--------- meeting to order and we are going to have a close session. So, um at this time I will accept a motion to go into close session pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.05 subdivision 3 to discuss the purchase or sale of real or personal property. Do I hear such a motion?
So moved. Um motion by Commissioner Winger and second by Commissioner Carlson. All in favor of going into close session, please say I. I. Any opposed? All right, we will move over to the work room for the close session.
At this time, I'll accept a motion to end the closed session and return to the open meeting. So moved. Motion by Commissioner Carlson. I hear a second. Second. Second by Commissioner Winger. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed?
All right. We are back in the open work session meeting. Next on the agenda is introduction of new employees. Do we have any new employees? Not seeing any. So, we'll move on to identify future work meeting topics. Does anybody have any future
work meeting topics they would like to bring up? Commissioner Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, in my uh investigation of the opioid settlement uh funds, I uh had the pleasure of visiting with Chris Earl at Face It
Together today. Oh. had a nice conversation with him and a nice visit of their facilities there and I asked him if he had any desire to come to the board and kind of explain what they do and he said yeah he'd love to do that so I didn't want to put him on the spot so I asked him and he said yeah he would
love to do that so sometime in the future he would love to come give us a presentation okay that sounds good anybody else not seeing any we'll move on to uh Bamiji area service collaborative update eight. Well, hello and thanks for having me.
I'm talk to you all about Basque. Um, my name is Kim Graham and I've been with BAS since January of 2024. So, still fairly new in the role. Um, I did have 20 years of experience running Northome Children and Family Services here in Baiji and in Duth. So, I had that and
then also the, you know, Gillin Center and Evergreen House and Clearwater County. So, I I've done all of that. Um, so just tell you a little bit about Basque. I don't know what you know or what you don't know, but Basque was started in 1998 through a joint powers
agreement. And the joint powers agreement had to be um a county, a school district, a mental health agency, a community action agency, and Minnesota Department or corrections. So, um that's
who started our fast back in 98. So with that um there's 90 Minnesota collaboratives in in Minnesota and uh 36 collaborives are both children children's mental health and family services and so we are one of those one
of 36 that have both um our mission is to improve the wellbeing of uh children youth and families in in um Belrammy County through collaboration of resources and services. So, what I consider myself is the hub for all the
services, the service providers, the county, probation, um just everyone that needs services and I can get people working with each other. I can find out who who needs funding, where's gaps, and kind of just keep that flowing in. So, that's kind of what my role is as best
director. Um our funding sources are for integrated funds. So, we get funds from our partner contributions. Um, we get funds from our local t lo local collaborative time study dollars and I'll explain that a little bit and child welfare targeted case management and
grants. So that's what funds FASK. Um, I have four staff and I'm including me. So that's what we have in our office. Um, our governing board is Bel Tramic County Social Services and Public Health and we have a representative from each of these
places. um school districts, Baiji, Blackduck, Kellier, and Red Lake and then um BRICK, which is the Bumiji Regional Inner District Council and uh Stanford Behavioral Health and Stellar Human Services along with BCAP, United
Way of Bumiji, um Department of Corrections, and a foster care representative. So, I now have 15 board members. So, can go there. Um Basque has a couple programs. One program that we do is the diversion program and I know uh we came and talked
to you about funding about that because we lost our title 2 funding which we had had since 2013 to run our program. Um and that was the state didn't have enough funding so they didn't put anything towards that. So that's why you
know we received some more funding from the county attorney's office which was great for this year. Uh we also are working with Bel Tram County Public Health on a cannabis substance use prevention grant. So I have a staff along with myself. Um I'm doing some of
the grant coordination and my staff is working with a social worker from public health and they are uh actually they're meeting right now and it's pretty cool. They're forming an advisor a youth advisory committee. So we did a survey um of Black Duck School, Voyer Voyagers,
Trek and Biji High School. We asked about 15 questions kind of what what they think their peers do. It wasn't personal question. It was more of like what do you see? What do you think is common, what's not common. Um and then at the end of it was do you want to join this youth advisory? And I think what
what I'm hearing is we have about 12 kids that are willing to do that this summer. So both my case manager and the social worker will work with these kids throughout the summer to figure out what kind of what kind of uh peer voice can we get out there about prevention? What's going to work? what's not going
to work? Is it social media? Is it radio ads? We already know it's not radio ads. Um, so it's just a lot of different areas and we're going to then hopefully in the fall these kids will be able to like present to all the high schools, the middle schools, elementary schools, you know, just get the information out
about prevention use. So, um, that's pretty exciting. So, that's part of what diversion is being covered under. Um, we also have uh we just were awarded the dual status youth grant and that is for
any youth that's in probation and social services, the dual status. And so VAST's role is to work with both probation and social services to come up with one plan, do a collaborative conference and work on the issues that the youth is
having. So that's pretty exciting. We had this back in 2013. We still do it now. In 2013, we had someone from uh the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice come and work with Bel Tramy County on on that
program, you know, specifically. And now we're awarded again. They'll be coming back and just seeing what we've done, what we put in place and to see if where we can enhance things. So, this is pretty exciting. Um I'm also going to be apply well in in the process right now of applying for the community or
community community crime intervention and prevention grant and that will help then I believe for 26 and 27 um cover you know the bulk of our diversion program. So diver diversion program we have um an intervention program
specialist and she um gets her referrals from the assistant county attorney. He sends it over. He looks at the referrals by looking at the citation and deciding which cases should go right to court in which case it might be a first offense. It might be a minor offense. Might be
traffic. It might be vaping. It might be, you know, a little um disorderly conduct uh theft truency. So those kind of cases, my my um case manager then works with the youth and their parent uh does an intake and finds out what's
going to be the best way to work with these kids. Is it going to be through just educational classes or educational classes and you know couple months of case management? Just depends on the the youth and what the offense was and what supports. She also helps get the
family's um mental health services or if they have, you know, housing issues or transportation issues. So, she can work with all the whole family on that, too. So, that's really important. Um, we also have her at the high school three days a week and that's been really helpful
because she's working with the resource officer on kids that are just about to get a citation or just going down the wrong path. she can start meeting with them right away and just figuring out, you know, what what can we do to deter you from going that way? What what do you need? What does your family need?
So, that's been pretty exciting. That's new this year. Um, let's see. We also have the attendance support case management at the middle school and that's funded by the school district. Um, plus I just received a new grant. It's the CAN Renew grant. Um, and that's
from the Office of Cannabis Management, and it's going to be for a um a peer-led group where some kids are going to like I don't know how they're going to be picked yet because we're going to develop it this summer. We just got the grant this last week. So, starting July
1, we'll have our uh my support case manager come in, develop the program with me, and figure out, you know, okay, what are the kids that we're going to work with and what are those kids then going to do? are they going to do radios or are they going to do videos for social media? Are they going to come
talk to um people at the county fair? Are they going to go talk to elementary kids? So, it's just getting that peer voice out there again and teaching leadership. So, that's going to be a very positive thing. Um and that's based at the middle school. Um and then I have
the engagement case manager which last year and the years before it was called the re-engagement case manager. and the re-engagement case manager worked at the high school of only ninth and tth graders. It was on truency. How are we going to keep these kids in school? And then when I started last year, I kind of was reading some of our outcomes and
what was really working and I I thought we we need to go younger. So I got us into JW Smith and Gan Dylan and I have the engagement instead of re-engagement just let's keep them engaged and let's get them engaged in school and find out why they're not coming to school. Um, I know my engagement case manager has
already done wonderful job of getting, you know, different services, housing for people, transportation, helping with cell phones. Um, she's been able to help when there's like lys outbreaks, getting them all the the the materials they need to to stop that. Um, and her goal is to
meet with them individually once a week each kid and communicating with parents. And so far what she's reported this school year is that the guardians are really involved and they're excited that there's someone that they can reach out to. So that's positive. Um, and the other one was kind of just
fell in my lap. I don't know how, but it was the uh eliminating racial disparities initiative and that was um formed by the um juvenile justice advisory committee that talks to legislation and to the governor and just
talks about different priority areas. And one of the priority areas was to eliminate racial disparities in juvenile justice. And so the state had funding that they were going to give to the RFK, National uh resource center for Juvenile
Justice, give that funding to them, and then there was two counties that were picked in the state of Minnesota. We were not one of them. We didn't even apply for it. I never even heard of it because this was before I even started with BAST. And um one of the um counties dropped out and I happened to be talking
to the executive director from RFK um when I was losing the money for diversion and asking like what can I do what you know what are some areas and he started learning about what we were doing and he already remembered being here with dual you know status youth before. So he kept that in his head I
guess and then when this other county dropped out they called me in and said Trey County want to do it. So reached out to David Hansen and Trish Hansen and an and um just figured out, you know, is this something we want our county to do? And we do. And so we had our first
stakeholders meeting and that included local agencies, uh included uh Leech Lake, Red Lake, um the school district, um probation of course, social services, public health. So we had quite a few
members. I think we had 32 people in this room. at the first meeting and just uh John Tulle is the CEO's name and he came in and just discussed what the project was going to look like. So he made me the project coordinator. So now I'm in charge of that program. But um
it's exciting because it the outcome is supposed to be for the state to have a model to reduce racial disparities in juvenile justice. So our model and manomomen counties, we're going to put them together and hopefully we'll get other counties in the state to follow that. and that's their goal. Um did want
to tell you about local collaborative time study which is called LCTS and that's federal funds and that comes from Medicaid and um 4E funding for kids in foster care and adoption and um public health probation and school
districts depending on criteria you can become a participant and if you become a participant then you're going to get random emails and you have to just fill out what random moment what are you doing right now and there's A through G you can pick and there's criteria for each one. And when I started um the Miji
school district had 55 participants. When I figured out what was going on, read read it through um we're now up to 180 participants and those 180 particip participants have brought in so much more money that we're going to be able to use those funds um and the funds that
we had previous to fund um different programs. So what BASS does is in July we send out an application to schools to teachers to to um mental health agencies to local agencies you know are there any
programs that you want to be have funded um to help with children and families and then tell us what it is fill out you know this application then I and my board has an allocation committee me um team and we get together and we read through all the allocations we rate them and we decide who are we going to fund
and how much we're going to fund. So last year we funded 14 projects um with 200,000 of that of those dollars going to those projects. This 2026 I've already upped it by 80,000. So we'll have $280,000 to go to programming. So
I'm hoping we're going to see some new programming um as well as some of the program that really are working. Some of the programs just to put a couple out there. Um we fund Evergreen for their family support coach. They fund the boys and girls club for um trusting police
program where they have law enforcement come in and play basketball with the kids and be at the different events and just make you know making the kids feel comfortable around law enforcement. Um we also have circle of parenting through Beck which is the Bel Tramy early Baiji
early childhood um collaborative and so those are just few of the projects that we have funded but we do fund um social social work position at the school district. Um there's so many different funds that or programs that we fund. So,
that was a lot and I'm sure like I lost you a while ago, but please let me know if you have any questions. Kim, do you how do you choose? I know you mentioned a lot about the Bumiji area schools and stuff. Do you do you reach out to Red Lake, Kelly, the other
schools, or do they have somebody else a different program from a different area that covers them? No, we we we fund we fund programs for them. So um in Kellier it's a um unlocking school career success and they it's part of one of their social work positions that works
with 11th 12th graders to figure out you know let's let's see what the next step is after high school. Um so we fund that. Uh Black Duck we fund um mental health services to go into their school. Um, so Stellar, North Homes, and Sanford
all have the school linked mental health grant and a lot of that grant doesn't cover a lot of the supervisory things that mental health agencies have to have in order to get, you know, clinicians out to the different schools. And so the funds that we have and the um programs
that we fund, BAS, that helps the mental health agencies, that makes them able to do more services in the school. Red Lake, we did do a um trauma-informed behavioral. It was a training for their peer counselors. So, they had three
people trained through this this um curriculum. How about the Cast Lake? I know they're technically not in our county, but a lot of the residents that go to Cast Lake schools are in Belrammy County. They're in my district. And I'm just wondering, do you do anything with Cast Lake schools or Bel Tramy? Um
county does not. Um but the Cass Lake Collaborative does. Okay. So there is a there's another one over there county collaborative does have that. Brick is also in um seven other counties. So because Brick is a school district in
Bel Tramy County, but they're serving in like Poke County, Momen County, uh Lake of the Woods, Hubard, Clearwater, and something else something else. But they um because of that they have participants that do that time study which then money comes in and then
we send back to those schools. Others have questions for Kim. Commissioner Sar. Mr. Chair, thanks. So um I'm glad you asked the question about other schools because that was part of my uh my questions was the the case
re-engagement worker. Uh did they only work with JW and G Dylan? It sounds like uh Basque works with the other school districts and I think often times we forget that um the uh Grigo school
district also serves uh residents from Belrammy County. It's kind of curious. Do you do any work with them or is it the which uh the Grigula school district? Yeah. No, we don't do anything with Grigga. Um so that is is that
Marshall County? Yeah, it's Marshall County but the Cast Lake. Yeah, same thing. So, each county uh has a collab well should have their own collaborative, but there are only 90 um collaborives. Most um collaboratives or either one or the
other. We do children's mental health and family services. And also with with my role is, you know, I find out the schools needing, you know, we need more mental health here. we need, you know, it might be someone that didn't put a program to get funded, but I'll call
Stellar North Homes or Sanford say, "Okay, who do you have? How can we get you over there? This is what their need is." So, I kind of help even if it's not through funding, it's through my resources and partnerships. And um you mentioned is it uh in 2526
you're you're allocating $280,000. In 25 we did allocate 200,000 for programs and then in 26 it's going to be 200 um 80 and $640. So I'm just kind of curious about do you
send out RFPs or or how does starting July I will send out RFPs and I send them to everybody on my every list serve I have. So there is there some sort of criteria that they need to they just need to fill out the application. they it needs to be about um children's
mental health, family programming um or health. And so and who um who decides on which programs get funded, how much they get funded, and um
if they're a repeat uh uh grant applicant or things like that. Sure. So on the application, it does ask, are you repeat? What amount are you asking for? Show us your budget. like what that's for. Um I think this last go around we could only not fund one of the programs
I put in but it didn't meet the criteria. They wanted us to purchase them a van for their agency so that they could transport clients. Much needed but we can't start buying cars for everybody. So that's the only one that didn't get funded. Um but it's our
allocation committee from the board. Okay. Um so I have five members on that and we all read them, get together, review them, we discuss them. Um some programs that they have to report twice a month or twice a year to me about how everything is going. And so I bring
those outcomes and if it's something that um is not working, we might say, you know what, we like what you had in mind, but can you do this or this and then resubmit kind of thing. So okay, so you have a sub a helpful kind of thing. You have a subcommittee that reports to
the full board. Full board. Y and there's us they're they're pretty supportive of very supportive. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And final question was uh you mentioned the time study and its dependence on Medicaid.
Um do how much do you receive from uh the time study and and Medicaid? And so in 2024 total including the multicount the seven other counties is 400,000. Um that was up from 280,000 from the year before
that and that was a lot to do with how I've been reaching out to the schools and getting more participants. So we we um we're kind of dependent on Medicaid then, right? And uh it would be such a a sad thing, you know. It would be very
very sad. It's a good thing that Medicaid isn't going to be cut as to the fraud and abuse in Medicaid. Yeah. Yeah. Anybody else have any questions for Kim? All right. Thank you very much for your presentation. Really appreciate it. Have a great day. Thank you. Next up, we have Northstar
Neighbors. I don't know if Ann or Corey or both of you Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, commissioners. Thank you. Um, really excited to be here today. I've been wanting to uh share Northstar
neighbors with uh everyone we can across our 12count region for for a while. I have not been um to this uh to this board yet. Um I know many of you. My name is Corey Bushy. I'm with the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. Um and
as part of my role, I'm also the executive director of Northstar Neighbors, which we're going to talk about tonight, which is a this afternoon, which is a subsidiary uh of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. So, um, we could go to the
next or do I get a clicker? Okay, cool. Thank you. Um, so just I want to briefly share background and then get into the kind of nuts and bolts of what we're doing. Um, many of you have known that the Northwest Minnesota Foundation's been working on
housing issues um, since 2018. We've done everything from lowinterest lending to support developers um but also spent um some significant time and resources um in the service coordination through the Northwest
continuum of care um and leading that. And through everything we could learn about housing and homelessness, we continued to learn that there just isn't enough homes. Um so in 2022 we wanted to kind of renew our effort from uh 2018 to
20 is uh from not just focusing on coordinating services but really figured out how we could get units on the ground. Um so it was around 2022 we started trying to look for models what what could work. Um and we found this model of community land trust that is um
all over Minnesota all over the nation. There's thousand there probably 1,400 or so land trust homes in Minnesota. I don't know how many there are across the US. Um but through this it was really I started calling Minnesota housing and I'm like we need more money up here. Uh
I want a million bucks and I'll make sure 10 homes get built. I'll just find a way to do it. And they're like you need a community land trust. So, um, in that same week, we had a partner, um, from the Grand Forks, uh, community that had a community land trust, and they called and said, "Hey, we we're looking
to expand and we want to get into Minnesota." Um, and from there, we were able to rather than um do a grant to fund them, we started a partnership. We started really looking into what would it look like to do a community land trust at a regionwide scale. Um, so in
2023, the Northwest Minnesota Foundation after, you know, we took six months of significant business planning and and, uh, you know, opportunity cost analysis to determine that it was the right move to to start this community land trust and get into housing development. Um, so
I think it was June of 2023, we, you know, we applied for all of our paperwork to be a new nonprofit in Minnesota. In July of 2023, we put in our first grant application to Minnesota Housing. Um, and then in December of
2023, we were awarded our first nearly $2 million in grant funding and over a million dollars in loans. Um, we have since um completed two home con two home builds, have sold one. Um, those are in
Thera River Falls. So, we have um under, you know, homes under construction in Thera River Falls and Red Lake Falls. and we're just about to um sell our second home in about two weeks and uh and the rest are are under construction and we expect them to sell
very soon. Um and then we're breaking ground right now in uh Roso just started four up there and we're going to start four in East Grand Fork soon. Um and now we're looking to continue to expand um as well.
Um, so go to the next slide. Kind of thinking about, you know, why did we do this and and how do we get through all that, you know, all that planning is we started to look across the region. And I think these numbers ring pretty true for
both Tramy County as well. We really looked at there's about this there's this missing middle gap of about 30% of the region that maybe earns between 65,000 and 100,000. And those folks right now are priced out of buying a home. There's not a program that's going
to get them into a home. Um they make too much for for other certain programs or they don't make enough to to afford the cost of a home right now. Right. So, we're um you know, we're seeing a
$175,000 mortgage with current interest rates right now um being about an $1,800 a month payment for someone. And the folks that are in this income range of about 65 to $100,000 just can't afford that amount. So,
um that was the reason why we just make housing affordable. I already talked about that. So, I'll get to keep moving forward. Um, so the community land trust is a long-term solution for affordable home home ownership. So, I think um we
do that through two ways. We retain ownership of the land and we preserve um and and we provide the upfront subsidy, which is how we preserve the affordability for generations. Um I have a better slide I want to get
to. So we use two tools to to ma to create and maintain the affordability. The first um the first tool is first mortgage principal reduction gap subsidy. This is what may seem more like a down payment assistance program except
be because we're doing this for perpetual affordability. we're able to bring, you know, closer to $150,000 um into a home to to buy down that mortgage rate for the what it costs us to build it, right? So, if we if we got
to put a if we if it costs us 350,000 to build a home, we're going to try to put it on the market for anywhere between like 175 and 225 um for that first homeowner. And then we retain ownership of the land. And through that is where we get into what
really makes the CLT the and the perpetual perpetual affordability is the shared equity model that exists within that ground lease. Um so going to the way this shared equity resale formula works in this
[Music] example we have a initial purchase of a fee simple home is valued at $300,000. So, it's a we built it. We were able to build it for $300,000 and we're able to put it on the
market for this first CLT buyer for $180,000. So, we brought in $120,000 of subsidy made, you know, in this case, we can say it was made up of a of a a grant um from, you know, local
fundraising. Um, let's say now we fast forward five years and that home now is valued at $340,000. So the the market rate value if if uh if you will. Um, from that we do a resale calculation which we match
all the other Minnesota community land trusts at a 25% shared equity resale formula. So in this case the house is appreciated for 40 $40,000. So the um that initial buyer when they go to sell the home, they will
receive the $180,000 plus the $10,000 of appreciation um that was earned over the time that they owned it. So now that gets us to what we call the formula price of 190,000 and that's we put the house back on the market for the next
home buyer 5 years later. Corey, question. So, if the initial uh home buyer was only paying 60% of the of the assessed or appraised or whatever value, um why are we giving them 25% of the
appreciation in the value? you know, if it, you know, if it was 40% subsidized for them to buy it for only 180,000, why would they receive 25% of the of the appreciation of why would they receive a smaller amount of
that? The the standard CLT model is 25%. Okay. Across the That's kind of a you know, there's there's there's a few different models of doing that. We chose to stick with what was familiar in Minnesota. Okay. Um, other models
there's kind of a there's like timebased formulas that basically says we're going to ensure that your your home appreciates at 0.04% every year and you could just tell someone like in 20 years from now you're going to get this much for your house. Okay. Um, there's
another way to do it. I guess I've never been asked that question, Craig, of of why not match the the uh the subsidy, but in in a case from like an administrative standpoint from a CLT to have every home sale have a different model, I think that would be pretty
burdensome versus just kind of having a shared thing that we can, you know, agree is 25% is the right the right percent we've come to. Commissioner Carlson, did you have a question? Yep. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so Corey, help me understand. Um, home buyer
um gets into the house and let's say they're 10 years, their financial situation improves substantially hopefully for them. Um, and they're ready to buy a newer, bigger, better house and then they can and then the price of this house went to
340,000. And you're saying that the only thing that they're going to be able to get out of this is the 180 that they had into it plus the 25% appreciation. Mhm. Uh okay. That see actually Craig I think
it's the other way. It's almost it's almost it's the opposite of what I was orig of the 40,000. So it' be you know 24,000 of the 40,000 is what I would think they would get. So, it seems like I can't do math in my head as fast as
you guys can. Well, anyway, so and then are you are you wondering why anybody would ever want to do this? Is that kind of like you're not getting enough out of it or Well, they're getting they're getting the ability to get a nice home when they couldn't really and otherwise afford it. And and so I mean I get that
you know they're they're not getting as much of the profit if you will because of the benefit that they got in the first place. And yep and so that I mean there's there's justification for it I think but it's just you know math just you know for me I think well if I paid
60% of the place I should get 60% of the appreciation. It's the the it's Yeah. I think you're right. It's the opposite of what you originally originally missing. Yeah. and that and and that's be that's part of the deal because with without this program they were unlikely to ever buy a
home, right? So the CLT model doesn't it it's really hard to compare to traditional home ownership. You know, anybody that came to us that is, you know, looking to buy one of our homes and we're like, "Hey, looks like you could buy a
$325,000 house outright, you know, we'd tell them to do that, right? But these folks are their option is to rent or to have this the this option to buy a home, right? So we we're giving them that ability to buy that first home and and build equity and you know make a payment
for five years, do all those things and and then you know they can live in it for as long as they want but you know generally I think we're going to see especially in the the firsttime home buyer we're going to definitely see you know five, six, seven years they might move on. So, is there restrictions then
because they don't own the land, is there restrictions on them being able to put up a detached garage, a chicken coupe? Um, yes. Uh um there there is um we we would work with them on that and and and
part of that is that we want to ensure they're reimbured fairly for for those costs. We do have a a capital improvement policy that kind of helps them define like, you know, painting the house isn't that's maintenance. We're not going to, you know, reimburse you
because you bought paint, but if you, you know, really improved a bathroom or finished a basement or something that we didn't do, um, built a garage, we come to an agreement on what the cost of that was to them, uh, at that time so that they're able to get reimbursed for that,
too. Let's let's just say in a in a crazy world it cost $20,000 to build a garage because they did it all themselves or whatever, right? We're going to get them that $20,000 back when they go to sell. So, what about the reverse case? They don't do the painting. They don't do the upkeep and the place kind of starts falling apart a
little bit. Then, now what happens? Yeah, it's so we have a we have the the best part about CLT is is we like to think that we have a strong stewardship model where you we're going to be able to maintain some contact and say, "Hey, things things don't look to be going good. Is this is this the right
situation for you? So, we might be able to get ahead of that." Um, in the other case, it works kind of the same way if you is traditional home ownership except we're going to lose with them, right? the value of the home's going to go down or they're not going to get any appreciation because it it sold for less
than they paid for it, right? So, but they they share in those losses with us, right? So, Mr. Winger, question. Thank you, M. U what if they choose to just stay in this and never leave it? Do
they have to continue to pay you then for the land after this is over or? Yeah, that's a good question. There there is a lease fee. It's a It's $30 a month. It's It's not meant to be like fair market value of the land or anything. It's It's more of a they're
making that lease fee. We know things are probably that payment. We know things are probably going good. Um some other things that indicators to John's point too of we we also are listed with the mortgage as the first contact. So, the bank is allowed to contact the land
trust if they have any suspicion that things are going to go delinquent um or things like or payments are going to be missed. so that we can then work with that homeowner. Um there I think I want to think back to like if we want to even bring up like the 2008 foreclosure
crisis at that time when when homes were forclosing at like a 10% rate or something like that, it was less than 2% for CLT homes. And the reason for that is that ongoing stewardship and us having the ability to go in and say maybe this isn't the right spot for you
anymore. where we can actually take first right of refusal and say, "Hey, we'll buy you out and we'll we'll, you know, hopefully you can go get an apartment or a situation that's better for you and and we'll resell this to to another uh another buyer." Commissioner Carlson. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. So, Corey, sounds like a really good program. How do you how do you decide who gets it? I mean, it would certainly seem like there'd be an awful lot of people that would fit that category. Um, and what is it a lottery? Well, so you
know, John, I thought I thought uh it's what we're finding is it's there's less people than we thought. we we're still having great interest, but um you know, even when we're able to get these homes down to 175,000 right now with the 7 and a half% interest rate, if you you know,
if your credit's not perfect, it's still taking a a big decision for people to want to really um pull the trigger and still and still buy right now. Um so it's it's not as big of a wait list, but the the general policy answer to your question is it's first ready, first served. So, the first person that has
the, you know, the information from their bank that says they can afford what we need, what we need to sell them the house for and enters a purchase agreement. So, you know, if there's three people that are looking at the house, you know, the first one that comes with, you know, all their ducks in a row um in financing, they they'd be
the ones that signed the purchase agreement first. So, do you have a what waiting list already? Uh, no, not not not in uh not in Bel Tramy County. Okay. we've not adver, you know, we've not advertised or marketed this program at all. Um, and then in in our other counties, I wouldn't say we have a wait
list. We have we have definitely folks that are interested and we've had, you know, couple buyers interested in the same house. Um, but it's it's not um it's not a huge weight list by any means. And part of that is um we've been
doing some social media marketing, some radio ads, but we, you know, we're also not ready to be inundated and we don't have the resources or the the inventory to have a huge waiting list either. So, we haven't really been looking for one at this time. Hey, Cory, when you know,
I don't know about the other commissioners, but you know, when I first got married, started out, we were in a fairly ratty old trailer house and and that on a piece of property and and you know, then we're able to get into our first home and and then onto our
current place, but um is there anything with regard to the double wides or trailer homes or I mean that they're certainly less expensive than an actual home and um I just wondering if there's any any thought process about doing anything like that. So, we definitely
have some partnerships with like the Northwest Service Cooperative that is working statewide to to work on those things. That's just a little bit different market than what we're looking for. U part of it is because of the land ownership thing, right? Um, and then the other thing we've, you
know, on, uh, but if you're doing a lease anyways for land, you know, instead of putting a full-blown expensive house, you put a double wide on there and have it be a lot less expensive and more available. I mean, yeah, they're not as nice as a as a
quote unquote real house, but I mean, it certainly still better than, you know, renting a place and actually having some some value. So, I'd have to do some more research into costs right now, Craig, but I know the foundation and and some other folks that we've talked to and we
participated in some projects. Um, but by the time you put up the foundation and everything to meet building code and move that double wide on, there wasn't as big of a savings as as people were really thinking there would be. Oh, really? Um just because you're still
gonna pay you're gonna maybe pay 175 for the double wide and you're still you mean maybe cheaper but you're still gonna pay 100 grand in sight work and everything else if you had the I mean the subsidy type stuff that you're talking about can get it down into you know instead of it being $180,000 for
the person buying it it's 120,000 you know depending on um depending on the funding sources and the the the codes we have to meet and things like that it's something we definitely they could look into. Um, I think the bigger part for us is, you know, we're we're doing this
program for, you know, the lease we're signing with these folks like you, they could stay forever. This is a 200, you know, 99 year renewable lease. Okay. So, really, you know, we're looking at putting up homes that are in that mid price range that, you know, for us to build them that have, you know,
mid-level finishes, uh, things that are going to last for the next 60, 70 years, right? because we we want to see five, six, seven families, you know, hopefully take care and maintain these homes and we don't got to put another dime into them for
the next 50, 60 years. We just keep reselling them to the to the next family. Okay. So, so that that's part of the reason why we um definitely go with a a more of a mid-level home than we build it. Well, I know you got some more to go through and and what uh where
we're at on time here, but if you want to Yeah. keep or run through the rest. I know we hijacked you and asked you some questions there. Yeah, I I don't know what we're at for time, so I'm I'm looking I'm looking to you guys. We're getting to Yeah, we still got up another
15 minutes or so, I think. So, okay. Um I I shouldn't need that much. This graph here is Oh, no. You're in I was looking at housing trust fund. Actually, we're pretty close up on time. So, no, we can, you know, we could got a little leeway. So go go go ahead and run through the
rest of it here and wrap her up. Th this uh this gra this graphic you could take a look at. This is just explaining kind of the word problem I had before on the PowerPoint of that market rate price and the ongoing affordability. The one thing I do like to call about in here is is
you know to to some to some degree. Um I I it's simple to say we're going to resell it at 190. As you can see with the $150,000 that's in ongoing affordability that that stays with the home. So that gives us some leeway. So
let's just say the home does sell and in and to John's question there was some maintenance that needed to happen. We could take some of that $150,000 put it into the home and then say instead of selling it for 190 we put
it on the market at 220. Right? So it gives us some flexibility to make sure that those upgrades happen. So, or you could take the 30,000 in appreciation and use to do up upkeep maintenance and not and still sell it for the 340 or
whatever. Coupin. Um, I'm not sure I quite understand. Well, if I mean you it appreciated in value. You only gave away 10,000 to the previous owner. So, you got 30,000 in profit, if you will, to do maintenance, upkeep, whatever. Yep. And that then
that 30,000 is exactly that's what so that $150,000 is made up of that initial 120 plus the 30,000 that came in after it sold. Yeah. I was forgetting it was only 120. I was thinking it was 150 was what we started with but it was started with one. Yep. So yeah ex that you're
exactly right. We'd use that 30,000 to really our goal is to make it uh we understand that people that are buying our homes are going to they have really great income but it's still limited and we don't want to put somebody in a situation where a new roof is going to make them have to sell their house.
Right. Right. So as much as we can put them set them up for success that's our goal. Um I'm gonna in the interest of time I'm going to skip just to eligibility. So, um, generally we look off, uh, the greater Minnesota income limits, so 80%
of Minnesota housing's income limits. When we have Minnesota housing funding, we can, um, with our program, uh, go up to 115%. Um, which is closer to around $120,000 for a for a household. Um, and then we also look to have, you
know, with Minnesota housing, 25 to 30% of a household's gross monthly income goes towards their mortgage payment. That's pretty steep. So, we we do we do end up requesting a waiver from Minnesota Housing sometimes to get that down to like 22%.
Um it's it's just you know when you think 25 to 30% of someone's income that's when we're seeing you know hey your payment would be 1950 and they're going I just can't do it. So then we worked with Minnesota Housing to try and get that payment down a little bit lower
um into like the 1516 range. Um and then just I wanted to highlight that we we do not we do not finance these homes for the buyer. Obviously, we finance construction and things like that, but the um buyer goes and finds their own financing on the traditional market. We
ensure that they can, you know, get access to any program that can help them. Um whether it's Minnesota housing or friends at MMCDC or, you know, county down payment assistance, whatever it is. Um but they're working with um a local bank. they're not able to to utilize the
120,000 as any kind of down payment or any kind of equity towards being able to get we can yeah we can cover down we can cover some down payment and we're really flexible what that 120 covers. Okay. So they don't necessarily have to come up with 20 grand or whatever for a down payment when they're a young couple
maybe and don't have any money in the bank because Great question. We we look for $1,000 in cash. Okay. So, it's $500 at at the time they sign the purchase agreement and $500 at closing. Okay. Um that that's the
minimum. Um and then I just wanted to highlight with Northstar Neighbors, we haven't launched this program yet, but we we're we're definitely really focused on new construction, but we also have some funds that are focused on a a home buyer initiated program. And basically everything works the same except we can
help someone go on the open market and purchase a home that's that's already existing. So that might be a, you know, that might be where we find some homes that are in really good shape that we're lucky enough that are at 225,000 and we could get those down to maybe 130 or something like that, right? Um,
do you already have land designated or that that the Northwest or Northstar or whatever has that that you already own the land where these homes would go? Um, not we do not have uh title to land right now. We have partnerships lined up
for purchase um to make it happen. Okay. Um any other questions or anybody else have any other questions? All right. Great. Thank you, Corey. Appreciate all the help and info. Thank you. Bring this housing trust
fund funding recommendations. Hey Ann. Hello. So, good afternoon, commissioners. Ann Lin Seth, director of health and human services, and I'm here today representing our Bel Tramy County Housing Trust Fund
cabinet. Um, I do want to provide a brief background on our Bel Tramy County Housing Trust Fund for those tuning in. Um, our housing trust fund was established in 2023 when the Belrammy County Board passed ordinance number 50.
It's funded by statewide affordable housing and local homeless prevention aid which is department of revenue funding that comes to the county and then is passed through per the ordinance to our housing trust fund which is administered by the United Way. The
United Way then set up the housing trust fund cabinet um to look at how to support projects in our community um that have innovative solutions to enhance housing availability, affordability, and accessibility for individuals and families in Belrammy
County. So in 2023, we focused on the establishment of the housing trust fund. In 2024, the cabinet did a lot of work to educate themselves around what's available in Belrammy County. um what current initiatives around housing were already occurring, what the gaps were um
and also with the very specific requirements some of on some of that department of revenue funding that funds our housing trust fund. In 2025, we're focusing on um allocating funds out of the trust fund. We actually already have
allocated um agency specific funding through an agency specific RFP that the cabinet opened up in late 2024. um and $49,500 was already issued to those agencies. I'm here today to make the recommendations regarding our
development RFP um that was released late in 2024 and closed while there was a process which I will go through with you. Just as a reminder, this is who makes up our housing trust fund cabinet. The cabinet was set up to ensure diverse
representation and a variety of areas of expertise around housing as we make recommendations for funding out of the trust fund. There was a process that was gone through with the development RFP. Um we did do a pre-application that was released um December 5th of 24 that
closed January 31st of 25. We did a pre-application because we wanted to have developers have a short option to fill out for us as a cabinet to figure out if they met all of the eligibility requirements both in the ordinance and through the funding sources that fund
the trust. Um that pre-application was then reviewed by the cabinet for those eligibility criterias and then those meeting the eligibility criterias were invited to complete a full application and that full application process was completed between March 18th and April
11th of 25. Once those full applications were received by the cabinet, we scored and vetted the applications and then now we're here today to make the recommendations for funding. Um the funding recommendation also was passed through the United Way board on May
21st. So there are two recommendations. Um there were a total of three applications, three full applications that were completed. Two of the applications met all eligibility criteria to move forward and are being recommended for funding. The first is Northstar Neighbors. Um they are
requesting $300,000 out of the housing trust fund to build two single family homes located in the Beartooth development which is on the south end of town. Um again Corey just went through the target for earnings. They can go up
to the 115% of state median income but their target is around a little less than 90,000 for the household income. And the housing trust funds would be used to buy down that purchase price of the home, making it more affordable and making it more affordable for
generations to come. As you just heard, um this particular request is um requesting the $300,000 to start two builds this summer. So, a very quick turnaround time. Um and the full $300,000 would be used as buy down for
those two homes. So, $150,000 a piece. um without the housing trust fund investment of $300,000 again their program would move forward but these houses would not be built this quickly um so they do need this funding to build these homes in the
summer of 2025 so meeting an immediate need for our community. The second request is a request again from Northstar Neighbors for $220,000 and this is to build eight single family homes. Again, located in
the Bare Tooth development um same target income, same idea of buying down the purchase price of the homes um and keeping that purchase price low for generations to come. These homes would be built over the next three years. So
again, meeting some of our housing continuum needs, but not as immediate as the initial request. Um, so a longer term project. Um, this particular request, uh, Northstar Neighbors would would need the $220,000 as matching
grant to, um, apply and secure other funding for the project. So those are the two requests and recommendations that are being made by the housing trust fund cabinet. Um there are some next steps.
So if the board does uh approve these two recommendations, then agreements would be developed uh through the United Way. So some contractual agreements, the projects would be tracked for completion and impact. Um we of course would require compliance with ongoing
monitoring and reporting of of the awarded entity. And then um this if if both requests were approved, we would be expending $520,000 out of our housing trust fund. It would leave some funding in the trust and then the cabinet would assess um
when to open another RFP process. So, just as a reminder to the board and to share with the community, there was a principal fund balance in our housing trust fund of 1.257 million. Um, we awarded out 49,500 to
St. Vincent Depal and by cap through our agency RFP. Um, there has been interest earned of $23,178 as of April 30th. um through our United Way partnerships uh they have secured community donations
of $50,000 which is wonderful. We also um as a partnership with United Way uh applied for a housing trust fund grant um which we were awarded and those funds are not currently in the pot but they are on their way and so the housing
trust fund balance currently is $1,356,680. We have not received any of our 2025 allocations from the department of revenue for the local homeless prevention aid or the statewide affordable housing aid. Those allocations are provided in June and
December. So, we will be receiving half of our full allocation here shortly. Um the 2025 allocation that will go into our housing trust fund from those two department of revenue sources are $373,882. So, we'll get half of that in June and half in December. So,
additional funds will be going into the trust fund shortly. Um, I also was notified late last week by the United Way that uh we received an additional $20,000 for the housing trust fund um through First National Bank. So, we are very excited
to see that we have continued variety of sources going into the trust fund. So, with that, there's those two recommendations for the board um from the cabinet. Do you have any questions for me? Mr. Carlson. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. And did the committee discuss or take into account the opportunity costs of $27,500 investment per house on eight houses in that project versus $150,000. And how much more you could do
in the future versus the immediacy of having two houses. And would that impact us dramatically versus that we could afford a lot more houses at over time? Yes, we did have that conversation and there was some philosophy around wanting
to meet an immediate housing need in our community, but certainly um you know investing 220 to to have eight homes um would create more in the long run. Um,
but ultimately, like I said, without the $300,000 investment, it would take a longer period of time to start the build on those homes. So, I guess that is the decision before the board today. And and then I'm wondering uh
followup, are we aware of any I I know that Sanford has been begging to do a housing project and I don't know where they're at with that and I don't know if anyone's available to speak to that. Um, you know, I I'm guessing that that
Sanford would be willing to invest a substantial amount of money if they could get a little help from our housing trust funding. Maybe we could build 50 houses. You know, I'm see where I'm going with that. I just I probably know as much as you do, Commissioner Carlson, about Sanford's
plans for housing. Um, but I do know that we have strong partnerships with Sanford and we have ongoing communication around those their plans for housing. And so we want to continue that partnership in whatever form that takes in the future. And so if we if we burn through $300,000
on two houses, we we we might be losing out on an opportunity to build 50 houses potentially. We do still have a substantial balance left. So it's not like we wouldn't be able to take 300,000 from that to do the 50 houses
theoretical thing, too. And I get that, Mr. chair, but it doesn't seem fair that we subsidize two houses at 150 and then we go down the road and we only subsidize at 30,000. That there seems to be a fairness factor there. Yep, I
agree. I saw that too. I was I actually had a conversation with Anne prior to the meeting because I was wondering why the discrepancy there and and uh um and for whatever reason the lack of being able to get the the money from the other source this quickly apparently is part
of the answer. I think Mr. Chair I it's going to be my wish that we pull that off the consent agenda and discuss it because I'm generally in favor of the 220 but I'm not very much in favor of spending $300,000 on two houses. So, I'd like to pull that off, put it on. Mr.
Winger, if you can make note of that for Thank you. pulling that item off of consent. Anybody else have any questions for an Commissioner Sum? Oh, Mr. Chair, I have a a list of questions, but if it's going to be pulled to consent of consent, I'll
I'll wait till then. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Great. Thank you, Ann. All right. That brings us to the mailbox support policy. I think Bruce is here for that. Good afternoon,
commissioners. The item I have in front of you is uh a potential mailbox support policy. Uh currently we do not have a standalone mailbox support policy. We do have parts of it elsewhere. um the part where uh if we hit one with
a snow plow, we'll replace it. That is in our snow and ice control policy. It is also our standard practice to uh replace all non-conforming mailbox, the non um swingway supports on our construction projects at no cost to the
the owner. Um and then the last couple years, we have to incentivize the use of them. Uh we do not charge for the the installation. uh the actual the furnace furnish and install of the swingway supports on our on county roads. U there
is a huge benefit to putting these swingway supports in uh when they're installed correctly and maintained correctly, the snowplow blade will go underneath the the mailbox. Um and then the snow if it does come off and hit it that there's some give or some swing to
those supports. Um we're not perfect. I see chemistry big there smiling, but uh yeah, perfect. Uh we do hit mailboxes uh occasionally. But uh this here does help with uh the snow coming off the end and
again allowing us to clean the snow in front of the mailbox versus one that's on a straight pole. So there is a benefit to having these with our upcoming uh grant that we have uh next year. We got a grant to replace all the mailboxes on county
roads to the swingaway supports. And so to have a policy in place ahead of time uh would be beneficial to ensure that we continue to have all swingway supports on our on our county roads. So we don't go out there next year, replace them
all, and then um someone comes in and they start putting in regular posts. Uh so this this policy would be a huge benefit uh for our grant upcoming grant in into the future. So I guess I have that questions for Bruce. Uh Mr. Chair.
Yeah. Go ahead, Commissioner Summer. Um Bruce, uh can we strive for perfection? Sorry, what's that? Can we strive for perfection? We're striving for it. I was kidding. Um, you mentioned a grant
to replace these u mailboxes. How much is the grant? I just want to make sure that we're we're uh we're accounting for, you know, the cost of of I imagine this isn't a a cheap
project to No. $173,240. Off the top off the top top of my head, I kind of remember what the grant was, but it was I mean, we went through and estimated how many supports we had across the county, and it wasn't going to be enough to replace them. It was going to And if there isn't, it's coming
out of Greg's district. That that uh grant was a 9010 grant, so there's already a share. Um the share comes off of the funding for what type of road? So, if it's on a state aid route, it would be state aid construction dollars. A county road
would be local levy dollars, but there's a share already for those. Okay. Thank you. Great. Anybody else have any questions for Bruce? They did they did come out right away and replace mine. I much appreciated that. Yes, Commissioner
Golden, how how long a project How long will this take to do countywide? We will, we haven't started putting the plans together. We got to go through and actually put down addresses and have
that all in the the plans for the contractor. We'll put it out for bids next spring. And uh I mean, we'll give them a time frame. I'm assuming we're going to give them a kind of that summer season like we do with our other projects. And so we'll, you know, that
September, by next September, we'll have it have them completed. Bruce on the um I know it said mailbox support. Do we what do we do if it's like one of those mailboxes that like they're all if it was existing all plastic or whatever and there isn't an actual mailbox to mount to our support.
Do we provide the mailbox to or not? Yeah, good question. On I mean if we we hit one of those right now in the winter time they would get a support and a mailbox. Okay. Yeah. So we and for the replacement, I guess I hadn't really
thought about the the actual mailbox portion of it. Yeah, because not all of them are actual mailboxes that could be I'm assuming there we're going to provide the mailbox because it would have to fit to have to conform to our support. So yeah, my mailbox actually survived even
though the post didn't, but because I many years ago I bought a vandal resistant one. It was like really heavy steel. Yeah. Anybody else have any final questions? No. All right. Uh think that's it for that one. Bruce, are you
up again here or? Nope. No. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh what's that? Yeah, that's a regular agenda item. Yep. And we got uh administrator Barry with the next one here. Good afternoon, Mr.
here. Commissioners, uh, as you know, the county provides a quarterly newsletter to our residents and that gets published, uh, four times a year. And recently, we've had requests that have come from non-county sources to
place information into our newsletter. And so, without a policy and in response to those requests, the newsletter committee took it upon itself to evaluate those requests and how to handle those requests in the future going forward. uh and it's developed a
policy that uh we have submitted for your review and consideration this afternoon. And I'll just run through elements of the policy here. Um first of all, it first starts off with the purpose of the newsletter to define
specifically why the newsletter is beneficial and why we should continue to um publish the newsletter. Um and then it goes into the oversight. Uh obviously uh this isn't a standard um you know newspaper type of
publication. It's a newsletter by a government organization. And so essentially we develop this newsletter by committee. And so it identifies who those committee members are. And these are essentially just memorializing the existing members which include two
county board members, the sheriff, the public information officer, the executive administrative specialist and the county administrator. And the idea here is to define that group as the editor-inchief so that there is no one person that's
calling all the shots when it comes to development of the newsletter. We work by committee to identify stories uh edit those stories, develop other content uh and information that goes into the newsletter. So that is what uh the
oversight role of this committee is and the committee itself has the direction per policy that we're recommending for setting the tone and direction uh determining the overall style voice and perspective uh determining the content the printing standards and also the time
frames for publication. Uh establishing and enforcing editorial guidelines and standards for uniformity and consistency and making the final decisions on what gets published in the newsletter. Um goals have also been defined in this
uh newsletter policy and uh that is to raise awareness of important issues of course promote county projects and programs and services. Um disseminate information as widely as we can uh to our citizens, business owners and such. Share relevant and timely information
with the public. Uh build community cohesion, understanding and support. And then finally encourage community participation in county activities. Um, finally on the last page there, we talk about editorial standards. And this is where we get kind of the meat of the
policy as it relates to what the authority and duty and responsibility of the committee is in regard to developing the newsletter. So here we've identified that the importance of ensuring accuracy and transparency in the work that we do.
uh remaining timely, independent, and neutral with emphasis on making no polit political statements or uh politicizing any type of view inside the newsletter. Um, we've also identified that we do not want to accept donations for the
newsletter or um, aside from county partnership organizations, no outside advertising would be allowed in the newsletter as well to uh, keep impartial and independent of the newsletter from those potential conflicts. Also, we've
identified the importance of self-generating content uh again for impartiality and that no letters to the editor or opinion pieces would be allowed under this policy and that no unsolicited or outside content would be allowed inside the newsletter as well.
Um accessibility is also highlighted as an important piece inside the policy as well as privacy compliance. Um, and then finally, the newsletter committee's duties uh are also listed down there uh as it relates to uh the um functional
responsibilities of the newsletter committee as editor-inchief of the county's newsletter. So, that's what I have for you kind of in brief. Um hopefully you've had an opportunity to go through it, but I'll stand for any questions you might have. Uh this is also on the regular agenda, but if you need more time, um you know, there's no
rush to get this approved. So, uh, but we wanted to at least get it in front of you, have a look at it, uh, and see if you had any questions, concerns, or any edits, uh, that the newsletter committee, uh, may want to make, um, in its final recommendation.
Administrator Barry, um, do we, and I should know this, but, do we publish the the newsletter on our website? We do. Yes. So, we have we do have a link on our website, so people, for whatever reason, if they don't get it in paper form, they can still read it. Absolutely. It's available on the
website. We're also uh working with the PIO to uh try to tag the newsletter's release into social media that would then refer people back also to the county's website as well. Perfect. Anybody else have any questions for Administrator Barry with regard to the
newsletter policy? Um Commissioner Sar, I see the oversight committee or the newsletter committee uh includes uh the sheriff. I'm I'm just kind of curious how that came about. And that is
uh historic actually. Uh I inherited the sheriff on the committee when we when when I came to the county and so that position has kind of always been there. Um it is your newsletter and your newsletter committee and so you can appoint whoever you'd like to that particular committee. Um but the
membership that exists currently is just membership that has been on there for at least half a decade or more. Okay. Um, and also there was a mention of social media. I know this this isn't
included in this, but are there discussions about social media? Uh because I I've noticed that the county is is taking more of an active role on on Facebook and I just want to see if if you as the administrator are are
developing a policy for for the social media use. Um, that's a great question and it's separate from this, so I don't want to confuse the topics, but yes, we've actually had our PIO um, come into the management team and talk about uh, social media and specifically what the
sheriff's office is doing because our PIO has shared that position with the sheriff's office, Chris Mueller. And so um what we are attempting to do is increase our social media presence, but we've been very um prescriptive about how we want to do
that. At this point in time, what we're attempting to do is push information and not exchange information. Uh the concern by the management team is the amount of time and oversight that would be required uh to do that at this point in time is something that's beyond our
reach at the moment. So instead, the attempt is being made to push more information on a generalized county uh Facebook page and not necessarily through the sheriff's office page, which is how we've kind of been ad hoc doing it for the last, you know, six, seven
years or so. So um yeah, we're we're attempting to do that, but we're slowly moving into that realm. Uh and the idea is to again push information through that particular media and then bring people back to the website where they can then spend time exploring whatever
content they're interested in. Thank you for that update. Thank you. Anybody else? You want to move into your administrator's update? Sure. Uh think I left it on the chair here. Sure. All right, for the administrator's report, uh I was going to talk a little
bit about the jail project. We seem to bring that up every time we meet. There's a lot of progress going on. Uh first of all, I'll start with the revenue side of the jail project so far. As you know, uh the local option sales tax that was approved was initiated in
July of last year. So, we've been monitoring collections. Of course, this is important for us to understand what the uh spending ratio of the project itself against the earnings of the lost uh revenue are. And so at this point in
time, I'm happy to report that we're almost exactly with the eight months of data that we've been tracking exactly on track. Um there have been some months where we've been concerned that we're falling short maybe in one or two months by as much as 50 or $100,000 for that
month of collection but then we make it up in another month later. So right now for eight months of data we're we're tracking nicely. Um we'll continue to monitor that as we go forward. Uh, of course we are trying to time the issuance of the second bond. And so in
order to do that, uh, we're monitoring not just our spend ratios and our earnings, but we're also monitoring the bond climate itself. Uh, interest rates, for example. Uh, there was some concern early. Um, maybe 6 months or so ago, there was some chirping around whether
or not taxexempt bonds might no longer be taxexempt, for example. So, we we looked at that. that I know about four, five, six years ago that came up. Uh so that would be a concern for us as well. So we're just we're kind of monitoring what uh is going on. We don't think that's an issue any longer. Um the spend
rate is on track. The project is on schedule. So that's good news as well. There's been no surprises really um on the project and that's good because we're just at the beginning of it. Um, we expect about a threemonth lead time that would be needed in order to
issue the second bond. Recall that uh it's an $80 million project. We have 40 million that's already been uh um scheduled out and or sold in bonds. And then the other 40 we hope would be slightly less than that, maybe 35 uh
will come uh you know maybe around January time. So, we'll have to start working on that second bond issuance likely in September, October time of this year if everything remains on track. Uh, as it relates to construction, the project is proceeding
very nicely. Uh, there's been footing and foundations that have gone in. Most of the perimeter walls or I should say footings rather uh are in and so you can see the footprint pretty nicely. Uh, if you can kind of get up and and look down on a little bit. I've sent a couple
pictures to you via email. Um the storm water pond is taking shape as well and um just in about 5 weeks or so we're going to go vertical and then the project will look entirely different. So we'll have pre-cast walls. Uh they're
we're planning to have them um arrive somewhere around July 14th or so. Uh and then those will go up pretty quick. Uh and then the building will really take its form after that. So things are going pretty well that way. Um, on another note, union negotiations.
We have received notices to begin negotiations uh from six of our eight unions. Uh, we've been in conversation with them and are planning to try to engage uh maybe July sometime. And the reason this has been pushed off a little bit is because we we don't really know what's
going on with the state budget, right? So, if we don't know what our financial impact is going to be due to the anticipated cost shifts that the state has been talking about in the governor uh the governor's office and then then we we won't really know what we can and
can't do for that matter. So, uh we're just kind of delaying at the moment until we figure out where the state lands and then we understand what the impact is and then we can engage in a more knowledgeable form. Uh so both sides are preparing to meet. Uh and as I say, we we hope to maybe engage in July
sometime. On the legislative front, since I brought that up, I was just going to mention that the legislature of course did not finish their work this year on time and so a special session is highly likely to be called in order for them to at least pass a budget. Um the committees are still working informally.
Um and so the special session has not been called yet. I believe that the governor is intending to wait till most of this committee work and agreements inside the committees are sort of pretty well finalized and then uh at that point in time a special session will likely be called sometime during June. We
anticipate of course that's the end of the fiscal year June 30th for the state. Uh and so uh so that's what we're going to be watching for. We expect some things to sort of shake loose here over the next couple of weeks. um the human services working group which uh that was the group we were the most concerned
about because it had included the majority of significant cost shifts uh in early discussions to counties uh has reached a tenative agreement uh that was signed in the form of a spreadsheet. Of course the bill language isn't doesn't exist so we don't know what's in it but
essentially based upon what we have evaluated from the spreadsheet it looks to be significantly more favorable. Uh it's not great. Um, but we're not talking about um, you know, that the one or two million dollars worth of cost shifts uh, that we are anticipating.
We're probably talking maybe a couple hundred thousand, possibly a little more than that. So again, we just don't know the details yet of that particular uh, work groups till we get that bill language on the tax committee. Uh, the outlook is um, just completely unknown
at this point in time. We we just don't know where that group is. Um, we have heard that there was some conversation about reducing PILT payments uh by as much as 34%. That would be an impact to the county of $1.1 million. That's
pretty significant. It would require maybe three three and a half% of a levy adjustment if we weren't to find cuts to offset that reduction in state funding. So, uh, that's something that we're also uh, tracking. Uh, county program aid uh, was discussed for a little while as well
as maybe having some adjustments there, but there's nothing concrete. We just don't know where we're at there. So, uh I can't give you um much information about what we anticipate at least at this point in time. Uh all right. So, then let's go to the
county budget process because all of this is kind of hinging on the county budget process. Uh appreciate your passage of the budget principles and priorities. We did start officially our budget kickoff uh last week with the management team and uh the next two
weeks or so uh there will be line item budgets, capital improvement budgets and narratives in addition to um uh some other ancillary uh components of the budget that are being developed by the department heads at which point we'll take a couple weeks and I'll review
information and meet with department heads at which point we'll refine the budgets uh try to get to a preliminary levy uh probably refine budgets again after that and then eventually bring that to the budget committee. So that's what the work looks like between now and early
August. Um I think the staff are highly committed uh to incorporating uh the budget principles uh into their budgets this year and I I uh have every reason to believe that they'll meet the mark when it comes to uh the budget setting
goals for this year. Um, lastly, I was going to give you a couple reminders that the AMC District 2 meeting, that's our District 2 meeting, uh, occurs on Wednesday this week in the boardroom right here at 8:00 if you're interested in attending. Uh, and then finally, the county's wellness expo. I
believe this is our third year uh, doing this. That's going to take place on Thursday, June the 12th. Uh, and that'll be here on campus. It will be in this building and also in the um courtyard between us and the community services center building. And that'll happen from
11 until 2 in the afternoon next Thursday uh June the 12th. That's all I have for you, but I'll stand for any questions you might have. Thank Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Tom, you talked about the updates on the jail and and the looking down at it, the drone view.
I'm just wondering, we get that nice weekly update from Carl Anderson that that you've been forwarding to all of us. It's really great. Is there are we putting that on the website? You know, we Commissioner Carlson, we haven't. We more or less abandoned the jail project
website page uh for for sort of two reasons. Its initial intent was to uh engage the community in what to do and how to do it, what kind of programs and that sort of stuff. And we've achieved that. you know, we did surveys, we did a number of things. This the second thing
probably more realistically as to why it went away is we had a website update and um we we essentially haven't included that in that update. So, uh it's not something we couldn't do. Uh we could maybe restart that page and then simply take those updates and just shove them
in. It'd be pretty easy. A little bit clunky, nothing fancy, but certainly it would give the community an update on on what's uh what's being done. I would want to talk with um the author of that particular uh publication and ensure
they understand that it would if we if you intend for it to be that it would be public because sometimes there's proprietary information included in those. So another reason we haven't just shoved it onto the website. Um, administrator Barry, I'm wondering,
you mentioned about the financing of the the jail project, but where if you have a brief update on the uh assessment of the old facility and what where that's at, what what that's looking like, if anything yet, or Yes. Um, thank you for asking that. I didn't have that in my
update. Um, because I can tell you where we're at, but we just don't have a recommendation yet. So, um, we are looking at the three options. The first option is of course a complete remodel of the entire facility. Uh under that option um it looks pretty intensive uh
to do but uh there are columns and exterior perimeter wall structure that we could leave. Um and then the question becomes okay you've going to have maybe 55,000 square ft of vacant space. What then is the intention?
Um there's been some conversation around well we don't want to get into the leasing business just to get into the leasing business and compete with private sector on that front. Uh we already have a lot of vacancy in certain areas for commercial buildings and office space and that sort of stuff. So we've been putting another 55,000 square
feet possibly on the market. Uh that could be a challenge. Uh the second thing is it'd be rather expensive for us to hold that open space uh with the infrastructure that we have over there that's not super efficient either. Um so
based on that and and some of the structural and the costs associated with that particular option uh I I don't believe and and don't quote me because we started looking at it. I don't know that we're really probably going to have that as a viable option. Uh that leads
the second option which is a partial tear down um and remodel. Uh that likely looks like tearing down the housing blocks of the existing jail uh maybe the old sallyport and potentially leaving the administrative offices, the kitchen area, kind of the areas that we've
already improved a few years ago. Uh the challenge that comes with that option is that there's quite a bit of infrastructure. Um, this would be electrical, mechanical, HVAC, plumbing infrastructure that's located in one of the housing block basement that uh would
need to be relocated uh or potentially there's an we're looking at whether or not we can sort of steal those services from the existing courthouse annex. Um, and if we could that would save some money. Um in
that option we would have to rebuild the sallyport and we have an option that looks pretty favorable for actually doing that and utilizing partially the existing tunnel so that we have ingress and egress of inmates uh much the same way that it's currently occurring. Uh
the last option is you know kind of tear everything down. Uh and then that option also includes this same concept for a standalone sallyport uh that would have an elevator to go down to the uh tunnel and then underneath the parking lot and
into the courthouse. So those are three options. Uh I think we've got a couple more weeks to kind of vet out this and in particular put some costs to it. So uh we do have concepts but till we get the costs we just won't really know. Uh
but the board will likely have to think through that question on that first option. Do you want to have a lot of vacant space um you know on the market per se or just held indefinitely at you know maintenance costs. So a lot of it
will be depending upon what those rough costs look like too is if it's even feasible to do that first option which I did not think it probably would be based on what we'll have for the max budget. Um but uh just looking for um where we're at. We're still in the process of
developing it. That Thank you for the update. Mhm. All right. Anybody else? All right. We will adjourn until 5 o'clock. Part: 2
Please stand for the pledge. 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. I have no comments for this evening. So,
I will go on to the citizens addressing the board. Anyone wishing to address the county board on an item not on the agenda may come forward at this time to be recognized by the board chair. Please state your name and address for the record. Comments are limited to 5 minutes. A personnel complaint against an individual county employee may not be
heard initially at a board meeting. Personnel complaints may be submitted to the board in writing through the county administrator's office. A person addressing the board may not use profanity or vulgar language. Is there anybody wishing to address the county board? I assume there's no one online.
Diane Oh, Hello. I say my address now. Yeah. Name and name and address, please. Yes. My name is Isabella Schaefer. I am unfortunately a resident of 814 Thirdrd Street Southeast here in Baiji. Let me make it clear. I'm not uh shaking out of
fear. It's passion. Ah, I'm going to read off of a script because I am winded. My name is Isabella Schaefer. I'm a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, owner of the recovery space, and a person in long-term recovery from opioid addiction for over nine years. I began being
prescribed opioids at 9 years old in Cooko, Minnesota by Dr. to carry heg. I did not stop using opioids until I was pregnant with my child at 19 years old. Eventually returning back to Minnesota with an order of protection that had an affidavit over 50
pages. I spent the height of my opioid use in the Appalachia region of Kentucky where I had no access to treatment and spent most of my time unhoused. Fast forward to now, I'm a mother of two children, the spouse of a first responder, holder of a bachelor's
degree, and small business owner. I am a recipient of Medicaid. I'm an Alice family and I utilize Wick. My business, the recovery space to date has an operating budget of $0. I operate a syringe exchange program, distribute harm reduction supplies both in a
brickandmortar and through mobile outreach. To date, I source my supplies from four different states and work both above and underground to make sure people have access to the supplies that they need. As a person with lived experience, I can appreciate the commission wanting to take as much due
diligence in the dispersal of our funding. However, people are dying. Any delay in the release of funds prevents our organizations from continuing to provide or begin providing new and emerging services. I might also state that I'm not a recipient of this
year's opioid funding. Um, I would highly, highly, highly recommend all commissioners in their off times come see what we do. be on the streets where we are because we are dying. I'm thankful to have nine years in recovery from opioid addiction.
But the drugs that I was hooked on at 9 years old, they do not exist in this county purely anymore. I create the services that I provide so that if one day I begin using opioids again, I can do so safely so that my children have a
mother. I speak for many treatment providers who would gladly be here. However, they are treating the opioid addiction. Let me be clear. My recommendation is that we release the funds as soon as possible today. And my challenge is that in the next 365 days,
you work closely with Health and Human Services and all of the organizations that serve the folks in our area and come up with a way to offset the $70,000 that Health and Human Services currently uses to offset their budget. I would ask that we use the budget and all of the 11 recommended
ways that the federal government endorses the opioid funds being used. Let it be clear that these funds are not federal, state, or county funds. These are blood money funds. These are my funds. These funds come from the bankruptcy settlement of Purdue
Pharma. These funds are our funds. People are dying. Thank you. Thank you, Isabella. And remind anybody else that this is items not on the agenda. Seeing no one else, we'll move
on the approval of the agenda. Commissioner Winger, I believe we have a item that was moved off the consent agenda. Yeah. Move to approve with this addition. Move 7F to 12A. Okay. Do I hear a second to that
motion? Second. Second from Commissioner Carlson. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the amended agenda say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5 Z. Approval of
the consent agenda. The amended consent agenda. Do I hear a motion to approve the amended consent agenda? I'll make a motion to motion by Commissioner Winger. Do we hear a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Carlson. Any discussion on the consent
agenda? All in favor of approving the consent agenda, say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. On to the regular agenda. We have a public hearing for the solid waste ordinance.
and Brian coming up from our solid waste department. I am thank you commissioners. We do have a slide presentation here um that will just discuss what uh what we're asking to do with this uh
amended with the amendment that uh um we're trying to adjust uh article five of the of the ordinance. And then we're also trying to clear up some um grammar errors and and different things like
that throughout it. One of the things was is uh getting the terminology right. We had department instead of division in there. So we had a whole bunch of changes in there. Um we I was administrator. I made that all director. So we have there's some naming
conventions that were improved. So we'll get uh we'll get going here. So, a little bit of history for those that uh didn't don't know the history of the solid waste ordinance or the or the solid waste division. Um, we're going to
talk a little history process taken, proposed updates, uh, public. Excuse me, Brian. Commissioner Carlson, Mr. Chair, were we supposed to open the public hearing first? Yeah. Yeah, I think we actually should be prior to you starting the the presentation here, Brian. So, Mr. Chair, I move to open the public uh
hearing for solid waste ordinance. Okay, we have a motion by Commissioner Carlson to open the public hearing. Do I have a second? Second. Second from Commissioner Gould. All in favor of opening the public hearing officially say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you,
Commissioner Carlson. We've kind of got a the wheels before the cart or whatever. Thanks, Brian. Go ahead. So, back to where I was, uh, as far as, uh, I think I left up a proposed updates, public comment, and then board
recommendation. So, the history for where we're at, uh, kind of why the accounting portion or how the commercial billing process has changed. And that's kind of what that article five or of the ordinance
has pertained to and that's the biggest change in this. Um before 2015 this was all done by contracted services and then uh in 2015 it was split. the uh environmental
services department actually took over the demolition um landfill um invoicing and then waste management which was our contractor continued on with the commercial uh um invoicing. In 16 is
when the solid waste division was formed and that is when we took over everything. So that's where we get to 2016. Um we then inherited their access database.
We've now then changed to QuickBooks. We actually have a um another program that we work that's integrated with our scale system and QuickBooks which is called waste works. And uh then after that in 2019 and 20 we
updated a 40-year-old ordinance and that incorporated both um ordinances 25 and 13. 25 was a standalone ordinance which was just for the um commercial
billing. So we incorporated that so we don't have to have two ordinances. But that's why I'm also coming to you because now it affects the one ordinance anytime we have a change in in the our billing process.
So, we've been working on this um and the process is very cumbersome right now. This is something we've inherited. We didn't want to change it because we wanted to make sure we had all of our ducks in a row before we go go ahead and do any wholesale changes
because we don't want to break the break the bank. I believe we I understand the system well enough now and that we need to change this. We're tracking businesses in this county instead of garbage and I think we need
to track uh waste instead of businesses as they move from place to place. The other thing that uh businesses were placed into a tier with the new process, they will no longer be placed into a tier system. So if you're for instance a
business that uh just made 15 tons of waste, you're paying the same amount as someone that has 17 tons of waste. With this, you're going to be paying for what you actually produce and that'll be uh build out through the
hauler. So, the process taken, we started this, I've been bringing this up um at the solid waste committee. We decided to tackle it this past year. So, I've been working on this to um come up with a plan, get all the
changes done in the ordinance. Then we went in and had I discussed it with all the haulers first and then I discussed it with uh we I had a meeting with all of the businesses which we actually
recorded as well any of the input that was on there and that's all been posted on the website. And uh now last month we asked to do a public hearing. we advertised and here I am
today to discuss the potential approval of the changes. So the proposed changes mentioned formatting, there are some spelling mistakes. Um, we're re
uh we're re um doing the definition for MSW because this fall we will be starting to put uh source separated organics into our MSW um garbage cans. So that is actually
against the state statute. Once you rem once you source separate recyclables, it's against the law to put them back into the garbage. We in Bel Tramy County, because of where they're going to be going, they'll actually be then removed from
the MSW and then put into um the compost waist stream, which that'll all go to the Poke County uh landfill. Then chapter five, the uh the big thing with this, and I already kind
of uh talked about it, but it was we're going to track uh waste instead of businesses. That's really what it comes down to. Um we we the businesses had to register with us. We had to track their volumes that they produced. Um, they
paid us and paid the hauler, which a lot of businesses that was strange for them if they're new to the county that they've never had to pay the county for uh the disposal processing disposal. And I don't I would uh entertain that
this doesn't get uh doesn't go into effect till 1 January since everything is already in place for this year that uh we start this beginning of next year. The process you can see is much more
streamlined as far as on in my opinion on and all parties for uh for us. The haulers already picking up uh picking up the waste. They're already needing to um
charge that uh business for the service. they'll get uh charged for the size of container that they're being um that goes into the um garbage truck and then that's how they'll get
built frequency and and size of the container. Any questions? Anybody have any questions for Ryan B? Um, the only thing I just I think you alluded to it, but we are not doing it the way most other solid waste counties.
No. And that this would bring us in line with the majority of all the other solid waste. Well, it's not necessarily the counties. It's more of the industry or the industry. Yeah. Yes. So, it just makes sense and makes it simpler and everything else. So, thank you for the
presentation, Brian. At this point, we would uh be open for any public comment if anybody is here to have any public comment on the proposed changes for the solid waste
ordinance. Anybody online? Diane? No. Okay. I'll ask a second time for public comment and have to do it three times. So, and ask for a third time for public comment. Seeing no one no public comment. U we'll
close the public comment section and uh look for a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Motion by Commissioner Gould. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Carlson. All in favor of closing the public hearing say I. I. Any
opposed? All right. The motion the public hearing is closed. So now we bring the issue back to the board. decide the board's wishes. Have any discussion? Otherwise, I look for a motion to approve the uh changes to the solid waste ordinance.
I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion to approve that. Okay. So, we have a Commissioner Winger made a motion to approve the changes to the solid waste ordinance. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Carlson. Any further discussion on the solid
waste ordinance? Uh, Mr. Chair. Yeah, Commissioner Sar. Uh, so the the solid waste committee reviewed this and and is in support and and there was uh no major issues or or anything of that sort. No, it um
actually somewhat surprising, you know, um everybody's was more concerned as you showed in the presentation there with the process than and the costs and and the solid waste committee is fully behind this and so Yep. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Sumar. Any other
further discussion? I'll call for the question then. All in favor of approving the changes to the solid waste ordinance, say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5. Thank you, Brian. And that moves us on to the 2025 allocation of opioid
settlement dollars. We commissioner Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I uh just would like to thank the public for their patience for the two-week time period that I
specifically asked for to be able to check the process to make sure that I was satisfied that we were following the memorandum of understanding with the state that that all the allocations were done properly so that we didn't get in
any trouble later on. And I really want to thank Amy BS, our public health director, and Ann Lensth. Excuse me. Thank you for taking the time to go over that with me. It was fun reading. Uh but it was worthwhile. Um I
also want to thank thank Chris Earl. Chris visited with me uh this this morning and I was able to and Bill, I'm sorry I missed you when I was there, but um it was a really nice I had a really nice visit with him. Uh Chris is the executive director of Face It Together.
Um and I was very impressed with the operation over there. Um I had expressed to Chris that I was a little dismayed that maybe we didn't fund 100% of his project and maybe somebody else got 100% but the end of the day Chris said he's grateful to get something. And then I
did find that there's some synergy between uh Face It Together and the Nameless Coalition uh for the Homeless and the New Day Center. Um and so that was very very exciting to me to find out that there was that synergy going on. Um
so that it sounds like, you know, whatever maybe we're we're whatever grants are going to the to the Nameless Coalition can maybe in some way still help out face it together. So I was very excited about that. And again, thanks to Amy and an uh for your professionalism
and and walking me through all that. Uh and so with that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to move that we approve the distribution up to $70,50 of opioid settlement dollars to support the RFP applicants. Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. We have a motion
on the table. Second second. Second by Commissioner Gould. Further discussion? Commissioner Winger. Um, I just have something I'd like to say about it. Um, you know, I, uh, my main job, my full-time job is I do
non-emergency medical transportation and all we do is transport to and from an opioid recovery clinic. Um, so I totally understand where this is all coming from and and the need for all of these things. My concern by seconding it was
when we're sitting here looking at the amount of money that the state had proposed taking from Health and Human Services that we were going to lose staff that work with these things already because we can't afford to just keep adding to everybody's taxes and
cover that. I'm was really glad to hear today how much difference we're looking at moneywise potentially. Um, you know, that's that's a huge difference and and those are things that hopefully we're going to be able to make up. And I just wanted to make sure we were making the
right decision on that one, too, because I didn't want to see staff lose from from health services there that work with these every day and and some of the other things that that they require to be able to put out to help people. So, that was my reason for doing that. Thank
you, Commissioner. Chair. Yes, Commissioner. I think it'd be really important for the public before we make our final vote to if if we could have Amy come up and and review the specifics of theou that we have and and why maybe
somebody gets more dollars than another gets and and how you scored the process. Just it's just a reminder to the public of of why. And maybe if you could also touch on on how you you don't just hand a check over for the full amount. It's a
it's a reimbursement process and they have to meet the criteria that that meet theou criteria to be able to to um get the re the reimbursement. Um in the event that you did ask for me to come forward tonight, I did um prepare just a brief fivem minute
presentation. Would it be okay if I just read my notes to you and it covered both those questions? Yep. Go ahead. So, I am I am your public health director and your community health board administrator. Um, so to start our discussion this evening, I'd like to start with reviewing the processes that
guided the opiate steering committee in making the the second uh recommendation to the county board. Since the board's unanimous approval of the opiate steering committee in September of 2023, which included the appointment of a commissioner to represent the voice of
the full board, the committee has operated under the board's uh document titled the opiate steering committee guidelines. The committee held its first meeting in October of 2023 and has met monthly since. Every other month the
approved committee um advisory members so that's just our community members they join us uh the county staff to participate in those meetings and we ensure that both professional expertise and lived experiences informs the work that we
do. Prior to that first meeting all 17 committee members were required to read and become familiar with the Minnesota opiate state subdivision memorandum of agreement. So from here on out, I'll refer that to that as your
MOA. I want to pause here to emphasize a key point for our constituents, stakeholders, and community partners. The state has implemented a robust and stringent set of guidelines. And these guidelines are for every single county and every single
county has to follow them. Here are some highlights from that MOA. It requires the creation of a special revenue fund that must not be co-mingled with any other funds. The funds may be invested, but any investment earned must
be used in accordance with the exhibit A of the MOA. The funds that may be contracted to nonprofits, charities, and other entities, but again, they can only be used for the approved uses outlined
in the exhibit A of the MOA. Sediment dollars must be used strictly for future opiate remediation activities. Public health serves as the lead agency and the chief strategist. Counties may dedicate a
portion of funds to support community-based work again aligned and guided to uh by were guided through the exhibit A. And then an annual detailed report must be submitted to the state to demonstrate
that all expenditures align with the MOA's requirements. And I can tell you that report takes me almost a week to complete. Since our October of 2023 meeting, the steering committee has had the privilege of hosting three community
listening sessions. These sessions were not performative. They were strategic opportunities to listen deeply to the people we serve and the service providers who are doing the work every day. Our goal was to ensure that community voices shaped our funding
priorities. Making sure our strategies were grounded in the unique realities of Belrammy County, not simply replicating metro-based approaches that may not fix our rural needs. One message was consistent and clear. Our communities
want these funds to support the agencies and services that are already working hard to address the urgent and complex challenges unique to rural northern Minnesota. Following this input, the county board unanimously approved the first RFP on January 17th of
2024. We structured it closely to how the state distributes similar funds. Although we worked to make the application process as accessible as possible, the process remained competitive and aligned strictly with
the MOA's approved remediation uses. As your lead agency and chief strategist, I want to assure this board and our community that there are robust checks and balances in place for each recipient of the opiate settlement funds, including the annual $70,000 that are
allocated to county based services. Each funded agency begins with a 2hour one-on-one meeting with me. We review the contract, the expectations, and I clearly outline everything that they have to submit to me. Each recipient
submits detailed quarterly reports. Funds are reimbursed only after I verify those expenditures were compliant with the MOA and exhibit A. So, there's two parts that we have to compare all of that funding
to. Last year, the board unanimously approved the committee's recommendation to distribute up to $145,349 in state opiate settlement dollars to support five RFP applicants. And as you've already mentioned, tonight
we bring forward our second RFP recommendation as we continue to respond to the impact opiates have had and continue to have on our community. And it sounds like we're already headed in that direction. But if we weren't, I
wanted to urge this board to again consider the voices of our grassroot partners. Without them, we will struggle to make measurable progress in our community and our community health assessment that we've been working on. It's not going to change. All we're going to do is keep adding to the
problems that we have in our community health improvement plan. So, Bel Tramy County continues to bear the weight of some of the highest rates of health disparities in our state. Infants are withdrawing at birth. Overdoses continue to happen and premature deaths plague
our community. The committee you appointed is determined to shift that narrative. This funding gives us a real opportunity to move the needle together. Any questions for Amy? Mr. Sumar. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Um, well, first Amy, I want to thank you and and the the advisory members and the steering committee. Um, I see firsthand, you know, the the conversations that you guys have, the work that you guys do, uh, the hours that you put in to read
these applications. you know there there there's a lot of information and I see the discussions that you guys have you know after reading them coming together and and deciding you know how to allocate these these um funding um these
grants. So I just want to show my appreciation express that you know I thank you uh for that. Um, also maybe a question for for the board or or Tom, Amy, I'm not too sure, but
I'm I'm kind of curious. So, tonight we're voting on the community allocations for the opioid funding. Correct. Correct. The $70,000. Yep. So, when and where do we vote on the county
allocation of the $70,000? and do they come do they submit an application or what's the process to that? Uh kind of curious. Yeah, that's a great question. So when the um committee meets as a
whole, so all seven team members have the opportunity together, we talk about and we kind of deliberate about all the different needs. And then when the county group meets together, we take under advisement um the the needs of the community and in which programs within
our agency best help support uh the work of of uh the needs of within our community, right? And so throughout the last two years, we've brought some proposals to the board and so the board has made that decision. Um, and so the
the um eight of us on the county-based um side of things um have brought presentations to this board asking for permission how we're going to allocate the $70,000 that we set aside out of the 140 every year. Okay. So, but there was
no questions about the the county allocations or or what they're being used for, anything like that? No. Okay. Okay. Is is there a way to get these funding sources kind of in line
with each other? Um bring them at the same time or or what what why hasn't that been? So are you asking like for example the five um organizations that we're recommending to the board tonight like bringing them together to talk about the work that they're doing
together? No, not but submitting submitting the request at the same time that the counties get submitted. That way, you know, if we have questions or or concerns that that we're not kind of picking and choosing, you know, what what organizations, you know, get
funding or or things like that. To me, it seems like a a mer a fair process on on how to, you know, allocate these fundings. I mean, they're from the same source. Um, but in a way it seems like one group is getting favored over
another and and the the opioid crisis was is a serious situation that we have to remember at the county that we weren't fighting this alone and we had community partners that were
suffering as well. So to me it seems like we should have all the same request at the same time without causing any confusion and and kind of nitpicking and and things like that. So if if we can make that request, I I
would, you know, appreciate we can try to get that in line somehow. If we have future requests for how to allocate the $70,000, um we can look at, you know, if that process would make sense to present it when we present the opiate
applications. Right now, our process um internally is uh we we actually aren't spending all of our $70,000. So, we've been um much slower in allocating those dollars to make sure that we are um
making great recommendations to this board. Um, but it was really important to us to get the community's portion of that money out there. And so that's why we did the RFP process so that $70 can be out, $70,000 can be out there to the um community. And in the meantime, the
county $70,000 is taking a little bit of a slower process to make sure that we are aligned with the MOA, that we're aligned with the um exhibit A, the remediation uses, and um you know, looking at is it
something we want to do a one time once for a program or is this something ongoing that we want to fund every year for a program? Well, again, I just want to thank you. I want to thank uh all the people that have reached out, you know, the past couple of weeks and with their support
and and uh passing this uh this important opioid funds uh to the community. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Summer. Any other commissioners want to ask any question? I have a question for Amy. the um I
believe last year um there was a couple that a couple of organizations that applied and got funding and that that they didn't apply this year. You haven't even did they or at least I don't they're not being awarded this year anyways. Did did we have some that
applied last year that didn't get funded this year or um or just a couple that just didn't apply? Was the only organization that applied last year was awarded and applied again this year. The drug court wasn't. Oh, sorry. Yes, the drug court. Yeah. So, there were two of
two two of the four last year. Um and that but there were two other ones that applied that didn't. Village of Hope did not apply and and then we had three that didn't apply last year that applied this year and got funded. Correct. Yes. Any any idea why those ones that got funded
last year didn't apply this year? Um you know, I I can't say because they're using the money. Um uh correct. They did use it and get re reimbured. Most of them are still using it. Oh. Um so they have 18 months to spend um the
money that they get. Okay. Yeah. So none of them have reached out to say like the process was too hard. It was too much paperwork. Um to be honest with you, the application process because we have the the tight like procedures and the the
guidelines that we get from the state. if we if we could make it, you know, like a a one twopage application where it's like, pick one of the remediation uses, tell us how you would use it, and they could just write us a, you know, an
essay about it. It would make it much easier for many of our more smaller um community-based, you know, people who only have four or five people, you know, or even less in their organization. So, um, just knowing the busyiness of my
schedule in working with with grants and writing grants, I can only imagine the time constraint and and really when you're writing a grant, you have to evaluate like is all of the the sweat equity that I'm putting into that grant going to be worth what I'm getting out
of it. So if you think like even if you look at like how much money we're recommending to some of these organizations, if you take um the Biji Fire Department and you ask chief, you know, hey, how how much time did it take
you to fill out this application and you take his salary and then what he's actually asking for? Like it's, you know, what do they say? That's juice is worth the squeeze. Yeah. So that would be my guess, but none of them have said any reason why they didn't apply again. And that's what I wonder if it was a too
arduous of paperwork to on the reporting side or or or Nick, you haven't really heard any specific reasons of why they wouldn't have applied again this year. No. And um you know, we require them to come to at least two meetings a year to report out to the opiates steering committee on how they're doing, like
updates and give more details. So the other people other than just me where I get all the reports back from them and I'm going over all the financials and that kind of stuff. I want the other people to hear it directly from the uh recipients so they do attend our meetings. Okay, great. I think you're
doing a great job with this and thank you for thank you for coming forward and and and informing us. Well, thank you for hearing me. All right. Thank you, Amy. Anything else? So, we have a motion and a and a second on the table here. I I think that's it, Amy. Thank you. Thank you. Um, any further discussion on it?
Otherwise, are you okay with the regular vote or you want a roll call vote? Regular vote. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Right, that passes. Next item on the agenda is a county mailbox support
policy. And we had a presentation from Bruce in our work session on that. um look for a motion to to approve the mailbox support policy. Mr. Chair, I move to approve the proposed mailbox support policy. All right, we have a
motion by Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Second by Commissioner Winger. Any further discussion on the mailbox support policy? Well, Mr. Sure. I was hoping that we'd have a little bit more uh concrete numbers about the the
cost and and is it an annual thing or Bruce has to maintain things like that. Maybe has maybe has gotten the numbers while he was here. I don't know. Well, you didn't ask that question originally, so I didn't look that one up, but uh I
did look up what the grant was that we uh have coming next year. that is $162,000 in federal funds. And so then we would have our match to it. And at that time when we submitted the grant, we were estimating that we would be
replacing 1,200 uh supports out there. Um we do have uh again right now the fee schedule is set at $0 for these for the furnish installation. Um we haven't really kept track of how many
we're doing each year. uh you know we buy supports as we need them um and they fall in our fall within our budget. We haven't had a huge influx of requests or uh need for purchasing a whole bunch more supports than normal and so nothing
you know nothing out of the ordinary there for uh costs right now. Thank you. Great. I was up by 11 grand. Anybody else have any further questions? We have a we have a motion and a second I believe on the table. So
all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? No. Four to one. Thank you. On to the county newsletter policy. And there again we discussed this. Uh so entertain a motion to
approve the county newsletter policy. I'll make a motion. Motion by Commissioner Winger. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Gold. Any further discussion on the newsletter policy? Uh, Mr. Chair,
Commissioner Sumar, you know, I I enjoy being here, you know, late in the evening for our meetings. Uh, which is why I always ask these questions. I enjoy my time with you guys. Little levity from Commissioner Ser
tonight. Um but I was wondering um did the county attorney review the proposed newsletter policy? The newsletter policy? Yeah. And and does the county attorney usually uh review
your policies that are proposed? Uh uh not that I'm aware of. I don't think there's any reason. The attorney was not asked to look at this policy. No. Okay. And then um the oversight that says two commissioners. Wasn't there just one
commissioner in the in the past or was there always two? There's two commissioners. Where are the commissioners? You want to take my place? Oh, no. No. I I I tried last year, but uh I lost the armrest,
so I just needed a correction. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? The newsletter policy passes
5-0. And then we had the item that we pulled from the consent agenda, the health and human services approval of housing trust funding recommendations. Mr. Chair. Yes. Commissioner Gold. I'll make a motion to approve the two recommendations as presented. Second.
Motion by Commissioner Gould and a second by Commissioner Sumar. Any any discussion on the housing trust fund? Commissioner Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I think I mentioned when we were in work session that I'm in
favor of the proposal for the eight units. I'll be voting no on this motion because I'm not in favor of doing both of them. I would like to if it passes, fine. If it doesn't pass, I'd like to come back and um I will at that time
make a motion to accept the eight units at 220,000, but I I can't be in favor of spending $300,000 on two houses. Thank Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. Any other discussion on this motion?
Commissioner. Yep. So, I guess a question for Commissioner Carlson. Um, you know, during the regular meeting you were inquiring about Sanford Sanford Health, correct? Um, is that is that
part of why you might not be in favor of of the entire request or I'm kind of curious. So, Mr. Mr. Chair and Commissioner Sumar, I it just doesn't seem right to me to spend $300,000 on
two houses when I think that there's a opportunity for larger developments that we could we could leverage our money better for more units. Um, I don't know that the immediiacy of having two more houses in one year is going to make that
much difference as opposed to so it's the opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of taking $300,000 and using it towards a larger development that we might not see today but could come within 12 months, maybe within 9 months, within 18 months. It just seems
shortsighted to just because if that's the only if it's the only rec the only application we got, it doesn't seem to make sense to just spend it because that's the only application we got. Whereas I I just feel like we need to look at the opportunity cost of spending
that on more housing rather than less housing. Okay. Thank you for ask um because I I understand that there was a pre-application process uh uh the 12th
of December. It was advertised until the 31st of Jan January, a little over a month, almost two months. And then I imagine that there was an opportunity for folks uh community members,
organizations to um apply and come back for the full application process uh 2 and 1/2 months later. Um,
I I don't want to withhold funds if there's already a plan in place if if there was a development that was going to happen or take place. I imagine that they would have
applied. And if they didn't, we should not hold these funds from an organization that did their homework, the due diligence to to take the time to apply for for this application or for
these grants. You know, I imagine with uh $1.3 million uh left in the fund that there would be an opportunity for an organization to come forward, maybe next
year or or however often we um send out these uh development RFPs. Um, we have a a housing, you know, need in our
community and to to withhold that from people trying to succeed and, you know, be um successful in our community.
shouldn't be um should not have that opportunity because of of a potential of unknown that we don't know about. Um so I I think that is why you know we need
to again support or the request from this organization from from an the housing trust fund. Um it sounds like they did you know the scoring and and
vetted the applications. I'm sure that they had a criteria that really um set in place on why they brought forward a recommendation.
Um, to me it seems like, you know, if we are going to continue to [Music] question folks, you know, the these committees that do their their work on
on our behalf that, you know, maybe we should just dissolve all the committees and do all all the work, you know, that they're doing. Um, you know, I I can guarantee that a lot of these folks that sit on these
committees are are more of an expert uh or and knowledgeable about these types of things than than I am, you know. Um, so I think that's why it's important that we support the people that that do the
work and bring, you know, their decisions and and recommendations to us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Governor. Commissioner Carlson. Um, I'm not sure if Ann, would you be willing to come up and talk about an application that was withdrawn or
Corey maybe? Well, no. Ann was okay. Um, and the reason I the reason I asked for that is that there was another application that was put in and I don't remember how many housing us units that might have been um, and what the
opportunity could be anytime in the near future or even a year out uh, of of actually again leveraging that $300,000 into way more housing units and two. Are you willing to speak to that?
I can speak to the fact that there were three applications that were submitted this RFP round. One application um wasn't quite ready to move forward. So there are opportunities in our community for development, but they're not shovel ready. So I think when the cabinet made
this recommendation, that was the focus is a a shovel ready um project to move forward to try to address some of the housing continuum issues. But there are certainly projects out there um that may
come through a future RFP process. Just to provide some numbers to the board, um if we fully funded um these two requests, we would have $836,680 remaining. If you add in the 25
um allocation to that um so by the end of 2025 we will have 1,210,562. Um so all projects look different in housing and one of the things that the cabinet has learned is that housing is extremely complex and
there's a lot of different things that go into development of housing. things like TIFF, which I didn't know anything about when I first started learning about housing with the cabinet, um, and different housing grants. And so, um,
each project may need a little from the housing trust fund to be viable or they may need more than a little from the housing trust fund to be viable. So, while I definitely understand that a $220,000 investment for eight houses is
certainly we're getting more for that that funding that we're putting in. The cabinet's recommendation recommendation is solely based on what can we do now. Um, so that's where they're coming from. To Commissioner Carlson's point, there are other opportunities in the future
and we hope to be partners through our housing trust fund cabinet uh with those entities who are looking to develop housing. And then Mr. Chair, just to follow up, uh is it possible has a cabinet discussed maybe having uh RFP
process every 6 months so that we we don't have a partner that's just about there and they're not quite there and now they got to wait another 11 months that that maybe is that a possibility? Absolutely. We can certainly talk as a cabinet about we've had that
conversation before about do we have a revol or kind of an ongoing RFP process where as projects are ready then they would have an opportunity to apply. So I mean this is certainly something that I can bring back to the cabinet to talk about how quickly we have RFP openings
or if it is an ongoing. I think this initial um development RFP was really to kind of garner and see what was out there for interest and then see you know will we have remaining funds in the trust fund to have another RFP process
which we would now I also think it's pertinent to just share that there is some momentum in the housing development space right now not just from some of the projects that may be on the horizon but also from um the community. And so
you really see that when you look at how the United Way has um used their partnerships to get additional funds into the housing trust fund. I mean, the fact that they have raised I think it's over $100,000 doing my math quick in my head um of additional funding into the
housing trust fund through partnerships through banks and grant loans and just community investments. So we do hope that that will continue as well to continue to grow this fund for additional opportunities.
So then Mr. Chair just and sorry um is there has there been discussions? I know the city of Bumiji has always expressed interest in in more housing and affordable housing and all of that. um are we engaging the city of Bumiji in this process in terms of you know maybe
it's a matter of they can wave some whack and sack fees that sort of thing so that we can all be partners in in trying to get this obviously that would just be in the city limits um and some of these developments might not be in the city limits but um yes we have
conversations within the cabinet about how developers from their work can kind of leverage some of those things like whack and sack which I had no idea what that was when we started this process here but I do know what it is now. Um so we are certainly using the cabinet and
their expertise to work with partner agencies and developers to say okay here are some of the things you can access so that the funds do become leveraged by other funds. Thank you. Thanks Commissioner Carlson and you have a
question. Anybody have anything else for Ann? Okay. Thanks, Ann. Appreciate it. Go ahead and Commissioner Winger. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, my concern is that I mean, $150,000 is pretty cheap to put up a house at this particular any kind of
housing at this point. A couple years ago, it would have been substantially more. Uh, we don't know what it's going to do by next year. You know, it's not 150,000. No, it's it's 730 for the 2,000 for the two houses. Yeah. But, uh, you know what they're talking about
really in the grand scheme of things, I don't know. I think it's we got to get housing out there somewhere somehow. But, uh, I'm concerned about not doing it. Mhm. U, when when it's things are more
affordable this year than they have been, you know, in the things I've been looking at doing anyway. So, I don't know. I just think I think people have done their diligence. But so, Mr. Chair, I'd like to respond to Commissioner Winger.
Um I'm cur and maybe this is a Corey question. Um I'm curious why on that eight housing project that we've uh that look the 220 should be a no-brainer. Is there a reason why at least one of those couldn't get started
right away? Yeah, please come forward, Curry, if you are willing to. I mean, we're looking for a win, I believe. But but a win at 27,500 is a lot better win than $150,000. So, that's where I'm going with that. So, is there a reason why
some of that can't get started right away? Like one or two of them? Uh yeah, just just because of the way that they're financed, right? And and the way that we would secure those grant resources. So, um, uh, we use, uh, funding from Minnesota Housing. We apply
every year, um, to their, uh, challenge program that includes, you know, when we get a grant from them. Sometimes it's two grants, sometimes it's four grants. They have a bunch of funds that they can pull. Um, so we got to time everything right to apply to this application. Um,
as you guys are all aware, the budget doesn't look like it did a year or two ago. Um, so you know, without having like those match dollars secured, we're gonna have a really hard time having a competitive application and we couldn't start the process of building until we
have 100% of the funding secured. Um, so that's why we really when we put in our our proposals, you know, we Northstar Neighbors wanted to provide um the housing cabinet with options of short-term and and long-term, right? Um and I and I think you know we can be
that uh that piece of momentum and and make a splash on these first ones. Um I know it comes at a higher cost but I but you have to like I want to bring that back to that higher cost is supporting um you know six seven families over the
next six seven eight years that are going to be able to um benefit from this affordable housing um versus and and we're also talking about home ownership. So the costs are a little bit different than when we talk about maybe a 50 unit multif family project. The the benefits
that these six seven families are going to get or if we say two houses out of thisund $300,000, you know, we have six seven families. We hope to to to benefit that and they're going to benefit from wealth generation. They're going to benefit from being part of a community and part of a neighborhood. Um you know,
all those kind of social impacts that come with come with home ownership. And that was really why we started Northstar Neighbors was, you know, we we could continue to do lowinterest loans and try and spark more rental, but that that commitment to create an opportunity for
people that's beyond um rental housing. So, um I I I went a little broader on your question, but I'm trying to kind of to to share on the the reason why um it costs so much and all the benefits to that investment. So So I understand that, but but but you're talking about
seven or eight families. You said $300,000 for two houses. That's two families. That's not seven or eight. That's two families. But this this program is a forever program. So remember we went through the process of explaining how the program works. We're going to take that initial investment
that we put into the house. So two so $300,000 for two u two houses. And we expect based on data that we've uh looked at across the nation for these community land trust homes that every six, seven years we'll see some turnover where a family will maybe move on to a
traditional market rate home. And now you're and now there's that wealth generation because now they've had the opportunity to buy a home at $350,000 that's going to appreciate like everybody else, right? And then we sell that home uh without coming back to you
guys to ever ask for another dollar, right? And then so that's where I get to where, you know, we're going to have two homes that serve 15 families far beyond me even probably being in this role of, you know, we're building something that's going to last forever. But
imagine the multiplier if you use that $300,000 on another rate unit out. Just so you I think we're, you know, we're we're interested in, you know, I I can see both both sides of that. Um, I think there's momentum around housing right
now and we we can be that catalyst and be that partner to really make a big splash around what the the housing trust fund is doing and and I don't want to speak for any anybody else. I just want to I just want to say what we can bring to the table and and and what we bring is is ability to have a shovel ready
ready project that we start working uh immediately on getting contracts together and and getting a house up and then we bring our marketing team and we support impact stories and things like that around the benefit to this and and we really want to be a partner um to the
housing trust fund. I mean, there's I I want you to believe in us that we're going to be a great decision in uh in starting the you know, is is the first project out of the housing trust fund. And there must be some administrative costs that the Northstar neighborhood
neighbors what uh there must be some administrative costs that you're keeping out of that money, I'm guessing. Yeah, I think we put it in 10%. So, we just went with a kind of a standard with that's kind of standard administrative cost on a on a grant proposal. Um, I know that
and that's going to require us to put in funding as well to facilitate the construction management and um the sale of the home and everything else. Thank you. Hey, Corey. Um the $430,000 that you're that you're
showing as being able to secure, is that predicated by having the $300,000 match or or do you have the 430 available so you could build one home without much of a match or No? No. Because that $430,000 is going to be in the in the in the form
of a loan. So I've got I've got plan A, B, and C on where we'll get the loan dollars. We we'll shop for the best deal for interest to keep the cost down as much as we can. Okay. But that part of it is is is uh loan dollars that then we get paid back when we sell the home,
right? Okay. Because they they're going to come in and they're going to pay 225 for the home. Um so we we need the grant dollars and the loan dollars in order to make the the project work. Okay. So you couldn't just do one and have the 275 match out of the and No, because that
that 430 will we'll have to finance that piece of the project. Okay. um you know there I guess there's an opportunity to do one home but we would need to you know we would have to you still be looking for the 150,000 instead of 300 and so it still be the skewed
ratio compared to the other proposal and I'm and I'm hoping we'll get a better deal on the whole project if we do two at once. Right. Okay. Um are these two homes proposed to go on the same physical site as the other eight? So it' be 10 total homes in one spot or Yes.
Yep. that we're proposing all these homes in the same neighborhood. Okay. Um so it's the Bare Tooth neighborhood or I've also heard it called Mountain View Meadows on the south side of the city of Biji. So brand new development. Okay. All right. Any other questions for Corey while we have them on the hot
spot. Oh, okay. Thanks, Corey. Appreciate you coming back up. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you all for the time. So, all right. So, we've got a motion and a second. Further discussion on it. I'll call for a roll call vote.
Commissioner Carlson, no. Commissioner Gould? Yes. Commissioner Winger? Yes. Commissioner Sumar? Yes. And I will vote yes as well. So, we have four to one. Thank you. That
passes and that uh brings us to commissioner business items. Uh we'll take legislative lobbying and commissioner reports together. here. Commissioner Sumner, uh, not much to report from, uh, two weeks ago. I just want to again remind you that the AMC District 2 meeting is
tomorrow. Um, hopefully I'll see you guys there. You don't want to like drone on for another half an hour so we could stay here later like you wanted to. I was thinking about it. All right. Thank you, Commissioner S.
Commissioner Winger. Um, I'm not going to be able to make that meeting tomorrow. I have to work. Um I did attend the uh household hazardous waste meeting um about the well one of the big things
I guess for us in this area is what they did get an intern um from Baiji State. So she's working over there um and hopefully they might be able to use her for a couple of years. Um, so, um, other than that, uh, things
are just going along the way they've been going and they've got a lot of projects, but it's all good. Great. Thank you, Commissioner Winger, Commissioner Gold. Uh, I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend and uh, took some time to
honor our uh, deceased veterans. I was unfortunately not able to attend a service. Uh but I was able later in the day to um check out Greenwood Cemetery here and pay some respects. Um so that
was good. Uh Minnesota rural counties met uh zoomed into that meeting. Kls had their budget committee meeting. Um I attended a um an event at Kohl's Resort on Friday evening which was really nice.
It was uh um pretty good weather except for the smoke coming in. Um but that didn't necessarily ruin things. Uh they had a musician there and they were doing like a soft opening of a new part of their
resort and it was a good opportunity to uh support a local business. Joint Powers Board on Natural Resources met. Um, I met with uh Steve Simon yesterday. Our Minnesota Secretary of
State was in town. Um, and uh, there was a a group of Biji folks. He just kind of wanted to get people's um, thoughts and ideas on on uh, what what our local issues are affecting uh, Belrammy
County. And then uh, just a quick announcement. Saturday there's a Chief Bamiji statue um 10 years um uh event uh at 10:00. So if anyone's interested uh be a good thing to check out and
celebrate. So that's it. Thank you, Commissioner Gold. Commissioner Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh had chat about after last Who's got chat about this? That's always fun. I'll be doing that tomorrow. Yep. You got it. Yeah, it's it's nice to do that. It's nice to do it
after instead of before because then it's like all those things are more clear. I heard council member Audrey the on chat about this morning and I think they probably appreciate it as well. Yeah. Uh we had the uh Craig and I had the Bumiji Regional Airport Authority
meetings last month. Um not a lot going on there. Um we I had the jail design and operations committee meeting. We meet every other week on Tuesdays in the afternoon. um digging deep into the question that was asked about what are we going to do
with the old jail. Um so we're digging deep into that and I hope we hope to be able to have something for the board within about probably the next month. I think we we're we're trying to get it sooner rather than later, but we want to make sure we get more dollar information. It's just that's a little
hard to come by right now, but they're they're honing in on it. So, um, and then I spent the greater part of the last two weeks on, uh, the OPO settlement dollars and I got good education there. Um, and then, uh, we have I have an upcoming Prime West
meeting on Thursday. That's it. Thank you, Commissioner Carlson. As you mentioned, we had our airport authority meeting and and I did appreciate the tour that we got. They we actually met a little early and went on a tour of the maintenance facility and got to get some information about the the vehicles that
they have and and they're pretty pretty cool machines they have out there for clearing this clearing. Huge. Yeah. And uh clearing the snow and brushing at the same time to clear the the grooves and stuff out of the runways. It's pretty neat. Um and then I had a Mississippi
headarters board meeting. Um, I personally brought one of my constituents on the Mississippi River just east of Amiji has some sloughing and and that on his property and and some working with both Brent in our our environmental services as well as the Mississippi headers board to um actually
quite a few different options for him to to do a shoreline restoration project there and and uh he's had several large Norways that have dipped over off the off the edge of his property into the river and so hoping to stop that from happening. So, it's a kind of rewarding
to be able to have have the knowledge of some of these different committees to to bring to a constituent to help with a environmental issue like that. So, anyhow, that's uh that's it. I've got some some other meetings coming up, but uh that's good enough for tonight. I'll
look for a motion to adjurnn. Motion by Commissioner Carlson. Do I hear a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Sumner. Yeah. All in favor of adjourning say I. I.