It's 9:00. We'll call the county board meeting to order. Honor the flag. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Roll call. Beth, sure. Commissioner Benoy, yes. Commissioner Heinen, present. Commissioner Pop, here. Commissioner Johnson, here. Commissioner Kapinsky here. Before we go any further, I'd just
like to say that in the coming days, please remember the two state legislators families that were attacked and hurt or killed in their deal. they do public service and um nobody deserves that kind of treatment after what they do for them. So in the coming days
please remember them approve or amend the agenda. Uh yes m I have just one item after the regal solar update if you could please add a general discussion about government center uh options
please after regal solar update government center options thank you move for approval of the amended agenda Mr. second and moved and seconded for approval of the agenda.
Any other discussion? All in favor? I oppose. Carried. County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube. Please restrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that viewers can hear you. The county board observes observes the Robert's rules of
orders for its meeting. So please obtain the board chair's consent before addressing the county board. Public comments are generally reserved for open formant se segment or public hearings. However, public comments on other subject items. Agenda items may be
allowed by the discretion of the board chair. As we begin today, please turn off your cell phones or turn in vibrate. Thank you. Open form. Miss Chair, you've got it looks like eight folks signed up here. The first is Tim Hener. Tim Hener is signed up first. Okay. Um, since we
have eight people, could we please kind of limit it to like two minutes so we don't get carried off real long time here? Mike, I'm sorry. Is that microphone on? No, no. On the bottom of the mic, way in
the bottom. There you go. Okay, there. Uh, Chair Pop, uh, commissioners, Tim Hener, uh, Benton County News, Sock Rapids Herald, general point of information question for you. on committee of the whole meetings versus
special meetings. Um if you could run down please and summarize what actions the board can take at each how agendas may be set or revised or amended during those and then how discussion is allowed
at those and I don't know if chair pop wants to take this or if Monty wants to take it and if you want to apply state statute Monty go ahead. Of course. Well, a um Mr. Chair, a a committee of the whole is really just a special board meeting. There's three types of meetings under statute. Regular, special, and
emergency. So really, a committee of the whole is just a special meeting. So all the rules apply. So in other words, you have to have three-day posted notice. You have to post the date, time, and place, and the subject of the committee the whole. And then once you you convene
that meeting, you can't amend the agenda. can't add new subjects because you're required to post the subject. So really, it's just a special meeting. There's a longstanding tradition here, Mr. Chair, of the board having these committees of the whole and really it's a board work session. It's more an
informal work session. It's usually where you have a subject. It just it's going to take quite a bit of time to discuss, maybe an hour or more. So you you refer that matter to a committee of the whole. And again, by tradition, the board doesn't take action at committees of the whole. It's just discussion.
Sometimes there's a general consensus on an issue, but there's never formal action. So if you need formal action, that needs to happen here at your regular at your regular meeting. So that's a distinction u between a committee the whole and sometimes you
have a special meeting where you do actually take action that occurs here and there. So that help Tim that answers my question. Excellent. Thank you. Uh, next. I'm sorry. Okay. Ray Raymond Goulet. Ray Goule. Yep.
Raymond. Oh, is that I just signed up. I thought it was supposed to be a Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's go on the next one. Is it John? Nope. Same thing. Same thing. Okay. Mike Lavendowski. Want to talk? Mike.
Good morning. Good morning. Mike Leandowski, 11709 85th Avenue Northeast Foley. Um 2 minutes or less. I was at the um committee of the whole meeting on the 10th. Uh just a couple quick comments.
Um before Commissioner Bernoy had to leave for her appointment, uh she had some remarks and it was it was hard to hear at that meeting. Uh there was no uh intercom or um loudspeaker. So it was hard to hear, but there was some conver conversation with
the board from Commissioner Ben about um someone had approached her or a constituent that had a question or thought maybe they had some wrong information about the petition. Okay. um that they may have been told something
um that maybe wasn't true or factual. That's how I understood it. A few days later, uh the county auditor puts out a Facebook post out to the public, public view, and it was blasted
out all over. Um basically some of the same conversation that has been talked about for the last few months. But what's troubling in that post on the very bottom, if you knew nothing of this petition or were explained something else,
explain something else. Please call me at my office, gives her number or email me, county email with any comments or concerns. So, I'm just going to try to clarify if the commissioner Benoy or if the county auditor have anybody
approached them or called their office? I'd be curious to see how many people are calling her office to complain about the petition and how it was done. You have your signature. You have your written name and your signature. Right above that is the signatures oath. I swear or affirm that I know the
contents and the purpose of this petition and that I've signed the petition only once, my own free will. So when you say I know the purpose of the petition, what does that mean? You look right above that. The purpose of this petition is to request a vote on the issue of bonds issuing of bonds by
Benton County for the proposed government center. doesn't say anything in the petition about taxes going up or down or what they're going to be. So, if anybody's coming to you saying that they were told something about taxes or the percentage or that they were explained if they were explained something else,
you refer right back to the petition because it's all on here right above where you signed your name. So, if you have any common sense, if you can sign your name, you can read and you can see what it says on the petition. Um,
two minutes or less. The only other thing I'll bring up at this point is there was a lot of work put in here. It was followed by state statute to minimize it by saying a few people got together and did a petition. There was legal counsel. There was contact with the Minnesota Secretary of
State. And there was countless hours put into this. wasn't just a few people sitting at a bar gathering signatures. It was countywide. Commissioner Pop has his opinion and yet he was referred to at the last meeting of committee of the whole because of his opinion as King Pop, which was very disrespectful. I
don't know how you took that comment, but the general public sitting in the audience at the committee of the whole took it as disrespectful and uh disheartening. And I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Okay. Uh next, Mr.
Chair, Mr. Jim Hick, Jim H, 160 North Fre Road, Langola Township. I thought after hearing some of the uh uh sessions, I think there's a good idea that came out was uh varying staggering shifts. Staggering shifts
would do two things. It would uh alleviate space issue, would also make it more accessible to people that work during work hours. So having staggered shifts at the uh at the county might be beneficial to both both the uh
staff and government center and also to the general public. That's all I have. Okay. Thank you, Jim. Mary Kman. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. Morning. Um
I guess I agree. Um, I feel like the committee that went out and got the signatures, um, I know that some of the commissioners had phone calls or said that people were calling them names, but I just want to let you know the first
meeting. I had another person that was up here and spoke and was in favor of the new government center. We walked out, we talked, I gave her a hug, we we talked the next day, she gave me her side. We were very civil and I don't
feel like the people that went out and got these signatures have not been civil. I've been quite disappointed in a couple of the commissioners and the comments that they have made to um Commissioner Pop. I don't think that this platform really we don't need to be doing this in Benton County. It's
starting to get really stinky and people are really noticing. So, with that being said, that I came up here to talk about is um the $ 1.5 million that has been stuck into this project so far. Um I know that I felt there is things that
need to be done at this building. Um one was the server room, the furnace. There's issues. I think that $ 1.5 million um however you came up with that money could have been to fix up the government center here. That's um obviously needs some work done to it.
Um, another thing is is $50,000 to have a special election is a drop in the bucket to the $ 1.5 million. And I know you've all said that we're leaving $5 million on the table. Okay, you asked to have um let's see, we went from 29
million to 24 million. Um, you're not leaving $5 million on the table. That's a savings. That's not money that just because you got approved for that amount of money doesn't mean that hey, we're just going to sit here and we're leaving $5 million on the table. I think we need to use our tax dollars in a better way
and improving this government center that we have right now would probably be a a good choice to start making um decisions on money that is coming into the county to fix and repair it. because of the 4 point whatever percent that
signed the signatures, we could have got a lot more. We didn't we did our due diligence the first two weeks, but we still had two weeks where we could have continued and we would have got a lot more signatures. And I've had people um text me and say, um, I wish I worked in
the building that they have right now, the government center that they have. Um, I wish I had a nice, beautiful house or a nicer house than I have. And what I have is all I have and if our taxes keep going up, I won't even have that. So,
take that into consideration that there are people that really are struggling with this um, and can't afford it. And if you look right now, um, you're looking at 5% increase on taxes just for medical, um, the raises at the
courthouse for the workers of the county. You really don't have hard fact numbers on state legislation, federal legislation, what's going to come down, but we know that's going to increase, too. I would think that's fair to say. Um, if you live in Benton County and you
are in the Sock Rapids School District, you're also going to get probably hit really hard with the two buildings that they're proposing or are going to be going through there. Um, you know, I think you need to look at this and and really go, what can we really afford at
this time? And I think pausing and looking to the future of what we can maybe fix up here. Um but saying, "Okay, we're going to lose $5 million if we do this project in two years or three years." Um
you just said we are leaving $5 million on the table. You're willing to spend it to put the new center in the government center. I I think those are just whatifs and could be. So I think we need to really look how we're spending our money in Benton County. So that's what I had
to say. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Uh, next, Mr. Chair, Chad P. Chad P. Good morning, commissioners. Morning. I do want to make a couple comments on the level of professionalism that we've kind of seen throughout this process.
A few meetings ago, we did see what appeared to be some commissioners kind of ganging up on another commissioner. That was done out in public. Everybody saw it. I people were talking about it afterwards immediately. I guess I'd like to see a little more like I said level
of professionalism not amongst only just amongst the commissioners but also with county employees like another resident said we're seeing stuff posted on social media given their opinions. Yes, we're all entitled to our own our own opinion, but depending on what position we hold,
whether it's elected official, I think it should be a little more professional. And I guess going forward, obviously, everyone sees what has happened throughout this whole process. And I think uh, you know, we have to maybe step back and look at what other options
we have. Where are we at today? Where are we going to be at in the future? Um, yeah, we're we're kind of seeing throughout the petition and this whole process, uh, obviously people are pushing back and questioning what we
really need and what we should do going forward. So, thank you again. Thanks for your service. Appreciate it. Our elected officials, we know that. So, yes. Yes. I'm just going to make a comment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. People truly don't understand the kind
of pressure and everything we're dealing with on a daily basis. They have no clue. They have no clue. Mr. Chair, can I make a comment? Yes. We talk about professionalism.
We've been beat up this whole dang time. We've been called names. We've been it it I I I get your point, Chad, but where does it go both ways and we talk about the the commissioners
ganging up on somebody? Everything I said was factual. Factual. I can prove it. So that's not ganging up. That's facts. It looked pretty planned, I guess, is what the general pretty 53 meetings. That's right. So, and
that's all public information at any given time. anybody could have called and gotten the information from any one of the cows. And I guess now now you know now it is what it is, but now where do we go from here? I guess is the bigger question.
And yeah, but but we we also talk about the the the posts on Facebook. Wait a minute here. There was so much unfactual posts on Facebook against this building. So it only goes the other way. And I don't know about that, but
Okay. I guess when we got elected, our county employees putting posts. That's a little bit different, I guess, in my opinion. But Oh, so so others can do it, but Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Chair. Your final person that signed up
is Michael Depa. Michael, good morning. Bagel. Um, I just want to start out with is the conversations that went on today. Everybody needs to agree to disagree. You know, we all have our own opinions. We all have our own values. We all have
our own income. We all have our own jobs, but we need to agree to disagree and stop doing what's going on. People need to come together as one. It's a It's our county. you know, I I didn't I didn't even want to talk on this subject
about um the building and that because every we all have our own opinions and if it's going to come to a vote, if the federal's going to give money, if the state's going to give money, if the county has how much money I don't know any of those questions I'd like to be
educated on them, but I want to move forward on something else other than the building today because it's been brought to my attention and it's it's about um the solar projects in the county. And I didn't write this very well of how much
revenue is generated through the solar to our county, how we're going to be taxed. Um um the land owners, the neighbors and stuff. You know, there's neighbors concerned about the so solar panels. There's um there's a company is the
company being is a company that's pushing and putting up these solar panels and selling it to the community and the property owners. Are they being taxed besides the taxpayers? Are they eating any the expenses? And what I mean
by that is is um I believe um the power plant in Becker um pays some of the taxes for the city or the community or I I don't know that. And um and one other thing is is um is there is there permits
required for it that they have to apply here at the county? Um I don't have that. I just kind of want to answer. So this is on our agenda for today. So maybe we'll have some of them questions answered. I was thinking yeah I imagine but I see uh Brian is here too can probably talk about the tax basis for
solar too if you can stick around you know that would be on the agenda and we'll have Y that's actually for that yeah thank yous I just hope we can agree to disagree you know life's good thanks Mike that's it Mr. there. Okay. Yep.
We have the consent agenda. We have items one through nine. Move for approval, Mr. Chair. Second. Motion been made and seconded to approve items one through nine. Any other discussion? I'd like to pull
number seven, please. Okay. I'll modify my motion to approve uh consent agenda items 1 through six and eight and nine. I will modify my second. All right. So motion's been made for items 1 through six and eight and nine.
Um wait for Okay, we'll move for approval of them. All in favor? I oppose carried. Okay, Commissioner B number seven. Um, uh, basically just a a overall comment. Um,
and I know this is just a liquor license, Christine, but going forward, can you have the sheriff and the attorney's office sign off on those before bringing them to the commissioners? I would appreciate that. Thank you. I
will move number seven. Second. Motion been made and seconded to move number seven. All in favor? I I opposed. Carrie Monty. Uh we'll turn this right over to Amanda, Mr. Chair. Okay. On the rehab loan program. Uh
see here. Second, if you'd like. There is this little clicker here to get you through your presentation. Okay. Thanks, Monty. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, commissioners. Morning. Uh, thanks for
having me this morning. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about um the a new program that we're implementing um where we'd like to implement as part of the local housing aid um dollars that um the county has received. And um the county,
if you recall, um has received allocations of local housing aid from the state and you've put it in Benton Economic Partnerships hands to kind of um create programs and and funding sources for that um those funds. So I'm going to go through um a little bit
about uh what we intend to do with those funds. um kind of give you a little bit of background um on the program and uh a little bit of more information for the public as well. So, um the Benton County
residential uh rehab loan program is really designed to supplement um existing let's see um it's designed to supplement existing loan programs available through Minnesota Housing Finance um authority
um center for energy environment um private lenders and other housing resources. Um, the local housing aid funds will be used to administer a countywide uh lowinterest rehab loan program which will assist with
preserving some of the um existing aging housing stock in both rural and inner city residential properties across Benton County. So again, as I mentioned, it was is funded by the local uh housing uh state local affordable housing aid.
The balance of the funds as of today is $243,8262. Um, this uh these funds are held in our local housing trust fund that you approved back in April. Um, and we kind of talked about the goal is really just to supplement all those Minnesota
housing programs that are already available through the state um, and improve their existing housing stock within the county. We are going to be administering the program. We're going to be handling the funds. Um CE is
actually going to um be the facilitator of the program um where they're going to be vetting um applicants as they go through the application process and um they will be um funding the loan itself.
So, um, and I'll kind of go through what that looks like, but, um, really our target market for the this specific program is for lower income individuals and families, uh, meeting that 80% of the AMI. Um, and I've given you kind of
the 2024 numbers for um, individuals that have household incomes of, you know, for one person 54,800, they would qualify for the program. two a twoerson household 626
um three person 7450 and on um and so those are the income qualifications. So if you make um that income that annual income or less you are able to qualify for the program. Again um these are home improvement
loans. These are um and I'll kind of go through the eligibility uh criteria and what is eligible for projects. Um, but it is a home improvement loan for up to $25,000. Um, we're um tacking on a small interest rate to cover some of the administration of the program itself,
but because it does cost us to administer the program. Um, loan terms are genuinely um one year um per $1,000 borrowed, but minimum of one year u maximum of 10 years. So um there's no
prepayment penalties on on these types of loans or anything like that. um average payment on a $25,000 loan um at a 4% interest rate is roughly $253. So in for example, if somebody wanted to um
uh install windows or a new roof or something like that, um it'd be very inexpensive. Eligible properties, um we have uh 1 to four unit owner and non-owner occupied homes.
Um, this includes town homes, twin homes, condos, and contract for deed properties. Ineligible properties are any properties that are more than four units, any cooperatives, manufactured homes, um, properties held in trust or
commercial properties, pretty basic. Um the eligibility requirements um there must be a US legal residents um have an income limit of 80% of AMI which I've identified in those previous slides of
the adjusted uh gross income and family size debt to income ratio. Um we're matching the HUD debt to income um on all of these loans. So up to 48% can be used for housing.
Um and then our minimum score of 640. So we do um Center for Energy and Environment does pull credit as part of the process just like any other loan. Um the benefit I guess that's different for this program versus um going to your
typical lender is the interest rate and the payment amount. Um, so a minimum score of 640. Uh, clean mortgage payment, tax, real estate records, everything has to be tiptop.
Um, and then these are some of the allowed improvements um for the use of these funds. So, a homeowner can um certainly repair a roof, some siding, um update a kitchen or a bathroom, any
additions, ADA improvements, windows, doors, driveways, garage work, um patio, decks, insulation, HVAC, solar plumbing, electrical, regrading or landscaping due to any water intrusion that comes into the house and is causing an issue. um
the program allows you to apply for and qualify for those types of improvements. Some of the pro um improvements that are not allowed are um any recreation pools, you know, luxury items. Of course, we're
not going to want to um approve those types of improvements to a a residential property or non-permanent appliances. So, you can't buy an appliance package with our um loan program. Okay.
Um application process. Um really the it's really simple. Um I've utilized uh Center for Energy Environment in Elk River. When I was there, we did a rehab loan program. They facilitated, managed it. It was absolutely fantastic. Their team is beyond great and um I love
working with them. But they process everything online. Um the online application goes to CE. Um it's processed on a first come first- serve basis. We have limited amount of funds um available. So as long as we continue to fund the program, we can continue to
make loans, right? Um they will need to submit uh any necessary documents and this is the completed online application, proof of income, um project bid, we only require one bid. um and any additional uh loan officer documentation
that they need CE needs in order to um move forward with the program. Uh underwriting CE does all of the underwriting as part of the project or program. Uh they base it on credit income and other guidelines that they
have if they need more additional information. Um loans are secured um through their real estate and in favor of Benton Economic Partnership since we hold the funds. Um funds are distributed uh and dispersed to contractors upon the work
that's completed. Um so nothing gets uh fronted um to the homeowner. It all it's on a reimbursement process. It's u the best way to really do a loan. And then um require items required items before
final dispersement. As I mentioned, it's on a reimbursement process. Um the final in uh invoice, inspection, verification, sign completion, certificates, lean waiverss, and city permit evidence if required. Obviously, painting or anything like that is not going to be
needing a permit, but um other items like building a deck or an expansion or some sort of remodel maybe. Um so timelines and deadlines. Um we're going to emphasize the importance of adhering to all the deadlines for a successful project completion. CE is
going to manage that whole process. Um the work completion deadline within 120 days of loan closing. So we give them 120 days um to complete their projects and uh move forward with their um
program. And then this is just kind of for general public. So we are anticipating implementing this program, getting everything set up um through CE by August uh of 2025. Um CE will provide the actual platform. They'll provide all
the marketing material. Um, applicants can log on to their website and well actually I I don't have the actual link for our portal yet because we're still in the process of um creating that. But um there will be a link to the online
platform and it'll be provided to the county so you guys could put it on your website. Um any lenders um any community organizations that work with um low-income individuals um BEP of course and um other community any other
community organizations if it's CARE or um other types of um organizations like that. So it's it'll be a very easy process. CE will provide us with monthly reports um and then of course annual reports um
and then all the marketing materials will be generated by CE will which we'll be able to distribute it's part of their program cost um and then they will at least participate in two presentations each year this year however um this
first year as we implement it may be four um but we will be at least holding some public meetings talking about the program, getting the information out there. Um, it's really a streamline type of process and um, like I said, they've
been really easy and and great to work with. Um, any I'm going to open it up to questions um, initially and let me know if you have any questions on the program itself and what we intend to do with the local housing a dollars. Mr. Johnson, Mr.
Chair, Amanda, just for clarification, as I look through this contract, it seems to be a contract between BEP and CE. Correct. So, what specific motion or direction are you looking for from the board be? Because it's using our local housing aid, correct? Yep. So, it's
using our local housing aid and and those funds are held in trust, right? And um any programs as part of that that uh local housing trust fund. Um, one of the stipulations was that any programs that we intend to create under that
trust um will come to the board for approval or um you know a motion and direction to continue to move forward with this um program. Okay. Thank you. Clarification. Sure. Amanda, you said that uh when you were in Elk River, you
had this process going. Yes. How well was that in Elk River? It was it was very great. Um we they actually continue to work with CE to this day. Um the program leveraged not only the um dollars that the housing and
redevelopment authority allocated to the program, so unrestricted funds, but um also they leveraged other programs um through Minnesota housing. So you can you can actually stack programs on top of each other. So if you don't have
quite enough um u through this program, you can stack it on with another Minnesota housing program. So the fact that CE manages those programs on behalf of um Minnesota housing, it's an excellent uh tool, an excellent resource
for us here in the county. Okay. I know the city of Sock Rapids has a program something like this and that's been going over really well, too. Yep. And that's been a long time. And quite honestly, um, with the limited funds that we have, I mean, $25,000 doesn't really go a long ways, but we can at
least do, um, four projects essentially this year, and then, um, four projects the next year. Our, you know, local housing aid dollars that we have currently in our, um, money market account is 243,000. So, I mean, it's
going to be obviously it grows interest and stuff like that, but um to be able to utilize at least, you know, four to eight projects over the next couple years would be great. Amanda, the local housing aid's been around for quite a while and it looks like it will continue since 2013. Yeah. And it looks like
it'll continue, right? Uh as far as I understand. Um but things You never know. You never know. Did I say 13? I'm sorry. Uh it's 23. 23. Okay. I think it was it wasn't there was no cuts to that I believe this time around, right? No,
not what I've heard. Yeah, that's what I've seen too. And the other part you said you said that BEP is going to be holding a mortgage on that. Will that be like second or third or Yeah, it's going to be second to the primary lender. Okay. Typically. Okay. Mr. Chair, I'm
going to move approval of the support for the county's residential rehab loan program to be used with the contract for BEP and CE as presented. Second made and second it. Any other discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor? I opposed. Thanks, Amanda. Thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing for us, Amanda. Appreciate it. Yeah. I'm gonna feel my flash. Should I just grab it? All right.
Okay. Okay. Oh, this must be a really large file. It's taking Okay, I probably should make a better effort to share share the screen here. Um, let's see.
Where did the little Did Amanda have? You guys saw the little click girl with you? Oh, I did take it. Yeah. Mhm. No, I'm just stealing things. Sorry. Great. Here you go. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you for having us today, commissioners. My name is Alex Lumen
with Minnesota Power. I wanted to provide you an update on the Regal Solar Project. I believe the last update might have been in 2023 by National Grid. Um so the site layout has not changed from the 2023 amendment. Um we're still
looking at providing the same layout um with substation and the solar array and the collection line in the same route. Um 2024 we obtained the project. Um in 2025 we're working in engineering equipment procurement and project
updating. With that updating becomes uh changes within the project um which I'm going to be getting to in later slides. Um in 2026 and 2027 we're proposing construction on the site and then in 2027 would be commercial operation of
the solar site. Um to give a little bit of a visual rendering um this isn't the Regal site. This is just another site we uh rendered. Uh this would be roughly the same height of the solar panels and roughly the same layout. Um and then going to an overhead view. I believe this is our Silven site up in near
Little uh Little Falls. Um just an overhead view, not the same size of the site, just another example. Um for the changes we are proposing, it will be combining the substation and switchyard into one site. Previously, we would have built the
switchyard as the transmission operator and National Grid would have built the substation site as the owner of the project. Since we acquired the project, we're going to shrink down the site from the 15 acres they proposed into roughly four acres. Um, excuse me, Mr. Chair. Alex, could I ask you to move to the mic
so we could hear you just a little bit better? Thank you. Apologies. Um, the second addition would be adding optional optionality into a hybrid collection line that's multi-circuited. Currently, we're looking at a twocircuit above ground 345 collection line. Um, we're seeing issues with that with local land
owners. Um, we're seeing visual issues and we're seeing engineering issues. So, we're hoping to put that into a hybrid line and our um goal is to have that underground to reduce any visual impact of the land owners and make it a better project overall. Um, another one is moving the location of our on&m. This is
this minor shift just moving it 300 ft to the east. We've been working with the highway department to make sure all of our entrances are within their policy and we're looking good on that one. Um we're adding a 02 acre switch gear station where the on building was. Um it's just a minor addition to provide
line functionality and safety when we work on the uh collection line that goes from our site to the solar site. So there's no uh injuries on that. And then other minor alterations um adding additional weather stations. It's going to be a 20 foot tall weather station in
the middle of our sites. We're not proposing any uh environmental challenges on that and other minor changes. We are still sticking with the education fund. Uh once operational, we'll donate $20,000 to the uh Royaltton and Sock Rapids Rice School Districts
every year for 20 years. Um that's going to be one one you might see later this year will be a decommissioning plan. Uh from the site permit, we have to supply a decommissioning plan detailing what our costs are. look looking to be decommissioned and provide updates to
that every 5 years. Um that gets stored with the local zoning district which will be Benton County and the public utilities commission. Um other minor updates will be um a conditional use permit still required for that substation on the north end. Um we're
looking to submit that later this year. Um so uh that is all the slides I had. I just wanted to provide an update to the county commissioners. Um, we're looking to supply a minor alteration to the public utilities commission uh at the
next week. Um, so I just wanted to provide an update and see if you guys had any questions or statements. Um, we're trying to be good land or neighbors in this community and we will provide any update we can. Mr. Chair, Alex, just for clarification, remind us
the size this 100 megawatt. It is 119.5 megawatt facility. Because of that in Benton County, this is a state permitted through the uh public utilities commission permit. The county is not permitting this with the exception of the CUP. Is that a correct statement? That is correct. We will need uh
construction permits, entrance permits, utility permits. But the project itself is permitted by the state of Minnesota's public utility commission, not the county's planning commission. That is correct. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that uh the gentleman in the audience had some more questions.
Yeah. Could you address that? Uh, yes. I believe they're on tax. I am not the tax expert. I apologize. I wasn't prepared for that. I know we are contributing to tax in Benton County. I could not detail on how much we are contributing. My Could we ask Brian to come up and
address that that tax the tax property tax classification of solar? Brian Felden is our county assessor. Good morning, commissioners. Brian. Um, so I wasn't prepared either, but uh, basically, you know, most of the land
that solar projects would go on would be agricultural classification. So the classification rate on agricultural land is 1% class rate. Um, if that eggland is tied to a homestead as an egg homestead, it it could be at 0.5 classification
rate. So, I I guess to answer Mike's question on um the classification, all of the land that these solar panels will be on will be commercial classification. Uh commercial classification is 150,000. Uh the first 150,000 of value is at 1.5%
class rate and anything over 150,000 is at a 2% class rate. So in essence, what I guess what I would say is the the the commercial classification is going to be paying at least double of what the uh egg non-h homestead 1% would be paying.
So uh and it could be up to four times based on if it was tied to an egg homestead at 0.5 class rate. So the tax capacity is definitely going to be going up um on that land. So the you know there is going to be um you know that is going to be paying taxes on that land.
the land's going to be valued exactly the same it is as it is now. And then on top of that, the solar company will uh provide the uh amount of energy that's produced to the state every year. And the state also charges I believe it's a$120 per hour um that
gets charged to to the solar production tax as well. So um that will be going back to the county and the jurisdiction as well. So hopefully that answers your question. So, Mr. Chair, this particular site, I think our projections were $200 to
$300,000 a year in production tax that would come to the county. Alex could probably answer that. I don't know. No, I do not know. My apologies. I do not know that answer. I thought it was in the 300,000 range. Yeah, that's what we've heard from in the past, but it's changed every meeting though, too. Yeah.
And Alex, did you say 119 megawatt site? 119.5 megawws. Okay. Any other questions for Alex? Are you in the process of doing any work out there right now? Um, we seated the site to reduce erosion on the site. Um,
we're not looking to start construction until 2026. So, okay. Um, you might see studies performed out there, but nothing earth moving. One last thing, Mr. Chair, Alex, could you share that uh presentation with Monty and he can get it out to the board? I can certainly share that
presentation. I also had a couple just papers for you guys to review. Thanks. Hand them off. Go right ahead. How about I'll just go ahead and save it to a share drive right now and then we're good to go. That shows our proposed changes. Thank you.
Yeah, I think I got one of these. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Alex. Thank you for having us, commissioners. Yep. There you go. Okay. Thanks a lot. Sounds good. Okay.
Okay. Mike, did you have a question? Yeah. How long do those how how long are those panels used for for years? And what's going to happen when their usage runs out? How are they going to be
um taken care of or put away? Um I think you get what I mean by that. How long how long do they how long is the service for those panels? What happens when the service is no longer strong enough to generate power? How are
they going to be revolved and like go right ahead? Yep. So, the project is looking to be alive for about 30 years of the life. Um once that 30-year life is done, the site permit that was given to us by the
public utilities commission is over. So, we either have to renew that permit uh create a new permit or decommission the site. Um, the decommissioning of the site will be detailed in that plan. That will be published to the public utilities commission e docket and will be sent over to the Benton County uh
zoning planning commission as well. What does decommission mean? Um, Matt, you might be able to provide a better explanation than I will. Deconstruct. It would be a site that would be taken out of service and power facilities removed and returned back to So, they're not
going to leave the panels there. They're going to remove them and take them to a landfill or to some type of uh place where they go. I I don't know. I don't know. We're looking to recycle most of our uh equipment. A lot of that has
metal in it which can be recycled for scrap. Um that's going to be detailed in the uh decommissioning plan which um Yep. But we would remove all facilities of the project that are within the site. I have one more question for you. So, a
tornado goes through or a big storm goes through and it goes on other uh property owners land. Who's responsible for the cleanup and uh the expense in there? We um are engineering the site for piles
to be driven into the ground where tornadoes should not be able to rip it up. But that would be our equipment onto your property or a property and that would be our responsibility. They make sure that they send that to the county in writing and get signed because there's going to be a lot of
farmland if something goes through that's going to or neighbors that aren't going to be happy when the trap know and the metal and whatever's in it ends up on their property because you know how people uh are they just what's in it
this is this and that. So, I guess I would like to see the county have something signed into place exactly what you mentioned because it's because the county doesn't own the land. The property owners own the land. And I think that's what some of the neighbors
are actually worried about. They're not worried about have questions about how how it's going to be disposed of and who's going to dispose of it and who's going to be responsible for it. Gotcha. Understood. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe one follow-up question if I
could, Alex. And maybe this is actually a question for Roxanne. I'm not I hate to put you on the spot, but does the county have the ability to hold a bond on the decommissioning when it's permitted by the state? I mean, we typically have some assurity bond or something in place with these type of projects, but since we're not permitting
it, do we have any teeth in it? Yeah. And I actually think the state does require that the bonds sit with the county. So, the bonds will sit at the county. Okay. Thank you. That kind of answers your question a little bit, Mike, because the county's got the bonds in place to cover decommissioning. If they don't do their work appropriately
when if they decommission, we have the money to do that, so the taxpayers aren't paying for that. I can't confirm that the bond sits with the county, but we do have to provide a detailed list of our financial uh commitments. So, is that something you could figure out for us? And I'd like to know where that bond
is for sure. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Can I ask uh so does the property owner have to carry any liability insurance or the companies carrying it all on themselves? Well, in in this case, I believe you guys are the
property owners, right? We are the property owners for the Regal Solar Site. Yeah. Okay. So, I think somebody Okay. Just wondering if if the current legislation passes at the federal level, is your project still going to go forward?
because I know there's cuts, possible cuts coming in the climate stuff in the climate package. If a project wasn't started at a certain period of time, it it gets halted or you know anything about that? Yep. We're not looking to obtain any federal permits.
Um so this project will go forward um since no federal permits are needed for the project. It's all state level and under. So Mr. I'll follow up with Alex on the question of the bonds and who holds it and how much is it and let you know. All right. Sounds good. Thanks
again, Alex. Thank you. Y All right. Did you get your flash drive? Okay, great. So, Mr. Chair, I again I understand some board members may wish to discuss additional options related to the building. So, I will just turn it over to whoever wishes to do so. Okay.
Um I Mr. Chair, I have a few things that I'd like to say. Yeah. Okay, I'm fairly new on the board, so I had to do a lot of homework, research, try to figure out what was the best way
of moving forward with this. Um, I will say that I spent a full week of doing um pros and cons to the project. um still not 100% sure after what happened in the cities with our
legislation stuff that I am comfortable but at this point I am going to read to you what I put together and how I came to the conclusion that I came to and not even sure I'd stand behind this conclusion anymore because of what has
happened at our state government. So, um, after consider after carefully considering, I did not support I do not support remodeling the existing Benton County government center. Although an engineers estimate place the remodel
cost at approximately 23 million, this figure carries significant uncertainty. Renovating a building that is over a 100red years old with numerous additions made over the decades. um present
countless unknowns or presents countless unknowns, including potential structural issues, outdated systems that may only become apparent once work begins. Any problems uncovered would need to be
brought up to current state building codes, potentially triggering multiple change orders, which could dramatically increase the total cost. that these risks that would fall directly onto the shoulders of the
Benton County taxpayers. Safety is another major concern. The con cor current government center proposes risks not only to the public but also to the county staff. In today's increasing diverse climate, we cannot ignore the
importance of providing a secure environment for everyone who entered the building. Additionally, the state of our IT infrastructure is unacceptable. Our county data center responsibility for safeguarding all county data data is
currently housed in a makeshift space that was originally a closet. It now holds all county servers and is valuable to catastrophic water damage or vulnerable to catastrophic water damage
due to fire suppression systems not designed for such a critical space. Our uh dedicated IT staff does an exceptional job protecting our systems, but they deserve the tools and environment necessary to ensure data
security. A single sprinkler malfunction could cause irreversible damage and result in enormous costs to the county. In contrast, the pro o proposal to um construct a new government center offers
a more reliable path forward. The original estimate for the new building was 29.7 million, but in in recent bid came in significantly lower at 24.5 million, resulting in a potential
savings of 5.2 million. With 2 million already on hand, we would only need to finance the remaining of the 22.5 million. The county board previously voted to approve a capital improvement plan bonding mechanism, not a green
light construction, but to access the actual project cost. It would have been a disservice to Benton County residents not to take this critical step, especially after more than 1 million has already been spent on the land
acquisition and preparation. uh transparent transparency and public engagement has been central central to this process. We have we held public meetings, open houses,formational
tours to ensure residents understand the proposals and could see firsthand the current building conditions. While the vast majority of participants were respectful and generally and genuinely
engaged, there were unfortunate instance of disrespectful behavior and harassment between residents with differing opinions. This behavior is unacceptable. We must preserve civil discourse and
allow for diverse perspectives to be heard respectfully. Some confusion occurred after the CIP bonding vote which ci which certain residents believed that construction had already been approved and scheduled.
This un misunderstanding led to reverse referendum efforts were apparently 1,900 signatures were collected re representing about 4.5% of the county
population. Several several constituents later contacted me expressing regret for signing after learning more about the facts. They have been mis misled or misunderstood that the vote was for immediate
construction rather than to authorize financial planning. Regardless of how this misinformation spread, the result has caused delays and confusion. We are now faced with several options. holding a special election option would miss the
July 13th deadline to accept the current 24.5 million bid, forcing us to rebid the project. Historically, rebidding raises costs and the special election itself would cost taxpayers between 50 to $75,000.
Waiting until the November 26th general election would delay this project by 18 months and expose us to even higher future costs. Again, waiting to uh wasting taxpayer dollars in indefinitely pausing the project is not a realistic
solution as done nothing only compound as doing nothing only compounds the problems. uh downsizing the new facility would still require updates to the old building and potentially continue continued rent of an additional space
such as Eastgate, which is not a responsible long-term investment. Canceling this project entirely and seeking alternative space solutions have been discussed for years and have yet to yield any viable or costefficient
alternative. Holding a new public hearing for a revised lower B bond amount would trigger another 30-day reverse referendum period and introduce future delays and uncertainties along
with the risks that rebidding voters with two choices. building new remodeling without clear cost uh uh um clear cost certainty lacks the clarity and financial transparency needed
to make an informed decision. Uh utilizing H lease revenue bonds respectfully respects the most financial responsibility and stable option. This uh approach allows us to accept the
current bids, secure finan financing at a known cost a and build a facility that meets our current and future needs. It also ensures that we avoid missing out on the 5.2 million in savings currently
available. Every effort during this planning process was guided by a commitment to functionality, longevity, cost efficiency. All all finishes and materials from this
proposed new building were selected with these priorities in mind. There was no extravagance, just smart, conservative planning focused on delivering value for taxpayers. If we continue to delay, the
cost will only increase. We have been discussing this project for over 7 years, way over seven years across more than 53 meetings. And at some point we must act if we reject the opportunity
and the construction costs rise as they have consistently in the recent years. There will be no one of no one available to explain to the future taxpayers why we walked away from a $5.2 million in savings and why they're now paying more.
As both a commissioner and a taxpayer, I cannot justify further delays and strongly support moving forward with the new government center using HA lease revenue bonding and the current bid prices. This is the
most um at when I wrote this, this was the most responsible way to move. I will say that um I I I have uh um some concerns with that now with what's
happened at our state legislature and how our public officials are um their their opinions are being scrutinized whether you agree or not agree with them. And uh I'm not sure that I want to put my family at this
risk. I appreciate every single thing that every one of those people went out there that those 1900 people that I I didn't even say the 1900 people. I'm going to say those people that went out and and worked on that reverse referendum. Kudos to them because there isn't a lot of
people in this county that care enough to come to a meeting, much less go do what they did. So, I I am grateful that you did what you did. I just all of us up here were elected on this board to do the best that we can for our county and for anybody who sits out in that
audience and name calls or says that we're building the Taj Mahal or we're spending money frivolously on certain things. That is not I don't think this has been an easy decision for anyone on this board and that is a lot of money to
spend. But we also have 42,000 residents, not 1,900. I'm done. Okay. Well, I don't have a three-page written up, but that was very good. Well, you know, what happened this weekend makes everyone look at a little
differently in perspective. We're elected officials and that could happen to anybody at any given time especially we're elected official because of the mentality of some individuals. We started this
process two years ago. Two years ago, the first thing we talked about was remodeling. Pretty soon remodeling this facility, we had to add on another structure right here. Well, somewhere, but it was right here.
And then we started talking about now we've got four facilities together, four buildings together, and the efficiency is just not there. I personally have said the whole time, I
am not spending money on a 100-y old building. I'm not going to do it. But I'm only one vote. I'm just one vote here. Okay? Now, if we do an addition here, we still don't know if we'll have enough
space putting on this addition and remodeling. We still h and that has not set us up for the future. Totally hasn't set us up for the future. Now, I was shocked and surprised by the dollar amount that the bids came in at. Totally
shocked. I was expecting 28 million. I I can honestly tell you at 28 I would have voted no for it because I thought we could do it lower but they came in at 245 and I was totally shocked. My position
has not changed. My position always was to build new and be done with it and build new for 40 to 50 year for the for the future. We as commissioners have
to look at today, tomorrow, next year, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road. We don't have a crystal ball. But I will tell you this. If everyone thinks that material prices are not going up,
insurance is not going up, work comp, wages, all that stuff is not going up, I'd be shocked really in a year and a half to see this building, the new building get up to 30
to $32 million. I would not be surprised if it was that high already. Now, just alone, if this is put off, steel is going to go up 60 I think it was $69,000
alone just on the new facility. And we have no idea what it would be with an addition. But when we were going through these two years of talking about all this, we pretty much said, "Yeah, we're done with the addition and remodeling because it just
doesn't make any sense for the future. Yeah, we can go ahead and lease more space have all of our departments somewhere else other than inside this facility. You know, the whole idea is functionality, keeping everybody
together in-house and security. And my position is still not changed. I'm still for a brand new building. That's all I'm going to say right now. I I have I have a couple things. Can I add and and Steve, I did the numbers, too.
at 65 uh 6 6,000 or 652 point 652,000 if a decision is not made by June 28th which is under our 45 days. Yep. Um but there's a stipulation in one of those
contracts that if we don't make a a decision by June 28th that it will go up that because of the tariffs on the on this deal. The other thing that I did have Monty pull too was um the cost
savings for a current average use on this building in in um in electric and um XL stuff. I I mean we're we're looking at and these are estimates because obviously we don't
know what a new building but with the cost efficiency of the new stuff that's being put into those buildings gas savings alone dropped in half in half and electrical um and we're looking at um
more square footage over there but overall it looks like about $10,000 a year that in just cost savings for running that new facility and we're gaining space with that new facility. So
those um and and we have with building a new facility we have five to possibly 10 years of warranty on stuff 10 to 15 10 to 15 yeah the warranties are 10 to 15 years on all of that stuff. So, so
that's a cost savings, too. When you start start looking I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I forgot to ask. When you start looking at maintenance, you know,5 to $700,000 a year, you're going to save that on a new
facility. Now, we know with the maintenance, we've been doing maintenance, okay? When when we've said that or we were told we haven't been doing maintenance, this board's been doing maintenance. Whatever happened, what needed to be fixed got fixed and
it'll still happen. I mean, we we still have to do that. But I'm done. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Anybody else? You want to say anything? I I will, but I'm happy to let you go if you like. All right.
There's a there's a bunch of stuff I want to say. A lot of it has been said already. What happened down in the cities this week, this weekend is absolutely horrible. And I'm going to tell you, anybody that's elected sits back and goes, "What the hell are we doing this for?" Exactly. It's It's not
worth it. It It just takes one pe one person. And I'm telling you, all these Facebook posts that we're sitting here battling over who said what, she said this, he said that, all it takes is one person to get energized over all of that and come in
and do something that is horribly wrong. And I'm going to tell you, Commissioner Benoy brought up one very key point. There's no exit plan for any of us in this facility right now. If one of these people that's energized
on what we do come in and start shooting, we're all done. There's no exit plan. That's what the new building would have provided. So, everybody looks at the the the taxes and and I I've went through every signature on there. I've
had people that told me to go ahead with the building that they agree with it that their signatures are on there. many of them, a lot of the people that sign this petition can definitely afford it. Not that they want to, but can definitely afford it. It's it's
disheartening. And then and then we get we get tasked with, you know, we didn't we're not transparent. Well, wait a minute. We did 53 public meetings all as a board. But then we get told, "Oh, I can't come at 9:00 cuz I'm working. I
can't come at 6:00 cuz I got family. I don't get the internet. I don't read the paper. I don't I don't get emails. I don't You know, there's so many reasons why people can't come. I personally asked the question to Mike, what could we have done different? And the answer was, I don't know. You did it
just like that. I don't know. But we all know we did something wrong. We just don't know what it is. It is, you know, we talk about and I want to clear up the King Pop deal. I said that and it was in reference, Mr.
chair to a Facebook post. And if I remember right, I said it as it said in the post, King Pop. I I don't know. Yeah, that's that's what I did. You know, we talk about professionalism and the scary things that can happen. I want
to read what we received in a in in a in a tax um u check. So basically it says enclosed explicit check for property taxes. So Monty Hitler and his five dead or dead or five
brain deadad commissioners can keep spending like their money grows on trees and living their good life. I think that all six of them idiots think they're better than God. And I'm not going to read anymore. We talk about professionalism. Doesn't it go both ways?
I mean, I get it. I I can tell you right now, I'm I'm voting to to put it on the election, and I don't care if we get a building or not, but I'm not going to put my family in harm's way because of this. But you guys got to realize, we
got two ways to go. We got the,900 that signed, and we got 22 other,000 people that were eligible to vote that could come against us, too. So, I I I applaud what you guys did. I don't I think there was a lot of uh
posts that were um I would say uh they they were not true. And it it puts all of us in a in a in a bad bad spot. And I hope you guys realize that it just takes one person out there to come in and do something
wrong. And I I I just I I'm not going to put my family on that. Yeah. Not something Commissioner Kaminsky, not something wrong, something tragedy. Yeah, it Yeah, I agree with that. Mr. Chair, if I could comments. Commissioner Benoy, Commissioner Heinen, thank you for your comments. Commissioner
Kapinsky, um you touched on this a little bit. Something that I've held pretty close during this whole project is I feel extremely uh strong that this board has a long-term commitment and viability and success of
this county on every decision we make. and a government center is really front and center. Commissioner Heinen, you talked about it. This is not a decision off the tip of our nose. It's not a decision for next year, next week, next month. This is a long-term decision. And quite frankly, a lot of the people in
this room that are Benton County residents, your parents and grandparents, faced the very same thing when they built this. And I can just about guarantee they had these very strong discussions. Also, to Mike Deppa's point, Mike, thank you. I agree with you 100% that we have to agree to disagree sometimes. and we're really
kind of at that point. Um I I don't think you've seen a lot of uh change necessarily in the board as a whole in the direction we want to go. To Commissioner Kapinsky's point, we've had 53 public meetings. 53. I said this at our
committee the whole to the members that were uh I want to say leading the petition, if you will. I don't know how else to say it. There was five or six of those people here. With all due respect, until very recently, we saw or heard from none of you. We've held 53 public
meetings noticed, advertised, scheduled with no public input until the last couple of months. Absolutely, there was public input. But I'm talking about the history of this 53 meetings up until April 1st, which was the last
major vote. We had a five to zero unanimous decision on this board to move forward. We spent $1.3 million to get to where we're at today. On May 6, we held the public hearing to approve the funding mechanism only. You address this. It was not the green light
for the building. It was to approve the funding mechanism because we all know we have to figure out how we're going to pay for it. That of course started out uh the ability to uh for the public to produce a reverse referendum, which they did. And again, kudos to you. You did
all your work. You did what you needed to do. I quite frankly I'm impressed you were able to do it. They submitted that valid petition roughly 3 weeks or so. I believe you came in on May 29th. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you were here that morning 8:00 to prevent uh present the petition to the
auditor's office. At 2:00 that same day, this is now I'm I'm trying to go through the timeline. 2:00 that same day, Commissioner Hein and myself sat here for an hour and a half for bid openings. There were 127 bids submitted to this project. That means at least 10
companies in the major um trades decided to bid on this project. And if I if I remember the comment from Integrity Group from uh Pete, this was I believe their second most bid documents they've received in the 29-year history that
they've been doing government projects. The bids were received and they were verified at approximately $24.5 million and that's 18% under what was projected. Mary Kay, same point. I think we have to agree to disagree. I disagree with your
viewpoint that we're not saving money. I say we are saving money. It's $5 million. To the taxpayers in the future, I think they will look back at us and say, "What did you do with the $5 million?" Because the one thing I I hope we can all agree
on today, we know, it's not a guess. We know we can build this building for $24.5 million today. We're not guessing any longer. We have certified bids. I, as a taxpayer, would be questioning this board in the future of how you left
$5 million on the table. It's a significant change. It's a material change in what was proposed in our CIP bonding mechanism. art that bonding mechanism was up to 29.7. We're coming in at 24 and a half.
I've also understood and learned from and please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe Pete and Evan are on the phone, but upwards of 70% of the contractors that bid on this project live within 30 miles of Benton County. That means a lot of those employees that work for those companies would be here on this project.
And a lot of those employees might be your nephews, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, I don't know. But with 70% of of these companies contractors bidding on this project, there's a high high probability that a lot of those people live here locally that'd be working on this project. So we
move on to the dilemma. We've got a dilemma here. A number of options in my viewpoint. We can reject all the bids, get discontin the project, and in my opinion, leave $5 million on the table and walk away. We can put it on the 26th general ballot. The problem with that is
we're going to re need to rebid it. And what do those numbers come in at? Those bids are going to have to be established and estimated building costs and a funding mechanism again identified on how we're going to do this. We can't just throw it on the ballot and say, "Would you like to do it?" There's a lot of work that's going to have to happen for that to get on the 26th ballot.
We've talked about calling for a special election. I believe the board as a whole has had no appetite to call for a special election, whether it's this November or some future date at 50 plus,000. And our final option in my opinion, Commissioner Bonite Bonite talked about
it, we can move on to the HR lease revenue bond option and we can fund the project and move ahead. Um, again, we know today the building costs 24.5 million. I would say uh I would challenge anybody in this room,
including myself, to tell me what this building is going to cost in 26 or in the future. Commissioner Heinen talked about it. Nobody's got this crystal ball. Again, Commissioner Benoy touched on this a little bit, $24.5 million project. We've we've so far said, which I don't think is 100% committed to, that
we've got $2 million in cash that we would put towards this project. So, it's really bonding for 22 and a half. Now, you're well over 20% of what the uh projected cost was. So, with that said, I've I've heard Commissioner Kapinsky. I've heard from some of the other commissioners. Commissioner Pop is
probably going to talk yet. Um but I will support the HA lease funding. I I believe we need to take advantage of the $5 million that's on the table. And for me personally, I'm not willing to leave it sit here. Okay. Thank you, Scott. Thanks, everybody. I have a different
perspective on this and I did attend all the meetings, supported it until the paper came out and said what it was going to cost. And I mean, at that point in time, my phone just rang off the hook like, "What the crap you doing?" Um
there was some options applied and I think Steve you were on the board at the time when we we looked at East St. Cloud. I'm still in that camp where you know 80% of our population lives in the western one-third of the county and or I
mean yeah and 80% of our needs are in that part of the county too. So that's an option that maybe we need to look at to deal. We had all the numbers from the previous HR director and that and why we needed to do that and why we needed to go to St. Cloud. One, we were out of
space and two, it just made sense that we saved a fair amount of money per year. As far as doing the special election, I think you've heard that everybody up here has kind of said that. Um, I think the taxpayers and the people that signed the the
ref reverse referendum have spoken and they want to be able to vote on this. Um, they want to be able to say that this is what we need or else maybe you need to present it with different I with a different idea than a new building because um, I tell you what, there was
nobody that signed the petition. There's actually petitions out there, pages that were ready to be turned in after the deal that people had already signed that the auditor treasures office and said there was no need to turn them in anymore. So there's there's probably way
more signatures out there than what was the 1900 that were approved. Um I will not support an H reverse that part of a a bonding issue. I think we put it on the 2026 election and move forward for what we see there.
I get I got a couple clarification, Mr. Chair. Sure. Couple things. Um that the letter that I read in was definitely one of the petitioners. I won't name names, but it it was one of the petitioners. So, I wanted to clarify
that. There's a couple of things that we keep asking ourselves. What is the or something? What is it? You know, we got to do something, but nobody can come up with the what it what is it? We ask that to
ourselves all the time. We ask we ask others. It it what is it? And to this day, we still don't know what the or something is. The the whether whether the taxpayers like it or not, they're if we don't do something, I've already
stated where I'm at, but if we don't do something, we're putting money in these buildings whether we like it or not. and it may be 500,000, it may be 700,000. Who knows when when you have to do a few things to bring up to code what it's going to cost. So
the or something is there's money going to be spent whether we build a new building or whether we go status quo. It's going to happen. So I mean I don't I don't know. It's it's not like the levy isn't going to increase. You're right. the levy is going to go up by a
lot on just colas and everything like that which we ought to do. Um, you look at you look at the whole situation we're in right now. I get it. People don't want to pay taxes 100%. But I am tired of getting
hollered at and and cussed at for our school districts, for our everybody who falls underneath the county. And we take the blame for it. And I'm going to go back on record. We're $1.6 million in debt and we hear the oh so that means we
got to go out and spend money so we or more. That's not the case. But 125y old building I mean I think Mike you had you had brought up your house is 120ome years old right? Something like that. Built in 1930 and I
and you know what I did with it Jared? I maintenanced it to keep it there. Y and I and I just want to make a comment. I'm I'm I shouldn't be making a comment, but I shouldn't have asked either. The people There's people that would love to live in a building like this that love to live in the trailers and
the homes that they have. They're going to be assessed on taxes. Can't afford it. They haven't. So, okay, Mike, can we move on on that on the last note? I will say that I've been told that there's commissioners, past commissioners, that
are unhappy with my statements and stuff like that. Well, I'm going to tell you, I don't think past commissioners have dealt with anything we've done in the last four years. We have been through tough, very tough times as a board in the last four and a half years. We've dealt with numerous things that have
happened to this county and a lot of it maybe go under the the limelight. You guys don't see it, but we're entrenched in it and it there is very difficult things and we take questions. Why did we let a 125y old building go to go to
crap? Wait a minute. We've been on four years. That's not fair to to point us out. We got told we intentionally did this to the buildings so that we could build a new Taj Mahal. That that is so untrue and it it's it's
frustrating. And I I'll tell you this, based on what happened over the weekend, what we've put up with over the last 2 3 months or 4 and 1/2 years, I'm telling you, I'm spent. You guys can do this job. It's 50 bucks
and I'm going to leave it at that. Mr. Chair, if I could just I'm sorry, Commissioner Heinne, go ahead. You were Go ahead. Just a couple clarifications, follow-up comments. I've said publicly, I want to say it publicly again for the record. From day one, I've been opposed to remodeling. From day one, I have been
in the seat of Foley is our county seat. I'm not interested in East St. Cloud. And I'm just sharing my I agree with you. I'm not interested in East St. Cloud. Personally and respectfully, I don't care if a 100% of our services are there. Foley is our county seat and this
is where it belongs. I'm not interested in satellite offices all over the county. That's my opinion. I do want to verify to Commissioner Kapinsky's point at our 1.3 or $1.6 million indebtedness. Again, this was a road bond that pass
boards approved. We're paying $325,000 plus or minus a year. The county will be out of debt by 2030. It's a road bond. It's not a building bond. It's not the jail bond. It's not the highway department bond. It's a road bond. So, I just want to clarify a few of those
statements. Again, I'm 100% opposed to remodeling. I will not support it. I got one more comment. Okay, so everyone talks about we can go ahead and start leasing space. The problem with leasing space is you go ahead and get into a lease. Now you have to remodel that
space and you have to spend money. No different than Eastgate, right? We did spend money on East. We spent a lot of money. Okay, so there is no perfect lease space out there. We have to spend money even on a lease space to remodel
it. Okay. So now we're spending more money remodeling something we're only going to lease. Mr. Chair, if I could, and I believe you and Commissioner Heiner were on, and I'm asking this as a question because I don't know. The one thing I do know is when we got on the board, we were spending about $175,000 a
year in lease payments for Eastgate. That includes the the lease, utilities, all that kind of stuff. My question is, what did we spend on remodeling that facility? 250,000. So, we dumped 250 grand in Eastgate. Yes. And then we continue to spend 175 grand a year.
That's accurate. Yes. Going forward, I'm not saying the decision was wrong. That's not my point. I'm trying to clarify the dollars. We We knew we needed to have space and was in there and all that crap. That's correct. Co CO hit and we couldn't even open it up for
they went, you know, at home. But to your point, lease a space and remodel it and remodel it. So, you're always spending money in a lease space. If we're going to spend money, my I'm still going to stay with it with a a new facility. I am not spending money in that 100-year-old building for
remodeling. I will do repairs for whatever we need to do. So, Mr. Chair, I there there are many options out here this morning, right? it might be useful to sort of proceed through these options in sort of an orderly fashion and and maybe start to
take a few off the table and then you kind of narrow it down to okay, what's left? So maybe the first question might be, is there support for referring this matter to a special election? Is there a motion to refer this matter to a special
election? No. So in special election, you're talking in November. Well, so Mr. Chair, here's your choices. You have November 4th yet this year and then next year February 10th, April 14th, May
12th, August 11th or the November uh that's the course of the general election. So again, yet this year, November 4th is your last chance this year, first chance next year, February 10th and again or April 14th. Those are the first couple of next year. So is there support to refer this matter to a
special election, Mr. Chair? No. No, I don't think you know I we heard after the sock rabbit school levy in February that was I mean they granted it passed but boy there's not Okay, good. I'm not that's just me. I'm I'm not interested.
We'll take that one off the list. How about then referring the matter to the November 2026 general election? The November 26 general election. Is there is there a motion to do that and get consensus or not on on these questions? Is there a motion to do that or
otherwise? No, I'm not willing to bring it to the 2026 election. Is there I am willing to bring it to 26. Yeah. So maybe again we could dispense with this somewhat formally. Is there a motion to that effect? I'll make a
motion and I'll second it. Any other discussion? Otherwise, all in favor? I I oppose. No. I Commissioner Benoy, did you vote? Could we do a roll call on that? I'm sorry. To
clarify 26 general election. Commissioner Benoy. Nay. Commissioner Heinen. Hey. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. I. So, the matter will not be referred to
either a general election or excuse me, the general election or a special election. Okay, the options are getting fewer. Um, uh, let's see. Uh, well, I guess that brings up the one option I heard Commissioner Johnson and I believe Commissioner Benoy suggest, and that was
the HA lease revenue. And I should say, if you have questions about it, Jessica Green from Northland Securities is with us by phone. I believe she's the caller up there. unfortunately she couldn't join us virtually uh in per but she's here with us by phone in case you have questions about it so I I think that's
unless there's another option that you want to talk about before I don't want to rush things and and so on and is there are there other options Mr. Chair I mean it was on our agenda maybe we should address the option of rejecting all the bids yeah I think I mean yeah that's sure that you could
and and I should say Mr. share. You know, as we've heard from Pete, I think, you know, we definitely owe it to the 127 contractors to take action soon because they got to know, do they need to hire people? Do they need to order supplies? Do they need to mobilize? And I I know the bids would expire by July
13th, but I think, you know, as a matter of courtesy and respect to them, if you if the building isn't going to happen, then I think probably it should be good to to reject all bids and they know they can move on to other projects. So that might be another another possible uh
motion is to reject all bids. Is there a motion to reject all bids? If we don't reject Oh, go ahead. Excuse me, Commissioner Pop. I guess my thought process would be for those that are looking at moving it to an election, we should probably be rejecting the
bids, right? I mean I right again they will expire anyway July 13th but but to your point if that's what's going to happen then do it. I'll make a motion because I mean it I thought we were sticking on this one
and moving down because we added the first part what we were going to do and then it would be the next part. I'm not sure there's a perfect word of this Mr. So I'll make a motion or reject all this. Uh but yeah. Okay. I'll second that motion. So the mo it's a motion to to um reject
all bins. All bids. Okay. We owe that to the contractors I believe. Okay. So Beth, you want to call roll call? Sure. Commissioner Benoy. No. Commissioner Heinen. No. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hey. Commissioner Kapinsky. Hi.
Okay. So, we're not rejecting bids. We're not referring the matter to um an election. Um, what other options might you all want to address at this point? Perhaps prior to the HA one. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Could we please take a moment and have Jessica share with us the HA
lease options so that we're all fully understanding what it is we may be voting on? Jessica for your patience. You showing up as caller one for us. Could you address Commissioner Johnson's question? Can everyone hear me? Okay, we can.
Great. Well, good morning commissioners. Um, so we have discussed the HA lease revenue bond option previously, but effectively what it allows is the county to enter into a lease arrangement with the HA for the county. So, the HR would
issue the bond. Um, they are not considered general obligation bonds. It is again a lease arrangement between the HR and the county. Um and generally speaking because HRA lease revenue bonds um are subject to again
that lease an annual appropriation there is no petition requirement or reverse referendum um component to those types of bonds. Now, because it is a lease, there is no general obligation pledge of the county.
Um, and therefore, HA lease revenue bonds will carry a higher interest rate, or they typically do, um, than general obligation bonds. What we've seen, um, Excuse me, Jessica, are you excuse me, Jessica, are you are
you going to reference that difference in cost now or do you have something you can provide us? Okay, thank you. I so typically for essential purpose issuance so you know not a community center um talking about essential purpose so
governmental center we would expect to see up to 25 basis points in difference between a CIP a general obligations um capital improvement plan bond versus an H lease revenue bond. Now, we went through a few numbers briefly um at the
committee of the whole meeting last week. Um but when we look at the differences between say a 20-year option and 25-year option, you're probably looking at in terms of total interest uh over what a CIP bond would allow. Um on a 20-year basis, it's about a million
dollars. And again, that assumes that the bonds would be outstanding for for the full term and that the county wouldn't have the opportunity or wouldn't elect to uh refund or refinance those bonds into general obligation bonds at some point in the future. you do have the ability to go up to 30
years with those bonds um or any term that the that the board or the H chooses. But again, there is of course the requirement that there is an annual appropriation to make the lease payment. Um a public hearing would be necessary
by the H to establish uh an a redevelopment area for the project to occur. that it's not a a public hearing on the ability to issue bonds. It's again just the establishment of that area to allow the HA to access
all of the uh powers that are granted to the HA uh by statute 469. So with that um I'll pause here for any specific questions related to process or you know any specific questions related
to interest rates etc. Mr. Chair if I could couple verification questions Jessica when you talk about point uh 25 basis points basically a quarter percent. Mhm. Okay. Also, you did mention that
the HA or county board could potentially refinance debt in the future if interest rates were to drop. That is correct. So, most often when we see communities utilize lease revenue bonds, whether that's on an HA lease revenue bond basis um or an EDA lease
revenue, most oftent times you will see communities refinance those bonds assuming that the market sort of allows for that in terms of where interest rates are. but within you know seven to eight years after the bonds are issued. Thank you. And also could you just uh
give a little more definition of statute 469 that you referenced? Sure. Let me just go to the specific statute. So it's it's uh 459090 through 4691082 and it also uh sort of taps into stat
statute 46571. So 46571 is related to sort of the lease authority that is allowed to municipalities. And what that that statute references is that uh communities have the ability to enter into leases uh as long as there is the
ability to effectively non-appropriate andor appropriate on an annual basis. And then 469090 through 1082 allows for counties to enter into contracts mainly leases um to provide
for construction equipping etc. There's a long list of powers that fall under 469 but it's a combination again of 465 and 469 that allows for that lease revenue uh arrangement between the county and the HR.
Thank you. Okay. Any other question? So, um I'm I'm thinking if there are any other options you might want to sort of consider to to um address formally. We heard about the remodel option and I heard a lot of comments there's not an interest in
remodeling, but is that worth dispensing with by a motion? Mr. chair. One thing I'd like to clear is that we did have one letter that was wrote in on an option. The you know the Pacific person that wrote a letter at the public hearing there was an option in there. He
had an option about remodeling and what you know building a smaller footprint across the street. So are there any options perhaps we want to we want to bat around in other words a downsized project or but that was one of the options that actually was yeah
presented. I'll leave it up to you, Mr. Chair, board members if you want to work through those on via a motion or just discussion. I think it's probably good for the record to to sort of establish is this option still on the table or is it not? And uh I think that gives all of
us clarity as to, you know, where things are going. Mr. Chair, I have absolutely zero appetite for remodeling this. Me too. Yeah, me too. I feel the same. Okay. And I think there's options to be
explored on my behalf. Well, that's good to know. And so it sounds like at least for the foreseeable future, we wouldn't pursue remodeling. U Mr. Chair, if I can just one comment in regards to what was presented respectfully, it was presented at the 12th hour and this particular
person knows how this process works, right? And was not at any of our meetings to present these options to us. And I would have gladly received those options at a much much earlier date, my opinion.
I concur on that. That's fair enough. So, we haven't rejected the bids, which suggests there's continued interest in in possibly a new facility. So, it really comes down to question, well, okay, how's it going to get paid for? If
there's that there's that desire to pursue the new facility, what is the financing mechanism? And uh really there's again the two options. You've got the CAP which of course would have to go through the election or there's the HA lease revenue option described by by Jessica. I should
mention is um and Jessica reminded us this is that when the county built the the new sheriff's office in jail, that technique was used to finance the sheriff's office in jail and it was used to refinance the court facility debt. So it's and that's that's a long time ago, but it it was used before for those
facilities. Monte, do we know why it was used for that? No, I wasn't around in those times. It was mid 90s. Um I I I'm not I don't not sure of the discussion. I I don't know. May I ask Mary uh Otsby do some research and
stuff, check the newspaper clippings? Yeah, I I I've heard just sort of anecdotally that there was a lot of opposition to build in a new jail in corporate I'm sorry, a new jail sheriff's office, right? And it's entirely possible that that's the option the board chose to finance it given the
opposition to it. So, and Mr. Chair, we had that option too and this whole board did not go that direction for to because we wanted to be out in the public. That's being transparent. And and again, back then. Yep. Back then, Mr. Chair, again, I I need to
clarify, even though I I realize people are going to disagree with me on this. What changes this for me is the $5 million. That's what changes this for me. This is a $500,000 savings. I wouldn't even be having a conversation. To me, it's significant.
It's material. And that's why I feel the way I do. Mr. Chair, I was not directing anything towards you at all. I I I agree with you. The only reason I'm going the other way is because of
I've said all the way along if this gets reverse referendum, I'm going to the 26 deal. That's But you I'm going to I'm going to tell you I've been struggling with this for since it came out. It it's it's I put it this way. I don't want to be
praised for being a no vote and and with that I feel like I'm I'm making a bad decision because it it is $5 million. With that said, Mr. Chair, if I could, I'd like to clarify. I and please correct me if I'm wrong, Mary Kay, I think this is a conversation you and I had uh the day of the committee of the
whole. I think you put forth to me that basically I said I would put it on the 26th ballot. I said that seemed to be the most viable option at the point at that May 6th hearing. And again, that was before on the timeline we knew what the bid openings were. And again, I
understand you may not agree with that, but I'm saying because of the bid openings, because of the material change, that's why I'm not in favor of doing that because we know that today that's the cost. Mr. Chair. Yes. Go
ahead, Pam. Um the the the issue I have and this is just being on the board for a very short time is we've kicked this can down the road so far and we kept kicking and we kept kicking and I agree with the comments that were made that people are wondering why this wasn't
done and why that wasn't done to the building. I can't answer that. I was not on this board to be able to even possibly begin to answer those questions. But if we wait until we can afford this building, it will never
happen because it's like having kids. If you wait till you can have them, you don't have them. You just got to figure out how to adapt. And again, too, I I I agree with Scott. I I'm having that's the part I'm
struggling with is leaving I pay taxes, too. I sure as heck don't want to pay taxes on another 5.9 or 5.2 two million dollars. And if if the unknowns for me to go to a 2026 election
is what scares the heck out of me cuz I could come back at 30, 31, 28, and I don't want to spend that kind of money. Mr. Chair, I don't think none of us sitting up here wants to spend any kind
of money that we have to. But like Commissioner Johnson said, we have a guaranteed price in the bid process of 245. We can hold those those contractors to
that. Okay. Now, the unknowns, we've been dealing with unknowns for two and a half years. Hell, they've been dealing with unknowns for 20ome years, 25 years, 30 years about a new facility.
Okay, I this has always been a struggle and and they say walk away from 5 million on the table. I disagree. Like Commissioner Johnson said, a mill 500,000.
Throw it to the 26 election, you know. But here's the problem. You throw it to the 26 election. Let's just say 30 million. We'll just we'll just use 30 million and it gets approved. And now we're going to get beat up because we
didn't build it a year and a half ago for 24 million. I mean, this is a double-edged sword. No matter what we do, we're going to get annihilated either way. And you know what? Let it happen. I mean, we've been annihilated for two years. Personally, I'm tired of
it. Doesn't matter. But we're elected officials and we have to make decisions and the best decisions we can with the information in front of us. Thank you. Okay. And Mr. Chair, yes. For the
record, up until recent, it was a unanimous right board. Yeah. Up until April 1st after May 6th. Yeah. So, it's been unanimous the whole time. And I know that people have referenced that it
was unprofessional. We were just stating that facts. You know what I mean? And and we've had conversations after, you know, I'm sure there's damage done, but we'll we'll learn to get But at the end of the day, we're all trying to do the best for the county. And
I don't my personal feeling is that I don't think by moving forward with the lease the H lease is doing justice to the people of the county because they spoke in the reverse referendum and I think you need to honor that. They'll
never trust this county board again if you go over and above their head. Um, and as far as the $5 million, we don't know what 2026 or 2027's going to it could be lower if the economy really went the wrong direction. We can't say
we're leaving 5 million on the table. That is not the absolute truth because we don't know what that'll bring. So, if you want to go above what the people want, go ahead. But I'm not paying that price to override what the people have spoke and said they want to vote on it.
So that's where I stand on that. There's no way I will ever go with that process. So Mitch, again, just focusing on technical matters. Uh if you wish to preserve these bids in their entirety, uh the board would need to act by June 28th because Pete tells
us, yep, he says the steel supply are only guaranteed their bid through June 28th. And he said after that it would go up automatically by $65,000. So to keep what you got on the table, you'd have to act by June 28th. So we
have one person to hand very quickly, Mike. Okay. I want to uh bring up the fact that I came to those meetings. They came up the board that's right up here. We can agree to disagree.
All of a sudden, there's a third option on the table that comes up that was never even brought up at any of those meetings. None of the public know about it. Only you people know about it. Mr. Hedley knows about it. I didn't know about
that. The discussion was at that time, the honest discussion at that time was you either build it or put it up to a people's vote. Everything has changed here again. And then you wonder why we
have to agree to disagree. I I'll no the thing is is that I'm going to let you know before when when CO started we were working from our homes they were working from their home 82%
of the people in the country were working after COVID we have approximately 52% that are paying the taxes for everybody to see that this has changed
We can agree to disagree. It's wrong to the people of the county. It's wrong. Okay, Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a correction. Mike, you're absolutely right on almost all of that with the exception of the committee of the whole. It absolutely was discussed as an option. Jessica was there from
Northland. It was absolutely discussed. So, please don't say that this is new. It is not. It's new to me. That could be, but I'm telling you by the record, it is not. It's new to me and I think it's going to be new to the public once
they hear that. So again, respectfully, Mr. Depa by Mr. Headley because he said our only options were to do a reverse referendum to change this. So we're not even doing the reverse referendum. We're just
asking I think you're picking and choosing on what happened out of that meeting, Mike. And quite frankly, Mr. Hedley's not the responsible party here. The five of us are. He supplies the information to us. He's not responsible. He's not the elected official. Well, it was supposed
to go to a vote in 26. That was what the meetings were about. I am there. Mr. Chair, let's clarify. It was only 4.5%. The other people did not show up out of 40,000
for the county. Well, don't Okay. I'm just clarifying you because you said, you know, I'm not here to pick a fight. I'm just clarifying. That's all I'm doing because they got jobs and they're working and so do all of us sitting up here. Okay, sir. Thank you.
You're welcome. Matter of fact, I may more at my other job than I do here. I don't even know why we're even here anymore. So, Mr. Chair, I I look for your direction. uh as we've talked about, if if if in fact the the county is going to proceed with
the the project, of course, we have to have the cash to pay for it. And if it begins this summer, we we'd need to be in possession of bond proceeds by late summer to start paying what could be very large contractor bills. So Jessica has let us know that, you know, you
could pull you could put together an HR package, but we would need to begin on work on that very soon. Uh, in other words, you know, doing the official statement and ratings call and and so on so forth. Then the public hearing on the redevelopment district. So, we would
need your direction to start fairly soon on that process so that you could be in possession of bond proceeds. I think early September, I think it would be uh the bond sale will be in August and you'd have bond proceeds in the bank in September. So, we would need we would need your direction and consensus or
some kind of probably a motion if you're going to give us that direction so we know what to do. So, I'll make a motion to proceed with the HR bonds. I'll second motion then made and
seconded to proceed with the HR bonds and issue bonds. Is there any other discussion, Mr. Chair? Yes. Albeit that I agree that the building's got to be done and I agree 100% with
what you guys are saying. Uh I personally said is going to go to the 26th election. So I'll be voting no on it. I just want to clarify that all your guys' statements are 100% accurate and I I I thank you for doing that. Um, I I'm
very challenged right now on what we should do, what we shouldn't do, and this and this is going to happen many decisions down the road because it's this is going to be tough on everybody. It I wish more people would have came out in favor of the building because all we heard from was the people
that are against it. We had we had a couple people approach us at a dis after the very confrontational meeting uh in Foley here and say we're for it but not very many people stood up for it and it
and it and that's tough. It um like I said in my other deal early on I've had people that were 100% for it sign the petition and it's because of family pressure. it's because of uh you know whatever they're they're at a bar everybody else is signing it. I've I've
heard it. I and nobody can say that I'm putting words in anybody's mouth. I can if I had to I'd put names to it. It it's the absolute 100% truth. People felt like they had to do it. People were misled everything. But I stand with what
I said. I agree with what Commissioner Johnson said. You you you did you you bring up a good point. It's like we're throwing away $5 million and and people in the audience say, "Well, that's really a fake 5 billion because if we weren't going to go through with it, we
we or if the reverse referendum came, the the the dollar amounts wouldn't be held. 5 million is 5 million. It's it's $35 or $40 a year on my taxes and it's everybody. And uh it's a it's a heck of a savings.
So, uh albeit I will be voting no. I I I applaud you guys and and I I'll I'll stand. Any other discussion on it? I think that if you vote yes on this, you will have
the price to pay from your constituents. They're going to be out there. They're going to be I rate. Um you talk about being open and want to do thing. This is like kind of like hit them on the broadside that they, you know, this is
not what they signed up for. This is not where they went out and got the petitions, you know, the reverse referendum petitions. And now you're going to tell them that that work was all done for nothing. I think that's not part of what we said, not part of where we've been going. And I I'm glad that
you guys will be answering the calls to that because they're going to be a lot of calls and a lot of dis probably not dis going to be a lot of disbelief in what this board does. Mr. Chair, a lot of us have been answering those calls
already. Okay, Mr. Chair, respectfully, you're assuming that this is a only a political decision for any of us, right? And I'm going to tell you right now, the political impact of this is the least of my worries. I've said from the beginning of our fiduciary responsibilities and
the long-term effect of the county, you're you're assuming that in three and a half years, if I choose to file No, no, I didn't say that. I said you'll get the calls. Yeah, but you said you said that you're going to pay for this. Well, you're going to pay for it in the the parameter that you're going to get the
calls and the Slack back on social media or whatever they've been doing. And and that's fine and that's their right to do. There's no question about it. But please, I I took it as it's a political move and that's not the case. Mr. Chair, I just want to be clear on that. And Mr.
Chair, I want to be very clear. Mine 100% is not a political move because my appetite is I'm done. I'm full. Right. So Tim, you got one question. Commissioner Pop, did you sign the reverse referend petition? Absolutely.
You want to state why? because it was from the people that were out there that called me after it went to the paper and it was at $600 and some thousand. That's when all the questions came in. It wasn't there wasn't a lot of questions prior to that. Nobody was really paying
attention. When you get to the dollar amount, that's when people start paying attention. And that's what they paid attention on the 29 million dollars and even that. And I don't believe that it's at 24 million right now. I believe it's more like 26, ain't it? Because we had
some bids thrown out. Uh only if there's options put into it. Alternatives, sorry. Yeah, the the 24 and a half through uh threw out two nonresponsive bids. And there was some alts. Uh that would remember that if you take all the
alts, the cost would go up about 300,000 if you take all the alts. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Pop, I got a question for you, and this is not I don't mean it to be direct. I I really want to ask you the question. If all of these individuals would have
been here through 53 meetings, is there a pretty good chance that they would have been aligning with what we what we figured out during all of these meetings? Especially when it comes from 297 down to 245.
I can't answer that. You don't you don't think that that the process would have showed the audience where the the process directed the direction we had to go by dollars.
It is that fair to say. Was remodeling a lot more money than what any appetite? Yes. The the remodel was a lot more. So, did that direct us towards the new building? And at 24.5 million back then,
we want to put a halt on this thing, right? No. No. We would have kept rolling. That's that's my struggle here is it it it Well, yeah. Commissioner Pop, if I could, uh, just to extend on that a little bit, Commissioner Kapensky, and please correct me if I'm
wrong. We had major discussions, original numbers at 31 plus or minus million. this board as a whole said we're not doing it right. Exactly. We fast forward six or nine months and we start getting wind that we may be looking at a really good bid environment
going forward and the board as a whole said get it back on track. Yep. I I think from just a bid result it was a home run. 24.5 million versus a projected 29.7. And we're going to have to agree to
disagree on the 5 million. I get your point. Yeah, I I hope you can respect my point. Um that's the game changer for me. It's a material change. And and Mr. Chair, where I was going with that is I truly I I really have it in my heart that if people would have been through
all 53 meetings, their minds might have been a little bit more, you know, going cuz cuz when you start coming in at, you know, meeting 42, 45, there's a lot of things that have directed us to get to that point which they're not privy to unless they go back and listen to everything we've done. And I don't think
there's anybody in the obvious a Exactly. That's where I was going with that. We got a question in the audience. Why don't all the commissioners go around and say if they signed the petition or not? Why or why not? I know. Just I did not sign the I did not sign. I did not sign the petition because I
wanted to go for a new facility and I was hoping that the numbers would come in. Actually, I was hoping they'd come in under 28,000 and they came in at or 28 million.
28,000 would be nice, you know, but they came in at 24 million. So, but we do not have to display that even though you asked and and Chad, I never was approached with it. So, I'm just wondering if I wasn't either put on
the spot. I I'll answer that, Chad. I was never approached either. And if I would have been approached, I wouldn't have signed it. Thank you. And I was never approached. And if I would have been, I wouldn't have signed it. I I wouldn't have signed it either to be quite honest because it in my opinion, we're the voting members. We shouldn't
be signing. And and that's just my side, Commissioner Pop. I mean, we're all we all do things individually. It does, you know, don't make no difference. Exactly. I mean, part of me said I looked at my tax statement. I looked at what it's going to cost. I heard from businesses. I mean, I think that's the unforeseen
part here is our businesses in the county. You have no clue what this is going to do to some of the businesses if you put this on because it's going to have to the lease is going to have to be paid for. But but it's just not this. It's the schools. It's everything that's on the taxes, right? It's schools. It's
townships. It's the property taxes that are set by state legislature that we have no ch no, this county board has no choice over. So there's a lot of things on those taxes that doesn't even come back to the county. Monty, would it be fair to say that this Benton County
facilities, one of the oldest county facilities in the state? Uh I'm sure you know there's without being remodeled. Yeah, I know there's some really old courous out there, but Max is 100% remodeled. I'm sorry, a Morrison. Morrison. Yeah. We know their their
historic courthouse basically sits in and they they renovated their newer buildings, but as you may know, the whole historic courthouse is really not not being used. So, I keep going to the or something or something or something, but nobody's coming up with the or
something. Do nothing, Jared. Do nothing. That's not an option, Mike. And we've we've clearly said that from time from day one. doing nothing is I got three people that just took away my the only thing I got left in uh is the
right to vote. You people are taking away the people of the county's right to vote. 4.5% of the people that signed the signature not the 42,000 put it to an election put it to election m Mr. Chair to a vote. So Mr. Chair I not to hasten
things but there is a a question on the floor. Yeah. So there's a motion and a question to motion and second motion and a second to explore the HR bonds HR bonds. Could I get the motion maker to clarify the intent of the motion, please? I'm I
I'm not sure it was explore. It was to issue proceed. Well, motion to go with the HR bonds. That was the motion. Okay. Thanks. And and there was a second too. Okay. So with that and further discussion, I
will call the question. Commissioner Heinen. Um all in fa or call the question. Commissioner Benoy. Yes. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Absolutely. No. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky.
Reluctantly no. Thank you. So m Mr. Chair if I may give you a sense of kind of you know what would be dead then is is uh when you issue debt uh the first step is is approving what's called a set sale resolution which basically gives
you direction to your bond advisor Northland Securities to proceed with preparing an official statement at some point obviously marketing the bonds and arranging for the sale and so on. the calendar that I have from Jessica Envisions uh a July 1st adoption by the
HR of this set sale resolution. I don't have a date for you on this calendar for the public hearing on the redevelopment plan. Uh so that would be another meeting of the HA. Um and then the HA be asked then to uh award the
bond sale. So she envisions bond sale would happen on August 11th and then shortly thereafter the board would be asked who would then award the bond sale and you'd have proceeds early September in the bank. So I could envision then on
July 1st two things uh to award the bids to the low biders as identified by conte secondly the H acting to approve the set sale resolution. So those are the two things that happen. Then July 1st. July
1st. Monty, I have to correct you. It all has to be done. The bids all have to be exc Yeah. Thank you. Right. If you want to preserve the steel bid, you probably would need a special meeting the week of I'm really glad you brought that up, Commissioner. Uh, that's right.
Uh, if you want to preserve the steel bid, you probably would need a special meeting the week of July, excuse me, June 23rd. A special meeting. And that would be a mean of the county board to accept the bids. Again, all all action
associated with the HA lease revenue is done by the HA. So, um I suppose it's entirely possible that you it's really more of a question to to Jessica is is I can't make promises here in terms of when the set sale resolution
will be ready because that's got to be drafted by the bond adviser. Uh Monty. Yeah, Jessica. So, I just want to clarify one one point here. So, on the calendar that you're looking at, so July one has us sending the set resolution to
the county and the H and on that on July 8th. Okay. Yeah, I'm looking at this on my phone. So, yeah. Hope I understand it. It gets a little bit confusing. Yeah, the number is definitely Excuse me. So, um, at that meeting with the set
sale resolution being considered, um, we would also try to, you know, have bond council prepare documents to allow for that public hearing to occur on the establishment of the redevelopment district. We do need 10 days written notice. So, if the board is, you know,
supportive of kind of going down this path, um, we would get bond council involved. for that Jessica be drafted. Thank you, Jessica. So, let me ask a qu a clarifying question. So, we would have the set sale resolution for board
consideration approval July 8th. Excuse me. Would we also have the public hearing on the redevelopment plan July 8th? Yes, I think those two things would coincide well and that's typically how we're, you know, kind of structuring things that you're holding that hearing.
You do that first. the order of operations. You do that and then you you know you have the set sale resolution. Understood. Okay. I I got it right. So just to backtrack then so the board would need a special meeting the week of of uh of June let's see here
the week of June what is it 20? Yeah, the week of June 23rd to award the bids to preserve to preserve all the bids and then as Jessica noted then HR action would occur July 8th to have a public
hearing on the redevelopment plan and to approve the set sale resolution. So Monty, you better look at your calendar for July 8th. Oh, I'm sorry. She you know I she Jessica, you know that that would cons that would be considered a special meeting day. Did you choose July
8th because of timing in order to get things done by a certain time? Is that doesn't fall on a regular board meeting date? Nope. And the action would actually be taken by the H, not the board. The reason that we chose July 8th is is this is sort of the quickest that
things could get done. Um, and because the H doesn't have a regular sort of meeting. Oh, that's right. I think we talked about this. I'm sorry. We talked about this earlier, right? And I cuz I remember noticing that that those weren't on regular board meeting dates. It's it it'd be considered a special meeting. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. So, you know, that's one thing you all to consider is is in order to achieve a certain timeline, it would require a short special meeting on the 8th uh to uh adopt the redevelopment plan and the set cell resolution.
any thoughts or issues or concerns with these dates? And I suppose, Mr. Chair, again, we need to schedule a special meeting for the week of June 23rd to award the bids.
July 8th, I'll have to be first thing in the morning, right, Commissioner Pop? Yes. So, while we're on this subject, is it possible that we could go ahead and schedule a special meeting the week of June 23rd? And Evan, I see you're with us. Uh, so
please chime in if you hear me saying something absolutely wrong or whatever. So, Is there availability on Monday the 23rd? Sure. I'm open in I'm open in the morning. I have an 11 o'clock meeting
coming up after that. But otherwise, if it's a short meeting, I can do Monday. It would be a short meeting, you know, just to convene and and have the bids in front of you and and accept. So So what time on the 23rd?
9:00. 9:00. 9. Okay. 8:30 9:00 a.m. June 23rd special board meeting uh to consider uh the bids on the government center project. And uh again, we'll we'll move ahead uh
with Jessica on the HRE lease revenue bond arrangement. As Jessica noted, um just FYI folks is that um you'll then see fairly soon in the Squap Patel Bent County News the
notice of public hearing on the redevelopment plan. As she noticed it, mentioned to you, it needs a 10-day published notice um because it's a public hearing. Okay. So, you'll see that appear in those two newspapers soon. Yeah.
Uh, that's all I have. Okay. Do you need a recess? Short recess. Anybody need a short recess? You good? Okay, we'll move on to Sheriff Hec.
Good morning, commissioners. Morning. So, here to bring a contract before you that's been uh in the works for probably five to six years. It's been probably that long that we've been told by our current body camera and squad camera provider that the equipment we have is
outdated. They've been slowly phasing end of support and end of life and they've stopped making parts for these cameras. Uh these cameras are a critical piece of our work um for transparency, for evidence gathering. The public expects us to be able to have this kind of footage when we're out there doing
our jobs. So, we need to replace these these cameras. We spent uh several months going through at least four different vendors proposals to make sure that the the price was what we were looking for and that the functionality was uh was going to meet our
expectations. and we selected uh GTA as the provider that we're we wish to contract with. The uh funding for this is in addition to the need being a long-term plan, the funding has been in the works as well. In 2023, the
legislature provided uh about $800,000 in public safety aid to Benton County. When we received that money, we uh saw this as a good fit to uh fund this need. So, we have the money uh in that fund that's waiting to be expended. It was part of the plan that this board
approved with us. So, we're looking to uh to have the board sign off on the contract and allow us to proceed with replacing this mission critical piece of equipment. Any questions? I think we've discussed it over the course of a few years. Mr. Chair, I'll
move to approve the contract with GATAC Bright and direct the board chair to sign it. I'll second. Motion made second to accept the contract with Gac. Any other discussion? All in favor? Work on this? I I I
opposed. Carry. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you. Sandy Schelberg. Good morning. I just have one quick happy piece of news to give you today. So, I brought Rachel in. She is our new child protection supervisor. She's
replacing Will Chu, who was promoted to deputy director. So, I'll have Rachel come up and just say a couple things and um please welcome her. Welcome. Yeah, morning commissioners. Morning. Um happy to be in my new role
here. I have been with Benton County a little over three years and I have a little a little over five years experience with investigations and family assessments. So, I am well verssed in the child protection um world and so I'm very excited for this new opportunity and leading my team. Congratulations. Congratulations and
thank you. Thank you, Sandy. Chris Bird that my computer doesn't go fast enough. All right. Good morning, commissioners. Morning. Let me just jump right into this hopefully really quick. Uh my first
item on the agenda today is an item that's normally placed on the consent agenda, but I wanted to bring it out in forefront uh due to the concerns with our road construction project. So uh what we have received is a request uh from the city of Gilman to close county
roads within the city of Gilman for their annual festival and parade known as Gilman Days. However, as you are aware, we're working on a joint project with the city of Gilman to have our roads under construction. Uh timelinewise, the bids are advertised
right now. They're scheduled to open bids on Monday, June 30th. Uh my intention was to bring that to the board to our July 1st meeting to review and approve the bids. It's conceivable if we can get construction contracts uh turned
around rather quickly before the end of July, they could have roads tore up. Um their event is Saturday, July 26th. Um I asked for some some clarification from the clerk on the parade route. Uh this
was a hand-drawn map, but this is the anticipated parade route is Cass 5 from Golden Spike up 103rd to Fern Road to the the church's parking lot here. Why that's problematic is um the city's
sanitary sewer under our roadway that they that they need to replace. Um one of the first phases that they need to get to is this section. well as is Cass 5 and that's because it's the downstream portion it crosses highway 25 at this
point. So as you build sanitary gravityfed sanitary sewer you most often start downstream and and work upstream. So if we are under construction this is most likely one of the first sections of roadway that would be tore up potentially tore up when they want to do
their their parade. Um options. Everybody likes to hear options. One option is deny the permit. Um the festival could still happen. We just say we can't close roads down um
because of the parade. Another option is approve the permit. We put out an addendum in our bid saying that the contractor must have I don't know rode in temporary surfacing or or
something like that. on or before Saturday, July 26th. And then there's implications, cost implications, and they have to bid that in. And it's going to cost more money though, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Then that's a road cost that we would we would incur as well. Um that's put on
us. That's on the county or the city. Well, I mean, right now, that's not part of our agreement with the city, which I'm going to the city council meeting tonight to have a discussion to get that signed by them. And so we had this. So
those the terms of the Gilman parade was not part of the agreement. So um Mr. Chair, what happens if we put off their start till I mean the day after the parade or you know what I mean? Does that affect our timeline and getting
something done before winter? It could. And once again there's cost implications. Do they try? Do we Our goal was to have at least um 2 in of Bum 2 minutes before the winter and then the new curb and gutter we would build ramps and stuff.
Realistically after July 26th that gives them August, September, they need to be paving by the end of September. So they'll lose a month is what you're saying. They could Yeah. At least the two weeks.
I I don't know. I mean, we could still just say the completion date is, you know, end of September. You're not going to be able to start then. That is going to jack up bids because then they'll have to bring in additional crews and bid them accordingly or they bid it to just have liquidated damage.
So, which is which is has cost implications of course. I I I know you said you were going to talk with Gilman tonight, so there hasn't been any communication with them yet about potentially changing the route or any of those type. He I exchanged some emails with the clerk just clarifying the route and I said that we have concerns with
the parade route and due to our construction and that we would be discussing it at today's board meeting. So I didn't ask them to consider a different parade route. Uh they didn't offer a different parade route. Well, if I'm able to I'm happy to attend
tonight. I'll have to check the schedule attend with you. But maybe those are some of the discussions we could have with them. We could and then we could just table this to July 1st. that we still have another board meeting before their their event to still consider it. Um and and we could put Yeah, I move to
table it second. Well, it's been Well, we don't we don't need a call. We're just tableabling it. Yep. Okay. All right. Uh the next item here, so we opened bids uh on uh Friday the June 6th
for our bridge replacement projects. Once again, this is the replacement of the bridge structure on County Road 51 southeast of town here in Casaw 22 on the northeast corner. Uh, okay. Long story short, bids did come in higher than our its engineers estimate. Uh,
Redstone Construction uh was the lowest responsible bidder. We did receive two bids. They're uh uh yeah uh 12 1.5% uh above our engineers estimate. So there this
federal money since there's a federal grant for the bridge replacement. There's disadvantaged business enterprise uh requirements. They had to commit in their bid they're committing 10.7% towards using disadvantaged business enterprise subcontractors. There's also on the job training
required. So, another little component to that. Um, plus, uh, federal wage rate that they need to meet that. Uh, we do have to have concurrence with the mindot office of civil rights of their bids, uh, and everything. We have
not received that yet. All that paperwork went to them last week. It was thought that we could have it as early as today, but I had not seen any of that before uh, nine o'clock this morning at the board meeting. Um, share, excuse me, just to be clear,
because there's federal dollars involved, there has to be disadvantaged business enterprise requirements. Uh, correct. Which is an additional 10% to this project. Um, you could maybe I mean it's it is interesting that well, they're both they must be using I don't
remember which the sub was. they must be used in the same subcontractor to meet that requirement because both biders are committing to 10.7 of the total contract price uh of using a DBE contractor. So would if we didn't have DBEs, is it safe
to say that it would be 10% less? I don't know. Maybe would be less. Federal projects do just because you have federal wage rate requirements, additional uh reporting and stuff. They do tend to be higher. This is the project though that we did receive word
uh back in May that the projects were eligible to receive state bridge replacement dollars to come up with the local match. Um I am hopeful that even though our bids come in higher than that uh we'll still get that additional state bridge money to to make up this
difference. I unfortunately I do know that our federal money is capped if I I ran some numbers. If we don't get additional state bridge funds to come up with the the additional amount over our estimate, worst case scenario is that we
would need to come up with $263,941 of local funds. To shed a positive light on that, in our currently adopted five-year plan, we had uh $1.17 million of local funds set
aside to to match this project. So that that's my opinion. Worst case scenario, we have to come up with only a third of what we were anticipating for a local match. All those things considered, it's my engineer's recommendation to go ahead
and award a construction contract to Redstone Construction LLC contingent upon the MINDOT Office of Civil Rights compliance with the the disadvantaged business enterprise requirements. So move, Mr. Chair. Second. Mot been made
and seconded to award the contract to Redstone Construction LLC. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I opposed. Carried. All right. Uh this next item I'll go through rather quickly. Um just
uh it's more of an information thing uh of other things that I'm involved with that that may not be readily apparent. So, uh, we're going to be talking about our intersection with Highway 95 at our CASA 7. Um, I was participating in an
ICE study, and ICE is an intersection control evaluation with Mindot, who hired a consultant to do this this engineering work. Uh, other than my time, there was no cost to the county for this engineering work. But it's because we are aware of some crash
history here. Just to provide some overview, there's Arkansas 7, 1605th Avenue, north south, highway 95 east, west. We've all driven through that high-speed roadway, flat intersection, open terrain, um, good line of sight,
but we're still having crashes. And that's what we're trying to figure out. Why are we still having crashes? And this is what's most concerning to us. In the 10 years previous, 24 through 2014, total of 15 crashes. But most concerning is three uh type A crashes and at least
one fatality. Type A crashes in an engineering world means that those are severe injuries, maybe lifealtering engineering, you know, injuries resulting in paralysis, loss of limb or something. Um and that's what we want to do as engineers is try and find safety
improvements that reduce those those um severe injuries and certainly want to reduce fatalities. Um uh there's just once again all the crashes. So this process of an intersection control evaluation we look at all types
of uh different intersections. Um one of the alternatives always in the engineering world is no no build. Do nothing. Um a lot of times that's easily ruled out because if we're having people die at an intersection, do nothing is not a a viable option. We looked at
allway stop control would even installing a traffic signal, modifying the geometry, adding turn lanes and things, roundabout and a split alignment kind of thing. Think of like a J turn or those arc cuts uh as an option. Um, one
of the things is we do a tra they did a traffic projection and a no build. Another reason why that was ruled out is Friday um a PM or yeah PM peak and then Sunday peak times. Uh the intersection
gets to a level service F with uh if you're sitting at northbound 7 uh trying to get on to Highway 95, you'd be waiting over 103 seconds. So doesn't sound like a lot, but if you stop at a stop sign for two minutes not doing
anything, it feels like a long time. But that that would be less than ideal. Uh positively though, around about uh uh 20 years later, well, we'll talk about that in a minute. Uh level service A with four to 5 second of delay time. Um if we
built a roundabout, worst case scenario, a traffic signal, a little bit poorer condition, you're you're waiting a little bit longer in the northbound and uh or I guess it's actually westbound. So, Highway 95 would be waiting uh to allow traffic on seven to go through in
the full buildout year. Uh a roundabout um and I'll go ahead and reveal the the secret. A roundabout is going to be the recommended intersection type uh at the end of this study. It would look something like this. Uh 130
foot diameter, which is determined to be large enough to handle uh truck traffic uh through this this intersection. and and the these green lines positive note that we think of right now most of this construction could happen within
existing uh highway 95 rightway. Okay. Um one good thing another thing that this these ICE reports do is they come up with a benefit cost ratio. So your cost of construction um this is what they're
looking at realistically due to funding sources at the state level even it would not be constructed before 2030. So that's why you see they they know what roundabouts cost them in 2024. So they project that out to 2030 with an inflation and estimate that this
roundabout could cost uh maybe about $2.5 million. um the benefits. So there's all kinds of Institute of Transportation Engineers manuals and guidance that uh to be blunt assign dollar manu uh amounts to severe
injuries and fatalities. So what you look at is if this intersection type could reduce future injury, you know, severe crashes, what is that dollar amount? Um and that's where we get a benefit of uh over $17 million. Um and
then the cost, this is adjusted. So you take out construction cost uh and then you got to reduce that by some some ongoing maintenance costs but we still get a benefit cost ratio of almost eight 8 to one. So the benefits are nearly
eight times the cost. Um this just goes into some more things about like life cycle cost operational costs uh um and the capital costs and routine maintenance cost uh those kind of things. This was the other intersection
that was looked at seriously um was this split alignment type of thing. Um so once again it eliminates the through movements on Cas 7. You couldn't go straight across this. This type of intersection would force you to stop at the stop sign and then make a right
turn. either you wanted to go left or go continue north onto Kasawas 7 and use this this Texas turnaround or J turn as they're called and then come back back through. Um what's interesting is this is a lot more expensive to construct uh
mostly due to rideway because it would it pushes the it splits Highway 95 apart. It builds a median in the middle middle so you have space to make those U-turn movements. So, uh, in 2030 that's estimated to be almost $10.2 million.
And so, the benefits of that aren't nearly as great. Um, and then the benefit cost ratio, even though it's over one, it's not as great as building a roundabout uh there. So, at the end of this process, which took about a year,
we started this in May of 2024, and they they uh finished their report in May of 2025, and it's actually sitting on my desk waiting for me to to sign it as the county highway engineer for CASA 7, but that's at the end of this is
recommending that the appropriate intersection treatment at this intersection is a roundabout. Uh so that's where it sits right now. That doesn't mean that Mandot is definitely going to build this project
uh in 2030. What I think it does mean for them is to start identifying possible funding sources. And why that's significant to us is because we would be expected to have a cost participation in this project at least about 50% because
we have two out of the four legs of this intersection. What's good about this, having this report finalized, it would open up Benton County to outside sources of funding as well. Most importantly, probably the HSIP funding.
This would be a good candidate for the county to apply for HSIP funding to cover our local share of this. Um, and Mindot would pursue their funding. And so right now, HTIP funding, as we know from our other roundabout project,
maximum award is $750,000. If it really is going to cost about 200 2 and a.5 million and we have 50% of that, HZIP funding could maybe cover 60% of our local share. It's a Cass road, so
it's something to consider in future years that maybe it's CASA funded as well. You know, our Cassotment. So, but so right now just for information do want to let the the board know and the public know I am inclined to sign the report uh because being a part of the
process I do agree that in the future a roundabout is going to be the appropriate intersection type at this this intersection. So I'll be signing that report and sending it back to to mind. Any questions about that? other than
east of 95 past Princeton, they have a big roundabout on 47 and 95. That's right. And that seems to work really well. That's helped a lot. That slows traffic down and it does slow the traffic down too. So I will just add just anecdotally uh this same process
just kicked off for MDOT looking at the 25 and Highway 95 intersection, State 25, not county 25. So they have invited me to participate and put my input on that. So, well, we may see more things as you go through on 95, more
intersections being considered. So, Mr. Chair, Chris, do you want to brief them a little bit on we got the 23 uh in the ATP3 to push forward to for um to get some potential state money for study? Oh, for
you're talking about the the fourlane. Yeah. So, yeah. So, that was corridors of commerce. Uh uh it's one of the listed projects that's in the running as a finalist to receive funding, I think. Yeah. So for so fully all the way out to
I35. Yeah. All the way to I35 we receive and was it $2 million? Yep. Of quarter. And so it sounds like it's got a good chance of receiving that corridors of commerce funding. Here's the thing. I had uh at a recent
uh ATP meeting for the tech engineers, I posed the question. They didn't answer it directly, but the belief is if that project is successful, the applicant was the highway 23 coalition. The coalition cannot be the recipient of
that grant. So, there's going to have to be a discussion between us, Max County, county, Pine, and Pine. who should be the recipient. And why that matters is because whoever that recipient is will
have to oversee the contract with the consultant doing the work, paying that consultant, basically fronting the cash and then submitting pay request or reimbursement requests to the state to get reimbured for those engineering costs. So there's going to be some staff time and those kind of things. With that
said though, Commissioner or Representative Schultz and Representative Nelson in that area is fully aware of what that may mean to the counties. A county stepping up. Sure. To see if there's possible state funding for it. Yeah. But you're right. Coalition applied but can't can't be the
recipient of it. So, and it all Yeah. It comes down to Mandot and their their trust of entities that can manage projects and things like that. But good news for the coalition that it sounds like it's got a good chance of getting getting some funding, which is and that's a $3.7 million study. Yep. Wow.
While we were in this meeting, uh, Commissioner Kursky from Sterns, uh, called me and let me know that they're putting together, I think their county attorney is putting together a a letter of support that all counties, cities, districts, townships, everybody can sign
along. We're going to go for chambers and correct. And you're you're very act you're you sit on that board. So our policy board saw that on Friday. So just as an engineer's recommendation if that if that's successful I think it would be uh in the best interest to some
form some kind of group with representatives from Benton all those counties the commissioners to be part of the project management team that helps select that consultants doing the study help provide input throughout that process and those kind of things. So, as you know, the Highway 23 coalition has
Bolt and Mink working as lobbyists and engineers for this whole process for the coalition. Yeah. So, they've put together a lot of that paperwork. A and we may if we success, we'll have to check into that. The the the obvious, I think, question is why why don't we just
use Bolton Ming to continue doing this study? I've run into things where sometimes uh either state rules or federal rules say you just can't automatically use that consultant. We may have to force them to propose. We may have to receive other proposals and
evaluate those. And if they become the successful proposer, then then sure, we can I'm just saying the 23 coalition uses them. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. That's all I have for highway issues. Okay. Mr. Chair, would you
consider moving to ditch authority before we finish finish our meeting? Can we have a 10 five minute five minute recess? We'll take a five minute break and then we'll move to ditch authority. and then we'll recess for the ditch authority meeting. All right, I'll call the Benton County ditch authority
meeting to order at 11:43. Um, we have already done a roll call with all commissioners present. Uh, we'll approve or amend the agenda. Chris, any changes? No changes. Motion to approve. Second. Motion a second to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor? I opposed
is carried. Move on to consent agenda. Item one, approve or amend the ditch authority meeting minutes from June 3rd of 25. So move, Mr. Chair. Second. Motion, a second to approve those minutes. Is there any further discussion? Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I
oppose is carried. Item three, Chris. Continuation of public hearing on the acceptance of repair of CD9 assessment and final cost. Yes. So we've had multiple public hearings. Uh we received testimony. most recently two weeks ago and uh the drainage authority continued
it today to allow staff to u uh prepare the the final order. Um I think we have findings and an order uh if uh boards had a chance to review those. Um I think the idea would be to to read them into the permanent record and then make a
motion and a second on that what's read. So would would you like me to read that or I'm happy to too. I do have a question before we move into that though. We had originally talked at ditch subcommittee meetings about potential um I'll call them punch list items. Yes. Um do we have a official
list of those? Yes. I have a physical copy of the list right here. So um I actually have a meeting with the contractor this afternoon to to talk about those. So I guess my point is is that if the ditch authority moves to approve this, it would be contingent upon punch list items being finished
before the dollars are released. Yeah, correct, Mr. Chair. And I would say that would be one of the that'd be the next one after F to make sure that it's taken care of. All right. Or do you want me to read it, Chris, or would you like to
like just do that comment of uh Michelle needed something? Okay. I was just going to say maybe we could add it because we already talked about certain things. So, we just make that an additional upon proof of the punch list items being resolved. Okay. I think just
add that if if you're okay with that. Yep. Okay. And Michelle, do you need the findings read also? Basically, the page just Yeah. Okay. Chris, you or me? Uh, you. All right.
So, ditch nine, motion to adopt the following findings in order. The findings are item one, Helman construction has completed the repair of ditch number nine. Final payment uh shall be made. Total cost for the drainage system are $497,000. Four, excuse me, 497,42163.
Cost of the drainage system repair shall be assessed back to the benefiting property owners. The cost shall be assessed back at 2% interest rate from the date of the order with a payback term of 15 years. The board shall order the following based on the foregoing findings and the entire record of proceedings before the board. The board
acting as the drainage authority for Benton County ditch number nine hereby orders as follows. A the contract herein is accepted as complete. B. Any retainage under the contract shall be released to the contractor upon written proof of any submitted uh punch list
items. Release of all leans of contractors or material uh related to the project. C. the cost of the repair for Benton County ditch number nine and all other outstanding costs such as the cost such as an additional cost for the repair proceedings, the cost for the reduction of benefits and damages, and
the cost of reestablishing the records totaling $497,42163 shall be assessed against the property and entities benefited. The assessment shall be paid back at a 2% interest rate with a payback term of 15 years. Item D. The owner of any property so assessed may at any time prior to certification
of the assessment to the county auditor pay the whole of the assessment on such property with interest acred to the date of payment to the county auditor treasurer except that no interest shall be charged if the entire assessment is paid within 45 days the adoption of the drainage system assessment. Item E, the
Benton County auditor treasurer is ordered to file with the Benton County Recorder the auditor's drainage lean statement and auditor's tabular lean statement or Benton County ditch number nine. And finally, item F. The Benton County Auditor Treasures is ordered to pay the county's proportionate shares of the balance due in the contract, if any,
as provided by Minnesota Statutes Chapter 103E. What are your wishes? Second. Is there a motion? Motion first. Motion here. Second. Commissioner Heinen, any further discussion in regards to findings in the order? Do we
need a roll call? Yes. Okay. Commissioner Benoy. Yes. Commissioner Heinen. I, Commissioner Pop. I, Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Kapinsky. I All right. Thank you. Uh, motion passes.
Um, Chris, we can move right into 14 then. Yes. And then, um, based on what we just adopted with CD9, I would recommend uh, uh, the same thing, adding that statement in because the punch list items do, there's there's some on both
ditches, nine and 14. So, adding that statement in to um release of retain each completion of uh punch list items. So members, are we okay with adding that same language in here? Punch list items need to be care back. I think Michelle
I see everything should move down a notch. Okay. So I'm basically going to read out again with the added numbers. I said different numbers. Change the number. Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. All right. Are we ready? Anything else, Chris? Michelle, before I start rattling
off. All right. Motion to adopt the following findings in order. Findings: Helmet construction has completed the repair of ditch number 14. Final payment shall be made. Total cost for the drainage systems are $770,12644. Cost of the drainage system repair shall be assessed back to the benefiting
property owners. The cost shall be assessed back at 2% interest rate from the date of the order with a payback term of 15 years. The board shall order the following. Based on the foregoing findings and the entire record of proceedings before the board, the board acting as the drainage authority for
Benton County uh ditch number 14 hereby orders as follows. Item A, the contract herein is accepted as complete. Item B, any retainage under the contract shall be released to the contractor upon written proof of the punch list items
that were submitted or um resolved of any of and release all leans and contractors or material related to the project. Item C, the cost of the repair for Benton County ditch number 14 and all other outstanding costs such as the cost such as additional cost for the
repair proceedings, the cost for the redetermination of benefits and damages, and the cost of the reestablishment of records uh totaling $770,12644 shall be assessed against the property and entities benefited. The assign assessment shall be paid back at a 2% interest rate with a payback term of 15
years. Item D. May the owner of any property so assessed may at any time prior to certification of the assessment to the county auditor pay the whole of the assessment on such property with interest acred to the date of payment to the county auditor treasurer except that no interest shall be charged if the
entire assessment is paid within 45 days of adoption of the drainage system assessment. Item E, the Benton County auditor treasur is ordered to file with the Benton County Recorder the auditor's drainage lean statement and the auditor's tabular lean statement for Benton County ditch number 14. Item F,
the Benton County auditor treasur is ordered to pay the county's proportionate shares of the balance due on the contract if any, such as provided in Minnesota statutes chapter 103E. Is there a motion to approve CD approval? Yes. Second. Motion and a
second. Roll call, please. Beth. Commissioner Benoy. I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. I. Motion passes on a five to nothing vote. Steve. Anything else? Chris. I have nothing at this time.
Members, anything on ditch authority? We're journed 11:51. Okay. Pass back to the board chair to finish up our board meeting. Let's see. Meetings attended. Commissioner meeting
updates. I can go first. Yeah, go ahead. Uh I had amended joint uh powers uh uh amended joint powers with the city of St. Cloud meeting on 64. Um it looks like the city of St. Cloud is looking to
bring legal status against the there's a automotive uh repair shop that's on Highway 23 that has been an issue for several years because they keep accumulating accumulating accumulating. So, it's
turned into a junkyard and there's been a couple of fires out there and um they can't get response. So they're going to move forward with whatever legal proceedings takes there. 69 district 5
or yeah 6ix9 district 5 meeting 610 a cow 610 I did a mind township meeting shut the door Beth 611 um had a uh Micah meeting I I attended virtually on that one and 612
career solutions um meeting and we um made BRZ and hamburgers and that kind of stuff Steve and I and Jeff Bertram um uh helped cook that stuff. And then we had
the Vend Bend in the River Project that uh I went to which I thought was pretty cool. I I didn't even know that park was there. Really? And you must had enough of BRZ and hamburgers at that date. Oh, there was plenty. Yeah. Well, yeah, we
did. We did. Yeah, the baked beans, right? What about your sawdust burger that you missed out on? I was going to roll up some of that bark and fry it for you. I did see that. I couldn't believe it. I had a bride. You did? You You've never been to that park, huh? I have never been to that part. Oh, that
was the first time I was there. Oh, okay. Well, I'm just going to go. Good. District five meeting. Uh, we had a cow. Then I had training after that. Uh, let's see here. I had to do a performance review for
Tammy Stark at Career Solutions. Then we uh on the 12th we did serve the career solution staff with burgers and hot dogs. Uh I sit on the workforce board too
and we at Career Solutions got hit pretty hard with the workforce board, but we won't see those until next year. the the hit uh our dislocated worker program got cut by 52%.
So that's if a business goes out, you know, and then we have to go in and help the individuals get a new job or help them get training or anything. Yeah. So we don't know what's going to happen
next year. It it's this 52%. Yeah. Just that's just it's just downright nasty. And then I was at Oh, I can't say that. Uh and then today, sorry that's it. Thanks. Okay. Um I had the um Benton
EC meeting, the extension meeting. Um that went well. We had good reports. Um you just kind of marvel at the the Annne Olsson in extension, the number of number of things she's doing out there for the youth. Um and then I had the
Mississippi Sartell. um meeting in the morning of the 11th um and we're meeting at the WAB town hall. Um we're actually moving some forwards, hiring um what do they call him? A planner or whatever that is. Um having a
little trouble getting people there. We had to wait for a quorum. I mean just not a lot of interest. Commissioner Perski was gone. He was the call of the track state track meet I understand. So he couldn't come. uh commissioner from Morrison County doesn't show up. So I
don't know what you know I think we had four and that presented a quorum. So are are you having problems too then? Because we're having problems meeting quorums with all some of the other count I'm sitting on too. And they they they should have an alternate from Morrison
County because that entire watershed runs through their county and uh Commissioner Winter I don't know. He didn't show up. He didn't show up at our at the district meeting either. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe he's got some health issues. I don't um and then we had I went down and we had Micah meeting um
some of that stuff. I guess I was kind of happy to hear that the cuts in the state funding would be somewhere to our county between 30 to 50%. They don't know exactly yet. Yeah. So, we'll have to wait on that. Um and then of course the Bendon River that
was well attended considering it was raining. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, coming down there. Um, they did a really good job. I thought, you know, Jimmy Johnson does a really he does I didn't under realize that he does a lot of those projects for Odessa. That's
kind of one of his niche things. Yeah. Evidently, he's like all over the state doing these kind of projects. So, and he said he he was telling me when we were eating that he goes he told his wife when he bid this that we were going to get it no matter what. He said it's four miles away. Yeah. It's in his back
backyard. He said, "I'm going to get this no matter what." So, good. Good for him. Anything else? That's all right. Uh June 5th, one water, one plan meeting. Uh the 9th, of course, our district meeting. Um also had Foley chamber quickly that evening before I came to
extension committee budget meeting and then the regular meeting after that. I did leave the regular meeting early to go to a township meeting. If you're aware, we had an issue with a culvert in the in the ditch system. Long story short, the Maywood Town Board uh uh came
to a resolution with the subcontractor on a 2 to1 vote that they're going to allow him to fix the culvert and I believe give them a 10-year warranty on it is what that town board decided to do. So, just fix it, right? That's what
they chose to do. So, that's resolved as far as I'm concerned and we got to move on. Uh, of course our cow from the government center on the 10th. Um, I also was able to attend the Ben in the river. It was really good. I I did go up for seconds. I'll admit that. Uh, it was
really good. I know that's a shocker, right? It could have went for thirds if you wanted. Yeah. But boy, that was Yeah. Uh, last Friday our 7W policy committee meeting, which we touched on a little bit with Chris. Um, and then yesterday morning, a ditch subcommittee meeting. Um,
also went over to Max County last night for judicial ditch 1A meeting and it was not noticed as a closed session. So I turned around and came home and we rescheduled for next week. Okay. Okay. I sit here pretty disgusted with myself
to be quite honest with you. So, I'm a little salty with uh the meeting today and and I I applaud you guys and
I keep going back in my head going why didn't I do it? Why? Because I know it's the right thing to do. That's that's the shitty thing that we deal with here. We know it's the right thing to do. There is no right time. There is no there
there's no right answers for anything we do up here and we take it on the chin every time whether it's good, bad or indifferent. I I don't even know what to say to you you guys. So it very disgusted with myself
because it's it it was a tough situation and man, I'm not going to lie, things things come in my head with what happened down there. I mean, we've we've all sat in meetings with with Hortman, you know, it's
ah, it's frustrating. And you know what? I don't want to say that that people are crazy, there's there's a lot of mental health out there. Mhm. And when you start paying for things and you can't afford things, people got nothing to go
for. It makes their choices a lot easier. If I can, Commissioner Pinsky, for what it's worth, I totally respect your vote. I respect Commissioner Pop's vote. This board has dealt with, like you said, a number of things over the years. We've had a handful of 3 to2
votes on this board. Commissioner Bon Knight wasn't involved, but we did have some of those. I think it's important for the board's health that we respect our votes. Um, I I hope and I want to tell you that if the vote would have been the other way, I would have done my
very best to respect that, even though I would have disagreed with it. I I think we have to show not necessarily agreement, but we've got to be able to respect each other's decisions and move ahead with the vote that was presented today. And I'll just
leave it at that. I I I absolutely respect you guys's because what you guys said I don't think any of us can disagree with I I don't think so. I I don't think there was anything that was said wrong here. I read that thing into the the the
record because that in a sense is an attack on on all of us and we can chuckle it off but that's a scary deal especially with what happened. So none of my meetings even none of my meetings even matter compared to what we are
going through right now. Um I had the ATP3 we kind of gave an update on that. We had the radio board cow and I had just a couple minor ones. Other than that that was it. Okay set committee of the holes. All right Mr. Chair we just have one to mention.
Uh it's time for your employee recognition uh for the first half of 2025. Uh, we offer you either July 1st or July 15th, excuse me. And those begin at 7 a.m. over at the sheriff's office. So, what would seem to work best, July
1st or the 15th? Mr. Chair, I'd prefer the first. Get it? I don't want to say get it over with, but let's stay on top of it and just not put it off because we're going to be seeing more and more meetings coming out of All right. That's my opinion. Sure. I'm gonna be good. July 1st. Wait a
minute. Monday. I'm My wife tells me I'm on vacation that week. Okay. So, we need to do it the 15th. If No, I I will come in. Okay. Cuz that's a board meeting to that. Right. It's a board meeting. Yes. It's a board meeting day. That's why I guess I suggested market. Go ahead. Go
ahead. At 7:00. 7 a.m. beginning at the sheriff's office, right? July 1st. Okay. And just a reminder for your calendar again, we the board agreed to a special board meeting on June 23rd at 9:00 a.m. Yes. Uh regarding the uh government center bids. That's next Monday. Yeah.
You know, looking ahead, Mr. Chair, uh one reason I was in here, I was talking to Jessica Green about flexibility on those dates. You you may remembered her calendar recommended like they'd be special meeting dates, not on your normal uh board meeting
times. And she suggested J July 8th to have adopt the set sale resolution and the U redevelopment plan. I asked her, I said, "Hey, would would the 15th work?" And she said, "Yeah, that'll work. It tightens the schedule up a bit." Uh so I
I wanted to toss that out for you as an option. Um, you could stick with the July 8th date or you could just bump it to the 15th. Ju just so you know, Monty, that's when we're starting union negotiations. I know. I know. So, as long as it's in the morning, if it's in
the morning, we're good. That's right. Yep. And that's fine with me. It's just it gets the process started and it doesn't compress it so much for us. So, um Well, right now we have it on the ETH, right? Yeah. At 8th. So, I I wanted to establish that. What what would be a good start time for you all on the ETH?
Well, I guess I'd defer it to you, too. When your when's your negotiation schedule at 10? I think 10. We don't start till 10. 9. How long? Yeah. How long's Yeah. 9:30 even. 8:30. Don't matter. 8:30. How long do you suggest? Any idea how long? I would say 8:30. You know, give us a little bit cushion
before you negotiations start at 10. Um, so again, it's a set sale and it's a public hearing on a redevelopment plan. I I'm asking because we've got to publish that notice in the newspaper quite soon. Sure. Quite soon. 8:30 on the 8th. Yes, sir. Yep. So, July 8:30.
And again, that's a special mean of the HA uh to consider redevelopment plan and um the set sale resolution. So, that's the fourth hat that we wear. County board, ditch, ha. No party
meeting forever. Forever. No. Probably the last time they did it. Last time was over because you had probably when the board refinance so was the 23rd that decided at 9:00 a.m. That's what I heard. Oh, sorry. Yes. Is everyone agreeing on that? Well,
I get it at 8:30, but that's fine. The 23rd is is 9:00 a.m. The 8th is 8:30. Yes. Correct. Oh, sorry about that. July 8th. Now we need we probably need a little extra time because July 23rd is
the June June 23rd. Okay. At 9, next Monday. That's a special meeting of the county. That be the only agenda item. That's the only agenda item. I'm going to work with Pete and Evan on that agenda.
I certainly will confess I've never been part of actual process to award bids and I want Pete needs to be involved in that. Okay. Because I have a special I have a special board meeting at Career Solutions at 11:00. Yeah. I would hope we're done by then. Yeah. So, but you
got to be done by 10. Yeah. Yeah. Hour and a half. Only we actually do have the employee recognition ceremony on July 1st at 7 a.m. Okay. I'll move the calls, Mr. Chair. Second. Move made second to set the cows. Any discussion? All in
favor? I I opposed carried.