##VIDEO ID:ROnw0S71g0U## okay front Row's open Jackie yeah right in front of Tim yeah Amanda here yep chair we call order the November 5th County board meeting start with pledge allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Beth sure commissioner schlangen here commissioner Heinen here commissioner Johnson here commissioner ginsky here commissioner pop present keeping you guys guessing all right approve or amend the agenda BTE I have one just one change Mr Sher uh for us uh the community energy transition Grant announcement could we please have that right after the consent agenda okay that was uh that was what I had to so good deal all right yep that's all we have sir move for approval of the amended agenda Mr Che okay we got a motion in a second all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube please refrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that viewers can hear you the County Board observes Robert's Rules of Order for its meeting so please obtain the board's chair 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 your cell phones or turn them vibrate thank you anybody here for open Forum no okay we got consent agenda items 1 through 8 what would you like to do move for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion and a second all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries all right we'll move on to the energy Grant good morning good morning thanks Amanda morning morning chair good morning uh Commissioners um s's going to pass out a few letters for you this morning good morning Sandy thank I'll give you a minute to open those all yeah it's a very good letter I thought I'd deliver you a a little bit of great news on uh today for uh a change I guess um so the community energy transition Grant was a grant that I'm uh assuming that you're aware that applaud for on behalf of the county um part of that Grant uh program it was established under State Statute um through the energy transition office at U Minnesota Department of Employment and economic development um there were approximately um10 million available for distribution through that transition Grant in fiscal year 24 and 25 we're in fiscal year 25 so we're at the last leg of this um uh transition Grant opportunity um the purpose of it is uh that the Department of Employment and economic development is uh seeking qualifications uh qualify responders to assist in eligible communities to address Economic Development dislocation and social impact associated with the closing of a local uh electric generating plant you're probably wondering um or maybe you know but U maybe the public is wondering where that electric Generation Plant is located um and that is it it's the Granite City power generation facility it's a natural gas facility that we have uh in bton County um kind of be behind uh if you're familiar with the Coburn's Warehouse in uh on the East end of town of St Cloud and so that uh allowed us to be eligible to apply for this grant opportunity some of the eligibility requirements um are the capital costs for public infrastructure necessary for economic development um the project to County uh Road 29 and 8 extension project was part of an iomic development project that is um that the county has been working on for many many years and um part of that project required uh additional funding needed to move two uh Power Line poles from Excel Energy um so knowing that and knowing that the county did not necessarily budget for those funds um we applied for this grant to help assist with the cost of the the relocation of those funds or relocation of those polls excuse me so um your letter uh indicates that we received the full request of a million dollars for our um our Grant application and um this was certainly um a very lengthy Grant application um we've been working on it um with the energy transition office since January of this year um we actually made the application and submitted the application in September on sep September 10th of this year and we just received notice on Thursday so it was really hard secret to keep because we've seen a lot of you over the past few days but um we're really excited and delighted that we received the the funding for this project so as we move forward with the extension project um this will uh provide the the funding you need to relocate those polls actually so and part of that project I just want to recognize the people that provided letter letters of support um because part of the Grant application when you're writing Any Grant application it's really really nice to have letters of support from our local community and I just want to recognize the people publicly that supported our Grant application um on top of Benton County of course uh Senator uh how representative O'Driscoll Senator Eric putam represent of Perryman Mark ebnet um is the Mind Township chair Michael Williams uh Sterns County Administrator um Greg felber Sher County Board chair Kurt Hunsinger mayor of city of soccer Rapids Ryan Daniel CEO of St Cloud Metro Bus natia Bowman uh gsdc president um of course us at be supported the the Grant application and the project um Anna grber uh City administrator of city of St serel ranne danielowski um policy board chair of the St Cloud planning um organization Brian Gibson executive director at the St Cloud area planning organization Brian Meyers um the uh CR uh St Cloud um Airport Authority board director Brian I'm sorry chip seon um the senior director of manufacturing at National Vision Matt gaffy CEO at St Cloud Industrial Products and Dave cly mayor of St Cloud so all of those folks supported our Grant application so if you do see them um please extend a huge thank you for um this application and the grant that we received from the state so just wanted to share that with you um do you have any question S as we move forward with um the grant the um followup anything like that I from my standpoint I I can't thank you you and your team enough this is this is money that is going to be definitely used very well and it's not going to be Levy money anymore right yeah and it would have been Levy money prior to this yes this is a this is Alter our road project somewhere down the line yeah kind of like a big winning lottery ticket here thank you Amanda Mr chair I don't know about you but I think it's appropriate I mean I'd love to get this in the paper with Amanda hold holding the Grant application if Tim's willing to take a picture I mean this is Big Stuff This is a million dollar grant that we got that like she said this is good news another thing from be yeah yeah correct and another reason why we support be so heavily and we thank you much very much Amanda Sandy everybody in B board Tim is that something you're willing to do I understand I'm not expecting it to be in what do you mean to get it in yeah has her camera though whatever take a picture and then we can send it to that's I'm okay with that I just don't want to miss it can Sandy can Sandy come on down yes and Sandy and Amanda and and Pam yeah Pam absolutely yeah everybody I mean as a ward we never even heard about this Amanda came this has completely come from Amanda this is BP here front and center FR Center I also should recognize to um Chris bird um the County engineer has played a huge part huge part in um securing you know the grant as well so we've been working together over the last few months to to Really secure this and and provide the right upset needed so I just want to recognize Chris too cuz he's here in the audience and he should be come on up Chris come on Chris you can ladies I wonder should we go down there with them sure stand back behind him yeah yep let's come down there help yeah I bet she how about you you switch Paces Chris there you go there you go [Applause] it was Harding secet call all right we'll move on to employee recognition Monty yes m a lot of folks getting recognized that's great um several nominations were received and considered by our employee committee and recommended for recognition today how about we start with property management and that was nominated by it Steve is here than you bet morning Commissioners good morning morning um as you know we had a large fiber project in between all five of our buildings this year from May to September um weather was definitely a factor um Property Management stepped up and helped us in ways that we didn't ask for um they were uh giving construction guidance escorting vendors um working with them in the data rooms um they stayed on top of it got it done um we were short staff dur in that time so it was a very uh welcomed help uh they were so on top of of eventually that I was the vendors were just calling me with updates to and asking some technical questions so it it was kind of nice to be able to assist where I was in more expertise than not um learned a lot along the way as well uh we've always had a good working relationship with property management and it just highlights how successful our County can be when departments and people work together so um I just wanted to thank all the PM staff for all the help with us and I think it's welld deserved great thank you all right so you have to come up for a picture in presentation board chair or the whole board how you like to do it right every everyone has to come up just me you can have everybody has to come up might as well stay there [Applause] just Jeff we really appreciate all your work thank you again thanks Jeff awesome all right Jeff thank all right next is he's got a big day today he's running for Buckman city council thanks Jeff Jeff's got a big day today he's running for Buckman City next uh is would be uh Emily and Shannon as nominated by Charlene is Charlene here is Charlene here there she is coming up Charlene I think he's on morning Mr chair and Commissioners good morning I'd like to first thank the employee uh quarterly recognition committee for choosing Emily and Shannon um as a third quarter recipients for the inspirational leader award um I'd like to tell you why I nominated Emily and Shannon for this award the Sheriff's Office especially the jail has been trying to fill open positions for a long time Emily and Shannon hold numerous testing dates and interview dates each month as well as contacting those individuals who applied for the open positions but did not sign up or show up for testing at one point we even joke that we would borrow shann in the transport van to go pick up people who didn't show up for testing Emily and Shannon have been available for all questions even if they don't know the answer they take the time to find those answers for us or reach out to other counties to find out what they're doing Emily has worked Beyond her normal scheduled hours to make sure she is getting back to others in a timely manner because of their dedication to beton County and their co-workers we we continue to fill open positions in the jail that are desperately needed even with the added responsibilities and duties they've taken on in the absence of the HR Director both have POS positive interactions with their co-workers are always friendly and take the time to help those in need Emily and Shannon are shining examples of what I consider to be a leader and I'm proud proud to call them co-workers thank you [Applause] [Laughter] guys have been stars during all of this that's right as everybody knows we've been without a uh HR director for a year a long time now we appreciate it very much or anything to say congratulations well deserved thank you very much for everything you do all right thank [Applause] you thank you all right and our our final nomination was for Sandy schelberg and I believe will will is gonna speak Adam Adam sorry Adam it'sing he had a moment there didn't he Adam I mean the man with many words I can sit down now yeah it's going to be a while well thank you for the time today um when we talk about uh different words to describe someone who's in this role you can use the word manager supervisor um boss director all those words can be used to describe someone who's in a role to um oversee uh the people that work for them um those are all good words but I really think that the primary word that we can use for Sandy is leader um when you talk about someone who's in a leadership role you talk about someone who not only leads by the words that they say but more importantly the actions that they take on a daily basis this isn't just the large gesture actions of making change with change within an agency but it's the everyday actions of walking into the office and interacting with the people that work with them and for them um in sy's 35 plus years I've been a very small part of that um being under her leadership um but you look at some of the changes and things that have happened over time uh Sandy led us through the covid change and all of those um challenges that we faced uh led us through uh a employee change as we look at moving from in office work to um out of office work and home office work and things like that um I think one of the things that uh exemplifies good leadership is balance uh Sandy balance is accountability with also understanding um Sandy doesn't just know uh what to look for and how to motivate people and and get them to be better um she also takes the time to know the people that work for her and with her um Sandy treats the people that she works with like people which is another really um good indicator of a solid leader um and she really knows a lot about who they are and what's going on in their lives which I think is really important to understand all the way from this the management supervisor group to every employee that works within the agency um so not only having a working knowledge of the programs um but also having a working knowledge of the people people which is really important so uh with that said uh I think the management team um for a for Human Services really felt like uh we wanted to recognize all of the time and work that sy's been that she's put in um and and it was all a huge example of that was uh some of the recent challenges with um a director that came in that Sandy worked with and mentored and trained um and really just showed us all what it means to be um knowledgeable about the program but also have a um just a support of everything that's going on so we just appreciate all S's done for us we appreciate everything that she's doing for the agency and uh just wanted to recognize her for everything she's done [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay still eggshells as everybody in the room knows we've been a Director of Human Services as well for the same time so we appreciate everything you've done I know that uh commissioner Heen and Johnson are working on uh options moving forward we thank you again for everything [Applause] [Music] whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa [Laughter] whoa I [Music] [Applause] just it is very refreshing to see everybody in here supporting those uh co-workers and and everything yep it is Monty you ready to move on we are ready to move on thank you again okay uh Mr I'm here to present the recommendation of the Human Services director selection committee uh regarding the appointment of human servic director that committee consists of commissioner Heinen commissioner Johnson and Human Services director Sterns County Melissa huberty and of course myself so we'd like to recommend the appointment of Sandy schelberg as our human service director effed today great and looking for move for approval Mr chair I'll second okay we got a motion in a second um any uh any thoughts Mr chair this has been a long struggle for over a year and she's fulfilled this position as deputy director but slash interterm without giv her the inter term and I think it was well deserved absolutely I wish we could have did these reversed yes so uh I I couldn't agree more so uh thank you again Sandy for everything you've done thank you to your team um let's uh we look forward to this we do commissioner pop congratulations anything yep no we long overdue okay well with that uh I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously thank you again Sandy [Music] [Applause] right thank you all okay ready to move on well now the room cleaned out we are ready okay great so miss shair uh this is theen the final ARP agreement we we have to consider with uh our area cities and the the board previously agreed to allocate aen our remain orbit dollars to the city of stck Rapids for water sewer projects so I drafted an amendment sent it to the city for their consideration a uh what I did in this original amendment was essentially divide the dollars into two distinct projects actually excuse me three the first was 180,000 for the new residential lots the second was Water and Sewer associated with the roundabout the Northeast and Northwest corners and the third was associated with the 29 extension so essentially broke it into three pieces this City would like us to combine this into two projects the first mean the 180 for the residential lots and the second being lumping the other two together into one lump amount uh the comment I got from the city of sock rabbits particularly tide was that well you know we only have an estimate for what the roundabout water sewer will cost uh it may cost more than the current estimate they prefer the kind contracts set forth one lump amount for those two last projects what I have in your packet then really essentially is two versions the first version would be the one the city wants which is again lump sum and it's labeled as City's preferred version and basically it's it's for Section 4.1 and it it it identifies the 180 and it puts the remaining 795,000 for those two remaining projects the roundabout and then the 29 extension the the proposed version I have labeled breaks them out as separate projects my comment that I made back to the city was um my impression is that the board you know wants to place a high priority on the 29 extension and we want to make sure there's sufficient resources left over to take this sewer water sewer as far as you possibly can take it with a 2 and you don't want to see it all getting eaten up by the other project so uh so you have again the what I felt was the preferred version from the county um so I needed I guess I need at this point your your consensus and direction is what what version should I take back to the city as the County's position on this issue that's I guess that's the question I have for you Mr chair commissioner excuse me I personally prefer the County's proposed version my the whole idea is to get water and sewer at least over the river yes okay that that's been the main goal and we've shared that with the city that if it does not get across the main you know that River and tied it to our project with the 29 uh loop uh they would be on the hook in the future for everything that we've done already you know with natural resources with all these other agencies you know so it's always been a goal of myself uh to make sure that this gets across that River and we have no idea how far that 600,000 is going to go but we have an idea that most of it will take us across the river and that's my idea is that we go that dire Direction I agree with that because uh our our our goal is to to get water sewer underneath the 29 extension and we need to get it past that river that way it's which river are we talking about it's just past the village of Creek Side there's a there's a creek down there they call they call it a creek but it's a river it's ack but getting it getting it past that will will open up development in the future for um a lot uh less of go ahead Mr chair the way I'm understanding it though is it seems like because of the city's proposal they're in disagreement with that well I think they want to use it for other things yes that wasn't our discussion no no correct that okay correct yeah and I think I don't care if we use the money on the 29 extension if if it all goes to that but I don't want to leave it to the city of sock rabbits to decide where to use the money they get it across the roundabout and a large portion should be up that road to make sure we have future development there because we're after you know we've already given them 179,000 for future development yeah and I think that we have to hold them a little bit to the fire that they do what we intended it to do yep yep I can add Mr chair is uh the estimated cost of the roundabout water sewer was 162 that was an estimate from June of this year so hopefully it's not too far off the mark right um and this do doesn't leave the city 170 um I believe if I in the version that I one one thing I did want to point out Mr chair so this is again the in the county proposed version under Section 4.1 it says the last sentence that's in yellow the county and City agree that said project costs are estimated and may be adjusted with the concurrence of the county so for example there's 170 set aside for roundabout water and what if cost 180 yeah then then we'll talk then we're fine we'll talk we'll talk and the board may say fine okay we'll go 180 yeah so there is that wiggle room uh to make an adjustment with County concurrence right and I I do want to make and know I I don't think the city of sakra is is disgracing money to them it's just a matter of I think they don't want to fall short on a few on their end to where it's like us you know our levies are set right how do you come up with that money yeah well I think one thing that the city's got to realize is that we're one of the few counties that have given our arpa money back to cities most counties spent it for other entities within the county and Benton County was good enough to be there to try we have the bigger picture with Amanda we have the bigger picture that development Spurs tax base tax base will help everybody in the county we I mean there's very few counties that give it to their cities let me tell you you can you got to look hard and long well it's not only the counties the cities got Monies to money too they got money to on top of it and they could have directed it either towards projects or and or to uh loss of Revenue and a lot of them directed their money to loss revenue and and the other part is that some of the townships give their money back to us to be stewards of their money and I don't think they wanted they would say well give it to sock rabbits let them do what they want or give it to rice and let them do what they want I don't think that would sit very well no no and and Mr chair I think to our point before is we've had multiple discussions about that was the County's goal to move forward on that area yep and in the end of the day it still promotes and pushes Sock Rapids correct I mean if we wouldn't have got the grant we might have to grab the whole 900,000 back and put it for that that uh that Grant is definitely a blessing at oh my God yeah you know and and in that roundabout portion of what they're going to do I mean that benefits them in the future okay for both corners for commercial you know and and my main goal was to make sure we had enough money to get across that River SL CIT but with that 162 that Monty was talking about which we allowed 170 in there basically that gives us development on both corners on all corners of that for commercial correct Mon's proposal about coming I mean if you're short let's talk about yeah we we can do something there right I mean if they don't feel that they can come talk to us about it now after we've done done what we've done then maybe this partnership's not very good yeah no I I I don't think they're going to have a problem with that I think they're just they're they're scared about that roundabout coming in more because those were numbers just basically from you know Engineers bullet you know well we have that resolved in the County's proposal yeah exactly I think I understand your consensus all right if you need help with that I'm sure commissioner Heinen or myself I have no problem with you talking to okay last item Mr chair I have is the annual AMC annual conference voting delegates really haven't brought this to you all in a long time I thought probably we should review it uh we're allowed eight voting delegates to the AMC annual conference obviously the in the P it's always included peny board and uh your your County Administrator has also been listed there uh a long time ago the County Attorney was added to the list so um wanted to just wanted to ask you all do you have any suggestions for uh the eighth slot or do we want to put Kathy there as the county attorney or whoever else you wish to it's my my point is Kathy would take over Carl's spot yeah maybe to fulfill this we have our elected officials on here and it's the auditor treasure auditor treasure would make sense to me I don't think Tim would want to do it right I was I looked at a little I thought maybe we look for a long-term employee somebody that's been here a long time could do that I mean my thought was Rox San's been here a long time she knows the county yeah pretty well or Chris or Chris bird y i Chris do you do you have within AMC you have the engineers do you get a vote on their stuff right uh I think that we just are technical representatives and recommend things I don't think we actually vote so I'm open for any of the three myself you know you don't have to have an eighth slot but you you certainly can if you want to yep well and Chris is down there anyway Chris is usually there right yeah so add Chris Mr bird we do like to be you okay with that Chris we add you as a voting delegate doesn't mean you have to be there oh well yeah I'll be down there I'm actually supposed to be giving a presentation in one of the sessions anyways okay I already got it highlight yeah so as you know this means like if you when you go to policy committee means you get to vote on platform and then it's brought to the full body you can vote I would imagine you also vote on who the officer is going to be for there's several different votes that occur right well Mr he has been down there multiple years took a break on one but rub it in rub it in I like how you put that Mr chair so we're gonna update uh Kathleen and then add Chris y could you give me a motion on that then yeah also move that we up to Kathleen and add Chris bird second okay we got a motion and second uh any other uh communication on this if not I'll call the question all in favor I post same sign welcome aboard Chris yep okay we move into George great billboard too yeah yeah good morning good morning morning morning I'm here this morning to get the board approval for a resolution for operation green light um actually you have to approve it because it was on the local news yesterday morning that you were going to approve that but it was on there so uh operation green lights it's a nationwide effort this is the third year it's been going on it between the National Association of counties National Association County Veteran service Officers Association Minnesota counties I'll support this and it's it's a its goal is to show support raise awareness and thank our veterans for their service uh basically we put green lights on things that we can and uh it shows a visual signal to Veterans we we support them so looking for approval Mr chair I'll move for the resolution supporting operation green light I I'll second it thank you very much we got a motion in a second commissioner slan um on the warehouses number three and for um there's a couple of spilling errors it looks like it said it should be should be sa sacrifices and American Legion okay we'll correct that yeah okay that was it thank you George great job on this uh I think I think they uh took it for granted that we would pass this and and they were right of course thank you to Property Management again cuz they're the on I I I know I was kind of I was driving to work yesterday and I was heard that I said whoa ahe of the meeting pretty good thank you very much well we we thank you for everything so with that we I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries unanimously thank you again thanks George okay Chris see you have nothing we'll move on are we ahead of schedule or behind ah W we're a little bit behind well I will do my best to be brief uh but you know how that goes uh the first item I have uh before you is to consider a resolution to transfer excess Municipal uh state aid dollars into our regular state aid account and I just want to bring this up I I created a little graphic maybe to help illustrate what what I'm trying to accomplish here um as you know each year we get allotment of funds to maintain and reconstruct our state aid roads uh some of our state aid roads are within cities under 5,000 population and so those funds are supposed to be set aside um to use only on those those roads so you think of city of Foley uh Gilman we've talked a lot about the projects coming up in Gilman and those state aid routes in rice uh Adobe does not seem to be cooperating uh with me so um here we go so to determine how much state aid funding each County gets of 87 counties there is a cassad distribution formula um 10% is divided equally amongst the 87 counties so in 2025 that's a little over $600,000 each uh County gets then 10% of that formula is based on vehicle registration uh 30% is based on the County Lane miles and then 50% is based on construction needs and so that construction needs it doesn't actually reflect uh actual construction cost it's kind of a 25e look back of what it's been costing to construct projects and it's averaged out around your your surrounding counties and things like that I just bring that up because once we get to a point where we have uh more than 5 years allotment in our Municipal construction account we start getting a needs deduction it's almost as if the formula says we've been giving you this money every year you haven't been spending it so you must not need it but statute and state aid rules allows us to transfer that excess over to our regular construction and so our intent for that Municipal construction was use it towards the cassa 3 and five uh reconstruction projects that we would have been spending next year and as you know that project's been delayed we potentially face this needs deduction meaning we could receive a little bit less the following year of state aid money so to avoid doing that um like I said state aid rules allows us to transfer that excess into our regular construction account and my intent is just to keep it in that Casa regular construction account until we need it for the Gilman construction project so it's a simple resolution and it references the statute there 162.400 where it allows us to transfer that so we could transfer up to the excess of two years allotment um and that's where that dollar amount comes from $676,000 project is kind of in flux we know it's definitely not going to be in 2025 um we're not sure if it's in 2026 or probably later so to avoid having to come back next year to do the same thing that's why I'm recommending that $676,000 amount and once again the intent is it'll just sit there in that stated account until we're ready to to pay for the Gilman reconstruction project Mr chair so Chris this money is set aside just for the Gilman project and after two years will you have to come back if that project's not in progress no it gets it gets a little bit more confusing after that so the rules as it is now we can keep up to five years allotment in there uh and not face a needs deduction but once you get to that maximum of five years in that account uh then you can transfer all the way up to two years meaning you have to relieve two years allotment in that balance got it um to even complicate it further we could transfer all of it if we wanted to but we have to have public hearings in our small cities to make sure that they're okay with that sure so the the idea is if we transfer all the excess of two years allotment we can the next three years we could still let money build up in that account again and not have to do this this action again commissioner pop so the 67 6,000 mhm could that be could we take it and use it somewhere else if we wanted in that period of time we could we could throw it to any of our other CA projects so if if Gilman comes back and says this is not going to happen in 26 27 maybe 28 we could use that money somewhere else and then replace it with our own money eventually right we could yeah the the intent was try to maximize I think state aid money for those projects so yes but but yeah that gives us some flexibility if we transfer to the regular construction account we've got I don't remember I don't know 10 miles or so in the small cities so 210 miles of CA roads we could use that money elsewhere it would just force us at that build year to come up with those funds so that's why at this point the way The Five-Year Plan is adopted and designed um we would just need to leave that sit in that account to make it available for Gilman sometime by doing it this way this this keeps our state aid coming in and it's banking what we already have but I'm looking at you know down the road if Gilman if we can't get that Gilman thing rolling eventually we're gonna have to use it Mr chair just to clarify this is a just a basic transfer we still have the ability to use those funds correct how you how we all see we need to in the casa areas that's that's right the the act of doing this we can we could spend it on regular construction or regular cam miles we can spend regular cam miles on our Municipal we just can't you without doing this transfer we can't draw from our municipal account on the rule uh Cas when you say regular construction you're talking Casa or Municipal not County Roads right correct yeah so even the casa our casa account um is divided into regular Casa and Municipal so it's it's recognizing that we've got some small cities that are not they don't have direct access to the the gas tax money if you will so we have some state aid highways through Foley and Gilman and rice to give us some funds to reconstru those roads someday so Mr chair so an example Chris say we were doing what let's use County Road four and we were going to do that whole Road and could you take a part of that money and put it towards that project because it's from Municipal within municipality correct yeah so yeah Casa 4 through Foley starts at Highway 23 and then goes all the way out to Mala if we did that alls one project we could pay for the portion just within the city limits from that Municipal account and pay for the rest of it out of the regular giv us a lot of options yeah it gives us lots Mr chair I'll move for approval of the resolution is presented I'll second that okay we got a motion in a second any other communication on this and I think you know we should make the comment that we're still deeply embedded in Gilman of getting this done yes yeah we have to protect the money yep all right I'll call the question all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries right very good moving right along let's talk about uh Capital funding capital projects take a lot of well Capital um and takes a lot of work at the state capital with an O uh the previous two legislative sessions we've been very fortunate to have bills introduced um that would provide funding for some County Highway projects uh casassa one the Mayu Lake Road uh study that recommended the four lanes and roundabouts at Major intersections and some some funding additional funding for the casa 29 extension so I've attached here those draft bills um I see that we've been very fortunate to have those introduced but we have they had not made it completely through that legislative process where they got included in a in a large Omnibus funding bill or you know passed on their own own to provide funding to get the governor's signature so through some of my channels through uh Micah engineers and through the County engineer Association we keep hearing that 2025 there's there's a appetite for a bonding year maybe so um so that's why this is this is being brought up we were actually Monty and I were just approached by one of the legislative AIDS of was it representative O'Driscoll I don't recall Chris yeah but uh asked was directly asking us if we were interested in doing something similar again so that's why we're have this up for discussion if you would like to pursue legis remember the person saying sooner is better than later to get it submitted yeah Mr chair I'll ask the dumb question why wouldn't we pursue it right I mean what's the downside um well yeah we could always to get it actually through cross the finish line it does take uh time and resources I mean Commissioners and Monte we were down at the capital at least one time I mean that doesn't seem to to to get it um that's that's the downside would be the time and effort to get it actually passed or included in some kind of large transportation funding bill but with that I would say that the time that's been committed by Commissioners and staff right has had good payback in the past that is Mr chair that is that is correct and the only way this is going to get casaan is going to get reconstructed is funding outside of the county and we have to keep moving forward we have to do what we can to try to get funding and the other thing what we're going to have 40 some new legislators in St Paul and they're all going to have to be educated and um there'll be new chairs of different committees that you know you're going to have to speak up I I think this is a no brain I do too and I think with our proposed budget for next year and bringing down a little help for Chris with ditches we can get him back into where we need him yes areas to be helping totally agree you know we we've put a lot of leg work into all of this stuff in the last two and a half three years you know by going to DC doing everything we can for funding we've got to keep moving forward we just can't stop yeah we're embedded enormously on this and we're recognized too yeah they actually know who Bon county is now well and that happens because we continue to pursue it right no but once you once these Visions get accomplished it it is going to see bton County explode because the building isn't happening uh in in CERN County you know how they build South and West it just isn't happening I I really truly believe that once this Corridor gets put in there and this this uh 29 extension goes around the school I think it's going to explode in that area Senator House La okay that's where it came from so yeah they reach that to in past years there's been an actual application process that would come out in June or July of the year that didn't happen but I'm encouraged the fact by yeah by the Legislative Assistant reaching out to us hey are you interested so that means the senator is interested in authoring a bill so I think everybody sees the issues we have in from the school right now whether that gets us all the way down to 23 or not that's that's another story but but if we can get that segment between the 29 uh roundabout to to that's going to alleviate a lot of things and and it's going to be probably the probably the most expensive area too to go so you know I think I think we got to keep on the the raise Grant we got to keep going on there the more if we can get the first segment through the state and do the raise grant for the rest that would well and I'd hate to drop the ball if we have Legislative Assistant reaching out saying hey do you still want to go after this yeah I think what really pays off is I think our staff and Commissioners have been in front of legislators both locally and nationally on all these projects and it and pays for Chris to be going too I mean absolutely I mean they listen to us Commissioners but but they really listen to the people that know what's going on when when it comes to the roads and everything like that we're out there begging we'll do that but I I totally agree you know and the school district has been a very good support of this they've been doing very well supporting this project with the legislators and everything too so it's just not us you know we've got other partners involved I don't want to get too far off subject but has Brad been able to attend some of that stuff he attends whenever he can and and he's very boisterous he he is awesome I mean as somebody that that has been on the fire department for quite a while we continue to have accidents along that way and you know one of the things that I've I've said in every meeting matter of fact it was just the other day I did CPR on a fatal on right on one of those roundabouts and it's not fun right in front of the school so so we just need consensus Mr chair or yeah that's yeah consensus would be I think sufficient to to pursue this I mean I think the language maybe we look at the numbers because if we're one year out inflation always hits this when you when you can't build it when you want to well you look at just the roundabouts in the two roundabouts that would beyond that would be probably 4 million 4 and a half yeah yeah yeah and one thing we've learned through the process is uh we've been asked to be prepared to do it in phases we know the whole length of that Mayu Lake Road study was like an$ 18 to20 million project Plus Engineering on top of that Y and you know just to be realistic we've we've been told be prepared to break it up into phases so like this what's on the screen now is actually you know as it's listed phase one of a much larger project there's there's multiple reasons for that then it opens us to come back and you know the next time it's like well yeah you did give us money but remember it was only one phase of a multiphase project again you're talking cassad 29 to cassad 3 yep right in front of the school yep yes yeah that would be the first phase so um Mr chair Chris Alls I ask is that we update our numbers because the numbers that we put in prior to this versus now are going to be totally different with construction costs and everything else going up that's that's right yeah each year we learn a little bit more we have you know more bids to look at to get better estimates and stuff so yeah that's that's a good comment to make sure we've I'm I'm sure this will come up in commissioner Communications but you know one of the things that was brought up yesterday is that the government looks for a 5050 yeah you know ask so maybe these numbers aren't far off maybe maybe it could actually be lower if they're really looking for 5050 but $5 million is a lot of money for a county to come up with oh boy yeah so I would like to think it's a lot of money for us but in the total State's budget it seems like just a drop in the bucket right yeah for for the state but for us to come up with a match of a 50% local match you know what's nice about that there's grants for all of that too for our local match and that that we've learned yesterday so so yeah so I guess if there's a consensus to at least pursue that we can do that and then you know as in the coming months we could talk about strategy on how to approach that um I think our Representatives have been more than happy to meet with us and throw support at it it's just when it gets to those committees um they're only just a handful of votes in in a larger committee out sometimes so as one of the representatives told me that uh they got the they got the bus and then they got the trailer and right now we're on the trailer at least we're being tagged along I will happen to be with that individual tonight so okay all right that's sufficient for my needs um it does look like I have a an engineer update if you'd like to hear one or we can that so um our County Road 53 project in Oak Park is completed we actually heard some good things from Township supervisors since it's right there on their Town Hall uh where Maywood Town Hall meets so they they they like that um our County Road 7 project we had an initial um uh completion date of last Friday to open up the first or at least what they opened up the first mile and a half had to be up to gravel before November 1st um they they didn't meet that but they chose to go ahead and try opening up uh another another half mile since we were having good weather so we're working with them on that completion date and they're they're working through that that really tough section um right by that that duck SLO yeah so they're going to continue where they were going to stop yeah they're going to try to get some of that done this fall still because as you think about the winter next spring it could be months before you even get in that area to dry out enough so we still got dry so even with the recent rain the soil is still very dry um the water the water table in in the soil is probably lower than it's been in maybe a decade or so so um there's probably no better time even though it's not ideal still not ideal conditions so on the maintenance side we've got all of our trucks settled up um we were out plowing uh last week on Halloween so everybody was getting kind of excited because we we know what can happen on a Halloween a snowstorm but fortunately the big one missed us here but you know uh Foley and East there was 4 Ines of snow that that accumulated so we had trucks out plowing wow um we have two brand new snow plow drivers this year so it was a good snowstorm to get them some opportunity to to ride with another driver and drive a little bit with somebody in the truck with them to to learn um I tell you it's it's a different story plowing at 300 p.m. versus 3:00 a.m. it's it's like a whole it's night and day difference um so was a good snowstorm to have to get some practice before the tough winter comes uh later this year that that snow was like Wow there was a definite cut off point I mean I was waiting for a snowplow truck to be up in our area and then call Chris and say what the crap you doing you know because there was no we didn't have nothing you were doing very good until you brought up snow plows as I've I've mentioned to a lot of people I'm not a huge fan of winter at all so Chris were you able to order the new two plows were you able to get that yeah we're we're talking to vendors and getting some spec sheets built up we haven't actually put the order in yet yeah it was interesting so what what some of the prices we're getting uh and we're looking at the trucks that we replaced in 20 years those truck prices have doubled so that's that's basically what what happened so um uh yeah so Chris how are we doing on the salt um we're doing pretty good uh M superintendent Mark Ed it just informed me he did order 600 more tons of salt so um the way that salt works if you remember uh he has to put a quota in in April year so they know how much to bring up the on the bar and stuff so we have to purchase at least 80% of that I'm not sure where that'll get us but 600 tons will fill up our salt shed and we've we've got some uh in reserve right now so we're not worried about it but he put in an order of 600 tons and I'll come in that should come in before the end of the year we should be okay um he's so in sand so we're ready to mix it when those trucks start coming coming in and we'll we'll be able to make it until the end of um I say 600 tons that should be within our budget for 2020 4 and then when the new year starts over and we get a new salt budget we should be able to purchase up to our our quota within when budget amounts so sure pop two things one is that that doubling the the cost of the snow PL that's not on your of my 250 hor trctor doubled in that period of time or more and the other part is I see this morning they were out on County Road too during serving yes that's right yep so yeah thank you for approving that contract last board meeting so yeah they that's good we want them to be able to do that now before the ditches get covered up we've surveyed before in those conditions and INE inevitably you miss something you miss a pipe that you thought was there but you didn't see it when covered in snow but yeah so I'm happy to hear that they're out there getting all those data points all right thank you thank you Chris thank you all right with that if uh the board is okay with it I'd like to uh put a pause on the County board meeting and move it over to commissioner Heinen on the community health board thank you Mr chair we'll call it over the Ben County Community Health Board note that everyone's here on roll call uh approve or amend the agenda Jacqueline you have anything to add to the agenda today yes I do have one thing to add to the agenda today um Gary from Blue Cross Blue Shield was able to join us today and follow up from our last um board meeting to talk a little bit about that Regional Dental coordinator position that they are proposing and so so he I just looked as online here today we could add that onto the agenda okay sure okay I'll move approval what the added of the Blue Cross Shield individual second okay we got a motion as second any further discussion if not I call the question all in favor say I I I I oppose motion carries consent agenda item one and two what would we like to do with that Mo for approval Mr chair second okay we got a motion a second call the question all in favor say I I I oppose motion carries Jacqueline Public Health Department yeah um do you think it would be okay if we let Gary go first and then flip flop it all right just in honor of his time so I'll introduce Gary so Gary is joining us from Blue Cross Blue Shield and um he's up there on the go-to meeting screen um I can see there so he was going to join us today just to talk a little bit about the $75,000 that Blue Cross Blue Shield is offering that could help fund a position to support working on Regional Dental efforts along with dental needs of Benton County residents as well um I know we kind of briefly introduced it at the last um board meeting um Gary had connected with me right before um we had board the last time and I know there was some questions um just some general um you know questions about what would this what could this person do or not do so just thought we could have a little bit of information from Gary have a little bit of discussion I don't think you need to make a decision today unless you'd be ready to um we can have Gary come back again he said he'd be willing to come back another time this month next month I know they do want to try to get a decision before too long because if we don't accept the 75,000 it's if I'm remembering right Gary you'd probably offer that up to another location to try to get that work in place so with that um I'll just introduce Gary and then I'll pass out this agenda item and then Gary if you want to go ahead and share a little bit about the work of the regional Dental position thank you appreciate it Jacqueline um good CH he umy County thank you for this opportunity Vis with Youk I apologize hon for not being there this hurt um but uh I'm out of state I'm with my favorite veteran my father in uh in North Dakota uh my name is Gary sprins and adct I am joined by my coworker who's also online Danielle Alita we are the county and Community leoon but blue plus and uh we're in the government markets division medic and typically what we do is meet with the social service of Public Health departments and talk about the resources and benefits and incentives we have in working with our Medicaid population one of the things that we've really been working with and struggling is our a Statewide issue increasing Dental access AC you know for everybody one of the things that we wanted to share about was an opportunity and I thank you Jacqueline for being so receptive and and just listening so we Contin to look for ways to improve that Dental access for individ individuals covered by the Minnesota Healthcare programs we've got several initiatives that we're implementing right now including expanded partnership Del dental dental service Apple Tree Dental and work to build services at the local level so the services at the local level is where Healthcare is and we're looking to fund a dental position at the regional level to assist in a population based Dental Innovations and developments the Dental Innovations position can just be free innovate plan manage Dental expansion Solutions a host County in region 7w which covers as you know Benton Sher Sterns and R is sought to manage this position the county will work with the with blue plus to determine a manageable Regional Regional footprint blue plus will fund the position for one yearing no inter uh disruption of service area coverage for example if you said we don't want Blue Cross in our County anymore we probably pull the money back again I stress that there's no um funding beyond the one year some very high level goals and keep in mind this is your position this would be a Benton County position but blue plus would partner with the county as they set these local goals and directions high level objectives that we have number one expanding Dental access through bringing developing coordinating resources to your community and number two develop strategies programming that would expand the utilization of dental varnish application three serve as a dental edsman B that uh Dental system uh referral responsibilities from Minnesota Healthcare program members population Health what I mean by population health is that this is for anybody seeking Dental heal uh any insurance no insurance so not just Blue Cross Blue Shield develop a strong understanding of available resources through Health Plans fee for service other Dental resources uh a fourth thing Innovations education and Community engagement working with the community seeking assistance to expand Dental Services working with the counties to understand and utilize available services and work to expand access and number five what we're really hoping for right now for this extra year is to continue the momentum of the existing program um so what we're offering is that $75,000 and uh we cannot commit to expand extending Beyond 2025 due to the potential carve out by the Minnesota Legislature we do believe that the best way to manage this is through not carving it out due to that close link between Dental Health and Medical Health as well as Managed Care organizations uh our ability to Pilot and fund efforts to be able to increase access so we don't think that carving it out is going to increase access for ARB rulies there are existing other positions available and a team of regional uh coordinators around the state in region one for example Northwest uh P County uh Region Three in the Northeast St Louis County Region 4 Otter Tail County and these are doing again the regional uh supports region five out of Morrison County and Region 8 we've got a project with nobl County through them and collectively there's more resources available that they've each identified and shared they meet at least every two weeks and they share updates they actually met this morning and Danielle was their earlier uh meeting with them but this group is truly because they're all hired with those special abilities of being Innovative creative they're all inspiring and motivating to me they reach uh Dental on every level they're working with members um they're working with dentists they're working with schools and Clinics um we got a lot of support from the Minnesota oral health Coalition and again I want to State this is for population he so no matter what insurance plan or if no insurance plan so we're very excited about the stories we've heard from the existing Dental coordinators and the people that they've already helped they've created this wonderful ripple effect and that it passes on and goes beyond helping this one person we'd really like to keep the momentum going and believe that this is a great opportunity for your community too to work with the program through 2025 um just going back a little bit I can't stress the closeness uh and the relationship the other Dental coordinators have how willing they are to share their information best practices regions and to leverage things that everywhere for them they've got a lot of synergy I'll take a quick break and just see I've got a couple more things I want to say but anybody have any questions at this point go ahead any questions Bard yes um the the for this position how much does uh does somebody like this get paid so I did some looking into this and or Gary I don't know if you'd want to take this one but based off of one of our job descriptions I know um I talked a little bit with Sarah at Wright County who um if you remember Greg who came and talked with us when we were looking at potential dental clinic opportunities and what they ended up doing for the position was just using a job description for the basically what would be the equivalent of our community health specialist um and just using that and so I pulled numbers um roughly for salary benefits and Fringe just an estimate would be around $71,000 um for the year and then you know you got to factor in depending on what benefits elections they would select that could be a little higher a little lower um and then you know you consider their laptop computer equipment about 2500 estimated for that but that would roughly be what we had and and Gary go ahead and if there's anything you would want to add to that with more as you work more closely with those Regional coordinators yeah just a couple things I want to add you know one of the limitations that we've had is been the inability to see any but notable actual change in the utilization of dental services between 2020 and 2023 uh we ran into covid that public health pandemic but as we the data through June of 2024 the data is showing that the regional the regions with the dental coordinators are having a positive impact the overall Statewide Dental visits by Medicaid members are still decreasing slightly but they're decreasing Less in the regions that are the dental coordinators and so just for some examples for the people with a dental visit from 2022 to 2023 the rate of visits in Dental coordinator regions decreased by only 1% uh while Metro in Greater Minnesota without one decreased by 3% for uh children with a dental visit from 22 to 23 the rate in Dental coordinator regions increased about a half a percent but the metro and greater Minnesota without Dental decreased by 1% uh Dental coordinator areas that had the highest ratio people on Medicaid to dental provider um was about 54 7 members to one compared to the metro area of 113 to one and areas in Greater Minnesota without a dental coordinator 259 members to one so across the state our Dental coordinators have interact with more than about just about 48,000 people since January of 2023 going through community events parades School Outreach uh Dental coordinates has facilitated joined and supported more than 580 events with community members regarding their insurance coverage and Community stakeholders so bottom line we're just hopeful that you would consider entering into partnership with Blue Cross to continue this work through 2025 help us build upon the work and further that impact um a delivery of dental services for the members the reality of addressing Dental needs extends far beyond health plans and starts with local communities working together so Danielle did I miss anything Danel can't hear you yep there you go nope I think we might be having Daniel yeah sorry there we go thank you I apologize every uh you know I think the one pie that I would add regarding the salary is that the really the intent of this is to give uh each County that is taking fiscal responsibility the determination of how they want to utilize These funds the salaries kind of range is from what I've see when they're when I'm getting budgets um we have people who are more like a community health worker and then we have some people that are working more on the policy side that have maybe a master's degree and are maybe a higher level in their salary so really kind of the idea is to meet the needs of your county and your region of where where you think that um this position could fall it doesn't there's no set place what we have is a generalate um to show listen we think that you know based on what we're hearing from our members what we're seeing in community health needs assessment has that Dental is an issue across the state we know that it's an issue and so really really the idea is how do you address it in your community based on what you have for dentists for Prov additional providers and then being able to meet that need really utilizing the the people that you have and then also we are continuing to talk with the Department of Health and continuing to talk with all of our Dental coordinators about sustainability if your position was no longer here what are the one things that you would want to keep going where can you share the work that you're doing uh within Child Protection within adult um Mental Health Services or Children's Mental Health Services to know what the reses resources are and to access those resources um regardless of whether that position there is not and so we really see that this Dental position is somebody really kind of feeding the drum for dental even if it's a short period of time but to really kind of pull those resources together so who that is is really um dependent on what makes sense for your region and County Mr chair Gary or any of the three of you I I understand the importance of the coordinator position what I'm trying to get to is how does that person help solve the problem of not having dental offices in the region that aren't accepting ma patients I reaching out and creating and uh establishing going in busing with those dentists you know what would it take to bring somebody in we do have resources in other regions in neighboring counties um but just to to try to bridge that Gap figure it out we've got the relationship with children with dental service that can bring Services U into the schools uh to assist with that Danielle might Off the Mark a little bit go ahead no you're absolutely on the mark so that is one of the pieces when we they do have these coordinator meetings they are we have Apple Tree Dental uh and then also um right County clinic it's often involved Community dent care some of these safety net clinics that are really set up for people on medical assistance but really somebody who's just needing a dental appointment um and so what they do because they're at the table they are continuously kind of working together to increase access the best example I can give in my area in the Northwest um they do not have a lot of dentists up there so what the dental coordinator has done has he has been the person who has really kind of been the Hub and spoke so he's aware of um making sure that there are if there are not dental clinics that he's working with children's dental clinics to get them up there to do mobile clinics so they are providing care in County Office Buildings in cookon in East Grand ports they're going up to Lake of the Woods uh County and bodet and really just putting a dental chair wherever they can get one and the you know it's not huge amounts of people but eight people getting Dental Care is can be a huge difference for those eight people uh and then really that piece of making sure that those chairs are filled when they do come so that Dental coordinator is then once they're setting up where the dentist chair is going to be for that mobile clinic they are also making sure that they've got a referral source so they're reaching out to Child Protection Children's Mental Health the wick offices and saying hey we're having somebody come up we'd love to have you see them and so it's small pieces like that that are are making a huge difference to actually bring somebody to the community to address those needs but at the same time they're working with community dentists to say what would it take and having conversations between us and Delta Dental um to say here's what commercial providers are saying that they why they don't want to take them and how can we start building some bridges between those so it's it's kind of a mix of that policy work that they're doing to make those connections but then also really the actual access and getting those chairs filled because it's one thing for us to send a bus up with dental um in a bus but it's not going to do anything if nobody knows there's a bus there so it's that secondary work of being the referral source as well and creating that connection thank you thank you Mr one of the reasons to um if I may J Commissioner ginsky um one of the things that I was thinking to is you know the reason why this may have been a good fit for Benton County was the timing and looking at a potential dental clinic um this person would be instrumental in helping to coordinate make those connections determine providers um assess you know data needs you know talk with potential funders or fundraisers um you know really anything to kind of expand that that dental clinic space and to get something that is long-term sustainable into our region um and with you know just very timely with given the timeline for potential new Building Commissioner ginsky yes uh um my only concern is is is I think it's been relayed that there's only one year of support on this after that does that fall back on the county so after that I think what we would do is treat this like we would any other short-term Grant position we would have the position for one year make the biggest impact that we can within that year and now public health could potentially look at sustainability options if that was something that you were interested in we are you know often looking for other Grant sources looking for other funding sources we do have an influx from foundational Public Health responsibility funding money that could potentially sustain something like this um so that could be something that we could look further into but I think right now that that the where we're at is we would look at you know what we can do with this in the next year what kind of Partnerships connect could we make um what other potential funding sources or grants may be available we could keep our eyes open for those and then make that decision when it comes closer to the end my commissioner yeah my my only concern on I mean I appreciate the Grant and everything like that that's not it my only scare is you get somebody in here for one year yeah they're they're going to be looking for their next opportunity probably I mean at at the same time as as working as working yeah so is it going to be tough to hire for this position maybe Gary can help with that um what we've got is um what we can have to speed the process up in the meantime is that we've got existing job descriptions that other Counties have used we've got interview questions I would volunteer Danielle would volunteer uh if you want somebody to sit in on your interview team uh to assist with that we can uh as an agency we're ready to just about ready to you know cut the money now so you don't have we're not going to wait for many months the latest you would get it would probably be by the first of the year uh and and maybe even before that but it won't take us long to get some funding to uh to start that process um I think that uh the network of people that we've had um rely on each other and our support for each other um and maybe there's another I mean the the exist the person is still existing in Wright County right now and they're available as a resource I think through the end of the year uh to assist um I know that they're in the process of transitioning duties but that would be something that Jackin and everything could also look like look at is you know how's this going is this one we want to support do we want to shift it um but hopefully you know we're going to continue to find um and seek for uh other sources we just can't promise anything beyond a year right now I think too just to kind of add to that you know we've had a lot of time even looking like at our Public Health Project coordinators for example who serve onee time frame periods they do a lot of work in that one year um you know it's kind of like one of those um positions where you do get to get to know that staff they might see an investment in Benton County and want to come back in the future and apply for an open position but that impact that you can make in a year with a completely Grant funded position that's something that it's it's it it's beneficial to our it's only going to bring us resources and connections and even if that person is gone after that year they share that knowledge with our community health specialists they get those Partnerships put in place and that sets us up for better Su success and builds our capacity to continue that work even if it we had to cut back you know to just our four Community Health Specialists commissioner pop so I understand is this position a regional position like V and Sterns and Sherburn and right yep so they could work on and and you guys can correct me online if I'm incorrect but yeah my understanding is that we would uh be able to host the position they would be able to work on meeting any of Bon Count's Dental access needs and also would be a huge resource for the regional efforts that are going on around dental which are important again because we know that all of our residents invent you know again cross county lines to receive services and so it it's one of those impacts again direct impacts back to our residents and supporting the region my question is when you look at the size of the counties why is in Sterns County or Sherburn County looking at this instead of St did already didn't they well a lot of this is is timing right we've been doing a lot of work around dental access our community health specialists have been out in the field connecting with Partners like the regional Dental coordinator group asking what can we do about Dental in Benton County and that's really where this connect came from is our community health specialists work making those Dental connects and say say hey we're really trying to get some dental needs met in our County what resources are available and that's where this um came out of is just having our Our Community Health Specialists out there making those Partnerships and trying to identify resources to bring to us um so that we can try to meet those gaps in our community I get that chair Heen and Commissioners I don't want to hold anything back but you know what happened was is that um leadership has bought into this really well and uh unfortunately it was a late decision to continue to fund these positions and right County had already made their their decision on their budget um I knew that Benton County was interested in looking at um staff had contacted me earlier about some bricks and mortar things is there some opportunities can we do we're looking to expand Dental my first Outreach after I uh wanted to confirm with r County was that they were no longer able to continue this position was to reach out to Jacqueline and just say hey let's just talk what are you thinking would you be interested and uh thankfully she was and so I did not go to Sterns or Sherman uh to pursue it a little bit more uh and ask but I would have um and we'll see where it goes from right here but we'd really like to continue uh the momentum that this group has yeah Mr chair if I could in as as I look at this in the big picture we've kind of already made this commitment that if we're moving for if we're moving forward with the building we've got to kind of have an answer to the taxpayers about what we're doing with this we've pursued the dental opportunities and to me it's money we can put towards having a coordinator that can potentially help us through that process I mean as you all know if we get to the point where we're making a decision on this building we need to start making some decisions on this building and that's going to include the dental stuff yep and I think timing is everything right now I think it's very important you know I guess worst case scenario in a year well I was more concerned about the workload that if this position's housed in Benton County you see the needs in Western Sterns County equally as great as what they are in veton County so is that going to mean that I mean they got to serve the area because that's who they're supposed to serve but we are the host County we are the host County and we pursued it too the other two counties didn't pursue it yeah well I think again kind of goes back to that partnership piece of it um even the regional efforts in in Sterns it's Dental access is a challenge there too and so I think even getting a clinic in Von county is only going to increase access regionally um well let's face some of our residents are going to WR exactly right many of our residents are going to WR County um and as uh Gary mentioned too I had a conversation with Sarah the public health director at Wright County too and she did volunteer her Regional Dental coordinators who are now on staff there to support to mentor to train them in so that we can get whoever we have in this position up to speed quickly um and to provide those resources she was willing to offer that up as well so um I believe both is are both of them still there Gary I think they have both Megan and gray Greg Greg both kind of they're morphing into new positions but Megan will continue on her position uh as well as learning other duties through the end of the year so like I said you don't have to make a decision today unless you're ready to make a decision today um otherwise we can ask uh Gary and Danielle to come back again um if you have additional questions so any questions okay so are you you want to work with the dentists in the area is that the plan yep okay so you can't go to them directly to set up a plan do you mean from Blue Cross yeah have a Blue Cross agreement with the dentists and Blue Cross does work and well I don't want to speak on behalf of BlueCross but they do engage with dental providers quite frequently I think the the difference is that local public health has those Community connects and so it's getting the resource out to those individuals who are working in the community um with our school partners and with our you know our child care with our foster providers our child protection you know all those different Community Partners that we're connected to and being that bridge between what they're offering to expand access and what we can offer from our capacity in local public health you're trying to promote a blue Health Cruise Blue Shield for our residents or I don't I guess I just don't um our main goal is is just simply to work on meeting the gaps that we have in community around dental needs oral health dental care um in general it's really unrestricted Mr chair I think uh I think from my standpoint as long as we know there's no promises moving forward I'm I'm I don't think we from my standpoint I don't think I need to kick it down the road I don't either I don't either I mean my only stipulation is going to be that if there's no money at the end of this year that program goes away and fund money put towards it correct no Levy no Levy money for that position correct and if we can get grants to Public Health to fulfill this position for another year gr yep uh any other questions for Gary or denell Thank You Blue Cross for the ability to move forward on this grant dollars it's going to be a significant help to beton County residents yep and commissioner schlang I just want to make sure that you understand that it's not just blue plus I mean we're helping fund it but it's population help everybody and anybody we want to help increase access okay yeah thank you for your time thank you thank you much nice meeting you thank you thanks commissioner Danielle I'll follow up with you thank you thank you wonderful Jac has been nice working with you so hard and look forward to continuing all right so do you have to have a do we need a do we need a motion uh probably potentially yes I would say we do do need a motion I'll make a motion to move this forward second we got a motion in a second Monty you're thinking got any questions concern I think at some point you probably have two things you need to approve probably the grant agreement and then approving the position so at some point we've got to submit you know a position question to test it and get it created so I could see those happening those two things in the future right Mot yeah yep so we'll do the first motion right accept the grant accept the grant motion first motion to accept the grant I'll make that motion one second and that okay we got a motion a second to accept the grant any further discussion on that now I'll call the question I'll in favor say I I oppos motion carries and then we need a second motion for the position Mr chair I don't think we I don't think we need that we don't really know the grade and that stuff so I would just hold off on that one you know because if the grade comes back more than the grant then we're going have to revisit it and I'm not willing to have the have the grant if it's going to cost more than it's very hard with our Levy already set at our Max so and we would have public health foundational Public Health responsib rather keep the public health funding and public health and not put it towards a new position Okay you Okay so the last thing we have for today is just to do some Public Health Team updates um I'll keep them brief because I know we've got a meeting after the me the board meeting today um just wanted to go through just a few things that we've been working on in the last few weeks just a snapshot of some of the stuff that our team has been out doing Comm um we'll just start with a quick public health nurse position recruitment update so we are currently recruiting for that vacant public health nurse position applications have been pulled um we looked at those last week we have some interview dates slated um proposed within the next couple of weeks so hopefully we'll have somebody here um before too long um recently Bon County public health staff participated in um with other response teams across Minnesota to exercise a radiological emergency preparedness drill over at Apollo High School there's some pictures on there um this drill uh let me flip to the next slide here to show some of our Public Health Team um so you can see we had a drill that was testing procedures in place which allowed for response teams from Emergency Management Public Health fire departments law enforcement EMS and other providers to practice what collectively we would do if we needed to um generate an evacuation from individuals in their homes due to an exposure risk that would be generated from the power plant for example with Sherburn County so there's some pictures there just of the setup um of the drill and so this drill was coordinated by Sterns County and like I said tested procedures in place we're putting together a Reception Center that public would come to if we needed to evacuate those individuals and decontaminate them and their vehicles so just a thank you to Sterns County um for including us on that training session and that drill um one thing that public health has partnered in um is the Minnesota immunization information center texting program with the Minnesota Department of Health this is just one really small snippet of something that we've been doing um over the last year or so and in this program individuals receive a text message if they're delayed or behind or in need of an immunization just wanted to share we're seeing some really big success rates with that just over a simple text message we're seeing over 40% of individuals going in and getting their child vaccinated after a text message really simple thing we can do um mdh has been the one who has been generating this but really high success ratees so just was excited to hear that from our dpnc nurse um in our last staff meeting last week we participated in Project Connect and so there's some again public health staff there in the photo um we had at least 150 individuals who stopped and made connects with our Public Health Team um we provided resources we provided information um including information our first steps family home visiting program also Mental Health Resources and offered Dental varnishing to the community as well uh special shout out to beckon County Human Services who also had a table there um and was also providing information and resources to the public uh really the Rivers's Edge Convention Center was packed it was a really really um busy day our Bon County public health nurse has also continued to conduct presentations around community so she recently presented to fley Independent School District where I think there was 70 St um educational um staff and teachers present um she also did presentation with Central Care Emergency Department and also had did presentations with the obstetrics Department um she will also be um doing coming up here to eighth grade students with fully School District teaching in their health class not a number program which kind of goes through again developing safe relationships um looking for warning signs um and providing general education all of this work coming from a public health perspective of really um giving Community professionals and those within Community those the knowledge and information to be able to address and be aware of of risk factors um to identify we completed a site visit with our family home visiting strong foundations Grant with mdh last week site visit went really well um case loads remain remain above benchmarks um and overall it was a good visit with the Minnesota Department of Health and then really fast like I said last few updates um Benton County Public Health is due for strategic planning in 2024 ours is up so we are engaging in our 2024 through 2029 strategic planning process Minnesota Department of Health facilitates that we'll have our first meeting um in February I believe um at that point in time throughout sometime the next year I may reach out to see if any Commissioners would like to be involved in our strategic planning process to give feedback and input um from a community health board's perspective into our Public Health strategic plan last week on Friday the TA grant for city of rice um was submitted so our community health specialists with our ship program um were working with Chris um in his team and also with Julie from the city of rice to work on getting the um letter of intent submitted for the TA Grant to connect the city of rice with the bend in the River Regional Park um so that letter was submitted and um it's on its way and thank you Monty for also taking time away to get that approved and signed while you were on vacation um I had mentioned at our last board meeting that w women infants and children program rolled out a new computer system um that roll out went really well and I think it's really just a testament to our Wick staff preparations in advance of the roll out just a testament to all of the work that they did to avoid any service Interruption to our Wick families so um I think a lot of a lot of that seamless trans transition goes to their hard work and preparing in advance for that change um and then lastly Bon County Public Health is partnering with Minnesota Department of Health to provide rural influenza vaccine clinics and Outreach mainly to our rural farming populations um so more information to come on that in the future but we'll be out in rural Bon County really trying to reach um as many individuals um within Community there or around Bon County um to increase influen of vaccines and so that will be primarily um with a large coordination role from mdh and then public health staff involvement with Outreach and support of the clinics as well and that's it so I thank you and if you have anything else for me thank you for the updates truly appreciate thank you thanks anything else no nothing else okay thank you at that time we'll adjourn the board at 10 Community Health Board at 10:35 and turn it back over to our board chair all right with that uh if the board sees fit I would like to turn it over to uh commissioner Johnson on the ditch Authority all right call our ditch Authority meeting to order a roll call has already been taken care of we need to move on to approval our amendments to the agenda Chris do you have any changes to dit Authority I do not have any changes move for approval Mr chair second a motion a second to approve the agenda is presented all those in favor I I oppos it's carried consent agenda item approve or amend the meeting minutes of October 15th 202 move approval second okay motion a second to approve those minutes is there any other discussion on those minutes hearing none all those in favor I opposed it's carried uh Chris consider the bids for ditch maintenance of CD3 and CD six yeah so uh earlier this this fall uh was requested to get quotes for doing ditch maintenance on recently repair ditches ditches three and five six oh uh where's that memo so receive two um quotes on each ditch two for ditch three and two for ditch six uh when when submitting quotes I asked biders potential biders to provide us with an hourly rate and the estimated number of hours to to complete that what we're learning is some land owners are trying to mow that buffer strip area but then there's there's a lot that aren't so which requires us to maintain it so how long it'll take them it's kind of unknown until they they get out there the actual day so for looking at County ditch 3 the two quotes I got was from uh Scott's Excavating and Helman construction uh Scott's Excavating provided the lower hourly rate of $150 an hour uh estimated about 24 hours to do that so that's a couple real long days or 38 hour days to mow both uh sides of the the ditch helmet construction was the other bidder at an hourly rate of $240 an hour but estimating about the same amount of time so that tells me um they were both um close or looked at the project and thought it should take about two to three days to mow both sides so uh my recommendation would be to accept the bid of uh Sky's Excavating at the hourly rate of $150 an hour and then um we'll track the number of hours it takes them to actually mow both sides and pay them that hourly rate times the the number of hours Chris do you remember off top of your head what we approved for mainess assessments on CD3 uh yes it was uh $10,000 so uh conceivably we'll spend less than that uh to do this which means there would be a m it's if all the assessments are received uh next year in 2025 we'll have a balance carried over to the next year that we will talk about in August of 2025 and and the board may choose to do a lower assessment or or a no assessment at that time so yeah this is significantly less okay in that Mr chair go ahead so not to jump forward Chris but I question why Helman was at $240 an hour for ditch three and 190 I think it was for ditch six mhm can you explain the difference I think the difference comes in they're more looking at it a total cost they looked at it and said to mobilize equipment to fill up uh the equipment with diesel have a guy two guys out there or something mowing they they look at a total dollar amount and then they divide that by how many hours to get us the hourly rate so ditch six we moved ahead here uh they're expecting a lot more time out there to do that work so their hourly rate comes down a little bit um so Chris in these quotes estimated hours of 88 comes in at 60 they going to build what they actually did yes that's the intent that's the way I wrote up the request for quotes is that I I didn't have a good idea of how long it would take them and I wanted to look I wanted the contractors to come up with the best method to to complete that work so um the idea is whatever the hourly rate is um we'll track the number of hours that they're actually working out there and then pay P them based on that hourly rate how about what was the assessment amount on cd6 um I think this is slightly over I think we were about 15,000 okay for ditch six so the ditch six though is one of them that I have talked to recent land owners uh because they received the letters for the maintenance assessment and had a lot of questions about well we just got we're already paying an assessment for the repair um and that's the one where I've heard that land owners are trying to mow it and so when they looked at hours are Max right correct so that would be the benefit if they've already mowed it then the contractor can skip over that area and that's less time actually out there working on the ditch so um I feel more for disch six I feel more comfortable once again with Helman local contractor lower hourly rate um the the the other one Pioneer trees are 315 you know uh but if it does take yeah this is like you know I mean in Mion chair I'm sorry I didn't mean to jump ah had that's fine because makes sense and as we knew this was going to be a little painful going forward to get these buffer strips established so good point next year might be a two-time deal you know I think the 88 hours is an extremely large amount on Ditch six because we had Helman out there last year to redo everything last fall or last winter to take out the stumps to you know make I mean well again it should be maxed it should be maxed but you know what happens when they build a number of hours well I think the question I also have is who's going to track that I mean that's yes Chris we'll track it well we since that we don't have that position that's newly created that would be a job of that ditch inspector they would be out there Che got somebody's got to track it because they're going to be at 88 hours other is the intent that they'll get on at this fall if this is approved yeah so we've also received a lot of quests to stay out of that ditch area during ditch deer season which starts uh this weekend so the intent was I'd bring it to the board today accept bids um I'd inform the contractor and then the Monday after deer season they're expected to come out there and start doing on this work barring weather correct yeah okay this this ditch assessment's been the biggest pain in my butt since we did it oh yeah I mean they I get calls every day about ditch assessment and I you tell them you got to maintain it what we've done but some of the some of the requests are pretty big for some people and they would say okay if this is the way it's going to be going forward every year let that ditch go I think they had no idea they thought they pay for it once and the County's going to maintain the ditch after that well 100 years ago and for the last 100 years that's what happened that's what happen that's what we got in this position you're right but you know $500 on this this quarter section and 300 bucks on this quarter section they're not too happy you know Mr chair I I think this also we talked about in the past that you know we should take care of it for the first two years and at that point in time if the farmers aren't happy they have the opportunity hopefully after two years to go in there and take care of it themselves you know and then that would save on the assessment too though it's going to take two to three years to get this maintained it is and but I think inevitably though there's going to be some land owners that just won't maintain it whether they're renting it out or they want to keep it in more of a natural state and then sometimes forces the drain authority to step in and say you know we have a policy of maintaining it and and and and unfortunately and this is what I've explained to a lot of callers I've talked to you Minnesota drainage law does not allow us to break out that cost it says it's a cost to the system everybody that benefits pays into that so yeah and I think that's caused some frustration for land owners they feel like well no I you you did a good job through my section so I'm going to mow right up to the edge of the ditch but they unfortunately still get hit with an assessment even though they're doing their part to to maintain it all right well I think we should deal with them separately on the quotes So I think that's a good what's your wishes with CD3 we'll go back to that I move to accept a bit on CD3 low bid okay so it would be my recommendation would be to accept Scott's Excavating at that hourly rate of $150 an hour okay commissioner pop that motion's fine is there second and a second any other discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed okay move on to cd6 and then cd6 it would be my recommendation to accept helman's Helman constructions bid of $190 in an hour so probably about Mr chair I question whether we need to be out there doing that this year after they just fixed it up last winter you know it must have been after the first of the year that seems like an awful lot of money to do something that was already gone through less than a year ago in some of those phone calls though are you also hearing of the growth that's already started no I haven't Mr chair my my question is has anybody been out there looking at it recently uh I was out there it was probably still in September but and and I did see some land owners had had modit but there's others where the Willows had grown back up and it was It was kind of thick so I don't have a good quantity of where it was modowe and where it wasn't um Chris what kind of oversight will it take on your part to watch these hours I mean I think the bigger concern here is on cd6 well yeah unfortunately will not be able to be out there the whole time so maybe it's checking in with them at the beginning of the day at the end of the day and um yeah seeing their checking their progress or at least communicating with them at least every day and try to make a site visit every day to see their progress um I would say I think the fact that Helman has been through that they're probably the most comfortable or most knowledgeable of the terrain and what it would take to to do that so um I would back up commissioner Johnson's comments about maximum hours uh I think as a contractor that's what you want to do is to cover yourself um and I think we always want to hope that they come in even they admit it hope that they come in under their total estimate but to protect themselves they don't want us to say yeah we accept the lower amount and um you're not done with the job commissioner Pop I mean you feeling better about a spring maintenance or well I guess two things one I would feel better if we had our ditch person on board and we do it next spring or whenever they can they can monitor monitor it a lot better and I just don't I just don't feel that there's that much we can have that much growth for 20,000 bucks or 16,000 bucks in that period of Time how long is cd6 again couple three four miles yeah and then there's a branch on it as well so I think total it was like six miles um Mr chair right now we're speculating because nobody is been out there other than Chris I believe correct youve been there looking at yeah but it's probably been a month and a half you know so pictures would have done Us justice about this too to see how the growth has started in some areas Mr chair I I move that we table this or we no we can just table it okay there's a motion to table Mr chair is there is is there a I suppose never mind it or not I I'll I'll second it okay that's going to end the discussion yep okay so we have a motion to table cd6 and a second now we can have communication though not on the table no not on a table I'm going to call the question all those in favor all all oppos it's carried cd6 is tabled all right then we will proceed with the mowing of the buff strips on Ditch three and um yeah no no further work on Ditch six at this time okay um how about update quickly on cd14 uh yeah so the the 15 day comment period Ed uh last Friday for the Wetland so the Wetland credits are being withdrawn and we have approval to uh to do that work because now the Wetland credits are withdrawn so Helman should be expediently working on that so great Mr chair yep I got a question on CD4 I've been getting quite a few phone calls on that about the assessments and people sending pictures going trees in the ditch what's the plan you know I'm getting assess for money that doing anything so that's a good question commissioner Kaminsky so Chris we haven't talked much about our plan on these County ditches that are in disrepair we haven't done the repairs yet we're going to move forward with a maintenance sure so is the maintenance getting ahead of the you know what I'm saying because we're going to have L I don't know the status of CD4 but is is the maintenance not even going to come near fixing CD4 is potential repair issues cd14 is a uh yeah is a rather short length of ditch uh the actual limits of the ditch is completely within one landowner's property but the drainage area is larger and so there's land owners outside of where the ditch actually passes that are contributing to it so and I think the intent was the maintenance assessment was to start to build up a fund so we can do repairs on that ditch and draw from that fund and not hit these land owners with these large assessments like the D like the land owners along six and um primarily six and three that we've completed because we hav't assess on 9 and 14 we don't have a valid repair petition on CD4 do we uh no but we don't have to wait for one um and I think that's the way we're we've all started operating is not waiting till there is a repair petition once again goes back to that that court case um that said that you shall maintain your ditches and the costs get assessed to those benefiting from that drainage system so commissioner pop how about cd10 that's the one that I'm getting all the C yeah so that's the one we do have a valid repair petition on I we have a draft we had a draft um repair report um that identified uh Wetlands along that that length of ditch so we we learned is that there's a lot of type one two Wetlands along that ditch then the statute changed the same about the same time we finalized a draft repair report that said that drainage projects even repair projects are no longer exempt from mitigation um regardless of type of wetland so that's caused us to relook at that a and come up with numbers if we do a full depth repair again what are the Wetland impacts along that that ditch more than the benefit working with Houston still there's supposed to be I'm I'm expecting a draft report still yet this week to review um and then I guess we have an obligation to start coordinating with our lgu on that repair report but we we still need to bring that final repair report back at a hearing uh to discuss Mr chair so some of the assessments will go for the assessments and the benefited acre report right that we did on 10an yeah so yeah cuz once again all the engineering work is a cost to the system um so payment of buffer buffer strips is part of the that too and I think we could do a better job of when we send out the letter for the assessments that that was part of the assessment I mean they're saying okay you know it was on County Road 4 right East of County Road one about a mile and a half that's I haven't done anything you know and here we're going to we're expected to pay you know 600 bucks for this farm and 400 bucks for this farm and they go what we haven't done anything why are we have to pay they need to we need to explain that better yeah and also there's a lot of information on our website that's been up there for a lot of a few years now that I think answered a lot of questions I mean it points a lot back to 103e in in statute why we're doing these things just for my own clarification so there's maintenance assessment dollars and there will be maintenance assessment dollars in the account when and if we repair that ditch those dollars can be access towards the repair that's from my understanding yeah that yeah those can go for pain for the system basically okay establishment maintenance and um administration of the ditch well it does but I mean I I'm I see the pictures I sent them over to you uh and the one individual said it's just a short ditch how come I can't go in and clean them all all that tree out tell to look up 103 and I I get that point but but you know yeah it do you have any idea how many benefiting Acres off top of your head for CD4 you said it goes through one landowner but yeah I don't off top of my head we we have those numbers based on the viewers report what's the landowner it goes through a rowski okay because I've talked to him and his brother both on that and I agree I've talked to hundreds of people uh after these letters went out um I I have some suggestions maybe better letters in the future I think caused a lot of confusions because if there's any the letter St if there's any questions call County Highway engineer so I think some even automatically equated these to Road ditches and thought why why are you charging me for the road ditches don't already pay taxes so had to explain that uh but there there's enough people that were fired up enough that are I think are pursuing uh abandonment which I've just I I've recommended that maybe they should they should seek out legal counsil make sure they know the implications of that I think because drain law exists you got 103e 103g in statute almost right next to each other deals with the Wetland and stuff there's some things that can be accomplished I think as a county ditch that you maybe necessarily couldn't accomplish if it's no longer a county ditch and you're subject to uh Bowser and DNR if it's a public water so that's where I say it sounds great abandon the ditch then you no longer under a assessments but make sure that's what you actually want to do as a land Doner and you can still accomplish what your your drainage goals if it's no longer County ditch well they cover themselves all the time we we heard last night on an extension one person made the well I got to pay my assessment on cd6 and I mean I guess we should have never I would have never went forward with the assessments on cd6 until we know whether we're going to clean it or not clean it this was not the right way to go about this well we all can look at that and go sight cd6 we rep yeah but cd10 I meant Oh 10 yeah okay but I think I thought some of the concern was that once we came back at the final hearing for the six and people saw these large assessments um the goal was in to start building up this these maintenance accounts so you're not hitting people with these large assessments all at once you have a smaller assessment over multiple years um I mean you look back at the viewers report that's what people if you recall come to those hearings and say I got this letter from H2 viewers that said my assessments were this now it's three times at and you look well yeah H2 over user was assuming $100,000 cost the repair came in at $300,000 so yeah you're right it is three times the amount Mr commission well the other part is that um the assessments are being assessed before the work is any works that before any work that actually see yeah if you know the other flip side is that that we've had to borrow from the general Levy I keep to do that I got a whole list of things I keep telling them what we're doing but bottom line is they got to write a check or it's going to be assessed on taxes right that's right all right so any other updates uh that's all I have fory yeah could uh could you maybe do a call with me to one of the land owners I think it just happens to be one of them that it is all on their land okay okay yeah I give you that all right all right anything else and I think that just for the record that is not in my district do you need to forward commissioner Pop's number no I'll handle it I got this one Ed all right ditch authorities ad journ at 1057 turn it back to the board chair all right oh man why don't we go with uh commissioner meeting updates I can start if you'd like Mr chair I'll try to keep it short and sweet uh it's been three weeks since we've met so few things have happened October 17th Planning Commission meeting uh October 21st uh Ed and I met with roxan and Brian uh in regards to True County concerns that we heard at our last board meeting we able to work through that I think some of that came out of the city of rice and I think that's gotten resolved so can move ahead with that uh of course that same day we had our cow with human services and again I was glad to be on the tour thank you Sandy and those that set up the tour to River that was in Lincoln that was good to be at uh 23rd I had a Highway 23 board meeting 24th was a a triple day B quarterly meeting that morning Tri County Solid Waste and fully care board that evening uh then on the 30th uh commissioner pop and I were out at Tri uh Alexandria uh for a Tri County Solid Waste and Pope Douglas a joint board meeting uh we also toured the uh burner and the uh hHw afterwards and then yesterday I had a visit with uh Nick and Drew was here in Foley for business retention with B so that was good and then commissioner Po and I were at the extension committee meeting last evening where we did our annual reviews at the end of the meeting for the staff so got to be a long meeting that's all I had thank you candidate Forum candidate for yeah that was fun too did you do it I did yeah did you okay um well I had a lot of the same ones that he did I did go to the swcd U meeting for them um kind of things as normal um then we had the be uh meeting in the Tri County at the same day Bap board was uh after our our quarterly meeting um they got a lot of good things going again a lot of projects that are a lot of projects that have went from in the pipeline to active is I think is how Amanda put him um then on the 28th I had a Micah executive meeting we are going to go out for a new executive director um I think we're going to look at probably on DDA for doing that did I understand you that the current one went to the University of Minnesota no he went to higher ed I don't know where he went I don't I don't know if that letter if it's the announcement has been out yet who was that or not M Mossman um and then last night we had uh the extension meeting but that must be why there's a a special mic administrator meeting Friday because Matt's leaving yeah okay HEC say what the was for but okay this couldna be a big loss what a big loss yeah um they think it's a hard position to fill yeah you know the qualifications seem to be pretty hard salary seems to be pretty good in my book but we'll see all right you good yep okay I'll go next uh actually I I was on vacation again but uh we uh met with the cultural team very good discussions uh and then the only other one I attended uh thank you Sandy Sandy and I approached the city of Sock Rapids for a meeting about getting some more rooms uh for Brendon Care Facility uh being that uh K Catalina Care closed down in Sock Rapids so it it was a very good meeting actually thank you Sandy for joining me on that one that's it okay commissioner song um I had the tricap meeting and we were a little short on board members so we had to do stuff online to finish up um epic at um the St St Cloud Community College and for the high school students to view all their um opportunities for playment job careers uh RSVP and I think that was it okay Mr chair one more thing um so we had our state board meeting last Friday and we went through the policies that were there the number one policy is the environment and natural resource solid waste it was the top one I believe on seven of the 10 districts so in the second one was uh Children's Mental Health think that was second so we're going to meet again on the 22nd of November and the policy chairs are and we're going to bring forward the four or five that we think should be on the ballot in our annual conference okay um the tours were great uh we also the employee engagement was awesome uh I think a lot came out of that can you check your calendar on that uh date we talked about the 19th I think it is let we'll talk we'll talk about that um the other one that we uh had just yesterday was uh potential talking about um a lobbyist or or local lobbyist that has gotten or has has received a lot of money for other counties and for road projects as well as other things correct yeah so I think there's going to be some uh some dialogue with that brought to the County Board and seeing what we can do the old saying is it takes money to make money right did you talk to Chris on that yeah Chris and yep it was the same individual okay yep all right I was really impressed with him I don't know about you yeah so he brought up a a colleague yesterday and not just Road and Bridge projects there's other funding opportunities maybe too could even even human services I mean here across the board I think it could be a very good situation that was a very good meeting he we might want to have that issue on the future board agenda yep absolutely cuz I did see the the estimate came in from that firm okay yes all right um also uh I forgot to bring up the APO I'll be going out to DC with with uh the APO so that'll be out on the week of the 18th is APO helping you with that uh not right now so I'll have to do it if the board wants to look at that at the next board meeting we can do that yeah put that on the agenda mon can we get that on the agenda then okay and then uh the last thing is is I was approached for to do the uh uh AMC public safety director position so I got to look at that option and the chair the chair yeah yeah there you go yeah that's great you got to get elected tonight first before you do that oh yeah true true yeah good luck on that too and and me and you have have had this conversation already Yes I I called commissioner pop on that and it it's I don't know I think I'll end up putting in for it there's a chance we going have two Bon County Commissioners as chairs of the oh I will be gone oh you'll be gone I'll be gone in December oh my vice chair takes over so there is an opening on the mcit board also that I'm considering okay well good good luck got to get through tonight first yeah yeah all right with that we'll go to uh um any meetings coming up KS if only one potential and it's just if anyone plans to attend the gsdc all investor mean is this week Thursday the 7th at 11:30 a.m. anyone interested in attending then let's add it to the so again GSTC all investor mean at Harvester Square 11:30 a.m. be a little bit late because I have a meeting till noon but move for approval of the cow second could you all right got a motion and a second for the cow all in favor I oppose same sign motion carries all right