##VIDEO ID:x2UgX5x7SAE## afternoon November 12th 2024 and I call this meeting of the Bel try County Board of commission to order please stand for the pledge I pled aliance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all is there any citizen that wants to address the board representative elect Adel Duran you I'm got to read this statement first sorry anyone wishing to address the County Board on an item not on 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 please proceed umel dur 953 Division Street West uh uh I'm actually coming here not to complain I'm coming here actually to um give everybody kind of an update of what I'm doing and what I would like to do here for the county uh for for you guys so what i' would like to do for the county is ID like to sit down with each one of you guys um and discuss what the needs are for the county that we as the state of Minnesota can help bring to or the resources bring to this County so um I I don't care whether or not that we do this as a group or we do this individually whatever you guys feel more comfortable with but I'd like to sit down with each and every one of you same thing you um like to sit down and discuss some things just to kind of get a good feel of where things are going so I like what my plan is is right now um I would like to get a um a list of things before I get down there so I can actually hit the ground running instead of trying to build up some stuff before I get that part when I get down there so I want to be more prepared U for everything so I'm sitting down with everybody right now um just to try to see what the needs are for the county and where the state of Minnesota can help us out and bring some resources here so that is the only thing I have going on here guys um if I if you guys have any questions I'll be here afterwards and you guys can no I think it just just know that the countyy is already working on a priority list um and I would welcome you to visit with each of us individually I think that's great um but we will be putting together a county priority list um and we would love to have you back and engaged on that abely all right all right thanks bell all right at this time I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda Mr chair you're out of order commissioner Anderson make a motion to approve the agenda with the following change of moving the administrators report from the work session to item 13A on the agenda would you like to second that commissioner Anderson any discussion all those in favor say I I I any oppos I motion passes then I will approve I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda all right commissioner Anderson moves the consent agen is there second I'll second it any discussion I'll those in favor say I I opposed motion passes moving on to the regular agenda then is at time to do the county assessor oath of office is this something we do every year Tom no sir uh his appointment is a four-year term however because we hired him between terms this is now getting him on the four-year cycle got it so Caleb Jo join I hope you [Music] great thank you Caleb all right let's move on to the DNR land purchase option extension Shain I'm just to briefly update you on May 21st resol property that all had way up nor um I started I think June before I here June 10 I reached out to the DNR and said okay we have going on what's the process they put together some purchase options they sent them over and then on July 9th Tom signed them based on a everything R along then on sept going to come present because it didn't have specific language about inting wild man areic well that time I kind of had a little under my feet I guess and so I looked into it a little bit more and all of the three parts anyone ever went up and looked at one of purchase price somewhere in the option agreement number on just the dnnr not or anything like that but I just with the information I had it was clear that we were not getting value um and so we few of us met Tom kind of reviewed it a little bit we all agreed that it was best to hold off for the time being and get some more information about what is the value of tender that's all there what is the proper value for these parcels and is more in our more advant land swap there's some land long trying to be more strategic about um how this transaction is going to happen um and so the DNR has been very gracious through the process allow to do that um so the reason that I'm here is the options two of the three options expired us and so that's how it FS right now everything is still in motion that those sales can move forward if that's the direction that we want um but I will be back at some point in the future to discuss that with you um and so really I think that's all that then back up the original was sign on July 9th under direction of the board to sell properties just continuing to sell the properties I don't think any actually board action is needed because the agreement is conditioned based on the ratification of my signing of the agreement so I signed uh last week before the agreement expired but in order to do that legally we had to have a ratification which is happening after that signature so we conditioned the agreement based on the board's ratification so in order for the agreement the extension the option extension to be valid the board would have to take an action to um authorize the ratification signature of those agreements so then I would entertain a motion to authorize the signing of the option extension I'll make that motion is there a second I'll second it okay any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I opposed very good thank you Shane I one question is how long is the extension good for now this that we're that we just ratified it's six months six months okay thank you okay thank you Shane thanks for hey Shane thank you for checking into that making sure we get full value that's awesome yeah yeah thank you uh Steve I think we need to talk about the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council wanting to enter into lease agreement over at the committee service center oh okay partnership with the state of Minesota would occupy sweep 17 new we2 however the cost of approximately 15,000 is needed to uper rental standards we had original 26y old carpet that needed to be reped window CED and of up with that the initi the initial threeyear lease provides a revenue of $33,000 Rel option add questions that you might have or more clarification GRE yeah thanks Mr chair um Steve you just confused me when you said 11,000 a year for the three years when our our U agenda bill says 15843 for the first year 16077 and and that so did we build in each year part of that initial build or money or what we're getting paid by or what will will would get paid by indan Health Services we would have to dedu off the initial investment of up oh if you take the the years 4,231 you 15 grand off that okay the net revenue okay that's that's what I just wanted to be clear on that thank you any other questions for Steve great work Steve at uh probably easy place to or spot to rent in in our building and I think that probably be a really good really good use from renter okay so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council lease agreement so moved is there a second any discussion all those in favor I I opposed good thanks Steve that was great work yep all right Chris you want to talk to us about Motorola Vesta Chris public information offic I'm here toal to enter into contract with Motorola for our new 91 system we uh have been operating on our current one for about 10 years and anybody that owns a computer knows that 10 years there's been quite a call for them but uh what we're doing is looking at going with a poed solution and commissioner goig is probably pretty well aware of what that is but essentially what we'd be doing ising the equipment for Motorola instead of outright buying it nice thing is is all the technology changes continue with that as we go on the scope that is a hefty price T that you're going to be pleased to know I have all that money available well that was very brief anyone have questions Tim H thank you Mr chair so you know over over the time that I've been on the County Board we've had you know several transitions from radios to you know whatnot how is this going to affect the the rural ambulance or First Responders are they still going to have the capability to communicate okay with with dispatch okay okay okay okay awesome nice thank oh I have a question yeah go ahead um does this uh help hinder or neutralize the uh accidentally calling a 911 emergency when you hit the two buttons on your iPhone so that's largely been improved but uh it does allow for technology for like abandon calls when they get abandoned they'll automatically call them back and we're actually able to send them a text message you need okay now sorry about that sheriff that was a good question Joel I appreciated that well I think because on my phone now if I'm out working or doing the lawnmower all of a sudden it'll say do you want me to call 911 it sounds it looks like you've fallen or what ever it's like well no I dropped my phone it's we're good well I should say the supervisor anymore but they do get a lot of those anding up at w okay any other questions for Chris if not then I'll entertain a motion to approve the leasing of the motorol Vesta 911 as a service Mr CH I'll make the motion that we approve the Vesta service is there a second second is there any discussion all those in favor say I opposed motion passes thank you Chris and Sheriff we expecting that than you good evening Jason wigs I come before you today um just hired Henry we were fortunate enough to have him apply to most recent position he is curently a vet he is a enroll member of the lower Ste nation and he came up here about 11 years ago he started with lier as a cultural uh programmer and working with at risk youth and addicts and whatnot on the asking to bring him at more lateral P from where he's at currently as the per uh to get him a little bit closer to his wage he's got four years of law enforcement experience now and a bunch of experiences working with Indian people on the white Earth tribe station uh we look to bring him across at about a grade 11 at step five which is going to be just under what he's currently making um and that would be at the 2024 a schedule for County uh by any questions for Sheriff that isn't often that we get to turn the tide is it is [Laughter] it all right with that then I'll entertain a motion to approve to hire Deputy Harry Pendleton at a pay grade 11 Step five on the 24 pay scale so moved Sarah second I'll second any discussion all those in favor say I I opposed all right motion passes thank you Sheriff uh let's uh go to 13A administrator's report thank you Mr chair uh just a couple updates for you wanted to start off with a jail project update particularly as in regard to the GMP or the guaranteed maximum price I believe most of the board is aware of this but just to make sure and also to announce it sort of publicly um we have completed the bidding process for the jail project uh and those bids uh have come in favorable for the county we are currently standing around about5 to5 A5 million doar under the estimate which is great news for the county so we're in really good position on that uh we we are finalizing bid tab details and whatnot and also um we're currently working on the GMP Amendment which has several exhibits to it as well uh I plan to bring that contract amendment to you at your next board meeting um it will need to be approved in order to lock in the prices under the bids uh we have to do that here fairly soon um in order to make sure that those prices stand uh so again I'll furnish that to you on November 19th where we hope to get your blessing on that uh also want to update you that uh we the budget committee uh the 2025 budget committee uh has met with the health and human services leadership team uh as we had promised during the budget process uh remember we ran into some Financial challenges with that team um the budget committee had provided some guidance and direction in regard to a path forward uh that team has come together and done a tremendous job of uh taking those recommendations to Heart uh they briefed us for two and a half hours on the improvements and modification and justifications for the budget uh we aren't quite finished with that work we have another two and a half hour meeting scheduled for Monday so we'll be meeting again to kind of finish that work uh but I can tell you that uh um initial indications are um impressive from that team we we really have some extraordinarily um competent and uh caring individuals leading our health and human Human Services Department I'm I'm very very proud of the work that they've done I really wish wish that it could be shared with the entire group um but that would take you uh five hours also to get through that information we can make it available to you if you're interested um but it it is it's very enlightening and informative I appreciate their work uh moving on I just wanted to uh as you know we have one new commissioner that'll be joining us uh as commissioner Anderson retires off the commission um we are planning an orientation uh for commissioner elect Winger and um I believe probably the best path forward is for us to do this on a one-on-one basis uh but you know sometimes boards like to do things as a group you know uh so I wanted to throw that out there and just find out if you are okay with us um just orienting uh Mr Winger sort of on on his own my thought was bringing him to a couple management team meetings have him go through the staff uh orientation that way and then I could separately Orient him uh through the rest of the process process uh but if you have different ideas I'd like to get those as we move to um on board him I just don't want to lose time between now and that that opportunity I think I'm seeing a lot of head nodding go ahead and do that plan okay yeah perfect we'll plan for that um also wanted to uh let you know although you kind of already saw it because you were in the room earlier today the uh upgrades for the commissioner's conference room are largely complete uh we have removed the television Visions from the room and are relying wholly on the projector and the projector screen we've upgraded that um that video system we've also upgraded the audio so now it's much easier to have teleconferencing and those kinds of things um as you saw we did Place some logos and some artwork to kind of clean up the bare walls as well um the last thing which I I just want to make sure you're okay with is that we are planning to frost the doors and then also put blinds on the Windows um frosting of the doors will be permanent it'll just be like a like a vinyl Frost that you just place on I we don't really have to do anything but just order it and stick it on there uh and then the windows uh will be blinded uh just so that you can open and close them we want to keep it open usually 95% of the time but there are occasions particularly close sessions where we're sharing information often times on the video screen that's not appropriate for um viewing outside of the closed session so we are trying to um provide what probably should have been done years ago in securing that as a as a confident uh conference room so if you're good with that we'll move forward on that uh I appreciate that um we'll move forward accordingly uh just a couple of last reminders here um I appreciated the the acknowledgement that we're working on the legislative platform we are doing that we'll be talking about it in management team tomorrow a little bit I have a couple updates from some of the department heads we'll be putting that together again if there's anything that you have that you'd like us to include please let us know we'll get that included uh another uh item just to be aware of The Joint City County meeting uh has been confirmed for 5:00 P pm on Monday November 18th uh we did publicly notice that uh the two items will be the airport Authority joint Powers agreement amendments uh and also the public transit board dissolution uh and then lastly a reminder uh just because we moved this commissioner's uh meeting a week later it sets us up for a one we turnaround so we'll have our next commissioner meeting on uh Tuesday November the 19th that's all I have for you but I'll stand for any questions you might have any questions for Tom where's the joint meeting uh The Joint meeting will be at City Hall yes okay all right anybody have any legislative or lobbying issues to bring up I just know Bedell that we'll be getting together like Tom said bringing our priorities but did you have you made sure that you've reached out to each commissioner uh and make sure that they have your contact information okay that'll be good all right let's move on to commissioner reports Tim uh thank you Mr chair I can't remember if uh no I I didn't get to report last time because you guys are Jour too quick uh AM AMC was here uh what's it last last month and uh I think it was a good meeting we were talking about uh you know some of the priorities that we have you know I guess particular M colony and I I believe solid waste and and uh mental health uh we're among the top that we have concerns about you know uh going forward um also uh just want to let the board know that um I will be uh retaining my committee assignments uh this coming January so just to to give you a heads up and and I plan to uh pursue those against thank you thank you for that Tim Richard I'm good thank you uh Joe um it's been pretty quiet on the committee's front so uh nothing there to report uh um I just wanted to briefly mention uh um that I'm deeply grateful and humbled to be reelected um as County Commissioner with 69% of the vote I extend my heart filled thanks to the public for your trust and support uh this election has shown how vital it is that local government continue to work on issues like Child Care housing and Workforce Recruitment and Retention challenges that directly impact the quality of life here in northern Minnesota uh this being said I do share many of my constituents concerns regarding the broader outcomes on the state and federal level I encourage all citizens to reach out to their elected official officials and actively engage in our Democratic process as we seek improvements that truly Serve the People together I believe we can still make progress on the Urgent priorities for our community and strengthen the foundation of our democracy for future Generations a constituent put it best the other day when I was at their door win or lose we must continue to work hard on the issues we care about um I just want to thank the voters again for your trust and support and I look forward to serving as District 2 commissioner these next four years thank you thanks Sim or Joe uh craigk thanks Mr chair um had quite a few uh meetings since uh our October 15th board meeting um the uh black duck ambulance is having a record year again over last year's record year as far as the number of ambulance runs which you know is good and bad both but uh um that's they've been very busy uh hrdc uh we do have an interim director there that I believe we are um likely to uh make permanent very soon uh Cal Larson used to be the chair of the hrdc board uh we appointed him interim executive director and um and that's working out very well so I anticipate that'll probably be permanent um had our fairboard an annual meeting commissioner Anderson was at that as well and um Paul Hulu who's been on that board for a very long time announced that he was not going to continue on the on the board he's going to probably can get you know railroaded into helping uh but not uh in a more official capacity um a cast Lake real fire uh meeting and uh our fundraising is going well there for the new fire hall um still keep working towards that um then let's see the Planning Commission meeting we did flesh out a draft cannabis ordinance and we will be having a public hearing on that coming up here I didn't jot it down let me look at it quick um I believe yeah it's it's actually tomorrow night here um at six o'clock so the Planning Commission uh public hearing for the can cannabis ordinance is here tomorrow night at 6 o'clock um we had a special meeting for the airport Authority we had a regular meeting and a special meeting the special meeting that we just had on November 6th um we uh uh confirmed the recommendation from the committee for the airport to promote uh Terry munter to a believe it was a operation supervisor or something like that uh I don't remember the actual title but maintenance maintenance maintenance supervisor role um and we'll have to back fill his his prior role um so congratulations to Terry for that and then um administrator Barry mentioned most of the Health and Human Services budget update um just would reiterate lots of very good work on on the part of following following up and following through with with all the requests that the budget committee made of that and giving us the detail I think it's actually going to pay big dividends for for that department and hopefully for other departments within the county of how um you know getting into doing the work the hard work of looking at everything in that that much detail is going to find a lot of benefits and efficiencies and in the future so um that's I'm looking forward to our next meeting where we actually didn't get to the uh Josh's financial piece of it is largely what the next meeting will be on um going over that that detail of the actual finances um on Monday so that's uh that's all my report thank you all right thanks Craig um we had a AMC District Two fall meeting here um was pretty well attended this time compared to last spring so that was good um with regard to the airport Authority I just want to give a shout out to our new executive director Kai Christensen Kyle's doing a really good job of putting together a first class team out there um and and just really impressed with the work that he's done so far um we are committed to have three-month reviews for the first year and Kyle's first three-month review came out ex exceedingly well uh doing a good job so I just wanted to give him a shout out there um it brought to mind when Tom was talking about glazing the glass and putting curtains on on the conference room um the last greater buiji meeting I had we had to have out at PA bun Communications because they're doing renovations at the downtown Greer buiji office and they actually have a cool little thing Gary Johnson's got this little clicker button and the next thing you know the windows go smoked it's pretty cool but I'm pretty sure it's way out of our budget range so I had to mention that um dancing Sky meets only about every three months I we had I had that in crookton um and and one of the things that has come up um through the area agencies uh on a they are the ones that award the contracts for the Meals on Wheels and so Lutheran Social Services has had that contract in uh belamy County and buiji for quite some time um they were out bid this year by a group called nutrition services incorporated um and so they were going to have uh a meeting with all the employees here a week ago on Wednesday and so I went to that um they were very very very impressive that's the only thing they do as you know Lutheran Social Services does many many many different things this group only does this and they've been doing it in many counties for quite some time um they're very professional they did a great job of and and the first thing they told the people is the employees they said we've been looking at your pay scale and we realize that you're not up to the scale of our other areas we'll be working on that so that was encouraging to hear um I'm actually a meals on Wheel delivery guy and so the last few meals I didn't think they look that great and I looked at the sample menu that new nutrition services has I'm going there's going to be a great upgrade in food here this is going to be this is going to be awesome and so great group of people coming in um I think the employees are excited about the change um and so I just wanted to make sure I mentioned that I want to give a shout out to Tanya Prim over in the health and human services department she did a great job of organizing Bill tramy County Employees to go out in the senior day when to do the cleanup um I volunteered and went out and we grabbed our rases and our pickups and bags and leave bag up leaves and it was a great day we did we had so many employees and their families that came that the first two assignments we had we were done in about an hour and so then we said is there more you want us to do we ended up doing about seven different places uh it was a great crew and I just wanted to make sure I give Tanya a shout out she did a great job putting that together uh we had the newsletter committee meeting uh so it'll be expecting that to come out in December yep um the J dno uh Tom mention we've had that we've reviewed the bids and just really excited um I I want to give a shout out to commissioner gvic because his leadership in the finance committee helped keep that right on track and so Craig good job buddy all right and I give a shout out to kuss Anderson they're doing a great job as our as our construction manager at RIS so good job there um and then uh Richard and I have one more Prime West meeting together on December um and I'll I'll just I'll I'll I'll end it at that yeah there we go all right let's move on to schedules our next board meeting will be next Tuesday November 19th at uh work session at 3 word meeting at 5 excuse me the royy like attack um and we have the November 19th Richard you will have the chat about session oh we should probably all make sure we go on to uh the Paul bunion radio station and make sure we hear what what Tom had to say today because Tom did chat about force today so we have to make sure we check in and see how we did as he as he backed up for us um and then uh I have no December 3rd um and Richard you have December 17th uh and then the management team we've got uh Tim you've got that tomorrow and then Joe you've got December 11th we're good any other questions anything else for the good of the cause then I'll entation entertain a motion to adjourn second second we are adjourned --------- ##VIDEO ID:8h6DRdOIhqk## e e e e e e e o' on Tuesday November 12th 2024 I called this work meeting of the belamy County Board of Commissioners to order at this time I'll accept a motion to go into close session pursuant to Minnesota statute 13 d05 for the purposes of discussing a labor matter no move is there a second second discussion all those in favor say I I opposed we are in close session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e a motion to end the closed session and return to the open meeting move is there a second second discussion all those in favor say I I opposed we are back in Open Session do we have any new employees to introduce uh and are you from a local family that I sounded familiar um and did you just start sometimes we get people that start and we don't get to see them for a year so congratulations and thanks for coming to work for belamy County thank you uh do anyone have uh any future work meeting topics that they want to bring up all right then with that Jody can you give us a general election review thank so just a quick summary um this is part of our canvasing that we go through when we canvas the results we talk about our Baseline of where what our registered voters were prior to the election so at 7 A.M we had 29,0 267 registered voters in banic on the election day or as someone voted absentee prior to election date we had 3,000 227 registration during voting so they registered and voted at the same time of all of the ballots that were cast 9,21 of those were either absentees or um mail ballot precincts mail ballot precincts I believe around 2500 um so that puts us at a very high absentee turnout I'll talk about that vo turnout that the bottom line the total number of people voting in this election was 25,43 which amounts to an overall voter turnout of 77% for on this spreadsheet and this was this are some of the stats that I was talking about you'd like a copy of these just let us know in Diana left hand side is our regular Precinct so these precincts actually have a poll site on Election Day right hand side are the mail ballot precincts and those precincts um each registered voter in that precin get a ballot mailed to them and I believe it was about October 10th somewhere in there typically voter turnout is usually a little bit higher in those precincts and if you look at the bottom line 84% in the nail ballot Precinct compared to um 76% in the election in well talk a little bit about absentee there were some State Law changes that increased absentee hours location 100 off but the very bottom line on the right hand side happening with Jody wasn't it like closer to 50/50 on the 2020 because of Co so it did come down some that [Music] Mak all the half hour they were back up and running that did not they have a right to them were these older machines or newer machines or yeah so did you have to hand count for each race here or were you able to use a machine here okay great all very early something print at the bottom they have through we have tomorrow other that PR that was my run through of the election if you have any questions or if you want to reach to either Diana or I we can Tim thank Comm chair uh Jody just want to say thank you to your team and all your election judges for uh the job they have done um during this uh election um it's great to know that you know there's you know folks out there that are that are willing and committed to step stepping forward even in a time of uh uh short notice it's good to see that people are coming for it so thank you Joe yeah I was just wondering uh was the election staff uh compensated for those extra hours um I know maybe some of them most of them are salaried so or any comp time offered I wonder if that something we can do employes election day was a 6 a.m. start round the to [Music] [Music] 230 I mean for the uh the uh Saturday and Sundays leading up to the election timeis so those were hourly employees that were work so they were paid for that I suspect you didn't get overtime pay though so thank you well that that's what I was wondering I mean there there's at least two or three salary employees that were helping out with those extra hours so I I'm wondering if if there's anything that we can do for that well do you do you take comp time so then okay open to look at options for that so honestly thank you for the donuts thank you for the ice cream thank you for the thank you that means a lot appreciate it thanks Jody appreciate it [Laughter] night Dave and Gary would you want to come up and give us a Broadband report be back I was here before I start the so right thank you for work together a long time it's great thank you for everything you've done so uh I want to come and give you some good news sometimes I know you know it's not always good news I just want remind never that was my speculation little what we're feeling what we're hearing nice to [Music] count f of EXP [Music] whole [Music] let us do years after that 2014 we will both of that are I would ref all about so good not uh Gary good luck in retirement and keep playing crowns on LinkedIn Miss so uh what does this all mean for uh the impact our businesses was kind of anticipated for for our certainly is all areas the report really starts to show what the impact can be and has been in King and sometimes I think about because they've been investing in F for so long I think we think about it almost like I don't know turning on a like just going work but in fact most communities still anywhere near the impact or the infastructure so what do this do what it does is try to examine rural communities that have access to highspeed broadband and also utilize it and its impact on the economy compared to those that do not so a lot of data I think I sent the link in the PowerPoint could certainly read the whole report but I just want to highlight just for and this in general Nationwide rural communities that have access out high speed broadband and utilize it have 213% higher growth business growth rates have 10% higher self-employment growth rates what does that mean entrepreneurship new businesses 18% higher in income growth the non rural areas that do not have access and finally overall 44% higher in GDP grow in areas that have access to what are dist and that's really from an economic development standpoint that's that's big number that's really big impact here in Ecom devel so what's even more exciting about this is that as Jerry mentioned they chose to highlight alter which is pretty darn cool we didn't ask for it it wasn't a marketing pointy on my part I love the idea though because it does differentiate us and so it's an opportunity to um to look specifically at at BG gramy County and what they found and here's a couple of pieces of data and then I'm G to throw some some information or some quotes up that I can read to you but the uh couple pieces gives you an idea one is on the left you see access to to high speed Broadband all the way down the fiber what's interesting if you look at Minnesota and the rest of the United States I pick on fiber alone there is still we have what 99% it's is almost 100% fiber of the home and every place in all county in the state of Minnesota it's about thir so they're still fighting in uphill battle get fiber and Y fiber Jerry mentioned it but how I talked about it as a non- Tey guy it's future prooof price right it's it's not a a current technology that's going to change this is a technology that continues to grow with with the demand so it's really a future Pro in the one on the right shows you business growth rates and our County far exceeded both the State national averages and again you can a good chunk of that the broad and impact T if you look at simply business total number of establishments number of businesses love to take full credit there's a couple quotes I just throw up this kind of tells the story and again I really encourage you to read the the specific section on Bel County but Bel County stands out as a rule committee helping to build prosperity for its resence by effectively utilizing and leveraging the Flor brand technology Figi stands as a powerful example of what's possible when a community comes together to invest of the future with the right infrastructure Community Partnership Innovation region that's a story I want to capable doing thing I'll share um is what this means talk a lot about utilization the report talks about utilization it's not just about having a technology as well utilizing it right and leveraging it for additional growth here's some things we've done um that that that have been really from my perspective leveraging the gig one in promoting the region I go to S SEL conferences these are the Consultants that help companies locate decide where to locate one of the first questions I hear about is pro when you're in a myriad of a million of me talking to the same consultant when I have something that separates us makes a difference when I tell them our county has almost 100% o fiber it separates us I get right when that comes up so that's one secondly the Launchpad you've invested in that through your Development Fund over the years the ability to provide those resources but also space and technology for starts and our Launchpad has access to the gig Zone and entrepreneurs have access to the gigone high spe right at our launch pad which is power norstar pitch competition what is that that's uh entrepreneurs who have a great idea for the community um and and our business come and Pitch to pel of judges and essentially win prizes Financial prizes big part of that is it's it's connected up with the gigone and and Paul B and their textb and so this is ways we leverage it right over the over the years that end up making the difference uh in in those Economic Development numbers the last one of course is 28 relocate something we've talked about our attempt to draw additional workers to our region Paul bu a major sponsor of that in part right now if you move to our region from an out state area orer you you get access to six months I believe that's workers aren't going to come to a place that doesn't have fber been able to do that that over 300 fames move to our area because of so ultimately you know Gary's retiring big thank you right this isn't something great buuji did or you know this is a really an investment that the members in the board of and Leadership of London decided to invest in last thing I'll share with you is what am I going to do with this information particularly this report one is again differentiates us so you're going to see us pushing this out big time externally about how how we are leading br what that means business commity we're toote theck and of course we'll continue to look for additional Lage opportun take this information make sure we shine a big Spotlight on that I'm sure Gary would answer questions questions questions for Dave or Gary yeah Craig I just want to make sure that we uh point out and also acknowledge Steve Howard who is retiring this year as well he was the technical brain behind all this stuff way back when and and just U you know I've known Steve for a long time and and he just you know they b b wouldn't be where it's at today without Steve so he shout out to him so thank you luy to have him he could have got anywhere one of those guys and uh he chose to work for us and that's in large part because of the mission all about the why of what we're doing Jim thank you Mr chair so uh Gary um do you know any updates about the ACP or are you going to have any time to pursue advocating for that been advocating that we one of the most vocal in terms of ACP and most one of the most Prive trying to get it out there right um bringing it to the people that needed barriers all these things and affordability is just as important as it being in the ground right and so um we have been along with our state and National trade Association working on that hard there has been many starts and stops federally in terms of reauthorizing AC I think the latest is an assumption that it probably won't come back as it was called ACP but what's also being looked up right now is a more broad Universal service program within that program and that's been around service mechis reauthorize or have a similar kind of program we will continue to advocate for that it's just critical you deal not availability of BR but affility yeah yeah I know at at the national level at n it's something that we were um working on as well you know trying to uh advocate for for the ACP program and and how much of a uh impact it brings you know to you know our area I know that you know we we're dependent on it we know we rely on that and it it's been very helpful so um I know that you know I'm trying to do you know what I can to to bring awareness to that and I just want to you know thank you and and your board for um your your vision on um you know bringing Broadband to Northern Minnesota um you know I um when I go out in the state and listen to you know other colonies saying you know how lucky and fortunate we are you know not having an issue with with the Broadband um you know it brings you know relief um and seeing how many people that you know don't have it but you know it's good to see that you guys are working you know on on you know Greater Minnesota so I wish you well in in your retirement and yeah thank you folks that might need it and that pay dividends I mean we really know increase the take verying people and I think we had 800 something not very Joe uh G thank you for um this information and congrats on your retirement coming up here so um this is great info this is a symbol of Pride for our community and area and I mean it's true people um need high-speed internet to you know start their small business out of their house or garage or wherever so um yeah I but I do have a question um I know we talked about the fiber optic C cable being future proof but it's still got to have some kind of shelf life just curious what that is is that 100 years or What's um have we had to replace any at all or what um just talk about that for a minute a great question I don't think anybody knows for sure uh we've had fi underground now would say 40 years um in parts of our Network and certainly an industry probably longer to find example we're we're quite confident this is going to be a three four five decade in and the beauty of that is every day they're expanding capacity of the fiber that's already in your ground by just changing the electronics that hang on the end so we'll always be investing and reinvesting but hopefully primarily on the fibers on the end of those networks or the electronics I should say on the end of fiber Network that's where the improvements come the glass on the ground is is good um but yeah everything's going to have some kind of shelf life we'll forever be augmenting expanding replacing but think this is athy investment it's yeah like I as far as thank you yeah right yeah watch out for those I used to do some work for Minnesota Broadband Coalition uh some lobbying work down at the legislature and we'd always you know look at Paul bunan as a a prime example of what's going on so um and I wouldn't be doing my job as a um Native of the Iron Range to uh mention that there's a tiny little town in itasa County called B Minnesota that would love Paul bunan so if there's any strings you can pull before you retire a lot of our work is that because still I expect never never on that one we a lot of the communities up 169 as well as you know our primary focus has always been however to go to the rural areas where others won't go always been our Focus it's really our mission but that's not to say we won't over another what serve [Music] Community thank you Craig yeah see Gary um on the map and I don't know if it was just an oversight but the Southeastern Corner don't make Cast Lake the east side of cast Lake itself and that that wasn't colored in is that just a coloring oversight or on your where is that not actually served by public in right okay yeah variety of things going on there uh we have worked with Le tribal government to serve some of those areas some of those were still waiting to have all the authorities uh given to us to move ahead and do those upgrades they've been on the docta for a very long time for variety of reasons not all of that has happened yet so that that is correct okay hopefully a temporary thing as we work through proper authorizations and Partnerships there to build out the rest of that that corner I can tell you some of that is already nowen be building soon okay that's in my district and so I don't like seeing the Gap be in my [Laughter] [Music] area okay great thank you Richard just congratulations on your retirement and uh and Dave thanks for all your input over the years and uh I look forward to hearing uh even more things thanks guys Shane you're up okay and we are running behind so if there's any way that we could expedite your I'm sorry to cutting you short but I'll do as best I can thank you I would say I live about 20 miles from St PA I [Laughter] don't anyway we would love to have you come on up uh Mr chair Commissioners thank you for taking the time today um this is uh I come about once a year to give a presentation just done the research out at the the Phill site out I'm site manager so this Story begins back on August 20th 1979 when there was I guess it's taxwood and this is what it looked like in AUST of 1979 and the details of% of the imediately and 25 ofil and that 25% keeps bringing people back to stud what happens when you oil build oil so really the main goal of what we are doing there is just understanding what happens um when oil is left in the ground and the USGS began work there in 1983 and the science team which is USGS and other universities from International universi they continue to address questions that help Society better understand risk associated with so this is just an areal view of what it looks like out there those those gray areas um that's where there is still oil pulled up on the water table um on top of the ground water uh the little the little dots are are wells that are out of the site and we do most of our research on this part the we call that um and this is the pipeline right here C so this is to give you a picture of what it looks like out there ground water is generally from unamed and Benzene is commonly measured at pum still site theen and they look for stability of the Ben often as a way to and the at this weed some other things that AR regulated compound but they are evid from the oil and how and the knowledge gain of all over the world to inform petroleum e for great one of e don't that one a couple pictures of what it looked like back in 1979 but we've come a long way uh we have you know groups out there learning colleting new data and Contin to be a valuable place where we all GA to learn about thank you for letting us continue to work this and support with this agreement thank you Jared appreciate it see you again all right thank you thank you yep Amy do you think you have time you're so good at abbreviating our we do I'm just open we were always bring back to what our goals misss are and so the first side is the engagement calendar that we have that is from all the happening the year and the one that matters for our for our committee is the W and from October to November the finances so I'm going to skip ahead and Soo is something that I and I'm really passionate about it really excited about this concept is um it provides businesses to come to our campus and and it let them promote their business and our employees can take away the different ideas and then also use them in their different departments and engage with them and this also um really an long event and it pays for itself and it brings um the funds that we bring in for this event are able to support the next year's EXO in growth in more in and the overall idea of it is to help employees um gain well and they can be physically Mally and financially and this creat work force it gives us the ability to rain employees and it provides a Comm for in our careers with that I'll pop back to the financial Workshop so with the connections that we've created through the financial Expo um we've been able to host a couple of different um businesses one of the first one that we did for our financial Workshop was the money basic um able to be here um we sat down and decided that there's a lot of emphasis on future investment planning and retirement and we decided that we need to start with the basics and help um employes understand um for start so we did a seminar on um the concept of just building a solid foundation and then um next one is going to be on creating a bud bring their number have available to them so they can create their own budget that will work well for themselves and then our final one we're going to bring in um or financial and he's going to talk about the different investing and so we just want to come back we kind to do a little bit of a year in review with you guys um to share about what we've been working on um Amy and I have been to all the different departments who invited us to come and present as we've been trying to be really intentional about getting County engagement across the entire bami County department and so it's been really fun and exciting to see multiple different departments participate in the events that we're having um moving forward we're going to continue to present to individuals having us um and we'll be inviting City members to do that with us as well but with that do you guys have any questions for us no that was awesome thank you guys work I can tell you I I was at the I went to the Expo and it was really well done so thank you that was a great idea you had thank you super thank you I I think what we'll do is uh maybe add the administrator report to the uh so with that is there any changes or questions about the upcoming agenda other than maybe adding the administrator's report uh to item 12 a 13A 13A yeah well I yeah go ahead Joe there's a consent agenda item on County 20 that's just the road it's the the final payment for the on it was the east side of the Park yeah for all that road work it was a final payment okay I mean you want to bring it up you can that's fine call yeah it was just the final payment of and it was all the it had nothing to do with the the new section where the septic goes it was the east side yeah yep so with that all right with that then uh I will we'll adjourn until 5: thank you