--------- work session to order. And the first item on the agenda is the introduction of new employees. Do we have any new employees tonight? Shane. >> Hello, gentlemen. Um, we do have a new employee. We're excited to uh Randy was
a great administrative assistant, but she moved on. Um, and so now we had a great pool of candidates. Joselyn Cannon was the candidate we selected. We're really happy to have her on staff. Um, three or four days into it. So,
>> wow. She comes to us from the Boys and Girls Club with a wide range of background um along with running her own business on the side. So, she'll be really good with working with our books and our finances. So, excited. >> Great. From here, Jocelyn, or
>> um actually born and raised in California, been in Minnesota since uh 2016, and then I've been in Baiji for the last two and a half years. Okay. So, is the Boys and Girls Club here that you were with prior to coming to the county? >> Yes. >> Great. Welcome. Anybody have any
questions for Joselyn? >> So, you've been here long enough to get acclimated to the weather. >> Oh, yeah. I was in Northern California, so I was like an hour and a half away from all the ski resorts. Snow's not a scary thing for me. That's good. >> I'm used to driving through literal canyons of tunnel for snow. So,
>> thank you. >> Welcome aboard. Thank you. Thanks, Shane. >> All right. Next up is identify future work meeting topics. Anybody have any future work meeting topics they'd like to bring up? All right, seeing none, we will move on
to the Bamiji community food shelf presentation. >> Hello. >> Hello. >> Thank you very much for inviting us. I'm John Rep. I'm current president of the board. With me is Kathy Felix. She is our interim director.
Um not sure exactly what information you guys are looking for, so just throw out any questions if you have any. Uh the food shelf has been around for 40ome years. These last uh few months have been uh stressful. Um we are very aware
of the anxiety that's going on not only in our community but statewide and countrywide. Um, we were aware of this months ago, so we have done our best to keep our inventory loaded. We spent a
lot of our reserve money, put it in there, but this community is just outstanding when it comes to the amount of donations that we get. So, everything is going very well. We've set a few records as far as um people coming in.
Um, so it's a bad record to set as far as I'm concerned. A real good record would be if nobody showed up, but unfortunately that's not today's climate. Kathy's got some numbers for you guys, so she's going to go ahead.
>> Thank you for having us. Um just to uh make a point as John had uh mentioned that in the first week of November when everything was still in in quite as disruption we did set records that were
not you know we want to see but in three days the first three days of the month we saw 372 households individual households come in. um that is over uh 123 Monday,
Wednesday and 126 on Friday. We typically do not see a hundred in a day. If we see a hundred in a day, that's a really high day. We were breaking that regularly. Um we have since uh the EBT
cards have been filled, the numbers are starting to back up a little bit. we are still over our what we would consider our average. Um we're at it or above it each day since then. Um but the some of the big things to keep in mind are we
are still seeing are already the second week of November we started having emergency visits. What an emergency visit is is someone who's already been there for the month that they still need a little bit more. So they come a second time and we're already seeing that
number. We've had we've been open um uh we had the second week of the month we had seven people come in for an emergency visit in three days. On Monday we had four households. These are households. Um so that is a concern for
us that we're seeing them already come in needing some extra to get through. Um and just as things to keep in mind, why people may say, "Well, why is it still happening?" because they've got their thing. There's still disruptions. Two
big ones are what's called our CSFP. Those are commodity supplemental food program that is for 60 and older only. Back when the uh bill in July was passed, they cut some funding there. We
are not they're not accepting any new applications for that. So, anyone who's turning 60 can't apply. Anyone who misses picking up a box for two times in the year, they are dropped and we cannot read them. So, we have seniors who are
le losing money uh are losing food opportunities already. In that same bill, SNAP changes were implemented to take effect 1 of November. This is totally different than the shutdown. So, those things are
happening. there's new uh requirements for people who are working that they need to submit and new calculations. There's a lot of anxiety still out there. There's a lot of what is going to happen to us. When you have food
anxieties, that's not a good thing. They come to us. We're there for them. We are making sure our shelves are staying stocked. I've I have truly run over already the annual budgeted amount for food purchases. What get lets me sleep
at night after doing that in just such a short time is the donations, the community stepping up, giving us food, uh trusting us with their money. They're covering my back for what I've overspent and to help me get through the rest of this year.
But we have to stay on this because of these changes that are happening. We can't let up. We need to take care of each other. We need to be in community. We need to support each other. And it's just there's still unrest. What happens
at the end of January? That's we only went through to January for this shutdown. What's going to happen at the end of January? We're staying prepared. questions. Commissioner Carlson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Kathy, you had
mentioned that some people have been there more than once a month. Is there a is there a sort of an unwritten rule that you can only come once a month? >> Yeah, it's not even unwritten. What it is is you can visit the food shelf once a calendar month.
However, what we do have also is you can have if you come starting in January, you have two emergency visits a year. So you can really visit our food shelf 14 times a year. >> Okay. >> And so um we did open when the shutdown
happened. We opened the month of November to add an additional emergency visit. Um which is is still in effect. We are not going to pull that back. We made that you know we we are doing that. Um but we're already you know people are
taking advantage and needing not advantage because it's not an advantage. This is something that is part of our program, is part of our mission to serve. Um, so they're already using them. >> And is that a local rule or is are you part of a larger statewide, nationalwide
food? >> It is ours. It is our uh the way we run our local one, but we are um under the umbrella of North Country Food Bank. >> Okay. And I have one other question. Um, I know that you've indicated that you
need more volunteers. >> Yes. >> And I know that you have some organizations that have thankfully stuffed a truck or stuffed this and that. Is it more important at this time to get some cash donations so that you
can fill what the trucks aren't filling? Can you kind of explain how that works? Because obviously if you get a truck full of canned goods or box cereal, it's probably not filling the shelves the way you want them filled. Can you explain that? >> Actually, it does. Think about a little
child. It's I'm not going to be able to go out and buy that Apple Jacks. I'm not going to be able to go out and buy that fun cereal. Think about the face and the treat that that is when we get it in
stuff a truck. We that is it's so much fun. It's so rewarding to see those things those oddity things. But people have asked what do you need? And so I've been putting out different things. What what is it we most need? What would help us
the most? So it's a mixture. We would always welcome any donations of food non-p perishable food items. Um so it is we fill up our our shelves with it. It's never about oh this is we you know different we don't have a space for it.
Oh yes we have a space for it. Yes. So that is good. Obviously the monetary is because we only take non-p perishables as donations. So when I look at needing to buy milk and eggs and butter and frozen meats. That's something that I
need to take care of because I have regulations I need to to ensure the safety and quality of that for our customers. Um, so that's where the money really comes in. Obviously, I buy a lot of non-p perishables, too, but um that's really where that financial uh money,
monetary donation is. Um volunteers, we have just over 450 on our books, but it takes to be open 15 hours a week. It takes 110 volunteers to be open 50 because we do stuff everything from
people come in on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Friday evenings to restock our shelves so that when we're open it looks like, you know, we have stuff out there that people can get. We have those who work in our warehouse who are wonderful that they they make sure when the fresh
produce are coming in from our gleaners who are out picking up from local businesses, they're getting it out on the shelf for that day. We have those who help shop, you know, people shop in the stores. We have um interviewers. We have receptions. There's just it takes a village to make the Biji Community Food
Shelf work and we have them, but we always need more >> others. Mr. Gold. >> Yeah, I have a few questions. thanks for coming in and and sharing the info and appreciate the um communications we've
had recently on >> on how to uh secure some >> donations uh not just monetarily but also uh food donations. I'm thinking of our hunters uh recently uh with um um
venison being processed and and uh if anyone is interested in in uh donating um venison or other um local meats like uh lamb or um if any local butchers have
any beef they want to um have process or rep. Could you talk a little bit about that? I know there's one business that's approved um through the USDA. >> So actually what we're doing is because of again people are just coming out and saying what can we do to help? We have
this, we have that. >> Bamiji downtown meets is now certified to do donated venison. Please contact them directly or the or me because they have to receive the deer
in a certain manner for them to be able to process it accordingly. What happens is if it is during rifle season that he processes it, it gets shipped out because it has to go through some extra uh x-raying and testing
things. Um, and then it goes to North Country Food Bank and everyone who's on the list to receive donated venison under North Country gets a portion of that. That is okay. In my mind, it doesn't have to be just us. There are other communities out there who need
food just like our community needs to. Let's share it. Um if it is during archery season and you donate a deer during archery season that and you take it to Bumiji downtown means he can process it and give it to us directly.
>> So that's the two different ways of us getting venison beef um lamb pork. Um there is not a local butcher shop that because you ha they have to receive it a
certain way for us to be able to get it and transportation is also getting it to us correctly. Um but there are some out of town ones that I've heard about that I've given out the names. Um there's one in Baggley and then there's one in
Gonvic and I can't recall their names. I apologize right now, but they process the uh animals as well. I would just need to get in contact with them if you're doing that so that I can make sure that the transporting of that meat
stays within the regulations. So again, I take it very seriously. I'm held accountable for the safety of my customers in consuming that. So I need to make sure it meets the qual uh standards in transporting as well. And I'm happy happy to do that if we can get
it in house. >> So a couple hurdles to jump through if you want to go that route. But >> it it's really not I mean I will make it as easy for the person as I possibly can if they want to do that. I will do every
I will do the leg work if I need to if I can get that inhouse because frozen meats is they're expensive. They're limited. I have a Lucans has stepped up to the plate to help me get chicken breasts in house at a price that I can
justify. >> Help me get ground beef at a price I can justify buying large quantities. So yes, I will do the leg work if somebody comes forward and they have the meat. >> Just a couple other questions. uh you
know, we're seeing the effects here of some policy decisions that are being made at the federal level that are that are hurting people and it it is wonderful to see the community come together and uh step up and provide donations. But it
seems like we've been doing a lot of that lately. And it it would be nice if the federal government and and the millionaires and billionaires out there that have the money would just step up and not have to um throw this on the
backs of middle class folks that have been stepping up because I do think of that small child that is struggling um that is hungry and you know a lot of moms and dads are are working two three jobs um and and don't have time to volunteer. It's it's really hard to find
volunteers as you know. Um so you know my question is when do you think we're going to see some stability? How do you think that's going to happen? >> I will be perfectly honest and perfectly blunt. I don't know. I couldn't tell
you. Um, all I know is there's always going to be a need in this world and we need to do the best we can given the times in which we can. They're going to be on a roller coaster. It's wait, but what
we're trying to do at the Bumiji Community Food Shelf is be smart about the money that's coming in. And so when the times are where we don't have such big numbers and we're not trying to buy extra trying having to pay a little bit
more because we've got to go to other places to get it because our normal supply chains are running low. We are smart to continue to make our money make some money during the difficult times so that we can continue to support each
other in the times of need. That's what I can tell you we're doing. I I would love to think that we're going to get back to more nor what's normal numbers and even below that, but I don't know when that would be I don't know what it would take for that to happen. I don't
know. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Commissioner. Yeah, I just have one u just from personal experience. Uh you know, when I go to Lucans, they always ask, "Would you like to donate?" And so, yeah, I always do. Uh, how does
that work as far as you does that do they just keep a pool? Like even those bags that have x number of dollars on them don't have anything in them. >> But is that just cash then that you get from their product? >> What we've what we've decided to do with
the stuff a truck, the cash that comes in is leave it at Lucans. So we are actually buying from a local business who did all of the you know pretty much all the work to have this program for us. You know they they do almost you
know they do a large portion of setting it up taking care of it delivering you know collecting the food getting it to us along with the radio station and stuff but we leave the money there and we actually buy from them against that credit. So, yes, all that money helps us
immensely, but we're putting it back in the community business. >> Lucans, Target, >> um >> Walmart, >> Walmart, >> Aldi's, Kentucky Fried Chick, >> we get from all of them. >> They all are great partners with us.
Lucans's um the money that they collect during this stuff a truck like Kathy said they will keep as a credit towards us but they sell whatever we need to us at their cost and they will even bring it over to us. So they are by far one of
the best partners we've ever had. >> Yeah. >> Can't say enough about Newton so well they treat us. >> They've always been a great community supporter. >> Yeah. Sure. It all started with Joe. >> Yeah. Oh, all right. Commissioner Summer. Yep.
>> Yeah. Uh for Thank you for coming. I appreciate the information that you provided. Um a couple of things. Maybe a question for Tom as well along the way. Um but what what is your typical food bundle? What what what >> a typical food bundle?
>> Yeah. When when people come in, what do they >> Ours is a little different. We are what's called a superh boxes unless they're the government subsidy boxes. >> Uh ours is a shopping store. So people will come in and go through a process to
get checked in and then we take them through and they can pick out whatever they want. >> Okay. A typical uh family of two or three will get 60 to 70 pounds of food all one shopping
center one shopping time. >> Okay. >> We did the boxes during COVID and we used to do the boxes long time ago and there are a lot of food shelves around that still do that. I know Begley does, Cast Lake still does, too. And that's
great. But the issues that we've seen is that the people will actually open the boxes that they get and say, "Well, I can't use certain items, so they give us back to us." >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, they get to shop. They get to pick out whatever they want. >> And it's more than just food. I mean,
it's a meaningful, respectful way for the people to get treated. >> Yes. >> Nice. >> Well, hopefully, you know, myself and the board would be uh willing to come out and visit, you know, see how the
operational process works. love to have. >> Um, so I I know food insecurity is a real issue and concern, you know, for a lot of folks and uh, you know, this this issue isn't unique to Bel Tramy County, but I think uh, as Bel Tramy County is,
one of the poorest counties in the state, I think it's really uh, something that we need to do to keep an eye on, you know, uh, the situation. And you know, I mentioned you you uh I heard you mention that you already over
spent for the year and and you're wondering and worrying about what's what's going to happen come January, but uh maybe if I can get a little clarification from Tom or a member of the board, but I guess it it was my uh understanding that with the SNAP
benefits, they will go through the next 2026 and not be up for discussion again in end of January. Is that correct? >> No, this you are correct. And the SNAP benefits were part of the approval
through September 26. >> The thing that I would I bring up and point out is back in July when the bill was passed, there were uh changes to some of the SNAP processes and
qualifications and um requirements of sub data submission that are going to have an impact on us. >> Okay. Um so that was already decided back in July. >> Um the other thing that concerns me is
that um and I I understand it's talk at this point but we have to listen to the talk as well because it could impact us and we need to be ready and that is this considering making everyone go through reertification to make sure that we are
all correct and everything is above board. That's something we need to be aware of and stay very much uh informed on is if they start doing that, what does that mean to us? >> You know, hopefully it won't happen. I am really hopefully that will never
happen. But we can't turn a blind eye to the fact that they are talking like this and we have to be prepared. So the so that's where the snap uh things are are happening. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so there is still a huge need and I think that's part of the
reason why I asked for a presentation, you know, from the food shelf because I want to know uh what we can do or if we can do, you know, I know that there's uh there's little appetite to help financially, you know, from the county, but I'm hoping that, you know, hearing
and understanding that there is a a huge need, maybe there would be some reconsideration um with any reserve funding that we may have. I know that uh local businesses are are doing what they can do to help. Uh other local agencies
uh I understand that maybe the tribe the local tribes you know might be helping out in some way. So where does that put you know Belrami County? I mean, I I think it's important that we uh do what we can to help our our residents and
whether that's uh through a contribution of some sort, I'm hoping that we can have that discussion because as uh as you heard there there's still a huge need. You know, maybe uh you know, if we can't help financially, maybe we can set up a donation box
throughout the county. Um, I know that the the county and county staff, you know, do uh different uh fundraisers and things uh throughout the year, you know, so I would hope that we can make an exception for that. I'm just trying to
look for for ways uh that we can help. Um I know at the district 2 meeting, at AMC District 2 meeting, uh there was talk about other counties, you know, financially helping uh their local food shelves. So, um, this kind of sparked my
curiosity wondering what we can do to help and and I, as I mentioned, I I hope that there's some way that we can help. Thank you. >> There's Thank you, Commissioner Summit. >> There's a couple things that are coming up that, um, we've got our eye on you
guys. Um, one of them is, uh, we have people parking in the street because there is just not enough parking spots for them. We're hoping to address our parking lot situation this next year and maybe that's something that we could
partner together, but I know you guys are going to be fing some things right next door. So, you know, maybe we can tie together somehow. The other thing that we're really u expensive nonfood thing we're going to be experiencing is
our computers and our computer software. It's really outdated. it's not really working very well. We need to make that commitment to and all those things. You know, owning that building is really nice, but along with ownership comes
responsibility. Make sure it's everything's there, working it should be. Those are nonfood items that a lot of the community will say, I don't want my money going to a paving a parking
lot. I want my money going to food. So food is our priority, but we still do have to have some stuff to do. So thank you, De. >> Well, thank you, John and and Kathy. We appreciate we need to get moving on running behind here. So thank you.
>> All right. Next up, we've got the growing the tax base and we've got a a threesome of the Greater Bumiji and HIDC and and Chamber of Commerce here to present to us. Can you help me out? Diane, >> who's up first?
>> Thanks for having us. Yeah, I get to be first. We were actually talking back there who's cutting back >> for time reasons, but I'll try and do that. But in any case, thanks for having us. Apologize, Commissioner Gold. You asked for this uh presentation quite a while ago. Took us a little while to get
our schedules together. And thanks to Tom, by the way, for meeting with us and talking to us about what we needed. So, we do want to talk to you a little bit. I mean, the conversation is how what recommendations do we have collectively uh to you uh to help encourage growth in
our tax base, which in light of the previous conversation is really critical, right? in any case. So, we want to talk about that, but we thought we'd do to make sure everybody's on the same page about what each of us does. We thought just real quick updates of what each organization does a little bit on
Greater Bumiji. You know us pretty well. Small organization, nonprofit. Um, we do get county funds uh thanks to you all through the development fund, but also some city funds, but most of our funding comes from private companies at this point. about 75% of our funding
comes from outside the the uh outside the public arena. Uh and we do serve the entire county uh and the rest of greater Bumiji region. Our mission is is really about driving development and promoting prosperity. So our really our central
focus is simply tax base, right? Growing the tax base. That's what we're here for is to encourage that development. So everything we do has got that in mind, right? That is our centering focus. And I shared with this in your and I'm not going to go through it obviously uh but
I'll just a few highlights of things we do. If you see on the left there's three uh traditional activities that's very much economic de focused. We promote the region right we try and recruit companies. Uh that's what traditional economic development did. Uh we
encourage entrepreneurs uh and startups. We have the launchpad which has in our building which has about 65 current members. And then we support growth and expansion of small businesses. So if you are a small business, we uh supported about 200 last year uh with some of the
needs and uh issues and challenges they faced. We also help access state incentives. You helped with that, right? The West Frasier project that is going on right now in our in our county was because of your support. We're doing a very similar thing will be announced
this week for Airore Aviation. will be expanding both in the industrial park and out at the airport. We do those things as part of really our effort to drive development here. Very very traditional economic development work. And then of course we do a few other
things too and I'll talk a little bit in a bit but why we do them but you know we're pretty focused on that rail corridor right now uh and what's happening there and the development $65 million of development that'll occur there. And then also we also work hard to attract talent and we'll talk a
little bit about that. So that's Greater Bumiji. >> Well, thank you for having me. My name is Scott Tur, the president of the chamber. Um I won't go into a lot of detail either. I think I was here a few months ago, but our mission at the chamber has always been to advocate for
the business community. Um really trying to remove as many barriers as possible to make our business community uh thrive. And so housing development and commercial development isn't necessarily on our radar. But over the last 5 10
years, the lack of development in our city, the lack of housing now is affecting every employer in town as employees that are trying to find housing in some way or another. Um, with the lack of commercial development, you're also seeing everyone's taxes going up because there's not enough
spreading around. The expenses of the county, the expenses of the city do not go down. And so if you're not creating new tax base, it's affecting everyone who's already here. And so we've really started getting involved in a lot of ways that we can get um more development
going, understanding why people are not building in our city. uh the comprehensive plan that you've been hearing about, all our ordinances and codes in our city, all of those things uh have to be looked at because there are some barriers that you can you can
believe it's one thing or another. But the facts of what is happening in our community, we had 10 homes built in our city last year. You know how many homes we destroyed in our city last year? 10. So we had a net zero of new housing. That's concerning. We had zero
multifamily uh properties built in our entire county last year. That's concerning. And then I handed you um um a report that's interesting. We've got into trying to learn about what's happening right now.
Like these reports from DED, these reports from other entities. If you do a housing study, it's using 2023 info for most of it. That info right there is from last year. I can even get you info from last week on who's coming to our
city, who's working in our city, where they're going. We have a net, there's 4,000 people that work in our city that don't live in our city or excuse me, county. So, those are when you talk about building something and they will come. They're already here. We just can't find housing for them. So, they're
living somewhere else at the time. So, those are the kind of things the chamber now is more hyperfocused on. We still want to do all the other advocacy things that we do, but this is uh this is a top priority now with the chamber for us. So, okay. Thanks. We'll turn it over to Cal.
Um I gave you that um packet. I'm going to go over a couple of things and again I'm going to let you um digest the rest of it. First one is um first page on that packet is we've entered into an agreement with Affinity for the next
three years to do some specific targeted um programs for allowing people to understand the difference between renting and home ownership and how in many cases it's just a little bit of difference in how they uh budget their
finances so they can build equity instead of always using it as rent only and having nothing shouldn't say nothing left because they obviously have a nice place to stay, but um they can't build equity and so that makes it easier for
them to find employment and other housing arrangements as they move through their life. Um because most people, not everybody, but most people would like to have a home of their own that they can go to and feel like they
have something. Um, so that's one of the programs that we're investigating. Like I said, it's going to be it's a three-year pilot project and we're looking to expand that from what we're doing now with them to other financial entities, hoping we can get their
interest as well and expand it as fast as we can. Um, second page. Obviously, I gave you a kind of a narrative on say a $250,000 home with 10% down. We do
at HRDC, we do some uh down payment assistance. So, that we can help with that. However, we can't help with what they pay in interest. in order to generate, from what we've found, um, best way to generate more homes being
built is to knock that down so they can make it as affordable or even more affordable than having a rental unit. Um, that is the only way that we're going to do that. When we do that, and when we're successful doing that, because we will be successful,
um, the tax base broadens, the burden on everybody goes down. It's a win-win for everybody, but it takes a little skin in the game, too. We've got to find a way. And one of the things we're doing with Affinity is seeing if we can't do some of that where we can um
take some of the interest off it for the say the initial first five years so they get a little equity built up and they can understand it better as they're going through the program that we're putting going to be putting them through. Um that's the best way. Um I know this um city in the past has been
very specifically targeted on we need permits, we need this, we need that, we need the time to do the invest uh um on-site premise inspections. That's all well and good, but that's a
one-year one-time revenue stream. And if you hinder that building, you hinder 40 or 50 years of tax money coming in. So, we're trying to get everybody and we
want to ask you to be on board with that in some manner that we get past that and do something different than what we but what we've been doing. Um, the fourth page back pretty much
tells it all. Um, and you can read that and give me a call. In fact, I'd like a call from each one of you on anything you could have that would be beneficial in making this happen faster. If you have a stable population, obviously you're going to provide
opportunities for businesses to expand or to start. You're going to have intact enhanced revenue base because of that, which in turn will ask for more employees. But we got to have the housing first.
Thank you. >> Question for the dean here. >> Yeah, I would just uh like to reiterate re reiterate the importance of that down payment assistance program at HRDC. I know it is super helpful in getting
folks into um a first-time home buying situation and it's super valuable. I' I've heard from a lot of folks. uh I've benefited from it uh personally and and uh have family as well. So um yeah, love to see that continue to be funded and
and uh uh prioritized there. So thank you for that. Um just a couple uh quick questions uh kind of related to what you were saying a minute ago um Cal about uh permit fees and and uh um permits.
Uh would you say that um would you be supportive of the county uh waving building permit fees um uh driveway entrance fees um something like that uh for the next year or two as kind
of an incentive for people to build? >> Yes, I would. But make it five years because it takes 18 months to two years to get motivated to get things operational. Um, sure you can get one off, two offs, but you need to get the word out. And the word seems to go real
slow unless it's bad and then everybody knows it tomorrow. So if you're going to consider something like that, I would consider at least a fiveyear window. >> Okay. Thank you. And then for anybody uh what do you think would be good behind target? >> You or me, Scott?
>> Go ahead. >> Well, I I think you should take a little time thinking about it. So, uh, we have a few slides about tax base I want to talk about, but one of the recommendations of course we have is about, you know, you doing inventory of county properties that might be good development sites, right? And I don't
know if that's been done or in the process, but certainly that site is one of the ones that we would want to spend a little time thinking about and and and Tom and I have had multiple conversations already. I've done a little digging um to see what is posession.
So are you okay if I just real quickly do this? Go ahead. Shouldn't take long. Uh I do want to frame it up just a little bit because the question was about tax base and what do we need to do in tax base and this is all three of us talking not just me. U just real why do we why is this matter? Well, a lot of
good things come from good development, right? a lot of good things from jobs to to tax base. But I was just at a a meeting at the hospital last week talking about health and and somebody asked Carla Ashens, the CEO, what's the most important thing they could do right
now? And she said grow the economy. A 1% change in their payer mix is equivalent to $2 million in their in their budget. 1%. And so this has residual benefits not just at Sanford, but you think about education and health and all that. So
tax base matters and you all know that based on what you've been going through the last 3 four months trying to make decisions based on a limited budget we have to grow that tax base and we really think it's a good conversation for you to have right now and we're thankful uh that you're having it when I think about
tax base and we think about tax base I think about when I visit with companies what they talk about right if you want to grow tax base you meet the needs of what they're asking for the two things I hear consistently is one can we staff the the business, right? Do you have the workforce, qualified, available
workforce to staff business? Secondly, do you have good development sites? If you have both those, shovel ready is the buzzword. If you have both of those, I think you're going to grow your tax base. And here's what I mean by those. One, in terms of workforce, that of course brings in the challenge of
housing that we just talked about. Uh the challenge of work, uh daycare, uh quality of life, that type of thing is all based in that workforce piece, right? It's not just about education and training anymore. People can live anywhere. Why here? We need to make it a
good place to live as we are. And then secondly, the shovel ready site thing is really critical for you to think about. Uh when I say shovel ready site, what developers are talking about and businesses are talking about are sites that are good sites, right, for development. I mean, the target property
as an example, a really good site for development, has the infrastructure, which is a challenge in our county and our city. And then thirdly, has a a supportive business climate, the things that Scott talked about, right, to make sure that all those things are in place
uh to make development happen. Those are the things that I encourage us all, not just you guys, but all of us to focus on as we move forward. So, here's some here's some suggestions that we came up with and you guys jump into uh for your
role and what the county could do to really start focusing on tax base as what I believe is the pre-minent challenge facing us genuinely uh in the county right now. Uh which is this first off I think as I mentioned you know find
the properties that are good development sites make them available and we'll help you with that. I'm happy to help with the target site for sure. Uh because I think we should be able to encourage development. That development pays taxes. Taxes eases the burden as Scott
and Kell talked about on everybody across the board, right? And and it creates the resources that we can use to serve needs like we heard earlier. We we have infrastructure challenges uh certainly in the city but also outside the city out as an example our
industrial park needs a rail spur that would be the number one most important thing from my perspective our industrial park needs that's not a city issue that's all of our issue we've got to find ways for example to help invest in things like a rail spur in our
industrial park simplify the permitting process at all levels but we went through with West Frasier at the state was really quite frankly ridiculous. Uh we've got to solve that challenge, but it's hard to do at the state level, but we certainly should be able to control
that at the local level and address that issue. Um I would encourage you uh that in all your decisions, whether it feels like it's economic development related or not, keep it top of mind because all of all your decisions make have residual
impacts, right? So if you have that as the primary focus, it should help as you uh think to the future. Then lastly, and this is a challenge to us. I don't think that we in in the region or the county have a have a really coordinated
approach to this yet, a real focused effort to say, listen, if this is our number one challenge, what are we collectively going to do to make a difference in that? I don't think that conversation started. I think it needs to start. And I encourage you guys to to
also help with that and challenge others to including us uh to to expect that from us. So guys, >> I can't agree more with Dave. Um it takes all of us. It takes a community. You heard that from the food shelf. We
we know that it's got to take everybody coming to the table and bringing ideas and some of them may not be great, but out of that something great will come. I've always believed that and it's always happened. So that's one of the things that as we move forward in this process, we need to remember
>> no. Okay. Questions for the group? >> Mr. I just wanted to say quickly uh uh the housing summit that's coming up uh on December 2nd. That's really exciting to see. So um would love to see a similar type of event take place uh in
the future like uh spring or summer at the earliest. uh um just economic development in general and um bringing all the key stakeholders together. So like you said uh we can brainstorm ideas good, bad, ugly and out of that will
come something good I'm convinced. So >> and we're both part of that um housing study um forum. We're kind of leading a couple forums. Well, I think it's going to be important is because we're also going to have developers there and we always come up with these housing studies and all these different things and we come up with our own ideas, what
is great, but we don't talk to anyone who's actually going to build it. So, the county doesn't want to be a builder, the city doesn't want to be a builder. So, we have to figure out something that's a win-win for both things that we can get in our community and people that want to build it within their parameters, too. So, yeah.
>> Thanks for that, Scott. And I want to make sure that everybody that's watching that they feel free to reach out to all three of these guys, you know, HRDC has a lot of other programs that they that they do and work with. You know, gap financing. So, if you can't get enough money just from the bank, there's there
are loans that the Headers Regional Finance Corporation has that can do gap financing. Um, they don't compete with the banks because they have to be approved by a bank first. But if there, you know, if there's a gap between what they need to be able to buy that house that that, you know, along with down payment assistance that you mentioned earlier, Commissioner Gold, there just a
lot of programs and a lot of things out there that that, you know, HRDC, the chamber, the Greater Bumiji can assist with and so I encourage people to reach out to them. Commissioner Summer. >> Yeah. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Um, I'm going to kind of echo what Commissioner Gold
said. I'm glad you mentioned an economic development sort of summit. you know, I think would be a great opportunity for, you know, key stakeholders to to come together. Um, because this sounds like a a challenging undertaking that not one
organization can can take on itself, you know, listening and hearing the the need for housing and and child care. I mean, you're not going to attract a talented workforce if we don't have child care or housing. I mean, it sounds
like a a multi-prong um issue that needs to be uh discussed and and and I'm hoping that uh uh there is some sort of summit uh developed for for the summer or sometime in the the near future to to you know gather all
the stakeholders that you know because at the county here we we hear from everybody you know child care comes in, housing comes in, all these folks come in but they come in separately. So it's kind of difficult for us to, you know, get them all together and and try
to collaborate, you know, if they come in January or March or, you know, so I I think that would be a great idea and and uh I'm hoping that uh you know, you guys can can figure that out. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Summer. Looks like it. So, thank you guys.
Appreciate you coming in and presenting. >> All right. Next up is a fishing overview. I think Jared is gonna come up and and uh No, Commissioner Winger, we are not going fishing, unfortunately. But >> yes, not that kind not not that kind of
fishing. Yeah. >> Um good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Jared Lahy. I'm the network administrator here for Bel Tramy County. Uh today's topic in cyber security is uh fishing um and the threats that come with that. Um, nine out of ten of your
cyber security threats start with a fishing attack. And uh, today we'll get into that. I could have Diane next slide here. >> Okay. >> Oh, I have the clicker. Thank you. I apologize. >> Yeah. >> So, what is fishing? Um, fishing is a
cyber attack where attackers impersonate legitimate entities, right? So, they are um pretending to be somebody else to get information from you. And what that really means is they need you to participate in order for them to get that information. And that's really what
I really want to focus on. You probably get a thousand emails a day. Um especially you guys, and we'll talk about the specifics of what um what you guys would see in regards to being a commissioner. Um these are targeted attacks, right? They know the the the
challenges the county is facing. Um and I'll just go into a quick example. Most people probably know we're getting a new jail. So, you might see some malicious attacks saying, "Hey, check out this new uh jail uh proposal I had. Just click this link." All right. Um
something like that. And so, those are things that I kind of just want you guys to be thinking about. Hey, is this legitimate? Is this source legitimate? Um just double check. Hover over those links and we'll uh continue to get into even further fishing uh tactics that they might use here.
Um, so there's uh email fishing, spear fishing, which would be the the the personal um targeted ones. Smishing, um, you I'm sure you guys get all those uh those SMS texts. Um, whatever they may be there, tons of
topics. Um, fishing, which would be the voice, um, somebody calling you pretending to be someone they're not. Um, and then duplicate of legitimate messages. This is a big one that we're seeing a lot. Um, you'll get them in a form of format of an attachment or
something like that. Um, for example, I've been seeing a lot of Netflix ones where they're actually taking the exact Netflix um, email you would get from a legitimate Netflix and just replace that link and it's a legitimate email or
however it looks legitimate um, and but it's not. It's it's going to take you somewhere else. They're going to get your information and uh, further damage to come from that. Um, the fishing tactics that I really want to cover is the urgency, right? They're going to they need action from
you. So, they're going to they're going to create that sense of urgency. Um, that makes you act now. Your account will be locked in 24 hours. Something along the lines of that. Oh, you've won $1,000. Click here to claim. Um, oh, Microsoft.com. That money might be
urgent. I don't want to get locked out of my email. Um, and then we're look, again, we're talking about those hyperlinks and those attachments. Um, something you just want to you want to double check just to validate that, uh, you're going to where they say you're going.
Um, and again, more red flags. I just want to cover unfamiliar senders. A lot of times they're going to be bad grammar. Um, hover over those links. Um, they're going to be requesting for sensitive information. Um you guys might
have seen a lot of HR ones or payroll ones. You know, please send please update my banking information, things of that. Um really probably not too much new information here. But it is important. Like I said, nine out of 10
um cyber attacks start with a fishing attack. And so that's really what we want to do. and they are expensive. Um, just so everyone's tracking, especially um with the premiums you have to pay and and all these cyber um
uh insurance agencies, it does get expensive. And so we we are uh we are we are combating this and I do want to just further get into that. Um on your screen, these are probably just a few um
um what am I trying to say? Um, you've seen a few of these. So, this one, click here to view your signature. Double check who's it from. Um, double check that hyperlink. Who is sending it? Um, you've been a a file has been shared
with you. Just click here. Um, like I kind of said that here's your new jail proposal. Here's your new budget. Um, things like that. They will target you. They will they know that what's specific to you. And so that's just something that you guys I really just wanted that the commissioner at at the commissioner
level I just kind of wanted to preach preach to you guys on um and just here's one more uh one drive um click here to get access to your file that's another example um like I said hover over links
um and then further steps um we we do have MFA here um at the county so to for for an an additional layer of security. Um we are doing fishing training. So we are um training our users to to do these
um to take these precautions and things of that. Um when failures do happen, we do uh remediation training. So they are getting further they are getting constantly tested on a monthly basis and this is something that uh we are seeing we are continually getting better at. Um
and so I do want to wanted to let everyone know that. um and what to do if you suspect you've been fished. Right? So, initially I want you to just ignore it or report it. Um delete it if you want. And if you do
fall for it, you got to let us know. And additionally, you want to start changing your passwords, right? What did I actually where did it take me? Did it did it look like um like your email login? Did it look like your bank login? Um those are things you want to be you
really want to look at, you know, was this a legitimate what what site did it actually look like and things of that nature. Um just just be attentive to what you provided those bad actors. That is all I have for you commissioners. Do you have any
questions? I I might fast. >> Uh thank you Mr. Chair. So Jared, can you just the little button that we have? >> Yes. >> On our emails and at least it is on my laptop that you pointed out to me that if we see something suspicious, we just
click on that. What happens then is it go to you and then if it's actually legit, you just bounce it back. How does that work? >> Yes, sir. So that is all an automated process. Um it goes so once you click that fish alert button it's an um I
don't want to get into vendor specifics but yes you will send uh that will go it will send that email through a automated system and if it cannot identify if it's legitimate or not it will notify us and we will go in there we will check your
links out we will check the attachments validate their legitimacy and then we can manually go through there and uh put a clean or a threat or a u a spam um uh category on that email. Um if it is
malicious, we do rip them out of we it will then go through everybody's inbox that received that email and rip them out as a precautionary measure so no one else is clicking that link. So, it is important that we do report these emails because you're probably not the only one
who got that email. And the faster you report it, the faster it gets ripped out and we don't have any potential compromises. >> So, so I'm guessing that it's you'd rather have us air on the side of uh doesn't look great. Maybe I'll just
click that off to you or off to the fishing button. And you'd rather have that than have to repair damages from a hacker, right? >> Yes, sir. Absolutely. Please report it if you're in doubt. Absolutely. >> Commissioner Summer.
>> Um, so you're telling me that the Craig Goswick committee board member431gmail.com is not a real email. >> Probably not, but yeah, we'll see. >> I'm glad I didn't respond. Thank you. >> I wouldn't. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ser.
>> Can't trust that guy. >> Did you hit the fishing button, though? All right. Well, thank you, Jared. Appreciate it. And you know, I I don't do we use no before at the county here or or which which monthly or weekly training program do you use?
>> We don't want to talk about vendor Smith just because uh that would gain insight to a threat. Okay. Something like that. So, if we we can absolutely talk online, offline, sir. >> Yep. No worries. Yep. Thanks. >> Hey, thank you everybody. >> All right. That brings us up to the uh
county egg inspector grant. And looks like Brent is coming up to present on that. >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh this afternoon, I'm asking for um approve. You have a on your consent agenda and a
agenda bill to authorize me to sign docuign online a grant agreement with the state of Minnesota. It's a it's a new grant we applied for. Um, administrator Barry had uh has always kind of challenged and tasked us with finding additional sources of revenue
income. Uh, this is one that uh just came available this year as a result of last year's legislative session. Um, we've complained for decades probably that the county egg inspector duties are statutoily required for counties, townships, everything and it's another
unfunded mandate. the legislature provided some funding in you had to apply for that funding in the form of a grant. Uh we did submit an application and um essentially what the department of agriculture did is they divided the total pot of money available by the number of people that submitted
applications and that's how it determined how much we're eligible to receive. Um and we've got a a few duties that are assigned in there. But essentially it's a one-year grant to uh do essentially the things that we've been doing. um and
potentially bring in up to $10,300 of revenue that we wouldn't have otherwise had. So >> that's just wanted to make sure we kind of explained that and um yeah, if you have any questions or >> Sounds good. Anybody have any questions on it, Commissioner? >> So this grant here covers the the work
of the the noxious weed program. >> Yeah. Um what we wrote in there is we've got we don't have anybody uh staff in our office that are trained to be county egg inspectors or designated employees anymore. We need to send a couple people to training. So this grant will pay for
that and then also for our annual weed meeting we would do with the townships and then some work that we would do with the township officers on helping to enforce noxious weed law. Yep. So, is does the county still have the the noxious weed committee >> or did we do away with that?
>> I'm not aware of that. >> I know that there were >> No, you know what? There's an aquatic invasive species committee >> that was separate. Um, I'm not aware of a noxious committee. >> Okay. Yeah, because I remember uh in the past uh former commissioner Anderson and
I would would go to the noctous weed meetings and >> we used to have an annual weed meeting in the spring where we invited all the township weed inspectors and we provided updated information. We haven't done that for probably I don't know I'd say probably I'd say probably before COVID was the last one we did.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. And so that's this is the other thing is counties are encouraged to get back into doing that now and so cover the cost of putting that on and staff time to coordinate that and put together. So >> okay, >> any other questions for Brent?
>> I think the noxious weed inspector falls on the commissioner with the largest geographic district. >> Well, it's my understanding that uh what that it's more in the southern part of the county. So, >> all right. Well, thanks.
>> Thankfully, we don't have to appoint a uh anybody to serve on any committees for this. It's just a >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Brent. We'll move on to the judicial security legislation and Charlene is coming up to
>> give us the rundown on that. >> Good afternoon, Commissioner. Charlene Sturk, your county recorder. I'm going to talk to you about new legislation that was just passed this year, which is a judicial security legislation. We have three address protection programs in the state of Minnesota. The
first one was safe at home, which was a in engaged in 2013. What happens with safe at home is the person actually has to move from where they originally lived and move into a completely new different area and all their information is completely shielded. The second one was
Daniel's law which enacted in 2022 and this protected any federal judges. This came in effect because of Daniel Anderly. He was a son of a federal judge who was murdered in his home in in New Jersey. And then in 2025 the Judicial
Security Act enacted in in the state of Minnesota. An overview of the bill is it it's an address protection program specifically for the judiciary. They will submit what's called a real property notice to the county recorders office. It lists
all the information that they want masked. We're allowed to charge up to $75 to process these requests. And these um this goes live on January 1st. And who's covered is basically any judge in the state of Minnesota, either active or
retired. In addition to that is a domestic partner, spouse, or an adult child that does not live with them. They can mask their information as well. The data that's covered is basically their legal description or property address or parcel number, any information that would identify where
this person would live. It's retroactive and it's for online and digital real property records and we cannot disclose any of this property once it's been requested to be masked. There are four forms that we're going to see. The first one is the judicial real
property notice which is created by the judiciary. We have not seen this form yet as it hasn't been completely enacted by the judiciary yet as to what they want us to mask or how they want us to do this. We're going to mask this information until they either consent to
terminate. There's a court order that they're no longer an owner of the property or the individual dies and they record their death certificate with us or they no longer qualify for coverage. The second form we're going to see is the consent to access which is going to
be done by the judicial official himself. He will give us an a document that will request us to allow a certain person to access their property. An example would be is if he's going to the bank to get a mortgage, he wants them to allow to be allowed to access the
property. The second or the third one is access by request to release. This is done without the judicial officer's um consent. This is basically done if, and I'm not sure how that's really going to act because if he's deciding to sell the property, wouldn't you think he would
consent, but the realtor or the title company can come to us and request that information? And there's a lot of information that they have to give us, their license number, how long they want to access this information, and so forth. And then the fourth one is the consent to terminate, which is signed by the judicial official or another
individual, especially if the person has died and they are no longer in this in this program. So, we're allowed to access fees for these these notices. And so, I'm requesting tonight you to pass or pass
your approval to allow us to set the fees at $75 for the initial real property notice and any subsequent real property notice like if they want another mortgage masked or an easement masked or something that they would pay an additional $25 to have that masked.
if they want to do any consent to release to the release the information to any title company or any other person that they want to $75 for that and then the consent to terminate. So basically that's what I'm in tonight is to ask you to approve these fees
and is there any questions? >> So char is that u are we doing this automatically or they or is that only upon their request? >> Only upon their request. >> Okay. So we may or may not have an influx of them. We may or may not. My thought process on this is I've already
heard rumors that there is additional legislation that will be coming to mask other people's information next year. Oh, >> okay. >> Especially after what happened in May. >> Yeah. Any other question? Commissioner Winger, >> just have one. It says that it's retro on
um digital and all that. Does that mean like these hunting apps with Onyx that list people's property? >> We don't have access to that. that that's yeah, there's nothing we can do about it. The only thing that we can mask are are documents in our office that are digital right now and then
we'll make sure that that's not available. So, that's a good point. If they're out there right now, Google, I'm just not sure how they're planning on masking that information. >> And again, like I said, it is only the judiciary right now, but I anticipate there will become more.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you, SH. Appreciate it. and then we'll move on to the administrator's update. >> Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um we'll start off here with the jail project update as we typically
do. Talk a little bit about where we're at on that project. Uh the roof's been fully completed, which is great. Just in time for winter. Uh the membrane's been installed and all the rock is installed as well. So that's super great news. Uh we're waterproof at least from the ceiling down. Uh masonry and HVAC uh
overhead duct roughins are continuing. uh they'll go on for some time uh throughout the building. Uh there has been cocking of the pre-cast joints, the big wall, the exterior pre-cast walls. That cocking has been completed in the trench drains were also set in the sallyport. Um electricians are
continuing their underground work throughout the entire facility uh in preparation for receiving the cells. Uh and then the concrete crew has also prepped and poured the electrical room, the stairway room, and the stairs up to the to the roof and completed the last
two knockout panels. um uh for uh in the slabs for uh cell access. And just a reminder, the kind of an interesting and and uh fun to watch sort of activity is going to occur here over the next several weeks and that's going to be the installation of the cells as they double
stack them and slide them through the open pre-cast walls and then move them around on the interior of the facility and hook them up to plumbing and electrical and whatnot. That's going to be quite the process. Uh there'll be another crane that comes onto the site to do that work. Uh but it won't need to be near as big as the pre-cast crane was
uh because the cells just don't weigh that much. So um but you know it'll look like another crane there for at least several weeks as as the cells get incorporated into the uh into the interior of the of the facility. Uh next I want to talk a little bit about the jail bonding. We had intended, I think
in the last update I gave to you to talk about jail bonding this week and begin that process. We're just pushing that off a few weeks now. Jody and I have been working with the uh consultants on this and looking at our financial situation. One of the questions we're
trying to evaluate right now is how much of the second bond issuance should we propose? As you might recall, the first issuance was $40 million. The project is an $80 million project. But we through
careful planning and management of the project may have an opportunity to request less funds in the second bond issuance uh with some creative financing uh options that we're looking at right now. And so uh that's what we're kind of
working through. It's possible we're sort of toying with the idea of maybe a a $36 million secondary bond issuance sort of saving that additional principle and of course the interest that comes on that. So, we want a little bit more time to look at that and also tee up a couple
of other uh evaluative uh activities that are important for making a good solid recommendation to you. So, what that means is that essentially we're going to push things off and into the December second workshop is when we're really going to start talking about uh the spendown of the 2024 series A bond,
where we're at, what what funding is left in that initial bond issuance. uh also talk about future cost, where we're at on lost colle uh collections, that's the local auction sales tax collections, uh and then what the preliminary 2026 A series bond might look like. Some of
those details I just mentioned a little bit. Uh we'd like to get your feedback at the December 2nd meeting. Uh so we want to make sure that we have your direction and how to move forward. That'll be an important meeting. uh there's no decisions that need to be made, but there is direction that we'll need from you because that direction
will help us tee up how to put the financial plan together uh that will ultimately will end up going to you uh for formal recommendation and also uh direct the bond sale. So, at the December 16th board meeting, uh we will present based on your initial direction
at the the meeting on the 2nd the pre-sale report uh and the recommendations for the 2026 uh series A bonds and ask for your approval at a on a resolution uh to essentially authorize staff and our consultant to proceed with the January 20th bond sale. Uh so that's
an important uh activity that'll happen in uh January 20th and that is uh essentially receiving competitive bids and uh essentially presenting the winning proposal on uh January 20th. And
with the winning proposal, there'll be a recommendation. So we'll get that information that morning. We'll turn it around quickly and have that as a placeholder on your board agenda for January 20th. uh just like we did the last time we've done this and then hopefully get your blessing and approval
for that uh sale and then uh pass that in the resolution and then direct um you know the the parties to proceed to closing. At that point in time we expect to be closing sometime in early February, maybe midFebruary and that is
in plenty of time to keep the project rolling. We actually don't run out of money till probably the end of March or so. Um, but we also want to build in a little bit of cushion in regard to the potential for delays or hiccups or anything else along the way. So, this gives us about a 30-day sort of window
to work within. Uh, but uh, so a lot of activity is going to be starting on the bond second bond issuance here. We'll have a lot more information to share with you on that. Uh, it was mentioned earlier in the meeting today, but the Belmy County Housing Roundt, just want to put another plug in for that. I don't
know if you're aware, but there are over 90 uh individuals registered for that roundt. It's an all day event. Uh it's being essentially co-hosted by um the greater Minnesota Housing Fund and Northern Minnesota um or sort of sorry,
the Northern Minnesota Greater Minnesota uh the housing fund. The Minnesota housing fund. Okay, it's too many words. and Sanford. Um so uh and it will be also um held on Tuesday, December 2nd uh at the
Sanford Event Center here in Baiji. There'll be a lot of different speakers, a lot of different participants uh from a variety of different business and industry sectors. Uh so it's really going to be super great. As I mentioned, over 90 folks have signed up for this. And uh I know we have a board meeting that day. Uh so if you can make it to
most of it, that would be super awesome. Uh but you know, we'll have to cut it short a little bit because the event runs until uh five o'clock and of course we'll have board meeting uh on the uh that that starts probably at three o'clock or so. Uh lastly, I wanted to remind you of Thanksgiving that's coming
up. So our offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 27th and 28th in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. So that's all I have for you, but I'll stand for any questions you might have. >> Any questions for Tom? >> Thank you, Tom. >> Thank you. How about um we've got the uh
consent agenda. I think uh Commissioner Carlson had a couple things to point out on that. Anything anybody wants to pull from the consent agenda for the regular meeting? >> Commissioner Carlson? >> Well, Mr. chair, we can hold that until the meeting. But I just will point out
that there's one word change in the um the minutes that has to be corrected, but other than that, it just to keep in mind that we'll have to amend that, >> right? >> Other that >> just wanted to remind so we didn't forget to do that and doesn't sound like
anybody has any items that they need to pull from the consent agenda. So, we will adjourn until 5 o'clock. Part: 2
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. I don't have any specific comments uh
tonight from the board chairs. We'll move on to citizens addressing the board. Anyone wishing to address the county board on an item not on the agenda may come forward at this time to be recognized by the board chair. Please state your name and address for the record. Comments are limited to 5 minutes. A personnel complaint against
an individual county employee may not be heard initially at a board meeting. Personnel complaints may be submitted to the board in writing through the county administrator's office. A person addressing the board may not use profanity or vulgar language. First, we'll we have one person in the waiting room, so we'll take the the online
person first. Go ahead, uh Diane. Oh, yeah. Two. Okay. So, you admitted them, but they're not wanting to speak or >> Okay, great. Okay, Camille, go ahead.
>> Hi. Um, I'm Camille, born and raised in Baiji, and I'm now a student at Biji State University. Um, I'm actually a student worker in the economics department, and that is part of what my argument is about with respect to the library funding. Um, we simply can't
afford to cut funding for the library. Investments in people have the best returns. It's not only a moral imperative to serve your constituents in this way. It is financial and economic as well. I am not only personally
attached to the library. I didn't just benefit from it and I did enormously. I'm saying in terms of our tax base, in terms of our future, we can't erode these vital services. Thank you. >> Thank you, Camille.
You have more there, Diane. Okay. They're not requesting to speak or anything. Okay. Well, we'll go ahead and move on. Go ahead, ma'am. >> Okay. Um I'm Deborah Conklin and I live at 2516 Callahan Avenue Northeast in Baiji.
Okay. Um, Andrew Carnegie once said, "A library outranks any other thing a community can do to benefit its people." Biji was deserving, Andrew Carnegie found to, you know, have a public library, one of, you know, which the
building still stands. When I was looking for a house here, I did, of course, you know, review and visit the public library here. And I found in addition to the books of course which you would expect to find in a library that it also had a lot of the
various programs that I had been benefited from when I lived in Ohio such as the toddler programs when I was raising my daughter. Book clubs, adult programs and a friend of my daughters actually benefited from the use of the computer there after he was laid off to
find a new job and to update his resume. libraries serve a critical service to a community and I would want you to please consider you know the funding proposal so then that way these services and the hours can still operate you know with
the full staff intact. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for the opportunity to speak again. This is my third time and it's about the library and um I have appreciated um being able to go online
and receive the uh work session emails updates as well as the um board time period. I read them every time. I watch for them on Friday when they come. Um and I have spoken using the um YouTube
Zoom method. And I'm also very grateful that I can watch from home online. Um, >> could you state your your name for us, please? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I guess I just assumed >> you missed that piece. >> Wrong thing. Um, Pam Royer, 1020
30th Street, Southeast Bamiji. Um, so, um, thank you for the opportunity to be here. Um, I do want to say that it is uh surprising to me that uh when the regional library came here
and spoke and said that they would um uh give $81,000 to help keep that's my understanding to help keep the library going and then the um commissioners could approve the other funding. Um and so that my understanding
is that happened at the last meeting. Um, a library is a pillar of the community and to have it gone or reduced and to the um bare minimum is a travesty
especially in our community in our county. our people, as we just saw from um the work session with the food shelf um presentation, the um need is great and to have a free service. That's one
way that our county commissioners and our tax dollars can give back to the community with um a fullervice library. Um personally, um I have taken my daughter who is now
40 and now takes her do her children um not in this community but in another community and um uses many many library services. I don't know if you're aware that um there are three ways that you can use the library electronically.
Ebooks um and two online um auditory uh ways. I was just um finished an auditory book that I had to wait for because um we were only allowed so many
users at a time and that's how the library is presumably keeps cost down. So it isn't like um spending money foolishly. Um I come from a long line of um the
importance of literacy. my parents read to me um maybe stating my age and in southern Minnesota in my um house we had a big great in the winter time where the heat would come up and uh radiate up uh without blowers and my mother would read
to us around that great um and my father purchased books for us like Nancy Drew the Britannica encyclopedia and we had a dictionary this large in our home Um and from that beginning with my literacy
with my family then I came to the library. I remember at age 22, I came here as a young woman coming to work and I went to the library which I believe is now the Remax and I was appalled at that
library and not the services but that a community of this size and this county having a library that was so small that probably dates me also because I'm some of you look a little puzzled. So, I was very glad to have the new library um
built. So, in my estimation, leaving that $81,000 on the table and not embracing it and bringing forth um a an an equal amount to keep the full services that are
available. I'm watching my time here. Um so um I wanted to share those things with you and um oh another huge thing when my daughter when she was three or four years old the
library we found a children's book that is impactful to us today to both of us today on World War II and a picture book that um brought her into um the world without
um condemning or uh her as a person or um inappropriate I guess is the word I want to say. Um and we both have copies of that book today. And I just I can't tell you more important how much this
library means to me, to my daughter, and to my grandchildren now who live in another part of the state that began here, began with my parents, but then be began here for her. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Pam. Next. Hello, my name is Lenor Potter. I live at 3769 Carver Road. Just want to tell you a little bit about my last two jobs. Um, I was the first executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Biji area.
And some of you may remember me. I was in the paper a lot. But the second job after I retired from that, I was hired by KMAC to facilitate uh your new emergency care center for people a mental health crisis. Just so
you understand my connection with the county and the community. Um what was really fascinating to me about I was a consultant for a year and a half before the boys and girls was club was started and one of your economic development
individuals in the community kept coming to my meetings and it usually was nonprofit leaders and community members whose children children might have had difficulty with alcohol issues and uh so he was kind of an unusual guest at these meetings and finally he
came up to me private ly he said, "Lenor, you know, we need something like this. We need something like this because our doctors are having a hard time keeping staff. Um sometimes people don't want to move here because we don't have a lot of things for for um kids to
do. So that rings true with our first guest who was talking about the economic importance of the library. Um, and you all know about the Carnegie history. And uh, what was interesting is when I went online trying to find out more about it,
there are actually grants now for libraries. The grants will help public libraries deliver critical services that promote socioeconomic mobility, civic participation, and social belonging, which is what I think the library does
today. Um, but again, I did finally find the history of the Carnegi Grant gr grants that we got in 1908. And what the community had to promise if they got this very generous grant to build that beautiful library was the
community must agree to fund the operation and maintenance of the library. So, I urge you to honor that promise that we made to the Carnegie Foundation. And even though we're not using the building, I think it still rings true. And from my husband, who
isn't here tonight, he said, "A thriving library is the sign of a thriving community." So, I urge you to fully fund the library and take the KRLS offer of funding. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next.
>> Hello. Good evening. My name is Sheri Ko. I'm a Biji resident in Belramman County. resident. Um, I could be home on my couch reading a good book tonight, but I'm here because this is so incredibly important and I have no doubt
that you're challenged by a tight budget. And I have no doubt that things are going to get worse as the economy worsens. But I'm here to tell you that the community knows that. And yet they want this library. They want you to find a way to keep the
library funded. It's such a small amount when you divide it by every person in this county and yet it has such a huge impact on so many people especially people that have so little. Here's an example. It's a story for you and it's a
true story. I mentored a little girl who was in a program at Evergreen called Kinship North. There are kids in that program were selected because they face huge challenges. families that suffer from drug and
alcohol addictions, depression, low incomes, abuse, etc. We have far too many. I met this beautiful young girl almost every week for several years. My time with her was at times frustrating, but
mostly rewarding. We spent endless number of hours at the library and parks were some of her favorite activities. we read together when she was young silly stories that like Shell Silverstein poems were some of her
favorite. And if you've ever read those, they're just they make you giggle like too many butts in this tub kind of stuff that make adults and kids giggle alike. And then later I helped her check out chapter books to read on her own.
Unfortunately, we lost touch once she hit middle school because families move in and out of the community um like we see here in Baiji so often. When I reached out to try to connect with her when she was in high school, I discovered that her
mother had died from an overdose. Her father was in and out of her life and she was living with family members. When we met for lunch, I also discovered that she was really wise beyond her years. And guess where she wanted to go? The
library. So, we went there and I helped her again check out some books, buy some very inexpensive books at the Red Door Bookstore for her to take home. She tells me she might want to be a teacher. I'm not certain where her resilience
came from to rise above the tragedy in her life and the trauma of her young life, but I do know this. The opportunity to read and access books were a way for her to improve her literacy, opportunity for success, to
see the world through similar eyes and different eyes, and often to escape tragedy and tough times. Where would she be and others like her if she didn't have access to this free and healthy opportunity? It's a public library. It
serves the public. It doesn't require you to practice a certain religion or have a certain income. Libraries are an equal opportunity part of communities around the country as it is in ours. Why would we choose to close the door and
decrease access access if there is a way forward to make this less painful for so many? I ask you as myself and as the child that I speak for, she's no longer a child, but the
kids like her. Make it work. Find a way. >> Thank you. Hello commissioners. Thanks for the opportunity to talk. My name is Ken Grantier, 17310 500 Cent Street Biji. Uh I want to just talk to you about a
couple of things real quick. Uh one, I'm a former teacher, uh retired now, but my last 14 years were at JW Smith. I was teaching second graders and um one of the challenges we that that was um a
school that had about 80% free and reduced lunch. And so it's a a school with a high rate of poverty. And with high rates of poverty, what we see with the young kids coming in is they tend to have a much smaller vocabulary than kids that have been in more literacy rich
environments, more books in the home, um, you know, maybe more free time to take them on different experiences, that type of thing. And so every kind of literacy experience they can have is really beneficial to them. Now, our school and and Central School were kind
of in the same boat. And it just so happens those are both areas that are within walking distance of the library. Um, one of the things I used to do with my kids is uh in the springtime we would take a walking field trip and we would go and see the police department, we
would go and see the fire department and we would go to the library. We get we get library cards started for the kids and we would introduce them to some of the things some of the summer programming that they were going to have. And for a lot of the kids, it really motivated them to take advantage
of that. Uh, and which is super super important for those kids become back. They come back and they've had other adults that have read to them. They've had other experiences, maybe they've seen some plays, that type of thing. And so it was real I felt it was really
really important for them to do that. Um, so when I look at the library and the funding, you know, when you talk about a $170,000 cut, that's 1400s of a percent of the
budget. It doesn't seem like a lot. And then you look at what KRLS is willing to do for you as far as kick in 80 $81,000, which takes it down to almost like 800s of a percent on your budget. Um, so it's not a ton of money. We're talking about
$90,000 now. And I know that there's a $700,000 contingency fund. And I know times are are tough and budgets are tough and that type of thing, but also just in terms of of budget priorities, I was looking at the budgets from 24
through the projected one in 26. And some things are going up a lot like uh something called general government goes up by almost 25%. That's real dollars. 14.6 million to $20 million.
You know, remember library cuts is, you know, we're talking about 170,000. Highways and streets go from 17.6 million to 29.1. That's 40%. Right. And on the other hand, human services goes down, and this is a, you
know, pretty big budget item. It goes down $4 million, uh, down 15%. uh culture and recreation goes down 30%. Which I'm assuming the library is part of. Um and that is you know like we're
talking 70,000 for the library and 250,000 for total. And then economic development is going down from 300,000 to 240,000. So we're talking about small budget items. But why are those things going down so
much? Why is economic development, culture, and recreation going down so much in human services? It seems it just seems odd. And I'm not doubting that there's really important things that you're spending money on, but it just seems like there's some really important things that you're not spending money on as well. So, in all
that money, um, you know, with the $700,000 contingency that could be spent on something and a lot of these budget, uh, amounts in the millions, you know, looking for another 80 or $90,000 seems like something that could be done,
especially when we're talking about 21 hours of programming uh, per week for the library. You know, I'm thinking about losing the the children's librarian and losing some of those childhood programs. And that's that's going to be really big. I I'm telling you from my own experience, that's going
to be really big from the kids that are within walking distance that library that are in high poverty. And um five jobs, 21 hours, that's huge. So, please really take a hard look at that um offer from Kitigami. Please take advantage of
that if at all possible. and let's make sure we're giving these kids the best opportunity they can to come into our schools every summer after every summer not having lost so much ground. Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Next. >> Hello. Uh my name is Jonathan Larson. I'm at 21593 Joish Beach Road Northeast in Kellier on the southshore of Upper Red Lake. The library was not on my agenda tonight,
but I would add my voice here in support for funding to that after what I've heard. I gave a statement before a county commissioner's board meeting in 2018, 7 years ago, expressing our deep concerns about an unpermitted, unregulated commercial ice fishing
resort operation that was set up next door to us without any permitting process, no notification or anything. After that, we received some assistance from the county in the form of an assurance that some communication would be sent to the responsible party indicating what was permitted on the
property. However, nothing has ever changed. I could just read the same statement from 2018 that expressed our concerns and everything in it would have applied last season. In 2024, we retained legal counsel to advise us and work with the county to get an
explanation as to why a private property owner, a commercial resort operator, and multiple other outfitters using the property are allowed to freely conduct commercial business operations without any permitting restraints or oversight from the county. We and our attorney
were subsequently given to understand that after last year's ice fishing season, things would change and that they would no longer be allowed to operate next to us without permitting. We expected to be advised by April of this year as to what the plans were for enforcement. We heard nothing, so our
attorney sent a letter this summer to get an update. We received no response, so this fall another letter was sent again with no response. There may be entirely valid or good reasons for the lack of responsiveness, but at this point, we're completely in the dark. Right now, there are over 30
wheelhouses parked next to our property, and we have every expectation that dozens more will be showing up soon. Today, just hours ago, somebody hauled in a rig and dropped it off. People have been actively working on the property. All of the commercial signage that has been posted on the property and even off
the property remains in place. One of the first things we were told by the county years ago was that the signage was not permitted. Seeing this and not having any information from the county at this point, the only assumption we can make is that no enforcement action has been taken, our rights to peacefully
reside on our own property, will therefore yet again be disrupted for months at a time. I would respectfully like to ask the commissioners how they would feel if someone showed up next to their home and set up a large commercial business operation without any permitting or oversight. How would you
feel if you came home at night to see dozens and dozens of people camping next to your home along with the accompanying 24-hour lighting, noise, and traffic? Nobody asked us if this was okay. How would you feel if someone next door to you installed an intensely bright
blinking strobe light on a utility pole that shines 24 hours a day, 7 days a week into your windows for months at a time. Nobody asked us if this was okay. I would also like to ask you to put yourself in the position of a property owner in our neighborhood and imagine
this. They want to sell their property and they have to explain to the real estate agent, well, there's an unpermitted commercial resort operation next door and the county declines to do anything about it. I I don't know what to tell you. So, the real estate agent looks at the property tax record and says, "Yes, there is no commercial
designation market for the property." The agent also finds out there are no conditional use permitting documents associated with the property. Then what? Maybe the real estate agent says, "You just sell at a discount." How is that fair that our property values have been and continue to be compromised like
this? How is it fair to the real estate agent who expects accurate information to be reflected in county records? How is it fair to prospective buyers who may have no idea what they're getting into if they purchase property? We in effect have been forced for years now to
involuntarily subsidize an unpermitted resort operation along with the third party outfitters who pile onto the property. And I'm using the term resort here very loosely since resort implies that a facility has been legally permitted and meets all requirements for legal operation. We like ice fishing as
much as anybody and we appreciate the super hard work required in a resort operation. It's hard. So, I would also like to ask the commissioners, what about the other lawfully operating resort owners who have to play by the rules yet have to compete with someone who doesn't? Things like OSHA requirements, having handicapped
accessible facilities and signs, liability insurance. I've asked myself, how can someone even get valid liability insurance when engaging in unpermitted commercial activities? That doesn't sound safe to me at all. How about public health requirements and inspections? Next to us, there's signage
for a lounge and public showers. How is it possible the facilities like these can be installed and offered up without any permitting or oversight? We worked hard for our property and were here there long before this resorter oper operation showed up and in effect turned our neighborhood into their
personal fftom where our rights are wholly subservient to whatever they want to do. Ample evidence and years of it has been consistently provided to the county about what is going on next to us and how it has increased year after year after year. We pay our property taxes
fair and square and in return we expect the county to fairly discharge its responsibilities as well. The county's inaction has allowed facts to be created on the ground which appear completely at odd with what is legally permissible and what is recorded in the county records. Perhaps there are things that the county
has done recently or are happening now, but we have no way of knowing. As taxpayers, we feel entitled to respectfully ask the county, have you done anything to fix this problem? If not, what is the reason for the continued inaction? In closing, I want to say we are
frustrated. No question about that. But I also want to thank the county and personnel for their effort. My guess is there are far more people who complain about something or another rather than just say thank you. Uh especially this year with all
the storm damage. Uh I will share with you that recently I received assistance from someone at your facility out in the industrial park area and they were absolutely polite, courteous, and very helpful in assisting me. I was grateful and told them so. And it seems to me
that exactly what you as commissioners would like to consistently see and hear from your constituents. Thank you. Thank you, John. Next. Good evening. I'm Ann Long Vulneri area in Bel Tramy County. And I hadn't
planned on saying anything tonight, but I just want to recognize that you all have heard from many, many, many people in our community the value of the library and everything it brings to people and for people and to the people. And so
I know you've heard why. So I'm just going to since I didn't plan on talking, I'm just going to pretend I'm wearing a sign board here and just summarize what I want to say right now. Please. So, I'm asking you, please be smart, be adaptable, be flexible, be creative, and
look outside the box for a solution. You've heard a few solutions coming up even just this evening. All of that to please keep that library open. We need it. Thank you. Thank you. >> CT Marhoola, 4524 Birchbond Drive,
Northeast Bamiji. Uh thank you uh Mr. Chairman and commissioners. I sometimes start my speech or my talks with this explanation and I think it's appropriate. There are two kinds of people in the world. You
have a problem and there are those people who find a way to solve it or you have a problem and you find an excuse not to address it. I will let you make your own judgment of which category you fall in with these issues.
Now there's also another say a second one is that what you fund is what you value. Let's take Oh, we just 97% of the county approved a new jail.
I don't take that as they approve crime. I think they want more public safety, but they know it had to be spent for the betterment of the community and that you cannot find the money for the and I include the historical society that
bothers me more than most people and the library is is inexcusable. Uh when you talk about valuing things, look at the great one and only Ohio State University. They're not going to
spend a million dollars to get a high-tech professor in there. And neither is MIT going to spend a million dollars to get a football coach. I doubt they even have a football team. You spend your money on what you value. And
your message to us is you don't value history and you don't value knowledge. That is simply wrong. I come from the small, very small community, but at Minnesota Lake of the Woods, they spend
taxpayer money, $96,000 a year to fund their historical society and museum. How much do you spend? I believe it's zero. Not certain. That's an embarrassment. history must be
preserved, especially the unique history in Belrammy County. And also, you may have done this. If you have, I apologize and and applaud you, but I have not read where there has not been a resolution to uh Senators
Clolobashar Smith and Representative Stopper uh asking them, "What the heck's going on? you're you're cutting our throats up here with your uh big beautiful bill and I'm going to include Governor Walls and uh Mr. Duran and Mr.
Green. Hopefully, you're talking to them, but they got to act. And so, I'm just going to say that there is an easy solution. You look at Mr. Barry, and I'm sure he could do it, and you say, "Mr. library.
I want you to bring back funding that a plan that will fund the library at 100%. And I want you to start working on a plan that will fund the historical society to preserve our history. There is no way a community in a county of
this size should not be funding the preservation of its history. Thank you. >> Anybody else? All right, we will continue on then. Thank you. >> We'll look for approval of the agenda.
>> I'll move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Motion by Commissioner Winger to approve the agenda. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Carlson. Any further discussion on the agenda? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the agenda say I. I.
>> Any opposed? The agenda is approved. 5 to zero. onto the consent agenda for a motion for the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chair, >> yes, Commissioner Carlson, >> I do note that there's one change in the minutes that are in the consent agenda,
>> the work session minutes, correct? >> No, this is on the minutes for the for the board meeting. >> Okay. Uh, under commissioner business items, uh, Commissioner Gould gave a shout out to the Bumiji fire chief, not the Black
Duck fire chief. Very minor change, but just a change that needs to be made. And so with that change in the approval in the minutes, I would then uh make a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended for the approval of the minutes.
>> Okay, we have a motion to approve the amended consent agenda. Do I hear a second? Second. >> Second by Commissioner Gould. Any further discussion on the consent agenda? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the amended consent agenda, please say
I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? >> The consent agenda is approved. Five to zero. And that brings us on to the one item on the regular agenda, which is the Minnesota U Nuclear Energy Alliance membership.
Um, not really membership. It's basically just uh um supporting supporting that uh the Minnesota Nuclear Energy Alliance. Anybody want to make a motion on that or
>> Well, Mr. Chair. >> Yep. Go ahead, Commissioner Markson. I'll I'll I'll move to join the MNA so that we if we get a second then we can have a discussion about it. I would just make that motion >> to further a discussion.
>> Motion by Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Commissioner Winger. Discussion. >> Um so Mr. Chair, we had a discussion on this last meeting
at our work session. >> Mhm. >> Doesn't sound like there's any dues involved. Um there's no special um I don't believe we any special resolutions. Um, my understanding is
that the intent of the MNEA is to just be able to open up a dialogue about whether nuclear energy could be an option as a uh non-carbon source of energy for the future. Um, and the pros and cons of it.
Um, I guess I'm not sure where I stand on that, but I do think that we should have the discussion. And so if this would help further a discussion, I think it would be good. We could follow Itasca County's lead. I see that they joined. Um I I believe it's probably a good idea
that we could join also. >> Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. Yeah, it's it's basically just a um getting a a coalition of counties and cities and and other uh local government units to to lobby the state to release the
moratorium that is currently on in Minnesota on nuclear energy um to allow us to have that conversation to open open that as an option of a non-carbon-based electric energy source. Um it's not, you know, approving of actually doing
anything. It's just basically Minnesota is the only only state in the union that doesn't allow even a discussion about nuclear energy. However, we have been one of the ones on the forefront to say that we want to be carbon free. Well, nuclear energy is one of the the best
options for being carbon free um and not having a fossil fuel base. So, this is just us, you know, for free signing on as you know, showing that we have support if we if we approve of this motion. is basically directing administrator Barry to just go on their website and and sign on to to being um
approving of the with like you said with Itasa County, Sherburn County, other counties um and cities in in this motion. Commissioner Summer. >> Yes. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. So, um I I seen and I was looking through the the
information that was provided >> uh about the MNA and I seen that there was only one other county out of 87 that were part of this. So, I I try to reach out to administrator uh Sky over there
with but on a Tuesday, you know, most board meetings meet and on Tuesdays. But um and and to be quite honest, I am a bit confused about what is on the table.
As I recall, last board meeting, we were talking about uh supporting a resolution and now tonight we are talking about uh joining a membership. So to me that
seems like two. It's neither. >> Um, and I guess to go even further, uh, to me this seems like it is a special interest group. And I think that is something that we as a board have
discussed in the past about whether or not we want to entertain any thoughts or ideas uh, of joining uh, these types of of groups. memberships. Um, I couldn't
see anything um of from the documents that were provided that aligned with the county's missions. I don't understand how
uh the electric uh association has with what we do here at the county. So if we open up this, I imagine that there could be potential in the future of of other special interest
groups. Um maybe even myself would want to be uh a membership of of an organization that uh that the county board might not be in support of. So, how are we going to pick and choose
which uh organizations, special interest groups that we're going to be part of? Um, so, so I I guess that's my concern. You know, I know was it last year,
the last year and a half, you know, uh there was a committee that um went through, you know, our committee assignments, our committee our committees and they determined
which um committees were county orientated. So maybe that would be a good start to see if this is something that aligns with what we do here at the county.
>> Mr. Do we have do we use electricity? >> Does every county resident use electricity? >> Well, we use electricity. We use a lot of things, but I mean, what's what's going to be next? The the telephone company? Is it going to be uh the wireless companies? >> You think it's good for the the members
of the county to have electricity? if we go to 2040 and we don't have electricity. It's pretty important. >> If I could finish. >> Yeah. >> I'm not saying that, you know, we don't use electricity. I'm saying that maybe it's something that we should take the
time to really look at. Um I know that we we we don't want to have more committees. You know, we can't afford that. And you say it's it's uh no cost. Uh everything has a cost. >> No, it doesn't. It does. What's it going
to cost the county? Um, you know, that's and and I think I know the makeup of of the board well enough to know where this is going to fall and land on the vote, but I but I encourage my colleagues to
reconsider and think about it. Is is is this something that we we need to pursue right now? Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> You're welcome. Oh, I thought is this is not authorizing anybody to do anything. This is just u
like we've done many times a letter of support just like we did for Northern Northern Township to apply for grant funding from the government. You could have said that that was not gerine to us either. Um, this is just a letter of support for all of our rural counties
and cities to be able to lobby the state to allow the conversation of nuclear energy. It is not anything that is there. What what could you possibly think that there would be negative about that and how could it not be gerine to the county's interest to want to make
sure that we are trying to provide for the future of electric energy for our county residents. That's that's all this is. >> So, Mr. chair. Is that something you can pursue as as your duties as uh a board member of the electric company?
>> That's not what this is about. This is about getting the counties and municipalities to lobby the state. That's they they have a larger voice to lobby the state to release the moratorium on nuclear energy. And it's a bipartisan thing. It's not a one side of
the aisle deal. This um Grant Hoschild actually supported this. He was at the nuclear moratorium over in Itasca County last year and attended that. It's not this is not a a partisan issue. This which is what you were alluding to earlier. This is this is
>> I said it's a special special interest. >> That's the same thing. Uh no, you know, we I haven't >> and it's not this is not an issue that is u and when most people think of nuclear energy, they think of uh you
know the the few meltdowns that have happened over the last teen decades um Fukushima or the three mile island whatever you know um there's a lot of different technology. Nuclear energy has ran our submarines for decades very safely. people sleeping in them next to
the nuclear energy. It's not a it's not a deal that it has to be that type of a thing like XL Energy has or anything else. So, um that's that's a little background on it, but it it's this is just uh us showing support for all the rural counties and cities to be able to
to lobby the state. That's it. And it does there is no cost to it. It is just us signing on as a showing our our support as a county. Any further discussion? Commissioner Carlson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the reason I brought this motion forward is after
listening to the presentation that we had at the last work session. I'm really concerned that as we get 10 years down the road, the cost of electricity uh for us here is going to be enormous.
Um and and I'm and I and and and I applaud the work that's being done to try to have clean energy. I think that's awesome. Um there isn't any there's no more clean energy than nuclear. Um, but that's still it's still early to say whether
that's actually viable or not viable. But certainly I would think if we want to look at keeping our environment as clean as we possibly can and yet still enjoy the ability to have the electricity that we've had in the past um without being
worried about whether the wind blows or whether the sun shines or whether the river flows over the dam. Um, I I I think we need to have a uh have the ability to look at all options. What's the cleanest uh most inexpensive because
the county spends I don't know what the dollar amount is and I'm not going to put commission administrator Barry on the I'm not going to put you on the line today. uh but it it's the the amount of uh energy that we use is enormous and and so it does affect us uh
substantially in our budgets for the future. Um, and so I would I would encourage us to just look at this as this is a way for us to try to mitigate our electricity costs in the future of
to have someone looking out for us on our behalf at the county level to try to get our our electricity costs as low as possible and yet still have uh a carbon-f free electricity source. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. One other reason why it is important to do
it sooner than later is because it takes an extremely long period of time for one for the for the state government to actually move on it but then also for the anything that if it was to get removed the moratorum um and that
nuclear energy is not a quick turnaround. There's lots of permitting and everything else that happens. So it would be a very long time before even if once the mortorium got lifted before anything would even be possible and and our state is already regulated to have
it be carbon-f free by 2040. So um right now all the all the whether it's in the city or outside the city um it's either coal wind or um bas coal wind uh and then uh a little bit of hydro off the Garrison Dam is what supplies the power
to our county. So, um, without that cold in the winter time at night, you're not going to have power. So, anyhow, further discussion, Commissioner Winger. >> Yeah, I just, you know, I'm certainly in favor of opening dialogue,
>> you know, but to have the ability to talk about it. I I kind of agree with Tim on joining organizations if that's what this is. I guess I'm a little confused because I thought it was just a basically just saying that we
would like to have that dialogue. If that's what it is, I'm in favor of it. If it's joining something to say that we're part of a coalition, I'm not so sure I like that. But >> well, Mr. Chair, by by the looks of the information that was provided, if we do pass this tonight, we will Belrammy
County will be part of the names that are listed on their little pamphlet. So, I mean, >> showing our support. Yeah. I mean, so >> it is rather concerning. >> Yeah. Commissioner Carlson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um,
in light of Commissioner Sumar's remarks, I guess I think it would be appropriate that we produce a letter of support that would encompass maybe some of the uh questions that Commissioner Sumar has
raised rather than passing something tonight um to draft a letter that we we feel at least good about that. We're not joining that we're not some member of some mysterious
organization that that we're just uh lending um our thoughts about what what we need to see about our future for electricity. Um so if we could maybe between now and our next meeting draft a
letter that we could all uh agree on u or at least substantially agree on. I think maybe that might be that might be appropriate and I hopefully that that would help um in light of Commissioner Sumar's u request to maybe just whether
we take another two weeks or another four weeks probably isn't the end of the world to do this. I I I do think we should do something um to open up the dialogue and but I but I respectfully to Commissioner Sumar I think we could go that route if So with that, Mr. Chair, I
would withdraw my motion. um and and ask um that perhaps the chair and the administrator could get together and maybe draft some language in a letter or a a resolution or whatever would deem appropriate um to lend our
support to opening up the dialogue. >> I had actually told administrator Barry that we didn't need a resolution or actual letter because all we really need to do is to show our support by, you know, signing on to but we didn't need that. We did have a letter from Sherburn
County in our previous board packet in the work session that spoke to that of what they had had written up. Um so we do already have something like that. Um but u you know it's whatever the board wishes to do if you know I I just think that that might be and hopefully that
would be helpful for Commissioner Sumar. >> Commissioner Sumar, would that change anything for you? Would you appreciate that? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, yeah, I've seen something in writing I think would be more helpful than than what was
provided in the uh board packet. Sherburn County did provide that in our last work session. we could just look at that and um you know maybe administrator Barry could email that out to the to the board and you could make any comments on what you would like to see changed or
different if anything and uh and then get that back to them for our next board meeting and we could just table this uh until our next board meeting. Is that the board agreeable to that? >> Y that sounds
good. Administrator Barry, do we since we had a motion and a second on the floor, do we need to um do anything with that? >> I mean, we should really, >> Mr. Chair, I did actually withdraw my motion. >> Uh, we would need the second to agree. >> Yeah.
>> To withdraw the motion. >> Yeah. >> So, you a second agrees to withdraw the motion and a second. So, therefore, we're it is off the off the table for now and we'll just wait till the next board meeting. Um, and do we want to, you know, to send that that letter that
was Sherburn County that was in the previous one out and and then you can respond with comments on that prior to the next board meeting. Does that that work for everybody? >> Commissioner Summer, that works for you. >> Yeah, maybe if you can drafted it to
reflect the Tramic County and >> so yeah, just basically edit the Sherburn County one to put our name on it and stuff. probe. >> I can do that. That would be uh pretty easy to do. I guess the question is a matter of process. We could either start there and then you can hack it all up or
you can hack up the Sherburn one and we can make it our own and then put it on our letterhead. I mean it really I guess kind of doesn't matter. I just >> I I think if you read the letter um I mean I can easily change the Belrammy County references um but it'll be the
Sherburn County letter. anything that's in there. I just don't want you to have the assumption that that's a reflection of my position on anything because typically I write letters for you all. >> Y >> and I would just simply be taking that letter, putting it into Belrammy County's name and just understand that
it's not an administrator's authored letter. It is Sherburn County's letter. So, >> Mr. Chair, and I think that's what Commissioner Carlson uh suggested was you two get together, work it out, and bring it back. Yeah. All right. >> And then we'll send it out prior to the
or send it out prior to the board meeting so you have time to review it and make any comments back. Okay. >> Sounds good. >> That sounds good. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll move on to uh commissioner reports. Commissioner Sumar, add any legislative and lobbying to as
we normally do? Well, the last couple of weeks have been uh I attended the uh concon meetings up in Keller and uh town this past week. Uh the grant process was was was smooth. uh
but for some reason there wasn't as many uh applicate applications so we didn't uh distribute the entire allotted amount which is always good because I'm I'm trying to uh encourage the committees to
uh kind of build up a reserve uh for potential future projects. Um, so there there was a little bit money uh left over. Uh, this coming Thursday, I have the uh Northwest uh juvenile center meeting.
The Black Duck Ambulance meeting is is uh cancelled. So that will allow me to go to the uh Northwest. the the ambulance the black deck ambulance situation I think is slowly getting taken care of with the purchase of a potential purchase of a new ambulance.
So uh hopefully we'll see a new rig here uh soon. Um but other than that uh that's my report. Thank you. >> Thank you Commissioner Summer Commissioner Winger. >> I don't have a lot. I did uh go to the U
solid waste meeting this morning. Um the insurance came through. So >> for how much? >> Um I don't remember exactly. They're covering the the both the roofs u which was a big >> substantially more than the last one we heard of. Okay.
>> Yeah. It looks like things are are coming together about where they needed to be. >> Good. >> And then um I have a hazardous waste tomorrow in Baggley. Um, Prime West Health on Thursday.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Winger. Commissioner Gould. >> Um, pretty standard committee meetings lately. I had a Hope House last week. Uh, they're changing up uh the county is changing up how the um funding is
delivered to Hope House. Um, and that's a reflection of state cost ships. >> Um, so it's it's not more money, it's not less money, it's just um basically fee for
service type instead of a standard amount every month type of thing. So, >> um, it's a little frustrating on Hope House's part. Um, but it'll be okay. Um, bike cap. I had a bike cap committee
meeting. I did have to miss the regular uh meeting on Thursday because I was in the deer stand uh not getting anything. But um uh what else? Uh AMC committee meeting recently and pretty standard stuff
coming up. Uh nothing really out of the ordinary to report. Belrammy H. we met and still really excited about the YMCA coming to town. So that was that was great uh news from Greater Baiji and and
and the hotel. So um still really excited about that. I would like to suggest that we do the ugly sweater contest at the second meeting in December. I got a new one. I'm I'm really anxious
to rock. >> And the losers can uh serve on next year's budget committee. >> That's it, Mr. Chair. >> All right. Thank you, Commissioner Gold and Commissioner Carlson. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Commissioner Gold.
Um I may have to I have some ugly sweaters, but I don't but I think that's they're only ugly to my wife, so I have to figure out how to go get one that's appropriate. Um and I so I don't forget um I think uh Diane we I Perfect. Thank you Tim. Um just to re and thank you
Commissioner Gold. So it looks like the we have all all the commissioners are in for the basket for the crockpot um cook off. So it's not just a chili cook off this time. >> Looking forward to that. And that will be on December.
Just want to remind everybody what But now I can't remember what day it was. Maybe I can find it real quick. It's December something. >> Whoever finds it first gets to be on the budget year. >> No one's going to keep looking.
>> Not December 25th. Well, anyway, what Oh, it is it's uh Thursday, December 11th. I think it starts at 11 or 11:30. So, just a reminder, come hungry. And um and and thank you, Diane, and I appreciate you're doing that for
us again this year, putting together a basket. We've done that every year. I think it's a great idea. Um just normal things, newsletter committee, Prime West Health, um airport affairs council, and tomorrow we have uh airport uh meeting. Um, just normal stuff. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. Had just had normal uh committee meetings as well. Had a HRDC board meeting and uh and a fair board meeting last night. I was not able to attend this morning's solid waste. Had a conflict with my regular job. Um, but I appreciate Commissioner Winger reporting on that.
So, that being it. Uh, anything else? Otherwise, look for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion by Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? Second by Commissioner Sumar. All in favor of adjourning say I. I. And we are adjourned. Thank you.