The pledge of the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Welcome everybody that's here. Um, roll call. Sure. Commissioner Benoy here. Commissioner Heinen here. Commissioner Pop here. Commissioner Johnson here. Commissioner Gapinsky present. Thank you. Approve or amend the agenda. Any
additions, corrections? I just had one change, Mr. Chair. Under administrator at 9:05 as the fourth item, could you please add a legislative update to move for approval of the amended agenda? Mr. Chair, I'll second. Motion's been made and second to approve
the agenda. All in favor? I opposed. Carried. County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube. Please restrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so the viewers can hear you. The county board observes the Robert's rules of orders
for its meeting. So, please obtains the board's consent before addressing the county board. Public comments are generally reserved for open form segment of or public hearing. However, public comments on other agendas may be allowed at the discretion of the board chair. As
we begin today, please turn your cell phones to vibrate. Good. Open form. Give me a second here. We'll give the chair a minute. Yeah. Um consent agenda. We have items 1
through 11. What's your wishes? 12. 1 through 12. Sorry about that. Move approval. Second. Mr. Chair, I'd like to pull seven just for clarification. I'll amend my motion to remove seven. Terrific.
Okay. Um, so we have a motion and a second for items 1 through 6 and 8 through 12. Um move for approval. Are all in favor?
I opposed to carry. Commissioner Manoy. Uh actually just asking for some clarification on I mean is this help the school district with some um mental health stuff? So what it does is it
provides a therapist some of the time for a therapist to be in the school and um work with children. Sometimes they also work with teachers and give them some guidance as well. Um they have an additional grant I believe that helps them be there for more more hours but this is collaborative money. It's not
tax levy money. It comes out of the collaborative. Okay. I'm good. I will make a motion to approve number seven. Second motion men been made and and seconded to approve number seven. All in favor? I I oppose
carried. 9:05 uh updates from Northland Real Liability Project. Come on up. Good. This isn't working. It's not working. Just a second. Good morning. I have hard copies of the PowerPoint.
Would you be interested in those? Sure. Sure. Absolutely. There you go. Is this what you're looking for? This one? There was a There was There was a second one, too. There was like a route map, I think. Did you want that shown? You want to start with this? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thanks.
Thank you. [Music] [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Hey, I'm Brian Hunker with uh Great River Energy and we're here to provide an update on the Northland Reliability Project. So, our project is
a um high voltage overhead transmission line that extends from the Iron Range substation up near Grand Rapids down to the new Big Oak substation that's being built by Excel Energy and also the Shero substation outside of the Shero
plant. So, in So, in February of this year, the public utilities commission approved our route for the project. The public utilities commission shifted our route near the Riverton area as well as just south of Riverton near what's called South Long
Lake. And that was to maximize collocation with existing transmission lines. And what we are um doing is essentially rebuilding transmission in the Riverton area and then placing the Northland Reliability Project on
existing transmission rights of way. Um and then down in the South Long Lake area, they selected some routes or a route that was more located on a county tax forfeit land. So, right
now here in Benton County, uh there really hasn't been there's been one change to our route and that is just north of our Benton County substation. So, what we are proposing to
do there is we have a 230 KV transmission line and a 69 KV transmission line that are built parallel to one another. Those two lines will be colllocated in an existing rightway and then NRP will be built on
that 230 KV line rightway. So instead of having three transmission lines across, there will now be essentially two of them that will be double circuited. So that helps to save the amount of new right ofway within those areas. Otherwise, um so that extends
from roughly um highway 23 for about five miles north and then north of that five mile mark. Um the two transmission line, so the existing 230 line and the NRP line will be parallel
to one another. So that's kind of the major change here in um Benton County with that approved route. This map is a little hard to see, but it does show um it does show where that
that collocation is and and um Golden Spike Road is kind of in the in the middle of it. And we do have a a slight jog at Golden Spike Road and that's because of the residences that are kind of they're kind of offset and staggered
along that road. and it allows us to build more of a 90deree crossing AC which is preferred across Golden Spike Road versus the sort of obtuse um diagonal that's currently there. So that will also take place
within that transmission rebuild. This is our um draft layout for the Benton County substation. So, the Benton County sub is currently built right over here. We will do a slight
expansion on the south end of it. Um, and this is basically to form a complete box um at that location. Cherry Park sub will be built directly adjacent to the um Benton County
substation and uh the Northland Reli R reliability project will come onto our property on the north end. The two circuits will break into two separate lines, feed into two distinct bays
within the substation on the north end, and then on the south end of the substation, the two transmission lines will exit and then they will follow existing right ofways. Um and then we are going to have
a permanent layown yard on the western portion of that property of our property as well. Um these show uh draft locations for storm water ponds that will be built um as a as a part of that. So um the Cherry Park sub is this
is a former gravel pit area. Um that gravel pit has got a lot of undelating terrain in it that will be filled in, leveled out um and brought back and brought up to grade at that
location. Um Mr. Chair, Brian, can I interrupt you quick? Can please the orange lines that are outlining is that just rightway areas because I'm looking some of it's going through the fairways there on uh Oh, down here. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So the
orange lines represent our route that was approved by the public utilities commission and that allows us to site a right ofway within that area to work with land owners. Um specifically the large box here at the Benton County area is essentially
GRE's property. Okay. And we've we've placed the route on the edge of GRE's property on the south edge of um the golf course down here. We do have a a wider route, but we will be utilizing the two existing transmission line
rights of way there. So from Benton County substation south to Shero and then south to the Big Oaks substation, we are primarily on re we are primarily rebuilding the two existing transmission lines that are out there right now and
and and utili utilizing the landscape. We do have a um a couple small route shifts. Um mostly because the transmission line, I'm sure at one point in time back in the 60s when it was built, it was probably built in a wetland, but those have filled in and they're m basically lakes now. So we
are removing the transmission line from those lakes and putting them in the uplands outside of the lakes. Thank you. Sure. So Oh, I'm sorry. Um the trees on the southern half of the Benton County
property were cleared here in early April. We are looking at beginning grade work on this um substation parcel. So that would be building out the layown yard, the grading work for Cherry Park here in late July, early August time
frame. And then the above ground work will um probably I'm trying to think about our time frame here probably continue and start more in the spring of next year. So what what we need to do is this this
gravel pit is is so deep that we have to basically put the subgrade in there allow it a few months to settle out and then do any soil amendments to fit the foundation for the substation. So the above grade work will be next year. Ryan, how big is the footprint of that
property that you got there? You know, the substation or the I'm sorry, the layown yard is roughly 10 acres. Okay. And the substation is is roughly about um I would say closer to 15 acres. Wow. The yard the two ponds
are going to be they're probably going to be more on the scale of about five acres each. We actually um we actually take all of the um storm water flow from the golf course onto our property. So the pond on the
south end of the Cherry Park sub, it'll appear oversized, but that's to accommodate the storm water flow from the golf course. Will there be any buildings or employees there at all? Uh we will have what's called a triple E building which is an electric equipment
um building which is a uh formed concrete uh it's probably about 20 foot by 20 foot structure but you there's no um there's no office space in there. It's all just electrical equipment.
Um there there will be there will be if you're asking for permanent employees here there will be no permanent employees. However, people will probably be in here fairly frequently maintaining the equipment. Our project will have three phases of construction. So, we'll
construct from um and this is going to be in a south to north fashion from Sho up to Benton here in 25 and 26. phase two of construction which is Benton North to Cailluna. That will happen u
the following years in 25 to 27. Um and we'll probably begin there on the northern end up in the Riverton area. Figure out our transmission, fix our transmission, and then head north. Phase three is going to be Cailluna to Iron Range. And that will happen at the later
part in about four years. So um couple of actions here in Benton. We will be um collecting soil borings and we've already started that process as well as the trees are cleared at the Benton sub. We'll be grading that work here in July and August. And then we are
going to continue with um some of our cultural resource, biological um and survey field reviews this summer as well. Um elsewhere in uh further south of the Benton County sub, so in Sherburn County, we're working on our road use
agreements with the counties and the townships as well as um finishing up soil borings in uh Sherburn County. We anticipate material delivery starting in August with matting work starting in September of this year. And that's all
to support an October foundation start. And we are going to work in a figure eight fashion from Shero up to Benton and then back down to Big Oaks. Couple contractors that folks may see. Um Michaelels is our is our prime
contractor and supporting our survey work. We have Brun Intertech who's collecting soil borings. Uh we have HDR, Merchant, and M&R who are all supporting our cultural resource, wetlands, our rare plant surveys. Westwood is our civil surveyor. So they're the ones that
stake the right ofway, stake our structure location, structure offsets, and land service company is our right-of-way consultant on the project. Um so a few steps for construction is to initially clear the rightway. Most of the rightway is
already cleared in Sherburn County phase one of construction and then we uh stake the edges of the rightway structure locations or work areas and start uh foundation work and we were doing drilled peered foundations. So they will be
augured and then the and then a uh anchor bolt cage rebar anchorbolt cages dropped in there. concrete is poured in that hole. So, it'll look um like a roughly eight foot in diameter uh concrete foundation with an anchor
bolt cage on top. And that structure is set by a crane on top of that anchorbolt cage and bolted to the concrete foundation. And then we'll come through string the wire. Initially it'll be done by a helicopter and then it'll be pulled
through with um with ground equipment and then restoration will happen. Uh we've discussed our field surveys that are happening this year. As far as our real estate time frame, uh we have presented options to the land
owners and our real estate team continues to work with them on securing those easements or and then transitioning those options into easements and then we'll get those um signed and recorded here with the county. So, some concerns that folks may have
and we, you know, we want them to contact us if there are any concerns, but they will see construction staking, lath, different types of colored lath out in the field. There might be some dust and noise. Our layown yard will have some lights on there as well.
um equipment, construction, uh materials will be moving around the the local roads as well. There might be some road closures, lane closures as we're stringing across a road. We'll work with the county um highway departments and um
authorities on that. We hope to not close any roads, but it would just be a very brief duration. Um, our tenative working hours right now are 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. That would be six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Um, as well as they'll see
some, you know, some slight tree clearing, vegetation removal, and then sediment and erosion control devices out there like, uh, silt fence for example. Oops. This is how you contact us. um our our our hotline is either answered by
myself or my Minnesota Power um cohort. Those emails all come to us as well. And we do have a website that's got an interactive map on that website, like a Google Earth type interface where people can leave comments on there as well. And our intention is as as construction
begins, we hope to stand up an interactive map that has different colored uh structure locations that show where tree clearing is occurring, where foundation is occurring, where we're going to be installing structures on that website. There any questions? Questions?
Yes. Um I just want to make a comment to say thank you for working with the residents. Sure. Um I know there was some major issues with putting in a third line um with the residents in the Minden Township area and I know that the
residents themselves had some meetings and you guys were really good about working with them and I'm glad that it's staying to the right away that it's that it's in. Um and I will pass your number on because I've gotten a couple calls the last couple of weeks on some
residential areas that this might be going through in my district. Okay. So, I will pass your number on to them so they can get a hold of you for any questions they might have. Great. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we fully expect as staking is out is is is out there, our
soil boring crews are out there. Um there's going to be a lot more traffic on the roads. We're anticipating a higher volume of calls and questions and we'd be happy to address any of those. Okay. One question, Mr. Chair. Brian, I saw Chris here reminded me of it. Is there any road issues that we're dealing
with permitting for this project that you're aware of yet? Or I know he mentioned he's meeting with Sherburn County, but do we have any permit stuff for them? Well, if they're going to be working in the rideway, then yeah, uh road rideway permit would be required, but it seems from what some of we had
seen a lot of the times you're spanning our roadways and not necessarily I could be wrong, but there are any poles that would be placed in the road right away. Of course, of course, a road rideway permit would be required, but I don't think we see any where you're anticipating placing a pole
in the county roadway that has been my cursory review. is a lot of the times you're just spanning across our road right away. Correct. Can I address the question? Okay, absolutely. Yeah, you you are correct. We are spanning um the road right ofway, but we do want to engage with you on a a road use
agreement. Um because we will be obviously traveling the roads. So, we want to make sure that we're all in agreement on the condition of the road prior to construction as well as what it is after construction and if there are any issues, um that we're able to come
to resolution on those road issues. That would be that'd be good. Especially if there's any staging and traffic control required while you're offloading equipment to get to your locations and stuff. Those all should be addressed in such a correct. Yeah. And we do anticipate
um I'll just say a a a driveway or a turn radius from a county road into the rightway that may not be there and it would just be a temporary approach. Um so we would work with with you on that and that would be a like a culvert in
the road ditch with wood or timber matting over that for trucks to be able to turn onto or turn off of a county road and onto the rightway. So that conversation is probably coming sooner than later, I assume. Yeah, that would be more of our our phase two of
construction. So correct. Appreciate that. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I have one. Go ahead. Uh are you going to present this to the township boards that um that that Well, I'm asking for Minden in
particular and then work with them on their township roads that you're crossing also to come up with some agreements. Sure. Yeah, we we'd be happy to present to the township um if Yeah. Is there I I will pass your number on to one of the supervisors over there
because I know you guys have come out and you have done um updates over there. Um I think they would appreciate this update along with um I know they had to said they had to work with some because you're going to cross some township
roads also. Correct. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you, Brian. Appreciate the Yeah, thank you. My computer ain't working. Monty, the dental retirement college. Just close this if I may. Let's see. You're still with
us. All right. So, Mr. chair. As a public employer, we have an obligation to make available to our retirees our group health insurance and if we have it, a group dental plan. So,
let's go back. So, as of December, we had five pre-age 65 retirees that had chosen our our health insurance through BlueC Cross. Okay? And as you may recall, as of December, we had bundled
health insurance and dental through BlueCross. So those pre-age 65 retirees had access to the health insurance and the preventative dental. January, we unbundled the two. So health insurance is off here. Dental went off to
Guardian. And as you may recall, it was preventative and some additional supplemental services that you could get through Guardian. So in January then we sent a roster to Guardian and say here's all the folks that are eligible. That roster
included the five pre-age 65 retirees. So those folks got communication from Guardian and in their minds they said oh we've got dental coverage through Guardian and at no extra cost. And unfortunately that was done in error is
historic again Mr. share. I should back up for a moment is historically retirees have always covered the full cost of the premium. So the county has no obligation to pay the premium. We just have to give them access to our group plans. Yeah.
So, uh, I know that caused some concerns from some of our retirees, and I was under the impression that one possible remedy was that the county would cover the premium for January, January, February, March, and April. And that's what I have on your agenda item that
cost. It's 5 $86.80 for those five folks for those months. I was again under impression that was an acceptable solution for them. I think maybe some may have access services you believing that they had coverage. So again, it's unfortunate. I
apologize that there was a a miscommunication mistake made. Those folks of course can if they choose to, they can elect the guardian coverage as of May 1st. And the cost of the monthly premium for for those with single coverage, which I understand all five
are using that $29.34 a month if they wish to have the guardian coverage. So, uh, I see Mary's here, one of our retirees. Um, so that's all I have, Mr. Chair. That again, that's my proposed remedy is is the county would cover that premium for
those months, for those five folks. Mr. Kaminsky, Mr. Chair, I I I can see how this would happen and it's unfortunate, but I do believe it's on the county's side to take care of something here, right? you know, pretty much all in
agreement. And I'm just wondering with it already be in May 6, do we do something through May and have it a clean break? Beth, you have any thoughts on that? What was Guardians? What were they telling us? Um, it's it's through Med.
Sorry. Excuse me, Mitch. Just fine moment. Medsh charity is a company that handles the administration of our retirey insurance premiums and COBRA. That's Med right now. Yeah. And I don't think they have a preference. Whatever is Yeah. It's up to whatever is decided.
But they could backdate it for them to May. You seeing that? Yeah. Yeah. They if if you chose to go from January to May, you absolutely could. And it it just would increase it um the 2934 for the five people. Yeah. I'm just
I what I'm worried about, Mr. care is the the lapse and by the time let's just say Mary or them guys choose to to do it it might be a couple weeks and we end it you know end of April is there going to be a lapse of coverage you're saying
January through June through May give them give them May May 31st you know there there are employees that have been here a long time absolutely we appreciate the people that stick here want to so you like to go in January through through the end of Okay, Mary,
did you want to say something? Yes. There you go, Mary. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you, commissioners. Um, here's here's my deal, and I would appreciate that fully if you'd cover it through June, but the kicker is is all this time we've had preventive dental. So, when you adopted
Guardian, now we're losing that benefit. Okay. I guess my thought is there's five of us, not 55, five of us. So my thing is any new employees or active employees now that would retire are going to get
that everything's at their own expense because it's a clean break now. But for the five of us that have had preventive dental all this time and now many of us I mean eventually are going to drop off because when we turn 65 we're not going
to continue to pay 772 a month that we pay now for our health insurance. Sure. we're going to drop off and we're going to be off your record. So, I guess my thought is, yeah, I would request you'd continue covering the five of us because we're going to drop off. You're not
going to get any more because the new ones will be a clean break. They're going to have to pay everything from the start. But that's our issue. You know, we've had preventive dental all this while. Now, we lose it and we have to pay for it. So, that's all I wanted to say.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Monty, what would that cost be? Uh, Mr. I I it would be the 2934 times, however months or years these folks and I I Mr. Chair, I would urge substantial caution about uh covering retirey benefits. I think
that's a big discussion that you should ponder for a moment and I I would ask you to consider the president of setting of paying retiree benefits. So, um but it would be Yeah. How many of years times 2934 times those five? Just uh Mr.
Chair, just a thought. What happens if we were to do this through like June 1st right now? Let us gather some more data for our next meeting in May and then make that decision at that point. Would that work?
Uh Mr. Chair, yes. Again, you you're the policy makers and you make those decisions, but I would suggest that you invite other folks into this discussion about retirey paying retirey benefits. Well, that's what I was thinking is getting some more. I don't think we could just do it now without looking
deep into Exactly. Yeah. So, of what the ramifications could be later on. Well, we'd have to commit to doing that May 20th, though. I mean, that's next to no meeting. Exactly. Yep. Before June 1st.
Mhm. Um Mr. Chair, um if employees do get benefits effective June 1st, then they would technically have benefits through till June 30th, you know. So then July 1st would be the cut off. Does that make sense? So anybody if you have
benefits starting the first of the month, you would pay that month. I don't Does that make sense? So it doesn't make sense to cut it off May 31st, you're saying? Well, you you could cut it off May 31st, but then if if you decided to
go June, then it would be ended on July July. Yeah. First throwing it out there. And it's 29 per person or is that 29 total? 29 34 per person per month. Per month. Per month. Right. Yeah. For those selecting single
coverage, right? Yep. Without divulging the ages, how long is we expecting this to go on? I mean, we've got employees I don't know. I yeah I don't know the ages of all those involved to us. Uh I I can't again stress enough Mr. Chair Commissioner Johnson the president of
pain benefits retirees right again that opens the door to other groups to also to exa ask for the same treatment and you know counties that have taken on retirey benefits face enormous liabilities for doing so. So I I know
this dollar amount may seem small but the consequences in my opinion are enormous. So I I would ask careful thought about crossing that bridge of paying the again I'm essentially till these folks are have past 65 paying
those premiums. Um so I I wouldn't allow the dollar amount to sway your decision. Okay. Yes sir. What's the difference from the liability to health insurance all this while versus dental?
You know, Mich I I'm just asking the question, right? You carried us for health insurance the entire time. But is it so, you know, what is the liability for? Well, it's it's
uh so for our retirees that participate in our group health insurance, there's a a liability that's measured by our actuary. And the notion there is that when they participate in our group plan, they essentially get a reduced rate by benefit of being part of a larger group.
It's this really interesting topic called implied rate subsidy and our actuary measures it. It's reported in our financial statements. So to answer Mary's question specifically, that's the liability. It's measured because again they get a subsidy or a reduced rate because they're part of a group plan. Uh
and it is booked as a liability on our financials. It's a liability and is reporting the financial statements. We have to pay an actuary every year to recalculate that liability. So Mr. Chair, you know, just so we're aware, the dollar amounts $147 a month.
You know, if you s so choose to go past that date of the end of May per month or just dental just the dental for all five together. Oh, okay. Yeah. You know, so you start adding up those numbers, it gets quite huge. Let's
just say two years of that. Yeah. Again, I you know, I understand the dollar amount is isn't of course, you know, for those of us that engage in labor negotiations. Yeah. It's always what happens is you know one group they of course people watch and see what you do and they say well you know you agreed
to pay for this group me too what about us and so you increase the pressures on the county to extend the benefit to other groups I'm sure all of our groups would would really appreciate if the county would pay for their health insurance once they're retired you open the door when you do it
for one group yeah and folks say hey what about us what about us. So I that's why I don't want to minimize this and and just because of the small cost. You know, I think the call the the county acknowledges that a mistake was made somewhere down here and I think we have
the right to go and look at it see what we're going to do. But I think you had a great um idea go through the end of May and by then we should know. Yep. And I would agree with that. Mr. Chair, just so I'm clear I'm understanding you.
So, we would potentially move on reimbursing this through the end of May, right? Discussion to decide what we're going to do going forward. Yeah. Two separate things. Okay. Okay. I'd make a motion for that. Is there a second? Yes. Second. Motion's
been made and seconded to cover pay the dental premium through the 31st of May. And we'll have further discussion. on the 20th coming up on the So, Mr. Chair, if you could please clarify if you what additional information do you
need for me to gather before your next meeting? What do you need to know? It' be the dollar, Mr. The dollar amount, what it would look at and what the ramifications would be, how long and how long duration of y of some of them that could be on
there. And we got to look at the ramifications what could happen down the road with everything, right? Yep. Uh the Mr. Chair the only thing is that we don't know the exact dollar amount from year to year for this because right
now it's 5868 I think. So that would be the additional 2984 per month 34 per person for additional month 14 roughly 147. So it' be like 730 380 I think something
like that till that'd be added on to the 580 680 because it be five people at 2934 at 2934 it's 14670. Oh there we go. Yep. So I was out 30 cents plus the five
8680 73350. Okay. You want that in your motion? I'll amend my motion to include that. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Motion been made and seconded with the amendment of 73350.
Um, any other discussion? All in favor? I I opposed. Carried. Thanks, Mary. Thank you. Legislative updates. We missed one. There's the court facility.
I'm sorry. We got two more to go yet before we get there. the one way filming sure the facility windows. So, Mr. Chair, back in 2024, our emergency management director arranged for a security assessment of the court facility by the and this is a mouthful,
US Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency. So they did a security assessment of the court facility and and that agency made many recommendations to potentially enhance security of the court facility uh both process procedure
policy and physical changes uh to the court facility. So the court facility has a security committee and they meet um usually quarterly. It's basically representatives from the court facility, court administration, uh, county attorney, probation, and the sheriff's
office. And they've been working their way through these various recommendations. One of the first ones was the the um the bullet resistant glass for court admin. And the next one that they asked me to bring to you all
was applying a security film to the court facility windows so folks outside can't see inside. As you know those are all ground level windows and you can kind of peer right inside offices and so on. This was one of the recommendations from this uh security assessment and
it's a recommendation of the court facility security committee. Uh Jeff Dingman got an estimate for us from a local vendor. Uh $6,900 to apply this security film to all the windows and uh I would ask if you could consider
approving that and the source of funds would be the board contingency. M Mr. Chair. Yeah, I I have no issues with uh with that. The only question I have is why is it coming out of our contingency? Well, I I I can't think of another
source. I mean, I guess we could tap in the CIP fund. They don't have sources over there. Run their budget over. Yeah. Over there being court facility. Well, you've got the county attorney budget, which doesn't have any there's no capital in the county attorney
budget. The probation budget doesn't have any capital in it itself. Uh, you know, we're the land the the board is the landlord for the building. So court administration wouldn't have resources for this as a state agency. Uh so it's
really the responsibility of the county to uh maintain the facility. Again the board is the landlord. So then the next question why is it coming out of our contingency fund? Uh well again the question to answer you you're the landlord. You're the landlord
for the building. Um the board is responsible for the upkeep of the building. Uh so um so my question would be did this group consider that when they decided that they needed to do this that it where where the funding was going to come from?
Well, Mr. Chair, I guess from my perspective, the end result's the same if we're spending the $6,900, but it's kind of I would prefer to see it create an overage on an expense account or something instead of coming out of the contingency. I mean, are we considering this a capital improvement
or is it just an expenditure? I mean, it could be an expenditure that we didn't foresee and we could approve. Another source would be your CIP fund balance. We could approve an overage on a on a expense account. We overbudget. Uh, I mean, that happens. Things come up
sometimes that blow our budget out of the I just worry about this contingency budget that it it's doing doing I mean well and what's happen is next budget cycle we're going to want to add more money to it. Sure. Another another reasonable source again is a CIP fund balance which is more than adequate to
cover this cost. That could be another source of funds is just CIP. Mr. Chair, it just seems everything lately coming forth to us is coming out of our contingency plan. Yeah. And and I disagree with that. I do too. Well, the groups have gotten used to it. Well, but
to your point, did they discuss where the funding was going? No, they didn't. Well, again, it's just M the effective departments over there don't have capital budgets. They're just mostly personnel and benefits and so on. They don't have those. It's easy to discuss the needs and the wants when you can just grab it from
somewhere else. Yeah, I think I think I'm trying to remember where we with the match for the bullet resistant glass. I think we took that out of CIP. That may have been CIP. Is this a match or is this total cost? That's just total cost, right? Yeah.
I'd much rather see it come out of CIP than I I'll move then to approve the installation of the security film at the court security windows and allocate $6,900 from the capital improvement plan. Second. Okay. Any other
discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Carrie, just one last M. You know, there's other recommendations of course in that study and these are among the smaller ones. I think the large ones would be for example, you know, uh open to close
security staffing of this of the station there where the metal detector is. That's a whole another matter. Um, a lot of the recommendations are about policy like um what happens if there's you know an incident and how do you respond to it and where do you go things of that nature and those things
the committee is still working through. I would assume we'll see that at budget time. I'm not sure at this point if if you'll see any requests related to this at budget time potentially. Um the committee I think has to decide if they're going to bring some of those things forward. Obviously that those
would some of those of course would be in the sheriff's office especially if you have to add more court security officers. So all right now we'll go. So let's save update. So I got a call from Grady Horn yesterday with an update on a couple
things. So unfortunately I think our sales tax refund request is struggling. Um he tells me that the House Tax Committee unveiled its it's a tax bill and that bill only included two projects
for sales tax refund. A a PAS issue in Woodbury and a Browerville school roof collapse issue. And he said those had been in bills last year. He tells us that the committee was was looking at
requests of $240 million of sales tax refund requests, but they had a target to cut $40 million. So, the resources were not there to approve sales tax refund requests. Um,
so it looks like our request is going to struggle uh this session. Um there was a a bill for a statewide sales tax permanent uh refund and that has not gone through. So um anyway, I just was
sharing that with you. He will continue working the issue the best he can. He tells us, but the chances are seem to be getting a little bit smaller. Um, next is he asked if a couple if board members could potentially come to
the capital next week and help uh meet with legislators on bonding. So potentially a bonding bill is still in play and we're in the final two weeks of the session. And he tells us that um mostly what now will occur is is floor
sessions. So he'd be asking members to come off the floor in House or Senate to meet with us and talk about our bonding proposal. So he was thinking maybe Tuesday late morning. So if you've got some board members that are available, uh maybe when later we set cows or talk
about that, we can schedule who's going to go and and exactly when. So looking for again next week, maybe Tuesday. Okay, that's it. Okay, that's it. Yep. Thanks. Human services cost shifts and not help
the counties. Unbelievable. Good morning. Good morning. Morning. The first agenda item I have is for a contract with Solutions Behavioral Health to do um community support services. We um for as long as I think
I've been here, we have had a grant from the appropriation from the state of Minnesota to do community support services. We've generally in the past contract with Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities did for Hope Community Support Center. Maybe you're aware of the facility. They did end their services with us and so we are
suggesting a switch to solutions. Um so this is a contract with them. Mr. Chair, Sandy, is this something we usually look at yearly? Yes. And we just had a hard time coming up with a provider with with Catholic Charities going out. So yes, is this end up being
like a calendar year or is it a uh I think it's for Yes. start for calendar year. Okay. Yeah. Motion to sorry motion approve the motion to approve the contract.
I'll second it. Any other discussion? Is this total cost? There's no correct. No other money coming from any place else? Yep. Total cost. Any other questions? All in favor? I opposed. Carried.
The next agenda item is is information only. If you recall, we last year we had for daycare homes, we had done a subsidy to allow for things like training and licenses and those types of things. Then in I believe December, we brought you a new idea to work with Sterns Bank on a
new program to do some different type of funding and probably and different education for our centers. that has fallen through. Sterns Bank could not um work things out with First Children's Finance. So, we were hoping to go back to what we
were doing before. The ARPA funds were already dedicated towards child care homes and preventing or uh attracting them and keeping maintaining them. So, we thought we would go right back to where we were the year before is paying
the the licensing fees if need be. The training for first aid, those types of things, just some of the real basic things to help people get involved in child care and stay involved. As you know, we do have a shortage. Um, I was hopeful that Sterns would be able to
come up with something, but it has not happened. Mr. Chair, Sandy, what kind of response we getting from foster care parents? And I mean with this whole help that was provided, they've liked it. Obviously they've liked it. That's a different fund though, isn't it? Or is
that the same fund? Well, you're Am I mixing them up? Talking about the foster care foster care funds. That's a different fund. That was the 25 grand. Yes. Yep. This is a This is a different one. I was going to ask a couple questions for the foster care ones. We use health partners, some health
partners funds, and that's to help give them extra daycare costs and those things. Okay. So, the rededication like the 17 grand is that basically the balance that's there then. Yes. Okay. And and you'd already dedicated towards I was just basically giving you information that Sterns County Bank project fell through and we were just
going back to what we were doing before. Thank you. Great. And this is ARPA money. Yes. So, you've already dedicated it. Okay. So, this will be gone after this. This is it. This is the final. This is it. The final harrah. Final harrah. And then, Mr. for sure. Right,
Sandy? How much do we got left in that foster care one that or is that that's not catching Ashley off guard? I don't know either. Because that is something that I think we need to keep up as a board because
that is uh that it it Oh, yeah. You got to have that. Well, this they're using this to pay for things now instead of trying to pay for it themselves or have these foster care people try and pay for it, right? I mean, you got people that are bringing in two, three kids and they're having to
pay for things out of their own pocket and then wait, you know, 30, 60 days to get reimbured for it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the conversation, I think, was if we started at 25 grand and you review the past year and you've spent eight. Yep. We replenish the aid. Correct. Correct. Yep. And we've still
been using the same healthart partners fund. So, we're okay. Okay. For now, just keep us a breast all that. Yep. Let's go back to the the 17,000 and get that one out of the way first. This is not I think that was I don't believe we need any action. It was Yeah, this is
allocated already. So, got it. It's just that they're going back to do what they used to do. So, the next agenda item is a kudos letter from the state from DHS. If you remember about a month ago, I don't know, they finally gave us the
kudos letter for 2023. This is the kudos letter for 2024. And we have a couple of the fiscal um department workers here. So want to stand up and introduce Oh, come on. I will read the letter while they think about introducing themselves. So
um it is my pleasure to commend you and your staff for perfect performance in meeting the Department of Human Services financial reporting requirements for calendar year 2024. All key quarterly fiscal reports for programs in your county
participate participates in were submitted to our financial operations division on or before report deadlines in perfect order. Um I know this accomplishments requires planning and efficient operation and
teamwork with your county human services department. The result of this timely revenue for your county and compliance of federal reporting first of the state. Please congratulate your management and staff on the superb effort. So, we have Ashley, Hannah, and Terry. I don't know
that they're going to introduce themselves. They're part of the fiscal unit. So, thank you and congratulations. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Yeah, we got two of these letters within like three months. Yeah. Don't expect the next one. We should
give the governor a big welcome. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Chris Bird, at least we can have a laugh this morning. Please thank your whole team, too. All right. Uh, good morning. Morning,
commissioners. Uh, I was going to bring up uh a document, but why can I not get to There it is. All right. I'm just such a visual person. Um, I like to have visuals, but
I've got some great news uh for us today. So, we recently opened bids on these overlay projects, mill and overlay projects of County Road 43 and County Road 66. So, it' be County Road 43 from the north side of Foley, north
city limits around our shop and then going west and then County Road 66 from 23 tying into that reclaimed project that we already awarded. Uh we accelerated these two projects. They were actually later in our 5-year plan, but we since we got such favorable bids
on the recent the previous project, uh we decided to move this forward. And once again, we've got very excellent bids. So, we were our lowest responsible bidder was Knife River at 22% under our engineers estimate for County Road 43
and just under 23% below our engineers estimate on County Road 66. Uh, so combined, um, we're right at 23. So, combined, yeah, it's 22.78% below our estimate at
$1.372 million to do these two projects. And to put that in perspective, in the five-year plan, County Road 43 was an overlay project scheduled for 2026 at $750,000 is what we were estimating it. The bid came in at
$681,000. County Road 66 was scheduled for 2027. So, you know, a little bit of inflation out two more years. We were estimating that to be over a million dollars for that length of roadway. And we got bids this year for $691,000.
So, add those together, we're saving uh $472,000 out of our 5-year plan. Wow. These are sales tax funded projects. So, that's $472,000 of sales tax. Now, that that can go towards another project in our
five-year plan. So, uh if it pleases the board, uh my recommendation is to uh accept those bids. Um well, I'll give you more detail. The reasons why is our mix prices. Uh we were estimating, we
even lowered this from our last estimate uh down to $55 a ton. Our lowest bidder was giving us $49.40 per ton for a batuminous mix. Uh we haven't seen prices that low seven, eight years, maybe 10 years ago. Uh this
is telling us that this company's hungry for work still um and was bidding this pretty aggressively to get this job. So now, if it pleases the board, my recommendation would be to accept these bids and authorize entering into a construction contract with uh Knife
River as the lowest responsible bidder on this tide project. Mr. Chair, a couple questions. Chris, um 43 go to Trunk Highway 25 or is it go all the way to Cass 3 or how far are you going on 43? Uh yes, to Cassad 3. Okay. Yep. Starting at Penn. Yes. Okay. Uh no, the
north city limits. Okay. Of it. So up by 75th. Yeah. By Yeah. 75th. Yep. Mhm. And all the way to CASA 3. Yes. And then um I know you said we moved ahead on 66, but so you're going to go from trunk highway 23. How far north? So yeah. Uh I
do have those in. So all the way So this is the project we already awarded was a reclaim project between 12 and 22. So yeah. Now now we're going to fill in the gap from 23 all the way up to to 12. So, at the end
of this construction season, um, uh, 66, we'll have a new driving surface all the way up to 22. I'm trying to recall the one we awarded already. Is that where we saw in our road tour the stumps coming through? Yeah, that's why we're doing a reclaim on that section. So, we're going to grind up that pavement. Hopefully, in
that action of getting a little bit deeper, we pull up some stumps that we can get out of there and then um, we'll have 4 in of new batumis on top of that. So, and a milling overlay and what you're going to do now, correct? Yeah. So, was there stumps coming through the road like we seen, I don't know, a
number of years ago when we were out there? Yeah, we thought we were cuz that day on that road tour we were excavating them out more had popped up since then. Really? So, what is the average growth of a tree like that a year just so we can plan for the roads? Exactly. Right.
I don't know. But, uh, crazy. Good question. It's funny that that because we I just had a call on that like what are we going to do with 66? It's just going to pot. Yeah. And now we got enough to Great. Well, I'm going to keep things moving here, Mr. Chair. I'll make
a motion to adopt the resolution to award uh this construction contract to Nike River Corp North Central Division and authorize the board chair to sign it at 1.372 million. I'll second that. Any other
discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Carried. Very good. You know, just that's a testament that we're moving. We've really moved since 2019, our road projects to where we're looking better and better and that's, you know, that's
that's a biggie when you're out in the about things that have since sales tax and the amount that that has grown every Yeah. And when I hear when I hear that they're hungry for that work, it kind of matches what Monty and I had a conversation about the number of people
that are downloading our building project documents. Many, many contractors. Well, that's what we're hearing industry. Maybe on the commercial and industrial side, that work is drying up for these kind of contractors that do both. And so they're now they're looking to the private or the public side for
infrastructure projects to do. So hopefully that bodess well for us. Any anything else? Any other updates? Anything else? That's all I have on the roadside, but I'll be sticking around for the ditch mean that comes later. Perfect. Mr. Chair, how is Sir Stripe Lot doing? Are they I mean, are they coming down on pricing at all or lines a
lot? Um, no. to stripe a lot. Uh, no. We've been having some conversations with them and we got some quotes from them and to do our striping and it it's above $175,000 which as you recall that's state statute that says then we got to
go to sealed bids. Well, every time we've done sealed bids in the last three years, they've been the only bidder. So, we've got to rework that. you know, come up with less quantity so that they come in under that or go through that process of advertise, you know, putting together a construction plan with a bidding
proposal, advertise it to have a sealed bid only to have them once again be the only bidder on that project. Um, so we're we're in discussions with them still. Uh, I got an idea I'd like to talk after. So, okay. Are they the only gig in town? Yeah, not technically.
There is another contractor out of Western Wisconsin. Um, but they seem to bid work in the metro area and we have not seen them bid or certainly not a win any work in outstate Minnesota. So, I don't think they want to venture too far from the metro area has been our
experience. So, okay. Very good. All right. Thank you. At this time, we'll reass we'll re will recess. There we go. The county board and turn to public health. Okay. Okay, at this time we'll call the
B community health board to order. Already did roll call approve or amend the agenda. Jacqueline, anything to add? No additions. Anybody else? Mr. Chair, thank you. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not to call the
question, all in favor say I. I. Opposed? Motion carries. Consent agenda item number two, one through two. What would you like to do with that? I'll make a motion to approve. consent agenda one through two. Second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion on
them? If not, I'll call the order. All in favor say I. I. Opposed? Motion carries. Ch. Good morning. Morning. All right. I'm just going to hand out this really quick here. Just a copy of our new All right. Well, again, um, good morning
and thanks for the time on the agenda today. I think, um, I'm very much like Chris and I like to have like the visual presentation, but I'm also going to steal the language if it pleasures the board. That was good. All right. Um, so what we have today is just an update on
our community health assessment and our community health improvement plan. Our community health improvement plan process has been concluded and we now have goals and priority areas developed for our next cycle. So just want to do an overview of the plan and then um request the board's approval of the plan
and then we'll get moving forward on the priority areas. So first just a little bit of grounding um in our community health assessment. So we complete our community health assessment as a central Minnesota alliance which includes u members from each three counties of
Sherburn, Sterns and Benton as well as our healthcare system center care. This is a partnership that we've been working on. I was actually just doing the math as I was sitting here for 12 years now. We've completed our health assessment this way. Um and it's it's funny um just to kind of see the work evolve over time
and the the innovation that's come out of doing our work in this model. Um the community health assessment is a requirement of our statute 145A of community health boards to complete this process once every 5 years. We're required to do a data assessment of
community health needs and then required to do a improvement plan which then addresses the factors that we find in our community health assessment of what those needs are. So on the screen I have just a picture of a bunch of blocks moving back and forth. Um so I just
wanted a visual to kind of think about our community health assessment. And it is just one piece of what public health does. So one part of the bigger picture. Our community health assessment tracks the needs of our community that change over time. So if you think about these blocks moving on the screen, just like
the blocks are moving and ebbing and flowing and shifting and changing, so are the needs of our community. And so our needs assessment helps us to track needs over time of our Benton County residents and and wider region. But it also helps us to identify which areas are facing the community at a most
pressing or highest rate of impact and where we need to focus our energy and our resources so that we can address those factors affecting our health. Um on this screen is a little bit of an image about our health assessment. So now imagine this community health improvement plan that we're talking about today. It takes those blocks and
it gets them all moving and sinking in the same direction. So when we do our health improvement plan, instead of us trying to tackle all these different moving blocks, we put all of our energy together and our resources and we strategize to get us moving in the same direction so that we can tackle these
community health needs together. Um this is internally and externally. So you think about um us working in that regional partnership. That's a really cool thing about how we do our health assessment. You know, we know people do not just live, work, play, and grow in our county jurisdiction. we know that
we're going other places to seek resources. And so when we're pooling together these efforts um equally, we're able to shift and at least align ourselves. We each approach things differently in each of our counties, but we're all moving in the same direction, tackling the needs that we've identified
are the biggest issues um for us and for our residents driven by the data. Our community health assessment and our improvement plan, it's a living document. So, even though we'll share these priority areas with you today um and request your approval of the plan,
we do shift the plan from time to time. So, if we see the data change um and the needs change in our community over the course of the plan, then we adapt our plan so that we're better aligned with what those community needs and community factors are. So, just a really high level
summary um of the process here. Um so, to develop our community health assessment, we had three committees that were formed. One committee works with community partners and looks at our community partnerships and what our capacity is um with within our organization in order to um work as a
community to address community issues and what our gaps are. We have a community status committee that is looking at the numbers. So the data committee so this is really hard data um numerical number points more of that quantitative data and we have a context
committee that looks at kind of the lived experience. you know, what do people say it's like to live within our county? Um so those three assessments are each completed um through committee work um over a time frame. Each of those committees then compiles a report of
their finding um pulls together their data whether it's the narrative, the written or what we're hearing from residents plus the numbers because you know numbers doesn't always tell us everything. So we need the what people are saying to go along with those numbers. Compiles that together. We look
for trends and themes. um we identify those trends and themes and then triangulate the three reports into one um which helps us to determine um our priority areas through a prioritization exercise. We identify goals and activities, we prioritize those and then
we end up with our community priority areas. So for 2025 through 2028 um these are the three main areas that we heard from community that are the biggest issues that we want to focus um on over the next um few years to make an impact on these factors that are
impacting the health or the ability for people to be healthy within our jurisdiction. The first one is community connection. So um we'll be working on um areas around mental health, social connection, belonging and substance use. We know that mental health and substance
use primarily came up as huge concerns. Um so we'll be addressing those issues. Community stability, um the ability for people to have stable housing, um secure financial resources, child care and food insecurity. Those were areas that rose to the top. And then community access.
So looking at healthcare access, dental access, teleaalth, um rural health, um inequities, and then insurance access as well as transportation. So these are the main areas that came out of our health assessment through the data and through that um the narrative from what we were
hearing from community residents as being the top issues of concern. Um each of these issues impact the ability for our community to be healthy. So goals and activities for the year uh or for the next three years. These will change over time as I said,
but just a piece of the puzzle. Um, and these will be interwoven internally within all of our different programmatic areas. Um, as well as regionally as we tackle these issues together. We'll be working on increasing overall mental well-being for community. We'll be working on some shared metrics between
the tri county area and center care. Um, we'll also be mapping out resources so we can identify where those large gaps are in mental health space so that we can um, advocate and look for establishing resources to fill those areas. Looking at reduced drug use. Um again looking at some of those data
metrics and exploring three county substance use um prevention programs. We'll be supporting um family resource centers. So, um, working with community partners and us as public health department, um, providing technical assistance to give them the
information, the data, and the the, um, metrics that they need to apply in order to get those family resource centers established because we know that those family resource centers and getting people the services that they need is really important from what we're hearing from community. And we'll also be um, working on promoting food access within
those spaces. Um, also understanding um, and in identifying what the root causes are for those poor health metrics. One of the things I'm pretty excited about and we'll be doing an update on in the near future is through our central Minnesota alliance, we've developed a data dashboard that looks at 12
different metrics. And last week, we were able to overlay commissioner districts with our data dashboard so that we'll be able to give each of you a report of the health data on your district specifically. And we have that now that we're working um as a central Minnesota alliance regionally as well.
Um we have the ability for us to do that now for the whole jurisdiction for the tri county area as well as with centric care. Um so we'll be able to do that and I'm excited to give you some updates on that in the future and do some commissioner district profiles so that you know what the health looks like in
your district in comparison to others. Um, we'll also be working on promoting and talking more about what creates health. Um, you know, in general, that general health education as well as that return on investment information and and doing um some different presentations
and and getting some information out there on that what that return on investment looks like when you invest in that prevention space. and then working with mobile partners to expand mobile um health options more to our rural community and rural residents as we're hearing of course that you know the dental especially in the medical spaces
um looking for more access in those areas. Mr. Chair, if I could interrupt you quick Jacqueline back on community connections your your bullet point identify shared language. What do you mean by that? Yeah. So, one of the challenges is that everybody talks about and identifies and measures um issues
with mental well-being or with connectedness in different ways. There's not a common language. So, when you go to make comparisons or you go to look at the data, everyone talks about it or uses different parameters. So, you're referring to terminology. Terminology. Yeah. Yep. For us to be able to identify. The other piece that we're
looking at is we're looking at measuring the social capital. And it's really hard um complex to talk about. But when we say social, you know, you have the physical infrastructure, which is your buildings, right? Your physical spaces, buildings, parks, trails, you know,
those sorts of things. We have that measured pretty well. But our social capital, which is more the soft capital, so um support groups or um resources or, you know, food shelves, you know, just different pieces that affect the ability
for the community to be connected. We don't have that mapped very well. Um, and what we're knowing, what we see in research, and I'll just give an example. Um, there are two cities um, who were impacted by tsunamis, right? One city invested in the physical infrastructure and they built this giant wall around
the perimeter of their city to protect themselves from the tsunami. The other city down the down miles down the shoreline decided to invest in their social capital. So they decided to invest in support groups, libraries, public meeting spaces, um spaces where
people could connect and convene and gather and get to know one another. Um tsunami hit and they actually saw in the data that which one do you think actually fared better? Maybe I should ask that first. Um but the city who actually invested in the social networks invested more in the community getting
to know one another fared way better um with mortality rates than the city who had the big built wall. um the big physical space actually created a false sense of security um that that wall was built where the community who knew one another, they knew where the individuals in homes with wheelchairs lived that
needed help evacuating. They knew where the neighbors were that had lots of children and may have needed more help in getting things out of the house or they knew if they were elderly and needed some assistance and they were able to coordinate and gather and connect with it. So multiple studies have been done. So some of what we need
is just to be able to talk about the challenges in the mental health space. We need to be able to talk about it in ways that is a shared language because we don't have that shared language and it's harder to advocate for those resources when we don't have comparable metrics. Um, so it's really about just using the data capacities that we do
have and that we have built and adding layers on that and expanding those resources and those services so that we're investing in the in a um in a similar way, but we're also um capitalizing off of that shared capacity built that we have with our central Minnesota
alliance. Um, and then the last one on the in the pink box over on the right, support employerled health initiatives. So, we have a try wellness at work um workplace tri wellness group that actually works with business owners and is doing health promotion with businesses throughout our county um
helping them um develop and create and and provide different health metrics throughout the day. So, expanding some of those services um and doing a little bit more with some of our rural health. We've got some new partners coming into Benton County. So, we've been planning to connect with them and determine if there's different mobile capacities for
health as well, so we can create more ability for people to be healthy. And then these are just more of those long-term outcomes. Um, so we'll be looking for the long-term outcome of having stronger support networks, increased life satisfaction, quality of life, um, economic opportunities,
participation in community and civic life, and increased use of prevention services, and earlier diagn diagnosis and treatment. Um, again, we know that if people are healthy, they're able to be contributing members of society and they're more likely to be able to attend work and hold their job, um, participate
in social engagement and different activities as well. So, next steps. Um, so I'll just kind of walk through here. We are on the third step here. We, um, had our public comment period and web survey that ended. We finalized our improvement plan
document. Um and now we're here presenting our priorities to our board. Each of the counties within our central Minnesota alliance will be bringing this to their board as well. Um throughout this month and April u end of April through May um Centerare will bring bringing the plan to all of their
hospital boards. Then we will um submit our final document to the state of Minnesota um and uh the IRS for center care who has to submit there. And then we will start implementing our document. We'll start to plan and prioritize and work with our community to modify our
plan as we need. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Jacqueline, how many comments did you get? We received actually I brought that with because I thought you might ask. We received 21
comments. Um, so the public comment period went from March 18th through the end of April. comments were submitted directly to Peggy or we also had a survey platform that was live. We had 21 responses. Um we had 17 who commented on the connection space.
We had 17 who commented on the stability and 16 for access comments. Um 19 respondents said that their agencies also see these as priority areas and we'll be working towards those things in the next three years. Um some people had questions about what the data wax would look like. So, similar to the some of
the questions that you asked today, you know, what would that look like with our data walks and data spaces? Um, some of them talked about the link between the connectedness of your community and substance use and how those things um are complex and interconnected. And then
making a note that um the health plan that we have, community health improvement plan, spans across all ages. So, from, you know, our youngest all the way to our most elderly within our communities. Um and then we talked a little bit about our process managers.
So PM stands for process managers which is the group that kind of coordinates the assessment about doing activities on roles um and activities outside. So like annual reporting about the plan. Mr. Jer, was that 21 responses from Benton
County or 21 from the all three total? Y that's a very small response. Yep. That's what we got. Yeah. I mean that's really Wow. Wow. That's 300,000 people. Yeah. And you get 21 responses.
Yeah. I think we do our best to for engagement. You know, we get it out as many places as we can. We share it out. We put on our social media. We post up the flyers. We talk about it at meetings. And the engagement piece. Yeah. Yeah. I was even looking at just 21 in Benton County. Yeah. When just 21
in Benton County is a small number, right? It is. And now you're talking three counties. Commissioner Bono, I will say majority um if I recall, many of them are community partners that we work with. Yeah. So many of them were kind of um different community organizations groups that serve the
threeount area um that responded to the health assessment. There really wasn't a lot of public comment. Yeah, it was open, but a lot of the those who have an invested interest in in the health space. Yes, absolutely. And they probably commented it to them. Yeah. I don't know. I think I saw another
question. Yeah, it's me. Um, Jack, do you know the count of of how many community partners Benton County? Oh goodness, we have a lot. I could bring that. That's actually a data metric that we started tracking with our PH doc system. Um, as best we can. You can only
link one organization at a time when we do our time reporting, but we have a lot. Um, I would say each of our staff, um, we've done a really good job of making sure that we're not duplicative in the providers that we're meeting with, but each of our staff have relationships with different members at
the schools, community, um, different sectors depending on what what it is. If it's traffic safety, car seats, child care, daycare, um, you know, health, the health space, I mean, we've got lots of coalitions that we're part of, but we could I could do some work on collecting some of that and provide that back.
Thank you. Yeah. And that's a piece about this community health improvement plan and the central Minnesota Alliance. It's not just our health departments and center care working together. We have community partners that attend our meetings. Um so again, when I when I showed that slide of everything moving and weaving in the
same direction, that's what this plan does is it just kind of gets us aligned. It creates education around where the top priority areas are. And it helps us and our community partners all move towards a common goal so that we're all not do, you know, bouncing around trying to tackle an issue from a different direction. We're kind of convening
together and saying this is an issue. Let's work together on solving this and make an impact. Um we can do a lot more when we pull together on those things. So we have a lot of community um just different community space meetings and a lot of tackling some of those community issues. You know, St. Cloud State attends our data meetings or process
manager meetings. We've got people from um TAP Network, United Way, I mean lot Granite Table, um lots of different groups that help within this work as well. But again, one piece of the big puzzle. Great. So, I guess with that, I would
ask for the board's approval of our priority areas and then we will work on getting that plan submitted to the state of Minnesota um following the completion of the rest of the reviews. So moved. I'll second. We got a motion in a second. Any further discussion? If not,
I'll call the question. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, Jacqueline. Anything else? I do not have anything else for you. Okay. Before you leave, I want to Today is National Nurses Day and I want to thank all the nurses out there for everything that
they do. Okay. I will share that message with them. Thank you. Well, just every every nurse out there regardless whether they work for the county or not. Okay, with that I'll adjourn the Benton County Community Health Board at 10:19
and turn it over to our board chair. Do we want to go into ditch authority now? I'll turn it over to Commissioner Johnson on ditch authority. All right. Uh we'll call our ditch authority to order. We've already been through the roll call with everyone present. Uh any additions or changes to our agenda,
Chris? No, I have no changes. Okay. Move approval. Second. Motion and a second to approve our agenda as presented. All those in favor? I opposed carried. Move on to item two, excuse me, consent agenda items one and two. I'll make a
motion to approve the um ditch authority meeting minutes. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Second on those minutes. Uh any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I oppose. It's carried. Move on to item three. conduct
a continuation of the public hearing on abandonment of CD4. Chris, whenever you're ready. Yeah. So, this, like you said, is a continuation on the proceedings uh from the public hearing that we had at the April 15th uh drain authority meeting.
And this was just to allow staff time to prepare the the findings and order for the abandonment of county ditch uh 4. So, in your packet was a draft of the findings in order. Um, I'll recognize that I think we have our assistant
county attorney, Michelle Meyer, on the call, too. Um, but I think that's just what we need to do. We need to consider the findings in order today at today's meeting and then um continue with the term if it pleases the board to adopt those findings in order and then ditch
four would be abandoned and no longer uh uh publicly administered drainage system by Benton County. Okay. Quick question maybe for Michelle. Um do you need any of the findings or the order actually read or can we move on what's presented? What would you prefer? Mhm. Uh if you
would probably read um number 11. So the order right before the order. Yeah. Just the order probably. So number 11 and the order. Is that what you're the finding 11 and then the order? Is that what you're thinking? Yep. Okay. You guys
want to do that? You want like me to do it? What would you like to do? Go ahead. That'd be fine, Mr. Chair. All right. So I'll review and highlight the finding number 11. and the majority of the drainage system has ceased to function as it was designed to and it is not pract practicable to restore the ditch so that it functions as intended. Uh
when constructed the ditch was an open channel of 8,800 ft. Currently only 2,800 ft of the channel is open requiring 6,000 ft of the ditch to be reconstructed. The current benefits derived from the drainage system are $438,000. There are numerous wetlands along the drainage system that were will
require mitigation. purchase of wetland credits alone would likely exceed the benefits of the drainage system. So, the order that was put together was based on the foregoing findings of items 1 through 11. The entire record of the proceedings before the board uh acting as the drainage authority uh for CD4,
hereby orders as follows. The petition for abandonment of Benton County ditch number four is approved. No, the further repair petition for the abandoned portion of the drainage system may be accepted and the drainage authorities responsibility to maintain the abandoned portion of the drainage system is terminated by this order. This order
shall not release any property from a drainage lean filed on account of the drainage system before the date of this order. Nor shall this order release any property from any assessment or a drainage lean filed on or after the date of this order for costs incurred on account of the drainage system before the date of the order. If there are any
excess funds uh in the Benton County ditch number four account, the excess excess funds shall be returned to the benefiting property owners on a pro-rated basis as determined by Benton County ditch number four benefits and dam damages statements. Um is there any
discussion on the findings in the order? Any discussion at all? Okay, so we should probably do a roll call on this, Michelle. Is that what you would like? All right. So, um, the order is in place for approval.
Commissioner Bonite, yes. Commissioner Heinen, yes. Commissioner Pop, yes. Myself, yes. Commissioner, they're supposed to make the wrong call, too. Sorry, I got ahead of myself, didn't I, Beth? Would you like to do it? Upon a vote, the chair declared the
motion passed and the findings and orders are adopted. All right. Anything else? Uh just I just want to acknowledge that uh in the audience today I did bring along our new county ditch inspector Adam Richie. So he was along today to to listen to these
proceedings. So right this may be the simplest ditch meeting he ever attends though but uh getting his toes wet in the world of county. For sure. Definitely the least interactive. For sure. Anything else Chris? I have
nothing else. All right. Ditch authorities adjourned at 10:24. or I'll hand it back to the board chair. [Music] At this time, we will have uh commissioner meeting updates. I can go
first. Um I had a St. Cloud City Council meeting on 421, an RSVP Zoom meeting on 51, a CMCCA Zoom meeting on 51, and
um uh and then attended the preparedness summit um for health um on 528 through 62 and then our CO5 or on the 5th and then I also had a
St. Cloud City Council meeting last okay let's see here where am I today oh there we go last week we were in Texas with the public health that was a in my opinion that was a great conference uh I had a historical
society that was about it that's it for Okay. Till I further Okay. Hey, Chris. I had uh a little bit about I had I was at the preparedness conference as well. Um K's yesterday and
then uh we did have our AMC finance committee meeting. We're going through the the dues and everything for AMC. I I think the way it looks is maybe 1,600 bucks a year increase for us, but it I
mean they're going through this whole big uh there was data sheets after data sheets on on all these formulas and I'm sitting here going we just got to make it simple and because you know we need them just as much as they need us,
right? Especially with where we're at right now. But um we got another meeting coming up here in next week and we're hoping to finalize that. Okay. Uh April 23rd, Highway 23 Coalition Board meeting. Um next day, 24th, uh BEP in
the morning, uh Tri County Solid Waste after that and the Foley Care Board meeting that evening. Uh the following Wednesday night on April 30th, I attended the Granite Wedge Township meeting uh by request. Um they're looking at redoing their town hall and they were looking for options. They had
a pretty good turnout, maybe 20 people in there. Wow. So, um I guess my suggestion to them was is that they made sure that they included the building inspector before they make a bunch of decisions and then find out that things aren't maybe going to go that way. So, sounds like they're working with Roxanne
and maybe trying to get that scheduled with Mr. Barot's office. Um and then on May 1st, uh one water, one plan down in Sherburn County, this history center. Um just getting kicked off with our new joint powers entity getting going on starting to spend some money hopefully
this year. So get going there and of course our cow yesterday. Okay. Um we had a library workshop way back on the 15th. Um we will have it looks like an increase in library dues this year. How
much really? Uh I don't I can't remember like it's going to be in that four to 5,000 probably. um for one library for one library then um unless we the finance committee moves forward to using some more reserves but we're getting to the point where we
can't keep going after reserves because we're getting we've done you know several hundred actually I think we did a couple million so far in the last few years that was their um BEP I thought our BEP was really good um what
they had presented this time the um AI was, you know, just phenomenal what they can do or what he even did up there. Um and I think they're um you know, we got a few people moving off of membership and but we're always getting
new ones. So, I think she's doing a really good job. Um did they change their um their way? Sorry to interrupt. Did they change their way they do their membership? Because right now, if you go visit that a library once every 3 years, it counts as a visit. a visit. I don't
know. We haven't changed that. We we you I don't know. I I think that number is so deceiving right now. And I think the reason that I think the state doesn't want to or or people don't want to change it is I think it's going to be a glaring issue with all this money where it's going and there's not a lot of
people using it. What uh I just seen in the paper, the resolution we approved here when library was here, Morrison County denied it. the metrics or whatever, you know, for the state funding money. I don't know
why they denied it, but And they've got a lot of libraries. Um, four or four. We're spending 550 grand. What are they spending? Any idea? Um, probably 480 and they have two or three or four. No, they got five or six. Yeah, they got that
many. Little Falls, Royaltton, Swanville. They got five. And we have one library and we have to pay 540 or 50,000. Yep. And potentially 6,000 users that are registered. So roughly 100 bucks a person.
Yeah. Um you know I asked the same question years ago about all the libraries in Morrison County and they were grandfathered state. I mean there's just nothing they can do about it. So what is a minimum we have to put in?
That's a darn good question. There's a maintenance of effort requirement imposed upon us and it's based upon how much we contributed several years ago. So, it's in the $400,000 range. I'll get you the exact number. Uh, but if you exited, you'd still have to kick in thee amount. And
again, it's let's just say about $450, but I'll get you the exact number. So, every year the I'm not saying that we got to exit, but we Right. Yeah. Yeah. There's a statutory requirement, maintenance of effort, excuse me.
I mean, I think Sterns County's Sterns County actually is the second largest one now. Write county took over is there's 2.5 million. Yeah. But what's their population too? I mean, all this is goes about goes off population. Population tax capacity
usage usage. Yeah. Yeah. you know, and our usage is from uh our usage actually was up. That's what what triggered an increase in But that usage could be one person going in one day and Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? It's not like
they're in there every week. I thought it was based on registered borrowers. It's a third uh tax capacity, a third registered borrowers, and a third usage usage. And what measured as what? like
how many checkouts checkouts or you know I thought it was third I was saw third population third registered borrows and third tax capacity that might be right I think that's what it is population registered borrows and tax capacity it's those three yeah and our I don't think
it's I walk in and I check out a book it's registered borrowers and how many hours are in this five and is it fair to say where are we on the the totem pole we'll call Fourth, fourth lowest, fourth out of five. Four
out of five. First, right, Sherburn, Bettton, six, and Todd and we got the least amount of libraries. I don't know what Todd's got. Chris is back. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It's just a tough scenario. I
mean, you you can't I mean, no matter if you're the In other words, he's trying to say he's not trying to beat you up, but Correct. Yet. Yeah. Okay. And that was all that I had. So,
um, Commissioner comments, anything said committee of the halls. What? Wait. Okay. I guess that'll be under about going to the capital. I thought we were going to talk about that. Yes. Yes. Let's set that committee of the So, uh, who can travel to the capital next week?
Perhaps Tuesday. Yes. Okay, Commissioner Gapinsky, Commissioner Heinen, and I'm telling you, the more we have, Johnson. So, that will be set as a cow. Then, um, let us work out specific details and logistics with Grady, but plan on roughly being at the capital around 11:00 a.m. to meet up
with Grady. And as he tells me, he's going to ask members to come off the House or Senate floor to speak with us because they'll mostly be in floor sessions next week. So, again, plan on about being there roughly 11:00 a.m. Tuesday. And we'll get Where are you and Grady going to meet up? We'll find that
out. Are you going? Uh I don't know yet. I got to look at my calendar. I'm I see Chris is with us. Chris, is that going to work for you Tuesday morning? Yes, that that works for me. Yep, that's a good day for me. So, we can drive and carpool. We can work out those logistics
later as well. I don't have my calendar here in front of me, so but at least is a cow for these three board members. Okay, great. The last time I went down and pulled somebody off the floor was I went with Commissioner Berkeley and our congressman from the western part of the state just ripped us. Hopefully be more
friendly audience this time. Well, I I can tell you we've done this numerous time there now. We we've done this numerous times even this year and it was nothing but positive. Again, it's the home stretch on bonding. Yeah. M I only have one more and that is the AMC
District 5 uh spring meeting is Monday June 9th beginning at 8 a.m. in the Morrison County boardroom. One possible issue I should raise with you is is uh Contegrity had planned that you that you're awarding the bid for the government center project would be
Monday, June 9th. I have asked Pete if that date could get moved so that you all can go to the AMC District 5 meeting if you wish to. So, um, to be determined. I got to let you know. Can we I don't know if they published that like in the bid notice and that's kind
of a carved in stone now or we can move it. But that was originally scheduled for also Monday, June 9th. Um, so I'll see if I can get get that moved. This district may have been scheduled for quite a while. Yeah, this is Exactly. But in tech, they're in Little Falls
anyway. We're going to be in Little Falls doing the afternoon. Yeah. 3:00. 3:00 is our scheduled meeting. Yeah, the special I thought it was at 3:00. I don't recall the actual date that we set for that. Um, I
wouldn't want to see you have to rush back to Foley to to um Well, we're done at noon. Noon. Well, usually it's if you stay for lunch, then it's 1:00 and you might not get back here until later. So, let me see if we can move it. If we can't, we can't. So, move it if we're
going to do it the 10th then Tuesday the 10th. And here's the thing, we haven't published, you know, ourselves. We haven't published that datetime in place yet. I'm just I don't know though if Integrity put that in all the bid notices. So all the biders are thinking it's going to be 3:00 on June 9th. I
don't know. I have to find out. So, and bid documents are arriving the 29th of May. Bid opening bids are due in the auditor's office the 29th by 2 p.m. Yep. Yep. And as I mentioned to other board
members, you know, I sent you that link. You can go out there on that website. You can look, you can also see the contractors who have downloaded uh the bit the plan sets. It's it's lengthy. There's a lengthy list of contractors that have obtained them.
So I think that's it. Move for approval of the call. Mr. Chair second. Okay. All in favor? I. And m just a reminder you have your next committee the whole it's Monday June 12th 8:30 human services third floor conference room. Monday
Monday at 8:30 human services. I don't expect we're going to have like a packet if you're so looking for one in the mail at this I've asked for for materials. I haven't received any. So I I don't expect we'll have a packet for you. Just as a reminder, Monday at 8:30, human services third floor uh public health
and human services issues. Why wouldn't we have a packet? Uh I've asked for if there's agenda items and and packet materials and again I have not received any. I know Jacqueline says she has one topic but she won't have her pack of materials ready uh to send out to you
that this week. So um and I should just say m I mean I do ask for these materials beforehand so you can see them and I ask that they not drop you know a bundle of documents on you day of uh that's what I request. So
okay we do our best. Anything else? No sir. Uh quick question Monty. Did Grady say about how long at the capital? Potentially did any idea? No. Okay. He did probably a couple hours. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Any other discussion?
We're ajourned at 10:38 here. Wrong button first.