##VIDEO ID:Gw0zorluOKw## e e e e e e e e h we'll call the county board meeting to order we got a flag pledge flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God IND indivisible with liberty and justice for all kinsky out commissioner kinsky is out uh on County business today so roll call Beth sure commissioner schlong here commissioner Heinen here commissioner kinsky commissioner Johnson here commissioner pop here uh approve or amend the agenda Monty so Mr chair roxan has requested that you move the so-called the true County uh resolution right after consent I understand that Brian's got to be at a meeting uh over in maybe maax County at 10 so if you could please move that to right after consent and Mr I just want to make a note about schedule this morning of course you have another commit the whole this morning on the government center and uh I I would suggest we do our best to start that by probably no later than 11 uh so that if we get try and maybe kind of Target because as I mentioned Pete Philip's got to be out the door by 12:15 so maybe trying to get that cow going by 11 all right we'll do our best we'll do our best thank you sir so that's it Mo for approval of the uh agenda Mr chair second you um motion and move and uh second it by for the cons consent agenda with the amended or just the conversation rather all in favor I I opposed carry County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube please restrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that the viewers can hear you the County Board observes Roberts ru of order for its meeting so please obtain the board chair's consent before addressing the County Board public comments are generally reserved for open form segment or public hearings however public comments on agenda items may be allowable at the discretion of the board chair as we begin your today please turn off your cell phones or tune them to vibrate thank you open form Julie fandel from the city of race I just I did no oh okay thank you consent agenda we got items one through 16 only M are 16 move for approval Mr chair of the consent of item 1 through 16 second okay approval has been made for 1 through 16 any other discussion all in favor I I opposed carried and now we'll move to the um County thank you Commissioners good morning morning app Brian is it is it Podium mic on there it's there we go got you thanks than work good morning thank you um so before you is the resolution for True County uh we discussed it at several different meetings um I know commissioner poppet talked with langola and Alberta and then you and you and I both went and talked to the city of rice so um I don't know if there's any additional questions on it at this point but um I guess that's the resolution that's before you I did have I went to Alberta last Tuesday night I believe and yeah they had questions on it yeah they don't like it but you know it's one Township and I tried explaining that you know they still get to keep all their um truth and Taxation stuff and they still you know I didn't go and tell them that they will have the final say on who they hire correct um but you know they can make a suggestion I told them yep and I and like I said I'm willing to work with anybody that is willing to you know follow the policies and procedures that we have set in place for the county and I only got to talk to one person because they had moved their meeting up from the 7:00 to 6 o' so by the time I got there they were pretty much done okay Mr chair I'm going to move for approval to adopt the resolution to authorize and empower the County Assessor to provide for the assessment of all taxable property in beton count second motion been made in second is there any other discussion hearing none all in favor I opposed and maybe you can reach out Brian to Alberta and yep I certainly will reach out to ready and explained it but they just think that it's their right to you know do that and I know you know we had we had the discussion you and me had the discussion with r and I think there's some value in it to go to the true County you know I think we'll get a little more uniform and we'll maybe get make things a little easier in your office I hope yeah I agree and I I do appreciate the conversations thank you okay thank you Brian a lot of practice e um Christine morning commissioner yes morning morning uh so before you I have a consideration of exception to comp time payout for two of our exempt employees in the auditor Treasures Office due to overtime of the election okay I think um board member I think we've done this year after year when it's an election we know the time constraints and I think it's only getting worse right Mr chair So Christine are we getting any additional revenue or anything from the state because of the issues we're all having with the uh elections no that's too bad Christine off top of your head do you happen to know what the elections cost and what our reimbursement is from the state of Minnesota um we are at about 990,000 and the um part from the state that we received this year was 38 yeah okay W and approximately how many people did you guys have to service with early voting hallway out almost 6,000 6,000 the hallway was always between the the hallway and the mail ballot sure you know absentee mail ballots sure wow and our percent of vote was really high correct yeah it was around 90% wow it's unfortunate that it always comes back to us but we need to do this and I agree with it you know I just wish we could do this a different process instead of always coming from of the board you know it's too bad we can't get more from the state to help us and assist in this you know and with that uh commissioner Heinen there is something in our platform for December on Election stuff I think it's through General government correct yeah and actually you'll be there too right Christine AMC in December um I was unaware of that I mean it's definitely open to you oh yes it is and I'll definitely yeah if you do go it's on the platform and you need to go to that yeah yeah I'll definitely be there okay maybe you can talk to Beth and she get you signed up and okay all that good stuff yeah that'd be great I think it's important that we have the ud Treasurer there talk about all this stuff that's going on and happening I think commissioner slan is our voting Delegate for General government right right okay Mr Mr chair I'm going to move for approval of the payout to the two exempt employees to the workload demands from the general election second motion been made in second it to approve the exemption payout on the comp time any other discussion all in favor I I oppose thank you for all you thank you for all you guys do Office Troy morning Commissioners morning morning we're here to present some information today about uh what I consider a a success that we've had over the last few months in recruiting so it's no secret that recruiting for Public Safety positions has always been challenging uh it's difficult to find the right people with the right uh qualities and qualifications to go out and do this important work it isn't you can't just grab anyone off the street and we are very fortunate that we've been able to find some really great people that work in our office and provide the services to the public that we do as we've gone along through the last probably 5 to seven years it's become progressively harder and harder uh especially with the covid-19 pandemic that really seemed to put a real damper on the number of people that were coming to us using traditional methods of advertising our openings and we felt that we needed to do something differently I had the opportunity about 3 years ago four years ago to work with the state of Minnesota on a marketing campaign that was put together to promote uh generally across the state interest in becoming a public safety telecommunicator working in a Dispatch Center and during that campaign we employed the services of a marketing firm and I got to see firsthand what what these uh Professionals in marketing can do and it really was an amazing thing to watch the process and to see the final product and it was gratifying to see the results that they were able to show from some of the advertising work that they had put together for us so when the state of Minnesota um provided the public safety Aid that $800 some thousand that we got uh it was a priority of mine to set some of that aside to do something similar here in Benton County to increase the number of people that we have coming through and applying at our uh very important positions at these entry level positions for Public Safety telecommunicator deputy sheriff and detention officer we sent out an RFP uh I want to say about 2 years ago to three different firms um couple that were local and one in the Metro asking them to provide us an idea of what kind of work they could do for us and the response to those came back and from those responses we selected white box as the company that we wanted to work with uh they were local in St Cloud and when I looked at the responses they gave us and the ideas they had I thought it really captured what we were looking for and was a highquality professional looking product that we could out there so that we would have when we go to some of these job fairs professional looking brochures to hand to people and have that our message and our face out there in a digital format where people are found these days so we contracted with white box and over the last over the last year or so I think it's been we've been working with them to build a campaign to promote these three entry level positions uh we've come to the point where we've got about 6 months or 7 months of time into promoting this and um I felt it would be of interest to the board to hear what kind of results we've received from the campaign and kind of take a look at what white box has been able to put together for us so without any further Ado I'll ask uh Rachel wit and Madison mil to come forward from white box and they can go through some of the uh some of the things that they've done for us all right thank you Troy and thanks for um letting us come and present today um like Troy said and just to recap in 2023 Troy had reached out to White box marketing and several other agencies with a request for proposal um spefic specifically with recruitment efforts and a campaign so we were eager to respond as a full service agency that highlights a lot of recruitment efforts we decided that this was a really good alignment um so we decided today that it would be great to review kind of who white box marketing is some of our strategic recommendations and then findings from our targeted efforts and campaign we'll give you the quick version yeah we'll speed it up um white box marketing we're a full service marketing agency located in St Cloud Minnesota um we uh started in 2018 although Rachel and the owner Carrie has several experience together at a previous agency and they decided to collide to create white box marketing and um we have a team of 16 full service um people located in the agency as well as some strategic contractors that we work with that we work closely with so from a full service perspective Ive yes we can do a little bit of everything to bring a campaign together um but what we really specialize in is getting to know our clients in a way that lets us uh find tuna plan for them that's really going to work so luckily we have everybody in house that we need and we can move really quickly and adjust as needed to get what we need U done and and another benefit to our clients then is once we do one project with them we get to know them we're able to continue on with their further needs kind of as an extension of their team wanted to quickly run through some other work that we've done you might have seen some of this you might have not um a lot of this is recruitment Focus so we do not specialize in a certain industry um we don't make things easy on ourselves we kind of relearn things every single time um but that keeps it fresh so I'll quickly kind of go through these this was a recruitment campaign for um Minnesota Trucking it's not for uh applying for a certain job but rather getting interested in the the industry whether that be behind a wheel under the hood or just at a desk kind of helping people um so this has been a really successful campaign that we've been running ongoing it started much like we did with Benton County and uh Sheriff's Office and we'll talk about that more but custom video custom photography custom landing page and then all the different components that go with it um really has garnered a lot of Impressions and a lot of interest in the industry um Benedict we threw this one in here as Healthcare but it's similar in that we're looking for not just people to fill a job but the right people so it's it's about work with heart it's about work for uh caring for people you might not be getting paid more than you would somewhere else but it's fulfilling at the end of the day and there's a lot of benefits to it so that's what we highlighted for them again everything custom video photo um and graphics and campaign um access to all is an extension of St Cloud State and just kind of wanted to put that in there because it speaks to different audiences it um it focuses on inclusion and making sure that people have what they need to do their best work St Cloud Orthopedics we like to show this one because honestly Carrie the owner of white box has been working with them for over 20 years um they started with a very small um concerted budget and we have helped them grow throughout the years to add additional Services much more doctors surgeons and just to um get the word out about why Orthopedics why independent care so that's an ongoing client that we have zcloud Tech came to us with a nursing program um speaking to refugees and children of refugees so this was a um a smaller budget but very very focused on what the goals were and they were worried that they were kind of behind the timeline on um everything that they needed to complete their cohort but we were able to with very strategic uh targeted marketing and this campaign fulfill their cohort for the next three years the clearing I think most of you probably recognize this um we helped develop this from the ground up with the name the meaning behind all of the building names and then promoting uh Rock the Riverside or Riverside nights as everyone seems to love inck rids um Sunburst memorials wanted to show this one just because it's a partnership that has really grown and blossomed um from a smaller project into much more everything that they could uh really need were able to fulfill for them ongoing and then finally um somebody that we're starting to work with is stcloud Industrial Products and wanted to show this just because they are the main entity but they have different departments and divisions that do different things but we're able to help them uh align all marketing efforts under one main umbrella and then just to review um some of the upcoming um notes as we present um just as we focused on our highlighted work we created strategic recommendations for Benton County Sheriff's Office um knowing that they needed to fill the three positions um and we'll go into those strategic recommendations so initially we knew we needed to highlight a campaign that um not only closely connected Benton County but Benton County Sheriff's Office and the local community um through that we highlighted website development custom brochure custom photography social media management Google campaign and more and then through those although we did have more strategic recommendations we decided to take this in a phased approach and move forward with campaign development website development brochure photography um social and Google campaigns and then to highlight here I hope this lets me share this we created this campaign and I would love Rachel if you could talk on this more and I can kind of scroll through the website a little bit Yeah and just it's not showing up there it's not showing up on the screen oh I suppose you have there on I will share this tab instead okay well I'll kind of talk about the campaign um as Troy mentioned and as Maddie has talked about um the goal was to find a to create a campaign message that really speaks to the right people getting the right people into Bon County and we have uh Fierce competition out there for um Gathering the right people across the state so really kind of highlighting why Benton County and Why th why these roles right so somebody's hero works here your you should too um that really works not only for Deputy officers but also for Detention officers and other roles that we're looking for um so to kind of make this come to life with the resources that we had we came to Benton County Sheriff's Office um orchestrated a little campaign video shoot with not only all the Willing participants that are on staff but also some kids just to kind of showcase um who you're serving at the end of the day it's not all about the job that you're doing but who you're serving um and then on this uh landing page that we're showing here just kind of highlighting further each of the different um positions and then I don't know if we're able to show one of the videos or not but but just um having them speak in their own words of why why they like to do this kind of work and I suppose and we can share this afterwards too hopefully some of you have seen this already um some of the video content that we recorded was obviously with real staff which we really feel like highlights the benefits of working for Ben County Sheriff's Office um getting the um benefits straight from the employees that work for the county um we think highlighted the campaign very well it was great once we got people talking they really were passionate about the work that they did they we didn't have to script anything they were just naturally talking which was great and so some of the tactics that we did with this campaign Maddie I don't know if that's next in our presentation yes it is I'll stop sharing this so um a website doesn't do anything unless you drive people there right so some of our next uh things that we put together were targeted social media ads digital ads and I'll let Maddie get back to sharing that presentation just so we're on the right page there we go good um some collateral materials too so this is a handout that was used multi-purpose um something that people could take away and look at later and scan the QR code and get where they needed to go as we highlighted previous ly we did custom photography and video and we created targeted social media campaign Graphics as well along with the video assets that we used as part of the campaign another final deliverable was our Google search Campaign which we will highlight the results to these on the upcoming slides for those of you that um don't necessarily know what a Google search campaign is it's where we use keywords like deputy sheriff career or law enforcement positions and then that landing page that we created for benon County Sheriff's Office and this recruitment campaign would hopefully pop up as a sponsored ad and then here are some of the campaign results and although we would have loved to be able to have our digital team to answer some of your questions schedules didn't necessarily necessarily align so if there's any any lingering questions regarding the results of the campaign I will be happy to connect with our team and answer any of those but some of the highlights of our website analytics is that we had um a little over 10,000 new users to that new landing page um so as you'll notice the total sessions was higher than the new users which indicates that users visited the site twice which is great um the only opportunity here that I see and I'll scroll down here so you can see it as well is the average engagement time is a little low so as we're creating strategic recommendations for 2025 some things that can boost this engagement time is adding um some engagement strategies like quizzes blog contents um and then live chat or AI responses to the website and then some Google ads analytics results we had a little over 177,000 Impressions 947 clicks and a click-through rate of 5.56 so what this kind of means is using the industry of legal and law across that industry the click-through rate is very low at 1 to 3% so we were a little bit above that which is great um I felt like our audience was very engaged and then with our conversion rates um we were at about 18.9% conversion rate when it's typically between 2 and 5% which is wonderful so then for our targeted social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram we had uh a really wonderful wonderful reach I felt like the response level on social media was really great specifically on Facebook um our click-through rate was 5.72% which is wonderful it's usually typically very low at 0.9 to 1.5% across all Industries and then as you'll notice the cost per click was only 29 cents what that means is with a low cost we're just really running an efficient campaign and then with our LinkedIn campaign we had a little over 129,000 Impressions and, 1500 link clicks and an average click-through rate of 1.18% um some of the things to note here is that the average clickthrough rate is typically between 35% % and 1% and we were a little bit above that which is great and then the cost per click is typically higher on LinkedIn at $3 to $6 and we kept that low again indicates that we're running an effective campaign at $242 um one of the analytics that we were able to get from Troy and his team is that um there was a 75% increase in qualified applicants for the detention officer position from 2023 to 2024 so that was great and we'll continue to dig into that and analytics as we wrap up the campaign for this year so those were the exciting things that we were anticipating to share for today's meeting um as we take some of these analytics into our strategic approach for 2025 we'll continue to work with Troy and his team to um collect strategic recommendations and hopefully continue to provide value to Bon County any questions Mr chair I do Rachel or Maddie sorry for this old man's question but can you explain to me the Impressions and conversions what does that mean yes so impressions are the amount of people who just see your content so whether that's social media or Google search they're seeing that um but the actual clicks are the people who are clicking on the content and going to a separate landing page so although they may be clicking through the content until they click out of that that's really where that click-through rate and those cost per clicks come so that's the conversion when they go for those are the conversion rates yes yep and some things that again we would like to optimize in 2025 is hopefully adding some more conversion trackers to the website to hopefully gain some more analytics on how they're spending their time on the website and my only other comment is it possible to get their full presentation to emailed to us absolutely so we could see the videos okay great thank you y thank you guys and anytime you want to see some of those videos Benton heroes.com okay great take a look at that thank you looks like we're getting the word out with all the number of clicks that are going on so I'm hoping that U once we have our HR Director on board and Shannon and uh Emily maybe have a little bit more time we can get some more numbers to do some more comparison see where we're at and make sure we're heading the right direction but uh again I I'll just say that it's it's been a pleasure to work with white box there they do excellent work and we really appreciate what they've done for us the numbers show it so very good thank you I got a question are is there are do you work with any other law enforcement off agencies right now not at the moment not at the moment wow so this is like maybe opening up a new box for you a new box at white box yeah new box at white white box thank you thank you very much for the presentation and in 6 months we'll probably see if we got any results right yes thank you keep it going we'll move on to roxan we'll conduct a public hearing to regulate the cannabis for all right good morning Commissioners morning the next item on our agenda is a public hearing to consider the ordinance number 496 regulating cannabis and lower potency hemp edible business yes okay so the enclosed draft cannabis business Orin ordinance was prepared by staff in coordination with the county attorney's office Sheriff's Office public health department and auditor Treasures Office it's based on review of Minnesota statute 342 and Draft rules prep prepared by the office of cannabis management um and I'll refer to them as ocm throughout this um several information uh sessions presented by ocm discussions with counterparts in other counties Outreach to cities towns training sessions throughout the state online Research into regulations instilled by States um that have legalized cannabis businesses and into professional organizations that have published studies on the effects of cannabis businesses on the environment public health and the community so I think it's important to know exactly how we we came to the conclusions that we did um the ordinance uses a model draft ordinance that was prepared by the office of cannabis management and then we um took each section and addressed it individually to make sure that it fit uh for Bon County um chapter 342 does allow for cities and towns to delegate retail registration authority to the county and to date we have joint power agreements with all of the townships in Benton County and with the city of rice um the city of St Cloud sartel and Royalton have chosen to move forward and register on their for themselves so they are not seeking uh the County's delegation and then we are still working with the city of Sock Rapids Foley and Gilman and their attorney Ashley pusy with rinky Nunan um I believe may be in attendance online um so she has been in communication with um those jurisdictions and with Michelle regarding um the regulations that we have in place or that we're proposing today um so just to kind of to to walk you through this ordinance um section one focuses on the administration um we do in this first um Administration section we do address that um other that cities may be more or less restrictive in retail sales hours and we'll address the sales hours um in a later section but this just kind of talks about that Administration part so they can be more or less restrictive in sales hours and it does state that um the regulation of temporary cannabis event permits is limited to the to the areas of the county outside of the city limits and again we will have a whole section on uh temporary cannabis events but um just for clarification the the county is only regulating temporary Canada events outside of city limits in section 1.5 we address the enforcement aspect of this ordinance uh the enforcement shall be by the Benton County Sheriff's Department the public health department and other designated staff the ordinance is actually uh the the administration of the ordinance is uh responsibility lies with the county auditor treasurer's office um similar to our tobacco and alcohol licensing um and then we do address civil pent penalties if someone is in violation of the ordinance and we allow for a civil penalties appeal process um if someone feels that uh they they are warranted that process and we'll get into um the fees at a later date when we go through um addressing the fees and the fee schedule uh in December section two addresses registration of cannabis businesses and lower potency hemp edible retailers um the initial and renewal registration fees and application Pro process are established uh within Minnesota statute so we cannot skew from how that process works and so we have that outlined um in addition the statute outlines the amounts that we can charge for registration um stating that for example the initial retail registration shall not exceed $500 or half the amount of an initial state license fee whichever is less and so you'll see that we will bring forward those fees and they're going to have that exact same language within uh the fee schedule uh we will propose that uh the fees are the maximum that we're allowed to charge for that based on the processes that we will have to do on the staff time and the enforcement um it seems warranted that we would want to um obtain what we can for those registration fees section 2.6 discusses the limiting of registration so this is the retail cap that there's been a lot of discussion around um the ordinance sets the retail cap of four retail operations within the area of Benton County um within the area that is delegated to register retail operations now just recently the city of Sock Rapids um their attorney has uh let us know that Sock Rapids is interested in capping their retail registration to the ma to the minimum allowable within their jurisdiction which would be two so we have four entirely for the county but Sock Rapids would like to cap it at two um and you might have saw Michelle and I run out the hall real quick um we think it's important that if well for one we do not have a joint Powers agreement with the city of Sock Rapids now so I don't think that it's reasonable to add in a specific regulation for the city of Sock Rapids but I think what we can do is um consider adopting um language which I have outlined in red here which says of the four total registrations the county shall further limit the number of cannabis retailers Etc um to one registration for a retail location for every 12,500 residents with each local government unit that has delegated its authority to register in the county and what that statement would do is limit the number in each um local government unit to the max number that's in that area so for example Foley would be limited to one rice would be limited to one Gilman one Sock Rapids 2 any of the townships likely I I don't think we have any over 12,000 so each of the townships would be limited to one our Max cap would still be four wherever they wound up but no one could have over that minimum allowed does that make sense I'm getting a confused look so if our Max cap is at four but yet all the cities want one or two they don't want any more than what the minimum required amount is okay so if our Max cap is at Four in City of Sock Rapids takes two then we are only allowed two more correct okay yes does that make sense Mr chair makes sense but I don't know if it's fair and so this and and this is fair this is up for discussion um I know that um the attorney for FY Sock Rapids Gilman has mentioned that there may be a desire um I I it's and I'll let if she's on I'll let her speak to that uh but we have um fully I I'm not sure that they've made a decision on whether they want to cap that at one or not um know that this is a document that will be amended at some point um this is we're getting it on the books remember we don't have a joint Powers agreement with Sock Rapids Foley and Gilman and it may be appropriate to move forward with the cap at four for now now and address that after we have joint Powers agreements in place um but that is you know that's a decision to be made by the board and based on whatever public uh input we receive today but those are those are options I will state that if we do choose to move forward with limiting based on each jurisdiction then I think we need to repost this because it's a it's a significant change and hold um delay the public hearing until the next meeting can I ask Rox question so rock saying if the city of Foley and city of socer app decide to register themselves does our remaining four just move to other places then yes okay so the four just moves to wherever else we're we're going to be the registering Authority then correct correct and I don't think if all of them are removed I don't does it decrease us it could it it potentially could decrease ours to three at a Max but we can leave it at four there's no there's nothing that says we can't go over the minimum required question did we arrive at the four based upon the assumption that Foley was going to do its own registering and srus was going to do its own registering we did not okay thanks I mean I mean I guess as long as we can revisit it because if sock rabbits registers two and we have a Max of four and fulley takes one that leaves one for the whole other parts of the county and I'm not okay with that Michelle to be clear I mean technically they're all limited everyone will be impacted so what they're trying to do is to limit all four of those opportunities from being exclusively in Sock Rapids okay so it's going to be the same equation regardless of whether or not we limit for each lgu the minimum amount so that's that just prevents watab town from getting all four it prevents rice from having all four located there right yeah so it's it's actually just a benefit to them not having everything cluster clustered right there okay so it doesn't really impact that number we're still limiting the entire area to four right and I understand that but you said so if watab wants to pick up one and granite ledge wants to pick up one I don't want to pick on granite ledge but I mean that means there's no room for anybody else we can increase that minimum so the minimum is that we must allow one for 12,500 okay we don't have to set a limit we can increase that limit all right it's flexible and it's something we certainly can revisit Monte m one more question so who who gets the the registration and permit is it based upon first to file in other words it's first come first serve yes okay so okay whoever ISS first in line gets and from there on down gets be first in line with us they may receive a license from the state but if they don't submit to us for several months and someone else sneaks in there before they do it's a first come first serve just want to make that clear it's it's first come first serve who gets the registration yeah all right yep and we certainly can revisit this I expect we will amend this I would so I'm understanding the minimum cap now work yeah it was a little you know there is a minimum cap but okay all right we will move on and then let's see section three discusses the time place and manner of operations um within this we do have two separate set of criteria these are based on State Statute statute allows for us to prohibit the operation of cannabis businesses within 1,000 F feet of a school 500 feet of a daycare 500 feet of a residential treatment facility and 500 feet of an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by miners including a play playground or athletic field and that applies to all cannabis business operations not just retail and so because this in a sense is somewhat is very similar to a zoning regulation um we decided to break this into two components so we've got outside of the city areas which would be all cannabis businesses so that's generally where we're um addressing our zoning requirements and then we've got in City areas and this would apply strictly to retail operations and that leaves room for the cities to address this in their own zoning ordinance for other types of cannabis businesses let's see um the manner of operations we're this strictly is stating um statutory manner of operations requirements um nothing um real critical in there the hours of operation we do state that the retail sales can occur between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 10 p.m. and that is something that those are in between the hours in which the state allows us to regulate those um it's similar to what we have for our liquor licenses um but again this is that one component that we would allow for the cities to address separately in their own ordinance if they want to uh restrict the hours further or to allow them um greater hours uh because it's between 2 9 we can can go as far as 9:00 a.m. to 2 am 9:00 am. to 2: am are the hours that uh may be allowed uh but in in coordination with the sheriff's office we felt it would be best to have this as close to uh our liquor and tobacco um licenses as possible Mr chair and that's seven days a week yes okay yes section four gets into the temporary cannabis events um in this one we mimicked uh the large exhibition events uh so it's almost identical except for uh a few items um one of them is that we are only regulating outside of the city limits the cities would regulate their own temporary cannabis events um the event applications would be reviewed and approved by the County Board the events are not permitted in public parks or in residential districts and then we are proposing that the uh to prohibit on-site consumption and overnight camping within the events lower potency hemp Ables we are not currently regulating these however statute is requiring that all of the retail lower potency hemp Edibles be registered so we will require registration through that process and then finally we've got the local government as a cannabis retailer and we're just stating that the County May establish its own and operate one Municipal cannabis retail business subject to the restrictions of this chapter um should the county choose to operate a municipal cannabis retail operation that would not count towards the retail cap um and then just to quickly walk you through um so the process is that the office of cannabis management will notify the county when they receive an application for a cannabis business or or lower potency hemp edible business and they they'll verify the zoning and the building code and state fire code with us um if applicable uh prior to the approval or denial of that license so that will occur prior to them issuing the license once that um applicant receives their license they will then come to the county to receive their uh retail registration um and I think oh I've covered that and then the O the zoning or ordinance will complement this ordinance um and it will outline performance standards establish districts in which cannabis businesses are most appropriate and the zoning ordinance will only be effective in the areas of the county in which the county has zoning jurisdiction any questions before the public hearing Mr chair I'm sorry I'm scrolling through here looking at this fox anim absolutely there's a lot there um there is yeah I'm a I was a little confused because I was making notes here about what I was scrolling through that's on the website for this packet and there would seem to be a bunch of points missing after you go through then it kind of starts over and has those points so I don't know if there's a mixture of the drafts here maybe during the public hearing you just take I'm I'm trying to figure that out as I because I made some notes because you were talking about you know 3.1.5 and 3.1.6 and in the first few pages I was only seeing three point it didn't have the extra points in it but then as I scroll down there looks like there's the the new updated draft Yeah so we have two I'm sorry Mr chair we have two vers versions We have we have an existing version and then the new draft version right and that and that may be on purpose and that's fine I was just originally not seen the and that was on what was in your packet yeah that's what's on the website cuz I'm looking at the website I had to do the same I'm confirmed so Mr chair I to was a little confused that's why I had started making some notes and then as I'm scrolling down then they showed up right they're there I just want to make sure we got the right draft out there absolutely because yeah I mean if that's the case then we probably need to my opinion is that there's two drafts the original and then the new one I think the original looked like the highlighted version of it and then the detailed one came after that which may be intentional I don't know but you'll know when you see it I'm sure 17 180 182 something like that yeah okay so if you go up to those are the main bullet points but then you start scrolling down and you get into details yep and maybe that's intentional um so the initial part that you're seeing um was the mandum Y and it has 1.2 and bullet points y that's just my overview for you guys okay okay and then you picked up on the the new draft of the ordinance right um that starts here on page 183 yep okay so um where was you'll have to explain to me where the I'm looking for it now so so on page 180 yep you've got okay then it continues on yeah but then we've seen in red there the sock rapid stuff which you included in the new draft so my memo is an overview of the sections it doesn't give you the point by point it's more bullet points to pull out the major components because it's 19 pages long so Pages 181 180 181 182 are ma is a highlight is like the executive summary and then on 183 Begins the full document okay okay got and what's weird those page numbers don't line up with mine so that's why well on so on the side it says 183 but on the page it says 178 okay yep there we go you okay I think we're good it was just it it flowed it kind of I I I didn't want to but I'm like I'm trying to get it put together here you know if if you had that concern others did too so it was good to point that out okay I think then we're fine okay we've got the memo and then the draft okay good thank you you're welcome sorry to throw a wrench in it but just wanted to make sure it was right yeah all right maybe I don't know if we've got um I could stop sharing this and see if uh Ashley's here yeah I I don't see okay so you ready then you can go forward with public hearing yes we we've before we open the public hearing we heard the St report the applicant is the county correct correct so we can do that we'll now open the public hearing there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the County Board on this agenda item if so please come to the podium give your name and your address anybody on are we accepting online too yes okay is there anybody online that wishes to address this give you a little time here I don't see anybody yeah it looks like everybody's from okay all right so Final Call for anyone wishing to address the County Board Final Call for public testimony seeing none the public hearing is now closed is there any emails letters or other Communications to be read into the record uh just the information that I provided you from Ashley buuski on um that potential for Sock Rapids okay um but other than that I this was mailed out to every supervisor and clerk um and City administrator mayor so notice was posted and the comment that we received is is from uh the attorney for those three cities okay has the department received any comments or concerns from State agencies cities townships no no is there any official action was required by an affected Township no there was n the County Board will now have time for questions of staff and discussion as a reminder to the audience the public hearing is portion is closed are there any questions or comments from board members before we take this action Mr chair all my questions actually got answered that I have so far commission slan um did I know we brought up the option of the county running one was there a consensus to go ahead with that or not I don't I don't believe there was a consensus to go ahead with it we just I believe we just left the option open correct correct yep okay so the option is there but there was no consensus but there was no consensus to do it or not do it right okay anything else and Mr chair this was reviewed by a Planning Commission too okay this one briefly we see the brief for the for the uh uh zoning areas and stuff this yes yeah that was res received by Planning Commission I can think so and I'm assuming Mr chair I'm assuming they had no issues no okay is that all the public or the board discussion we want otherwise we will call the question I'll make a motion to so this is I got a question here first before I make this motion so it says to approve or modify the proposed ordinance I mean do we want that in the motion so that we can further modify it in the future or no we we will amend it if we want if we're going to do that later on okay so just make a motion to approve the proposed ordinance and authorize the chair to sign then second okay motion been M second any other discussion I'm sorry Mr chair in that I should probably put ordinance 496 correct okay you okay with that all right hearing none all in favor I I I opposed carried all right thank you just a reminder for um some of the other jurisdictions out there that this is a document that can be amended at a later date and likely will yeah and that was the only question I had when you had to to approve or ad so y it's all good thank you okay you're up again consider the termination of the contract with Sterns County so Sterns County has notified us that they are terminating our contract for Advanced inspector um septic inspector Services we've had a contract with them since um 2012 there's uh a special license and additional education that's required to have that advanced inspector certificate um so this will end the end of this year and I've been doing some Outreach to some of our surrounding counties because uh Morrison and Todd County also had that contract with uh Sterns County and so they're in the same boat as we are in that now we we need to seek out an advanced inspector um Morrison County has let me know that they will be sending a staff person to the training to become an advanced inspector that will take approximately a year to go through the training and certification but then they will be open to Contracting with other counties uh for those services but we would need that Gap filled by someone um probably a private company that does Advanced inspections we have maybe a handful at most of advanced systems and I don't think we've received an an installation permit or an upgrade in probably 5 years okay so it's not something that I I don't feel that it would be beneficial to the county to send someone through that training um to pay for that when they're not able to get that experience um enough to keep up with um you know what what's going on and and and be confident in what their abilities are but if we can share an individual I think that's probably the best case scenario um so I'd like to seek out a private company to assist us until Morrison County is prepared to offer a contract looks like a good plan to me yeah I totally agree Mr chair I'm going to move to allow staff to seek temporary Advance septic inspector through private Services as requested second motion M maid second any other discussion hearing none I'll call the question all in favor I I opposed carried I appreciate it thank you thank you Ro Chris bird County engineer you got some time to make up here Chris don't worry about that he is a fast talker I'm sure you got yeah but it usually runs a little longer you got him on a time limit right now I got him on a time limit all right good morning Commissioners morning morning yeah I got several things to to discuss here sound good bring that up go to presenter shared Highway and today the night okay I think the first item on the agenda is a discussion about Lin Hoffman uh public affairs uh commissioner Heinen and commissioner ginsky and I had a meeting with them about two weeks ago just before the last board meeting um U to hear their kind of Spiel so they offer lobbying Services um and this proposal they sent us uh uh outlines their kind of services to do lobbying on behalf of Benton County a at the state level um uh they they have uh quite a bit of experience with uh several other counties I know two counties in particular shago County and Washington County they currently uh lock on behalf of them so I reached out to my counterparts as the county engineers in those counties to get their experience and they gave Laren Hoffman glowing reviews thought that they were really easy to work with um and their proposal if you read through that they talk a lot about shago County and the amount of money that they've gotten for uh shago County for County Road 8 which is actually a state highway that had that goes through shago County but it's a big big deal for them and got them quite a bit of money um commissioner po and I met this Grady hornn when we were in DC um Grady was out there with the shago county um group I believe uh doing that and that's where we first got introduced to them um and so they followed up with with me since that time and would love to provide services uh to Benton County so I think before us today is a consideration does Benton County want to consider Contracting with a lobbyist firm maybe that's the first question to answer for ourselves and then second is is L and Hoffman look like a good candidate to fulfill those their services um they obviously they approached uh commissioner papine DC because we were out there kind of under transportation but I think they offer all kinds of lobbying Services it doesn't have to be just for Road and brid infrastructure there's other things that they could Lobby for bitten County uh at the state level for funding for Mr chair Monty question for you what's our history with lobbyists well it's been a long time since we we've had our own dedicated Lobby I remember when I first started here you the board had a contract with a a firm called Capital connections and the focus in those days was on Northstar that was the primary work that they did for you was Lucy bik and her and her husband um Gary bik so that's been a long time ago um uh again limited focusing on I think Northstar so but haven't had one since so it's probably been 20 years since we've had our own external lobbyist outside of course AMC and Micah all that right you and hypothetically move forward with this where you see the funding sources come from you know that's the one thing I can think of is the board contingency at this point you know it becomes a more long-term Arrangement then we probably should budget for it you know someplace in Professional Services but at the moment I would tap into the board contingency um you done yep okay Chris I mean I'm under the impression that I don't think we'll see the results or get in the door with a one-year deal I just think that if we're going to try it for one year I think we're probably should save our money um and I too was impressed with um Brad is it Bradley Grady Grady yeah he was he was you know he was quite impressive the other part when I was reading this is that so Dakota County and sasago County are both members of Micah two now say Sago County joined um Dakota County's had a really um robust relationship with him and I understand that they've got a fair amount of money and there's um pretty conservative Commissioners on there to and I know there's their bills a whole lot more than this would be sure um I don't know I'm kind of like yeah you know we've got funds we've got some luck lobbing you know doing some lobbing on the county board's deal will we have that much more results if we have somebody there all the time Mr chair so I was in the meeting and it lasted about an hour and a half and I was completely impressed yeah and and I also realized that we as Commissioners don't have enough time right to be there all the time at the capital lobbying for everything we need and my opinion is the only way we're going to get Casa onean taken care of is through this process especially with the way the city of Sock Rapids is growing their uh big Park and everything too I mean we're going to get hounded by the city of Sock Rapids in the next two to three years to do something on that road in front of the high school and I only see I only see this as a as an option to better our chances of actually getting funding both from the state and hopefully from the federal and also they could do some funding if we ever if we do build a building with our uh tax exempt and then that would pay for this yeah Mr chair Chris in their proposal it looks like they're discussing items Beyond State yeah I went ahead and reached out to them because there was some discussion when commissioner kinsky is part of that meeting he mentioned that he was going out or would hope to go out to DC with APO and then they said oh we also have a federal component um and so there's kind of two proposals here at at the state level um was the first proposal um and that would be $48,000 a year if we would like some representation um at the the the federal level um that's an additional fee and that's what this the second part of this proposal that they they submitted or gave to me that's another 42,000 annually um I I know commissioner po I don't if you paid attention but commissioner Hein and pens we were out there um a lot of other counties had a lobbyist um and that their lobbyist is what went to work to get them those one-on-one meetings our experiences last time is when we Rec when we relied on the transportation Alliance to set up meetings they were usually group meetings with other counties in a large group and we didn't get that one-on-one interaction um um even at the state level I think we met we went down in the state last spring our our representatives were more than happy to talk to us but you know they're only about one or two votes on a committee it's getting that access to those other members on the committee that would vote for our projects how do we reach them um and I wonder if that's where a lobbyist would would help us get ACC access and and conversations in with them one of the other things they talked about some of the things that they would do um I know the last couple years we've had bills drafted to provide funding for uh Mayu Lake Road construction project they didn't seem to gain a lot of traction it's things like they would track those bills for us they would they would follow up with the legislative Aid and say Hey where's bitton County's Bill oh do you want me to go run that down to the revisor's office or do you want me to go Shuffle that over to the Senators to get their signatures I know Monty you said you had some experience with some bills too where they just fell on somebody's desk and didn't get followed up with because that's very timec consuming for us to keep track of those things as well so Chris part of part of my question is is are will this relieve some of I know you've been doing some of that stuff for us and so will that relieve some of that I I think so I think there still may be a time even if we contracted with these folks they may reach out to you Commissioners or to Monty or ey and say hey we hear that your bill may be up a committee meeting would you be willing to come down and testify and yeah we I think we should still be prepared to do that but the the effort and time involved tracking it up to that point would hopefully be relieved off of County staff and I mean that's true I mean they made it sound like they're more on top of it I agree um the other concern that I had after reading it was that so we're going to have an increase in our AMC dues yeah and we're going to have an increase in micad so we're going to have some more increases there along and then we add another 48,000 what's the mic Inc uh I was just trying to look at it I can't find it in my stuff right now it's um a whole lot like 1,400 maybe something like that less than 2,000 yeah but the AMC du will be another two grand as we fall in that I think mon question too yeah you had a question oh I I just add a comment is the commissioner kind of mentioned the seeking the exemption for the from the state state sales tax on construction materials uh Pete gave us an estimate last year based upon uh I think about a $25 million building and it was about $500,000 wor the savings if we could get that exemption and Chris is right that the the legislative process is sometimes hard to follow and you know it's good to having some eyes and ears down there keeping on top of where your bills at and keeping it moving is it it kind of languished despite repeated contacts and emails and phone calls it kind of didn't didn't serveice anywhere so Mr chair Mr Chris would this sorry would this include potential opportunities like for instance with Highway 23 Coalition I certainly think so you know for State funding for yeah project studies that type of thing when you think of shago County the projects that they cite in here once again A Highway 8 in shago county is a menot trunk highway but that was important enough to that county that they wanted to get some funding for it so right I would think so too they could be Advocate and a voice for Benton County for Highway 23 um I think I don't know if they spelled that out I think one of the things first things they wanted to do is if we contract with them is to sit down with us as a group and find out what are our priorities what what do they need to be speaking up for commissioner po you mentioned AMC in Micah and I can't remember if one of us asked that question but we we we mentioned that they they advocate for us and they they acknowledged that but he said there's they said what they would recommend to us is sometimes there's issues that maybe it's better to let AMC advocate for us on that but there's going to be specific issues to Benton County that AMC wouldn't or Micah wouldn't and that's where they see their role stepping up into well and AMC and Michael are a broad picture of you know of issues that they they're out there for um commission Mr chair it seemed like every time we were in in DC or we at the state capital we were hours a day behind you know at least this would get us in front of it in front of it and we would have a better opportunity Mr chair I I agree with your sen I think if we pull a trigger on this this is more than a one-year thing all right I wouldn't I wouldn't be in favor for a one-year contract is this um fee locked in for one for one or can we can we get them to lock in for two years um oh that's a good question I didn't ask that what they Pres in here was for one fee um a flat rate for the whole year beginning in December um if that's something you'd like us to explore I think we could go back to him and say can we get maybe a discount for for a two-year commitment maybe is that what you're I guess I'm not really interested you know I'm interested in a discount don't get me wrong but not we lock if we could lock in this for two years you know and I I mean he was pretty aggressive when we were out there that they were looking for for us and they thought we were a good fit I I mean I don't think they're you know the the perception I got was that they're maybe not interested in a 8,000 or 9,000 population County yeah they're more interested in somebody you know and I and I think when he brought up you know shago in Washington that's when you kind of looked up and says yeah this one should it might work my conversation with the shago County engineer echoed some of the experiences that I felt here is out shago often times is overshadowed by those bigger Metro counties just to their South but dealing with some of the same issues and I feel similar we have some of the same issues as St Cloud but we're overshadowed by St Cloud's voice and Stern County voice voice Mr chair to your point of negotiating maybe a two-year stretch I mean this is starting December 1st our next board meeting is a dece Tuesday December 3rd I believe that's an evening meeting you're only a day or two off of the contract date would it be appropriate to move it until then for can we get an answer from them by then I think oh I certainly think they've been very responsive up to the Point make a move on December 3rd my experience with consultants and contractors if they're always more excited about a longer term engagement anyway so because then they've got a guaranteed things so I think Mr chair I'm G I'm G make a motion to table it to our December 3rd meeting and have Chris bring us back some results okay so seeking a two would you want me to seek a two-year even Beyond okay two years for now yeah two years will give us some lead time correct you got a second oh second yes most been made in second and we don't have to have discussion or vote on that so it's tabled for tell our December 2nd meeting December 3rd I believe December 3rd all right well very good raise Grant right along okay so we have applied for a rais grant twice now been unsuccessful um we had a debrief with the US do um back in in October October 10th um our consultant WSB uh was able to be a part of that and um uh kind of interesting we had some good things we heard some good things there's seven criteria at the first level of review of your application um to get elevated to the second level of review you need to have five uh out of seven at High um safety we ranked High environmental self sustainability we ranked high quality of life we ranked High mobility and connectivity was interesting from 2023 application we ranked high but when they reviewed it in 2024 we went down to a medium uh but then in economic competitiveness we ranked High state of good repair we went up from a medium to a high the second round um partnership and collaboration we able to show that we went from a medium to a high in 2024 um innovation in funding and Design Concepts we went from a low ranking to a medium ranking in 2024 uh so this first tier evaluation it sounded like our project was very good so that elevated our application to the second level review which kind of felt like we got kind of creamed or killed in that our our benefit cost ratio got really scrutinized and they reduced a lot of the cost that we were showing attributed to benefits some things they were just saying the those just don't have monetary benefits to the project um other things we were looking at uh you know as as as indifferent as it sounds there are costs associated with crashes and fat fatalities but those occur in the past and so we tried to uh inflate those costs to the construction year which obviously happen in the future to try to balance out that benefit cost ratio show that we had a benefit over one um and and they saw right through that so reduced it so that that's where we we didn't make it past the second uh review and was not recommended for for funding for our project uh um so since that time uh our consultant that helped us put that application together WSB um we had a serious coners conversation of what to do next if there was a desire to apply again um they and as well as myself have some serious concerns that if we were to apply with the same application again we would have to push that construction out one more year because we're one year later those inflationary costs are just going to really be hard to show benefits greater than that uh under this current environment so brainstorming they suggested would the county be interested in maybe scoping down the project um uh and so I attached in the uh agenda item was the concepts that were attached to the the application and this comes right out of that Mayhew Lake Corridor study was completed with the APO uh two uh two years ago where it was basically a four-lane Urban Boulevard from from St Germain Street all the way up past uh uh the school to cassad 29 that that's a very expensive project so a suggestion was maybe we scale this back to not a four lane road the whole length of the project but really focus on getting funding for roundabouts at these these intersections these high crash rate uh intersections at Osaka Road um and then down south at you know County Road 45 but then just build it as a two-lane road with a mix of urban and rural elements in between those that should reduce those costs quite a bit of the project we assume and and hopefully get our benefit cost ratio back to where where it needs to be um so that that's a couple questions again for the to consider today uh would the board like to apply for a raised Grant again if so would you be willing to consider uh scoping the project back scaling the project back to bring the costs down and then the third question would you be willing to consider Contracting with WSB again to rework that application um so I'll address that now WSB to do that gave me a proposal to to to do that um the bottom line here the fee would would be $2 [Music] 23,64838 good news is I found out through state aid we are eligible again for a tech technical assistance grant through the state uh what we we got this this past year to do this they would cover up costs up to $30,000 to apply again so um there's still money available in that pot it's a first come first serve basis pretty simple application um I could complete that application this afternoon even um if that was the desire of the board so Mr chair if we complete that application and get that money then yes we should be moving forward with WSB you know to sorry to work on this Mr chair Chris has commissioner kinsky been up to date on this do you know uh he was part of the debrief meeting um I don't know if he's seen this proposal this came in um just before I submitted my uh agenda item last week but was is he aware of the tuning it down to just the roundabouts and so as far as I'm aware of but I can't speak for him sure the the one question I had is that I think we're okay with scaling it down because I still am a firm believer that when we get that 29 Corridor around the traffic plas there is going to be reduced drastically I don't think there would be you know I was never really in the in the need that there would need to be a four lane going through there because until we get that road down but we need to make sure that we track that a little bit you know from when we're done because we'll be done next year hopefully at this time yeah and we start tracking that to see what it is so I mean if I guess if this if the city of s rabbitson and the county are in agreement that you know downscaling it would be a safety benefit with the roundabouts with the roundabouts with the roundabouts Mr chair I I think we really have no options right now at this point I don't either okay but also with all the amount of traffic that has been on our road since 23 and 2010 you know we found out in the past that all that traffic does not leave that road once they get used to that road and keep going north they might be using it right too though so um the other part is will the city of sock rabbits pick up any of this cost for the redesign it within the city it's a County Road that's first thing I ask them as you know it's a County Road and I mean it's a safety factor for the people at sock rabbits for you know the school and out there I would think that they've been great Partners to school and and the City of so Rapids I can say that I'd feel a little Mr chair I'd feel a little differently if there wasn't some grant money available you're pretty confident that's right with the yeah um email corresponds I had last week confirmed that yeah there's still money available bitt county is eligible for it um so much so that if I got the application in now before the end of the year it's it corresponds to the state fiscal year I guess is July 1st 2025 could apply for the same oh pot of money again okay so m San I have some concerns about the all the turns on the road from 23 up to that first round about to with safety issues that we should deal with for entrances there's one that comes from the church there and then down by right down by the um railroad tracks down there or where used to be railroad tracks yeah um y isn't that where Germaine comes in yes so you gerain there and then the that 74 up there yeah and this is during that that Corridor study yeah that was definitely an intersection that had a lot of crashes at and the lighting is really poor up there that's that's correct so and I think that's helped lead to do this kind of goofy shaped roundabout they're kind of roundabouts it look like they're about ready to join into to one um roundabout construction does require intersection lighting so that's that's another benefit that's provided that um when you build a roundabout you will put um intersection lighting around that Circle and then there's a business down there too yeah in this area between between St Germaine and where the church traffic goes there oh one yeah there's an entrance for that too yeah I would assume those intersections those approaches will just be widened or redone well if we scope it back that would be probably something uh that that's what we do we do probably minimal things at that when when it was a four-lane concept it had kind of a Boulevard in there so at that time it does kind of force some of these intersections to be right in right out it's only and use the the roundabouts and that is a that is a safety um tool that you can use if you're having issues with intersections consider doing a right in right out so you're limiting left turns crossing a poing traffic um and that's easily accommodated with some median but if we're not widening the roadway to accommodate a median those wouldn't be addressed in the near term but if and when we got to a for Lane it'll be taken care of yeah okay so that and I think once we if we were to be successful in getting some raise Grant the engineering part would come in is as we're designing the roundabouts we of course would want to design those roundabouts to accommodate those additional Lanes in the future so um Mr chair I I'm a firm believer that you know we started this process two or three years ago we have to keep moving forward with this as you talked to other people that have applied for raiseed Grants it does take a while oh God yeah you know but you know we've been very fortunate in the short amount of time is that we've been uh going to DC and to the state and getting you know5 $6 million already for the county we got to keep moving forward in my opinion I agree we're invested pretty deeply at this point I know um the other part is there's going be some changes you know on with the Senate switching controls where we may lose our contact person on the raise Grant stuff so Mr I'm going to move for we we need a motion or just consensus to proceed what would you like um I prefer a motion if you feel comfortable with that he Mr chair then I'll move for approval to proceed with another Grant application with WSB has presented upon the reception of that Grant okay I'll second then and deal with the safety issues on entrances too okay all in favor hi posed carried okay Mr chair what was number two now a scale back how's that work good all right the next item uh I have before you is um uh okay so who remembers that uh the city of rice received some uh grant money to build a pedestrian Crossing at the the railroad tracks in rice so this is coming up in 2025 um uh I just wanted to bring before you uh a potential administrative agreement between us and the City of rice uh once again rice is a non-state a city or one of those cities that are under 5,000 population the county has to be the sponsor for this these federal grants that they receive so much like the Fox Meadow Trail that got constructed uh this fall so this is um very similar to language as the the the past agreement uh We've executed very similar agreements with the city of Foley um but uh this this one differs in the fact of um this this uh item 17 it it deals with its administrative costs so this the iig has brought about a lot of additional funding for for locals the iiga the infrastructure and uh whatever jobs act um it has created add additional administrative burden because now there's more grants being dis dispersed to to local agencies um this subject was breached or brought up uh maybe a year and a half ago whether is uh for something to consider so before presenting the agreement to the city of rice I just wanted to make sure if the board was comfortable with this this item or not um is seeking some reimbursement for our administrative cost for administrating administering these uh Federal grant projects some of the administrative costs come from um overseeing uh the work of the the Consultants they still are required to go through the state aid process for plan submitt uh that does require the County engineer signature on those plans uh there is a delegated contract process is what it's called there there's several steps in submitting those plans uh processing the federal uh pay reimbursement it's always a reimbursement so we got to show that the cost were incurred first and then you submit uh request for reimbursement of those Federal uh Grant dollars along with all the permitting and environmental review of those projects uh and such so surveying other counties that execute very similar agreements because every county in the state has cities under 5,000 that occasionally get these kind of Grants um uh you know three to up to as high as 8% sometimes is the the administrative costs that are are reimbursed to that uh County as the the host uh Agency for the project so just as a starting point for discussion uh put in there uh not to exceed 5% of the awarded construction cost for for administration so just bringing up for a topic of discussion today if it's something that the the board would like to consider or not Mr chair can Chris can you remind us what the total construction project what costs were again estimated so yeah so city of rice had hired their own engineer a couple years ago that put together a railroad crossing study I think which was the basis for the Grant application and I want to say that was about $190 for um uh all that work there um that was a couple years old I don't remember what uh so total construction of 190,000 yeah or the and the grant award amount is about that uh much too so the TA Grant um um they re was about $190,000 so the one Jenny leer worked on Cor yeah safe fo to screw up yeah so total construction of the project regardless of the grant is about 190,000 I would say I would say $190 to $200,000 probably to to construct this this work okay so you're looking at potential administrative costs for the county then of 200 Grand yeah this City and does has the city of race discussed this uh no I wanted to make sure the board was comfortable before I sent it uh to the city of rice uh for for consideration I see the city clerk is here do you have anything to say my concern would be that is a county road so the city is paying the portion for the railroad um that we have to pay on that Grant anyhow so for the county to charge us on a County Road will probably be a concern the other concern is that this was not brought up at the time the county agreed to be uh a partner with us on this and and be our okay person to take care of us so I would assume that that would be a concern especially $10,000 isn't you know a small fee so I would assume that the count that the city council would have concerns on that so you would you're understanding that you would have liked to seen this upfront before correct if it would have if it would have been part of The Proposal when this was all administrated it would be different that we would have planned for a budget or just been aware of it to bring it up this far into it when we're ready into the construction and um I just don't think that that it is appropriate maybe would be the word well I mean we just had the discussion on County Road one that it's within the city of s rabits and we're not uh asking them to fund it you know fund something for the raise GR Grant so I don't know I think it's two different two different scenarios so uh Chris in the past whenever we've done projects and we have did all of the engineering and everything else we already we would go back to the city anyway to get reimbursement correct um so if it was our road and we're doing our road features um we would not seek reim so I think it kind of it's kind of rooted in the cost participation policy that that we Revisited um earlier this year um and and at its heart that that cost participation policy talks about when new things are added new sidewalk new trails within Municipal boundaries um those are 100% those local costs now forever in the future we go to reconstruct our roadway um our cost policy says that we will pay to reconstruct those things because those are existing features existing okay so someday casat 2 we know we have to be reconstructed with the city of rice um there'll be pedestrian Crossings and Gates and things like that next to our roadway we'll have to pay for those reconstruction costs sometime in the future Mr chair Chris I know this is a little bit different but remind us what did we do with Maywood Township when you did the work for their um uh Bridge replacement so that's that's entirely different because there's we get an annual allotment of Township Bridge funds that's based on the number of deficient Bridges uh in our County so um the county is on the hook or the township is on the hook for first $10,000 of construction cost and the first $10,000 of engineering so anything above that uh we seek reimbursement through that Township uh allotment for engineering okay and that comes out of the hdf part of the gas tax proceeds and things like that so um uh yeah we don't have would you agree that this conversation didn't happen UPF front about the reimbursement I um I don't agree I believe that there were some emails exchange there wasn't anything in heart I mean the board ultimately before the grant was submitted did uh adopt a resolution um I don't even recall what year that that resolution was was adopted um I think these sub these things were brought up and it was quickly dismissed that that's that's something we do we didn't do it on the Fox Meadow Trail project but but to date we've had uh about uh we've had about $9,500 of administrative cost and that was another $190,000 Trail project so it's it's right in that that range of what we're actually seeing um for administering that I guess from my standpoint I'd like to make sure that we're upfront before we present it you know the city gets approval of they've approved and want to move forward with this and now we're going to ask them to find 10,000 bucks no but what I'm what I'm hearing though and I mean it can't be that hard to figure out is if there was a resolution or emails upfront about it then there was and if there wasn't there wasn't but I can honestly say I don't remember any emails or anything saying that and and I could be wrong but I don't remember anything saying that there'd be any administrative cost for the county on this you know we're talking two years or a year and a half two years ago so I can't say it 100% but um I don't remember that it I don't remember it ever coming up so so our question before us though is we're going to move ahead with negotiating this out but then is it appropriate for Chris to work with rice and if if indeed that resolution or emails existed um then the discussion is going to have to be a thice if they're going to pay that and if it didn't exist then we probably wouldn't ask for it I guess is what I'm getting at if there was an if there were emails and a resolution that said yes the city's going to be involved in reimbursing the county then I think they should if there wasn't then there wasn't there wasn't yeah that can't be real hard to figure out right there's well no but it's just how the terms are of of them being the author of it because the city is going to reimburse them once it's done they reimburse them for some of the cost but it didn't say an administrative cost in there that I'm aware of that's that's my concern so the email would have had of say administrative cost of 5% I mean that how how techical reimbursement reimbursement yeah well I I guess from my perspective is just to go back and see what the original discussion was I mean it sounds like there's not real certainty on what it was is what I'm hearing I I don't remember being clearly stated in any way shape or form and I don't really remember it even being brought up I just have a concern that now that we're into the project and what choice would we have right I mean I and I don't really feel like that's fair at this point because we're so far already into it I guess from my theory I'd like to make sure there was no Communications brought forth in the ped or if there was then we would revisit this as this is not going to be done this year yet right correct yeah but do you have to have it signed by when Chris well I think uh well it seems part possible I would would recommend but um uh because I know your your city engineer is working on finalizing the plans uh we're trying to correspond it to um a rail Crossing project adjacent to that that the BNSF will already be upgrading the the road Crossing at the same time so that's and the the funds are programmed for State fiscal year 2025 okay so the project has to be authorized means final plans have to be approved before June 30th of 2025 um to receive those those federal funds um so I mean we're already doing work kind of under these general terms where the the RIS city engineer is working on the plans and uh and things like that so Mr chair it would seem it would just seem to make sense to me that he's asking for consensus to pre proceed with negotiating an agreement with rice just che check out the initial discussions MH and if they weren't there they weren't there if they were they were I don't know okay I think I understand so if there was some somewhere it was expressed upfront that there that the city may be liable for some administrative cost then take that out of the when you're negotiating this agreement with rice you're going to be negotiating with them right if you have the docents to back that up great and if you don't you don't then we move on sure that's kind of how I'm looking at it I think that's a good yeah so I'm not asking for actual formal approval of the agreement today yeah this is basically what I wanted to discussion and a consensus today do you foresee this negotiation time happening before our next County board meeting and can kind of come back and say here's what we found out or here's I mean maybe the not next one with next week being a holiday half the week gone next week so so that gives you enough time to do what you got to do I think so I think certainly before we're ready to advertise for bids that would be probably the last possible thing is like before we're advertising the project to receive bids um okay that's just my opinion Mr chair whatever the rest of you think I feel the same way Mr SL oh I you go first he called you go ahead okay uh with this organization we're going to work with for the $75,000 or 48,000 or what whatever we're working on the lobbyist group if they can like that we've got the railroad we've got the city we've got County stuff to get everything all done together so everybody's putting in their part and getting the proper funding that's needed to get the project done I think uh the lobbyist could certainly help us find additional funds say we get into this situation where we received a grant for a project or the rice received it but we're to this stage of the project and the the project costs have um accelerated to whoa that's the local match even is more than what any one of us could bear then then maybe we ask our lobbyist to help us find some other outside funds and Lobby for for that um I don't see the lobbyist firm as being a type of firm that helps us negotiate these agreements between inter agency agreements like that does that answer your question commissioner yeah or what they help with or getting the funds to for everybody to be able to do the project um I would be to to kind of add to that though you know if we enter into a contract with this lobbyist firm we're we're we're asking them to Lobby on behalf of Benton County's priorities not necessarily other agencies priorities unless those priorities become our priorities right yep if that makes sense yep yep totally makes sense do you have a comment commissioner Heinen no I was just going to agree with commissioner Johnson okay all right so we got an agreement on that um letter of support for sock rabbits Transportation alternative Grant okay so kind of along the same lines but uh differently and this is we're going to we're going to highlight the differences between a state aid City and a non non-state Aid City I suppose so uh the city of Sock Rapids through their engineer um is working forward on a transportation alternities Grant to extend the trail in County Road rideway um up through the park or the school property once again to connect to their their large Park complex that they're anticipating um building so one of the new requirements on this newest round of Transportation attorney grants is if you're placing any of your features in somebody else's rideway you need to get a letter of support um and so the agenda item was attached uh with a draft letter of support I'd also attached a resolution I'd since got clarification through the St Cloud APO since this is in the APO region that since sck Rapids is a state aid City they are allowed to receive those funds directly to them y they don't need the resolution from us but they still do need a letter of support from the county basically saying that we are agreeable to having their features in all our road ride of way and but I also add the city engineer understands that any local match uh is going to be a city of Sock Rapids cost they're fully prepared to pay for all the engineering that's required once again there still will be some coordination between their engineer and myself to make sure that they put that trail in location that's not going to cause problems for us in the future right of everything we previously discussed on Lake Road so that's going to be important as well um once again go back to our cost participation policy even if it's their cost upfront to reconstruct it we've said that that's that's a county cost so we want to I'm doing my part to minimize our costs in the future which are unknown I guess you know it costs this much today what's it going to cost to reconstructed five years down the road so with that being said if the board is supportive of Sock Rapids uh applying for this Grant and you're supportive of that trail being in the county road one County State a Highway One rideway the city would like the board to consider authorizing the board chair or whoever to sign uh a letter of support and this was just a draft that I had put together um the board feel free to rewrite that if you want I guess um the applications are actually due in January so we've got a couple more board meetings if you don't really like the language of this this letter but you in concept agreed to it we we have some time to rework the letter but um so one question I got Chris is we did this before for that first part of the trail that we had done that's right I believe they did get a grant to build the trail up to this point I would imagine that if we reconstruct on run that's going to be we're going to have to move that and we're going to have to bore the cost of that right so Mr chair that was my next question is that if they want to do this that's fine but at that point in time we have to make sure that they're completely out of our construction area right away I agree and especially up at water well some of us call it Water Tower Road when there's going to be a roundout you know because that's what the city wants is a roundabout right there too okay so I don't want them to put a trail in and all of a sudden we have to tear the trail out and pay for it ourselves it's almost like mapping the right way that exactly you know I mean they want the roundabouts there and they want the trail but maybe the roundabouts need to come before the trail in my book or move the trail or move the trail way off our way off our right away so we don't have to deal with it two three in and I think as a board as the governing body of this road authority you could very much say yeah we're not at this time we're not supportive of any more Trail um ruction in our right away and that would they wouldn't be able to move forward with the application process they would have to move their Trail yeah we're all I'm sorry my opinion I'm all for that trail Chris okay okay it's just a matter of where we're going to put it so it doesn't affect us in the future with a roundabout and or reconstructing that road we look at the maximum amount of rightaway we're going to have and they can move it off that RightWay for now well then then that brings up the only reason they're seeking letter support is because they want to place it within the current road ride of way so if we say okay we're supportive of the trail idea yeah that that's a good idea for you city but it it needs to be outside of our rideway then then that's what we reply to the city and then they don't need a letter of support okay they'll just need to find a way but I think what they're running up against just outside of our rideway is the school property right um and they have the fields there so I don't know if they've approached the school and the school says no we're we're not willing to move our fields for your Trail and now they're coming to us to see if we put it so so that's I think maybe that's the the heart of the issue here on this one is is the board okay with them constructing a trail in the ride of way as we know it today oh if if in the future when that road gets rebuilt the cost is not put on the county to reconstruct that trail trail but our policy says it is I know I know um I just I I think with what we're trying to do on that road there's no way that road should be or that trail should be on within the existing RightWay because we know we're going to have to have more right away for roundabouts and stuff like that and there will be costs so either either go to the school or go to somebody besides the county I assume we're going to have to get right away from the school to do the that road project no I think we have enough we have enough I can't speak for that sorry Chris go ahead well I think the at the intersections we're going to need some more triangles to construct that those roundabout circles correct maybe in between well certainly if we go back to a two-lane section we might be good we should be able to reconstruct it within that existing but I would also say if you go back to a two-lane that's not the long-term answer here the longterm answer is going to be a four lane so why would you build the trail yeah you got to get it outside of the right away I mean been talking about this CA one for how long and if we're going to have to pay to replace it I'm not interested in that no me neither um you know and you never know on these grants I mean you could apply this year and boy here we go we got it and you know then they got the trail in way unless you go down the road of the city if the city wants to agree that it's their cost to replace it yep um maybe they' do that we could I that I think the best way to handle that would be an agreement between the the county and the city that says that spells that out you know policies are good I mean that's we we should try to hold tight to our policies but they are a starting point too if we get into some kind of unique situation um my opinion is that's that unique situation is best handled with some sort of agreement between those parties to say what what what actually is going to happen in this specific case and I'd be okay supporting the trail in our right away if they're going to replace it yep I I I think this could be a good conversation between commissioner ginsky myself uh Chris and the City of Sock Rapids to work this out yep you know I agree commissioner SL I think with the safe path for schools too it should be coordinated to get across the highway for Connie Road one and I I know they they approached me um for transportation Alternatives they may be I don't know if they were were seeking safe R of school Grant that's that's those are two different pots of two differents totally different um but yeah that is that is an an option for them so Chris do you know how soon they need to have this well uh before the application due date which is in January okay so okay so we can we have a couple more board meetings I think in December to bring this back if we get to some sort of agreement so I I I think between now and our next board meeting if commissioner ginsky and myself and Chris can sit down with the city and have a good conversation about this and let them know that you know we're supportive of this Trail I'm no problem about that but we're worried about the future y you got your orders Chris all right very good hear those loud and clear well it was a suggestion yeah all right um how we doing time would you like to hear a project update uh on several projects or um quickly okay all right well I feel like I should update you uh on these project casassa 29 and Casa 1 um to be honest I've had a couple contentious weeks with Excel Energy again I do not have good news to bring to you um Excel has confirmed to me that uh they will have material delivery in August of 2025 and so they won't guarantee that they'll be clear of our project until September of 2025 so our funding is for this project our federal funding that we have received um says that we need to have the project ready to go in 2025 so we're still working towards that we're we've got we're more than 90% complete with the plans um uh we will be sending out offer letters for rideway very soon on that project so what that does force us to do is to relook at our construction plans and see how much of the RO can we build with that pole still in the way it does mean additional engineering cost because where we had planned on just closing all four corners and building it we may need to put in phasing sheets and split up the construction and tell the contractor okay up until this date you can only build in this area and then after this date when that poll is conceivably clear um work in that area I think it's safe to say though our original goal of shutting the road down when school is done and then having it back open when school opens in August or in September um is not going to going to happen so um this is very disappointing news we've been working on this for how long you know we we've let them know what our timelines are and they kept pushing us back pushing us back we got our County attorney in the sitting here maybe she could assist and help us on this this is very disappointing news uh it is and it's been um it's been very heated to say the least in the meetings that I've had um God we we we agreed to to the scoping estimate back in June we wrote them a check uh to get them started on the engineering um they said 15 weeks to do the engineering so it's been 3 weeks ago when followed up which would have been about 15 weeks to see where the status of their engineering was only to be informed that they are just now starting the engineering so um well what kind of Leverage do we have on this I don't know nasty letter um I don't know I don't know very disappointing I don't know you know who who do you go to push it along those questions as you've said multiple times Chris they were there first so they get to drive this train I think it's unfortunately um how they're they're seeing the issue um you know obviously we know we have safety concerns so the longer that the safety concerns that we know about and we have a solution for um just does make us feel uncomfortable I suppose um we can't get to them so okay so so as them pushing our project back can we uh look for reimbursement from them being that they said that it was going to be a 15-month timeline and they've never started yet even though we gave them the money up front I I I said something to that affected an email I think it fell on De deaf ears but um uh yeah I any delay in construction usually results in increased cost for somebody correct always is on us so but it is something to be aware of too um in the future that whole transmission line runs along the corridor of Mayu Lake Road so um uh but but it's hard to tell them to relocate now when we don't have enough done on the rest of that Corridor to say where where is it going to be clear so okay um I've heard enough updates sorry yeah uh Kar 29 we're still progressing with design on that um we're navigating some of the challenges with the the archaeological an Architectural Review that we've been asked to do um I do have a an updated estimate updated estimate for construction is between 8 and 11 million now so a little bit more than six and a quarter that that I originally thought um cassa 7 reconstruction is currently underway Mr chair yes sorry Chris need to stop you there so back on the 29 of that extension yes we also talked to Grandy about finding more funds for that too though so and he was real receptive and he actually they were the ones that brought that up sure that's a good point yes so um we've got a legitimate reason to go back and ask for more funding for that project okay and currently they it's it's Federal in local money so the state hasn't tripped any of that project so that does seem like a logical thing that we've got some guar from a state perspective we've got some guarantees in place to say that the project is going to happen correct um probably okay Cal 7 reconstruction still grading um the contractor had their original mile and a half that they had opened they've got all the sand and and gravel it's up to to grade on that they went ahead and opened up another half mile through that Bible duck SLO and they've worked up to Bible duck SLO um and then it started raining so the roadway is still open at this point um we're hoping later this week things look favorable for them to continue working on that and getting that up to grade uh for the winter but so they would bring it to grade to the North End of the Sloop yes yep M so they've kind of skipped that area they've worked up to the FLW they dropped to the other side was at 35th Street that Township Road and graded down to that so there's what a 700 foot section the worst section of the roadway out of that whole five miles is they're working on right now so open yeah yeah uh Maywood Township bridge on 115th Street that is complete uh erosion control temporary erosion control is in place so uh uh yeah that's good to have that bridge uh uh off the books and replaced with a box covert that should last them Beyond anybody's lifetime in this room so um County Road 43 in Foley so the city of Foley is moving forward with a project to reconstruct their streets one of those is 4th Avenue or County Road 43 North of 23 uh we have an estimate that our portion of that project is about $1.4 million so they're working on final plans now uh and shooting for our 2025 construction project so that'll be wheel each tax money that pays for that uh we will get into an administrative agreement with the city of Foley since there's no federal money it's all local money um we'll have them do the administration uh on that project and then we'll reimburse the cities for uh the city of fle for our portion that County Road 43 project casassa 22 and cassa County Road 51 Bridge these are bridges that are scheduled to be replaced next year with Federal money um we have uh 90% plans completed uh we've reviewed them sent them back to the consultant with comments um good news is now we do have the limits of rideway identified um and within the next month offer letters for RightWay we'll be going out uh for those projects that does require tree removal on these projects projects so after the first of the year we'll be looking at removing trees uh next to those current bridges that will have to be completed before the end of March to make sure we don't disturb any any nesting bats in those those so um uh rough estimate is about a million dollars per bridge on those two projects and these are actual uh span Bridges they're not box covers so these will actually be bridges on driven pile Foundation okay uh then cas two reconstruction is is getting started we've already they've the consultant's already done the preliminary survey we have contracts signed and back uh from them we'll have a kickoff meeting but we've also learned that a cultural resource review including archaological and architecture has to be completed on that project because there's the potential for some burial mounds next to uh the Open Water so you know and and this is just crazy because they went through all that when we did it before they went through it when they did the lake draw down and they got to go through it again what's that going to cost um those can cost uh anywhere okay Architectural Review can be 5 to 10,000 archaeological review can be uh 15 to 25,000 there is a program through the state where you can get an 8020 funding match so we would come up with 20 worst case we could would have to come up with 20% of maybe $35,000 so to have that done the big thing too addition to cost is time um to do that 8020 split it takes the state half a year to get quotes negotiate contracts on our behalf and get those approved before they even do the work then they need another year to complete the work in reporting for that so back to when it comes to reconstruction projects and have to do these things it's a four to five year timeline process because we have to do these some of these things before we can finalize design before we can buy right away uh and all that so w um this is a our added position should hopefully help us with these costs and timelines in the future oh I wanted to say thanks for the update yeah but so sure I agree one thing I see is that the trail is done in rice or almost done it really looks nice uh that's that yeah that's what I hear I uh uh the their consultant updated me on that and oh I'm glad you mentioned that um maybe jul can uh confirm or deny I heard that there's potential ribbon cutting in Co cooperation with a uh maybe an eagle scalp project so I had heard something about that that some people had desired a ribbon cutting on that that trail project so so there is an Eagle sculp project going in for the fox metal park that's right there and the thought was if they could have that done prior to the river ribbon cutting because we want to invite the autones which were huge they donated most of the land to us for that and we want to thank them and do the cutting we do not have a date for that yet though just because we're not sure with the Eagle project or if we're going to end up doing it separately okay great all right so more news to come on that thank you for mentioning that you done then Chris that's all I had ask any questions all right we'll move on to Monte County ad Mr chair would it be possible to recess County Board and have this space Deeds commit the whole considering Pete's time constraint yep can we possibly and we don't need to set up the tables and all we can just leave our board you can leave the set up just like this and and have your committee the whole and then come back and finish your chair you still have you got ditch authority too the only thing I would say Mr chair is our county attorney's here I'm assuming for one item on yes I would yeah I would can we address that quickly absolutely sure of course we can that's exactly what I was going to say Mr chair thank you and then and then recess and come I know Pete and right y uh I understand you want you want to address the retainer agreement with ranking newon Law Firm correct this has been a discussions for quite some time to retain uh rinking noon on a limited basis for $200 a month for a ditch legal council um so as it's described in retainer agreement that's again it's it's just that it's very limited uh monthly communication about minor issues should uh the dit Authority and count attorney's office wish to sort of delve into a deeper more complex issue then that will be build to the ditch Authority at rink's hourly rates um you know we've observed again uh Mr chair that rinky has this kind of representation it you know the the scope varies from County to County there's roughly about 50 counties that have a an arrangement with rinky for ditch legal representation again it's from very minimal to the full representation on all all all ditch legal matters so obviously they've got a lot of experience doing this kind of work uh let's see um I know uh rinky when they sent this to us they they certainly requested that the county attorney's office also be a signatory to the agreement and Kathleen has signed that on the November 5th so Mr chair that's the proposal Kathleen want to say you want to you want anything Kathleen any comments the only comments I would make is I know this has been an issue for the last couple years I know members of the board are very concerned about issues that may be uh coming or arising and want that uh level of expertise available to us I think so far we've been able to do just fine with our office but out of respect for the concerns that we have um we are willing to you know take it Case by case um look at the situation and then if we need their level of expertise go ahead and engage them okay okay thank you Kathleen thank you Mr chair I'll move for approval of the retainer agreement with Micky Nunan law fir from ditch legal council has presented I'll second it any other discussion all in favor I I oppose Carri so we can recess uh to do our our our government center meeting okay I'll recess the board until after we're done with the government center stuff I got you beat me to that one Scott I was going to say the same thing it's like let's just get this done right away get out of here and I need to create go to me have them come in yeah please have again we're not gonna we're not going to change the setup we're just going to leave it like this yeah y sorry do sorry Hi how are you doing we're running kind of late all right Evan if you could not plug in because I need to