--------- County work session to order and last on so I can read something. Introduction of new employees. Do we have any new employees to introduce tonight? No. All right, we'll move on. Identify
future work meeting topics. Anybody have any future work meeting topics they want to bring up? Nope. We'll move on to Minnesota Rural Electric Association update. Um I think you're going to have them online.
Derek Mo from the MEA. >> I'm I'm here. Did you want me to go ahead, Craig? >> Go ahead. Uh Derek. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I uh appreciate your uh allowing me to take a few minutes this afternoon to talk about
uh the work we're doing on the nuclear energy moratorum. uh by means of a brief introduction of MEA. Uh we are the Minnesota Rural Electric Association. So the 50 rural electric cooperatives in the state are all members of ours. Uh we do about
anything they want us to work on together. Uh which includes uh policy work as well as safety and education events and communications. Uh I'm the CEO at MEA. One of the big policy initiatives that we've been focused on
uh for about a year now is the state's moratorum on new nuclear energy resources. Uh that moratorum has been in place since 1994 and uh we believe that it's time uh that the legislature uh uh uh takes a new
look, a fresh look and eliminates that moratorum. So, uh, I thought I'd spend, uh, just a couple of minutes talking about, uh, why that's the case and why we're, uh, also doing some outreach with counties, uh, and then see if, uh, folks have any questions or anything they'd
like me to elaborate on. Um we the the biggest reason co-ops have asked us to focus on this issue is that we are concerned about having uh sources of energy available during all hours of
the day, week, months and year. uh in light of the state's uh 24D carbon-f free mandate, uh nuclear energy is really the only proven source of electricity that's available under all
weather conditions at night and so on and that also does not emit carbon. And so, uh, with the state recently passing the requirement that by with just a mere 15 years from now, all sources of generation, uh, that people use at their
loads around the state be carbon-f free. Uh, we think it's, uh, inappropriate that new sources of nuclear energy cannot be used, uh, as one of the, uh, resources to make that happen. Uh so uh for the sake of reliability and being
able to look at all options to keep affordability in check as much as possible uh we think the moratorium ought to be lifted. Uh we are working with the Minnesota nuclear energy alliance which is a group that the cooperatives are co co-leading. Uh it's
up to about 45 members now. That's a very broad bipartisan coalition of folks that includes uh clean energy groups. It includes the state's utilities. uh it includes labor unions. Uh so it it it's uh got a a broad variety of support. Uh
in particular during the off session here in the legislature, uh we are taking some time to reach out to counties who are an important part of uh you know the energy discussion, the land use discussion. Uh a couple of reasons uh that we think uh counties uh uh would
be legitimately interested and uh tied into this issue is land use of course is a big issue for counties and in terms of energy resources uh nuclear is by far the resource that uses the least amount of land in order to deliver electricity.
Uh and it's also an economic development opportunity for uh folks in in Minnesota, for counties and governments and just the people of Minnesota to uh be able to consider this resource and potentially at some point sign it. If this did pass, the only thing the coalition is doing is urging that the
moratorium be lifted. If that happened, of course, utilities would still need to demonstrate that nuclear energy is the most uh cost-effective way to serve uh energy in the future before any actual plants would be cited. So, uh we we had
good traction last year working on this effort. It was in the Senate uh energy omnibus uh bill until uh until right up towards the end. It also got a hearing in the House and was voted out of the House committee. Uh so we intend to continue to work hard on it this
session. Uh would welcome uh Bel Tramy to uh be part of that coalition if you choose to do that or certainly would just welcome further dialogue. Uh Sherburn County uh recently joined the coalition as well as the rural Minnesota Energy Board which is a coalition of 18
counties in the southwest part of the state that uh county commissioners that focus on energy issues. So, um that's a very brief uh introduction to why I'm here and the topic we're working on. Um would be glad to focus the discussion uh
on anything else in particular you'd like me to work on. Uh again, appreciate the invitation from the uh the chairman who I'm sure as you know also uh works on uh one of our uh cooperative boards there at Bel Tramy and uh so great to
have an opportunity to visit with you today. Thank you. Thank you, Derek. Commissioner Carlson, did you have a >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Derek, I had a question. Um, it's kind of sounds like a no-brainer. I'm wondering, and it does sound like it's bipartisan, who's
against this, and and why hasn't it happened already? >> Well, um, the the, uh, we are doing a we are getting a lot of bipartisan momentum both in the state and federally. That's one of the things we're excited about is
it's it's growing as a bipartisan issue. Uh it has traditionally been in the state of Minnesota more of a Republican issue that that has been supported by Republicans and not as supported by the DFL within the state. Uh at the federal
level, the Biden administration was a big advocate for nuclear energy in order to meet for the same reasons I just articulated, in order to meet clean energy goals and have energy available all the time. And it's so it's one of the few things that there's been continuity between the Biden and Trump
administrations um with Trump doing a lot of work to aggressively pursue nuclear during his administration. So the um the the DFL in particular is concerned about uh the position of the Prairie Island uh Indian community. The
nuclear uh spent fuel is stored on site while it waits for a federal long-term storage solution. And the on-site storage uh in the Redwing area where Excel has one of its two existing plants is very close to the Prairie Indian
community. And when that moratorum was put in place uh as there was agreement to build those uh two nuclear facilities uh the Prairie Indian uh community wanted to see a federal solution to long-term spent fuel storage before the
moratorium was lifted. And unfortunately there's still no federal solution. So uh that's sort of the biggest thing that is is is is a a hurdle in terms of uh working on this in a in a bipart sport. We've been me many of us have been
working with the tribe collaboratively. They have been discussing this and so we want to keep working on finding uh solutions to that as well. But that's kind of the the main thing and and a little bit about the political dynamics about why this is um and I certainly
agree it feels like it's harder than it should be. >> Thanks Derek. >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Sar. So, you know, listening, it it sounds like I mean, you mentioned that uh it's bipartisan, but I mean it if it's
something that is pushed by the the Republican party and not so much the the DFL as you said, where where is the the bipartisan? And also another concern that I have is is
how involved is the Prairie Island Indian community uh with this and and and their support or or nonsup support because I mean um a lot of us uh you know object object to
things you know uh things that folks want to put in our backyard. you we're all in favor until they they try to force us to put it in our backyard, you know. So, I mean, um to me, it it almost sounds like, you
know, a political issue. And I don't know how uh how to distinguish, you know, this as as not a political issue. And I think, you know, at the at the board level here, we we really don't
take a position on on partisan issues. So, you know, I I am open to having more conversations, listening more, you know, to try to get a better understanding. I appreciate our chair, you know, bringing this forward. Um, and and I'll admit
that, you know, I'm not no expert in in nuclear waste and and things like that. um you know as maybe as much as our our board chair but um I'm just kind of trying to figure out well you know how does it you know
>> commissioner I'll I'll interject you there has been bipartisan I know representative hoschild I actually went to a nuclear um meeting just just last year over in Marcel and representative hos hoschild who was there from the DFL and he was supportive of this um this is
strictly right Now just to lift we're the only state in the nation that has a mortorium on new nuclear energy. The only one and so we're just saying let's let's open the dialogue. Let's let's get rid of the mortorium so we can actually have a discussion because that's the only solution to that is non-carbon
based to be able to have 24/7 base load electric power. Right now it's supplied by coal. And if we're saying we have to get rid of coal by 2040, it takes a long time to get any nuclear. And the nuclear doesn't have to be the old school nuclear big huge reactors and stuff.
There are small modular reactors now that are the same very much similar to what have been running in submarines for decades very safely and those could be put in place. Um small footprint. Another another factoid is that uh um the used nuclear fuel, you know what he
was talking about spent fuel and and some of the concerns with that the the used nuclear fuel from a one person's lifetime of use would fit in a pop can. That's how little um used nuclear fuel there be. So all the energy that you would use in your entire lifetime, the
new the nuclear fuel would fit in a pop can. So um it's not the doom and gloom of the meltdown type stuff of the old old days. So all we're wanting to do is is uh press the legislature to follow through with what they almost did last year and ask to get the moratorum
lifted. Not saying we are going to go build nuclear plants all over Belrammy County or anything else. Just open the door for discussion. Um Derek at this point um you be looking to uh do you have like a resolution of
support that you would want to see um brought forward like Sherburn County did? I think Atasaska County is is doing the same thing or in the process of it. Other counties in the rural area to try to get a coalition basically together to say, "Hey, we we need to get this lifted so we can start having a discussion
because right now it's almost borderline illegal to even discuss it." >> Yeah, I I'd be glad to send you the letter that Sherburn put together after their uh uh commission voted. uh the rural Minnesota energy board um just passed they decided to just pass a
motion uh and and to join the alliance you know specifically that's what they did um and um and like you said it is the other it's also was discussed at the association of Minnesota counties you
know so um and was received favorably uh there as well uh although the association of Minnesota counties it's in their resolutions actually ready to lift the moratorum. Uh but at this point they haven't made a decision on whether as an entire association they uh think
it's appropriate to join the alliance or not. The alliance does have only this one goal of lifting the moratorum like like you just mentioned Mr. chairman. It doesn't uh you know, it's not to try to build a plant or to do other political activities that it was formed just uh
with this uh one goal in mind. And and we we certainly do again continue to uh the the we're going to have an energy forum uh a forum on this uh topic of nuclear energy generally coming up next week. uh glad to see that Prairie Island
uh will have somebody participating in that with us uh and have been uh you know deliberate about continuing to uh collaborate with them uh and make sure that they're uh you know they're they're clearly an important stakeholder in this
discussion and and we uh as an alliance uh as co-ops and as the alliance generally want to continue to uh to have those dialogues and and uh and and be respectful of that. So, so that is an important part. It it is an important part of the uh political dynamic, but
but again, as as you said, um you know, was has has bipartisan support in the in the Minnesota Senate and and nationally. >> Thank you, Derek. Um so, I think we you know, as far as moving forward, there is no cost for us if we choose to to pass a
motion to to join the the U Minnesota Nuclear Energy Alliance. Um then there there'd be just that could be that simple just to basically sign on saying that hey we support the your efforts in this regard. So we could do that. >> That's right. There's no there's no dues
or that's that's correct. >> Okay. Well, thank you. Anybody else have any further questions for Derek? >> Mr. Chair. >> Yeah. Commissioner Carlson. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. I I agree with Commissioner Sum that we wouldn't want to get into political things, but I don't see this as a political thing. No. Um, if I did, I think I would I would
totally agree with Commissioner Ser that we don't want to start getting into things that are just totally >> right >> one way or the other. But I don't see it that way. I I just see that again being able to open a dialogue just to explore.
In other words, a question I have is there more waste in a nuclear reactor than there is in the used propeller blades on wind or on the solar panels? And I and I don't know, but it would sure be nice to start getting that kind
of information so as counties, as cities, as states, we can start making more better informed decisions about the future of carbon-f free energy. And so I think that would be a reason why I would be in favor of doing that. >> Well, the the big issue for as far as
being gerine to the county, you know, taking away anything political, it's simply a matter of we have to have power. And if a if our state is saying that we have to be carbon free by 2040 wind and solar the you know they shut off the wind at about 20 below you know
they can't run them and it's dark at night you're not getting any power. So when it's January and it's 22 below and and it's night time people won't have power literally won't have power if we don't have some other source like nuclear. And right now that is the only
one that could do it you know. So it's a matter of opening the dialogue, getting that that message out there to make people realize that a you have to either allow this or b you need to remove that moratorium on or on carbon or making the
carbon free by 2040 because it's just an untenable situation the way it currently sits. So >> Mr. Sure. How how do we have that dialogue before we even entertain the possibility of of passing some sort of resolution of
support? >> How do you have the dialogue? What do you mean? >> Because you you said that it's almost illegal to have, you know, conversations about this >> the way the state law is right now. And D there could correct me and I know we don't want to take more too much time. We got a pretty packed calendar schedule
here, but uh um I believe that that was discussed at the the meeting over in Marcel that somebody brought up, one of the legislators I think brought up that that the way that the the moratorium is written, it's almost almost illegal to even have a discussion about talking about nuclear energy, isn't it, Derek?
Well, the way I would phrase that is any utility that spends any dollars actually looking at whether it's a good resource can't expect to get those dollars back because it it because it's not a resource that the state will approve in
statute. And so in order to even have a reasonable quote discussion about whether this is something that we should be building as part of our portfolio for when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. You need to spend dollars to do those kinds of studies and and and
in the current environment with a moratorum um it's not rational for any utility to pursue having that dialogue and doing those studies. >> Well, Mr. chair being that we're the county board is not a utility. We can have >> discussions
>> which is what we're doing right now. Yeah. >> Well, that's the question is how can we have >> more conversations and discussions before entertaining the thought of of passing a a resolution? >> I mean, we could put it on another
future work meeting topic or whatever. or you could just if you have concerns or questions that we can certainly get Derek's contact information to you and and that to um you know dispel any any uh concerns you might have you know >> I I appreciate that you know I mean I
guess uh the way I heard it and understood it is like we couldn't we couldn't talk about it so >> well that that was it was pretty close to that that was the way that I remember them saying something to that effect like it wasn't illegal necessarily but it was it was really an issue the way
that it was currently being addressed in Minnesota. It was really antiquated and we should be able to have discussions about anything in this in this country. >> Well, know knowing that uh a resolution is going to be coming forward sometime uh in the future. I I would hope that we
can at least have uh a discussion or two prior. Yeah, I I I would look at at, you know, probably having it put on a on a um on a future agenda and then just have having discussion about it, but it but it would be good to have you, you know, if you have certain questions that you'd
want to get answered either um get a hold of Derek directly. You know, we can make sure that you have his contact info or get a hold of me and I can get you his contact info. >> Okay. >> Great. Commissioner Winger. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one concern question. Um, you made
reference to that it was agreed that there would be a federal storage place somewhere and that hasn't happened at all yet and it's been quite a while since that one's been down there. Um, do you have any idea why there hasn't
been any any location or some place to put this stuff? I mean, it's a concern. We're in Minnesota where the water is a critical thing for the world pretty much. >> Yeah. So the strategy um a decade plus ago was find a great
place from an engineering and science standpoint and then convince the neighborhood that it will be fine. Uh that was in one sentence the Yuckah Mountain storage strategy. And um Yuckah Mountain by pretty much all accounts in
in Nevada is not a viable place to store spent fuel now because of the politics of of the situation. And so the the new approach that Biden started and that it appears Trump is continuing is a um a
bottomup uh uh consentbased sighting is the buzzword that they're using for it. Uh in other words, they are looking for communities to step forward and say uh we are interested in being a host community for spent fuel.
uh and they'd like to identify a handful of those and then begin a a process of of talking to those communities and what would that look like and it um so um so it would be fantastic if Minnesota was part of that dialogue again I think
sitting with a moratorum it's is one of the reasons why that's probably not very practical right this moment but uh but that appears to be the strategy that the Trump administration will continue and we're also still really kind of in the wait and learn mode to hear the next
step of of of what are they going to actually do on, you know, to start that process moving under the Trump administration. >> Okay, thank you. That helped. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well, I think we better move on. Thank you, Derek, for presenting today and we'll uh we'll be back in touch.
>> Thank you so much. Bye-bye. >> Bye. >> All right, that moves us on to the new jail project update and virtual tour. Yeah, Steve, you can Yeah. >> Who's starting it off, Steve?
>> Yeah, I can certainly do that. Uh, thank you, commissioners. It's a another beautiful fall northern Minnesota October day, right? Uh we're here to give uh a monthly quarterly update for you on the new jail facility. Um we may
have shared some some weekly pictures. So hopefully those are going well and and you can kind of see the the weekly progress. Anyways, but um do I have a clicker? Perfect. So we'll run through. We're making u good progress. Oops. Not
sure if I hit the wrong button. We began just as a reminder some of the pictures that you previously seen at the end of of March of this year. Uh still some snow on the ground actually at that time but we uh forged forward, broke ground.
Things were doing well. Just a couple of quick snapshot pictures in August. You can see the progress at that time which I think you already have. Uh you can see the outline of some of the remaining foundations and things to still erect the pre-cast wall panels of the building
which were ongoing. Uh here's another drone couple of drone shots from midepptember. You can see the majority of the building at that point was up. Just a little bit of pre-cast work going on to finish up the roof area. The large yellow tower crane that everybody saw for several
weeks has now left the site and we're in good good shape. We'll look at a video tour here shortly, but um right now things are going well. We have more scheduling meetings today with the detention cell people. Uh we're actually
looking at shifting them just a little bit uh about a month. We're trying to get actually some more rough pins ahead of them. we've kind of flipped some things around and pushed a lot more services under the slabs instead of above. Uh so with that, we just need a little more time to prepare. So we'll
stall them out for about 3 to four weeks. They'll come in early December, probably be here through January getting some of those cells put in place. So things are are going well on that front. >> Yeah, know we had a lot of good meetings today. We had one meeting at 10 for an hour and then another two-hour meeting
just with the detention folks. So, I think right now we're going to have them hold uh December 1st, start setting sales on the ETH for two weeks and then maybe a little break until early January. So, >> of course, they would uh like to do it earlier than later. They're from the
south, so they're they're curious what our winter. We said, "Don't worry, they sell plenty of long underwear at LNF fleet, right?" Um the video we'll show you is we thought this might be a good way to show you the progress sort of physically as a as a fly through um on
video instead of physically in person because of a safety concern that we have right now with the busyiness of the site. This is from two weeks ago October 7th if you want to roll that for us. >> All of the vapor barrier down before the weather gets p We're here at the new Belrammy jail
site. We're going to walk you through a quick virtual tour of construction progress uh as of today, October 7th, 2025 with Gary Francisco and Carl Clark with
Integrity Group. So Gary, what's happening on the project site presently? >> As you can see, we've got all the pre-cast vault panels, roof plank, and double T set. The big crane is gone. Um,
pre-cast is set except for at this main entry. You can see here we had to leave these panels out here so that we can get into the building to finish slab on grade and plumbing prep things like that. Those will go up the same time.
And I don't know, Steve, if you want to pan down, you'll see there's some foldout panels down the way. That's for access for putting in the modular jail cells. But when we put those in after the cells
are in, we'll put these hales up at the main entrance. Um, currently we've got some guys, you see the burm of dirt here. We've got some guys down in the trench doing the the final foundation coating insulation process. Uh, the g
between the pre-cast panel and the foundation. So, they're getting that sealed up. >> Okay. We're now on the roof of the new jail building. Gary, how is uh roofing going? >> Actually, it's going quite well. Uh you
can see over to here, this is area Ara. The last end over there is the first west portion of seed just beyond that. I don't know if you can see it, but hey, there's a little thing that juts out. That's also that's the gym rub.
Up to our north, we've got area B high rope, which is complete as well. And if we walk over this day, we can look down on the rest of the work is uh where they're currently working on the roof. As you can see, the ropers are
progressing on low area B roof here. Then we jump down in area C roof. What we're trying to do is get all of the vapor barrier down before the weather gets cold that it sticks to the problem. So, we're trying to get the low building
dry in. Look like we're doing pretty well. I would say by weeks in they'll have it dried in as far as vapor barrier goes. And they're also over in this corner working on parapit insulation and
plywood. Okay. Now, we're in area A. Labs are cred. We do that. The Bazer pair will be working on overhead duct work for us rain layers stocking block and preparations away block in here we have
a certain amount of work we need to do prior to these cells arriving and being installed by doing this work now we can get at it after the cells are in it's going to choke us off we've got in this area all of area we have double stack
cells so they'll put them together outside. They'll be stacked together, welded together. They bring them in and set them. So, we'll have two story cells being set through there. >> And is that one of the access points, Gary?
>> That's an access point over there. >> As you can see, there's a mountain of conduits sticking up everywhere. Um, basically at each one of these bays there's a little over two miles of underground conduit. For instance, each
detention door frame gets seven wires that come up into it for all the security items and electronics that go with them. Um, so there's a lot of conduits in the ground. We've
got now at this point we've got 2 46 8. We've got probably 13 miles there of conduit in the ground right now. Now we're in the northwest corner of the building, area B. Uh this is where the
cells, you can see we've got the pre-cast second floor plank here. We pour topping on all this. And we have individual cells here. Well, so they won't be the two stackers that are welded together like area A. There'll be
some cells underneath, some cells up top. Um, this area we're planning on pouring the topping slab here in the next week or so. Um, so hopefully that goes well. This area here is where the
control station is. Um, so we have we're all dug out, ready to do our footings. Um, down in this area as well. So, a little smaller but a little more complicated to build as you can see.
So, this is our first slab pour in area C. We're as you can see prepping with the bel vapor barrier and welded wire mesh. But if you look over there wound to white, that's another one in the hold
out panels where double tier cells will come in here through that door. So this is a security electronic kind of the the control center of all security. As you can see all the pipes and the pockles of pipe coming in from
everywhere that come from all the cell pots and everything they cut into here and this is where all the security servers all that are going to be. There will be a big trench drain or a truck and the wheel here and the cover that
that big bundle there will go through and then everything around ties up into the racks. Yeah, it's pretty impressive. Okay. Well, this is kind of the back of house. I'll say the mechanical areas.
Um, you can see the miles of conduit. You maybe not miles here, but there's a lot of it. Transformer pad, CT cabinet, and this big pad here is for our generator. Um, we've got our electrical room here. And the next door now is our our boiler room.
>> And that's the sally port. >> In the distance, you can see the sally port. All right. So now we've entered the admin area. We're out of the detention area. This is all admin. You've got receiving and kitchen behind Steve. Over here we've got the
training/conference rooms area in that nook and then pauuses and reception. That's our main entrance there. Scissor lift is. >> So that'll be the main lobby. >> Yeah.
>> Main lobby. Basically, that's uh that's kind of a wrap. The gym is right in there that we mentioned earlier. Um but that's uh this is where we're at. We're just working our way west to east trying to beat winter weather with roofs and
slabs. That's key right now. Roof comes number one, slabs number two. Following up with rough ends, get ready for sales. >> And right now, Gary, all all in. You're thinking we're two to three weeks ahead of schedule still.
>> I hate to say we're ever ahead because you never know what hurdles we're going to run into, but uh yeah, we're we're doing really well. We're we're blessed to have the team we have out here for subcontractors. Um everybody's working together as a
team and you can sure tell because production has been amazing. >> That's awesome. Keep up the good work. >> We certainly will. Thank you. So, as you can see, maybe that gives you a little bit better walk through sense of the building without having to to be
there. We'll provide those as often as you need. Um, hopefully my, you know, camera video worked out pretty well on the fly. >> Yep. >> So, that was a nice way to go about that. Um, >> did you have some more?
>> Yeah, I >> think there we go. >> So, schedule wise, we're doing great. Again, just a minor adjustment in the detention cells themselves, but all in all, we're we're fine on our timelines. We're we're still, you know, right on track, if not slightly ahead, which we
hope to keep maintaining uh that momentum. Financially, we're doing fine. Uh at last update, I think we had had one change order process. We've now processed or in process of doing number two. So our remaining yellow box contingency dollars are still
sitting very good, very well. That's where we want to see them. We're happy, you know, with progress we've gotten in the remaining duration compared to contingency dollars left over. So we're we're in good shape. Any questions from a new facility
standpoint, update, schedule, finances? Commissioner Summer. >> Uh, Mr. Chair, so I just kind of curious what the DOC's involvement is in in this. Uh, have they been provided updates or or because I think there was
a a situation where another jail was built and then the DOC said, you came in and said something about it wasn't up to code or specs or or something. I'm want to ensure that we're we're not in that situation.
Yeah. Um >> doc review the plans. >> Yeah. The plans. Yeah. >> And they usually will come in, but they usually come in with something else a little bit closer to get more. >> Okay. >> Maybe post installation where they can start to take a look around. Then
they'll be more inspections as they early be on site. There's not a lot to see that going to really interest their their site a little bit. >> All right. Thank you. Periodically as we are going through things, Austin's team still reaches out and has contact with
them if there's any kind of a even a minor plan revision that may affect you know the detention systems at all and you guys have been pretty good at getting their input. >> Yeah, we have been sharing u at the same time as we share the rest of the design operations we share it with uh Justin
Roberts has copied on the emails for any plan changes and he's reviewed the plans throughout the design process as well. Thank you, Commissioner Summer. Anybody else have any questions for the team? Great work. It's uh really awesome. It's
looking great and glad that we're on budget and and uh a little ahead of schedule. Knock on wood. So, all righty. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. And I thought you did a great job on the the video. That was a real neat way to do it.
>> Thanks. Yeah, that'd be fun. Great. Yeah. Yeah. Commissioner Winger doesn't want to be up on the roof. >> No, good scaff to get you there. But >> yeah, no, that's that's awesome that they're getting the getting all that
buttoned up before before the snow flies here. So, >> yeah, >> it's cool. >> We got about three more weeks of roing to do. Uh they'll get there. Y >> we're we're in pretty good shape on that. We're starting to temp now and start putting some heat inside the building to keep going with the interior fit up. >> Sounds great. Well, thank you guys.
Appreciate the update. >> Okay. >> All right. We'll move on to existing jail study options and recommendations. Who's is that you guys doing that too? >> Yes. I am Austin Redeem with Klein McCarthy Architects. I represent the
architect that uh designed the new jail and we also were asked to assist in uh figuring out what to do with the existing jail site as well as the facility that's still on that site a favor so that the people online can
hear just maybe step up a little bit closer. Yeah. >> How about that? >> Sorry about that. >> You're not as loud as Larry. I can hear >> Yeah. Yeah. So we started with uh we received the a building condition
assessment from Krauss Anderson and integrity group. Uh we uh designed or developed some uh conceptual designs uh several options of reliterations and we ended up with three final options uh the
covering from full rem full reuse to uh full demo of the existing jail. Uh after we came up with these options, we were given some uh cost estimates from Cross Anderson and Contegrity uh to
assist the design and operations board or committee in uh reviewing and kind of giving their recommendation. Yeah, the three concept options were a full remodel, which would leave the
entirety of the existing jail facility and just uh just remodel the uh existing Sallyport for uh transfer through the tunnel, the existing tunnel into the existing court building. Uh the rest of the space would then be
uh gutted and uh leasable space. Option two would be partial removal and remodel. So, this involve demoing part of the existing jail, re leaving some key uh pieces that would uh have some uh
parts of the building that are still useful to Trammy County and part portions of that would still be remodeled space for uh leasable space. Option three was a full removal, full
demo of the jail. Uh option two actually had a sallyport addition sally port that would be freestanding on its own that would be uh also part of option two. So option three we looked into a full demo
of the existing jail and this would be this also had a uh a sally port as well that was added this one we added directly onto the existing courthouse. So then we will go through uh the slides of
uh the various levels. This is the basement. So we have the tunnel uh and then we highlight in uh that salmon color, reddish color. the uh leasable space. We highlighted in gray
anything that was uh mechanical or other functions that would not be leasable uh based off of the existing facility assessment. So that's this is the basement of option one with the full remodel.
We have our first floor where we would leave the sally port in blue. We would expand that to have a third stall and then we would push out have a small addition on the north side to give more room to the sallyport uh for uh inmate
transfer in and out of the vehicles. Then we have the second floor with more leasable space. And then we have our the third floor is the mezzanine of the jail on the second floor which would not be usable. would
just be a very high plenum space. Uh so then option two, this we're looking at the partial removal of the existing jail and uh remodeling the space. Uh we
uh demoed a portion of the of the existing tunnel and are building off of that the new sally port that is freestanding on first floor. This is uh this shows that uh the future a possible future
building that could be attached onto the uh remaining portion of the existing jail that was left. uh with some key county uh functions still in it. And then we just showed the second floor
how there's a small portion of the jail that uh sticks out over the portion that we would need to save. So we had to show that option three. This shows full demo of the existing jail and then adding a new
uh sallyport directly onto the existing courthouse. This one would be a driveth through sallyport, so you would drive in one end and drive out the other. Uh so you wouldn't have to back out. Uh it has the the most future uh space for a future
building. And we uh connected it to the existing courthouse so that it maximized the amount of space that a future building could be put on the lot. I think pricing >> yeah the pricing is also kind of
described those first um well three of the the main options that we wanted to have you all focus on. Um again there were there were a lot of uh I'll say sub options and things that we investigated also but these are the main three. First one is a retain the full existing jail
facility and potentially remodel of interleable space and services uh just shy of 10 million to do that work and that includes upgrading systems mechanical electrical um other portions that have been on your deferred maintenance list already. We'll talk
about that some more also on operational side of things. Option two being the partial tear down and partial fit up of remaining leasable space. That's about 8.6 million uh largely because we're also then building that new standalone
sally port along with that option or uh from a money standpoint. The lowest cost scenario was option three. tear the entire uh existing jail facility down, build the new attached Sallyport to the judicial center, connect it up that way,
and leave uh the rest as parking space and future, you know, building expandability for what may become of that site down the road. So that's the three options that we had presented and and you all saw about a month or or two ago for consideration and I think you
wanted to kind of wait and see if there was any uh public you know comment from that point. Uh let's see I'm not sure if it's advancing on me. Oh there we go. pros and cons uh with each.
We haven't made any changes to this since you've last read it. If you want to go through each one of these, we certainly can. But >> no, we don't need to. You had that in your packets, right? >> This part we didn't go over last time. I think you added this, didn't you? the operational
>> correct. Yeah, this is kind of a nice um summary slide that uh we put in that gives you an idea from a five, a 10, and a 20-year operational expense from the existing uh facility if it were to be retained.
You know, what what would your investment look like um in in dollars cumulatively? So, in a 5-year program, you would anticipate about 4.3 million if that jail were to stay or if that building were to stay. Um, just for the
things that have been deferred would need to be replaced out of the normal capital improvement annually. Uh, >> just a just a clarification, that's an addition to the $10 million to demolish it. I mean, I mean to not to to remodel it. That's this is an addition.
>> Correct. That is correct. Yep. And on a 10-year program, you can see that's that's just shy of 9 million cumulatively. And then on a 20 year, it jumps up to close to 20 20 million.
>> Any questions on that? >> We'd have to charge some New York rent to pay for those costs. >> Yeah, that that the ROI has to be there on a leasable rate to make that make sense, right? >> Yeah. Y
>> uh you would think that from 5 years to 10 years it would double. So I'm just kind of wondering how uh how you got that additional 300,000. >> Yeah. The backup information for this uh
Mr. Shadrach can put together and it it encompasses a lot of things that in a life cycle of the building systems at that point of where that building is at today there's a lot that's going to come online that's going to have to be replaced major infrastructure mainly >> okay
>> um is why that has a big jump from the 10 to 20 year I mean 5 to 10 is only 5year gap obviously 10 to 20 is a 10 year >> so it cycles up >> plus inflation >> yeah and and inflation was built in annually at I about all three.
>> Okay. >> Uh Mr. Barry, I don't know if you've got a a tea up on this or if you want me to >> I can I can cover this part. So, uh, one of the things that, uh, you might recall that we wanted to do, uh, early on in the
process is involve the public. And the board has done an excellent job involving the public in all the way from the very beginning of identifying various solutions and commenting on those solutions and giving their input to the board. and we've tried to retain that same approach as it relates to what
to do and answering the question uh around what to do with the the the current jail. And so we did open up that comment period. Uh we did it online. Uh we allowed it to be anonymous which you know we were a little concerned about but we also wanted to draw out people that maybe wouldn't be afraid to share
their thoughts uh otherwise. And so for nearly 60 days uh the time period from August 20th to October 15th uh we collected comments and we didn't get that many comments. We got seven comments in total. Um all of those comments do appear in the presentation.
I've shared them with you. I won't read them verbatim to you. Um but that's why I wanted them in the presentation so you can see. Um I did take out last names for the the one or two people that provided last names. Um just to keep consistent that anonymity. Uh but essentially uh the comments that were
supplied are word for word. We didn't make any changes or any of that sort of stuff. Um there were some comments that were as you would expected you know encouraging uh forethought in repurposing the building say for homelessness or for other types of
purposes like that transients uh those types of things. But um by and large uh the public comments that we received were around supporting option three which is what the recommendation of the design and operations team was and also what the data says from a cost perspective as well. Um maybe the only
thing I'll just remind you is that on budget which was shared just a few minutes ago in the previous presentation uh the budget for this portion of the project's about $8.5 million. So um that would uh that budget would be strained if option was one were to be pursued.
And in addition the operations chart that we provided the graphic there that showed ongoing operational commitment costs uh which are related to both capital improvements and the ongoing costs to keep the facility running would also exceed the county's um budget forecast for the foreseeable future as
well. So, we feel strongly that option one just really isn't an option financially for the county. Um, that te's up either option two or option three. Um, option two would be, of course, a hybrid between those those two. We didn't run an ongoing operational cost uh for option two, but
there would be additional costs to hold out or continue to operate a portion of that facility were to be um preserved. Um again those numbers haven't been run but we do know it will cost more and that's not in the bud the county's budget going forward. That option two
again was I think uh around 8.6 million so slightly above what we currently have budgeted. Um and then the option three being at around that 6 million plus mark um and uh not having any commitments to ongoing operational costs seems to be
the least cost option. And one thing I would also just maybe share is that in that option it does preserve a portion of the campus for something in the future at its maximum potential or maximum build footprint. That was really
a conscientious thought of the team is is you know we're not growing more land downtown. Um we're already somewhat constrained on the campus that we have now. We don't want to consume any more uh taxable land and take that off the the taxable uh role. uh and so instead
we need to be better stewards of preserving and uh repurposing existing uh land that we have and so by incorporating the design that's been proposed in concept on option three we do preserve a larger footprint for future uses on the campus. So just want
to share those things with you as well. >> Thank you Administrator Barry. With that operating data reviewing comments and also operating um hoping that there will be
But >> there's that's not what we can certainly do that talk about how there is no immediate heavy brush probably the biggest consideration will
be as we move towards um how we >> uh how much we will be coming off. Um we are anticipating that on a stem ratio that we have at the production sheet uh that we will probably need to
begin production about second bonding uh and then working in December process. So we don't have a ton of time to consider what might happen how a selection of
that you certainly have to consider. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Any any questions for the team here on on any of the options? I know we've seen this once already. Um the operational
cost piece uh you know to me it makes this a no-brainer really. you know, from a logic standpoint, it's just, you know, the design and operations committee being unanimous on it as well. Um, I don't I don't see any anything glaring
needing more information for myself anyways. So, is there any other further questions? We'll we'll move on then. What's uh um so yeah, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Health and Human Hum human services
ongoing community input survey. Ann is coming up to go through that with us. Welcome Ann. >> Good afternoon commissioners. My name is Annup. I'm the director of Health and Human Services and I'm here to talk with you briefly about an ongoing community
feedback survey that Health and Human Services is hoping to implement in January of 2026. We have a desire to hear from the people we serve, the partner agencies that we work with, as well as our own county employees who may want to provide
feedback to us an um anonymously. And so our hopes for the feedback is that it's going to allow for assessment of our local processes and provide opportunities for improvement, efficiencies, adaptations, growth opportunities.
Um, this survey would would be ongoing. There's no timeline um that it would end. We're going to use Microsoft 365, which is a county purchase system. So there's absolutely no cost to the survey um because we are able to use that
platform and it is very easy to adjust, edit and disseminate the survey using this Microsoft 365 platform. Um so what you have in front of you is a draft survey. Um, we're again looking to start it in January, but we are going to be
having a number of meetings with our division director team just to ensure that the questions that we're asking in this survey are getting us to the outcomes that we're looking for. So, if you look at the draft, um, you'll see that you are able to choose if you're taking the survey if you are a customer,
um, if you're a county employee, or if you're a community partner provider. It gives the opportunity to select what department or different unit or team you worked with within health and human services. Um so this helps us to identify you know where exactly this
person um is having a communication or interaction with health and human services. It does allow for the individual completing the survey to put in the person that they worked with if they so choose. Um there does have to be an answer in that section. So, if they don't know, they can put I don't know.
Or if they choose not to share, they can certainly put I don't know or choose not to share in that section. Um, then there's an opportunity to rate the interaction, provide feedback related to was the interaction respectful and professional,
friendly and welcoming, were the questions that they had answered, was it easy to understand for the individual? um as well as next steps for the person. So does the did the person that they communicated with provide next steps or
options? The next question talks about resources. Um did the interaction involve uh referrals to additional resources within the community and then suggestions for improvements. We also have a fill-in section at the end for anything else that they would
like to share with us for improvements. Um, we do understand that we may get some feedback that may not all be positive and I think that's part of this process. We want to hear that as well. Um, we want to be able to respond to that and provide adjustments that are
within our control. We also understand that there is policy and procedure that is created by our state lead agencies. Um, so those things maybe aren't things that we can change, but we certainly want to change um to adjust for efficiencies or primarily
customer service related um responses that we could improve. So we do plan to release this through QR codes and we have a variety of options for that. So we're looking at do we put a QR code on the website? Do we release it in a business card where we can just hand out
that QR code to the people we're working with? and that's all in development, but we really are um striving to get this out to as many people as possible. So, that's the plan for this customer service uh feedback survey. Does the board have any questions for me?
>> Mr. Sum. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I I might have missed it, but what is this survey for? >> Feedback from the community. We want to hear from people. We want to get their response to an interaction that they're having with Health and Human Services. So how like um
so if there's feedback, good feedback, bad feedback, you can use that information to improve services or or see where there may be lacking or >> absolutely
>> and uh so I'm just kind of curious uh like cuz when when people do surveys, you know, they want to know what type of information that they're they're they're providing. Uh how this is going to help.
So, let's say that there's um there there's some negative feedback. What's your plan with that negative feedback? >> So, what we're going to do with all the feedback, positive or ne negative, is we're going to look at trends and patterns. um maybe we're getting a lot
of feedback that's specific to one area where maybe the questions weren't being answered to um the level that our customers expected. So maybe then we look at training for our staff. So I think the feedback is really going to drive um the decision making of the
leadership team as to what we need to put into a place to improve our service provision. So it's really dependent on what feedback we get. But I think the most important thing to realize is there are things that we have control of at the local level that we can impact. You know, we can impact customer service. Um
it is um expected that people are professional, respectful in interactions when people are calling into health and human services. But there are certain things we can't impact such as policies that come to us from state lead agencies. So if somebody were to provide feedback that said, "Well, you should
really change the income guideline associated with the SNAP program." Those are things that are outside of local control and we understand that. Um, but there's certainly many things that people could provide feedback on that we could adjust our processes around and our community may have suggestions for
us that would actually improve efficiencies. So, the more feedback that we are able to receive, I think the better our service provision is going to be. >> That sounds great. I answered my question. >> Commissioner Carlson, thanks. I was just curious, how many respondents are you expecting? any any kind of an idea at
all? >> Um, I think when we first launch it, we'll probably get more than if it's been open and active for a year or so, but I think we're going to be happy with any number that we get, you know, anything that we're getting from our community. And I think the opportunity
to provide anonymous feedback may open up opportunities such as the the uh community input survey that was just discussed. you know, maybe somebody doesn't feel comfortable with their name attached to something, but what they have to bring to us is really important for us to know.
>> And and then do you expect this is going to just be an ongoing year after year after year? >> Yes. And there are other counties across the state that do this. Um so we certainly didn't invent this wheel. Um we are looking at other counties and assessing how they use this information
and how they disseminate it. Um but it's been a really helpful, it's a tool for us. Um, and we've heard from other counties that it is effective. >> Thank you. Great. Commissioner Winger, you good? All right, Dan. >> Thank you, Commissioners. >> Move on to the the next one. Are you up
on that one or no? Oh, that's Kurt. All right. Federal government shutdown impacts to public assistance programs. Kurt's uh coming up to the podium. >> Good afternoon, Chair Gazvig, members of the board. Um, thank you for allowing me
a few minutes here to provide an update on how federal government shutdown is impacting public assistance programs here in Minnesota and specifically how these impacts will be felt at the county level. First, while the county continues to work in a federal shutdown, funding for certain public assistance programs
ultimately does come from the federal government. And when federal funding is delayed, this creates ripple effects that your economic assistance team must then try to manage and communicate with the families that we serve. First looking at the supplemental nutrition assistance program, SNAP, or some people
know it as food stamps. These benefits are federally funded to the state through the US Department of Agriculture. Right now, Minnesota is issuing benefits in October using existing federal funds that have already been obligated. However, if the shutdown extends beyond October, the November
benefit issue issuance will be in jeopardy. At the local level, that means that our call center, financial workers, and community partners will see an increase in calls and walk-ins from residents concerned about food access. We also expect our community food resource providers will experience a
higher demand as families try to fill in the gap. From an economic standpoint, in September, approximately 3,100 Bel Tramy County residents received over a half a million in benefits that are primarily spent within the county. When we look at
the totality of Bel Tramy County, which includes those relatives serviced by our partners at Oshki Majiata, that increases to over 4,200 relatives and residents and over 3/4 of a million in benefits monthly that this county receives.
Turning to the Minnesota Family Assistance Program, our MIP program, um that relies on both state and federal funding. With this program, the food portion of the combined food and cash benefit is tied to SNAP. So, the
November food benefit of MIP will not be issued. However, the cash benefit will be issued if the federal government shutdown continues in September. Just to give you an example as far as specifically those cases that our your
economic assistance teams works with, there are a little over 200 MIP cases with approximately 550 county residents who receive MIP food and cash benefits. So at this time, your economic assistance teams continues to stay in close contact with our state partners to
try and provide our residents timely information. We continue to accept applications. We will interview those applicants and request verifications for our residents applying for SNAP and MIP even if the shutdown disrupts their monthly food benefit to help minimize
the um issue issues once the funding has been turned back on by the federal government. I'm looking at my watch because at 400 PM today, our Department of Children, Youth, and Families plans to send out a mass notice to all of our benefit recipients, and they will update
their federal shutdown page about the disruption to the November food benefits due to the federal government shutdown. But right now at this time, our general assistance, Minnesota supplemental aid, housing supports, health care, emergency assistance, and emergency general
assistance programs will continue on without disruption. Thank you, Mr. Chair. U members of the board, for your continued support of your economic assistance team, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have that I may be able to answer. >> Thank you, Kurt. Others have questions?
Commissioner Sher? Uh, thanks for the information, Kurt. Uh, would you be able to email us those numbers? And I think then, uh, question I have is, you know, we're we're you're approaching the cold season, and I'm
kind of wondering, um, about, uh, heating and and things like that. I know uh a lot of a lot of folks you utilize uh heating assistance and and I think you know our local uh cooperative you
know receives a lot of that as well. So you >> there is specific federal funding that are um that BCAP does receive that helps with some of the energy assistance and I believe right now there are you know they are too waiting for um what's going to happen with the federal government
shutdown but I don't want to speak for by cap. Okay. So, um, November benefits, I I know people receive some benefits, uh, like a day or two or the last couple of days of the
month for, and that's our MIP program that normally issues a day or two uh, prior. That's the cash and food benefit. If the federal government shutdown is still going on by the 28th of October, they will only receive their cash
benefit portion at the end of October and then the 1st of November. Uh they it splits up the distribution. 1 of November, MIP recipients will only receive the cash portion and not the food portion. >> So the the when they receive those
benefits at the end of the month, that's for November. >> November. Yes, it is. >> Okay. because I kind of confused that, you know, if they received cash benefits in in that month. I I I thought it was for for that month. >> It's one of the few federal government
programs that kind of pays actually in advance a little bit. I'm very used to benefits being all in a rears, which is after the month has happened. >> Um but uh throughout the month of November, for the first 15 days is normally when the food benefits, the
SNAP benefits are issued. And then SNAP is a day before and then the day of the next month. So, >> um I was also wondering, have you had any conversations with any community partners about you know depending on how
long this will last and and uh the possibility of of people not being able to uh you know feed their families and things like that and how what what what's the community plans or or what is our plan? Well, right now what we are
doing if this continues to go on is we have been um and we will provide information. Uh we have the area food resources as well as uh prepared free meals. Both of these documents uh we've got great partners at community resource
connections that put this together and stay in close contact with those community partners. They do an outstanding job of that. Um, and we're just uh utilizing the information that they've pulled together and helping provide that to those clients who have questions and come into our office.
>> Have Have you received um uh people more an increase the volume of calls or or visits or >> I'm fully expecting we'll receive an increase in calls tomorrow. Um we have started to get a couple of calls here this week because of our announcement
that we put on our web page. Um just trying to as soon as we got information to to try and get that information out there that there could be disruptions um with that uh once this message in text and email goes out to our recipients
throughout the county. I expect we'll get calls. Like I said, I also expect our community partners because in talking with BCAP here this afternoon, they've received calls already from uh both Bel Tramy County and Cass County
residents about uh the November benefits for SNAP. >> Yeah. And it seems like uh people uh really have an issue with people um receiving support, but by the numbers, it sounds
like we we kind of depend on the support, too. You know, as a as a regional uh center, you know, in the county, you know, and other counties that u these benefits, you know, are an economic driver. So, I'm hopeful that uh
something uh is resolved, but uh I think all we can do at this point is is hope and and and pray that uh the folks that are suffering the the most um are able to, you know, uh withstand the the challenging times and and I just want to
make sure that um we as a county can offer what we can, you know, to help these folks. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Summer. Any other questions for Kurt? Mr. Winger, um, if this were to end in the next, say, three to four weeks, okay, so we're
into November, is there back pay then for these folks, if they if it's passed their pay time? >> That that is a discussion point and that would be based off of how the legislature or how the law is is passed. Okay. um with that. So until that
actually comes out, we'll then be able to see the direction that's given to the US Department of Agriculture to pay the states. >> Yep. >> Anything else? Thank you, Kurt. >> Appreciate it. >> Yep.
>> Let's see. That brings us to Health and Human Services Child Protection Team update. >> Jeff Lind and Carissa Good. >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Yeah. Uh Delin, social services division
director. With me today is Carrissa Golden. She's our program manager for intake and investigations for children and Hayden Meyer with the county attorney's office. Uh we're here today to talk to you a little bit about our multid-disciplinary child protection team. Uh this is actually a success
story. um because this as we'll go through it there's a long history of this team working for the safety and welfare of the children of our community. So um I'm I have been a team member for a very long time but I am not one of the co-chairs time they're
standing next to me so they are the ones that going to be taking the primary role in this discussion so I will run the machine here and get out of the way. I think I'll run the machine here. I'm ready to go. >> It's not just me.
>> All right. >> Thank you for taking the time from to hear from us today. It's a much happier topic than the last one that we just listened to. I have been a part of the child protection team here in Bel Tramy County
for 17 years. Um and I'm a very proud to be a part of this team because of the strength and success of it. So the purpose of the child protection team is to bring together many professionals from across our community that have
expertise in some area of child abuse, child protection, prosecution of crimes against children, um chemical dependency, mental health. Um, our child protection investigations are very
indepth in a lot of cases and there's no way one person could hold all the knowledge to run a successful investigation. Therefore, we rely on a team of people to guide us and help us um for safety of
children. Um so we bring together these team of people and our primary um focus right now is to review um some of our current child protection investigations. Are we missing something? Does anybody have
ideas? Um I uh also people bring their expertise in as far as um suggesting resources for the family or for the children um for long-term well-being. um just kind of putting all of our heads
together to come up with uh the best results for kids and families. The last thing we want to do is miss um something and put kids in a situation to continue to be abused if they are being abused. We also don't want to substantiate child
abuse against somebody who has not committed child abuse. So we take it very seriously and we rely on the team of experts to help us. Uh we also have time for team members from our community to bring cases to to the team for the
same reason for input and ideas. Uh we provide education both to each other on things that we have learned or um have been successful for us but also for our community.
We problem solve. If we see that there's issues in um certain parts of cases or um how things are running within child protection, we this is a a spot where we can safely talk about that and come up with either solutions or ideas for
improvement. Uh collaboration and communication. We stay connected, which is very important. If we're making a phone call in the middle of a a really um in-depth investigation, if we trust the person we're calling and they trust us, that
communication goes a lot better um better and which leads to better outcomes for children and families. Um we are also tasked with conducting child mortality reviews and and near fatality reviews. anytime a child in Bel
Tramy County dies or um is close to death due to um or I should say and child abuse or neglect is contributing to the death or near fatality, we're responsible for reviewing those cases. Um not only the the current
situation that led to the death, but the history of the family and any cases that we had. Um some of those cases we review um as a team just a Bel Tramy County team. In the future uh there's going to be a team from the state that will join
us on some of those reviews. >> And the purpose of those reviews is not to place blame on anybody. it is to find um or identify any patterns of things that are leading to child deaths or near
fatalities so that the state can make some recommendations for changes that might help kids and family across the state. >> Hey Chris, um is do you get brought in is that where Hayden comes in? You know, the the death triggers something with
the county attorney's office and then they or how do you find out about it? Um, we usually find out it's through law enforcement. >> Okay. >> When they get the the phone call, they call us. >> They notify you. Okay. I was just wondering how how you guys get to to know that these cases even exist.
>> Yep. That's from law enforcement. >> Law enforcement. Okay. Thank you. >> We also get we also get a notice from uh the Department of Human Services regarding any near fatalities or fatalities. That comes that comes to our office and then I make sure that Chrissy
gets that. And 99 times out of 100, they've already looked at it. They've already they've already got the information. But that that's the double check that we have. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> And the really nice thing is if the state uh learns through birth certificates that a child has been born
to somebody who has committed a very serious crime against a child like um resulting in child death or or something serious. um they notify us, >> okay, >> when that if that parent has a child in the future so that we can assess safety
for that the new child. >> Okay, great. >> Um so what gives us the authority to talk about these cases with um people throughout the community? Um he then is going to talk about that. >> Sure. So we uh the committee is established by Minnesota statute 260.2
2 and the idea behind the statute um I can take you a bit through the legislative history of it is that there that child welfare is a multifaceted and complex problem that often requires a
lot of different perspectives to handle it well. So, a child, you know, that is being abused or maltreated, you know, they have a point of contact at the school, at their physician's office, you know, they may have have had contact with law enforcement, then obviously
child welfare. Now, typically the rules um prohibit these agencies from talking with one another. So, there is a degree of red tape and that's often for the, you know, child's protection to make sure that information isn't leaking out into community. What the statute does is
it allows for these different agencies to come into a protected setting and discuss these uh cases candidly with one another. So disclosures that are made to one individual can you know be discussed broadly and problems that are being faced in the community can be discussed
um collaborative collaboratively instead of you know sort of here and there as might happen in independent conversations. Now historically the statute's undergone a bit of revision. Most recently um in 2020 there was a fairly significant overhaul
done that took the establishment of this committee out of the criminal code and put it more specifically into the child welfare section. It additionally changed the way that the committee is to deal with um youth who are at risk of being trafficked. Previously the statute
referred to them um a bit more unkindly as child prostitutes but now it understands them to be children at risk of trafficking. It allowed us to bring in uh child advocacy centers into the fold. So those are centers that I believe commit uh conduct forensic interviews and often work with children
in those difficult situations and expanded our scope beyond just children that we had received you know definite reports to uh runaways habitual truins and children that are now at risk of um being prayed upon. We have a sort of
expanded scope now that we can work with them. So alto together we have a team um and I've come to be here recently but I've sat in on several meetings that is able to flexibly deal with a lot of um
difficult subjects. >> Thank you Hayden. >> Um so the history of the child protection team. This is something we're really proud of too. It was in 1976 legislature passed a law requiring all counties to establish a child protection
team. Belrammy County hopped right on that and by uh 1977 our team was established. Uh the first child protection team meeting was held in the law enforcement in September of 1977 and our team has
not broken since then. Obviously, we've had members turn over because um people retire and move on, but but our team has been um consistently meeting since that time. And I I would add that uh in Belrammy County, we were the the second
team in the state to be developed and the only team we're the first team from greater Minnesota uh to be involved and I believe I believe we may be the only team that has continuously met um for
the entire the entirety of of the history of this. So >> the focus of the team has changed since its development. Uh so late 70s early 80s a huge focus was on education. Child
abuse was really a a new thing. Um and to learn how to investigate those cases, protect those kids. Um it took a lot of education. So that team the team's focus for many years was on educating themselves and they traveled around to
gain the best education they felt they could and then they progressed into traveling to share that education that they had learned. So that's another thing that I feel Belrammy County should be really proud of. Um they did annual
um team retreats to make sure they were staying cohesive and to um help help strengthen the team. As we move along, you can switch to the next one. um mid80s
uh the focus kind of changed to more case consultation, less education. I think part of that is because um they they gained all that knowledge that they felt they needed to move forward successfully.
Um so today our main focus is on case consultation. We do still um provide some community education. We had three conferences um that I'm proud of. I was part of putting those on. We had people
from across Minnesota come. We had professional speakers. They were very successful conferences. Uh we still provide education to each other in our meetings. We bring in um people to share education from time to time. Um we don't have retreats right
now, but that doesn't mean we're not going to in the future. and we still provide mandated uh reporter training throughout our community on a very consistent basis. Uh so who's part of the I already said we have very good attendance at our
meetings. Um so good that we have to meet in this room because we don't have another room that's big enough and we have people from the county attorney's office. Um they are a huge part of our child protection cases. Um sheriff's investigators, investigators from the police department. They have school
social workers, uh, probation officers, advocates, nurses, um, public health, um, Jeff and myself. The gaps right now, we really, um, would benefit from having tribal representatives on our team. Um we've
attempted this several times and because of how busy everybody is um it's been really difficult for um people to get here on a regular basis from other communities especially when they have their own MDT meetings to be attending.
And also we are in the need of a mental health professional on our team. We've had one or several in the past but I will be working on that. So, what's next to us or for us? Um, continue doing the good work that we're
doing. Um, I'm I'm the type of person I'm not okay being stagnant. So, I'm always going to um try to find more education, try to strengthen our team. We have a um training coming up in November at BSU um for ideas on strengthening our team. I'm working on
an orientation packet for new members so they actually know what they're getting themselves into rather than um just sitting down and figuring out what to do. I think that'll be really helpful. Um and then adding a tribal representatives and a mental health
professional to the team and continuing to find education that will benefit children and families. >> I would add that we we did have an orientation packet but it was about 15 years ago. Things have changed a little bit in the past 15 years. Um, I I'm excited about the work that our current
team members and our current team leadership is doing as they move this forward because this really is a a very large success story for Belrammy County. We have been a leader in this for a long period of time. Like I said,
one of the first teams in the state and maybe the only one that has not had an interruption in its in its ongoing work. So, um I'm super proud of the work that we have done over the years. I'm super proud of the work that our current leadership is doing and continues to do.
Any questions? I just wondering if you know it would be interesting to to hear some statistics of you know how many um cases you you know where you maybe saved a child from from a bad situation or something like that. If there's any any statistics that
you could share in the future um about you know how you know over the last year you had this many cases and then this many you were able to to help a child to you know get out of a bad situation. >> Absolutely. One of the things that's happened over the years is is we
certainly can do that and we will but one thing that is I find really exciting is we've talked before about how our our placement numbers have have been coming down over the past couple two three four years. Um and those numbers partly are coming down because we're doing these
something called family assessments. We have investigations family and family assessments. They are all child protection interventions. Um, but the family assessment is not about finding blame. It's about there's an issue. We would like to figure out how do we work through this issue, keep the child safe,
and keep the child home. And our our assessors and investigators, they kind of co-mingle between them. Some sometimes you'll you'll have an assessment, sometimes you'll have an investigation, but they spend extra time doing case direct case management with
um our clients with our with our I guess clients is the word we should use um in order to help them figure out how do we develop safety plans to keep kids at home. So, it's it's really exciting to see the work that they're doing. Um and I I can't again I can't take any credit
for any of that. That's these guys here. That's Cararissa and the work that she's doing directly with her staff. Um, it's it's pretty amazing work. The amount of time that sometimes our staff will spend trying to work to keep the family together is is
pretty pretty daunting task. >> Commissioner Sar, >> Mr. Chair, so there there's a shift in trend, right? I mean, in the past there, if there was a suspected abuse or or things like that,
typically they would uh remove the kid from the home. But now that they're trending towards trying to work with the family and and and ensuring that the family is is good and safe and and a
good environment. So the numbers would wouldn't really reflect the the the statistics uh that the chair is is asking for. >> Yeah, I think that we can put together numbers in a few different ways so that
you can see trends and all the good work we're doing. And you're absolutely right. um 10 years ago, we would have removed some of the kids that we are able to safely keep in their homes right now by bringing in their relatives,
their um natural supports who are in a good place um to keep the kids safe while we are working with the parents to achieve um wellness and safety for them. Um so we are finding ways to keep families together but ensuring child
safety at the same time. much more time consuming but much better for the families and the kids. >> And there unfortunately there are still cases where we have to remove the kids and um but but we feel confident that we try to
do alternative things >> and cases we can. >> And Mr. sheriff. Um I I think it's important that we remember because it's not often that I think many of us are involved, you know, with with child protection and and understanding, you
know, the out of home placements and and how much working, you know, together with these families is saving, you know, the county, you know, money and resources. So, I think, you know, doing that is a lot better than than, you
know, the potential of of, you know, bankrupting the the county. So, >> uh, you know, I appreciate the the work you're doing. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Commissioner Carlson, you have a >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just kind of curious, um, and I'm not sure if it even exists anymore. Did we have a group in
town called the Family Advocacy Center? >> Yes. And we still do, and we work very closely with them. >> Okay. So, how how is it how what you do in your department different than what they do? >> Uh, we work together as a team. So, in a lot of especially um our sex abuse
cases, if we can get them into the family advocacy center for a forensic interview and forensic exam, we will do that um just because of the setting is more comfortable for kids. Their interviewers interview all day long
every day. So they're very good at it and they have the medical professionals there to do the physical exam at the same time. We are there um and we use uh equipment so we can communicate with the people that are doing the interviews. um
give them idea when they take a break and come and talk to us ideas of more things we need them to ask about find out about um and then they are a part of a team moving forward um to see the case into prosecution if that's what's needed
or u making sure services are in place for the children. So we work together as a team. >> Good. And if they're not available, then we do the forensic interview, but we can't do the exam. Of course, >> I I I would add that they it is a
specialized tool that we use within the greater investigation. It's one of the pieces that that that adds to the investigative process. >> Thank you. >> And law enforcement is there as part of that team, too. >> Okay. Well, thank you. We need probably
need to get moving along to our local assessor. But thank you for the presentation and all the great work you're doing. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it, >> Caleb. Contracted local assessor policy. >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to bring
this policy before you this afternoon. Um I'm before you to present the local assessor data integrity and quality standards policy. Purpose of the policy is to establish responsibilities, procedures, and standards for anyone who's conducting business in Belrammy
County as a local assessor. Currently, we only ha we have we only have one local assessor, but if that number changes, this help will help me uh to establish like a level playing field of how we're going to conduct business with local assessors.
Uh most of the policy is no different than the standards and expectations I we have within our own office. Um where possible I've used Minnesota statute, Minnesota Department of Revenue and other organizations like the Minnesota Association of Assessing
Officers in the Minnesota State Board of of Assessors to guide this policy. Um, for example, under the qualifications and lic licensing requirements section, licensing and code of conduct portions come from the Minnesota State Board of Assessors. And
then in section two in letter H, there's there's a couple of dates there. Um, and those dates come straight from uh the Minnesota statute as well. um that that'd be the December 1st date
and the February 1st date for each assessment. The difference in this policy between uh the local assessor policy and what we have going on within our own office is under the duties and responsibilities portion of
this policy. The equipment that you you would see there that is that is required for someone to assess as a local. um we provide that here at the county for our office staff. And then um the other the other difference would
be the expectation of reporting. Uh the December 1st date for for an overall progress report by the local assessor is in statute and my office my staff reports to me more regularly than than once per year. Um
but those are the the two main differences. Um, another reason I'm requesting this policy is um, actually by recommendation of our property tax compliance officer. As I've mentioned before, he oversees
our office and we report to him. And in fact, since be be appointed Belrammy County Assessor, we've been in constant pretty constant conversation about the policies and and or lack of and the uh
the appraisers manual needing to be updated. So, this will probably not be the last time you guys will see me here, but um for those reasons, I'm bringing this policy before you this afternoon. Are there any questions on the policy? and Commissioner Carlson.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Caleb, could you just explain briefly, I think I know the answer, but just maybe for the public, why there's an assessor that's not in your office that's doing work. Just kind of explain that broadly so I think the general public gets a sense of >> Sure. Bel Tramy County currently is not
a true county uh assessment county which means that the individual townships andor cities the jurisdictions within it can h have the option to hire their own assessor to do the work within their
jurisdiction that and so that being said um that is currently what happens in 13 of our townships in one of our cities. Any other questions for Caleb? No. Thank you for time. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Brings us to the administrator's up update. Tom, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. You are fully up to date on the jail, so I won't mention anything about that. Well, both the existing jail and the the new jail project. Uh so I'll just jump right into
um an email that I'd sent to you just a little bit earlier today uh around the Belmy County Housing Roundtable uh meeting that's going to happen in December. Uh Sanford Health and Northern Minnesota and Greater Minnesota Housing Finance Fund are co-hosting a Belrammy
County Housing Roundtable on Tuesday, December the 2nd uh at the Sanford Center here in Baiji. Uh the event is going to be free and it's going to showcase the results of the county housing study that's being conducted by Maxfield Research and um the data is going to be used to help to try to
problem solve issues and concerns around housing uh in our region uh targeting housing developers, builders, financial institutions, of course, local governments, advocacy groups, and others. Um, so there's a full day of information sharing, panel discussions,
uh, and opportunities for networking and connections and all that stuff. Again, on Tuesday, December 2nd from 8:30 to 5:00 p.m. Unfortunately, that coincides with one of our board meetings. Uh, so I don't know how exactly that would work out, but uh, we certainly will probably
have some staff going to that as well. If you're able to make the earlier portions of that, that'd be super. I'm told that that's where kind of the meat will be. Anyways, um and again, uh the registration details are in an email that I sent to you a little bit earlier
this afternoon. Uh just quickly moving on to the HR director update. Was going to let you know that we did in fact conduct second interviews and uh we have made an offer to a candidate and are awaiting a response at this point in time. So um not sure exactly where that will go. As you know, the the first
round of doing this, we had a candidate that we had extended an offer to and then uh we couldn't come to terms on that offer. So, uh we'll see how this one goes. Um and maybe I'll have more information for you at a later date. Um
I was also going to inform you that I'm working on the public defender contracts. These are our contracted attorneys that uh do our public defense work um on behalf of the county uh that we're obligated to provide. Uh there are four contracts uh each for one of our
contracted attorneys. They all expire at the same time at the end of this year. Uh so I'm trying to work to update uh and modernize the contract, develop some performance standards, uh some uh additional detail around the termination
of these contracts given some recent um challenges that we've had in administering the older contracts. Uh and then uh certainly there is an effort here to stagger the contracts so we don't have every contract expiring all at the same time. we have some continuity in the way that we um handle
cases and as well uh serve our clients uh in the community. Uh that seems to be going pretty well at this point in time. Um I will expect to have those contracts come before you for your approval uh sometime between now and the end of the year. Um
was also going to remind you that the 2026 legislative um platform is being developed right now. uh we had about 15 items when we went to the management team meeting uh and said that was probably too many. So we backed down uh that number by taking off some of the
things I mean they're all important right they're all important issues but some of the things that are going to be turnurning through broader consortiums or associations that we may not need to be leading on that other organizations are going to lead on. We're going to pull back and focus just on Belrammy County specific stuff. So, um, I hope to
be able to provide you a preliminary draft of that this week to give you a jump start on kind of just reviewing that. And I expect to bring the, uh, information to you on November 4th's meeting, uh, where I'm hopeful that we can maybe make a decision on either adopting, you know, with no changes or
maybe some changes or or whatever. Uh, so given that time frame, if you do have anything that you'd like to add or change or whatnot, uh, once I get this out to you later this week, please let me know as soon as you can so I can get that updated and have the most recent, uh, draft reflected for you at the
November 4th meeting. Um, I will just make a side note here that representative um, Duran has been um, a tireless advocate for us. Oh, look at said that and then I don't >> we time that perfectly.
Yeah, now now I have to watch what I say. But um no, I I was just going to say that he's been a tireless advocate and he and I have been working already on several items uh of issues and concerns associated with um our region. And I just was going to make a shout out
to him, but now I'm glad this is great. We can do this in person for his work on behalf of our county. Uh he has already got some legislation ready to go on issues that are important to our county. Uh and so those are inside the platform that uh I'm going to be providing to you
here in a couple days as well. Um what's important is that some of the issues uh this is why we're getting about a month's jump start on things. some of the issues are going to take some time to socialize uh in the off session and uh and some of the issues are already being worked on right now and so we want
to try to get the platform uh in front of you and get your support for it sooner rather than later so that we can continue to work on building the momentum or educating and informing around these issues which we didn't get a lot of opportunity to do this last
session mostly because of the um the the power issues and some of the other political struggles that occurred early in the session. So, um so we feel like it's important to get that platform uh in front of you and and moving forward as soon as we can. Um
just a couple reminders or maybe this one isn't a reminder but an announcement for you as it relates to the regular session uh coming up here in just a few minutes. Um item number 7K uh which is the county state aid highway 11 project and resolution. uh we'd like
to ask for you to table that uh to the next meeting uh and not consider that at this point in time. We do need to make a couple adjustments to that resolution and um instead of trying to make those on the fly with you and and make maybe
perhaps making it confusing, we're not in a rush for this. So, we'll just pull it off. We'll make the adjustments and then put it back on at a future meeting. So, uh that's what we'd recommend uh on the agenda. And then lastly, just a reminder that the opioid steering committee community meeting is uh
following today's regular session at 6 o'clock here in the room. That's all I have for you, but I'll stand for any questions you might have. >> Any questions for Tom? Seeing any any uh topics that want to be pulled from the consent agenda for
consideration on the regular agenda? Not seeing any. So you made that change, Commissioner Winger, regarding tableabling item 7K. >> Yep. 7K. The public works highway approval of the county state aid highway 11 project for the local road
improvement plan grant. We'll take >> we move the item. I don't think we removing any item. >> Um I'll defer to Tom on that. What do you recommend there, Tom? >> You can do either action. Tabling just means it has a potential to come back. If you just want to remove it, we'll
just put it back on at a future date. Either you're comfortable with is fine. >> Just say we remove it through for a future work or a future consent agenda. >> Just strike it from the agenda. >> We'll just strike it. >> Y Okay.
Um that being said, we'll look for a motion to adjourn the work session and we'll return at five. Motion by Commissioner Carlson. We hear a second. Second by Commissioner Winger. All in favor of adjourning say I.
>> I. We are adjourned. 4 Z until 5:00. Part: 2
5:00. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. Right. Good to see you. Got a few people in in the room tonight. That's great to see. Um believe do we have somebody online? So, you want to bring that person up? We
have a citizen online that wants to address the board tonight. Um I don't think don't know that. Do is she are he or she listening already or online? Okay. Oh, yeah. If you want them to be able to listen, I'll go through and and
read the thing to them as well. So, 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 five 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. We have uh first person or first one up is going to be online here this evening and Diane
can pull them up now or bring them in. Maybe you. Oh, you you admitted. Oh, there we go. >> Okay. Hello. >> Hello, Pam. Go ahead. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you. I've
spoken to you a couple weeks ago um when I learned that there would be cuts in the uh library historical society and transportation. Um tonight um I would like to ask questions about the truth and taxation meeting which was suggested
that um we come to if we wish to bring any further information, find out more about or address the cuts. And um so in getting ready for this, I went to truth and taxation at
the Minnesota House and um from October 2020 2014 and uh I had asked them for information. and they said to refer to you as the county board and um
so I'm wondering um that how to address the concerns I have at a truth and taxation um meeting. Uh it says one of the things I learned was that at the
truth and taxation meeting you could not um exceed the proposed levy and so that would seems to be a limit as to what can be happening at the truth and taxation meeting and then um
there have been some updates since that time. So, I want to know how I can use the truth and taxation meeting to address my concerns about the cuts as it was recommended at one of the meetings I was at that that's where it
would be addressed. That was our next opportunity to address concerns. >> Is that all you have to say? >> No, I would So, can can that question be answered? Normally this is just you addressing the board with with whatever your concern is. It isn't a back and
forth um this citizen board. You just you know if you've got a issue with a road or whatever you come and state the issue we take note of it and and and then we move on to >> Okay. I have some other points then I'd like to make and so I'm so I'm wondering
then um who I would talk to. So I may have to do some emails to try to figure that out since I can't do that now. And um so I did spend some time looking at the budget and I really did appreciate the transmitt letter that was dated wine
125 um because that gave me some background and um so thank you for that for the me commissioners that were there for helping with that and um
so and then I'm wondering how I can be involved in knowing. So that was September 1st, 2025 or yeah, 2025 because um how then do I um
address proactively? So it looks like I'll have to ask that in an email also. And then I'm wondering um it one of the in when I was reading in the budget um report to you that um
there is to be some saving for the future uh because there are um there just needs to be saving for the future. I mean, anybody with common sense does that kind of thing and so I would expect that the commissioners
would also do that and that would be a part of the budget. Um, but then I'm wondering if um I can expect that I would be able to see some because we are doing some saving to see some um reinstatement of funding towards the
library, the historical society or the transportation of uh for those in need who need to use public transportation. And the other part that um I have been wondering about is how how could I as a citizen of Belrammy County begin to
address the budget before it's written because I'm not allowed to talk about it at when it's presented on the agenda for the county board. So I'm kind of at a quandry as how to move ahead as a
responsible citizen. Um, so I'm guessing that I will need to do emails to do that and to perhaps look back at the um minutes before
September 1st to try to figure those things out. So I see I'm down to 40 30 21 seconds and I appreciate your time to address the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, Pam. And there's someone in the audience that
would like to come forward at this time. >> My name is Randall Berg Burg. I'm a resident of district 3. Uh Commissioner Winger is my uh representative on the board. With me tonight are Kathy Schmidt
and Linda and Pat Winkler, friends who in the interests of uh saving the board's time, have unofficially designated me as the spokesman. We here are we are here as well to address our
concerns about the proposed $146,000 cut to the request for funding from the Kitagami Regional Library System of which uh the two libraries here in Bel Tramy County, the Bumiji Public Library
and the Black Duck Public Library are members. First of all, I want to thank the commissioners because it is my understanding that an invitation has been extended by the board to the director of the Kitigami Regional
Library System and our local librarian here in Baiji U is Sher Warren to address the board at a upcoming uh work session in early November. I think this
will be of great assistance to the board in terms of learning number one both the the extent of the services that are provided to Bel Tramy County citizens by the Kitigami Regional Library System and
two and uh regrettably the consequences to our two libraries here in Bel Tramy County should the proposed budget uh or the preliminarily approved budget budget uh including the $146,000
cut uh be made final at the truth and taxation meeting addressing the concerns that the previous speaker uh or uh citiz citizen had. It is my understanding from the
earlier meeting that at the truth and taxation meeting, the only remaining decision will be what monies, if any, are available to increase existing funding
uh for the library from either extraordinary funds that are available to the county um reserves or in the alternative monies taken from other department budgets.
We certainly want the commission to know that we have no desire to leap immediately to suggestions that the budgets of other county departments should be uh rated for the benefit of the library uh without regard to
consequence. Um, we believe that there are extraordinary funds available to the county board which could be used to increase the funding Belrammy County proposes to give
to the Kitikami Regional Library System. and we would look first to those. But we will be requesting that um the board revisit the issue after it is fully
informed uh regarding uh the nature of Kitigami's request, revisit its decision uh regarding funding for the library. Um this is a community institution
which um reflects both the values of our community and the interests of our community. As I have mentioned at an earlier occasion, I worked for 20 years or more
as a prosecutor here in Bel Tramy County. And I think I can speak with some expertise and experience that good citizens are not punished into existence. Good citizens are educated
and brought up to be that way. and the libraries are a critical institution in that process. I want to voice again my sympathy for the the position the board is in. You have been tasked with many uh
duties by both the federal and state authorities and the funds have not come along with that to accomplish those purposes. Most recently, you've been obliged to find the money for an enormous new jail
facility. If anybody should be interested in jail facilities, it would be an ex-p prosecutor. But I'll tell you, jails are like flushing money down a toilet. They don't do any good. Libraries build
good citizens. And I hope you'll keep that in mind as you hear the presentations from the representatives at Kitigami. Again, thank you for hearing us out. We're here to uh express our concern. Expect to hear from more of
us, but we know we've received a fair hearing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Randall. Looks like we have another person coming up to the microphone. Good evening everybody. I'm Videl Duran. I'm the state representative for this area. I want to come and talk to you
guys today a little bit about some of the problems that our county has been facing um along with what the state of Minnesota has been facing as well. Since the bienium of the 23 24 bienium, the state has been pushed on more mandates
on the counties and the cities and especially on uh school districts and county jails than ever before. It is the most drastic increase that we've seen in such a long time that has been putting a huge burden on the counties and the
cities, the jails, the the uh schools. Um, and I'm here to kind of tell you and express to the the citizens that have a real concern that um, this is not necessarily your guys's fault to the area that we're in.
And me being the state representative in this area, I got to take ownus for what's going on with the state of Minnesota's. So, some of the things I want to talk to you about today is making sure that people understand that the mandates that
are being pushed down on this county right now is more detrimental to our to our county than people know. And I wish people would educate themselves in regards to that. There's only so much money that comes into this county along with the poverty
level that we have. and we are a central hub with a lot of resources that need to go into this county. The thing is is that people are not taking that into into consideration when thinking about
what you guys have to do with the budget and what you guys have to manage with the policies in the state or from the state. I know for a fact that you guys would want to give as much money to all the
programs in this county so they can be successful. The problem is is the state of Minnesota has made that very difficult for you guys. And I hope that people are looking into this and I hope that people are realizing what's going on around us
because when you look back from the 23 24 benium, the drastic increase, the the six or the $18 billion surplus that was taken, the $10 billion in taxes raised, and we're looking at a $6 billion deficit in the state of Minnesota right
now. And all that is going to be pushed on you, the cities, and everybody else on the taxpayers to try to dig out of that hole. And a lot of the times that people don't realize that.
And our people in our county are looking at you guys to be able to fix it. But there's only so much that you guys can do. So, I'm here to take a little bit of onus on the issues that are going on in the stage and I'm here to say that I'm willing to work with every single person
on this board to include your county administrator to make sure that we do what we can to make sure that Belchami County in our surrounding area is benefiting. There's not a lot that we can do unless
we work together. I'm only one voice. I'm just one person. I'm one vote. But until we can figure out how to get across the aisle and work together, it's going to be very difficult for us. We're
at a 50-50 split in the House and a Democratic ran Senate and a Democrat governor. So, I have to figure out ways that we can actually move this state in or at least this district in the right direction with what we have.
So, when we talk about mandates and we talk about funding and we talk about, you know, a new jail or funding for the library, anything like that, you guys have a tough decision to make, especially raises within the county and everybody else. Okay.
this the state has squeezed you guys so much that it's very difficult and I just I hope that people are starting to educate themselves on where things went arai and so maybe we can all come together as a community and help you guys.
So thank you very much. >> Thank you representative Duran. Anybody else want to come forward? My name is Cheryl Schaeel. I am a resident of Bel Tramy County. I live in Joe Gold's district and I'm here on
behalf of the library and for the transportation to speak up for the people who have less than. I mean, I look at the commission here and I see that all of you have benefited from your privilege,
but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to look at people who don't have that privilege. the people who need the library. The people who need it to do resumeumés to do applications for jobs online. The ones who don't have Kindles, who don't have laptops, who don't have
phones that they can access the internet on, the ones who need to make appointments so they can go to social security. Yes, Bel Tramy County is one of the poorest county, the poorest county I believe it is in Minnesota. And the county commission is not only
looking your job is to not just look after the the physical things in the county like the roads and things like that, but it's also to look after the welfare of the people. And when we're talking about the people who benefit in
the library, we're talking about some of the least of these people. They need it. The transportation, they need it. Where else are they going to go to get to their doctor's appointments? There are simple things like that that
are absolute necessities to life. And I'm asking you to fund it because no, you can't go above the levy, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other funds and other places where you can get that money and you can fund the
library and fund the transportation for the Paul Bunan transportation system. You know, we're looking at people who just don't have anything. They need help. And if they can get online and they can apply for jobs, they can do whatever,
they can eventually contribute to the taxes of the county. You know, if we help people out, they can help us out. >> Thank you. Anyone else want to speak to the board?
Seeing none, we will move on. We look for approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Make a motion to approve the agenda. With this exception, we're going to strike 7K.
Okay. Striking 7K from the consent agenda. Do I hear a second to that motion? Second by Commissioner Carlson. Any further discussion on the agenda? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the agenda as amended say I.
>> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries four to zero. Approval of the amended consent agenda. >> Well, Mr. Chair, I would move the approval of the consent agenda minus item 7K that we would remove item 7K.
>> All right. I hear a motion from Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Winger. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the amended consent agenda with removal of item 7K say I. I. Any opposed? Motion
carries 4 to zero. That brings us to the regular agenda. Our first item on the regular agenda is the existing jail study options and recommendation. >> Does someone want to make a motion? Mr. >> Chair. >> Yeah, go ahead.
uh being a member of the design and operations committee where we unanimously uh recommend to uh move forward option three which is the total destruction of the existing jail uh and the building of a new sally port. I would move that we
approve um option three to demolish the existing jail uh and build a new sally port adjacent to the courthouse. Okay. >> Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Winger. Further
discussion on choosing option three for the uh demolition of the existing jail and the building of a new Sallyport um immediately adjacent to the courthouse. >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Sar, >> I just want to um thank the board and
and uh the administrator for opening up an opportunity for public comment. Uh um you know I I heard you know from uh a few people that you know wanted it demolished there. There's a few that
were hoping to um possibly um you know support option two. Um so and and I think given this opportunity for folks to come forward to express their their their opinions um I think was was
helpful in my decision. So um want to make that known. >> Thank you Commissioner Summer. Any other Commissioner Carlson? >> Thank you Mr. Chair. I just want to thank Steve and Krauss Anderson and all the work that they did and Austin uh and the work that uh Klein McCarthy
architects have done and I also want to make a good shout out to Steve Shedric our facilities manager uh has done a great job and trying to put together he's done a lot of work on trying to figure out what this thing is going to cost and uh has really been a great asset to the design and operations
committee um and Kandra who's always been there on a design and operations committee lending her expertise on what the jail needs to be like and uh u and of course our administrator Mr. Barry. So thanks for that team uh done a great job.
Appreciate it. And just for those that weren't here earlier, we also did look at uh ongoing operational cost, not just the the physical cost of of remodeling or demoing or whatever. We looked at operational costs as well. and and that that really I think put made it very
obvious that it was not going to be very financially feasible for us to to try to retain any of the old building um just because of the ongoing operational costs when we're already so strapped financially. It just wouldn't make any sense. So, um I I'm very
very uh pleased that we did the due diligence and looked at all the options and gave uh had the opportunity for a couple months of public comment and and ultimately I think that you know it's pretty pretty obvious what we need to do. Any other discussion?
All right, we have a motion and a second. So, I'll call for the question. All in favor of approving option three for the um the existing jail study say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 4 Z.
Thank you. And we move on to the MCIT delegates. And I believe right now Administrator Barry is our delegate and and Commissioner Carlson is our alternate. Um M administrator Barry, please. Um >> you bet. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, uh,
the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust is our insurance provider as well as risk management, uh, agency. Um, we pay premiums to them and, uh, also as a part of our membership, we get to have a delegate and an alternate to serve on
the, um, voting to serve in in place of voting uh, for MCIT business. And so, uh, each year MCIT has an annual meeting. It's held in coordination with the uh Association of Minnesota Count's annual meeting. Uh I did attend last year, which is what made me the delegate
by your appointment. Uh because I don't believe anyone else on the board was intending or at least at that time intending to go to the AMC conference. Um, I do believe two, if not maybe three of you are intending to go this year and I wasn't. Um, potentially and I'm not
I'm not as certain and so I thought maybe it would be good for us to have the delegate list modified for those who are certain that they are going to be attending. Um, there is uh an appointment is essentially that needs to happen by your vote. uh that allows me to then fill out the paperwork and
submit that to MCIT as a official delegate and alternate. Um so I just wanted to put that out there. It's not anything that really needs to be decided tonight per se, but it's something we would want to and they have requested we get in fairly soon uh so that they can
organize their paperwork and make sure they've got the right delegates there that are casting votes on behalf of MCIT business. Go ahead, Commissioner Carlson. >> Mr. Chair, can you remind us the order of of all the activities that go on at AMC?
At at what point does because I know the MRC, the Minnesota Rural Counties meets, uh MCIT meets, uh Tim, you're probably involved with the u the executive team meeting. And so all of these things happen and and maybe I don't it might be
that Tim has to be at an executive meeting couldn't be at MCIT. I don't know I what what day of that conference is the MCIT meeting? >> Do they even have that schedule out yet? >> I'm looking for the schedule now. Typically it's very early in the in the
um AMC if I recall. It's pretty early in the in the meeting conference. Um >> Mr. Chair and Tom. Um, Commissioner Carlson, uh, the AMC board typically meets the
Sunday, uh, afternoon, uh, prior to the the official start of the conference. Um and I believe as affiliates
um MRC and and MCIT try to uh organize their meetings around um evenings late afternoon so it doesn't really conflict with
um conferences or or sessions. So, um, that's how it typically, uh, runs each year. So, >> it says that it would be at 4:00 on Monday night. So, So, are you saying that you think you would be you would
definitely be there and you would be willing to be the MCT? >> I'm not saying I I'd be willing I'll definitely be there. >> I I thought you were volunteering yourself. >> If it's up to me, I'll make the motion to to keep it as is.
Uh, so um, who are you planning on going or not? >> I was not planning on >> I have a conflict. I don't did not plan on going, but um I don't know if you were planning on going and that. So if
one of you be take the we need to have one delegate and one alternate. Is that what we're looking for, Tom? >> That's what they're requesting. I mean, if you don't have an alternate right now, then you you won't have an alternate, but having at least a delegate would be advisable. >> Do you guys have a coin you want to flip or
>> Well, you guys can draw straw out. >> Mr. Chair, I would I would I would nominate uh Commissioner Winger since I know Commissioner Sumner is already heavily involved with the executive committee and lots of other >> activities that he has to be at just
because of what's going on. And it would be probably harder for Commissioner Summer to do that. I I I understand where you're coming from, Tim. I think u I would I would say that if Tom's really doesn't want to go, let's let's have Commissioner Winger be our
>> Do we need a formal motion for this? Uh Tom, or is this >> It would be preferred. Yes. >> So, you want to make that a formal motion? >> That is a motion. >> Okay. So, have a second for that motion. >> Does somebody want to second it? Seconded. >> Okay. We have a motion from Commissioner
Carlson, a second from Commissioner Sumar. Discussion. Just Mr. >> Chair. >> Yep. >> So, what what exactly is um when do they have the meetings? Like do they are they monthly, quarterly? I think that way
would be >> helpful for Commissioner Winger. >> Sorry. Uh yeah, the this is only for the board meeting. Uh it's the one meeting that they have for the year uh that allows you to have a voice and a vote as a county representative on the business
that MCIT is planning to conduct for that evening. There's no additional commitment. Uh it's not a board position, for example. There's no other meetings. It's just the the one one-hour meeting uh where members of MCIT get to come and listen to the presentations. uh
typically vote on typically there's a a board member that's being nominated or or you know wants to reset the position again or if there's a policy or something else. That's really just all there is for about an hour, an hour and a half is to to sit in that meeting and just make a vote on behalf of the county
and and that's really the only obligation. >> Okay. >> Are you okay with that? >> Oh yeah. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Carlson. Do we need to have state the alternate in that same proposal? >> I' I'd recommend that. Yeah.
>> If possible. >> So, Mr. Chair, I would I would I would amend my motion to have Commissioner Winger be our representative and Commissioner Sumner be the alternate as long as he's already going to be down there just in case. that that'll save the that'll save the
county some money for having to send administrator Barry or myself or someone else in addition to >> well, you know, and I also want to remind uh my colleagues here that there is another uh commissioner that that
will be in attendance that um uh seemed a little bit curious about MCIT earlier this year that may um consider being an alternate as well. So, I don't know if I can >> We need to know now though if we're
going to make make the decision. >> I don't know if I can uh support that amendment. >> So, is is that you're not supporting that amendment? No. Okay. So, we want to leave the alternate off the table then for tonight because we don't, you know,
have anybody else to to fill that role. >> You you could do that and we could bring it back again or you you can just leave it as is. If you're going to be there for sure, we don't really need an alternate either, you know. So, >> yeah. So,
>> okay. So, you want to revert back to your original motion and second? >> Mr. Chair, let me restate my motion just for for clarity. Um, I would uh move that we nominate Commissioner Winger as
our delegate to the MCIT at the upcoming annual meeting. Um, and at this time we won't have u >> an alter. >> An alternate. >> Okay. Do you want to second that? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Sumar. Any
further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor of making Commissioner Winger our MCIT delegate for this year's annual meeting say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? You are it.
Motion by Carlson, second by Sumner. All right, that was it for our regular agenda. So, we'll move on to commissioner reports. Uh, Commissioner Sumar, do you have any commissioner or legislative lobbying? Blend them together.
>> Um, Mr. Chair, I attended the uh Black Duck Ambulance meeting uh last week. received an update of operations and um I think the past few months have been interesting and and for the ambulance
especially uh with some recent flooding in the building. Uh they u were working on uh fixing that and this past month the one of the rigs one of the ambulance uh uh caught on fire spawn
spontaneously. Uh nobody was injured. It was in uh the Black Cameron's building. Uh fortunately, you know, there were a couple EMTs there where they were able to safely
uh remove the ambulance from the garage that um didn't affect the building and and saved the building essentially. So um thankful for that.
Um, also there is a uh I will be attending the Bel Tramy uh County Extensions meeting uh next Monday morning uh the 27th. And also want to remind uh folks
that the AMC District 2 meeting uh is taking place later uh next week uh October 29th which we we usually meet uh beginning of October but not too sure why uh but it will be here at 8:00 am to
12:00 pm lunch will be uh served and also I just want to remind uh the board and and maybe um that the deadline for um county achievements and awards for AMC
is uh quickly approaching I believe this week. If there are any um projects or or programs, any recognition the uh county wants us submit for, I think it would be it would be great to at least submit something.
So uh that is my report for tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Summer. Commissioner Winger >> at the meeting that I attended stuff. I did uh would like to see them come again and talk I did uh talk to
them about doing chat about and I talked to Kev Jackson about that too. He'd like to have them on. So hopefully they're going to be able to get on there. I did do about wasn't able to make that. So because our meeting at BAS got done
early enough, I went John was able to get to his meeting. So it all worked out. U the management team meeting on the 15th. One of the things that was discussed brought up to the to the management
team. So hopefully some of those will get out a solid waste meeting this morning. Um one of the things I'm sure Mr. Chair, we'll talk more about it. Uh, but one of the things that was discussed was going
back to some other hours on Saturdays. Uh, instead of extending all the way to 4:30, they're going to cut back to 1:00. We're not exactly sure if that'll happen on the 1st or the 8th yet, but uh, but he's working on that just because the numbers are going down of the number of
people bringing stuff. And then, uh, them. I'll be at the extension meeting on Monday. >> Thank you, Commissioner Winger. Commissioner Carlson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was at the airport affairs council meeting. Um
the just for public information, I guess the public affairs council is just a group of interested area citizens interested in the airport. um they they do not make up the airport authority, but they can sometimes make
suggestions on things that they see that maybe could make the airport better. Um and uh one of the things that they've talked about is is the community engagement piece. Uh and out of that came the chamber after hours um that we had at the airport last
Tuesday uh from 4 to 6. Uh that was really well attended. Um and so that was a it was a great event. Uh so hats off to Scott Turn and the chamber for all the work that they did on that and our executive director Kyle Christensen uh did a great job answering a lot of
questions. Um the other thing that came out of that was uh we're going to thankfully Kev Jackson had a few spots available throughout the year so that the airport can actually get on chat about now on somewhat of a regular
basis. So that'll be kind of nice so that things that are going on at the airport, whether it's um Delta saying you can't uh bring your luggage 45 minutes, you know, before I mean you have to be done before 45 minutes for the plane boards, all that kind of stuff
or whether it's TSA information, whatever. Um so good information and of course Kev Jackson does a great job uh on chat about for that. Um, Commissioner Winger and I were involved with HR director interviews. Um, and as commun uh, administrator Barry said, waiting to
hear from one of the candidates um, at a greater Bumiji uh, meeting. Uh, things are progressing nicely in the rail corridor with regards to um, the uh, YMCA project. Um I think cleanup has
already started out there. Um and some of the buildings are getting tore down. So there's nice activity going on in the rail corridor. That's um thanks in great part to Dave Hangle and Greater Bumichi. Um I did attend the deescalation training that was at the O at the uh
EOC. Um that was interesting. Um and uh learned some good uh good good information about that. Um and uh uh we then of course we had the jail design and operations committee. Um I mentioned the chamber after hours. Um I did go to
the SBA round table for disaster recover loans just so people are aware that the uh deadline for that has been extended um to the end of the month. So, if you need uh assistance because of the storm,
loans are still available through the SBA, and that's both business and uh residential. Um, and that office is located at the fire hall number two, which is over on Lake Avenue, uh over in Nimore. Um,
then of course we had the airport authority meeting. Um, and I'll let Commissioner Gossig talk about that. And then uh yesterday I uh yeah yesterday I had a meeting about the dancing sk for dancing sky uh triple agency that's the
area agency um uh >> aging >> on aging um and uh and unfortunately one of the programs that worked really well that was brought to my attention by our uh health and human services director and linseth it was a wraps program and
it was a program that allowed I'm lobbying because we aren't ready till sick. some reason um that uh that help folks regardless of income level u over 65 if they had um special needs for their house whether it might be a railing on the back steps or maybe the
steps needed to be replaced and or maybe they needed some cleanup done and they just didn't have the wherewithal to be able to do that. there was money available in a fund through the dancing sky um AAA agency and um and
said that was a great use in Belrammy County and she was hoping that that would get continued. So I brought that forward to the meeting and of course that is not going to happen any longer unfortunately. So but we still we're we're trying we'll we'll try to get that
back. Um that's it Mr. Chair. >> Thank you Commissioner Carlson. I had a had a few meetings. Um had an HRDC meeting. Nothing really. We just had a just a few updates on a couple things there. Wasn't anything super to report about there. um while we went to I was
at the chamber after hours at the airport as well and and it was pretty fortuitous that a U jet happened to land right while we were there and we we were holding the event in the kind of glassed in area towards the FBO and and uh so everybody got to see the the jet wheel
in right right there and and then uh a helicopter um the medical helicopter came in and then actually had to take off. we'd planned on having it there, but they actually got to that take off and so that was kind of fun for everybody to to see a jet pull in and a
helicopter land and take off. Um, I'll be starting uh with the airport um our union negotiations there. I'm actually going to meet with our executive director at the airport tomorrow to to get things kicked off with that and and
uh so I'll be working on that. Um, Black Duck Ambulance, as Commissioner Sumar mentioned, the ambulance fire actually started with a mini fridge. The electrical short in a mini fridge that they have for keeping medications cold. You know, thankfully it was in the older am we actually have a brand new
ambulance up there. I'm on the Tri County ambulance board and Commissioner Sumar's on the the Black Deck ambulance board itself. Um, and um, it was that's what started it. Um, thankfully, as Commissioner Sum said, it didn't didn't affect the the building or anything. um
but battling, you know, with insurance to try to get, you know, to determine what what we get covered, if it's replacement cost or or not. And and uh but we do have a brand new ambulance and and thankfully that wasn't there and did not get damaged. So, um we're able to
still keep running with that. But, uh that ambulance is I I think it's a total loss cuz the interior is just melted and charred and it's, you know, stinks. um had our fair board annual meeting last night and uh um there were some
some contested election. We went through and ended up uh um the seven board members that were up for election did get reelected. The two that were um didn't quite you know was fairly close on the the lower end vote getters but it
still ended up being the the original seven. at our solid waste committee meeting this morning. As um Commissioner Winger mentioned, um we normally do change the hours, just so people know, um in December, we typically change the hours, reduce the hours because there's just less traffic typically in the winter
time out the demo landfill. And um we're just we've had extended hours due to the the storm damage and all the debris and that's starting to wne. So we will be going to um 9 to 1 um instead of 8 to 4:30 on Saturday. We'll go from 9 to 1
instead. um probably starting November 1st, possibly not till November 8th. So that is it for my reports for the board. If anybody else have anything that they like to share, otherwise I'll look for a motion to adjourn at a regular meeting
and then we will reconvene at 6 for the opioid steering committee meeting. Motion to adjurnn by Commissioner Carlson. We hear a second. Second by Commissioner Winger. All in favor of adjourning say I. I. Any opposed? Motion
carried.