We'll call to order the Ben County Board of Commissioners meeting. Please join us for the flag pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Beth, note that Commissioner Johnson is not available today. Approve or amend the agenda. >> We have no changes. >> No changes. >> Move for approval. Mr. Chair, >> we got a motion and second. Any further
discussion? If not, I'll call the question. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Oppose. Motion carries. County board meetings are broadcasted live and video recorded on YouTube. Please refrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that the viewers can
hear you. County board observes Robert's rules of order for its meeting. So, please obtain the board's chair's consent before addressing the county board. Public comments are generally reserved for the open forum segment or public hearings. However, public comment on other agenda items may be allowed at
the discretion of the board. Chair as we begin today, please turn off the cell phones or turn them on to vibrate. Thank you. Open for um nobody. Uh Monty, you want to read? Sure. Further? Yep. So, uh we have an
email that was sent to Commissioner Johnson from Miss Deborah J. Olston uh here in town um regarding uh parking on Dewey Street. So I'll do my best to to read this. Um it looks like I believe
this is the letter that Miss Olsen sent to the city of of Foley as well. Says, "I'm strongly opposed to allowing the conditional use permit for St. John's Catholic Church to construct a decorative sign." Uh then she cites I'm not sure if this is a statute or if it's
um a section of the city's um sign ordinance um that is cited uh and she goes on to say that u oh I oh I understand what this now it is it is findings from their planning commission uh the findings say that the sign will
not cause a traffic hazard uh and so on and so forth and she says the statement is incorrect. I will add uh the traffic hazard that exists on that corner. Um and it says per state statute if there
are no markings on the road to designate angle parking. The parking is to be parallel parking which would help eliminate the de decreased visibility on the corner of 6th Avenue and Dwey. And I believe she attached various pictures uh to this email. I don't have those with
me. Um and she just goes on to describe uh what the pictures are displaying. Um so again we have those pictures. I don't have them with me though. Uh she says having a 7 foot tall sign will hamper visibility. So >> okay thank you. >> Thank you sir. Yeah.
>> Okay. Moving forward. Consent agenda items one through five. What would you like to do with them? >> Move approval. >> I'll second. >> Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion on that? Now to call the question. All in favor say I. >> I.
>> Opposed. Motion carries. Next. Kathy Rutder. >> Morning. >> Good morning. >> Thank you for the time today. I'm here just to give you guys a quick update on the status of the county attorney's office. Uh as we had talked about
previously last year. Um, just before Thanksgiving, the county attorney's office office hired two new attorneys. Uh, one position that had been vacated in early October and another that had been vacant for quite some time due to due to military leave. Uh, we hired James Staley and Scott Meyer, both who
have prosecutorial experience but came to us from different states. So, they are learning the specifics of Minnesota law, the sentencing guidelines, and other things specific to the state of Minnesota. I am happy to say that they seem to be fitting in well. Um, I've already received some positive feedback
um about them. So, that's good news. >> Good. >> With regards to our victim assistant coordinator um roles where we have one full-time employee and we usually have another part-time employee, we have not yet filled our part-time victim assistant coordinator position. And
that's for several reasons. First, it was vacated about the same time as we were dealing with the attorneys. Um, getting the attorney positions filled before the holidays was our priority. and human resources did a great job in helping us fill those and fill those
quickly. So, we appreciate that greatly. Another reason we haven't filled that part-time position is that Amy Fousey, who is our full-time V victim assistant coordinator, uh recently heard that the grant um that pays for about half of her position will become competitive for
2027, which is an obvious concern because we've been receiving that money for at least a decade, if not longer. the other portion of her salary is funded through the county. Uh most of her duties are not only critical to our office, but they're statutoily mandated.
Um these are things that were required by statute to do. Um therefore, if we don't receive the grant for her position for next year or we receive less, I'm going to be in the position to coming to the board to ask for uh the rest of her
um salary to be funded uh by the board. Um, again, the full-time position is our priority. Um, we've had this part-time position um for the past, but again, we're not even guaranteed that money for next year. So, we're not sure how strategic it would be at this point to
fill that part-time position knowing that it's only good through the end of December and that it may not exist next year. So, that's kind of where we're at in that department. Uh, moving on to our support staff, our parallegal and executive assistant. As the board is
aware, and I've stated before, the criminal discovery process with the additional digital evidence with multiple jurisdictions continues to be very burdensome. Um, we are extremely understaffed in having only two support staff for eight attorneys. Um, as I've presented to you in the past, if we
compare Benton County to the 16 counties that we use uh for our class and comp studies, Benton County has the absolute lowest legal secretary to attorney ratio. The average in those 16 counties is one legal secretary uh per 1.23
attorneys. We have two legal secretaries uh for eight attorneys, which is way below average. Uh the county that has the next lowest legal secretary to attorney ratio has three assistants for six attorneys. So essentially one legal secretary for every two attorneys.
Again, we have one for every four attorneys. >> Mr. Chair, >> can I push Kathleen? What if we add that position? I know this has been brought up before, but for the public, could you let us know what that cost would be? >> Um, I don't know if I brought the
>> Was it like 80,000? >> Yeah, it was between 80 and 90,000, I believe, with benefits and everything all weighed in. So, >> and and what you're saying is is we're going to maybe have to do something with this moving forward at some point. >> Definitely. We are we are barely holding on with the two and I'm I'm really
concerned about that. So, I'm going to continue to come to the board and justify it by the numbers um in comparing us to the surrounding counties and the counties that we've always compared to and just continue to let you know that we we need that support. >> Absolutely. And right now, you got two
people doing this. >> We have two people doing this and we have eight full-time attorneys. >> Okay. >> So, again, the other county that's the lowest compared to us has one secretarial staff for every two. So, it's a it's a drastic >> and we got one for every four. Yes. So,
it's it's a big difference. >> And kind of leading into that, what I was going to indicate is really to bring us up to the lowest standard be besides us, we would need two more legal secretaries. But I'm not asking for that. I'm just asking for the one and I plan to make that request again for the
third time this this year. >> How hard are these individuals to find? >> That's a very good question because we haven't had the ability to look for one in a long time. But again, if it's a full-time position with benefits, I would be hopeful that we could find someone. >> Okay. >> Um, and then, you know, they may not be
as as skilled and qualified as the people we have now, but with training, hopefully we could get them there. And quite frankly, we just need another person so that occasionally the two people we have can take time off without crippling our office. I mean, right now, if somebody
needs to be gone for a doctor's appointment or to take a kid to something, we have to really plan ahead. Okay. >> So, I also thought it was interesting that one of our new attorneys a couple months after being here came to me and he's like we we need to get them some help.
So this was an outside perspect you know newly coming into our office realizing that that they are overburdened and again they you know they're extremely dedicated they continue to put in the extra hours but we can't expect them to keep doing that year after year. And
probably most people don't see the need for this because they don't need that. But when they do, they they're going to see how lacking it is. >> Right. Okay. >> Right. >> Um moving on to our criminal case load. With regards to that, it appears the preliminary numbers from 2025 were very
similar to 2024. The county attorney's office continues to be very, very busy. We're still working long hours. I was here on Sunday. I was here all day yesterday, even though it was a holiday. We're hoping with these two new attorneys getting on board, the case loads will become more manageable, but
uh it has been difficult. Um I do want to report the defendant from our 2024 homicide in Benton County was sentenced before Thanksgiving. Uh we currently have two adult homicides and one attempted homicide still pending from 2025. Um we also have a juvenile attempted
homicide where we're trying to certify that juvenile as an adult and bring that into adult court. Unfortunately, the child protection case load has also exploded with recent activity, which you've probably heard. Um, in addition uh to that, there is a
change in the law for next year that will require active efforts from Benton County Human Services with oversight from my office. So, that will also increase the case load both for social services as well as my office. Um, we also continue to get four to five court
of appeals cases a year where we have to do appellet briefs and sometimes be available for oral argument. The state public defenders office is appealing more than they ever have in the past. Um, even when our judges follow the presumptive guidelines sentence for the state of Minnesota,
they are appealing just based on the fact that they're not getting less than the presumptive sentence. um that hadn't always been the case, but we're getting more and more appeals that we have to deal with because of that. As you may remember, a couple years ago, the state of Minnesota increased the amount of
public defenders. They increased their pay and gave them additional resources. Obviously, the county prosecutors are funded through the county, and we have not been able to get that same support with personnel or with finances. Um we as a county need to make public safety a
big priority. Um although I'm blessed with a very dedicated staff, we are overloaded and then the last thing we need to do is lose people uh to neighboring counties who make more money and have less of a case load. I do understand the county board is doing their very best to use the
citizens of Benton County's money wisely. However, I also want to remind the county board that public safety is or should be a priority. Um and the county attorney's office needs that support that we are currently lacking. So again, thank you very much for your time today. It's greatly appreciated.
>> Great. Thank you for the update. >> Thank you, Kathleen. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for Kathleen before she >> I would bet that if we only got two support staff for eight attorneys that the attorneys are doing some of the work that >> I mean that's what ends up happening. Yes. Is the attorneys have to do more
than than they would have to in in other offices. So it it's kind of the trickle down effect which is why everybody has to put in longer hours. If you use the 16 counties that we've used for everything else, how do we sit on the pay scale >> with our county attorneys?
>> For the county attorneys, >> yeah, we're we're the lowest. >> The lowest. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I think this is something that we're going to have to address coming up. >> Well, and Cath, >> at least the support staff >> Yeah, the support staff is paid hourly,
correct? >> Yes, they are paid hourly. So, if you figured out the overtime that they're placing in, how close does that come to adding another staff? >> I've done that in the past when I've presented um in in the summertime. I
don't have that stat for last year, but I know that their overtime has increased this last year and they've put in a lot more extra hours than even before. >> Okay. >> In the future, could you bring that stats for us so we can have a look at that more closely looked at that?
>> Yep. and I appreciate you coming. >> Yes, absolutely. Thank you. >> Give us an update. That is great. >> Thank you so much. Thank you, >> Monty. Uh, can we ask that you move the monthly financial report first? >> Um,
>> sure. >> Mean he's online. >> Oh, it means his Troy's with us. Okay. >> Let's see if I can find that one. Okay, let's find that one in the packet. Ordinarily, Mr. Okay, this is just on
your consent, but since this is December, I thought it probably be a good idea to make it a regular item to chat about just a little bit. Um, and uh
had a lot to talk about today, so I took lots of notes so I don't forget stuff, which seems to be happening more and more lately. So, all right. So, I'm going to jump back and forth between my notes and the and the um the
actual report that's in your packet. So, here we are, end of December and um going to the bottom of of the general revenue fund. You can see here we we spent 99.6
uh% of our budget. That's pretty typical. It's usually between 98 and 99 or so, but we collected 106.9% of our revenue. And I'll come back up here to the uh
audited treasur. And a lot of that is explained by interest income. You can see we budgeted 800,000 for interest income, but received 2.4 million. Now, there was a little bit of an oddball thing that happened here in January. You can see there was 700,000
posted. Um that was actually some 2024 revenue that got posted into January 25. And but nevertheless, so let's just say ordinarily you you collect a little over
100,000. Let's take 600 off that. You still collected about again about 1.7 million >> more >> um more than expected. So that is uh the biggest reason for why the revenue is exceeding what we expected. So
>> have you ever seen that go backwards? >> Yeah. >> Oh yeah. >> Oh sure. >> Just I just for the public side of things, >> right? >> That's true because interest rates can change dramatically pretty quickly and um >> you know >> you may have good investments but as
those mature you may have to sort of go to a lower interest rate environment. So yeah, that can go both ways. >> You're seeing a lot less on other things and and you'll see >> that can go both ways in a hurry. >> Personally, you're seeing some interest rates go down.
>> Uh couple departments um were over budget and I don't want to be overly dramatic about this. Um let's see. planning and zoning. Um, they had an issue which and I remember Roxan
brought this to your attention. You can see they spent 103%. You may recall she said uh because they had the turnover of the wetlands position. >> She said we need assistance from uh Bogart Peterson uh to help us administer our wetlands program and that was going
to require some outside consulting. And again, that was discussed with you all and acknowledged that um that was going to possibly go over budget. So, that was that was planned. What was the sheriff's office? Uh let's see here. Um law enforcement. I
I want to just stress again, this is just the law enforcement site. So, what we call 01 200 103%. We've learned since I did this that u the situation was exacerbated by an oddball thing of where the pay periods
fell. So ordinarily there had been a payday on Thursday, January 1st. Instead, of course, we're closed. So paychecks were distributed Wednesday, December 31st. Uh I'm going to talk to
Jackie and see if we actually can get that last pay period pushed into 206. I think it should be 26 rather than because that was an unexpected event for departments to have 27 pay periods.
>> Oh yeah. >> In December in 25 rather than 26. >> That's about a $250,000 according to sheriff. >> Yeah. >> So I think we should fix that because that was again unexpected for departments. Um, in other words, if they
had a plan and then suddenly, oh, there's a pay period we didn't expect. Oh, that kind of tossed my plan out the window. >> Yeah. >> So, um, I'm going to talk to Jackie and see if we can remedy that situation. Um,
Troy did a great job of digging into some of the details, helped me understand what was going on. and and um it seems like every year like two or three times our squads hit deer. Most times we they get fixed, but I think
this time it was totaled. So they had to replace and normally they'll replace five squads. This year they that that had to do six because that was about 58,000 for a squad. But that should be covered under insurance and and
>> right MCAT will reim right we'll we have coverage for our squads. So >> and they replaced a drone and and and we talked a little bit about overtime here. There was you know the overtime historically has always been over the budget
>> and what I try to do is I probably can increase the OT budget by 100,000 in one year. So each year I've tried to not each year but gradually increase it just a bit to gradually get it closer to
where we're actually spending is. Usually you have vacancies which cover the overtime. In other words, you know, you've got a couple deputy vacancies and you have to have cover shifts and so on so forth. Usually those savings cover the overage and overtime. That wasn't quite the case this year. Um I think
Troy said he had some folks out on medical leave. That explains some of the need for overtime. Um, but again, usually you've got vacancies and that's usually always always true in the jail where you've got those vacancies which cover the overtime cost.
Um, I think that's it. Uh, you know, again, I'm going to see if we can fix that issue of that pay period. That was an unexpected surprise for departments and I I'm guessing Troy wasn't counting on having 27 pay periods and >> I don't think he I don't think anyone
was >> right. I I know. Excuse me. I know Sheriff Troy Hec is online. Troy, you've got anything to add? >> No, I think Monty summed it up very very uh same thing. Yeah, I would say that the 27th pay period did uh kind of throw
a wrench in our plan. Um yeah, I appreciate any efforts can be made there. >> Okay, >> thank you. Okay, Troy. >> Anything else, Monty, on this? >> Oh, we're just getting started.
>> Let's see. You um human services. Uh the only place that was over budget was in public health, but um those are all covered by grants, mostly ship and the u infrastructure grant. Right. >> So, they brought in substantially more grant revenue than expected. Let me just
jump to the this mouse is giving me fits. um reinforces my hatred for wireless mouse mice. I hate wireless mice. Let's see here. So, uh public health. Yeah, they
they spent 104.3% of their budget, but they brought in 117.3%. So, all that was covered by extra revenue. >> Yeah. Let's move on. Um I wanted to talk about just briefly then this restricted revenue fund.
Um you know miss this is a collection of resources that are either statutory they restricted or they've been they've been designated through board action. Um we we started the year with 5.9 million set in this fund end of the year at 6.2.
You can see the large majority of that is made up of 3.6 million of the solid waste fund. That's a $10 assessment that's on your property tax statement. almost almost a million dollars is in the 911 fund and I know Troy's been building it up uh based upon anticipated
substantial improvements to the the PAP uh equipment, furniture, etc. So that's where that that goes. You know, I've often heard sheriffs say, you know, it's got to be spent inside the four walls of the of the PAP. That's where that goes, right? >> And I believe that's a search charge on
your your phone that goes to support that. Yeah. So those are the two biggest things that make up um and there's many others again either statutoily restricted or designated by board action
to set those resources aside. Uh let's see uh the last sheet here is the uh self-insurance trust fund and pleased report that we have achieved our reserve goal in the health insurance fund. You can see at the end of the year
we're just a tad over 26,000 28 28,000 above our reserve target. Reserve target is six months of fund expenses. So we we've achieved that. It's good to see. One thing um I wanted to point out
though is you see this line here. It says Blue Cross Blue Shield admin fees stop loss reinsurance. >> Yep. >> Mhm. You can see that started out the year at 93,000, but it it keeps creeping up, creeping up, and by the year we was
almost 10,000 higher. Well, we we've been tapping substantially into our reinsurance, and the reinsurance carrier is going to get that back from you at some point. It's just like car insurance. So, we're seeing a gradual increase of that reinsurance.
And you may recall that was the primary reason why Marshia Mlan recommended a 3% increase in our funding level because the reinsurance claims continue to grow and then the reinsurance premium continues to grow >> as the carrier attempts to recover their
losses from us. >> Mr. Chair, >> so um >> Monty, >> yeah, >> I think it's I think it it would be good to tell the public we're I mean we were not very in very good shape on that self insurance fund. a couple years back. >> No, two years ago, I our reserves were
almost decimated. Yeah. And uh we've recovered them. So, you know, that bodess pretty well for 27. Maybe we can um get by with no increase for 27. That would be great. >> That would be great. Last thing, Mr. chair I wanted to talk
about was oh before I I skipped this one I wanted to point out in case you're wondering there's 108,000 sitting in a board contingency right now 108,000 and this shows you how we've been using it it's been going to the state the
state capital lobbyists and I think we're going to also use it for the federal the federal lobbyists last thing I want to point out is uh you may see this at the end of December we had a negative fund balance in the highway way fund and and that's not
typical because usually you know in December you've received the second half of property taxes second half of CPA. So I was asking the highway count you know hey what's going on here? There's two big things which which haven't been recorded yet through December. That was a $600,000 payment from the city of
Gilman for their share of the of the five project and then another $600,000 of bridge funding, federal bridge funding that needed to come in. Uh our highway account is still digging into the details to attempt to to make sure that we've received all the revenue
we're supposed to. We've transferred all the local option sales tax to fund 13 as we should. Uh there's still a bit of a gap there that we're looking at. I just wanted to point out there was a couple large revenues which hadn't been posted yet. Uh which explain why that's in that
negative position which isn't typical in December where you've got a negative in a fund balance like that. >> Monty, so are they looking into why the bridge fund didn't come like I mean are we going to get it or is it because we've got a couple bridge projects for this year. >> Uh
this is looking backwards at I believe projects that have already been done just reimbursement. This isn't This isn't We don't We don't get those typically in advance. Okay. As I understand it, that's pretty typical, right? Yeah. So, in case you saw that and you're worried about that, I wanted to mention
uh we found about 1.2 and still looking for the remainder. And I think Mr. Chair, that concludes. You want to jump back to Jim and um and the building the building update? >> Yep. >> We good? Okay. >> We're good. Any questions? board first
>> on the on the reserve fund for health insurance. I would caution that we don't just because we met the targets or whatever that we don't stop building that a little bit because we've seen how fast it went from our target >> in one year. >> Yeah, >> in one year. >> So, we got to you know, it doesn't hurt
to have a little more in there and that would help offset a large increase in health insurance in the >> in the future. Yeah, >> good point. >> Mr. Chair, >> turn over to Jim. Was there was there uh anything in for the for the plow trucks and
everything like that? Those are all accounted for in our budget. Correct. And the equipment? I I had kind of heard there maybe was an issue there. >> Yeah. So, uh what we do is we budget 330,000 each year in the highway fund and we transfer it over to fund 30 and
that accumulates and is used to to buy equipment. I think though experience is showing us that you think about it right now is a plow truck >> with all the you know the fixings is eclipse 400,000. >> So I think you know in in the future
we're going to have to really reexamine that amount that's transferred because I just don't think it's the cost of equipment is just skyrocketed so it's not sufficient. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Thanks Monty. Go ahead. Start from the beginning. So Jim is up.
Okay. And I'm a tag team with Jim on the second half of the building up. >> All right. Good morning, commissioners. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Um, as you've probably seen, the last couple of weeks have been uh pretty cold, so we had a bit of a slowdown there. Um, that's to be expected. We we
buil we build that into our schedules. Um, overall, we're largely on schedule. um which um we're pretty happy about. Um the contractors are doubling up manpower going forward to help kind of catch up for those cold weeks because it's in their best interest too to move on to
their next jobs and stuff. So not too worried about that. Uh budget wise we're sitting pretty good. We've used roughly around 5% of our contingency so far. Um which uh we're we're further than that into the schedule. Um so we're probably 10 15% into the into the schedule
depending on how you slice it. Just for clarification, >> just for clarification, 5% of the 100% of the contingency, not 5% because we had 5% contingency in there. >> Right. Right. Right. Exactly. Yep. 5% of the total amount of contingency. Just for example. So we've we've spent
roughly around $50,000 of contingency. We've had we had somewhere about a million for that. So we're sitting pretty good there. Um, and um, other than that, I think some of the key things you can look forward to coming up. We are, uh, as you can see, the plastic is up out there. We're heating
the underside of the the decking for the second floor, so we can start pouring that now that it's warm enough. Uh, we'll be pouring that here in the next week or two. We're going to pour the half that you see on the on the one side that's um all plastic right now. Then we'll move the plastic over, pour the
other half. Once that's done, we can go ahead and get the external walls framed and start building the low half of the building with the iron and hop up on the roof. Then we'll uh we'll be fully enclosed after that. So, >> well, how long do you think before fully enclosed? >> I think you're going to see fully
enclosed. Well, we're going to be fully enclosed in terms of temp enclosures. Um, probably within I don't know, six weeks or so. >> Yeah. At least for the twotory portion. lower portion might lag a little bit behind that, but yeah. >> Okay.
>> Yep. Any questions? >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Were you gonna >> walk through the uh change orders? >> All right. >> I'll stand by in case stick around. That's right. >> I have something to blame.
>> Okay. Let's see here. Okay. Let's get that back. So, M I thought that we were we're almost six months into this project. It might be a good idea to review um where we're at with ch with with change
orders. Uh let's see. And as I find that item, okay, here we go. So, uh, and again, I'm kind of jump back and forth between my notes and and what's on the screen
so I don't forget stuff. All right. Um, you may recall, Mr. Chair, when we started this process, the board gave the administrator the authority to approve change orders up to $30,000. So far, here we are. Uh, in February, uh, there have been 10 change orders
approved so far with a grand total of 51,962. And I think as uh Jim pointed, that's 4.8% of our $1.1 million construction contingency budget. Um so where do these change orders come
from? Well, it's really a mixture. So as the as the architect and the construction manager start working with specific contractors, sometimes they'll identify an issue where, oh, we probably should do this instead of what the original plan was. or sometimes as we're talking to GLT and we're reviewing
something, we say, you know, we think we should do something a little different here instead of the original plan. So, I gave a couple examples here of of of that exact instance. And you may have seen on the u the u the summary in your
in your packet, these are these are grouped by what's called PR. And I and I believe in the in the construction industry a PR is called a proposal request. So um uh the construction manager will identify a PR. They'll start gathering
cost estimates on what that's going to take. We'll talk about it. There oftentimes they'll exchange email. They'll give me explanations. Sometimes they'll talk about it during the the meetings out on the trailer of hey here's what's going on and ultimately reach an agreement and then that results
in a a contract amendment uh with one of the contractors. So I gave an example here of PR2 um of where we initiated this. We said hey you know we think the community room is probably going to be used for early voting in the future and Christine can get a grant to help pay for this. So,
let's go ahead and rough this in so we can accommodate, you know, those push buttons. So, folks are coming in, you know, if they've got an issue, the door will open for them. So, let's rough that in for future power assist doors. So, that was in that pro.
Here's one that was identified by the architect and the construction manager in P8 is GLT said, "Hey, you know, we think now that we've got some experience, we need fire dampers in the HVAC uh system that's connected to the
data center." Because the way I understand this, if there's a fire in there, the system releases a gas. You want to keep that gas inside the data center. You don't want it escaping to the rest of the building. So, let's put dampers in the HVAC duck work. So, that
was when identified by the architect and we said, "Good idea. Let's move ahead with it." >> If you didn't if you didn't do that, >> you would you'd need a heck of a lot more of that gas and it would it would offset each other. I mean, you'd be paying more for more gas to to >> It's more concentrated, right? The
suppression is more effective. >> It would never actually work because it would all get out. >> Yeah. and and technically it's not a code required item. However, what GLT had had on another job is that they didn't have that and then inspector required it of them.
>> Um and so given that uh we thought it would be best just to get ahead of the curve. It's a smart idea to have. It's better uh efficiency for the operation of the system. Um and it's a safety item too because it is an oxygen displacing gas. >> Yep. >> Yep. >> So again, it's a mixture, Mr. share of
things we identify things that GOT and the construction manager identify working with the contractors and uh again through 6 months 54 51,000 and none of them approached $30,000 threshold that the board established. There's one I wanted to point out and
give some credit to the contractor uh to Kimman. They identified the ability to use these larger retaining blocks. Um, as you may as you may know, the building cuts into the ground as you go from west to east, and there's going to be a large retaining wall around that norththeast
corner. So, Cayman said, "Hey, I think you could use these larger retaining block wall blocks instead of the smaller ones and resulted in a $13,000 savings." >> So, I wanted to point that out identified by the contractor. So,
um, so, Mr. year. Again, just a six-mon check-in on change orders. Um, if I I'm not aware of any substantial ones that are currently in the pipeline. >> No. >> Uh, so things seem to be moving along well. Any questions for me or Jim on any
of the things you see in that change order list? Anything that jump out at you? >> No. Okay. Um, I think there was a question a while back of like, you know, let's keep track of the budget. Well, um, the fine folks
at Integrity are are doing a great job of that. Karen is is the person that does that, the accounting person. We get this every month. So, these are the original 29 contracts. Hopefully, you can recognize some of these numbers. You may remember when bids were open, we had
the the low bid was the 16,499. So, there's your core contracts. those 29 contracts and uh the change orders then result in amended contract amounts and then you can see what's been paid to date. So so far we paid about 2.4
million out to these contractors. Um also below you can see other items that are outside those core contracts. For example, there's a contingency uh general conditions and so on so forth. the construction manager fee,
architectural, and then down below the typically these are what we call owner items. For example, um FFE, technology, and so on. Really haven't touched much of those yet. Of course, we're just getting into furniture, fixtures, and equipment, technology, and so on. One
thing I wanted to mention is is um sometimes we'll pay a bill directly. For example, we get the bills directly from GLT. We pay those. But Jackie sends this information to Karen. So she updates the budget. So I want to point out this is an all-incclusive budget. It's not just
the port being paid out by to contractors. It's all things that maybe we might pay ourselves to make. Again, this is an all-inclusive budget. So >> one thing I'd like to clarify, sorry money, when we're talking about contingency versus the change orders, when you look at the change order column, that's coming out of this
contingency line item here. Yeah. So, it's it's not you'll see that they match. Right now, >> it's it's because all of those change orders, they come out of that contingency bucket. Sometimes that's obvious to people. Sometimes they think that's a double up. So, just to be clear, all the numbers you see in the
change order column are being taken from contingency. >> Yeah. Again, Karen's number didn't have P8 and PR10. That was just a timing issue. I had that newer information, so I included in my list, but yeah. Thanks, Jim. >> Yep. Yep. >> All right. I just wanted again to
provide that assurance that um uh we're we're watching the budget on a monthly basis uh and tracking things completely to see where we're at. >> Yeah. Part of our job at Integrity is the project manager's job is budget and schedule and quality. So I personally
approve this budget every month. I personally approve all of the expenses every month. Karen assembles them and sends the paybook to Monty. So the architects will review it as well. Um, so it's there's multi-step process that we go through, but it it's our job to be
watching that budget every month and presenting it to you. So if any of you guys ever have any questions on anything you see, feel free to present that question to Lonnie and he'll he'll send it off to me and we'll get you an answer. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Always an open door. >> Same thing for members of the public. Members of the public, email you with
budget questions. We're wide open for that. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. What does my last note say? Oh, that's right. Yeah, as Jyn said, we uh we get those pay requests and then what we do is Jackie sends a request to US Bank to draw down bond proceeds and
we produce the checks. Some we mail directly to contractors, some we send totegrity and they distribute those and we'll continue again our we'll draw down the bond proceeds first and then we'll go to county resources last. See how that's working?
>> All right. Any questions on budget? >> No. Thank you for the information. >> Thanks, commissioners. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, which what is next, Mr. Chair? Is it redevelopment or FFE? >> Redevelopment. >> Redevelopment. I got to get my glass of water.
>> I should talk about no one has. >> All right. I I thought, Mr. Chair, uh you we should give you an update on what's going on with the redevelopment planning on the government center site. Um I'm going to open up the um
um beacon because it's going to help it's going to help this uh talk about this issue when we show actually beacon. Let's see our services. Um it's going to help.
Okay. All right, let's get the Foley. Okay, let's see here. There's Dewey Street. All right, here we go. All right. Okay, let me lead off if I can with the big picture. So, Mr. Chair, your
redevelopment committee um is is continue to consider a plan which which really has two big pieces. Potentially splitting off a portion of this government center and it being used by a nonprofit for potentially medical
services, dental services, senior services. The rest of the property would be then potentially redevelopment redeveloped for mixeduse commercial residential. So that's kind of like the big picture. And I should mention too is is Amanda
from BEP has been substantially involved in this process along the way. And we definitely appreciate her contribution. She's the expert. So let's go now to I'm going to get rid of this wireless mouse. Okay.
All right. So here here's the of course the parcel the county purchased for the government center. So the parcel in question uh here let's just zoom up on this a little bit. Okay. So this is as we got into this.
This is kind of an interesting collection of parcels. You've got the core one which is the government center and there's the 1901 courthouse. Then you've got this parcel here which we bought from the school district about 23 years ago. You I think the tennis
courts were there >> and we needed extra parking. And then there's this parcel which was is mostly again the old highway building. And then there's this there's this unusual parcel here along the creek that
we don't really know why we have it. So it takes some digging into the title research to figure that one out. So it's mostly in flood plane. So So this has been a discussion Mr. chair of the of the of the committee
is basically dividing this parcel here in half. So right here like right about down the middle and then at some point negotiating a sale of this portion here the part we're sitting standing in today to a nonprofit which would then in turn
lease to providers for again medical, dental, social services. That's the big picture theory. So what does that mean? That means we need to go to the city and apply to have this administratively split right down
the middle so it's its own separate parcel. So that's one issue is have it split which means a survey and then applying to the city for an administrative subdivision. So that's one part. Let me go back to my notes make sure I'm not forgetting anything.
Okay. The cost of that according to Jay Witsak, our county surveyor is about 9,000 to get that done. Okay. So, that's the the the nonprofit piece of the of the discussion. And probably the more straightforward
one, split this parcel, negotiate a sale to a nonprofit. I'm making it sound like it's easy. It's really not. But compared to the other part, I think this is the easy part. So, what about the rest of it? Well,
Amanda tells us she feels that there is viable interest in commercial redevelopment of this parcel. And you think about it, it's got prime frontage on the highway. You know, here's the old highway building. Is this the best and highest
use of this prime real estate? Probably not. Probably not. So I think it does make it attractive for redevelopment and uh that's Amanda's uh contention and sounds very viable.
So she believes that you will need tax increment financing to help facilitate the redevelopment of this parcel. So how do you get from today to having a tiff district? Well, there's a lot of steps and that goes back to my notes. The
first step is a blight study. So, you need to have an expert come in and assess your buildings and offer a professional opinion on whether or not they're structurally substandard. Okay. Amanda has got an estimate uh on a blight study and it's about $9,900 for a
blight study. However, however, we can apply for initiative foundation grant in April of up to 10,000. So, hopefully we'll get that grant and that can pay for the blight study. So getting back to what's this business of structurally
substandard I gave you a definition from Northland securities and it's here in my notes. Structurally substandard is defects in structural elements combination of deficiencies in essential utilities facilities etc etc. And to boil it down she said this is from
Jessica at Northland Securities. In practical terms these defects can be viewed as items that would be unacceptable under current building codes. So uh we understand there's like a test when you do these blight studies if to
move from from point A to point B 50% or more of your of your structure must be considered sub structurally substandard. So um that I think is the test. Now, we would most likely, and let's go back
to our our um we most likely wouldn't subject this area to the blight study. If we're going to intend to sell it, it would just be the 191 courthouse and the old highway building. Uh observations at this point have been
that yeah, they're both probably would meet the test of being structurally substandard. So that's the first step is the blight study. So on down the line, what would come next? The board would be asked then to approve a set of findings to essentially declare it structurally
substandard. Then you would do a redevelopment plan to cover all those remaining parcels and then at some point create the tiff district. So that's again in a total nutshell the the quick the quick
process. a lot of steps. There will be some investment of resources up front to make these things happen. I understand from from Jessica Northland Securities, you can recover some of these costs once a tiff district is created and you're collecting property taxes potentially,
for example, like the redevelopment plan. I do not have estimates at this point on the cost of a redevelopment plan. Uh at this point, I have got two costs that I know of. the subdivision process which is a survey and the application to the city and then
secondly the blight study and again the blight study probably can be covered by a grant that we'll apply for in April. So, uh, some other nuances to this story.
We discovered that the the technique that gives you the most flexibility to convey a property on favorable terms is to have the property owned technically by your economic development authority, your EDA. The EDA rules give you substantially
more authority, sorry, flexibility to negotiate a sale on favorable terms and attach conditions to that sale. That to me is really important. In other words, you you you entered into agreement with a buyer that says, "Okay, you have to
provide these kinds of services in this building for this period of time, and if you don't, the property can revert to the original owner." I think we've said all along, Mr. here. We want a good neighbor across the street. We want a good neighbor. So, that's how we can help you sure of having a good neighbor
across the street. Um, and a good neighbor for the city of Foley, a good neighbor for Foley. So, we've talked about possibly, oh, we need to get this EDA conveyance done like soon. Uh, in speaking with Mary, who was with the
Taff Law Firm, you may remember Mary was our legal counsel through the whole HR issue. Mary says, 'Well, you probably want to hold off conveying it to UDA because if you did, let's just say for example, we conveyed the property to the EDA today. She says, 'Well, then the
county needs to enter into a lease with the EDA to stay in the property. Well, why would we spend money on that? She says, probably wait until you vacate the space and then convey it to the EDA. Makes total sense to me. Why would we put ourselves through the cost of doing
the lease and all that stuff? So, so she says, "Why don't you delay it?" So, I know with the group we've been talking to about the nonprofit services, time is of the essence because apparently uh the the the folks who want to bring a
medical clinic here have access to federal funds to help renovate this space, but there the clock is ticking them for them to use these resources. So time is of the essence to begin discussions with a nonprofit about the
terms and conditions of a sale. So Mary says, "Okay, you can go ahead and start negotiating as if you are the EDA to work out these terms and conditions of a sale. Go ahead and start. You can do that." Now, she said, "If the other
party in this equation, let's just say the nonprofit says, you know, you're asking us to invest time and money in this process. we'd like a little assurance that you're actually going to do this. So Mary says, "Well, you could adopt a resolution of intent, provide
the other party some assurance that yes, in fact, we're serious about this. We're going to do this. Our intentions are good." I in speaking to the person that represents this nonprofit, he tells me, he says, "Yeah, we we we'd like that kind of resolution. We think that's a great idea. We'd like that resolution."
So that's something the board to consider is asking Taff to draft this resolution to DOT as a county board. It's just again an expression of intent. Yes, we intend to enter into good faith negotiations to convey this property for these services and so on. Makes sense to
me. Um so I point down here at the bottom there'll be other legal finance costs. This cost of resolution, conveyance of the property to an EDA, redevelopment plan, creation of the tiff district. So, here's what I I'm seeking your
direction on today. Um, can we move forward at with the split process with the city? Again, that cost according to Jay Witstock, our county surveyor, is what do you say? >> 9,000. >> 9,000. So, you need a survey. And then I
think the cost for the city was like a thousand something like that. >> Um, that's one thing. Second, can I apply to the initiative foundation in April for this blight study grant? And then lastly, can we ask Taft to
draft this resolution of intent? That probably won't cost much. You know, it's two or three hours of attorney time. Um, so those are my three areas I'm looking for some direction. Uh, and I, Mr. Chair, again, I want to stress these are
just the initial, we'll call them baby steps. There's so many other steps down the line that will require legal counsel, you know, again, navigating the process of conveyance to the ADA, creation of a redevelopment plan and so on. So, I I want to prepare you for
that. There will be investments down the line to make this all happen. >> A lot of hoops, >> but first things first, >> a lot of hoops to jump through before we even get to the sale. >> Mr. Chair, I'm in favor of all three moving these forward. I think the
nonprofits coming into this area is exactly what we kind of envisioned keeping the building, letting them renovate it on their their dollars, even though in the end it's still on taxpayer dollars because it's federal money coming in, >> but it it allows this portion of the
building to stay. And then the the opportunity to redevelop the other area is is a huge opportunity not only for Baton County but for city of Foley as well. >> Yeah. Yeah. Commissioner Gapinsky, thanks for saying that. That's what this board wanted was a nonprofit coming in
here. >> Yes. And I I believe the interest and ability to bring a medical clinic is very serious. It's very sincere. Yes. Um I think the folks behind this see a great need for medical services for low-inccome folks in this area. Um
>> and would that be dental, too? Probably. Monty, >> I understand that their their package includes dental. Correct. It does. Yep. Yep. Um, so you know, Mr. Chair, the costs that we can't cover through a grant, we can cover through a fund balance in our CIP. I I don't see that
as an issue. Um, as we move through this, I'll continue to get new estimates for you so we know what we're up against in terms of, you know, the economic development side of things. And I should mention too again is had two conversations now with Northland and Mary and I've included Amanda in both of
those. So she's right along with us in these discussions about the economic development side of this of this issue. Um you know again she's she's worked in this field a long time. So I look to her for advice on this subject. And of course you know we're working with
Jessica Green you know Jessica from Northland and then Mary. So >> am I hearing there's a general consensus to move forward on these these issues? >> Yeah I mean I don't think there's a lot of damage or a lot of hurt to move forward. I mean, we're not going to invest a lot of money in this right now,
you know, >> and a lot of it will get back. >> Yeah. >> Hopefully. >> Hopefully. I mean, that initiative grant, I mean, those are pretty >> and we know the relationship >> Yeah. >> between a man and the initiative foundation is great. >> Yeah. >> So, I think that part's okay.
>> Um, >> once if we did this the split and the survey and that and things fell apart, is there always a chance it could go back to where it was? Right. Well, um >> I don't know that you'd want to. >> Well, I mean, once you once you split the parcel, then it's it's kind of
split. I mean, we the county still owns it, of course. Um >> I would have concern about across, you know, the highway building because >> that takes a huge amount of money to build something like that. >> You know, you've addressed an issue that certainly we've got to of cover and that
is that is important storage. >> That's an important building and uh we would need to generate a good amount of resources from it. the sale cover the cost of storage because right >> all the fleet vehicles in there highway uh property manager pickups sheriffs has
the swap vehicles boats ATVs they're secured storage in the end >> right >> we just can't just bulldoze it in oh we we have to have a storage solution yeah >> and some of that's got to be a heated storage too >> uh true the swap vehicles need to be in in heated because they're diesel right yeah they need to be in heated storage
they got to be ready to go just like that yeah >> but building I if anything come to fruition there building something out on the highway department area would be very inexpensive in my opinion. >> Yeah. >> You know >> because you don't you don't need a large heated area. It can be a lot of it can
be cold storage. >> Right. Some of that could be cold storage. >> Well, I think Mr. Chair, you know, we've talked about you know we're uh we're looking at spending three needing to spend three or three to $400,000 on a new roof for that building. Mhm. >> There might be a better use of those resources than putting a new roof on a
really old building, right? You know, so >> hold tight on that that experience. >> Again, it's it's it's it's occupying very prime real estate here in the city of Foley, which is probably something better suited for that location. Yeah. >> All righty. >> Okay. Board, do we have a consensus on
all three of those items? >> C. >> Yes. Thank you, >> Monty. >> You know, some at some point, M. Let me just wrap up one final thought there, Mr. Chair. At some point, I think I will invite Mary to talk to you in close session about terms and conditions of a
sale because if you set if our building committee, sorry, our redevelopment committee, which is Commissioner Benoy, Commissioner Johnson, if they sit down with this nonprofit, they need to know what they've got to work with. >> What What do we expect to get out of
this? uh if we're negotiating on behalf of the county with this nonprofit. So, at some point, we'll probably have to have a close session with Mary to talk about terms and conditions of of a sale. Yeah. Which is appropriate subject for a close session, by the way. All right.
Lots of talking. Much more than I'm used to. All right. Um FF I don't have anything other than my notes. Okay. So, uh, of course the board, you chose Fluid as our furniture provider. Jeff and I had a kickoff
meeting with, uh, with Becky and her colleague whose name escapes me just recently. Talk about process and calendar. Process and calendar. So, here's what we worked out with Becky. So, you may recall, Mr. Chair, let me
backtrack for a moment. So back in September, I brought to you an FFE plan and we've I think we've executed that faithfully. So part of this process includes fluid meeting with you all to consider and hopefully reach a consensus on various
standards. For example, a standard for a cube, a standard for a private office, standard for cube wall height, colors, textures, and so on. So the plan an intermediate plan is for Becky to meet with our affected department heads I
think tomorrow to start to talk about some standards that we would recommend to you and then the plan then Mr. here is flu would meet with you all. Hopefully this date works. March 2nd, I'm sorry, March 3rd after the board meeting to
talk about these standards. Again, that's kind of going back to the plan for September. The notion was asking you all to consider and adopt various standards that apply throughout the building. And I think those are really important, Mr. Chair, because frankly that helps you contain and control the
costs. We can't have 20 different office configurations. We can't have 10 different cube designs. You need some standardization. I think just in terms of fairness too, pretty much everyone has something that's the same. Uh but that's going to help us manage the costs
is to have those standards. So that's the plan. Mr. Chair, we worked out with Becky. Just a note is is she wanted to meet with all departments and and go through a survey with them. So, so Becky shared this survey with Jeff and me and
it really is more kind of a I I'll call it a get to know you survey. They want to kind of come and understand how do you work, where do you work, how long do you spend in your office, how long do you spend in your cube, how do you interact with each other, how do you interact with the public. So, it's more
kind of a get to know you meeting, get to know you survey on March 2nd. Um, it really isn't going to get into the details of specific furniture designs and so on. It's more I would call like a familiarization visit by flu with our departments. So that's I think an hour
each on March 2nd. Um, pretty much covering the whole day. >> Commissioner Pensky, question. >> We we're heading down to AMC. >> Yeah, I'm sure. >> Yeah. >> Are you going to you be here in the afternoon March 3rd? >> No, >> you can't. Okay, we can move it. These
are just tentative dates >> cuz March 2nd is Tuesday, right? >> March 3rd. March 3rd. March 3rd. March 3rd. So March 3rd after there we we head down to the cities. >> Got to leave. Okay, that's >> I was thinking if we keep the board meeting to only things that need to be
on here. >> You won't be. >> But maybe we could pull it off before we go. Maybe we could do it. >> Maybe we could, but not if we have a long board meeting. >> Okay. So why don't we we'll we'll we talk cows. We'll schedule. Maybe if we can't, we'll reschedu. Maybe we could come up with an alternate date.
>> Okay. Uh let's see here. Um what can we talk about on March 3rd? Again, all these standards. And if there's time permitting, we can get in, for example, into conference rooms, uh boardroom chairs, whatever there's time for. I want to
make the best use of your time >> and we'll see. The big things again are really a cube standard, an office standard, and maybe colors and textures and so on. Yeah. All right. Uh an idea that I'll blame myself on
this one. So, I thought, hey, what's a great way to get employees a little more involved, a little more engaged? So, I said, let's create a committee of employees to recommend to you all break room furniture and building decor like artwork, stuff like that. So, uh, we're
embarking on create a committee. Again, would make recommendations to you all on those two things, break room furniture and decor. Um, you don't want me involved in decor because I have no taste whatsoever. So, anyway, uh, I thought again a great way
to get employees involved in, you think about it, you know, um, the break room furniture, I think that needs to be well thought out. You want those to be very inviting places that people want to go to have a break, have their lunch, u and
so on. So, um okay. So, after the board establishes these standards, then fluid then will work with the privates on specific furniture details. Uh I made a little note here is that we have to we have to find another vendor for uh break room and coffee counter
appliances for you know coffee makers um refrigerators fluid doesn't do that stuff. We've got to find that on our own. So I'm going to be talking to Is he still here? No. I gota be talking to Jim about that one. So what are the takeaways? Uh we'll ask you to consider reach consensus on
furniture standards but we'll set that date. Um, why? You may be wondering why this aggressive schedule, why all of a sudden it's like boom, boom, boom. Well, the furniture layout is needed so the contractor can drill the holes for the floor boxes, especially in the second
floor. So, um, you may remember we thought that when they pour this second floor deck, they were going to insert forms where the floor boxes would go. So floor
boxes, power and data. Well, I learned at a recent project meeting that's not going to happen. They're all going to be drilled. So to drill those, they need a furniture plan that's overlaid on that floor to know where to drill the floor
boxes. So that's somewhat explaining this aggressive schedule. They need the furniture out, especially for the second floor. I don't know the reason the shifting gears, but I was told that was a plan all along is that they wouldn't be you wouldn't pour around forms.
Instead, they would be drilled. >> I'm not >> usually you do that on second floors on the the main level. That's where you put the boxes in. >> That is a common >> practice. >> If it was on if it was on the the low
level where where the concrete's right on the ground, that's where you'd put the boxes. That would make sense. Yeah, that would make total sense. Okay. According to Becky, the schedule is built around a completed furniture plan by July, August. July, August, because there's a long lead time to get this
stuff in. It can be two or three months to get this stuff in. So, they're shooting towards July, August, have a completed furniture plan, which you will approve. Again, the final plan is going to come to you for sign off that it fits within the budget, it works. Uh, I
wanted to stress that. Um, and again, we established that concept back in September. So, Mr. Shear, well, hopefully the March 3rd will work. If it doesn't, we'll come up with an alternative date. Um, but I I will definitely say things are
going to move kind of fast over the next few months with this. >> We can't do it March. >> There's a lot of planning to do. A lot of planning to do. A lot of meetings. A lot of planning. Did I totally skip Susan? I I Do you have any thoughts or questions on FFE?
>> I Right now, Monty, I don't see where March 3rd's going to work because one, I'm not going to be here at all. >> Okay. >> And this just looks like a lot of conversation that's going to take a lot more than after board meeting. >> No problem. We'll move it. We'll move it. Yeah, we'll move it. Easy. Easy done. Easily done. Want to make make
sure it works. And you're right, Commissioner Pop. This is a fairly linked discussion. >> Yeah. And I think again it should obviously must be well considered. There's a lot of implications for these standards. Yep. Gotcha. I think that was all I have and I we're moving on to executive search firm and I bet Susan's
been patiently waiting. >> Are we wrapped up with FF? Anything else on FF? >> Yeah, thank you. >> Susan is here to talk about a search firm for county engineer. >> All right, Susan, it's all yours.
just close some stuff. >> Good morning. >> Morning. >> Good morning. >> Okay. Okay. Oh my gosh. >> As you're aware, we've had some difficulty um with our engineer posting, right? We haven't had a lot of applicants. Um as of this morning when
we reposted it last week, got it refreshed. It's still nobody's in there. So, we've had three applicants since December 3rd. Um so, last week I did some research on executive search committees. Um, I called four of them here in Minnesota, um, out of the Twin
City area. Um, all of them had some government recruiting experience, although I found one that specifically recruits for government. So, local gov staffing do um, solutions. I had a conversation with the owner. She has 20
plus years experience in recruiting for government positions. Um the other three recruiting agencies that I spoke to um their fees are a percent of the first year salary of whatever we offer the candidate and that percent is
anywhere from 25 to 30% of that salary. Um yes very expensive. Um local gov is a flat fee of 22,500. So um very comparable to um another firm that we have used in the past. So, um,
that is my recommendation is to go with Lori out of local gov. Um, just frankly because of her experience, right? Recruiting for government's a totally different animal. Um, I I think she's very knowledgeable. I had a good conversation with her and she put together a very detailed, well thoughtout plan for us. So,
>> what's their fill ratio or their percentage? you know, I had that um I think it was 98% and she had um a 60-day guarantee that if the if it doesn't work out with this candidate.
Now, if we term them for performance, this is it's not covered under it. But for any other reason that it doesn't work out, they will recruit at no additional cost to us for >> excuse me, Susan. Just 60 days. >> 60 days. All of them are 60 days, by the way. The four that I called
And >> I mean better than what we had. We thought we had good assurance there, too. >> Yeah. >> Well, had a twoyear. >> Yeah. And all of them had 60 days. Um, one of them had 13 weeks. So, >> yeah. But what did DDA get us? Two
years. >> What did we get out of that though? >> Which is why we did we were reaching out and looking for that too. >> Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. >> Yeah. No, >> I look this company says that there's
there's PE engineers out there that they >> She has recruited for engineers in the past. Very familiar. >> Yes. >> And we could maybe Yeah. >> No, that I I'm all in favor. We got to get something we got to get going. >> We got to get going with this.
>> So, we'll need a motion if you want to. Uh >> I'll make >> local gov. >> Can I ask ahead Susan? Did she say roughly how long she thought something like this would take. >> So, her contact her contract has a um
schedule in it of >> I'm looking at it right now. >> Oh my goodness, if I can find the page. I've looked at so many of these, so bear with me. Um she said offer within six to eight weeks. So, weeks one and two is position
posting and targeted outreach. Weeks two to four um application review and candidate screening. uh weeks four to six presention presention of um the candidates and client reviews in six to eight. You'll do reference checks, background screening, and then we'll coordinate.
>> Mhm. >> Sounds a little aggressive. >> Yeah. >> And no, don't fill the position. We don't pay. >> We don't. Yep. >> Okay. >> Correct. >> It's same as same as the other one we went with. and and
>> you are part of the you and someone else is part of this process of the interviewing process. >> Yes. So interviews so they'll do pre-screens and they will do the background checks for us. We will do the interviews here. >> Okay. And our interview selection committee up to this point has been Commissioner Hein, Commissioner Johnson
and then Susan and myself. Right. >> Did we Okay. Did we have someone from outside the county? >> We did have somebody from the state. Oh, we had we had the district engineer from >> Mindot. >> Yep. >> I would presume. Were you comfortable? >> Yes. >> So, we would want to include her in the
future. >> Who? >> It was uh Angie. >> Angie, the district engineer from Mindot. Yeah. >> I don't remember her last name, but it was Angie. >> I don't need the district we're in. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> She was very good actually.
>> Very good questions. I'll make that motion to go with the recruiting company of >> Local Gov Staffing Solutions. >> Local Gov Staffing Solutions >> solutions >> for 22,000. >> Yep. >> Okay, we got a motion, a second. Any
more discussion on this item? >> We got to have this position filled. >> We got to fill it. >> Keep pushing it down. You know, >> our temp wants to leave. >> Yeah. >> Which is too bad. >> Yeah. >> Any further >> He wants to be retired. Any further discussion on this? >> No.
>> If not, I'll call a question. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Approved. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> And that to just clarify, the reason our temp does want to leave is he is already retired. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> He put in what 30 plus years. >> Yep. >> Yep. Okay. Nick Sandy, human services fraud prevention investigation. >> Well, first I just want to make a note that human services has been very busy lately. Not that we're not always busy. Um, but we've been doing a lot of
rehiring for individuals who have left and we are um going to we just reposted our um posting for our mental health co-responder. Um so going back to looking for a person to take that position. Um also bus several projects
um which we'll bring to the board at a future date, but we're relooking at the burial um county burial process. Um we are looking at um some housing support programs. Um just a variety of things just just to note. And we also plan to
bring to you a presentation on the act so that we can talk again about the costs that keep bring up about the act and what that means to the public. Um had thought we might bring it to the next board. Maybe part of that will depend I suppose on what you decide for a cow. Um, but that aside, then I would
like to invite Ken and Jessica up here to talk about our fraud program. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> I'm Ken Pente. I I'm the uh child support and fraud supervisor. Um, today um you've probably heard a lot in the
news about fraud. You're probably wondering what do we do at the county level for as far as program integrity efforts. Um, so I just kind of want to give you a little update on what we do and then I'm joined with Jessica today. She's our new fraud prevention
investigator and then she'll our activity from the last year. So what are we? Um, we are a region Benton Max Morrison and Sherburn. Uh, we are part of this 4ount region that's 100% grantf
funded by the state which makes it a no-brainer for counties to use. Um, so there's no levy dollars that go into this program. Um, so as the administrative county, we are the host county. So we are the ones that
monitor the grant. We provide the investigator. Um, those dollars from the state for the investigator goes back to our county to offset those costs. And then uh uh so the program was designed originally to streamline um referrals
for fraud. In the old days, they used to have to refer to a criminal investigative like the sheriff or local law enforcement. And though that was very cumbersome. So what this program does is allow eligibility workers to uh
refer a suspected intentional program violation right to uh the worker. And then we have 15 days to investigate that on average to turn around to determine if there is um some type of program violation. We can handle those
administratively. We can do overp payments. Um we can disqualify those people or in cases where um we uncover a lot of fraud um we can refer those to normally the sheriff's department for further investigation for potential
criminal uh charges. So um what we do so we investigate individual participant fraud so uh SNAP MIP GA child care uh we are not designed to and our purpose
isn't designed to investigate large daycare frauds. However, if we run across something in one of our investigations, we can refer that up to the state or to our sheriff's department for um further investigation.
So, let's see. So, I said before that we get these um a lot of our referrals from the eligibility specialists and they do a really good job watching the applications and their case loads. Everybody in our counties, our four
counties are all bought in to the um idea of of monitoring and being um you know protective of our public resources and they all are very supportive of sending over referrals and they do a
great job with that. And uh we do get some tips um called into our office and from the fraud hotline from the state. Uh but for the most part they come from the people our workers actually working with the clients. So
let's see uh uh Jessica is going to talk a little bit about um some of our our savings and stuff, but we're required to have a 3:1 cost savings ratio. So for every dollar the state um spends on our program um they want to see a $3 return.
So and we maintain those standards. In fact, we're over $5 for our return. So, um, we had a little bit of a gap after our last investigator left, Andrew. But, um, Jessica is going to fill right in. So, as a matter of fact, I'll just
introduce Jessica right now. So, Jessica came to us in December after Andrew left our county in October. So, she has some experience, but I'll give her a few minutes to get um to let her introduce her introduce herself and some
background. And then if you guys have any questions when we're done, feel free to ask because I think we do much better with dialogue as opposed to presenting. >> I agree, Ken. >> Uh good morning everybody. Um so, as Ken
said, I'm Jessica Chandell. Uh I worked as a contracted fraud investigator for about seven years. um several counties around the state including Sterns Benton or Sterns right Miker was one of the bigger ones um I did fraud prevention there and fraud control um and then I
worked as a eligibility specialist for about a year and a half and kind of in between there so I have kind of both sides of the spectrum now um so and then I pulled some numbers this morning so I just did last year January through December of 25 uh we had about and this
is as the region um all counties But we had about 195 referrals. Um, and we had about savings uh total was about 305,000 for the year. Um, and then nine of those cases were referred to criminal. So they could be charged
criminally if the county attorney will see that, you know. Um, and then as far as just Benton alone, we had 56 referrals and the savings for Benton was uh 93,500. So, um, some significant savings there.
Do you guys have any questions or >> I have a quick question just because somebody called me on it and you can probably give a better perspective to this than I could. Um, someone called and asked me if it's possible that somebody could live in CERNs, have a
place in Cerns, Benton, and Sherburn, and do we have a way to cross reference if they're getting benefits from a totally different company or totally different county? >> Yeah, we would be able to look up in our system to see what um county is paying out those benefits and then where they're residing and where their benefit
should be getting received from. So that they can't get by with with drawing from several counties. >> No. Nope, they shouldn't. >> Yeah. >> I uh I want to thank Ken and Nina because we were on the radio talking
about fraud and it was great to uh disclose the difference between the county and the state for fraud and all that. like the state license uh uh commercial daycare facilities, we license the inhome small daycare
facilities. So, we did a lot good conversation about the difference and who oversees what. So, I appreciate that. >> Right. And I think our our eligibility staff does a good job monitoring like the actual participants receiving those child care funds as far as making sure
that um they're not over billing and things are in line. So everybody works well together to make sure that that these flow the way they're supposed to work. But um one thing I want to mention on on your comment about other counties is in fact one of the things that we
have to worry about is other states and this the feds have a system it's called a Paris match system that if a social security number pops up in another state that the'll match if there's another state with that same social security number um receiving benefits and then
they'll send us a an alert to take a look at it. So, um, there's some safeguards built in. Obviously, there's always people trying to skirt the issues, but that's why we're here. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions?
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Now, the contract. >> Contracts. >> Contracts. Right. >> All right. Good morning, commissioners. Nikki Nolles, mental health supervisor here to continue on the road of getting
a co-responder for Benton County. Um, right now, as Sandy said, we are currently posted for a co-responder. Part of that is we want to provide clinical supervision to that person. We were able to connect with Kathy Lagau who has several several years of
experience working with um adult mental health, serious and persistent mental illness um crisis situations um vast vast knowledge of working with adults to be able to guide us and help us as we continue to train develop our program
for a co-responder. Our idea is that we will develop a somewhat of an outreach team to where we'll be a co our co-responder and our current outreach worker that'll meet with her a couple times a month just for that extra supervision, talk through case scenarios um and continue to work as we as we
develop our program. So the contract in front of you is for Kathy Lau to provide that service. Um, one thing with this is that as noted in the contract, there is a lower amount for the liability insurance. This is something that has been approved by the
board in the past. I do have Daniel here from the county attorney's office if there's any questions on that. Um, otherwise, we would ask that you approve that contract. >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Beno, >> I do have some questions for Daniel on
on the contract. So, at least from what I'm reading and understanding of this is that this contract is isn't requiring the liability that the county typically requires. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Um, and what could be the repercussions to the county by lowering those standards? >> So, the and please forgive me, I'm operating with a cold this morning. Uh
the reason we put certain uh minimum levels of insurance in our contracts is that we're trying to make sure we are covered under Minnesota's TOR liability act. So uh that act provides that the maximum
that a municipality like us Benton County can be sued is up to $1,500,000. Okay. So we want generally speaking our contractors to have that much in
insurance to cover it and therefore uh that and people can't go for punitive damages or go more than that. So that's what we typically look for. Uh Miss Lagau
has insurance at $1 million and uh for the and also 2 million for aggregate uh aggregate meaning a number of claims that happen over time. So
contracting is about managing risk and the risk you take with this contract is there is a gap between what her insurance covers and the maximum under tort law. So for a single occurrence
um I can give an example but it's dark and so uh if she did something in her supervision that she got sued for and then we got sued for as contracting with her
and they won her insurance would cover the $100,000 of it and then the that person suing her and suing us as well could then turn at us and Okay. Now, you owe us $500,000. County of Benton.
We do have the Minnesota uh county's intergovernmental trust is our own kind of insurance, but they're the ones that tell us make sure to get make them get the full amount of insurance coverage.
So, we're managing risk and with this contract, there is a risk. However remote you might find that to be, that someday something could go horribly wrong. Someone sues Miss Lagau and us for having contracted with her
for something that happens in Benton County and we are on the hook for possibly uh Benton County is on the hook for $500,000 or 1 million in the aggregate. I don't believe that this is a high risk
a uh the example I think of and I I struggle to conceptualize a better one with the scope of what exactly Miss Lagau would be providing in supervision. But she
talks to someone that she's supervising. She gives them the wrong advice. She doesn't tell someone how to talk down someone that is suicidal. That p that person then talks to a enduser, they uh Benton County resident
and unfortunately because of what they say, at least that's uh the it's proven in court that because of what that person said, that end user committed suicide and it was Miss Lagawa's fault that she didn't supervise them properly.
That's unfortunately what I think of. Again, that's dark. But in order to get up to this these massive amounts of liability, I'm thinking wrongful death. How likely is it that that actually happens? That her advice indirectly
causes someone to do that or to otherwise harm themselves. It's pretty remote. >> Yeah. >> But it's not zero. Hence, you get a whiny memorandum from me and I point out that there's some liability here and even though it's
possible that MCIT would cover it because they have instructed us to try to make our contracts cover the full amount of liability. There's no absolute guarantees either way. >> Does that answer your question, M?
>> It does answer my question. Now I have another question and that's probably for Nikki. Is is there a reason why she's not up to the standard of what the county typically requires? >> I think she's she's a single person.
Usually a lot of times we'll have a company or an agency do it. She's one single person providing this service for us for minimal hours. I don't know if that necessarily answers your question. >> And usually usually those go up by millions, not by 500,000. >> That's exactly what I was going to say, right? They're sold in increments of a
million. The next increment is very expensive. >> Yeah, very expensive. More than that $5,000, >> right? That's what I was going to say. She's really only working very minimally for us. So, in order for her to get the extra insurance, we would need to up the amount we're paying her fairly
significantly. I mean, we're envisioning that at the beginning there will be more hours as we develop this program, but we're thinking, you know, two hours a month. So there's not a lot of >> time. Nikki will be the main supervisor.
>> So about 15 years ago, the state increased the tort limits from 1 million. It was response to a case, I believe, in the Morehead area >> where there was two governmental entities involved and the tort limits were stacked. >> So legislators unstacked them, >> but said, "Okay, we're going to increase
the million to 1.5." This issue has come up dozens of times in the last >> where contractors don't want to get that extra million that comes up. very spending. >> It's very expensive. >> It's because again, like Commissioner G said, they're sold in million dollar increments. >> Yeah. >> So, you're going to go from a million to
2 million and it gets expensive. >> Just another just another state mandate that that they put out there that doesn't meet the the standards of today on how insurancees are sold. >> Yeah. >> So, this is again, it's a common
contractor issue we've heard. Could we get with uh MCIT and make sure that they're good with this? >> Well, after MC is going to say what the tort limit they want you to strive for to make sure you cover the tort limit so
you don't have uninsured exposure. >> I guess I guess where I'm going with this is are are we prepared as a board to pay $15,000 for a $5,000 contract because that's probably what we're going to be doing. I mean that 15,000 is is huge if
something ever happened because now we got coverage. But >> you know >> this this has come in front of us numerous times even in my almost eight years. >> Yeah. About 15 years ago that that change happened. >> Yeah. >> Monte, have we approved these before
like this? >> Yes, we have. On many occasions you got to weigh the risk and that's it. Yeah. >> It's a judgment call. >> Yeah. I I like your thinking.
>> Yeah. >> Board, what do you want to do with this? >> I'll move for approval, Mr. Chair. >> Okay, we got a motion. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we've got a second discussion. Commissioner Gapinsky. >> Yes. The reason I'll second that is I
think the the um reward out out uh outweighs the risk on this one. Absolutely. >> I agree with you 100%. >> Yep. >> And and thank you for your questions, but >> it it's tough with when it comes to insuranceances and and as Daniel said,
it's dark. I mean, you never know what happens. I mean, you can sue anybody these days. You don't have to you don't have to have the proof up front. You can sue them. >> Yeah. >> Then you got to prove it. So, >> that is so true. Any further discussion on this?
If not, I'll call the question. And all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you. And I do want to say we are very very excited to have the opportunity to have Kathy Lau work with us with her experience of the crisis team. So it is really exciting news. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Now we'll reconvene the uh regular county board meeting and turn it over to Commissioner Pop for the county ditch authority meeting. >> Okay. Um roll call. Everybody's here but Commissioner Johnson
and he's excused. Approve or amend the agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> We ask if he wanted anything else on the agenda. >> He didn't hear you.
>> Adam, was there any >> We got a motion in a second. >> Yeah, we got a motion and a second for the agenda. >> All in favor? I >> I >> opposed carried. Open form. Nobody's on the open form for ditch. Correct.
>> Okay. >> Consent agenda number one. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion been made and seconded for the consent agenda. >> All in favor? >> I oppos carried. >> Regular agenda.
the review the quotes for ditch 9 and 14 continued and the senate. Let's do that one first. >> Morning, commissioners. >> Good morning. >> Um, as you may know, we've had this on the agenda the last two ditch authority
meetings and now this is the third meeting. Um, I know last um, ditch authority meeting some of the commissioners kind of wanted to do their own research and they wanted me to do a little bit more research as well. into um the the companies that sent us the
quotes, >> right? >> Um I'm just going to go, you guys saw this last time, but I'm just going to look at the not to exceed numbers again. Um I haven't had any update from Helman Construction regarding that. So, it is still the same same numbers that I
received last last ditch authority meeting. Um what I do want to say is I did um meet with an individual from a company called Nutrient Solutions. They are a company that provides herbicide
and chemical treatments to contractors such as Cars Tree Service. Um and I did speak with that individual and he told me that Cars Tree Service is a very reputable company. um he's worked with them a lot in the past and he said that
he's never had any issues with them. Um obviously that is an individual that works with Cars Tree Service. So I kind of wanted to get another um another reference from them as well. Um I got this quote from Cars Tree Service and
they're um out of Ottertale. Um so I contacted the Ottertale County Ditch Inspector and that is their maintenance superintendent. they do not have a a dedicated ditch inspector yet. Um, and he stated that he has worked with cars tree service in the past doing
trails, um, rightways and stuff like that. He did state that they have not used them on ditches yet. Um, but he the the county as a whole has used them and he and they really liked like their service.
Um, obviously with Mr. or uh Commissioner Johnson out. I'm not sure if we want to approve anything today. Um it kind of depends on how comfortable you guys are with this. Um like I said, Cars Tree Service is the lowest quote we
got. Their estimate was their not to exceed number. Um, and obviously there's still snow on the ground, so we have time, but we obviously don't want to keep these contractors waiting um with this cuz there then their estimates and they're not to exceed May
may may change. >> Yep. Um Yeah. And we don't know how much time, you know, once you get past the 1 of March, you know, you can have frost out early frost out. Yeah. >> And I I would imagine they want to get this done before frost is out.
>> Yeah. that we kind of left I left that up in the quote to say that I would discuss with the successful contractor um two start times. Obviously, we can bring that back to the board too once we
once you guys approve a a contractor and then you can guy guys kind of work with me and determine the best time for that mowing to take place. >> I mean, I think he vented himself now very well. I think Yeah. I I don't think
Commissioner Johnson would have a have a problem with us moving this forward today. >> No. >> No. >> I'd hate to see this on a fourth agenda. >> Yeah. Right. >> So, >> I'll make a motion for Carree Services to hold the contract for a ditch
cleanup. >> I'll second. >> Motion been made and seconded to award the contract to car tree services not to exceed the amount quoted. Any other discussion, >> Mr. Chair? Would that be for both ditches then? >> I believe so. >> Yes. This is a total amount here for
both ditches. >> Um here for nine it was 6,460 and then for 14 it was 9,488. So these numbers would go to just the ditch fund for the certain ditch they're
working on. >> And I just combined them here just just to see that. >> Yep. Just wanted clarification. Thank you. >> Any other questions or discussion? Call a question. All in favor? >> I opposed. Carried. >> Set the date for the annual special
drainage authority meeting. >> Yeah. So, obviously last year um this was also on the last agenda as well, but um I got some more information prior to or after that. Um last year's meeting was on August 19th. This was in the
Foley auditorium. Um, obviously Commissioner Johnson had some issues with that and we all kind of did just because of the construction that was going on in the auditorium and it was very warm in there and that kind of caused some more agitation than there
already was. Um, but I did contact the Foley High School, the person who we have a contact with with renting that that space. Um, and they said that the construction in the auditorium will be minimal. And she stated that there will be AC this year. >> Okay.
>> Um, so if we wanted to I felt like that was a good space to have. >> Um, I'm not sure if we'll have more people or or less people this year. >> Um, but yeah, so I thought that was that was good. Um, I also contacted Rinky Nan because we wanted to have a person from
Rinky Nunan to be there again to answer questions. Um, and so I said last time that we could shoot for Tuesday, August 18th, which would be after the second board meeting of August. Um, Rinky Union said that they had prior matters on that
day, so they could not attend that Tuesday, August 18th. And so I asked them what dates would work for them. Um, I'm not sure if we want to keep it on a on a board meeting day. If so, he said the first board meeting of August would
work, which is that Tuesday, August 4th at 6 p.m. or he said any if we wanted to keep it in this same week period, he could do any other night during the week of the 17th besides that Tuesday. Um, so I leave it up to you. He said
that he will um put a tentative date in his calendar that he could that he will attend August 4th if you guys choose to do that one. Um, I don't think it matters too much. He said August is a good time to do it. So, it doesn't matter exactly when. Um, it just just
depends on your guys's schedule. >> I was just trying to look on the first board meeting of the month. Is the Benton County Fair done before that? >> Oh, yeah. No, it'll be going that time. >> That'll go. I thought maybe it was a
little earlier this year. Somebody can I was gonna look real quick because >> Monty might be looking it up. >> I'm looking. I'm looking. Let's see. >> August 4th to the 9th. >> Oh, yeah. That is not going to work. >> That won't work. >> That won't work. >> All right. So,
>> let's go for I'd go for the Wednesday night then after the board meeting. >> The 19th. You're talking. >> Yeah, that works. >> The 19th of what? August. >> Okay. >> It's a Wednesday night. >> Wednesday night instead of Tuesday >> or Monday night. I'm fine with either one. Is that worth?
>> He did state when I messaged him about a week or two ago that he said any other night would work >> okay >> of the 17th and so I would have to confirm with him. But >> the 19th >> Okay. >> Uh I I will not be able to make the
19th. I'm just telling you right now on a Wednesday >> Monday. >> The Monday I can make but the 19th on a Wednesday I can't make. But it's up to you guys. It's I'm just Monday. >> I'm just one commissioner. >> I have another obligation on the 17th,
but I'll move it >> on the 17th. >> I'll move it. It's not a big deal. >> So, Monday the 17th will work then. >> Uh 6 p.m. we did last time. If we want to do that again.
>> I'm hoping this one goes a little bit better. >> Yeah. John Cole would be the one. He stated he would be the one. >> Okay. >> John Cole would >> Okay, perfect. >> And so we have good coverage. >> Mhm. >> Oh, I'm not saying that our representation did >> Yeah. Yeah. >> bad.
>> They did a great job. >> They did a great job. I'm just thinking that as we get through these ditches and we start what we did on the last ditch where we we started doing some of that removal instead of redoing everything. I think them are the common I want to say common
sense things that I want to see moving forward. >> So, >> yeah. I do also want to ask um like I stated last time, we did do postcards in the mail um about a month prior. Those were sent out. Christine told me between
July 1st and 15th. She didn't know an exact date. Um but just curious your thoughts. I thought that was a very good idea to send postcards out. Those went to every benefited land owner on any ditch system. >> Um, so I'm guessing they would be around
the same cost. They were about $385 and she charged $35 to each ditch system. >> Okay. >> Um, so if you guys approve the date to be the 17th. Um, and then also postcards if you guys prefer to do that as well.
>> I almost think we have to. As much as we listen to people in the meeting say they they didn't know about meetings or they didn't know about the times or or they weren't notified. I I mean I mean we can't control whether they get
it in the mail and chuck it in the garbage and don't pay attention to it, but at least we can say we attempted to contact every single person. And I think it might be not a bad idea to bring it up every meeting until here and just so
it's brought up literally >> a ditch authority meeting >> from a ditch authority meeting that we are having it this day. >> Yeah, >> good idea. >> That's a good point. >> Yes. And I will post this on the website as well. We have a county ditch page on the website and then maybe a month or
two prior I'll have it on the news section which is on the front page of the website. Okay. Okay. >> Um, and I also have access to the Facebook page, so I can post it on there as well, just so we get as much coverage as as we possibly can. >> Okay. Do we need a motion, a second to
set dates, Monty? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> I'm not I'm not sure. Be up to, >> Mr. Chair. What I would do is I would >> Yeah, there's no harm. >> I would wait. >> I'll make that motion. >> I would wait >> at 6:00 p.m. on the 17th. Well, don't we want to wait to see if he gets approval
from the the um >> the school and the attorney to make sure that those are dates for sure he can show up. >> We'll do that next meeting then. >> And and Adam, I just have one question for clarification or maybe Monty can clarify this, but I believe the school
does not charge the county for the for the space. Okay. >> All right. >> Yeah. All right. I will go back to uh uh Foley High School and ask to confirm that the 17th works. And I will also send Ricky Noon in just to confirm even though he already stated it. That was
two weeks ago just to make sure that the 17th works and then next board meeting two weeks from now I will present this again and we can do a motion in second. >> Okay. All right. Thank I got one more >> question. You know, I had a I had a constituent that called me and they were
wondering how we're documenting your time when you're spending on the ditches and which ditch. >> Yeah. So, how my time card works is I I know it's different. Highway is kind of different than everywhere else. Um, we have specific codes we use for our time.
>> So, when I go into my time card, I click county ditches and then it has every single ditch allocated. And so I type, you know, I I click on county ditch 9, for example. Um, and then I put in um there's a little note tab, too. Um, and
then I put in exactly what I did. If I had a phone call with an individual, if I had a board meeting like today, I put an exact reasoning why I I did it. And then our our um accountant over at the highway department, I'm pretty sure,
sends it to Jackie at the end of the year. So there's like an end of the year report of of what happened on these ditches in my time and you know Chris's time was obviously on there as well. So >> yeah, I think they come from one of the ditches that are fairly complete
>> and they wanted to know if we're still paying for Adam. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So obviously it depends on on the phone calls I get. >> Um there could be completed ditches and I get phone calls from a certain individual. I have to report that to the
direct ditch that they're on. >> Okay. So, I'm sure it's going to be something that's coming forward as we move into this a little bit more. >> Yeah. And like Chris stated when um we did the 2026 maintenance assessments, he assessed basically my time was kind of
included in those assessments. So, it's not an additional assessment for just my time. It was included in the in the annual assessment. All right. Okay. >> All right. Thanks on that. Anything else? Otherwise, we're adjourned at 10:47.
>> Turn it back to the county board. >> Okay. Thank you. Now, we'll do commissioner meeting updates. >> I'll start. In light of time, I really didn't have a lot of updates from the last uh week and a half or two weeks. >> Same here.
>> Go ahead. On February 2nd, we had a redevelopment meeting for um the the site here. Um I had a CMCA board meeting, RSVP board meeting,
career solutions board meeting, uh St. Cloud City Council meeting, um uh and a Micah meeting, and a first steps meeting. And all I had was labor negotiations for
the library and the county, you know. So, >> still going. >> Both are moving forward, but like a turnoff >> slow. Still, you know, that's right. >> So, um, that's all that I really had. >> Okay. Comments by commissioners, general comments, board members, topics not
required, county board action. Okay. Monty, committee, the whole. >> Okay. All right. Let's first try and work out this FFE meeting. Um, I've been messaging with Becky Petroski. Uh, so
looking at March 9th, um, which is a Monday, or Tuesday, March 10th. I know we have an ARPA meeting with the city of Sock Rapids at 9 on Tuesday, March 10th. So, how about Monday the 9th or the afternoon of the 10th?
This is the FFA meeting. Becky prefers, she tells me the afternoon of the 10th. >> What time is she thinking? >> Two o'clock. >> Crap. >> That takes away a whole day and day. >> Okay. >> Yeah.
>> Uh, >> no. That that's not going to work. >> That's not going to happen. >> Okay. >> So, uh, she says her third choice is 9:00 on March 9th. >> That's better. >> Okay. >> For me anyway. Yeah, I
>> can make that work. >> So, >> March 9th, 9:00 >> 9th at 9. Okay. Steve Bakowski wishes to meet with you to discuss the RO program. Um, potentially look talk about possibly some delaying of some projects,
uh, current projects underway and so on. So, he and I discussed it's probably better to have that discussion maybe in the committee the whole book because it's a more lengthy discussion. Of course, you know, Steve is with us just on Tuesdays typically and
Thursdays. Um, he does tell me that the 10th works for him. Um, so how I guess we could we could meet really early, but we have to get over to Sock Rapids by 9.
>> Well, could we move Sock Rapids to 9:30? >> I'll have I'll have to ask. Yeah. So, how about me with Steve here at 8 and then we'll push sock rapids to 9:30 10. >> Yeah. >> Okay, let's do that. >> So, to recap, FF with fluid at on the
9th at 9, highway the 10th at 8. At 8. Okay. And I think that's all we have. That's all we have. Wow. Okay.
>> Motion to set the cows as explained. Second. >> Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, I'll call a question. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Anything else in front of the board? were adjourned at