well we have the we have the king Kamaya higher here if we don't have issues He hides in the back corner because he's always get called Wow I see they got all the dirt work in that going That's a big building when I came
by there to say wow Oh did he did help him at all i don't know the answer to that I don't think they're members I think probably not but they could have still helped him and became a member We do that
I guess I don't know I'm going to ask uh Grady I see you join us Can you uh what kind of time constraints do you have this morning Grady um I've got I've got a little bit of time here You're you're good Okay Okay So we'll try and get get started with you really soon So Yep
Perfect Thank you 9:00 we call the county board to order We got a flag pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands One nation
under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Roll call Beth sure Commissioner Benoy here Commissioner Heinen here Commissioner Pop here Commissioner Johnson here Commissioner Gapinsky here
remotely Thank you approve or amend the agenda I see we got some changes Yes Mr Chair So uh we have uh consent items number five and number six Uh the first is the SKGK Ventures Mini Mart tobacco license
That's agendum consent item number five The next is the Northern Oaks Events uh on sale uh Sunday liquor license as a consent item number six Sent item number six Uh you have two regular items One is
a letter of support for Vivbo Village If you could please add that um as the last item under county administrator That's 905 last item under county administrator Chris Bird has item under county surveyor if you could add that as
his last item at 9:45 uh county surveyor for Chris and those are the changes we have Move for approval of the amended agenda Mr Chair second Do we need to call roll
yes Roll call votes on all Yes All right Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen I Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky I thank you Announcements by the board chair County
board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube Please restain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that your views can be heard 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 open form segment or public hearing However public comments on agenda items may be allowed by the discretion of the board chair as we begin today's meeting Please turn yourselves off or to vibrate Thank
you Um any Nope Consent agenda We have items 1 through six Move for approval Mr Chair Second Been moved and approved Items one through six Any other discussion
all in favor I'll call the roll Beth sure Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Hein abstain Uh Commissioner Pop I Commissioner Johnson I Commissioner Gapinsky I Monty Hudley
Mr Chair uh we have a retirement award to present this morning I believe Courtney is going to do the honors for us for Sally All right and Beth has the camera Good morning everybody Good morning So today is a bittersweet day Um we have um
a celebration and an honor for Sally Murray who has dedicated almost 25 remarkable years of service in our WIC program here at Benton County Um the WICK program or women Infants and Children Um it's a supplemental program
that helps eligible families through the nutrition education and counseling and referrals to health and other social services For almost 25 years Sally has not only supported families but also has been a mentor a friend and a constant source of positivity and dedication to
all of us at Benton County She has worked to ensure that the families who walk through our doors receive not just the care that they need but the compassion that they deserve We've seen firsthand how much of an impact Sally has on so many lives It is something that we will carry forward As
you retire Sally we want you to know that your hard work care and commitment to continue will continue to inspire us We will miss your presence here but we'll also be excited for you as you begin this new chapter of life On behalf of our entire public health team and everyone here at Benton County and the
families that you've helped over the years thank you for everything You've set a high standard for all of us and we're forever grateful for the time and energy and love that you give to this program Please join me in congratulating Sally for almost 25 years of outstanding
service and the exciting adventures that lie ahead Awesome Congratulations Thank you All right we need to come down for pictures Oh you have to come down for a picture Sorry I tell you that Well other people
told me that everyone gets the treatment Congratulations Thank you You know I never ever thought it would be that person saying I've worked so long So did you start in part
um I started in in Wick My background is nutrition So I Yeah Wow 25 years That's awesome And then my camera Sorry Okay All right Congratulations Thank you
Okay Thank you everybody Thank you Oh we forgot to include Jared to the picture Yep At least he was smiling Okay Uh legislative update from We'll invite Grady to give us an update on what's going on at the capital specifically on bonding and our sales
tax exemption Any other updates you would like to share with us Grady please thanks Monty And good morning Mr Chair and commissioners Um a brief update on the current state of play in St Paul I'm sure you've been following in the media
as well Um but the legislature returns today from a short long weekend break for um for Eid Um first and second committee deadlines are this Friday which means um all policy bills must
clear committees in both chambers um by 5:00 pm on Friday So we expect a lot of late night committee meetings um trying to get everything pushed through Um the finance committees will be working on assembling their budget bills for third
deadline which is April 11th Um so just a week away from this Friday Um just to keep in mind there are no committee deadlines for taxes or bonding Um as you also may have noticed um in early March
uh the MMB released its updated forecasts Um it projected a 456 million surplus for fiscal years 26 and 27 Um a reduction of 160 million from the
November forecasts Um they're citing changes uh in policies at the federal level um as as one of the reasons Um in 28 and 29 bienium the shortfall grows from 5.1 billion to 6 billion Um with
that the governor released his revised uh budget proposal um and get cuts an additional 162 million from the 2627 budget and 247 million um in the second year of the bianium Um one of the things
to make note for the county in the governor's proposal is he um revised his budget for additional cuts for state some state grant programs One being um the PILT program which is payments in lie of taxes uh that goes to the
counties Um so just of note it looks like uh in my research Benton County received 63,84 dollars in those grants in 2024 Um some counties are looking at
board resolutions to this degree So Monty I can follow up with you on that Um last week the House and Senate released their targets and they are not global targets So um they have a lot of
negotiating to do uh to work out a final deal over the last couple um or the next couple of weeks Um the House uh makes a net cut of 14 million in baseline spending for 26 and 27 Uh notably the
tax target has a net change of 40 million in either tax increases or reductions in tax expenditures and related programs Um in the over in the Senate uh they had a revised um target of that cuts 227
million to transportation related projects and a net change of 365 million in tax increases or reductions in expenditures for tax related aid programs Uh so we'll be watching that
closely Um again these numbers are not um they're not global meaning they have not they're going to have to come to agreement between both bodies Um which could become a challenge as we move forward On the bonding side of things um
in the Senate um the debt service and the tales is for $1.3 billion in the first bienium um and not have anything in the second where the House is looking at a $700 million uh bonding bill and that again will be negotiated as we get
towards end of session discussions Um one thing to highlight and you probably saw it in the news um there's a vacated Senate seat with the resignation of Senator Justin Iicorn um due to arrest of solitation of a minor Um
there'll be a special election on April 29th with a primary on April 15th So that could change some of the dynamics in the Senate as well Um there are multiple candidates I think six Republican candidates and two Democrats
um all competing for that seat Um looking ahead before I get into a little specific on our bills um as I mentioned the deadlines uh this Friday and next Friday Um and then the
legislature goes on break for Passover um and Easter They'll be coming back on the 22nd at noon and I'd encourage um the board to um we'd like to facilitate some sort of a capital visit those last
two weeks of the month Um so after uh the 22nd at noon through May 2nd I think that would be timely um with bonding discussions uh to get to wave the flag and to to get in front of um our delegation and um committee
chairs on our bills Um our Senate file for the refundable sales and use tax exemption Um we actually have two of them Uh Senator How did his um as well as Senator Weezenberg They're cloned bills So it's the same language Senator
Weisenberg's bill Senate File 957 was laid over for consideration And I just was in touch this morning um over in the House side with Representative Schultz's office and pushing to get a hearing Um the House is
a little behind due to their delay in getting hearings on local projects Um but we do anticipate that coming soon and and again there's no deadlines for taxes or bonding Um so we're we're pushing hard for that hearing in the House Um especially now that the target
for the Senate um for tax um on taxes is is a little bit of a concern that we'll watch closely And so we'd like to get that laid over in the House as well Um on the bonding bill um Senator Papus has indicated that she
does not plan to have any hearings on bills this session Um so I think she's trying to make up with some of the bills that were introduced previously Um but we'll see see how that goes and we're continuing to push for a hearing if she's willing to do one On the House
side um they're getting into local projects I reached out to the Republican chair last week and and pushed for a hearing and I have been touching with our authors as well to uh give them a push to get the bill heard Um but we
will anticipate over the next few weeks um hearings on on both of those um our bills With that I think um that's probably the the quickest update I can give you today If there are any questions I'll turn it over to the board
Any questions mr Chair if I could Grady um will you be reaching out towards the after April 22nd to set up some potential dates and times maybe a couple three options mr Mr Chair Monte yes I'll be in touch with you and uh and we will um get that
set up I think if we could get a few commissioners to come down um over those two those two weeks and then maybe one more touch towards the end of session um would be would be good timing right i'll be in touch Thank you Yep And that's what's needed
So can't thank you enough Grady for what you're actually doing for us We truly appreciate it Appreciate your leg work Grady Yep Thank you so much We'll keep uh pounding hard and and hopefully uh we can get uh some good compromise done in the next uh couple of months of session
I would note that um based on the dynamics in the tide house um there could be uh it it could go into special session most likely um and maybe a lights on funding uh budget initially
but we'll keep our eye on it and keep you informed All right Thanks Thank you Mr Chair I got one more question for Grady So on the bonding bill they said that they're not going to do any more hearings Uh they're just going to look at the previous ones that were put in
front of them Mr Chair and Commissioner yes Um that's on the Senate side Okay Um in the House they're still having hearings so we're pushing to get that um heard And and on bonding it ultimately comes down kind of
to the last hour um where your delegation is critical in getting their projects funded So we'll continue to push on both sides on that front Okay Thank you Anything else thanks Grady Thank you Grady
Thanks all Y Thank you Thank you Monty Jackie Travis here with the next item Please Jackie Thank you We're gonna want to share screen too So okay All right Let me get it pulled up You want to do that part share screen part
Yep I'll just Come on Good morning commissioners Morning I am here on behalf a group of from a group of us from the management team Um a little history on why I'm here is when
we did our um survey with employee strategies on the county culture one of the questions was asked about knowing our values and knowing if our values were applied to our work Um there were quite a few staff that didn't feel that our values were applied to their work or
didn't know what our values were So the management team as a whole sat down and we refreshed our mission vision and values statement Um and I believe that was previously presented to you but as the management team created these new values and mission and
um vision statements we wanted to push them out Um we wanted to broadcast it really put it out there And one of the things that we thought maybe that would help is if we kind of refreshed our logo Um so we worked with Whitebox on
creating a new logo for Benton County Um so up on the screen here is what we came up with Um we wanted something that was simple clean but just a little different from what we had before And you can see there's a a variety of different logos
And I guess we're not just creating one logo here but more of um a concept Um and we would use these different logos based on what we were producing at that time So um we just want to present our idea here to kind of get your input and
approval so we can continue to move forward Um so here's kind of the logo And then one of the things that we had asked um that's been recently updated from what's in your board packet is we didn't really ex like the primary color
palette that was presented So we just asked for um an updated color palette and that's what is here And these colors would be used if you needed more than one color like say you're doing a PowerPoint or a graph or something these would be the primary colors that we
would use when presenting that And then they also kind of showed on the bottom half that if we needed to add um like if public health has their own logo and they would want to add that what it would look like with the Benton County logo plus an additional departmental
logo Any questions on that at all or feedback for the group mr Chair I like the public service part in there that you're recognizing I think obviously that's why we're all here right we really wanted to get our mission statement in there and they did
a great job of putting that in there for us Think looks good I like the color scheme Mhm Anything else looks good to me So uh Mr Chair Yes As
we're as we're going through this Jack and you got the top one that's three different logos and then you got the the kind of beige one Yes Are those are those like two different options or would that all be you know we use them at any time i think the idea here was we
would mainly focus on the top which is our primary color palette The secondary would be more so used like um say you're doing two bar graphs and you needed more color options then we would say well then you would resort to the secondary color palette as your additional options
for colors But we would mainly focus on the top which is our primary color palette Okay And Mr Chair Jackie just to verify I know you have examples there but like on the right in the beige Benton County and Benton Economic Partnership is when those two are working together something
you'd have both logos there Yeah we wanted white box just to give us an example of what it might look like For example if the sheriff's department has their own logo that they want to put but we still want them to use the main Benton County logo So they just kind of gave us a couple examples of what that
may look like Great Looks good That's something we'd want the main logo but then other departments on the side Yeah Yeah So going forward we want to use this on letterhead powerpoints um clothing putting on the side of vehicles any place where we would typically see
the Benton County symbol Website Website Yes I know that it's working on revamping the website So we would use this new um color scheme and logo Mr Chair Yes Um uh Jackie I assume that
this would be kind of like a uh on vehicles as we get a new vehicle we would take and put them on or are we thinking that we take and relo everything right away i guess we haven't really discussed that part in the management team I guess we wanted to first make sure before we move
forward that you approved of the concept that we had before you Right I appreciate that Jared because if you do all of them right away that comes with a cost right yeah I think it makes sense just to gradually over time Yeah
Incorporate the new logo right you buy new truck Yeah Right And scraping the old ones off right yeah So in 20 years Chris will have them all on the Apologize All right
About 25 give or take Mr Chair I'll move for it might be 40 Yeah Mr Chair I'll move for approval of the new logo design Second Motion been made and second it I I just want to make sure I acknowledge uh all the folks that are
involved in this effort Jackie of course uh Jacqueline uh um Beth uh Jeff Dingman was that was that the group that was involved did I miss anyone steve Stang of course Let me make sure and I and I should say uh this is a result of many
meetings with with White Box and lots of discussion and various options iterations to arrive at this So this was well thought out and I appreciate this group of folks stepping up and and taking on this project Yeah But I think the county board thanks you for doing this Absolutely Thank you Exactly Time
and effort into it So we do have a motion and a second So you want to call the roll commissioner Benoy Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky Hi
Thank you Thanks I miss Steve It's okay Go ahead All right I believe the next item on your agenda is the GLT agreement for architectural services So uh quite some time ago the board approved an
initial agreement with GLT but that was really for the initial phases for example the space studies and what they call uh schematic design and so on So you kind of remember all that work to kind of start with a blank piece of paper and then come up with what a
building would look like This new agreement is essentially an amendment to that and takes us through to final uh design uh some actual uh construction observation and then the last the final
uh uh project would be what they call commissioning and commissioning means they bring someone in to make sure everything works exactly as it's supposed to So um this would again take us through essentially completion uh of the project with
GLT Um in the agenda you can see that uh the uh agreement includes what's known as basic services which is 6% of the project cost That's 1.5 million Uh Evan also threw into the agreement a possible
uh additional work for uh uh what we call phase two which was which is what do we do with the old building do we create a parking lot there and so on So that's the design work associated with creating uh parking for the new building And then lastly there's the commissioning part Um and I
I that certainly makes as Evan described that to me that makes total sense because you think about this building has so many complex systems in it You want to make sure everything is working when they hand you the keys that it's all working very well Um I noted there how much we paid so far So there's
remain balance about 1.1 million to be paid Uh so we're now in in in frankly the much more intensive phases of design where they're devoting enormous amounts of hours to the final design u and the
what they call the the plan sheets for that would be used to put this project out to bid So uh some of those larger bills will be coming in I mentioned there little a everything has an asterisk Uh there's possible additional services uh at the board's discretion if
you choose to to to use GLT for that For example the furniture design Uh do you want to use them to help you design the layout of all the office furniture or do we do that as our own matter we certainly could Uh they include in here
a cost for the furniture design if you choose to use them but we could certainly choose another vendor for the furniture design And landscape design is another one They could do that for us or we could choose another vendor for that That can come later That can come later
So I believe that's it Mr Chair Uh happy to answer any questions that you have Questions Mr Chair Yes Go ahead Um obviously I think we're all getting a lot of concern on this uh with uh with
you know the taxes and everything like that I just want to make sure that this the public knows just by authorizing this doesn't make it doesn't put the building going forward It it finishes up the design and if anything gets you know halted after that when numbers come in
this isn't this isn't assuring the building is going through is what I'm trying to say Mr Chair Yes Correct This is part of the process to get to a final number of what the true building's going to cost And and Mr Chair if I could just for
clarification Monty and I think Jared referenced it a little bit is that this would be what the cost would be if the building was built and finished at some point This is the final GLT cost Obviously we're not going to incur all these costs if we don't move forward with the building Uh Mr Chair
Commissioner Johnson Yes So uh this again takes us through final construction commissioning As I noted there there's some possible supplemental costs that could be over and above the number I have here if you choose to use GLT for those Again like furniture design and landscape design So that
number could be a bit higher if you use them I wanted to mention I'm looking actually it's on page 23 of the agreement So basically uh this is going to take us through the the development of all the construction documents and bidding and that takes us through
roughly 80% of GLT's total fees So what's left after bidding is again the last 20% So you you the number you see there on my agenda item we're gonna we'll we'll go through about 80% of that
number to get to bidding 80% of that number Monty when will will bidding take place before or after our public hearing uh after after Right In other words we'll receive those bids after Right So the public
hearing on CIP is scheduled for May 6th right if I recall correctly uh we won't be seeing those bids till sometime in June Okay Like after Yeah sometime around mid June I believe if I recall correctly
Mr Chair Yes Go ahead And just for the record and and stuff I I think I I want to make a statement that that basically says I'm not in it to just spend the taxpayers money I'm really not This is we got to we got to do a very good job
of explaining that not only we're kind of stuck with one of two options Either do this building or bring the existing building up to code because when we start digging into the elevator that triggers another code violation and and the public doesn't understand that right
now And we just got to make sure we're doing a very good job explaining that moving forward in all of these uh these open houses and and these the road show that we're doing at the at the city halls because that I've talked to quite a few people last week They don't they
didn't understand that oh this isn't either we do the building or not do the building is either we do the building or we got to start doing all these upgrades that is going to be you know half to 3/4 of the cost of doing a new building Right Mr Chair go ahead And that's a
good point Commissioner Gapinsky because I had took a lot of phone calls yesterday too trying to explain you know to the residents what this is all about what it details and and you're correct You are correct We need to be specific about everything You're right And I
think I was pretty upfront with everybody I talked to that we will spend some money It's just a matter of how much you want us to spend You know um some see it and some don't You know it depends on who you are But we're going to have to do something down the
road no matter what we do And I think Tim did a good job of explaining that in the paper I appreciate that Yep I I agree I want to thank Tim you know for what you put in the paper AC accurate Appreciate that
Yeah And and and just to clarify you know a lot of these code the these code deals are not brought on by us If we could go status quo not if if we were told oh we don't want a building and we we're going to keep what we have until
we can do a building That's great But these codes are brought down above us So we start digging in like we said the elevator that's you know $75,000 to bring that up to code whether it's electrical mechanical all that stuff in there and that triggers other things So I appreciate what you said Commissioner
Pop is you know it's how much money we want or they want us to spend We don't really have that option because when we start digging into these things it triggers other code violations that we're going to have to bring up within a certain amount of time So it's it's a
it's a double-edged sword And correct Mr Gapinsky when you start bringing up those code violations and you add into other factors those costs have to be done right away for upgrade and we lose that bottom the the basement
or the lower level Yep In there it's going to trigger a lot more space that we need find somewhere Yep And very good point And and Mr chair And that doesn't even hardly touch on what we're going to be spending in the interim to get to either one of those
spots I mean we've got significant capital improvement dollars that will be spent until we get to a remodel or a building So okay So you're looking a tough situation I I I
100% get where the taxpayers are at I mean you hear them in these ditch meetings you hear them you know on you know just in the in the on the street or in the grocery store You hear people talking about it It it's it's a horrible situation we're in right now Didn't I
got a question while I was around on that So did anybody get a call from the letter that was in the tax statements i did not I got one that was a concern you know had no idea that even they had no idea what was
going on Yeah Yeah Well hope you know hopefully when we have these open houses that we actually have people come Well and that's a great example of to my point of our last meeting is we've got to figure out a way to get the public involved and educated Look at ditches Yes I know
You know I think you know I think we got the attention of the ditches because the letters went out and the bills in the mail you know and that's what will h probably happen here is you know I don't know Time will tell I will tell
So do you need a motion on this yes sir Okay I'll make a motion to approve the revised agreement with GLT Architects for final design construction documents bidding construction observation and final building commissioning
Is there a second somebody I'll second it Okay Mr Gapinsky It's been moved and seconded Monty I guess my question is that how much
more of the 500 to the 566,000 do we have to pay do you think before Sure the end of June So Mr Chair when it's all said and done when we to get us through bidding it's going to be 80% of the 1.5 million number So if someone has a calculator 1 million five 1.5 million
times 08 that's what we're going to pay to get us through to bidding So that's that will be the total right 1.2 1.2 I can't do math in my head Sorry 1.2.2
is 80% Right So uh take 1.2 million minus 566 and that's what's that's what's left Uh that will pay between now and getting this out to bid As I mentioned they're in this incredibly intensive period right now where they're devoting tremendous hours to this
project And again it's not just GLT but it's also the structural engineer or the mechanical engineer It's all those folks And it also involved you know that may be a number that's going to come up at the at the public hearing Yeah You know being in the construction field this is not
new to me but this is new to everybody else of the process you have to go through to try to figure out a number Well I was looking at what the sock rabbit school did and now they're first going out to design and that and they've already approved you know $57
million Um you know they don't have all this money tied up in design and they have more money tied up in promotion than they're going to they're going to have that money in will but they already got approval of the funding But it was kind of laid out of what you know that's
just a up to up to up to up two is going to be a part of their cost That's right Okay So we got a motion and a second call on one one last uh one last note
Sure One of the one of the things we got to realize is at some point whether it's now or later on we're going to need to do a building And these a lot of this money that we're spending right now can be refurbished you know three years down
the road Now is there going to be different codes that they're going to have to go back through absolutely But the general design is still there and and so if we spend 1.2 million it's it's not it's not a waste They might have to redo a couple hundred thousand of that
just approach And to your point Commissioner Gapinsky that's something we talked about with GLT right up front was if we don't do this how much of this will will be able to reuse good point that it's not totally just kicked out the window No it is a good point but
just remember the prices go up 3 to 5% every year Sure Every year Because we've we found that out right you know by delaying this a little bit it's not going to get cheaper of what it went up you know so price will never go down
Okay Beth Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Kapinsky Hi Um the Vivo Village Yep The M An organization known as Avivo Village
plans to build a homeless shelter in St Cloud And I'm I'm you know I I know you folks have been aware of that for a while Um I understand they actually plan to break ground this summer Uh they did receive a fairly large state grant to
help with that construction to help with the operating costs A Vivo is seeking legislation that would allow them to receive a supplemental uh group housing rate uh from the state Uh it's currently a bill has been introduced in the House
and they ask if you could uh offer a letter of support for this legislation House File 1579 In addition to I believe the current group residential housing rate is 1,170 if my notes are correct This asks for a supplemental rate on top of that
of 975 uh and as you see in the letter uh Avivo a village provides very intensive services um to its residents and I think for in in their view that justifies the higher supplemental rate given the
intensive nature of those services I understand correctly they have a fairly high staffing ratio Uh and that is a lot of the reason for the need for the supplemental rate and I from my participation in meetings with this group is they feel that this
supplemental rate is essential for them to be able to operate this facility in St Cloud So it's just again asking uh a letter of support from us and they've asked Sherban County and Sterns County as well for the same letter of support
Mr chair So this also means no commitment yet from the county then financially That's true And and none have been made Um they've been having regular meetings I've attended a few of those and and but no I have not seen anyone step forward and commit of course
county resources to this at this point because just because they sign a letter of resource doesn't mean we're committing resources I mean I want nothing to do with this if it's going to be county resources going into Right Yep just so that's on the record that I mean it seems like an awful big
ask to almost double what you what the average housing rate is I just I can't see that it's even feasible But well again I think goes to the two admin chairs that they deal with some folks who have some significant challenges in their lives and it takes a fairly high
staffing ratio to adequately manage that facility So those people are successful in moving on Yeah Yeah You know it it is needed But
so if they if they don't get the additional fund are they going to scrap the project or what's the M i know Sure I know the answer to that I I they have said that portrayed this as essential to the operation of the facility So I I I
guess time will tell you know what what their plan B would be if they don't get this legislation Okay Motion to authorize the board chair to sign a letter support for a vivo I'll second Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen
Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky You're muted There you go There you go Thanks You good Jared i Okay motion carried Troy Heck but I think we got a
substitute today right commissioners and administrator Good morning Edley Good morning It is my privilege and honor to be here um to make my or to make the annual request to approve the proclamation for
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in Benton County I know it's a mouthful but we ask for this every single year I am here asking for this um on behalf of some really fabulous
miracle workers really for the county I have a staff right now of 10 people One is an intermittent part-timer that just joined with us And I have experience levels from three months
I've got a brand new dispatcher starting in training all the way up to 30 years We're very topheavy with experience there I have with the majority of my staff coming in at over experience
Um apologies from Sheriff Hec He is much more of an eloquent speaker than I am because at heart what I am is a public safety dispatcher a communications officer you know call taker You can call us what you will but that's that's where my heart
lies I'm extremely proud of the work that my folks do Um nationally the week between April 13th to the 19th is our day or our week This is when we
celebrate the folks that work at the public safety and answering points They're the unseen heroes You hear about them You hear their voices You don't know who they are They just do all the work behind the scenes right they keep our citizenship safe They keep our
agencies safe our first responders safe They go through a lot Uh they have an incredibly difficult job It is becoming incredibly more so with each year The technology expansion that we're
dealing with right now is astounding And these guys are just keeping up It's amazing Now whether you call them call takers radio operators dispatchers emergency
communications officers they all do the same thing And they do it for a variety of reasons which is incredible right some of these folks come in with law enforcement degrees EMS experience military
experience counseling experience It's amazing the types of folks that actually do this job I'm extremely proud to be here representing everything that they do 247
And to that I am asking for your approval for the proclamation and for the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week here in Benton County to recognize the great work that they do every day
I agree Yep Yep Yep Totally agree I I just sat over there with some very amazing people and I'm telling you right now there is no way I could do that job They look at six screens Yeah On
every call And then the hardest part I think that I learned is that they get the call they dispatch um they never get to find out the answers to what happens at the end and
and emotionally I think that is a really tough spot to be in Interesting point So we got a motion and a second I want Jared to make the motion Okay Jared do you want to make the motion
i'll make the motion I'll second Motion been made and seconded to proclaim National Public Safety Telecommunication Week in Benton County Thank you so much Commissioner Sorry Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner
Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky Hi Thank you Thank you Julian your staff Thank you Thank you And you are a really good speaker Yep You did a great job Yeah Jerry Munchie
How much time three minutes Like a Brady Oh we we he sat here last meeting for an hour waiting for us So we should give him at least that hour back Oh whatever Oh I don't know that I want the whole hour
We like I want to be welcome back next year too Okay Okay Uh well good morning Um back again Uh Commissioner Bonoy we have not met yet so it's nice to meet you and see you in person Nice to meet you Yeah I'm the manager for the Benton County Soil and Water Conservation
District We're a local government just like a county or a township or a city You go to the um vote you vote during the election every uh every two years We've got a board of supervisors There's five of them that that you vote for and
they ultimately make the decisions for the office They hire a manager and we have other staff as well that uh take care of the day-to-day activities Um our our main purpose if I boil it down into a sentence or two is to uh help private
citizens implement conservation practices and also do education for the community to learn and be able to uh practice conservation better So we work mostly with private citizens on a voluntary basis So that's our role Sorry if I could put
a plug in for you There's a standing invitation every month to attend their monthly board meetings Usually the fourth Wednesday last Wednesday of the month Yes And there went my closing Thank you Okay Sorry Sorry to steal your pretty sure
everybody Was that the closing i never got the hook that fast before but thank you for that Commissioner Johnson Yes we meet the fourth Wednesday of the month Um I would love to have uh any of the commissioners uh come to our meeting We do get um representation from
time to time Um and I personally invite you to come to a meeting sometime uh just to see what it's all about So so it's the fourth Wednesday of the month It's the fourth Wednesday of the month Um Monty should have a calendar We have had to reschedule a couple of our meetings The Jude meeting had to
reschedu be rescheduled due a conflict Um but I can get you I can get you account or it's on our website They're on the committee the whole listing Okay And we get sent emails too Yeah We just uh had to reschedule the June meeting for a um another conflict August
was rescheduled due to um one of our board members being in the military and having a conflict and then we didn't want to meet the day before Christmas So that one got rescheduled as well Yeah Well thanks for having me
Um the the four of you that have been on the board for a while uh Commissioner Gapinsky as well are used to of 23 24 page annual report and you'll notice this one's a lot shorter
Um happy uh happy to hear if you like the detail that in our previous reports we were hearing they were just getting too long and quite frankly we weren't including everything in them And so um we did pair it back this year Um so uh I'll go through the report uh just the
highlights in it but if you have questions um because you've been um watching our report uh me present the report in previous years I can get into other areas as well Um page one just go through the staff
pictures on the top right And I just want to point out we did get have two new employees in 2024 Uh uh sitting in the front there on the left is Nate Meyer He's a district technician And uh Meg Gable Meg is our
sustainable farming technician Uh a new position in the office I will uh explain that a little bit later um in the report We did get two new staff Um as well as um on the bottom is our our current
board Uh most of you probably know uh Bernie Thole Bernie retired so he served through 20 uh 24 Bernie Tholved uh 16 years on Benton SWCD board So wow Uh it's a long time Good for Bernie And he was replaced by uh the gentleman on the
left Bruce Breny So Bruce started uh in January Actually came to our December board meeting to get acquainted with things So okay So I uh unless you want me to take the whole hour we'll move on to the next page
Okay I do like to go through the financial summary You know when I think of the soil water district the most important part I think is the work that we do but I always get questions about the financials from you and state legislators and uh uh the public is not
usually aware of SWCD financing We don't have um we're the only governmental unit that doesn't have taxing the ability to tax no levy authority So we get our funding from a variety of sources And so that uh chart on the left
there you as you can see a big the biggest chunk of our uh funding source for operations is state funding Um two years ago the legislature appropriated what's called SWCD aid It comes out of the general fund um was about
$161,000 in 2024 And then uh we write a lot of grants We get a lot of grant funding And of course you can see the next uh largest category is Benton County So thank you for for your allocation Each year was uh $250,000 in
2024 We bring a lot of uh revenue into the into the county to do work And so uh that's showed just to the right there the economic impact Again this is an abbreviated uh section of our uh annual
report but as you can see through um private donations federal funds state funds Uh we brought in 5.4 million dollars in conservation funds into our county in 2024 That's a massive number I mean
that's way over Yeah I remember maybe you know five or six years ago wecliped 1 million You know 5 million is a lot Uh big chunk of that came through federal funding last year A really big chunk Um a few years ago uh former county
commissioner asked me to uh figure out the economic impact of of the dollars that uh we bring into our county And we did that a few years ago We kept track of all the contractors that worked for Benton County you know resided in Benton County
that were hired We pulled receipts um to see where purchases were made what purchases were made in Benton County and I did an estimate Um I've revised that There's a there's a new study that was put out by the Natural Resources Conservation Service specific to
conservation dollars spent in Minnesota And I've actually got a copy of the of their study if you're interested I can hand that out um later But they found that um for every dollar that's brought in there's about $1.81 in economic activity So if I were to use those
numbers my previous estimates were a little bit little bit light They're pretty close but a little bit light So um you know I think that number is pretty close I know last year um we had four Benton County contractors all earthwork contractors all digging at the same time I know we had some
electricians working on uh a couple of um feed lot projects So you know we do we do employ a lot of uh local contractors They purchase a lot of local materials So yeah we're figuring about 9 uh nine just shy of $10 million in
economic activity to Benton County um building things and other activities And you know to put that into perspective on uh how that compares to Benton County's allocation um you can look at it in these terms for every dollar uh Benton County provides
that NES BCD we bring back about $39 in economic activity Um if you were to take credit credit for everything now we do get other funding sources but it it's good value for your dollar from an economic point of view Okay And I can take questions along the
way if you have any Um with the time I've got available I think I'm just going to move on to page three Be remiss if I didn't recognize our outstanding conservationists for the year Charlie and Genevieve uh Plumodor
They were recognized at our state convention in December and that's a really nice picture of them on top there So uh congratulations We'll be working on selecting a uh um new conservationist of the year for Benton County Um come coming up here pretty
soon On the bottom one wershed one plan I heard a Yep 2024 was a a big year We finished Mississippi St cloud and um Commissioner Johnson I can't thank you enough for um taken that project from start to finish
the planning part Um you were very dedicated You came and talked to me especially you know the first year to get acquainted with things to to make sure you could make good decisions Um uh did a good job attending meetings and so the process went you know as smooth as
it it could because of your participation So I yeah I want to thank you for that Um the county board did I don't know when when did we start that about 3 years ago four whatever Yeah I think my feet were barely wet before I
got appointed to Exactly Yeah Yeah Um and I came here and volunteered to be the representative for Benton County at the staff level And so um I'm uh I'm done with that now because the planning process is done and we're into
implementation So that uh sunseted my um representing Benton County on the on the planning for that that wershed So thank you for doing that too It was very important to have you there at those meetings Yeah you're welcome It was Jerry How many dollars do do they get for implementation now after they're all
Yeah How many dollars do they get for implementation they're working on the work plan right now There's 1.2 91 million to distribute right um and I think you'll have a pretty good feel Did the packets go out um yeah I
later on uh is it Thursday this week or Thursday next week i'd have to look at the calendar but I haven't looked at the packets Um been a little busy in the office here the last couple weeks but um yeah I'd hate to throw out a number Okay I really would because I hate and I
know it takes you got to get to the end before you actually get what what you get on a two-year allocation Yeah So this first allocation will um Emily would be able to answer these questions better but the timeline is probably you know late summer before
we'll see the funding by the time we get you know we you guys still have to enter Well you just entered in the joint powers agreement You're just having your first meeting so takes a little bit to get the grants um going but I suspect we'll have some funds available um for a
few practices late summer for sure early fall and most of the funds will be available next year Yeah So that was a big milestone and now we're moving into the Mississippi Sartell wershed So So um that's a big
one for us important one because it includes Little Rock Lake and we've done so much work uh in that lake and made uh such strides We want to keep the m momentum going Okay if we move to page four page four
is just a selection of um three of the federal cauter programs that we work uh work with our partners the natural resources conservation service They're in the same building They're the federal uh organization that works on private lands conservation but we partner uh
with their programs and these are the three that we have a a pretty big hand in They have some others but we have a pretty big hand in these So environmental quality sentence program um conservation reserve and continuous uh conservation reserve The bottom two
we do all the pretty much all the technical assistance We pretty much run those programs for those bottom two and then it's a pretty uh equally shared partnership for for the top one there Okay And then moving along to
pages um five six and seven And those are some of the more common um programs that we have more typical things Um I'm going to skip right right up to page um six and talk about a couple of them The center section there wetland
restorations Been a massive year for wetland restorations last year A couple you were on our tour got to see some of them There's actually a down year Um we just plain old ran out of um funding to get some of the projects done but 37 is
still a a huge number for uh restoring wetlands in uh Benton County Um yeah like I didn't mention we had four contractors going at one time digging in those wetlands last year That was pretty interesting Um it was a wet year the first half of the year We had
one contractor they actually had uh water coming into the cab of his hole as he was digging So it's a pretty dedicated local contractors we have here in our county That's a really important um uh project We feel most of the wetland restorations are done in
non-cropped areas They're areas that are uh either idle uh sometimes maybe pastured but they're non-cropped areas for the most part Um and this this is a really good um enhanced use of those areas We want to store water on the land
so it moves slowly Um we we want uh an area for nutrients to settle out so our streams uh and lakes in the county are you know cleaner We don't want flooding We know that the rains are getting more intense more more frequent And if we can
store the water in those wetlands we'll we'll be better off you know not washing out roads in the county and having homes flooding and all those bad things that come with these uh these storms that are getting uh a little bit larger So Jerry if I could add there and interrupt you quickly and share a
conversation maybe that you and I had this wetland restorations things It would be kind of nice if the state and when I say state meaning Bowser would recognize the work that SWCD does you know we've got what 139 acres of
wetlands restored you know and kind of get a a thank you credit instead of always fighting with wetland mitigation things on our county drainage issues you know I mean it's it would be nice to be I don't know if recognized is the word but I bet SWCD is obviously doing their
part to restore wetlands and Benton County is working hard at that It's not just always asking for a reduction in wetland mitigation projects you know it's here's recognizing restorations So yeah I appreciate that I did plant the seed with some staff at
the state and we'll see where that goes Great Um formal recognition or maybe you know um maybe a goal or a target to maybe implement some changes Um you know that's a long-term
proposition to stay committed to to sure try to make change like that But no I we're definitely you know a high high performing county when it comes to weather and restorations Yeah And I I think I'll speak for myself
I would take the changes in some of those laws versus I I don't think anybody's looking for some big recognition but to be able to say here's what we've done you know compared to what we're asking for Yeah And Jerry Bowser is looking at you know
some of the larger ditch counties They're looking seriously at water storage right now because um they for the reasons you just pointed out you know we don't need all the silt and everything else going downstream into our lakes and rivers And I mean some of
them are talking 10 acres 12 acres of storage Mhm So yeah Yeah I don't think Nathan put the number of the amount of storage Nope In the report but we do store a lot of water It's amazing the numbers Um y storage is
good Storage is great because you know where it settles there's a lot of problems I mean it's rather to store it than have it you know go like in the Little Rock Lake or maybe creek Yeah You know since the cattails hybridized Yeah And we have cattails all over They grow
faster than they decompose and actually fills a wetland in quickly Um don't quote me on the number but um on average maybe 3 centimeters or something like that a year That's all
lost storage Yeah it has an impact So I'd love to talk on that subject a long time Commissioner Johnson will continue our conversation some other time if that's okay Sounds like coffee and a donut time Jerry Right Yeah Yeah Just a just a couple more things on the bottom
there The soil health I mentioned Meg Gable was the new sustainable farming assistant that we hired We we moved into um what we're calling the um soil health initiative in Benton County And what it is is just you know
looking at different um ways that you can farm that maybe have more of a focus on managing the soil Um so for example I'll just I'll throw out a couple examples You know if you reduce tillage you're reducing the
disturbance in that soil And so all the organisms that live in the soil like an earthworm that goes up and down and leaves channels you're not disturbing that And it's better for the soil and allows water to infiltrate easier allows nutrients to go up and down a little bit
easier Cover crops are another example Um cover crops diversify the soil They keep the organisms uh living a little bit longer in the fall And all those things are good for the soil And the reason why it's important is again that reduces runoff keeps nutrients in place
Um this new initiative that we started last year that Meg is working on is really going well she um uh started and is working with a soil health team It's just a group of farmers that meets every so often We have a you know 15 to minute to
half an hour presentation on a topic and then it's just open discussion It's farmers learning from farmers you know so we're doing those kind of activities and we're letting them kind of direct direct this program where this program goes They told us they wanted more demonstration uh sites and they want to
visit other farmers in the uh in Benton County So that's what Mega is working on right now So uh it's been pretty popular and highly successful and I'm um I'm excited to see where that goes I believe she's working like with some of the uh
like Central Soda and some of them to go along with because they got you know they're really getting into soil health too Yeah I know she's working with Jacob Lloyd We did connect Yeah we did connect with all the uh co-ops Um
um Arnold's um you know a few different groups um then you know crop consultants It's more than just the farmers The farmers is the most visible part of the work that she's done putting those team
meetings together Um we sponsored a few different events Uh partnered with Morrison SWCD up in Royaltton I'm not sure if you went to that one Commissioner Pop They had they had a uh a meeting this winter Was well attended So yeah there's a lot going on there I'm
very I'm simplifying it a lot in my statements It's a she's doing a really good job Um last thing I'll mention if there should be a clue on where I'm at we meet the fourth Wednesday of the
month It's really good to to um have commissioners come to our meetings once in a while We do appreciate it You know I feel I feel we're in a partnership when I come present my report or come talk to you guys about other matters It seems like we're on the same page with things Uh that's really important to us
Um so you know the best advice I can give you is to come to a meeting once in a while or uh if we hold a tour or once in a while give a personal invite to a commissioner if there's something specific going on in their area maybe we'll just run out and look at you know projects going on you know but if you
can participate that that helps uh the communication So with that I'm uh I'm under an hour but probably over 15 minutes Are there um we always enjoy your presentations Okay Are there any questions any
questions so I I got to comment that so Jerry is probably the best SWCD manager to get grants that I know of I mean Benton County is always at the top of the list because of Jury and I think his board knows that and I think they're
like okay how long is Jury going to be here is their main concern because he is really good at that We get more grants through Benton County What a few years ago we were the number two recipient of grant money in the state wasn't it well the federal funding the
environmental quality incentives program We were number one for eight years in a row on a per acre basis and that just kept on a per acre because we're not a large county as far as per acre is going We get more dollars per acre than we do get a
lot of grant funding Yes Thank you for those comments They do They do a terrific job over there Any other questions oh thanks for the presentation So yeah if you're interested I've got a copy of the report that the study Yes please Commissioner
Benoy I uh rather than recycling last year's report it's a little more comprehensive I grabbed it I I saved it for you So special today Yeah Thank you Jerry Thanks Jerry Thank you Jerry
Appreciate the partnership County Engineer Chris Bird All right Good morning commissioners Good morning Good morning Uh allow me a moment here to bring this up on the screen for
those following along Here we go Could you share screen two for us Chris yes Very good Thank you for reminding me of that We need to go back to this and we need to share
screen All right Well my first item is to award a construction project construction contract for project uh CP00005-043-006 This is the project on our county road 43 inside city limits of
Foley here It's in conjunction with a Foley uh streets and utilities improvement project They opened bids last uh Thursday Uh the overall project had an engineers estimate of just under 5.4 4 million and the lowest responsible
bid was just under 4.9 million Uh I didn't have this at time of uh submitting the agenda but uh I did receive a memo from their city engineer late last week with all the bids I I think they received about seven bids six
bids Uh so very competitive project Um very competitive bids Our agreement with the city of Foley is that we concurrently award construction contracts since we have costs uh part of the project in there Uh my understanding
is the city council will consider these bids at tonight's meeting Um what's good is that our portion of the project uh they broke those out for us The cost that we are responsible for is just over
a million $1,43,283.75 That's the construction cost We do have about $165,000 worth of engineering costs We're contributing to um the engineering They we we went along with their consultant to do the engineering on our
roadway for that And then their their consultant is going to do the construction inspection for us So um the good news in our 5-year plan we had set aside about $1.4 million of wheelage tax to go towards this project So with these
bids plus the engineering costs we will still be under uh the money that we had budgeted for this project for 2025 Um so I think those are all good news uh items So before you today is a resolution to award uh a construction
contract accept the bids Uh the lowest responsibil bidder was Keeley Underground of Kimble Minnesota Keeley does have a history with doing projects in Foley The last street improvement project Keeley was that contractor with very satisfactory results So no concerns
there Um yeah So it's my recommendation as the county engineer to uh accept those bids and award a construction contract concurrently with the city of Foley uh for the reconstruction of County Road 43 in town here So moved Second Second
Motion been made and seconded to award the contract for project for the county road 43 in Foley Any other discussion
call the question Commissioner Benoy Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Kapinsky I go ahead All right Well the next item is uh same thing Award construction project Now these are for county road
projects It was a tide project uh County Road 25 uh overlay County Road 66 overlay and then part of our maintenance patch And so you didn't have this in your packet but I I created a map quickly just to show those projects as
they were identified in our adopted 5-year plan So this is the the thin patch overlay on County Road 25 This portion of County Road 66 overlay up here And then as part of maintenance we're going to overlay County Road 9
from 4 up to to 5 here Uh so we received two bids last uh Friday or the Friday before I suppose I should say the 21st um from Knife River Corporation and OMG Midwest doing business as Minnesota Paving and Materials They were the only
two biders Our engineers estimate for these projects was 1,361,899.50 50 and the lowest responsible bid came in at1,43,283.75 or 23.39% below our uh estimate So really
good prices and and the reason for that is these mix prices We were estimating B based on past trends paying about $70 per ton for a batuminous mix and our low bid came in at 58 and $55 a ton Um even
in our maintenance patch we were estimating $60 a ton because it has a different uh oil on that since it's just a patch We got $48.60 per ton for uh batuminous mix We have not seen prices that low in
probably 10 years maybe So that just shows that these contractors are hungry and thus the reason we mentioned that at our last cow I was like well maybe we should consider moving some projects up uh to capitalize on on these low bid prices since these contractors haven't picked up much work is what we're
hearing out there and and are still hungry for work this summer But just today just asking you to consider awarding a construction contract to Knife River Corporation for uh the Tide projects on County Road 2566 the
maintenance patch on Casan 9 So moved I'll second moved and seconded toward the contracts that Chris presented before us Questions mr Chair Chris thanks for the explanation of the 23% under You know we
normally don't see that that we see you know five to 10 at at best That That's right Yeah And it's probably hard for our engineer to decide what price of oil to use You're based off last year's prices I'm sure Yeah As you guys were considering other contracts and
construction we look at trends in past years and inflate that for you know kind of an inflationary percentage that's going this year And then yeah we get these low bids So it looks like we overestimated but um I mean I think Secretly Engineers we always hope our bids come in under what we estimate just
so we can know we budgeted enough uh for the project and stuff But yeah 23% is is quite a bit That's huge Yeah So we got a motion and a second Call the question back Commissioner Benoy Commissioner Heinen I Commissioner Pop
Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky Hi Okay All right Now we're going to talk about construction projects that were already awarded So our CASA 7 reconstruction project we received uh
word from our contractor um a little over a week ago that this week uh beginning in April they wanted to start work again on CASA 7 Well we didn't have any inspectors to do that So we scrambled made some phone calls and uh
WSB had an inspector that was available Now remember Cass 7 received some federal money It's on a state aid highway So those inspectors inspecting the construction work have to have a number of certifications meaning that the state has recognized that they're
qualified to inspect and test the construction materials uh being incorporated in that project So fortunately for us WSB had an inspector available with all the necessary certifications that meet the federal requirements for federally
funded road construction projects And we put together this agreement and got it signed by them uh just last week So I'm asking the board to consider entering into this uh profess professional services contract for construction
inspection on CASA 7 Um you know they don't have anybody out there right now but if we get it signed today we will have that inspector out there this week Like I said the contractor started this week with traffic control erosion control and uh within a couple weeks they're going to be uh setting box
covert sections at 7 and 51 Okay Um questions Jared yes Uh Chris I how many hours do you think that this person's going to be on this CASA 7 project yeah very good question So we
have that at the at the last page of this agreement is a kind of a scope and fee is a what we call it Um and uh we we we estimate that's 40 hours uh a week for uh several weeks
through this summer It's an hourly contract So our goal is that this person is highly experienced has all the certifications We just hired some new engineering technicians We're going to expose those new technicians to the same project and probably be trained under
this consultant uh inspector this summer We don't want to throw our new folks to the wolves just yet but kind of uh study under this consultant inspector out there on the project So we're hoping and we're confident that the these hours
will be less when we get to the end of this project but we wanted to make sure that we had enough hours to to cover um um yeah 40 hours a week What is that
uh one Yeah it's about 12 14 weeks 16 weeks 40 hours Yep Yep 16 weeks So that would be about Yeah four months So the contract has uh first week in August that all work has to be completed So um
it's things like rain days If the contractor is not working this consultant inspectors won't work No won't be out there Um and we think this is a maximum number of hours Maybe towards the end of the summer if our cons our inspectors engineering
technicians are feeling more confident we'll have them assuming more of that responsibility and reduce the hours of the uh the consultant Is that is that a call that you can make yes The way we we set it up with them is Yeah That's why it's an hourly basis kind of a not to
exceed this this this amount But if you if you see fit that our inspectors could be doing that you can say "Well we we don't need you today." Yep All right We can certainly do that Yes Mr Chair Yes Go ahead I got a um just a
comment I I I got to stop pulling hair out of certain parts of my head because I got no hair left If we on this this is insane We're I mean I get that that uh Chris you're in a pinch right now but we would be paying somebody $300 and some
thousand over the course of a year at these rates and we can't find anybody We we need to figure out something because we could have this done inhouse Correct If we had somebody correct if we had and that's one of my items give you an
update So stay tuned Right Yeah Yeah Once our staff becomes trained and has completed all those certification classes this is very much work that we would do The the I would point out to you that the the rate is $175 an hour Um and that's a rate So that has that
company's overhead and their benefits and everything You look at what we're paying our engineering technicians with the fringe benefits and everything We're not near $175 an hour So but I think where Commissioner Kapinsky is coming from is like why aren't we hiring somebody of this quality to work in
Benton County you know i mean it looks like a money-saving deal right Kapins mr Kapinsky Yeah Well it is if you can find the people The problem is we get you know government gets in their own way on all these contracts and unions and stuff
like that And we we just can't move fast enough to hire these people or keep them because the public side is they can they can move and shake at their own at their own rate Well to your point Commissioner Kinsky remember we did just approve
um uh not steps but career ladder for engineering So hopefully we can get to that point But as of now we don't have that person and we've got to do something I don't believe we can ever get to that type of pay Probably not at we sit today But we but we could have
those people do that We could have Yeah Mr Chair Chris is this cost included in the construction cost or not or is this additional cost no it's not included in the construction cost but it is within our budget for uh uh engineering
services this year So in the 2025 budget um we had money in there for inspections So so it is a levy cost but it's it's included in the 2025 approved budget Okay I'll move approval I'll second Motion
been made and seconded to approve the engineering cost for county road 7 Beth Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen I Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky
Hi Thanks Chris Great work Paul Yeah Well thank you for approving that Um now to this to that point though uh I keep going too far You're going to have to move it up first There we There we go Um okay Before we get to the
county surveyors I had on the agenda just to provide you an update of our staffing So as was noted the board approved uh for 2025 a kind of a career ladder type position So where before we had a civil engineering technician and then we had a civil engineering
technician senior now we have civil engineering technician one through four plus a civil engineering technician senior So there's actually five career ladder rungs that somebody can be placed at As of today we have all three of our
positions filled They're not on board yet Uh by the end of this month though we'll have them all in the office working So I am very happy to say that uh we have all three positions filled and interestingly enough the one uh we
have a civil engineering technician one we were able to hire one that met the qualifications for a civil engineering level two and we were able to hire one that met the qualifications for a civil engineering level three So we couldn't have planned it that way but we have
three approved engineering positions and we were able to hire one two and three Um one thing uh once again thank you for approving that What we heard through the interview and application process is one of the questions we ask is how did you
hear about our position and then after reviewing the position what made you decide to apply with it and most commonly was we heard comments like "Well this look like a place where I could grow a place where I can have a career." So I think that I really do believe that that helped us with our
recruitment this this time around to show that today you may not have all the qualifications but we have a process and a progress to get you to a higher level that does come with additional pay over time So we're really excited in our
department to have them on board knowing full well that we're going to have to train them um and do things differently in the past Uh so in the past we would have probably not moved forward with a contract like what we just did with WSB and thrown these new people to the
wolves out there on that project and and that doesn't bode well for us So we're going to take this opportunity to use what we have budgeted use some expertise on the consultant side to train our new uh lesser experienced staff in but fully
confident someday we will have those highly qualified people working in our department and we will be inspecting our own construction projects Mr Chair Chris which one of those levels let's just fast forward a little bit You've got one two and three Which one of those levels
could do that eventually uh will probably most likely be the level three The level because that the each in one of our position descriptions has additional classes that you need to uh attend and pass to get that certification So you would have to at
least be at the level three uh to fully inspect this this federal funded project Okay So well and sometimes that's what we have to do to get those points remember we have uh Bogart Peterson on board to help get through our wetland late So sometimes those are things you
need to do Yeah So um other openings in the department So this year we started out with those three openings Uh soon after I learned that the office coordinator has had accepted a promotion over in the sheriff's department So that was a fourth uh opening Uh we had the
environmental technician/ditch inspector opening That was a fifth one And then we had an operator engineer position come opening So we had six uh six positions open That's more than 25% of our department of only 22 But things have progressed very well
this month It's March was a very busy month for us with um interviews reviewing applications and things like that So as of today we have five out of those six openings filled U the environmental technician/ditch inspector actually had his first day uh yesterday
So they are on board We actually have a meeting this afternoon with a land owner uh about a county ditch So we're getting him uh learning about ditches right away The office coordinator is the last position that remains open We have uh candidates that we've been a candidate
that we've been talking to Uh we just haven't arrived there at a uh acceptance of an offer yet So once again I I'm excited that we started the the first quarter of this year with a lot of vacancies but here we're going to have them filled very soon So I'm excited for
that Great Mr Chair Yes Go ahead jerk Sorry So I just want to comment Chris great job I I I imagine you're working pretty well with the HR department Yes we've put a lot of work on the HR
department Um uh and I have to admit we were pushy at times Uh as is kind of already alluded to the the market out there is still pretty tight I think there's still a lot more openings than there are workers to fill them And that was a fear that I had is that uh what if
we're talking to somebody and they get snatched up during that process So um thank you to um HR staff mostly if not all Emily for working on that and um uh trying to meet our timelines as we we we
were pushing hard to get those filled sooner than later Well and and to to elaborate on the career ladders uh that that is I got to give the colleagues or my colleagues uh the rest of the board the administration everybody These career ladders are are huge in our
county and I just heard it from um the culture team last week I believe Yeah it was last week just on uh on how important career ladders are They make a difference and you just you just pointed that out that people look at that So we
need to stay on task and and and and make sure we keep building these career ladders so people do have a place to go So uh uh thanks to everybody involved on that It it made a difference right away Okay Chris So with the hiring of the
grade three engineer how much time do you think that individual will be spent with WSB on that road um uh it's it's hard to say now They're not coming on board until uh they're probably the last one to come on board
They actually work for a consultant right now Okay Um we think that maybe in the short term we'll have the two out there Um and that two comes to us graduating from the uh St Cloud Technical College program this spring So
um he's actually starting before his graduation ceremony in May So he's starting in April Uh we're we're excited about that So I think this level three that we actually hired is going to be more of our designer our CAD person and designer possibly with some time in the
field So I I just think it's important that we get them out in the field you know and using the experience of WSB to help them further further there There's so many things that it's hard to teach without experience Things like project documentation You don't learn that in a
classroom setting You learn that by being out in the field and and watching contractor even just contractor interaction You can't learn that in a classroom or in a book You just have to have experience working with contractors having daily conversations sometimes tense conversations about work or rework
and things like that So yeah you're right Uh um that's our goal this summer is to get those out there uh in the field and getting those realw world real life experiences Great Okay Right All right And then the added agenda item
So this came in approved uh by our attorney Michelle and our county surveyor light last week So as you are all aware we contract the county surveyor functions and we've had a long-standing relationship with a witstock He was uh part of a consultant for a number of years and then in recent
years kind of broke away and is started his own consulting firm So this would be um uh an update to the constru to his professional services contract that's uh through the end of 2026 So uh we have a
budgeted amount of about $68,000 a year That's been the budget for a number of years and that started from when we were doing the section corner remmonumentation project Now that that project has uh wrapped up it's more of a maintenance mode that he's doing
Interestingly enough though as time has progressed uh hourly fees have increased So we've been able to as as the work demand has increased decreased the fees have increased but we've still been able to work within the budgeted amount that we started probably back in the 2010s uh
or before So Mr Chair Chris I was just a couple questions Of the 68 grand we're budgeting historically what have we been spending um uh it really depends on the year We've been as low as like 40,000 and uh in some years we've been right up
there at 68,000 The last two or three years we've been well under probably in the low 50s for for spending that Then refresh my memory but when we mapped CASA 25 was that a separate thing or was that included in that would have been come out of this
61 uh budget yeah Thank you That's good Move for approval Mr Sure I'll second Motion been made and second to approve the contact with Woods J Woodsum Um Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen
Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky I Anything else well I just wanted to add uh you know in this mode of training uh had a conversation with our with Jay about this since we have you know surveying is part of that uh function of
our engineering technicians he's agreed to even uh provide some field training on instrument and construction surveying and stuff So it'll be part of this contract as well So we're using all of our resources available to train our our our new staff to add that in there
Perfect And I think that's the end of my items Thank you Chris Thanks Thanks Do we want to go down yep I'll recess the county board and turn it over to public health I'll call the Benton County Community Health Board Uh note that all members
are present Approve or amend the agenda Good morning Morning Morning You have anything to add i do actually Um so initially it was one uh Jacqueline had
messaged me um a little bit earlier um maybe like an hour ago and asked me to add one more thing that just came up this morning Um so the first thing um that we have would have today is to um just provide an update to the community health board um on the CO 19 federal
funds Um and then the second item uh that was not on there is just an update Um we got or just looking for a letter for support from public health uh for children's dental services Yep We'll go into more of that in a minute here
Mr Chair I move approval of the amended agenda Second Okay we got a motion and a second Beth roll call please Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen I Commissioner Pob hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Kapinsky I
Okay Consent item agenda number two We only have one Approve or amend the comm community health board regular meeting minutes of March 18th 2025 So move Mr Chair Second Thank you We've got a motion and
a second Beth roll call Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen abstain Commissioner Pop I Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky I Okay next Consider the request for approval to
apply and accept funds for the public health professional development grants Oh okay Thank you All right Perfect So thank you And I should just introduce
myself one more time I met um Pam if that's okay Um briefly I think on boarding um in the public health area So I'm Courtney Ferrer one of the public health uh nursing supervisors Um I'm kind of pinch hitting today for Jacqueline so bear with me Um so yes So
the first one uh the family home visiting um department we have an opportunity for funding um it was available for a professional development grant There's a couple of upcoming trainings that we were um planning for staff um that actually fall under this
uh grant activity Um so we saw this as an opportunity to offset our own cost um and are bringing it to the board to apply Uh the amount is approximately $1,150 between the three staff Uh Benton County Public Health staff uh we request
the community health board approval to apply in addition requesting the community health board um approval to accept funds if awarded So move Mr Chair second Any further discussion on this
item beth call Commissioner Benoy Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky Commissioner Gapinsky I have set I thank you Thank you Sorry
Okay Next update the CO fund 19 And actually I'm going to jump to the um letter support Yeah letter support if that's okay I do have Mariah on um to answer any questions if there are any Um so Mariah and Kayla two of our public health staff um they've been co uh
coordinating with the Children's Dental Service um they received a request from them uh for public health to write a letter of support for a grant application that they're working on that's due this Friday Um they're applying for a rural early childhood grant through Medicica and their goal is
to get the grant to expand dental services in Baton County area Um we'd love to provide them a letter if possible Um with that we're requesting the community health board approval to submit that letter um to the Children's Dental Services so that the um so that
they can include that with their grant application for this Friday I'll make a motion to um approve the letter of support I'll second it for for discussion Mr Chair um do you know what the grant amount may be yeah Um I know
that Mariah was on And I don't know if Kayla's also on but you can take yourself off mute and any questions I'll direct towards them if that's okay Yeah Hello Um good morning commissioners As far as the grant amount for what Children's Dental Services would be
applying for we don't know the specific dollar amount They were just specifically requesting a letter of support from our public health department to support their work Um however about a month ago uh Jacqueline brought up that we would also be applying for the same grant Um and we funny enough were applying for very
similar initiatives as children dental services was to bring some of those mobile clinic services into our county Um so Ben County Public Health as an um department will be applying for the same grant but for different initiatives um which will be around 50,000 um but could
be up to a 100,000 Wow Okay Wow Thank you Great Thank you for that Okay We have a motion and a second Any further discussion beth Commissioner Benoy Hi Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner
Gapinsky Hi Great Thank you Let's go to the CO 19 Yes we'll jump over to the CO 19 funding update Um so Jacqueline was previously scheduled for PTO Like I said today she may or may not be on Um I know she was going to try to make it if possible Um but the following
presentation will hopefully answer most of the questions if there are any further ones I can definitely take notes and bring it back to her um and then present it at the next board meeting or send in an email if um it's more urgent than that too Um so all right So um let's see here So
Benton County Public Health as of February 2025 um I should back up So on March 25th 2025 our public health department was notified by MDH to immediately terminate and seize all program and activities related to the CO
19 funding Um so this funding was actually originally expected to end uh December 31st 2023 uh following the pandemic but was amended and extended to June 30th of this year um that was for the vaccine portion of the funds and as
of um 331 2026 the ELC portion of the CO 19 funds um the non-vaccine portion was planned to uh to end as well Um so since that extension we've been able to work on spending down these funds and transitioning the work um activities
under the funding sources Um we did not have any salaries uh budgeted primarily under these uh funds either And then to add um as of February 2025 we received 539,000 in federal funding reimbursement for public health response and recovery
efforts um to address the CO 19 pandemic uh and impacts Um and then just to note that does not include March or April We are still um processing those as well All right So the next step so the
final invoicing is due this Friday um to MDH uh for all their grant activities uh that were up through 324 2025 and prior Um our fiscal team has been amazing and they've been already taking steps to meet this deadline Um we just want to
say a huge thank you to our public health and fiscal staff for their swift response and um promptness in meeting this timeline on such a short notice we have a really amazing team that's able to to jump forward and do all of this for us Um and to add so far like a
preliminary um cost impact So as of the end of February we had 71,734 left on the nonvaccine funds uh for the remaining use um through March of 2026 And then
$146,872 for the vaccine remaining funds Um and that was through June of 2025 originally Um and then again those numbers do not include March and April because we're still working on those two I I want to thank Jacqueline for jumping up and your team for jumping
up because we got really short notice and I was in conversation with her right away You know Monty thank you for working with Jacqueline too Of course Uh so the number I got roughly is about 125,000 from Jacqueline of what we're
going to be giving back in general It's pretty close to that number right Monty i I was thinking of the numbers you decided uh did you say 70 and 140 140 but we still have to bill out a lot yet to for all of that through April Correct
Yep So so I think you know Jacqueline gave me a number about 125 Yeah you know somewhere in that area Won't know until all the billing's done I think they're working on that We closed out everything as of yesterday for the month of March So we'll kind of have a little bit of a
difference there too Yeah Then in about a two-day notice you know and then got notified at what 10 to 5 last week Yeah it was pretty crazy Um so I did just want to recognize and highlight a few things that we were able
to do with these funds Um so I'll just kind of highlight some of those Um I mean we're sad to see this go but we're able to pivot uh the work that we've done pretty swiftly um after hearing about this and wanted to take a moment to highlight again all the the good work that public health and department staff
with Minnesota response volunteers um that we were able to do um with this funding while we were able to have it Um so even with like the short-term grants uh the impact in our community was pretty immense So um so I'll just kind of go through uh briefly Um so again
with this funding we were able to offset uh the cost to the county and addressing the pandemic So just some of the things that we were able to do So Benton County Public Health with Minnesota Response volunteers have administered over 4,500 doses um to date Um we were able to hold
40 vaccine clinics in our area and also provided support to the state uh for vaccination sites as well Just some photos there Um so some of the efforts continued here So contact tracing and
case investigations were performed Um we partnered with Sherburn Centricare Stern and Sterns for community vaccination sites as well um ongoing research and data review things that are listed under there And then uh just some local recognitions as
well that we listed and then just some recovery uh efforts highlighted just kind of in summary So we were able to um provide mask and respirator distributions um co 19 test kits um we were able to mass dispense those um to the community um
some communication activities So billboard campaigns social media outlets um countywide mailings uh news media and community health education And then for community education and development uh we were able to support child care provider
training uh community partner work um and different conversations with that and then also staff development as well So in addition to the activity or sorry the active response while we were in the height of the pandemic the extension of
the funding allowed our public health department to work on addressing impacts uh from COVID in the community We were able to shift from response to recovery to also um addressing the postcoid needs in our community as well Um it included a lot of partnership with our local
schools various businesses in the community um uh with the community members and then to protect the health of our community and prevent the spread of the infection as well So while also making efforts to help promote health and catch up on health screenings for example um these again were just in
addition to some of those things that we were able to do And again just some other things community mental health activities u mental health matters campaigns uh public health well-being surveys and various um vicarious trauma education um
for youth prevention and recovery activities So some handwashing things that we're able to do in school classrooms fine motor skills and development for early childhood development for schools speech catchup group reflection practice um just to name a few And then response and
readiness activities So we had emergency operations planning um and response readiness technology as well as mobile clinics uh advanced capabilities and response to supply and equipment for readiness as well And then um this is a great example
like I said for how a short-term funding source was able to help offset the cost and help us complete the work that we needed most during this time So the buckets on the screen are those areas in public health responsibility um in statute highlighted in the yellow are
all the areas that the funding helped us to address and offset the cost for examples Um also a good example of how even the timelmited grant funding can help us to perform our work within the statutes and make an impact within our local
jurisdiction as well And then um in closing uh we just wanted to say as we close out these funds um this is not an all-inclusive list of everything that we've been able to do um but it serves as a thank you to our public health team and the response and
recovery efforts and flexibility addressing the current needs in the community at any given time So while we're sad to see the funding go public health uh is a field that evolves and grows adapts pivots and changes with the needs of our community over time We know
that we will still be working and addressing uh the after effects of COVID long term However we are confident that the work in our department um will be able to promote protect and advance the health of our community with continued
um as we continue uh to adapt and adjust as the pandem um as we complete the pandemic here Um yeah we have an amazing team uh that are very dedicated to this work that we do Um and with that any other questions that I can bring back to
Jacqueline or answer for you i want to give the city of Socraps a big thank you because we're always using their community room for all of this stuff for vaccines and everything Yeah You know that needs to be shared Yeah absolutely You know thank you for everything you
guys do Thank you for filling in Thank you Thanks Okay Is there anything else is there is this is this an action item no just an update No just an update Just an update Is there anything else you'd like to ask or not talk about not
that I have today Well thank you very much Courtney for failing I appreciate it With that we'll adjourn the uh Benton County Community Health Board at 10:51 and turn it over to the board chair 10:15 We're in office Sorry Commissioner
meeting updates I can start if you'd like Mr Chair Sure Go ahead Uh March 19th Highway 23 Coalition Board meeting virtually Again they tend to uh meet down in the Wilmer area and I tend to join virtually Um March 24th Commissioner Pop and I attended the
ditch subcommittee meeting We had a very good discussion for well over an hour Uh one of the highlights that came out of it after some reading from my perspective through statute there was some items in there that talked about the uh payback periods Um I know we
talked about 10 but I think there's some verbiage in there that maybe would allow us to go to 15 Michelle was checking on that She's going to verify that back with us but I think that looks positive that we might get to 15 years So that's going to be a plus for some of those land owners Um of course uh last Monday
our cow 5-year road plan etc Um and then I was able to attend uh about three4s of the leadership conference up in at Grand View It was a very good conference I thought pretty good attendance I think there was 120 or so there Yeah So that was it was a very good conference Uh I came home Thursday evening so I missed
the Friday morning workshop but other than that it was very good That's all I had Go to Commissioner Kapinsky You want to Sure Uh we had the radio board meeting last Wednesday that was
uneventful as as usual I mean like I said that one there is is tough because I mean there's really not a lot to do It's you're there to vote on things that are already decided Um let's see We did have the uh I was at the AMC board
meeting on um Friday uh as well as I I joined Thursday evening at the AM is it leadership conference So the AMC board meeting that was uh that was that got a little heated when when it come to all
the the taxes and and you know people not understanding what they're voting for Um I it's happening in every county that that literally they don't understand until it's too late and they don't understand you know that the taxpayers don't understand what they're
really voting for Um I brought up the the fact that you know the Sock Rapids you know people thought they were getting a fieldhouse I just heard that again uh last Wednesday when I was uh picking up tabs There was there was a couple people that thought Soccer Rapids
was getting a fieldhouse and I had to tell them no they weren't They were getting two football fields and early childhood building So you know more than that and a track and stuff but it uh the airport um deal
was brought up I know Terrell Clark was there and I just said we we just need to stay in front of that And I mean every everybody's just adding lines to taxpayers uh um um property tax I you know it just shows up additional lines and they keep getting bigger and bigger
and bigger So it was a it was a pretty I'll say heated conversation with with everything going on at the um uh government uh with walls and stuff So um that's really about it Okay Thanks Jared
Yep Okay So I actually when I came back from vacation uh joined in on the op opioid uh development committee It's moving forward They have things in place now Uh there'll be more to come with
that I also was at the Sock Rapids council meeting and EDA meeting with uh Amanda from BEP And one interesting one interesting thing that was brought up
was what are we going to do about child care you know they're talking about is there any facilities or anything going up for that and just an interesting conversation And then the cow of course
and then the leadership training too which was very good Again this is actually the second time I uh seen his but it was very good This one was better than the first one to be honest with you More just for the commissioners So that's it
Um on March 18th I went to a meeting for East Side Board 2 quarterly meeting Very interesting got to meet a lot of business owners on the east side of St Cloud which is my district And um at that meeting there was still concerns
brought up about Lincoln Center Um so I I I think City of St Cloud it sounds like is moving forward with some things with that What I don't know at this time Um some of them are reluctant to share
right now Uh March 19th um I I uh went to a sheriff's department meeting just in my goal to try and get to know each department On March 20th uh had an MS4 audit that I sat in with uh Minden
Township on for last year Um they had a audit for their MS4 And then March 21st um I did a ride along with a sheriff from 1:00 to 5:00 On March 22nd I um uh
I at very late um I uh attended the Foley Community Connect and Expo It sounds like they had served probably 350 people for breakfast That's awesome Um on March 24th um I did attended the St
Cloud City Council meeting Uh again um some discussion with the council on Lincoln Center and March 26 through the 28th I did the AMC leadership conference
I too attended the expo I got there at 9:00 and got out of there at 10:30 and of course I brought my wife and yes we stopped at every booth There was over 60 vendors which was a great showing and of course all the vendors either knew me or
my wife So it was but it was very fun very enjoyable Mr Chair too I'm glad you brought that up I was able to get the expo also and I spent some time with Mariah and Kayla in the um the room the room uh in plain sight Yep And learned a lot of things That was a very
interesting conversation They did have a very good turnout I was there about 10:30 or so So just missed each other Yeah Anyways very good expo Thank you for putting that on Y and you know speaking about that I think maybe this is something that the county should probably think about look at getting
involved in too with public health We had a couple there was a couple public health booths there Yep Correct There was four I think there was four or five booths So okay I'm sorry I'm done On the 18th I had the library We set preliminary
budget Not as good as last year for us I mean we're going to have a I think right now it looks at about a $4,300 increase Not bad but we were looking for a 10% decrease I did too Um and that's to be determined because we got we still got
surplus money but it's I mean the surplus money is gradually going downhill So it's not going to be there forever They don't need that big fund balance Uh the fund balance is we're at five and a half months and we got to be at least four So we we got a a little
bit less Um then on the 20th I had the AIS and Rice and that was in your packet Um they got to do a little better recordkeeping on what they're doing up there Then of course me and Commissioner Johnson had the the ditch interviews or ditch uh subcommittee subcommittee
meeting That was interesting We got some things I think we can work on there Um and then we had um the highway and everybody was there So that's and then of course the leadership conference and that's all that I have said committee of the holes All
right they just won So uh Evan would like to invite you to come over to GT offices to discuss what he calls finishes So basically it's all the look and feel of the building floor surfaces counter surfaces or color of exterior
brick all those issues he'd like you to visit at their offices because they have samples and they can show you things on the screen I also thought too is um that'd be a great opportunity to just uh make our final plans for the for the first open house kind of review the the
program um and also to preview the video So Bill Colton tells me he may have the video ready by Friday latest Monday but I of course it's really important for you all to see that video before it's broadcast publicly So uh Evan offers you
Monday morning the 7th or Tuesday morning the 8th Uh and he's he's open to start as early as 7:30 a.m So so again Monday morning the 7th or Tuesday morning the 8th what would work best i can't do the seventh So the 8th Tuesday
the 8th excuse me So well that gives us I mean don't we have a meeting the first one is uh is it Thursday let's see here I thought we were in Rice on the 8th Excuse me It's Wednesday right rice was canceled out till No
that's we we are in Sock Rapids Wednesday night Okay the 9th at 6 That's the first open house Wednesday night the 6th So yeah I mean I I I the the time frame is really short here Um so um could we could we do early Tuesday
morning i don't know if that works for everybody So again Evan start as early as 7:30 So it has say 8:00 a.m Tuesday morning That would be the 8th at GT offices Um Jared that work for you
yeah Seven going to bring coffee and rolls Uh I'll ask 8 o'clock It's 8:00 and we need coffee Do you all know where GT offices are by the way downtown by the Right across the street from the old courthouse Sterns County Courthouse They got a big sign up So that's on It' be on
the south side South side of it Yeah Right Southside right across from the old the old courthouse Yep Yep Can you send out the address sure Of course Yeah The committee the whole Yeah Yeah Tuesday the 8th Yeah that'll work You
know I just want to make sure I know I thought I heard Commissioner Johnson you thought there was going to be an open house at Rice and let's want to make sure everyone is is is is good on our dates So again the first one is April
9th 6 p.m at Sak Socc Rapids Community Room Yep And then the next one is the following week 16th Uh let's see here 16th 16th 4 the 16th here um 4:00
starting so we begin facility tours at 4 and then we have an open house beginning at 6 um and again I'm I'm recruiting folks to lead tours so far I've got some volunteers from department heads uh so we got four or five people to lead those tours and then the next day we are in
Rice uh at 6 Rice City Hall on April April 17th Rice City Hall Yep And I had that on my calendar I had neglected to delete the Rice one on the ETH Starting to panic there for I was going to go twice
I think they had something going on I know you wanted to have rice first but they had something going on in their council chamber that night So um uh so I just want to make sure everyone is good on that And of course then your public hearing on the CIP is going to be May 6th And that's an
evening meeting at 6 May 6th and the evening at 6 So um so that yeah it's a nice time then on to that Tuesday the 8th then to review the video and just kind of get settled on the program for the open houses Um so
so are we going to have an open house or review prior to the 6 p.m on the 6th where they could tour or not on the 6th yes Okay The plan was to have tours again at 400 p.m on the 6th Yes That's the second tour night Yeah
Another opportunity for tours on May 6th at 4 Yep Yep Yep Move for approval of the cows Mr Chair Second Most been made and seconded Can you call the question okay Beth almost called Commissioner Benoy I Commissioner Heinen Hi Commissioner
Pop Hi Commissioner Johnson Hi Commissioner Gapinsky Hi Carried Anything else come before the county board mr Chair Yes Um I did forget to mention
that I did uh u met with staff and and Monty was there We went over all the technology under the building and kind of put in place like access control cameras and a stuff So thank you for all your time on that commission I know that created a very
full day One one last thing that I I that is kind of important that I I I forgot to bring up well is um we did talk at that AMC board meeting about uh all these grant
things that come out through you know public health and everything like that and everybody keeps kind of feeding the fuel by accepting these grants by saying oh it's it's it's government funded right and and everybody body starting to
go starting to push back and say like "Hey maybe we got to stop doing that and don't ask for more money and ask for less regulations." Right Correct Yep So I mean one of the things that we're we're just as guilty of it if if we
don't take the money somebody's somebody else is going to But maybe we got to start saying even if it's 100% grantf funed do we need it right So we got just just something to keep thinking about That's all I got Uh actually I'll join in on that one So
yeah with MDH and all that too We're having conversations about all of this too Jared So thanks for bringing that up Okay Anything else or Journ 11:06