Brahma who is one of the um leaders for the dog project. um she saw my love for working with the dogs um and told me about the 4 dog project. Um an important skill that

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I've learned is how to show my dog correctly as well as improving my public speaking. For has helped me a lot by allowing me to make new friends and become a better person as well as making me a better

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leader because of my role as county as council president. And some advice I would give to new uh new 4ers is to research about the 4 about their 4 project and make new friends. >> Hi, my name is Samantha Mack. I'm in

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ninth grade and I this is going to be my sixth year going into 4 and the club I'm part of is the Turtle River Tall Pines. My favorite project is poultry and dog. Why they are my favorite is because I

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get to interact with people and animals. What inspired me to join 4 is that I want to show my my poultry. Um because that's what I just want to do. Um an

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important skill that I developed is uh or was public speaking. So now I'm able to do public speaking really well. Um, what helped build my confidence is speaking and interacting with people.

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Um, advice that I would give somebody if they were new, don't be afraid to try new things because when I started, I was kind of afraid to try new things. >> Um, and I would also like to invite you, um, if you would like to come watch our dogs perform on Thursday, July 30th, as

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well as Thursday, August 6th, um, at 5:00 pm both days. And there also is a demonstration day on August 12th at 6:30 p.m. to show people what to expect when they're showing agility or when they're doing agility

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for dogs. >> At this point, we'd like to open it up. Do you have any questions either for the young people or for Ashley or myself? >> I have one. Where's the dog show going to be? And you know, >> uh, the dog shows will be at the Belrammy County Fairgrounds. >> Okay. And time of day,

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>> uh, 5:00 p.m. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Should also come out and watch the drill team. Bel Tremy has an exceptional drill team, horses. Um, and uh, they they are the team to beat and they've got several

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uh, demonstrations that they'll do throughout the county fair. >> I did actually bring some show schedules if you would like. >> Okay. Sure. Yeah, that'd be great. >> Back I get you. >> I heard that the fair is a little later this year. Is that >> Yes. Y >> and so some of the kids are pretty

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excited because their animals should be prime >> just before the state fair. >> So August 12th is when it starts. Y >> we're excited. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Well, Mr. share as a teacher and county commissioner just uh all about 4. Uh

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teaches kids um some much needed life skills and um you learn a lot and have fun and um proud of you both. Uh so glad to hear you're >> uh really liking participating in in civic

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life and and projects and and people and animals. So, look forward to the fair this year and checking it all out. So, thank you, >> M. Mr. Chair. Do we maybe have a couple new K9 officers in the future?

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>> Thank you guys for coming in and telling us about your experiences. And thank you, Ashley. And you too appreciate it. >> Yeah, we appreciate the time. >> Yes. Thank you. >> We'll see you at the fair. >> See you there. and Family Resource Center.

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>> Good afternoon, commissioners. Annth, director of health and human services, and I am going to give a briefformational update about a grant opportunity to explore and assess viability of having a family resource center in Belrammy County. The Sawyer

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Family Foundation has a focus on the state of Minnesota and they are looking to fund counties throughout Minnesota to at least look at the viability of a continuation of a family resource center in each county. Um AMC and Maxa has also

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been involved heavily in making connections between the Sawyer Family Foundation and counties across the state. So probably the first question to answer is what is a family resource center? And as I've learned more about them over the last few years, I've heard many

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times, if you've seen one family resource center, you've seen one family resource center. Family resource centers are designed to meet unique needs of each community. And that's why an explore and assess part of the project is so important um because exploring and

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assessing viability for your community is identifying the gaps that a family resource center would then um look to fill if we moved forward with it. Um, family resource centers are community hubs of support for family. So, basically, it's bringing different

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agencies together to provide service. Um, and that family resource center can be development of a new facility and that has happened across Minnesota, but it also can be a designation of a a community organization that already exists. And that's really important in

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our community because we have a lot of wonderful organizations that already serve families. So, if we can bring more resources into our community to help support those community providers to expand services to meet the gaps in our community, I think that is a win um

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across the board. So, doing this assessment process is really identifying what that could look like for our community. Family resource centers are they do exist across the nation and they do show proven return on investment. So if you

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look across the nation, there's been a lot of research over many years. They're very new in Minnesota, but across the nation, they are not new. And so over many years, they've done this research to determine that the return on investment is $4.93 for every dollar invested. Um so they

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are shown to be very successful. And as you look at the other um statistics on this sheet, you're going to see that there's a lot of statistics related to the child welfare system. And it's important to note that there is a lot of savings in the child welfare system that

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are associated with family resource centers. This is national statistics. So I also want to point out that some of these areas that are being studied may have had no services in place prior to having a family resource center. So some of those dramatic gains may look

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different in other states than maybe they look in our community because as I mentioned we do have a number of providers who are very successful at serving families currently. Um there are some core services of family resource centers. Um they do parent education, they do child

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development activities, resource and referrals. Um they have dropin availability for meetings. Um, oftentimes they may have other community providers that come into them and have a presence to provide services. Um, trying to make it maybe a bit more of a

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one-stop shop type of organization. They do a lot of peer support. They do life skills, but each family resource center is going to be catered to what the gap analysis looks like for that community. The next slide is a map of family

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resource center development across the state of Minnesota. And this all has been done in conjunction with the Sawyer Family Foundation. And so many counties are in what I'm proposing today is is entering this explore and assess phase of family resource centers. Um so that's

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all the Orange counties up there and actually Clearwater County is also moving forward with explore and assess phase. So that's beneficial if we're to do it um together because we share a lot of the same resources. Um then there's the green um counties where F FRC

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development is happening. So they've gone through the explore and assess. There's been recommendations made of what an F FRC would look like for their community and they're doing implementation steps to make that happen. And then the blue counties are where FRC's are up and running. Um and

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so that ultimately is the goal of this process. If we accept a Sawyer Family Foundation grant, we would move through explore and assess. We would determine the need for our community, then we would apply, not we, the community would apply for a secondary grant through the

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Sawyer Family Foundation to do development and implementation. And then when FRC's are receive designation, it opens up funding from the federal government that is designated specifically for FRC's. So really it's bringing a lot of additional

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revenue sources to fund programs and services is the end goal of this process. So what are the next steps? We would be entering the explore and assess phase with the Sawyer Family Foundation.

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We would be looking at location sustainability of the F FRC model in Bel Tramy County specifically. um we would be working with um someone an external entity that we would contract with to go through the explore

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and assess process. Um and that process is laid out in steps one through six. So we would do data assessment, partner engagement, planning, um we would have community members and families engaged in the process. We would do some quality and standard training that our health

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and human services staff would do, but also everyone on the committee would be part of as well. And we would develop a community of practice across the region, which like I mentioned with Clearwater, it's helpful that neighbor counties are also looking to start this process as well.

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So, what comes next um is that Health and Human Services would put forward a letter of interest to the Sawyer Family Foundation. When that happens, a grant application would be opened for Bel Tramy County. Um, and I should mention that only counties and tribes are eligible to apply for the explore and

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assess phase of um, F FRC implementation. So, they would open a grant application for us. Health and Human Services would fill that out. Um, and then we would open or we would develop an RFP to hire a lead agency to conduct that explore

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and assess portion of this process. Um, and I mentioned there's some contingent things that would happen after the explore and assess phase, but those would not be the responsibility of the county at that point. Once uh um a family resource center designation was

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made, then that entity would be working with the Sawyer Family Foundation for additional funding and implementation and expansion of services. So the commitment at this point in time of the county and health and human services would be to serve as the fiscal host for the explore and assess grant

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phase. We would be the contact for the contracted entity that would do the explore and assess process. Um, we would we would serve our staff would serve on the explore and assess committee and we would also coordinate community partners that would also serve on that committee and we would complete

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some free training which we would be extremely beneficial for health and human services staff at no cost. Um so the end goal really is to move through this process to bring additional resources into our community and because the underlying goal of family resource

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centers one their first goal is to support families but then that underlying goal is to avoid families having to engage with the child welfare system. So we hope that by bringing these resource additional resources into our community it can avoid families having to interact with the child

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welfare system at the county level. Um and with that I will stand for questions from the commissioners. >> Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Um just wondering what obviously the big question for us was what what kind of impact financially would the county have other than labor.

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>> There is no cost to the county. It is all grant funded other than our time at helping services >> at the cost obviously. But yeah. Okay. Um that that's uh obviously was my first big question is you know then second question was why haven't we done it before?

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>> Well there were some early adopters of this process and um one of the reasons that we didn't choose to or when health and human services talked with AMC and MAXA was that their focus early on was development of new entities. So it

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wasn't supporting at the beginning of the process a designation for a family resource center to an existing agency. And so the idea of bringing in a new agency when many of our local community agencies compete for resources to remain

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viable was something that did not gain a lot of traction when I did talk with our community partners about it. as far as our community agencies, the Sawyer Family Foundation found that across outstate Minnesota is that many counties had a lot of concerns about trying to

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start up and keep open a whole new facility that was serving families. Um, and so they changed their business model not that long ago, maybe a year ago, to now allow existing entities to be designated a family resource center. And that really changed the game because we

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need to support our community organizations that are already serving families. And there is no ongoing sustainability funding through the Sawyer Family Foundation. So whoever is designated as a family resource center

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has to have their own independent grant writers who then write to the federal government for those FRC funds. So standing up a whole new organization is very different than designating an operating organization. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Ann, you talked about regions. Is that mean sort of some of the collaboration that we've had in the past with other counties like a Clearwater, Hubard kind of a thing? Is that preferable or is that make it awkward?

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>> No, it's actually great to do it with your regional partners. Especially when I think about Clearwater, we share some some community organizations that have the same footprint across our region. So when you do it with those counties that share all of those community

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organizations, then it can be more of a regional approach really and I think that's beneficial for all the counties. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. It becomes worth exploring further.

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All right. Road designation discussion. Got this good thing here. You guys get a chance to look at the draft. I think this is roughly the same one we had before, Bruce, that we looked at a while ago. Uh,

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personally I like this because it gives a process instead of somebody just coming in and requesting it and not having anything to go off of and us having to do an individual one every time. it would still come to the board,

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but it's a process to get it here that's a little cleaner than somebody coming in and giving their presentation and then going through all of the other things. So, I personally like this, but um we need to have some discussion on what we

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want to do. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so an alternative policy would be a policy that says we don't do designations. Is that correct? >> Right. >> Uh, as opposed to not having a policy at

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all. >> Right. >> I just haven't been very comfortable with this idea of doing naming for anything. I just it just creates a lot of issues down the road. I and if and if it's if it's the will of the board to

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have to have a policy, I'd be in favor of saying we have a policy that we don't do designations. Personally, I thought >> I I would say that we have some things that are already in place that have some of those kinds of things, those designations, you know, on county

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property, the buildings and like the Maryland Sutter at the at the fairgrounds, you know, and some roads that have some designations already. So, you know, I understand what you're saying and and I agree. It's it's either

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got to be we have some kind of policy or that says we're going to do it this way or we're going to do nothing. So it just takes it gives a step for people who want to approach it. That's that's my opinion.

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There needs to be that that process. What do you guys think? Anything Tim? Well, Mr. Chair, I think we had discussed this at length uh the last year or a year ago, and I don't think my position has really changed much since then.

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Um, but I'm I'm I'm not in favor of of naming and memorial designations. Um, again, so I I'll stick with that. So you would be in favor of a policy that says

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that we just won't do >> Yeah. Well, I mean if that's what we have to do because I I guess that was my understanding after we had that discussion last year is that you know >> it wasn't allowed. >> Yeah. So, I mean, why why have a policy,

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you know, if it's not allowed? And would would a policy be uh something that could be uh discussed in in future years? I I don't know. I mean, I'm I'm opposed to doing something now that can't be changed, you know, in

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10, 20 years from now. So >> I think anything can be changed with the vote of the board. But >> um you know I again so we're just going to if somebody wants to do this they're going to have to come in and do what Mr. Aken did and then we're going to have to

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have a discussion on whether we're going to let them do it or not because there there has to be some kind of some kind of remedy to what they're requesting. They don't just come in, give a fiveminute presentation, and then there's no answer for them.

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>> So, either we have to just have a policy that says we're not going to do anything under any circumstance. In my opinion, there needs to be something that addresses this. Uh to just say, well, they're just going to have to come in and then we'll have another discussion

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just seems to take up time that we don't need to take up if we're not going to do it anyway. Can we get um Tom's been Are there other areas um uh other things like this that we don't have a a written policy on but

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we have a an understanding or whatever that this just things just aren't allowed >> or do we need to have a written policy that says we can't do it. >> Thank you, Commissioner Gosen. um you do not need a written policy to deny anyone

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the option to do as has been requested recently. Um but it does create a cleaner, more definitive answer and prevents them from coming in the first place. So, um the the benefit of having

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uh a policy that says no, we're not interested in having any designations is that, you know, essentially no one everyone knows from the very beginning the county is not going to participate in in that. And it's kind of shut down from the very beginning. It doesn't allow people to get their hopes up. It doesn't allow them to put much time or

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energy into figuring out where and how and who and why and all that sort of thing. um not having a policy by this board could also be interpreted uh simply as saying, "Well, we're just not doing it." But if this board changes over and you don't have a policy that says, "No,

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we're not doing it." Then it invites, as um Chair Winger had just mentioned, it invites the potential for someone to come forward and say, "Well, there's not a policy against it, so why can't I do it just because we don't have a policy for it?" So, this is our third year in a row where we've we've been down this

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because we don't have a policy at all, right? and we've presented the same policy to you in 2024, 2025, and now here in 2026. So, um it it sounds like, you know, we should have a pol my recommendation would be to have a policy

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which is either favorable and pre prevents or pre presents a process by which people follow or says no, we're we're not going to do that. Either policy is subject to amendment by a future board. So if this board changes by a majority and a future board says,

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"Well, actually, we want to change that to yes, we want to do it or no, we don't at that point in time, they can they can certainly do that. The policies are available to be changed by the board at the board's discretion." So hopefully that provides some assistance. >> Sure. Phil, Mr. Chair, what I'd recommend is

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that we and I'd be willing to help work on a policy that says we don't do designations and then that way we have and by the way I thought this was really well written. I I I just don't agree

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with doing designations, but it's a well-ritten policy. But if we had that policy in front of us and another policy that says we don't do naming and we just sort of have a a or b choice uh and then take that up, I think maybe that would be the appropriate next step. That way

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we that way we have language right in front of us of of this step or that step and then we make a decision and move on >> like that. >> And maybe I Tom, I'd be willing to get together with you to to kind of draft that and maybe Mr. AI can help us. uh

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train about. >> Yeah. No, that'd be so we'll just uh >> um well, just to be clear, I think we voted on this in 2024 not to go with

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this draft policy. I believe it was Tom and Bruce and I and maybe even um some input from former Commissioner Anderson that put this together. We ultimately voted it down in 2024. I think we just talked about it in a work session last

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year. Didn't necessarily have a vote in a a regular meeting about it, but um but I think the draft policy uh makes a lot of sense as far as having a process. Um there's certainly numerous individuals

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out there in Belrammy County that would certainly be worthy of uh being a building named after them or a road or a bridge or something. It's it's quite common for counties to name buildings

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after people uh especially those distinguished individuals like the gentleman that came forth uh a few weeks ago. I I would certainly be in favor of naming that stretch of road um after after him. Um

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so this allows us to do that. So I'm certainly in favor of uh having a a policy. I think we should have a policy that allows for the naming of a building or a road or a bridge. Um,

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so yeah, I I just don't want us to be perceived as the big bad county that just shuts people down right away and says, "No, that person's not worthy of something." So, I think the opposite is true.

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You know, maybe once that jail is built, I will put my name on that first executive order chair. >> Wouldn't be my choice, but >> leave my name off the glass,

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>> right? >> Yeah. >> All right. So, >> we got have them put together another resolution, bring it to a future coordinator that >> Yeah, I think where we can put it to a vote >> and get it get it out so everybody can see it. >> Sure.

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>> In plenty of time so that everybody gets a chance to really look at it and know what we're >> right. That will be pretty short. I I think we could probably pull something together and have it for you by the next meeting if you'd like. I wouldn't want to promise, but because we got budget and stuff, but as long as John and I and

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maybe Bruce can get together on that, we should be able to have something for you pretty quick. >> All right, sounds good. Thank you. Uh, can you make administrator update pretty quick, D? >> Um, I'll I'll breeze through it. Uh, the gel project update, I'll just skip.

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Things are continuing to go well. Uh, I gave you an update on Friday. Nothing's really changed between now and then. Um I did want to mention just for a few minutes here uh about the housing and tax base discussion. I've mentioned this before. Uh Dave Hankle from Greater Bumiji, myself, Richard Spitzka from the

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city, uh the city manager that is uh have all been kind of working behind the scenes to develop this u now it's been developed a preliminary draft of a strategic plan um that greater Benji is going to take the lead on which um will do a number of different things. We hope

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identify resources, obstacles, challenges, opportunities uh for expanding tax base, growing the regional center, increasing workforce housing, uh all of those sorts of things with a number of different goals uh that we have talked about on and off through the

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county uh meetings that we've had. Uh this is pretty exciting stuff. Uh the the plan itself is is um now being vetted through a number of different um people. Uh we have some subject matter experts like Tim Flathers for example who's uh who's helping to consult from a

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distance for free which we appreciate. Uh we're also working with leadership from Samford also the Belchshire County H uh and others. So uh we're excited about where we're headed and what we're what we're doing. Um the plan will require resources uh and so we're

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working also on a resource uh plan for that as well. how we would how we would implement the plan, what kind of resources it would take, uh where we would get uh funding for those types of resources and such. What I'm excited about the most is that this seems to be a very collaborative effort between

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those organizations that are involved. The city's been very uh open and uh helpful in this. Greater Baiji has been the same and appreciate Dave's leadership on this and I'm hopeful that the county can meet uh what it is that um you know ends up coming out as a as a

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regular or as a preferred uh recommendation. Uh just wanted to kind of let you know that things are now kind of getting advanced and it's our intention to present to the Greater Baiji board first because they're the ones that are going to be likely administering if all the organizations

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can agree. So, we want to make sure that their organization is actually feeling comfortable with this and we'll do that sometime later this month. And then, uh, if that goes well, uh, barring significant changes and that sort of stuff, we'd like to present, uh, jointly to the city council, uh, and also to,

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uh, the board of county commissioners, uh, in August. So, I'm hopeful that as soon as August, we'll be able to have something for you that's pretty well baked and that you can, um, also, uh, be engaged with and, you know, give direction and and help us improve. Uh the goal is to hopefully have this kind

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of all done uh by end of third quarter this year and be able to implement uh potentially as soon as fourth quarter this year um at the latest first quarter of next year. So just want to let you know there's some good news here. We are making progress uh and we're we're all pretty excited about this and we're

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excited to share it with you here in much more detail. So that that's soon to come. Um the budget is uh kind of just getting started. all the department heads have submitted their uh budget uh requests and uh line item worksheets and those sorts of things. We're going

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through that. I I don't even need to say this, but it's going to be another tough budget year. Um and so that's that's you know the budget committee um bless your heart, it's going to be more difficult probably than the last budget committee and I think next year's budget committee is going to even be even harder with the

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cost shifts and those types of things that we've talked about. But we're working through that. Um and um one of the things I wanted to mention is as we have put all this data into the IFS system, that's the system that essentially calculates what the overall

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budget needs to be and uh essentially um spits out what the levy needs to be and then that's how we compare. Okay, based upon those levy amounts, how much do we need to raise the levy uh or make adjustments or that sort of stuff. In order for us to get that calculation, we

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actually have to put in numbers for each of the departments and each of the areas and programs and those sorts of things. One thing that we we need some guidance on is the library. I don't mean to bring this up and make it contentious, but we just got the library's request this

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morning for uh $481,740.50 for their uh request for the next fiscal year. um we just need to know what you all want us to plug into the system so that we can calculate what that preliminary levy is and then be able to know okay what

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what can or can we not do and where do we go from from there so to speak. So um that's kind of one of the remaining pieces that we need in order to for us to be able to produce that preliminary levy to then work from. Um and I figured we probably need the full board to weigh

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in on that. Uh so if you uh it doesn't need to be done today by the way, but uh we would like to get some direction certainly by by the next meeting. Um it would be great to have it by today because that way we can produce the levy and be be the preliminary levy and then begin to produce all the documents that

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go into the um budget committee conversations. But anyway, so there's that. Um I don't know if you want to pause for a second or if that's a conversation want to carry to the next meeting or how you want to handle that, but we just need some direction on that. Mr. Chair, I'm just, you know, the

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directive that we already passed says to go with the minimum requirements like we did last year. So I that's my thought on it but okay >> I agree with God. >> Okay.

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>> I think for the purposes of certainty for direction we would just need one more or three the other way to know what you know what I mean to know what to to put in. >> Yeah. I'm not sure. I think an appropriate

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place would be the first budget committee meeting. >> Mr. Chair, uh Tom, are you asking other departments um to trim their request as well prior to bringing it to the board? Right.

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>> I mean, like because I don't I don't hear You were saying, well, you know, the sheriff's office requested so much money. >> Yes. >> And and here you say health and human services are are asking for this much

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money, but but you're bringing the library and asking for direction. So I mean like >> yeah, let me >> bring bring the requests as as they request them, not you know what we want. >> So thank you, Commissioner Sar. The way

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that we have run the process lately is that we have the department heads provide their initial budgets and depending upon what those budget looks like, we scrutinize them. Both the finance department and myself and I have been meeting with department heads. We've been talking about how to reduce

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budgets. I'm eliminating staff positions. I'm also reducing other program areas. >> Why don't for the library? >> Well, that's the question. I I feel like the library is a policy issue that's set by the board. And so that's the question is what what level of funding does the

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board want us to plug in? Just like the department heads. Well, but just like the department heads give us numbers to put in to discuss and produce the levy. That's what we need. I mean, do you want me to put the full amount in and or do you want me to put a minimum amount? >> What?

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>> So So you're >> Yeah, >> put the full request in >> and then let >> Okay. Well, did you >> I think this standard that we had is I mean at this point with the with the

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budget restraints that we're facing, I don't know how we're going to come up with more money this year to give than what we gave last time. I don't see it. >> Yeah. It wasn't my intention to create a controversy, but I just need a number, you know? I mean I I and it's it's your

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it's your budget to >> well >> well that is what we're doing through the budget committee but the >> show us what they requested and not what was scrutinized and trimmed out prior to

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the budget. >> So you'd like to see that for >> for all departments? Okay. Uh, that's not the way we've done it, but that'll create a lot more work for us to figure out. Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. Um, on a

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brighter note, I was just going to remind you, I think you are aware of this, the staff appreciation fiestas on Thursday. Uh, so this Thursday from 3:00 to 4:30 in the courtyard of the um old courthouse building. So, hope to see you all there. And that's all I had, but

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I'll stand for any questions you might have. All right. Review the Do we have any agenda items that need to be changed? >> Only thing I had on the on the regular was there was on the built deal. Is that

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a mistake that that we or no? Yeah, not the first the very second or the second one any township that they requested 22,400 and we give 25,000 >> gave them more than they

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>> Oh, okay. >> because they gave less here. I don't know. doesn't seem like why you just give them what they ask for. >> So there was some there were some reserve over from last year. So then they gave them the reserve

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to help with that. >> It seemed odd because they gave less than what they asked for there 2500 give 2600 more than what they asked for here. So, why don't we just get one? Whatever. Okay, then I'm fine with that. >> Thank you for that explanation.

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>> Yes. >> Any other anything that needs to be changed then? Nothing. Okay. Let's just uh if it's okay, if anybody doesn't need a break, let's just go right into the uh >> What's that?

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>> You got to set up the live feed. So, all right. We'll take a couple minute break.