e e e e for today start of the Pledge of Allegiance ALG 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 BL sure commissioner schan here commissioner Heinen here commissioner ginsky here commissioner Johnson here commissioner pop present thank you present
okay approve or amend the agenda Monty sure we have three items Mr chair first is consent item number 10 it's the special event permit for Ries that's a consent item number 10 and then two items add under
administrator at 905 first is the appointment of a human service director second is the energy transition Grant application as prepared by be so there' be two items to add under administrator at 905 and that would be
it move for approval of the amended agenda Mr chair second okay we got a motion and second all in favor I post same sign motion carries County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube please refrain from speaking
from the audience area and come to the podium so that viewers can hear you the County Board observes Robert's Rules of orders for its meeting so please obtain the board's chair uh consent before addressing the County Board public comments are generally reserved for the open Forum segment or public hearings
however the public comment on other agenda items may be allowed at the discretion of the board chair as we begin today please turn off your cell phones or turn them uh to vibrant thank you open Forum okay we got nothing on
the open Forum consent agenda items 1 through 10 Mr chair I'd like to pull number five and number six please okay any others okay okay motion to
make you motion to accept everything with number five make a motion to accept except for number five and number six second okay we got a motion to approve consent as items 1- 4 and 7 through 10
all in favor I I oppose same sign motion carries commissioner Heinen number five resolution 2024 Monty uh it says where ask Kathleen rder is duly elect Ed Bon County attorney I
guess I need to have clarification because she wasn't elected she was appointed by the board uh that is true Mr shair uh that that um just one clarification yeah Kathy assumed that office to be an appointment process so I suppose you
might want to consider some different wording in that regard that it's more of an appointment I mean I I as I've mentioned in the past when a person is appointed to fill out the term of an office they effectively become the elected official with all the
responsibilities and duties of that elected official just they they got there a different way rather than being elected I understand but they weren't elected they were appointed right that's all is that is that set forth in the
resolution yes yes it is right so the question I have is what what wording I would you know to make I suppose Miss Cher to to move this matter along you could simply say Kathy Rutter is the Benton County attorney and just remove the term duly
elected how about that that would be fine by me I I just question the the elected part of it okay that's so we would just Scratch Out duly elected okay yeah is that a motion with that I'll approve the motion with a word change oh
second okay we got a motion and a second on agenda item number five all in favor I I oppos same sign motion carries okay and then number six uh with the change orders the question I have is the last
change order and I can't find it in my computer here is that Thea funds about uh the contractor broke their I cannot find it
here trencher their trencher and then they have to go to an excavator or something now to do that and that created a change order for us to pay more for that I'm trying to understand that as a business owner if I break my
equipment that's on me yeah the CH the the change order wasn't to repair the equipment or anything what ended up okay that what ended up my understanding of it was the uh um the the person doing doing the construction only had a certain size of equipment once that machine could not do
it they looked at two options to get the fiber trenching done and one of the options was to bring in a larger machine at their cost but it was determined that it would destroy the Boulevard and and and the trees so then they had to they decided to bore it which was the least
uh disruptive and the boring costs weren't in the original quote so it was the boring cost that were extra for that, 1500 ft cuz trenching is cheaper yeah um so when they bid it they bid your I I get that but that still doesn't shouldn't fall on us that should really
fall on them I I kind of see where uh uh Steve is saying though if they could have brought in that bigger piece of equipment but it would have tore up the Boulevard and that those repairs would would ultimately probably still fall on them yeah but
um yeah I guess it I think it was an issue of not understanding what kind of ground they were going to be going through it was it was anticipated to be able to use a trencher um and when they bid it that's just how they bid it due to State contract um I could certainly bring it
back to the vendor um that would be my recommendation is to bring that part of the change order back to the vendor because when I do state contracts I'm liable for everything regardless sure okay and and I'm just having a hard time with it I mean I I agree that it
has to get done I don't have a problem with that I I just have a problem of the additional cost put on us because of something that happened on their end and Mr chair and just for clarification Steve um they already did it yeah so
there wasn't a change order request they're billing us after the fact sure they made a decision to do something different Y and now they're billing us I'd agree with commissioner Heinen I mean they should have came and somebody should have said something and said hey we need to we need an approve change order because what we planned on doing
is not going work sure now now they're coming after the fact that bill could have been twice said and they would have said hey this is what you owe Mr chair Steve I just have one simple question did they contact you before they did this uh I'm trying to remember the order of events I'd have to look at the
process I know there was discussion of it but I don't recall if they said it was going to add cost to it okay and I think too commissioner kinsky right I mean they made a decision not to bring a dozer in and tear up the boulevard which get the bill would have been a lot worse
but they still made a decision to move ahead with something different than what they bit sure yeah it's understandable I can certainly bring it back to the vendor Mr chair my second question is I assume these are qualifying arpa dollar yeah yeah yeah plan yes use ARA funds okay
thank you y so with that I'm just going to make a motion to approve the first change order of 7770 yep 7770 and not approve the second change order of
5775 until further uh clarification second okay we got a motion and a second any other Dialogue on this one if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign I abstain okay one
exstension thanks Steve just try to get clarification so we can better understand this we'll do thank you thank you okay thanks commissioner hinen all right we'll move on to Monty Mr chair our recognition committee uh considered
nominations for the second quarter and recommended uh recognizing Carrie strong back in our County Attorney's Office uh and I believe uh Kathy is here to to address this thank you come on up please Carrie strombeck was nominated by Dan
Shu one of our assistant County attorneys uh essentially um a situation presented itself where a defendant um through no fault of our office but through the court records had um something that caused further
penalties that were not deserving um that call was made to our office Carrie handled that she did some uh specific research on that called the people that needed to be in involved to correct that um and made sure that that was done so it's a great example of how we're not
here just to to merely convict but to seek Justice and in this situation that person was suffering penalties they didn't deserve probably their licensing and that type of thing so I commend her for taking the time to do the right thing thank you so we got to come on up everybody
has to come on up everybody come on all right everyone has to get a picture you get to stand in front of us too oh it's very nice of you to come over in person that is great not not not everyone's willing to do that I was told
that you guys highly recomend probably some and we'll continue to there we go all right thank you thanks for coming over it's nice of you all right looks like I got to R the next
items huh all right I believe the next it Mr chair is the decisions by theard before we go there it I know they mentioned it was highly recommended I hope we're not threatening them but but it is it is
very it is very nice to see him come in person I agree yep thank you for that yep absolutely so miss chair the DC flying is coming up soon in September and I think the board wanted to make some decisions today about who will attend on behalf of the county it's
September 17th 18th and 19th I believe this is an event that's coordinated by the transportation off they arrange visits with our Congressional Delegation and others uh in in DC so who wishes to attend and of course
then we'll assist you with those arrangements well I can attend this year and Chris bird too yeah and Chris so it's commissioner pop Chris bird any others will be going uh I will be bringing back later on uh to go with the
APO for in it'll be November okay um after election but uh I from from my two cents we've started going out there and we're starting to see Federal money coming in and I think we need to keep doing this so commission kinsky so
you're you'll be Affiliated then directly with APO going y will they make your arrangements and all that stuff no um basically this year this year I would still probably be looking for funds from the county to go with the APO next year if everything plays out I'm the vice
chair so I would be the chair next year and then then I will be taking care of by APL that next year okay so we'll we'll be in touch with you commissioner pop and Chris regarding arrangements and flights and hotels and I'm guessing the transportation lines has like a block of
hotels and and other things arrange right so and and for the record I know commissioner Johnson would like to go next year I would yes so thank you for your willingness to go it's I'm sure it's it's a lot of effort to walk around for two days straight visiting people in in DC so wearing a
suit and tie yeah and I hope it's not 100 degrees like last year and the year before yeah it could be really sticky there yeah in more ways than one yeah this is very important that we attend with all the federal money y received and we're apply thank you for doing that commissioner pop yeah I think right now
commissioner hean brought up before the meeting right now we got about $6,000 probably in County funds for us to go in the last two two years and we've received about $6 million for them pretty good return pretty good return good return y well if we may Mr chair I
think that we could move on and the next item is with Tessa Melvin our consultant of DDA uh to present the recommendations from year one of our class en comp maintenance program so Tessa I am going to make you the presenter good I'll get you
something and then you can control the screen ask Monty you can oh otherwise otherwi otherwise you can U Monty I'm just using the hand out well if why don't you uh if you can go ahead and and and do the presentation then you can
scroll through at your own pace and and so on okay yep all right up I would want to share screen anyway so folks that are also with us virtually can can see it too so
I'm just fing it up isn't there music to this yeah we're not we're not seeing it yet so yep I'm getting okay we are seeing it now okay yep we have it all right thank you
board Perfect all right thank you board chair and Commissioners I'm here just to present on kind of the ongoing maintenance the process um is again reviewing job descriptions employee completing the position review with the supervisor rewriting
um job description appeal process market analysis and then the classification jobs that's kind of where we are right now once the board looks at this there will be appeal process for um the employees but this will help Monty with budgeting and this will just kind of
help the board kind of again understand the process that we've done um when I was there earlier we talked about the market trends again just increase in early retirements career changes the labor shortage um increase in work from home options shortage and specialized
trainings with the certificate or lure and that injury retail position um 20 to $24 an hour is pushing um one thing I'll add since we met the removal of the salary cap we are definitely seeing some counties and you all have seen some of
the postings um for administrator jobs and some counties for commissioner jobs have increased because of that um Tess are you advancing to your slide if you are we're it's not advancing for us so in 2024 this is the jobs that were
reviewed again what is to look at a third of the Tess if I may interrupt are you advancing your slides you know they're not advancing for us though oh y oh I was gonna Callin I am you're
not i'mna make all can you see my screen now Monty no no now you can't see anything see you all right let's maybe this isn't gonna
work I apologize I'm not sure um it's looking like it's working no hey do you have the power up there I do just give me a second just give me a second all right sorry I guess
you'll be my Mana that's okay you know oh oh we got a new word yeah yeah oh that's not going to be forgot nope sorry Monty thanks for that Tessa you're welcome you're welcome everyone El there it is so I'm on the fourth slot
and 24 2024 jobs review just so they can see those list Monte hang on this a second he's new in his position well you're usually not presenting for somebody else
right right right perfect thank you Monty of course it all right you just tell me when to advance slides Tessa sure I'm on slide four
okay I am I am too oh okay perfect you should be able to see you should be a you should be able to see it too since I've shared screen yep I I see the main one and then I just see the slides but as long as you guys can see it I'm okay okay basically
those jobs are reviewed we try to pick a third a third a thirdd to look at the actual job description we're looking at the entire Market every year so if a job starts falling out we may add that into the mix or if there's a classification request or a new position um or
retirement and you're kind of going to reorder so the list isn't always set um but we tried to figure a list of a third a third a third so that um individuals can know when they're up it's somewhat randomized um and not always
acting the entire department at once so um that that's how those jobs were picked on the next slide we just talk about the benchmarks and how the county picked those benchmarks um and then slide six illustrates the actual benchmarks that
were chosen by the board and it was a long discussion of how those were chosen why they were chosen like indicators tax cap capacity populations um service levels who do we look like and who kind of surrounds
us then on the next slide um is the market analysis so we this shows the jobs that were reviewed this year where they are in comparison to the market there are two slides to this the left column is your job description then it's
the yman your max The Benchmark men The Benchmark Max and where it's positioned to the B um to the market so we highlight anything in pink that's 10% or more under market and anything that
would be above would be in green um and as you look at it you have a couple of positions that are falling behind the market average again Market average would be at 100% means you're just sitting right in the middle of all your benchmarks so there's going to be some
higher and definitely some lower um the next slide just shows um the second page of those um Benchmark positions and where they are to the county so on slide nine the market analysis the entire
County so when we looked at all of the jobs you're about 2% of Market average so um well within that market average um textbook would say 5% does competitive we're see um but for the
jobs that were reviewed in 2024 they are between six and seven markets so um some of those jobs are just falling a little bit behind and it's very typical what we're seeing um the last time we did this is postco some changes have
occurred in jobs um just the market again the demands and just some of the job and restructuring that you guys have all had Tessa can you can you back up just one sec you kind of cut out there you are mentioning something about
5% we're at 2% would say okay yeah you're at um overall the count is at 2% of Min and Max of the average so textbook would say if you're within 5% you're highly competitive okay um some entities are trying to be right at
market and some are trying to be a little bit above just to be competitive um but with the ones we looked at only this year like the ones we were reviewing they're about six to 7% so some of those were starting to get a little bit less than we would like to
thank you after the you're welcome the next if they get their next step what it does it bring them into a better range or is that included in the 67% it is included so when I look at it I'm only looking at the men and the max
um actual pay or step I'm not looking at because if your mens are low you're going to have a hard time bringing people in and if your Maxes are low you're going to have a hard time retaining so St that movement or where people are isn't look we look at it but in this case when
I say to Market I'm just looking at the Min and the max any other questions no um then the next slide is just how jobs are evaluated because people that is a question that people always have you know I've been here a long time um
some of that so when I look at a job iway States if I'm looking at if everyone won the lottery and we're hiring tomorrow it's what's needed for the job in relation to qualifications and education um decision making what decisions they're making problem solving um relationships so who are they
communicating to um what are they communicating effort both mental and physical and then working conditions and again it's about the position and not the person so when I was a city administrator I had a doctorate degree and I'm not going to get paid
for I'm also a TIG welder um and I can well but you wouldn't put that in my job description because it's just something I to so the next page is um one one of two slides that has our recommendations for classification changes these are based
on the job descriptions the review process and the market so the first one is Patrol Captain moving from a 14 to a 16 um and some of these like kind of snowball because of where they are located so like the
patrol Sergeant would move 11 to 12 um the chief deputy sheriff from a 16 to an 18 Social Services Supervisor from a 13 to a 15 jail program coordinator from an 8 to a 9 Human
Services director from a 20 to a 22 County Administrator from a 22 to a 24 and then on the next page or slide sorry um County Assessor from a 15 to a 17 Public Safety lead from a six to a
seven and just clarification that's that's Public Safety dispatcher oh go ahead I was just mentioning test the public safety lead is the public safety dispatcher umor lead yes
yep thank you um senior assistant County attorney from 18 to 19 assistant County attorney 1 from 14 to 15 assistant County attorney 2 from 16 to 17 HR specialist moving to a title of HR manager from 7
to n and the HR assistant um to title of HR administrative specialist from a three to a five um I know these look like a lot of changes typically we don't see that many but you haven't done this process for a couple years um and the
market has been changing in jobs and especially with your county youve been restructuring um positions with people leaving and retirements and some of that so um it's not atypical to see changes this many is probably a little bit more
than we would generally see but part of that is because we haven't looked at them in a while Tess questions with that Tessa for clarification I think some of these were handpicked uh because we knew that they were behind correct yep right when I did it I kind
of randomly put some in there but when I saw that some were's falling we put those in that first round but it doesn't mean that every single job in the first round was under market so yep those two do not correlate but you are right I if I saw jobs that were falling I said we should probably look at them sooner
versus later and for the record we wanted to make sure the board wanted to make sure that we kept things in line so we're not losing people and having to retrain y exactly questions from the board okay keep going all right we keep
rolling then the next slide perfect the next slide we talked about um for several conversations about career ladders and with this round um the recommend ations would be public health nurse to have a
one in a two a deputy sheriff a one in a two um caseid one in a two registered nurse um one in a two there is a request for the community health specialist to have a one in a two um it is not supported by the market so meaning that when we look at other organizations they
do not have career ladders like that um there aren't a lot of people in that position um but I do mention it because it was requested um and it you know can be added to that list the other ones I typically see in other
organizations um the market supports it for Recruitment and Retention um so I just bring those up to the board as well questions all right none all right um and then the next um is just kind of the job
classification appeal so employees can look at that and they can appeal it again um it has to be something's missing or warrants another review I'll review it and then kind of communicate and we'll bring any to the board for final approval um any grade changes note
the next slide says any grade changes will be contingent upon the board approval also implementations approved upon upon the board um if there any um negotiations of affected collective bargaining so I does mention that but
that's kind of the next process so what we did was we reviewed the job descriptions we have input from employees supervisors we looked at the market and then I looked at the classifications and those are in front of the board today then I'm on the question
slide board okay do we have to take action on this one no this I may address that in Next Step so as Tessa mentioned so we'll send this information out to affected employees and they have an opportunity
to appeal the classifications and so on uh in the meanwhile I'll do cost estimates on implementing these changes I will have then estimates for you when you have that final budget discussion of
sometime in September and and whenever at some point if you're comfortable with with the recommendations and so on then we would ask you then to formally approve uh the recommendations I could see that
happening second meeting in September something like that somewhere in there uh and then uh we would need a letter of understanding with each affected Collective bargain unit uh to implement any of the changes so that would be like you know October November
meeting with those groups getting those lus for a January 1 effective date on these changes right so that's how it would commissioner pop Tessa do you see any um downside or where we approved some of this and the bargaining units
come back and say the me too you know I want no because you're not opening up for that discussion um you're just saying that we're proposing these changes and that's kind of it I mean um
a lot of the changes kind of are um with the advancement of a career ladder which I think is helpful for it um I mean you always have the risk of other people saying me too but in this case when Monty will open it up it's just for those affected one it's very clear we're not discussing other things or other
positions um so it's just kind of showing that in good faith we are adjusting these even though we don't have to so their chance probably would be to come back at the next bargaining session then right sure of course yeah they'll come back yep right and we're also going to take a
look at another third next year third next year right that was my question are we gonna wait until June next year again or what are you thinking timeline to start the next process um when did we actually get started this this time Tessa when did we actually start kicking out those those
position questionnaires I don't recall exactly was it was it yeah we got I thought it was April I think in like meish meish yeah yeah we could we could probably start a little earlier yeah and the second second comment Tessa could
you please forward that presentation onto US I have it you have it I got it I I'll make copies I'll make copies y thank you y thanks perfect I will make copies so so again is everyone clear on the kind of calendar and the schedule
we're good there okay yep again I'll have cost Essence for you when you have that final budget discussion in September so great okay we're good for now yep thank you thanks Tessa thank you thanks Tessa
see you thank you have a good one take care thank you everyone y all right well I'd like to move on to really great agenda item this is a feel-good one for sure appointment of Human Service
director um so this sing committee with the assistance of Dave dris assciates interviewed uh some finalist for the position of Human Service director just recently uh the selection committee would like to recommend to you all the appointment of Joy Johnson Lind as our next Human Service director if I may
just cover a few things that are in the agend item she she served as a senior director of Child and Family Services for Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota for 10 years previously a director of Child and Family Services Social Work leader clinical social worker also for uh Children's Hospitals
and Clinics um she has a bachelor's degree in psychology and social welfare from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree in social work from the University of Minnesota and I I just want to say I think uh the selection
committee consisted of uh commissioner Johnson commissioner Heinen uh Stern County Human Services administrator Melissa huberty and myself I think we're extremely impressed with joy extremely articulate uh great experience a lot of energy a lot of ideas I think which will
which will go will will serve us quite well so uh commissioner John commissioner H you would you like to add anything if you would it was another good good process uh Second Time Around for this process but we finally got somebody we feel that will uh benefit
our County didto it was a great experience I think she was a standout um right away we were two questions in and I think it was a good stand out so that's looking forward to it yeah and I I just also wanted to Mage here is is make sure we
acknowledge Melissa Huber's contribution you know she devoted quite a bit of time uh to this interview process to reviewing applications and uh Melissa had a lot of great feedback and and input for us she brought that perspective as a director
into the process which is extremely useful to us so I want to make sure we and I have already of course thanked her and copied Mike Williams but I make sure we publicly thank her for her contribution to this process thank you uh Joy's planed first day is Tuesday
September 3rd right after Labor Day uh so with that Mr chair if you all could could uh by motion make this appointment I'll make I'll make the emotion to appoint Joy Johnson Lund as our Deputy Benton County Human Service
director as of Tuesday September 3rd 2024 second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions on this if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose
same sign motion carries unanimously all right next Mr chair is Amanda asked me to bring this to you all she could not be here today I believe um she there's a little bit of the backstory so um apparently the state of Minnesota has made Grant resources available to
counties that are losing power plants I believe this is initially directed towards toward sherban County with the sherco closure but any County that has has experienced the closure of an of an energy generation facility can be eligible while we discovered that there
was a small I believe it was gas fired uh Power Plant over off Highway 10 in that Bent Drive area uh I frankly didn't know it existed uh and the folks at the state approached Amanda and said
hey you had one of these facilities you could be eligible for this energy transition funding so uh Amanda has pursued this and working with Highway and she's applying for a grant of a million dollars and it would be used to cover the cost of the utility pole
relocation at the kashad 29 roundabout location so that's the purpose of the grand application uh she's got the application mostly complete she is rounding up letters of of support from from all all over and I believe this I don't know exactly sure when the the
application deadline is but it's coming up pretty soon very quick yes so she asks you to approve the application and then authorize the board chair to sign the resolution of support for the application um as I've gone as I gone
through this I do not see like a local match requirement per se I mean obviously there's going to be lots of other accounting costs associated with this roundabout but this would be a grant then to cover their utility relocation Mr chair if I could it sound a little bit like a broken record I know we're constantly giving kudos to be but
this is a great example of our partnership with B absolutely especially Amanda and her extra work and effort to get Grant dollars this would be huge towards this project if we can get this so again thank you to her and be yes we we can't say enough about what
they do they they step up in a lot of lot of different ways to bring money to the county that they generally don't I mean it's not in there we'll call it job duties right and uh I hope everybody in the county sees that as well as the organizations that that pay into the the
be because it is definitely helping the county people don't see it all the time on the levy dollars but this if we would get this grant that's a million dollars that we wouldn't be covering off of ly dollars exactly or half cent sales tax or half C sales tax yes because it has to be done it has to be done well it's
going to get done we otherwise we're going to lose Federal money so it's got to get done I guess what I want to say is that I believe she approached us about this grant we didn't approach her yeah that's absolutely true right she found it on her own and I don't know
correct yeah so absolutely true right it's another good way of how be is working with the county Mr chair I'm going to move to approve the application of the energy transition grant funding and authorize the board chair to sign the res second okay we got a motion in a second any other Dialogue on this if not
I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks again B and Amanda and Pam so yeah all right forget Pam don't forget Pam we're moving on to sandy yes so the next two agenda items
kind of mixed together um we have a representatives from a Vivo here to talk about um the services they provide to us they are suggesting a change in our contract for mfib snap and DWP um it is the same cap as always so the same amount of money grant money
going directly to them to serve our clients um the only thing that's changing would be an hourly rate due to some of the changes they've made and how they provide services um and they're here to discuss that with you so I'll let them introduce themselves
okay thank you good morning morning good morning good morning good morning um thank you for letting us um be added to your agenda this morning my name is Julie k and I am the director of avivo family and employment services with me today is
um Becca Lopez the vice president of our Career Education and employment services programs and Patrick Shephard who is the program manager for Benton County's mhib DWP and snap services that are being operated by a
Vio as Sandy um said and as what's on the agenda we are here to formally record requ EST a rate increase to our current contract and we are making this request because um it will allow us to continue to support the recently
implemented initiatives which we feel are enhancing the services to the families of Benton County oh excuse me we're really excited about these changes um and they've already had such a positive impact on the services and the
support to the families who are receiving them um as noted by Sandy this increase is not going to impact our cap at all the first of these initiatives that we did was we restructured our program Staffing and this included the
addition of a supervisor and an experienced senior counselor allowing us for allowing the programs to provide stronger oversight and technical assistance directly to the Frontline staff who are engaging with the families this also um in turn has better equipped
us to address address the new and unique language needs that are emerging across all of Central Minnesota the second thing that we did um earlier this year was we added another service location in Mala which is just 15 minutes from this building
and what this did was allowed flexibility and convenience to all Benton County residents and families seeking our services this location is staffed daily by the supervis and under the supervision of the new super advisor
overseeing Bon's family and employment service programs and um it's again it's just adds the flexibility to the families especially um in rural areas where Transportation can be sometimes an issue and road construction as well the
third was the agency's implementation of a reduced work week and this was in um in designed to assist our staff in balancing work and family this increases the job retention of our staff and because of this retention the continuity
and stability of the staff ensures that there are no service interruptions for the families enrolled in our programs to speak more to this um I'm going to have Becca Lopez step up here thank you hi everybody thank you so much for inviting
us to be here today this is and thank you Julie this is a really exciting topic for me the reduced Work Week model can sound very scary and very exciting at the same time and a Vivo is really really excited to implement this and I brought notes so I will stay on track because I get excited and I'll talk a
lot about it um you know we like many other organizations we really struggled during the pandemic but also coming out of the pandemic with both Recruitment and Retention I think we thought that the pandemic would subside and all of those things all of those things that were happening would just go away but we
found that that wasn't the case and in um in particular staff retention was a concern because we know and some of the will repeat what Julie already said we know that when we lose staff our outcomes in our community is in Jeopardy every time a participant has to retell
their story relive trauma and build trust with somebody new we run the risk of them leaving our program the other piece is that MIP diversionary work snap they're very complex programs they take a long time to learn and they take a
long time to execute with perfection every time we have turned over we are starting back over again and taking more time away from the people that we serve so we knew if we could impact retention we would have better customer service we would have improved outcomes in our
community and what we realized is what we were doing it just wasn't working so if you think throughout the pandemic we saw hiring bonuses we saw retention bonuses increased flexibility and none of that stuck with our team what we heard was a resounding need for work
life balance and not just now now and not just can I come in later and stay later people were saying I need balance in order to be here and so we dug into a reduced work week and we did a lot of research team we spent the better part of six
months looking at Global Research talking to organizations locally and really like trying to understand how this model works and what we found is it's not just about having less hours in the week yes we're reducing 40 hours to 32 we're not reducing pay and we're
expecting the same level of productivity it's about being more efficient it's about removing redundancy so we did the research we dug in we found that in almost every case it increased productivity it reduced burnout it improved mental health and it
led to feelings of higher job satisfaction impressive right let's try this so we did a pilot in 2023 we launched a pilot with a handful of programs that lasted nine months to almost a year we really wanted to make
sure that this would work this is a big change for our organization we're about 350 employees this was not something that we took very lightly so what we did is we grabbed a handful of programs and we said here's a couple of caveats impact to participants no negative
impact no disruption in the number of hours and the level of service we provide that means we can't close on Monday we can't just shut down our doors we can't say we're not here on W Wednesday afternoons we monitored case load sizes documentation frequency of
interaction and program outcomes and we found no noteworthy reductions and oftentimes outcomes increased very exciting um staff I had the privilege of interviewing staff in the in the pilot overwhelming agreement with the global results less burnout higher job
satisfaction and feeling like they could show up better for the people that we served so given the success we decided to make this not a pilot but a way of doing business for our organization so we have decided to roll out a reduced
Work Week across our entire organization we are o help me out team about half of our programs on board right now um everyone goes through a vetting process they submit a robust plan leadership approves it a task force approves it and then they're able to submit and start
the reduced work week we are very excited about this we have this tagline at Evo Live Well work well and we believe that it doesn't just apply to the people we serve but we really need to make sure that it applies to the people that work for us as well so I would open the floor to questions if
anybody has any just a clarification yeah it looks like uh we got a Max uh not to exceed of 350,677 38 38 okay yeah thank you questions well I just have a comment that I think it's great that we're getting better success in that but I see
it we're going from 40 hours down to 32 and that's a domino effect that'll come through um the work W you know the workforce you know maybe Nationwide or Statewide yeah um I don't agree to that I think in this in in this process we
work harder work longer to achieve success and this is telling us to get more pay for working less hours and I I just don't think that that's a route that we should be going in government um you know it'll have a domino effect someplace down the line yeah I mean it's
definitely gaining momentum and and I I hear what you're saying I think what we are looking at is increasing efficiency reducing that redundancy helping people find faster and more streamlined ways to do the work um so I if I were to ask the teams that I have doing it right now
they would say we're working just as hard we're working differently thank you for that questions when we get to the next one I've got questions all right any other questions for me no all right um so they're asking are you
asking for the next the next item meaning approving the the amendment to the contract I can ask Mr chair I can ask you right now so how long have we been in contract with this with a Vivo Sandy or or members of Av
Vivo 10 11 years 11 years right so the question I have is do other counties do it hourly or they just do it by a contract per year I believe they do it by a contract so they do the amount like as you discussed yep they do set amount uh we do an hourly rate as suggested by
the county attorney's office so that's my understanding of why we're making changes with the other counties involved in this do not need to make changes so we're realistically the only county that does an hourly rate versus the other counties that work with you it's just a set price that is correct
why yeah so at this point in time it doesn't matter to me if it's just a set price and how you guys do your business right Mr chair if I may how many counties are you working with eight okay another
question it's fine we work with eight counties we work across the mentro and then all through Central Minnesota okay commissioner pop so you you mentioned you have an office in MAA County do you work with malax County yes we do okay so that makes it more efficient I would think very much so and much more
convenient what the okay we got the hourly rate we we understand that that would go to 4162 what would our what would our contract rate be if we didn't go the hourly do you guys it would be the same okay it's
the contracts the same well basically you're getting down to excuse me commissioner but you're getting down to that instead of working 40 hours a week they're working 32 hours a week and getting the same pay is what it basically boils down to Mr chair yeah
why don't we but that's not up to us well I was going to say that that is not not up to us we contract to them we're giving them only x amount of dollars if they're serving the clients right as best as they can and the and the the
services doesn't change with the client to me it doesn't matter I I'm just questioning why we're even doing an hourly rate because they shouldn't even be coming in front of us with an hourly rate how do we change that the hourly rate is um suggested by
the county attorney's office is is somewhat of an accountable thing so that people aren't just getting you know working one hour and getting $300,000 so it it's a it's a account accountability is I guess why it is so almost all of our contracts and Human Services our
hourly for the exactly that reason um that's been encouraged by the county attorney's office I will note that maybe Patrick I'm putting you on the spot but some of the things that they are doing are new and improved that aren't just about the hourly things so Patrick can you explain that one it's the technology
they're using I just want to give you an example of what they're doing differently I hear you commissioner Pop I understand what you're saying but ju yeah he does have a pretty good example of some of the things they're doing differently good morning Commissioners um I'm Patrick Shepard I'm the program manager I
oversee the five counties in central Minnesota and um the the availability to the client doesn't change we're still available to the client 40 hours a week um we're just Shifting the workloads um
so staff can work 32 hours one of the things we've done is tried to increase efficiency as Becca mentioned and one of the things that we're mandated on doing is an orientation session to all new clients so what
happens is clients come to Benton County and apply for assistance once they're approved the referral comes to a Vivo and we provide the case management to those clients the state has a very prescribed orientation that we need to
do my orientation person has given the same speech as she's mandated to do by the state of Minnesota the same speech four times a week every week for 11 years um when covid hit we we kind of
put our brains together and said why don't we videotape this thing it's the same speech so we videotaped it and then we thought huh what could we put it on like a YouTube channel or something and clients could then go sign in watch the
video which is the same speech she's given for 11 years um so we did that and um right now almost 90% of our clients engage with us by watching that orientation video online the other thing we did was that
orientation was at prescribed times 9:00 a.m. on Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday that doesn't always work for folks um the majority of our viewership on that video is actually Sunday night
about 8:30 9:00 when you put your kids to bed and you can kind of take a breath and say okay what do I have to do now right um Child Care is an issue um mhib families have kids and to pile up your kids in a car run them to St Cloud or
Mala and then have them sit through a 30 minute boring video that's not very helpful either so we have taken that and shifted that by doing the video Once posting it online having a really slick system for clients to um engage in that
we've moved that administrative task and shifted it to now we can focus more on case management and you know we can tell you how many hours we save a month by doing that but again it's efficiencies like that that allow us to do 32 hours a
week and serve our clients at 100% so I had the same reaction you did commissioner hop about this pop initially but those kind of Innovations are good and then the bottom line is we spend the same amount of money to serve the same amount of clients no matter how
they do that so that's how I became one over on this so just sharing that with you Mr chair so I have one other comment is that prior to us going with our broadband and that we a lot of our clients probably didn't have the ability to go online that's correct so what do
you do in that case we just figured that out today actually this morning I literally figured this out this morning is um Walmart sells a a a
$80 uh Wi-Fi and then I can go online and purchase monthly subscriptions to it and then we send that code to the client and then so we provide um we we base it we start about 3 months but that can be
extended so we can um provide Wi-Fi to our clients so they can engage not only us but the school districts Mental Health appointments now are online so yeah without that online you can't you can't even apply for work without being
online now you know I mean you don't go to a place and fill an application I I remember that um it's all online so getting clients online is huge and yeah we support that with the dollars that we get um and again we just figured out how
to coordinate that and it seems to be working so Mr chair if I could to me the bigger picture and I understand both commissioner pops point and commissioner heinens we have a contract in place that talks about total dollars for direct program Services client Readiness
Administration there's a total do amount there and I would imagine between Janelle and and Sandy that's being monitored and when the bills come in you're you're verifying that that was actually done correct so we have a maximum amount the time to look at that
total thing is when it's up right we're not asking to change the maximum hour right it's just the hourly and I get that but we're getting into the Weeds on the hourly yeah excuse me Comm but we're getting into the weeds of their management that's right that's right basic that's not our business it's not
business but yet it is it's not changing the total dollar amount what we're P out no I'm going to piggyback on that I did the little math here we just lost 750 hours we'll call it by moving this up but our pricing doesn't change so let's just say 10 months in the contract when
you're out cuz right now you're about 9 9150 hours we went down to 8,400 hours so what happens in you know nothing changes but in in month 11 when we're out of hours what happens s we ensure that that does not happen
that's so then so there we shouldn't even have an hourly that's exactly yeah that's where I was going that we shouldn't have an hourly cap or 41 whatever per hour so we should just enter in the contract for the exact set
amount dollar amount correct for the year I would like to see that you guys choose to run it thank you I think what I mean from my standpoint we could approve it today on this but I think moving forward we need
to go to the the trust we'll call it that our that our staff is doing and following up on everything and going to a contract I would agree because I would hope staff would at the next round of contract we come back and say you know I think we're 50 Grand High here or
something based on Services we'll have that discussion you guys will have those internal discussions and present the next contract if it seems to be the correct amount right that's what you cuz cuz if I were you guys I'd be keeping track of all your hours to show that that 350 is adequate and it's not
375 so all right what would the board like to do motion to approve second okay we got a motion and a second any other uh questions on this matter if not I'll call the question all in favor I opposed same sign motion
carries excuse me thank you thank you very much thank you I'm just confused all right we'll continue all right Andy our next agenda item is um considering a state of Minnesota DHS
complex transitions contract and will'll Cho is here to address that issue good morning good morning morning I'm here on behalf of Adam Martins he was unable to be here so this is for an individual that he serves in his unit uh this individual has been in the hospital
living in the hospital since 2021 technically I know he put 2020 2022 on his form here she had a short they had a short stint um in the community that wasn't prepared properly for them returned back to the hospital and has been shipped from hospital to hospital since then um so he had approached the
board uh a few months back for request of $5,000 through the same fund the complex transition transition contract uh he is again asking for money this time though he's asking for a total cost of $120,000 what this will do is this will allow for the REM model of the home we
do have a provider that's willing to take this individual um there are no other providers in the state of Minnesota that were willing to take this individual which is why they still reside in the hospital uh they're on outpatient status so they don't really belong there but due to uh physical restrictions they are still there so we
do have our providers willing to take them some home modifications need to be done as well as a bed hold so to date so far enta Health uh where this individual is residing has paid around $62,000 so far to the company for a bed hold the reason for the bed hold is that this
company is losing money every day that they leave this bed open that they could have filled with somebody else they're holding it for this specific individual through this contract it does require the county to put the money up front but then will be reimbursed with the $5,000 that was asked earlier uh that was
reimbursed within two weeks back to the county I'm hoping that that'll be a similar turnaround for this time uh we do not have the contract yes is a little unusual on how this came to board but it's in the urgency of trying to ensure this individual can actually get out into the community to reside in a
community setting um and so uh the County Attorney has requested that as soon as the contract comes in uh Michelle will take a look at it it's going to be similar to the one that uh the board approved again for the $5,000 earlier um and then I'll go through the proper steps so no money would be looked
to be dispersed until the contract was fully reviewed and approved um but essentially that is what we're asking the board to do it's contingent upon review is to approve the $120,000 for this individual and and you're saying that that money would come back to the county anyway correct correct correct so
this the state does it kind of strange it would be nice if the state just paid out the money directly to the contractors due to the state and federal money that's involved with it their accountabilities are that they require the county to put the money up front and then reimburse through this contract Mr Mr chair so will how does this work uh
Lord forbid this doesn't work out for this individual and the taxpayers of the state or the county have put for worth $120,000 to remodel somebody's house so the design of this so that that's kind of where this plan has been so this plan has been in the works for the last year or so I'm trying to identify exactly
what this individual needs the last time it was attempted it was this complex transition fund didn't exist and so the problem with the waiver is the individual can't access the waiver until they're in the community so so because this individual's in the hospital there's no dollars attached to it which
is why this creation of the complex uh transition contract was created um so the idea is that this will have the lift that this individual needs this will have the space this will have the door width um uh the entry door the access pathway the flooring because this flooring is going to need to be enhanced
further to endure the the weight of the individual as well as the bed and other devices that are there and then some privacy wall for living space so it's it's really going to be made directly for this individual to what the functional assessment was was saying they needed
so go ahead is there still a I mean don't hear my heart I'm not saying this shouldn't happen I'm just wondering if this does not work for this individual what happens this individual then would go back to the hospital yes that would be the only other place that's able to
care for this individual it is my I mean no no placements guaranteed at at this point um but the provider has met this individual this provider has um understood the complications and the the demands of this individual as far as what their needs are um and they feel
that they can meet them they can meet him successfully this individual is also excited to move into this facility which I think is a is a perk compared to the last time last time it was just kind of here you go this is where we're going to put you and it didn't work out because it wasn't set up for the individual okay
thank you but bottom line is it's it remains with the house I mean that's the changes are there they with the house it is a foster home however so another individual might use it but is being designed very specially for this person it's not going to hurt the next person that moves in but it's designed for the
special needs of this person commissioner P thank you so if this individual gets to the house and it doesn't work out and he doesn't want to stay there anymore um basically that money stays with the house I mean there's no I mean there's no guarantees it's going to work out I
mean correct so so once this individual moves to the county or moves into the home and into the community then the waiver takes over and that's all federal dollars that that that is set aside for people with their special needs um this money here is to be able to make it accessible and attainable for the
individual to to move into the home and this is the reimbursable part so again the county there is no fiscal impact at the end of the result once we get reimbursed That's The Upfront money that would be the fiscal impact to us so when we get reimbursed once he moves into no we get reimbursed as soon as as soon as
we put the money up we pay the contractor then the cont that's part of this contract that's coming in the contract will spell it out as well with reimbursement like I said last time for the 5,000 was reimbursed back into our coffers within within in two weeks so it' be a pretty quick turnaround as well
so I got a question where's this contract come from the state of Minnesota so why do we why do we have to have our attorney look at I mean what are they going to change if it's coming from the state of Minnesota I guess it's just process to look at liability to make sure that
everything is on the up and up and it should be like I said it should be a pretty quick turn around Michelle is aware of this and the urgency as well um to to make a quick turnaround on it okay I I understand commissioner
commissioner kinsky what you're what you're saying with all state contracts we can't change no we're not redlining a state contract anything right I think the only reason from my perspective that I mean the main reason from my perspective it's good to go through the county attorney's office is looking at
it from her perspective legally are we gon to get the money back I mean that's the bottom line like that's what I'm worried about is there anything in here that that I'm missing as a as a lay person that would indicate that we would Rec not recommend this contract be entered
into but is there a risk to the county fiscally somewhere in here and that's what I count on the county attorney's office to tell me that this is a good deal for us this is not a risky Adventure I get that Mr chair I'm going to move for approval of the complex
transitions contract uh contingent upon the review of the B County Attorney's Office second hey we got a motion in a second any other questions on this matter if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thank you s thank you for all
your work too Sandy hopefully this works for this gentleman government giveway okay we are going to move on to Christine good morning good morning good morning um I bring before you the joint Powers agreement with the Secretary of State regarding the primary election
recount should there be one uh each election we have to enter into this Jo Powers agreement in the event of a recount uh Michelle has reviewed it and she just asked that I bring it forward to you to get a motion to ratify motion
to approve second okay we got a motion in a second any other questions on this no if not I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Christine thank you Kristen's hoping that hers goes through
that Krist yeah yeah I mean I saw that and thought you know do you want to take do you want to take a break you need a five minute breather it's B it's B yeah this is supposed to be a consent item and I accidentally put it on Rec
it's it's no problem good morning Mr chair Commissioners I have the following two items the first one is going to be um hopefully awarding a contract with Paramount planning they are Minnesota based company that specializes in planning and preparedness uh for all
hazards the intention with that would be to utilize RSG funding Readiness sustainability grant that public health received um and this was included in their preliminary budget for RSG last year that company would come in um do
five exercises five tabletop exercises for All Counties or excuse me all departments in Benton County focusing on continuity of operations planning and again that's more long-term planning for us if we had a disruption of services in some capacity for 30 days or more
whether that is Staff shortage uh facility loss Etc um what does that look like for the county um and then they would also provide one after Action Report um so my request would be that we approve an award a contract with them um
for $112,000 to do those exercises for us Mr chair y Christine does that mean the Commissioners have to go through this too you are more than welcome to attend all of them um not no I would leave that up to
to Monty but um it's strongly recommended I I definitely could see some Advantage uh from the administrative side of things especially as we talk about um orders of succession and delegation of authority and what that looks like and coup begins to
address some of those questions um where redundant positions don't exist so does that I'm sorry Mr chair so with the five uh tabletop exercises are they all different exercises then all five they would Noe they would be based on the same scenario just they just have to go
to one okay so we just have to go to one then out of the five yeah I would recommend that you pair with so I've grouped departments uh by like functionality and my recommendation would probably be to join on with the one that Administration is going to participate in okay okay I think we I
did that twice since I've been on with our old director we had like a chain of command or whatever you'll have you have dates for us at this point um no we we do not have dates set yet so this will probably occur over my my best guess is the
course of a year year and a half um as we finalize our current Coupe reite and then meet with the vendor um and public health to get some of that that timeline plotted out move for approval Mr chair I'll second it okay we got a motion in a
second all in favor I I oppose same sign motion carries next item thank you the next item um is a proposition to request the transfer of a vehicle from the Sheriff's Office to the Emergency Management Department um it is a vehicle that is
2017 and is coming out of service for them so with a few modifications that vehicle could be transferred over to Emergency Management and used for day-to-day use U my apologies if you reviewed your packet it said in October of 2024
knock on wood it's not October of 2024 in October of 2023 when the glender officer involved shooting happened um it things went as well as they could but there was some logistical issues um and as a position that is predominantly on
call 247 with the expectation of carting around equipment and potentially picking up trailers going out during the day or at night it would be my request that we shift that vehicle to Emergency Management um and do like I said a few modifications reprogram a radio um put
decals on per state statute and then um transition that over Mr chair couple questions Kristen um do you have a guesstimate on dollar amount to redo the vehicle um yep so to redo it um the decaling would be
$270 and then reprogram a radio that Emergency Management already has is about $50 so that's just to transfer it over um Emergency Management does have just over $500 too in funds that had been donated to the department quite some
time ago before I was here U my intention would be to utilize that money it I believe it's an it's an unmarked uh uh Ford Explorer so so fewer modifications are required if it instead been a squad sure less less things to do there yeah and then just for
clarification is this a vehicle that you would come here to Bon County and pick up and use when you need it or is this a vehicle that's going to be with you 247 247 is the intention okay yep uh Christ we've we've talked about this uh and I
you look at what just happened over the weekend with the storms and everything like that we're able to mobilize her directly from her resident instead of coming back here and and everything I just uh I'm it's really not going to cost the county a ton so I guess I'm in
favor of it was is that a motion Mr chair I'll make a motion I'll second that then any other communication Ed yeah I I think it's fine that we do this I just don't know if it should be 247 I think it should be
base somewhere in the county instead of you know I don't know that just seems to be you know it we I I Kristen lives uh a little ways away so I I look at it from a standpoint
it's easy uh for her to mobilize on on a on a scene wherever she's at so Mr chair Kristen are you in the office daily I I'm not I'm I'm probably in two to three days a week depending on the week um also that largely depends on
my meeting schedule I would say most of my meetings are if I'm out and about um Alec is a very common area the Metro is a very common area to meet so often if I'm not in the office I'm out at meetings sure Mr so right now are we
paying you mileage for your car yep okay so and again for clarification that to the Mee you'd take this vehicle to meetings absolutely yes y so then we wouldn't have to pay mileage corre mileage that would go away completely
y any other questions I guess I'd like to monitor it for a year see what the cost is to do this doing maintenance fuel everything okay see what it cost us per mile okay all
right I'll call the question all in favor I opposed same sign motion carries thank you Kristen thank you Rock Sam all right good morning Commissioners M morning morning uh before you I have an agreement with
Bogart Peterson and Associates to administer uh the Wetland Conservation act rules um and statutes uh as you may know Sierra cter our former Wetland uh lead program lead has resigned um she's
taken a new position and she actually has taken a position with Bogart Peterson as one of their uh Wetland delineators um and so Bogart Peterson has offered to provide us with those Services until we have the position
filled um for $110 per hour I did reach out to se to find out uh what they could provide that for it's $165 an hour I would say that's pretty standard uh SE does um Wetland
delineation for a number of local communities so uh they're a fairly reputable uh company that that provides these Services um so Bogart Peterson would they have assuming this gets signed they have set up an email where I would send um it's just a joint email
between uh Craig wedman um another Wetland Del delineator and Sierra Cotter who would take in all of the applications that we receive and questions and inquiries on Wetland um items and they would administer the
wacka um rules and regulations for us on our behalf um right now we have no staff in office that are trained or knowledgeable in uh the Wetland rules so it's it's imperative that we do um contract with another firm for these
Services until the positions filled it's chair just for clarification roxan so if I heard you correctly there's an email set up between Craig and another Wetland delineator and Sierra because she's there yes and is that that design because she's involved in what's
currently going on obviously she's yes she has that knowledge based and background to know exactly what's going on with all of the projects that are currently in place the violations the projects um applications that we have so um she she likely will be a part of that
um especially with her knowledge base on how these projects generally proceed through the county roxan did she I I'm from from my what I've been told is she didn't really have a lot of wetland
delineation training before she came here is that correct correct yeah so I you know you look at that and go me you know I'm I'm a little concerned maybe that she is on some of this because of you know the
lack of training on the background of that um I would beg to differ that she had a number of months of training um with Mark mcamera who had been in that position for oh gosh a decade or more um
so she had that behind her she did go through she was certified through the Board of Water and Soil resources um for wetland delineation and in all of my conversations with all of the Consultants that we work with um and
people who do not have violations they have been extremely complimentary of her services and her ability to work with those individuals to help them um through different situations MH um but
I've had high remarks from a number of consulting firms which is probably why that's where she is now okay Mr chair so roxan this firm will be overseeing what's here it does too though so it'll
be second eyes on it yes any other questions Johnson I'm just thinking yeah I'm going to throw another question so you can keep thinking there commissioner Johnson so I also uh it's notes that the county request 1.5 mil cyber liability
and the consultant is only providing one mil yes um and that was we presented that to Michelle it's a standard language that we request of Consultants um they were able to provide 1 million
Mr I we've heard this insurance issue many times over the years the way I understand is typically this insurance is sold in million dollar increment correct and oh gosh about 12 15 years ago the state increased the tort limits
by half a million and apparently it's really expensive to buy a full extra million so we we've heard this many many times I'm not wanted to go with the full 1.5 or 2 million yep it's a very common issue cyber security Insurance in
general is very expensive well that's a new one that mcit is recommending it's it's not required mcit recommends that contractors carry this so-called cyber security um I think in those cases you really have to ask yourself is would we even be
providing uh a vendor access to our systems or would we provide them with private data I would imagine this instance the answer would be no so I don't know necessarily that you need the Cyber with every contract it just depends some some
background on my comments earlier is when we sit in these ditch meetings and everything Sierra hasn't said anything and it's always been other people talking and to me that should have been working for the county and and
pro you know producing something for us to to understand where we're sitting on some of these cuz I I don't know the first thing about ditches and Wetland delineation and everything like that so that that's I was just substantiating my comments
earlier anybody else got anything well I think there's there's a lot of counties that don't have in-county Wetland people they farm this out maybe that's something that we I can tell you that Sherburn and cerns have
inhouse I believe Max has in in-house Morrison does not and I don't know that that's going extremely well okay I think Mr chair thank you commissioner because that was my question and I just didn't want to you know you know we're a small County when
it comes to ditches compared to some counties and I think some of the counties that have large you know 130 40 ditches that is all done outside of the county staff some have a specialized employee that takes care of that
they still do their legal stuff outside of the county CU it could be buil right to yeah the ditches correct Mr CH I think it brings up kind of two questions we you know we've got a contract here in front of us I'm reading it right that's basically through from today through December 6 so it's
somewhat of a temporary contract because we have to have something in place I don't think anybody disagrees with that yep um and then the other things I'm hearing is maybe that's what fires off a a discussion at some point with roxan about you know if if it's through the
community the whole or what are what's our long-term plan here because is it going to be to continue the contract is it going to be to fill the position I don't I'm not sitting here with an answer for that but it sounds like that's some stuff we need to talk through because this position is also
taking care of solid ways so what does that mean I don't know I so I I think there was some frustration on on people's on both ends Sierra's and
the boards when when she may be resigned and and stuff like that I'm a little concerned on her being overseeing or or being a part of some of these things when it could have been some of the frustration coming from board members on
some of the issues that were happening under her control I can assure you that Sierra has the training that's necessary um um she is or that position rather must follow State Statute they do not
alone have the ability to make decisions yeah and so it's a group effort and I can tell you that there have been many many occasions where this position has fought for um the applicant the property owner when in turn the remaining members
of the T do not agree with that and and and so the ultimate decision and enfor action has to come from the county but it's not necessarily that we agree with it but that's the role we have to play okay Mr chair I I understand what we're
all going through but at the end of the day we still have to have this contract in place I will approve the agreement with bargar Peterson and Associates Incorporated for temporary administration of the WCA and authorize the chair to sign the agreement I that's my motion
okay we have a second second any other communication Mr chair I again I'm going to highlight that this is a short-term contract and I think we need to have a discussion about what we're going to do going forward and that needs to include roxan and what our plans are going to be
here on this position and what we're going to do contractually I I don't know that we have the answer to that today so I think we have to get together and talk through what our options are sure and again I want to highlight it's temporary I'm going to be very honest I have mixed feelings about it too um I I understand
the need in this case Sierra has all the background and she's going to help Bogart Peterson with that I I just don't know that that's going to be a long-term answer for us yeah Mr chair I I agree I agree but short term we have to do something and this is our our best
option I agree I'm going to support it because it is short term go ahead I just want to why you as you noted it it terminates December 6 2024 I just wanted to add to if I guess if the board is thinking about possibly uh Contracting out this long term you might want to
actually uh talk to some other firms and actually bring folks in and interview them and get a sense of what they're all about their qualifications and so on um I I there might I know I was thinking the WSB has been doing a lot of the work with us out on Parks they may be another
firm you could talk to but again I think you probably would want to interview a few firms Mr chair I'm going to consider on the motion in the second that we include we include a upcoming C and and that Roan's able to put some of that information together for us and have a discussion with her is a lead because
we're missing information yeah again I'm not sitting here saying we should or should not have that position where we should or should not contract I don't I don't know cuz that's not our only position either a solid waste we need that good information from roxan so that we can all make a decision together and
it's probably going to have to be through a committee y Mr chair and I agree commissioner Johnson but that doesn't have to be in this motion that that just has to be between us and I understand I just want to make sure at the end of the meeting we don't forget to establish a committee the whole based on this discussion yeah
no I agree so okay okay we got a motion in a second I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Rock Sam thank you thank you welcome back Chris thank
you oh good morning Commissioners uh I always like to have things in front of me I like I like to show numbers so uh finally I say that tongue and cheek finally we have opened bids on our cassa 7 reconstruction you've heard me talk many times about
our frustrations with regulatory agencies getting the necessary permits we need to go out for bids so we finally got all the required permits and uh Wetland we've got through our Wetland work we've had the Wetland credits
withdrawn and so we open bids uh for this uh we open bids on Thursday July 25th I was pleased to see that we received six bids uh for this uh Five Mile reconstruction project and the lowest responsible bidder was below our
Engineers estimate uh Helman Construction uh they provided a bid of 5 milon 845,000 $659 70 so that's to reconstruct uh five
miles a road that comes out to about $12 million per mile of road to reconstruct um so what are some other I like to like I said I like to look at numbers and see what we can learn from them um that is
1.16% below our estimate first thing that kind of tells me is like well maybe our Engineers estimate was a little bit low if this is what six biders are saying it cost to reconstruct 5 miles of Road uh we might have been a little bit low ideally I like to see our Engineers
estimate come in the middle of of the bids but the lowest three bids are within about 6% of each other so that tells me we got good bids I I think everybody's bidding it the same they're looking at the plans and the specs uh and they're seeing things the same and
giving us you know similar prices or their best prices to do this work um the last time we had a reconstruction project that was County Road 78 and we opened bids in 2019 that was about $800,000 per mile to reconstruct it so
in five years we've seen a 50% increase in construction costs there's there's there's other factors that lead into this 78 wasn't a federally funded job so there's some federal requirements like we have a 6.9% disadvantage business Enterprise
goal which which Helman has provided subcontractors that are dbes as we call them that meet that goal um and some of the other Federal uh wage reporting requirements sometimes raises bids a little bit and then we have some additional administrative costs um but I
think realistically going forward that's our new number that we should be budgeting for for thinking in our heads to reconstruct a mile of road we're 1.2 to 1.3 uh M uh 1.3 million dollar per mile to reconstruct a road in fact if you
take the average of all bids and divide that by five miles the average comes out to .285 million per mile of road so I mean as I know we're going to have a discussion later of our 5-year plan I think these are good recent numbers to
use looking forward you know 5e years down the road $1.3 million per mile to reconstruct is is something to to look for so those are some things that you know just in a couple days of opening bids and looking at numbers I think we can glean off of that information right
away Chris I missed I was looking at uh some documents here but what was the previous dollar amount if we're at 1.2 to 1.3 well oh yeah so last time we had a a multi-mile reconstruction project was County Road 78 and we opened bids in 2019
so preo that came out to $800,000 per mile to reconstruct the road Mr chair and I I I don't know was there as many bridges colberts in that on there was actually more in 78 on 78 we had two Bridge Replacements that were
box coverts on 78 that we don't have on but how much of that was sand versus swamp that that is a consideration as well yeah MH Mr chair um Chris So based on pending approval of this what what do you see as a short-term timeline here what's going to happen okay so since
we're late in the year uh we put into the spec that they have all next construction season to construct it as well we would like them to start but nothing says that they had to start we did say though if you do start this fall do not open up more road than you can
get back gravel before winter freeze up and then we M limited that to a maximum of three miles so already discussions with Helman construction if they're awarded the contract they're planning on it sounds like starting at the North End Casa 4 and maybe working the first two
miles and that gets him down to about County Road 51 replacing uh Center Line culverts driveway culverts doing all the grading and everything and then getting it to gravel over the winter and then they have all next summer to reconstruct the the remainder three miles of roadway
so um yeah one thing we learned is that if you reconstruct and let it sit over the winter I mean if we could Rec commend that they try to get everything to gravel I think you'll have a better road going on yeah we just don't really think that's realistic in the time frame now re they're not going to be able to
probably start until September so they've got two months to do five miles so and we don't want to set you know have them tear off the pavement and get it half graded or not get all the gravel and let it sit over the winter so that's why we really wanted to restrict them to a maximum of three miles and if they're
only going to do two miles we feel comfortable that they could get that graded to gravel and then just leave the rest pavement over the winter and then next year we'll get that to gravel and maybe we'll just yeah maybe we'll just put the bot the base lift on it and let that sit so at least we have a hard
surface that we can plow snow off of over the next winter that may be a good idea because that B that salend is that much lower that is the wetest part so and I think that's what led to their decision to do the north two miles a limited time frame so um and hope maybe
things will dry out next summer so it's chair I'm going to move for approval of the Construction contract to the lowest responsible Helman construction uh contingent upon the approval from mot office of civil rights yeah and then could you also add authorize the County Board chair to sign the contract when
authorize the County Board chair to sign the contract I'll second that okay we got a motion in a second any other questions if not I'll call a question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries thanks Chris all right that's
and if uh the board would approve I would like to turn it over to um step aside from County board meeting and turn it over to commissioner hinan for the uh Community Health Board okay floor is
yours well now call ler of the Bon County Community Health Board roll call everyone's here approve or amend the agenda anything to add to the agenda good morning no nothing to add move move approval second okay we got a motion as second
any further discussion call the question all in favor say I I I oppose motion carried consent agenda item one what would you like to do with that V for approval Mr chair second got a motion and a second any forther discussion on that now I call the question all in
favor say I I I oppose motion carries Jacqueline you're up thank you good morning so um previously we had come to board and asked about applying for funding through the uare foundation for dental expansion we did not get selected for that our community health specialists have identified another
Grant opportunity through Meda Meda has an upcoming rural Health Grant that's going to look at addressing needs of rural communities and determinants of health and so uh with board approval we'd like to explore that potential Grant application um submit an application and see if we can get
selected with the goal of trying to find some ways to expand some dental access within Bon County Mr chair commissioner Johnson Jacqueline fast forwarding and hoping that someday we have a dental in here is
this something that the countyy is able to help quote unquote subsidize through this grant a potential dental clinic um or is that just I think to be I think that would be determined a lot of times um the the grant when they do their Community fundraising they identify
sources and they also get funding from Health Plans okay um this would be a smaller pot we'd be looking up to a maximum of $110,000 um trying to find ways to maybe ERS with schools and do some um mobile Dental Services out in community or other avenues we'd have to explore what's all allowable I guess just my
point is obviously if we're in a position to help something long term yes yeah yeah um I think once we would have a decision on on on that or once we would know more about that being a possibility we could look more into the funding sources but yeah for now we're just trying to find something in the
mediary sure thank you good question I was going to bring that up too commissioner um I know in the past there's there's been some problems with Meda and the reimbursement rates that have not been very beneficial for
the facilities doing the services so in this case yeah we wouldn't be looking for reimbursement it would be a Grant application so we' would be looking at getting a lump sum um that would be awarded back and then we would be able to determine and seminate those funds yeah any other questions move for
approval Mr chair second got a motion and a second any further discussion on this if not I'll call the question all in favor say I I opposed motion carries anything else Jacqueline no nothing else great thank you very much thank you with that I'll turn it over to the board
chair thanks commissioner 1038 all right I think we'll move right into commissioner meeting updates who would like to start I'll start okay uh of course we were at the uh cow for the township and cities meeting I think it was another successful I've heard a lot of good comments about that and I think
that's obviously something we should continue it's a great informal opportunity to communicate with those other officials uh our be quarterly meeting up at uh two rivers at an awesome facility they Eric's done a great job up there um of course we had our picnic which was successful I'm not sure the number of people that we
covered but I think it was a good turnout there again too also we were able to be involved in the northern Hollow uh kind of open house if you will they're groundbreaking um of course commissioner he and I sat in the Human Services director interviews we touched base on that earlier and obviously very
happy to have that position filled uh and then commissioner Popp and myself and commissioner schlungen were able to be at the farm family recognition at the county fair last Wednesday for the Almond family um and so that was well attended also that's all I have thank
you I can go um I pretty much was at everything except for the BP quarterly I did go to the be um board meeting uh that month that was I anytime you can't you can't go I will definitely I'd love that if he can't go I'd love to go I'd
love to go too well nice I go all these choices e so I uh I enjoy going to that one it's a great group of people with a lot of ideas so um uh I did have the APO meeting nothing huge or exciting there
um uh Emergency Services board meeting which is very dull but uh we need to be in attendance for that other than that that's uh that's that's really about it Mr chair if I could step in real quickly I I am going to I did reach out to Chad
Keen I bet Communications about a week or so ago just for an update on where things are at he did respond it's a fairly lengthy email so what I'll do is I'll forward it to Monty and have them send it out to you guys but it's worth the read it's a very kind of in depth of what they're doing and where they're at and just to highlight they if things
stay in place it looks like they're going to be finished up uh potentially this next spring wow so you'll see the email so you'll see the email I'll have Monty send it out to you and you can read it at your convenience thank you great well I'll go
next I had the same thing with all the other Commissioners so far the only difference I had as I said on the uh a housing committee uh that cental care is putting on of course that's why I cut out at 1:00 okay at the picnic here so
that's all well I had uh well the good news meeting was on the 16th the library we formally adopted the budget for 2025 we'll see about $1,560 decrease in our funding for that we'll take it um we are I did have
another Zoom meeting on the 23rd with Tessa and we're doing some uh like trying to reshuffle we're in the same position our unions are locked in and we got to be careful what we do or you know because they have core tiles and I'm not
super familiar how the core tiles work oh it makes it actually a little easier to move people up and down in Lanes but um the full board was really disappointed that a starting position in the library is 11:36 an
hour so they have to do something in order to attract people for you know and they and their part-time and probably not benefit eligible so they decided that they have to do something like that and then we had the be board meeting
after that uh meeting we did uh approve the budget there there will be no increase to the counties except to the county um we are going to have an increase to uh individuals and businesses and um Banks as far as that
goes you know it was I think it was probably about a $25 increase for individuals that want to be and then some of the businesses was maybe up to about 300 you're talking be yeah to belong to be um yeah and we've lost a few members that
are not on deal and a comment to commissioner Johnson is that you know this is going to be a $2 million facility west of fi when they're done and that was uh that's yeah quite the the gig I just I hope that it all is and I mean you know the other part that I'm
you're kind of satisfied with is that the initiative Foundation is very thorough and where they put money and they were willing to put almost a million dollars in this thing so I'm I'm comfortable that that will succeed seed um and we do have a couple more
businesses that are looking for a revolving loan on that half too so yeah and I agree there's a lot of lot of good people on that board that really take an interest in this this group to piggy back off that commissioner Pop I I think we really need I know we fund that
roughly 125,000 right now but I think we we really need to set aside some more dollars that could be at disposal you they didn't have to go out and get potential get this million doll uh grant for us look at what that's going to save on Levy dollars if we throw them an
extra you know certain percentage over there because of all that I I I'd be so in favor of that it's going to keep them doing you know Outside the Lines work for the count yeah yeah I mean this this project that Amanda did for this grant this was beyond I mean Way Beyond Way
Beyond what she really has you know her day-to-day activities and I think some of that is coming forth when you see you know Pam was a little bit not real slow getting going but boy she has jumped into this thing we also did agree to send her to a two-day conference on
economic um development and stuff up in I believe it's in bra in duth yeah so I mean if we don't get her involved right and keep her interest there you know I mean I think she's she was a good hire it took a long time to find this person when I looked at the budget when I went to the be board
meeting and the budget was within like 500 bucks or something something like that I I don't want those two looking at the budget going oh my are we going to have payroll covered in the next you know at the end of the year whatever we got to get away from these these two these two individuals are doing just a
standup job yeah so yeah it's you know I mean you just look at the number of dollars she's levied Tibetan County that if she wasn't there I don't know who was do we didn't first four or five years we didn't get no dollars hard Tibetan County compared to now so okay you good
yep I'm good okay ready uh the central Minnesota Council on Aging um it sounds like the senior linkage line is not going to be funded by the United Way um they're having some
IT issues and they're working on the mileage reimbursement through AMC and um and at the federal level to to n to get the mileage rates up for the volunteers years so that's moving
forward um then I went to the re the [Music] reliability Northern reliability project hearing
and that was pretty there was a lot of um problems with the where the lines are going that doesn't sound like they're going to be taking the other line down and they're adding a new line and the farmers and the land owners are just
upset about having more land disappear from their homesteads and it didn't it was it wasn't a very friendly meeting I say towards the project M commissioner S I have I had a few calls and the calls I
received were from a few individuals that were very small land owners that did not want it going through their proper property I didn't hear a lot of comments from land owners that were you know were cuz I mean virtually they're getting paid pretty well for this yeah
power line to go through their property it's not like they're not getting anything and and the people that have contacted me were small you know 30 40 acre owners um the ones that seem to have you know two 300 acres Crossing didn't seem like it bothered them
because they understand the footprint is going to be big at the beginning when they're constructing but it's going to be pretty much the same footprint when they're done what they have now so yeah they wer following like highways and stuff like that like most
well they're following an existing line in my book majority of the existing line yeah that's normal yeah so um and then let's add one more oh I
got to go to the um swearing in for our attorney uh for for his the judgeship Carl SMI yes okay uh commissioner H are you I think
that was it commissioner he you have another one yeah I just want to give a shout out I'm doing another radio show tomorrow morning with Jay Codwell uh and I'm bringing Sean in and the foster care parent uh about foster care of how important it is in the community so
that'll be at 8:15 tomorrow morning morning okay I got one more thing I want to thank commissioner Johnson commissioner Heinen for uh their work on the Human Services Board individual uh great job I wish the um uh HR person
went would have went to as well as theirs did but uh I think we live and learn by some procedures that maybe didn't take place in the the later one that took place in the earlier one so um I just I wanted to make sure that that
was on record these individuals work for us and we tell them what what we got to what the the procedure we want so Mr chair we had great candidates we really did we did okay so it was well spent the
money with DDA on this on this end so all right all right we uh any commissioner uh comments if not see no Committees of the whole we'll uh Monty I think our calendars are I'll
be brief okay we need to to commit two to the record which occurred previously the northern reliability project public hearing July 25th and the northern Hollow Winery groundbreaking event July 29th we'll commit those to the record okay uh new new items you're invited to
the foster care uh Benton County foster care picnic which is August 13th from 5: to 7: at new New Life Church here in Foley again that's August 13th 5 to7 New Life Church in Foley for anybody who has not been to
that one I would highly recommend it y it's good to go what day was that August 13 Tuesday we have one final one uh I believe commissioner Johnson uh has recommended or suggested you all may be interested in attending uh land use training offered by mcit August 29th
from 9:00 a.m. to 3: again August 29th from 9: to three at the park Event Center in White Park White Park yep yeah this says St Cloud that's like no that's in White Park right the park the Park Event
Center in White Park uh again this is put on by MCT they've been doing this for many years it's really good training on U on land use uh law and practices looks like you're going to focus on cannabis the 60-day rule how to
conduct public hearings anyone interested at this point in attending I am commiss Johnson commiss I would like to I don't know my travel schedule for that Thursday okay well put me down put me down too okay because I have no idea either I won't be
going to August 29th okay thank you so we got the other four board members okay then uh then Beth will make those arrangers that's all we have Mr chair Mr chair if I could Monty um that's I don't know that we we have to have a separate one but we should keep it on the dock at
about an starting one for wetland contracts SLS Solid Waste slash what are we going to do with that position discussion okay I don't know that it needs to be a standalone I don't know that it's that long of a discussion but so I don't know how you want to you want to make a note that we talk about it at
our next board meeting or something sure that's fine yeah I will I will bring it up as because I we need to set your final budget cow to sometime you know sure in early September we need to give roxan plenty of to be able to put information together yeah uh consider
all the various options and impacts sure of course yeah we'll make a note that for the next board meeting okay with that I'll move for approval of the C second SEC we got a motion in a second all in favor oppose same sign motion
carries one more motion yes okay motion to adjourn uh if you guys don't mind we'll take five and then come back to ditch yep Highway