All right. Thumbs up. It's 9:00. Call the county board meeting to big 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, we'll have to we'll have to do a roll call on everything today. Sure. Commissioner Benoy here. Commissioner Heinen here. Commissioner Pop here. Commissioner Johnson here.
Commissioner Kapinsky. Approve or amend the agenda. Can you hear us? You're on mute. J thumbs up work. Are we good with Commission Kapinsky? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's just he's just muted right
now. Oh, if he's shaking his head. Any m we have if you ask for amendments. We have no we have no amendments to the agenda. No amendments or anything? Nope. Move for approval. Mr. Chair, I'll second been made and second to approve
the or amend the agenda. Um you want to do roll call back? Commissioner Benoy. Yes. Commissioner Heinen. Commissioner Pop. Hi, Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Gapinsky. I just want to note for the records that
I know under the open law, Mr. Chair, we must be able to see and hear the remote commissioner. Uh that's a requirement of the of that particular statute. We must be able to see and hear and we can't hear or he's not not able to.
Um Jared, can you hear us? He's working on it. Oh, he's working on it. We need to be able to hear you though, Commissioner Kapinsky. We need to be able to hear you in order to Can we move on and he can work on it? Well, you know, again, my obligation is to share with you the statute. Right.
And uh I a board member is unable to to participate remotely if we cannot satisfy those two requirements to be able to see and be heard. Okay. My apologies in advance, but I Yeah. So, what?
Um, can't you have to be able to see Well, I guess that's true. We could see him, but we could hear him then, right? Yeah. Right. Trying again to log back in, right? Let me just uh let's see. He'd have to call. Is it is it What is this number?
It's 506 5060. He's trying to back on. There you go. Oops. Now switch too. So, Commissioner, we see you're back with us. Um, you want to try your cam and and your mic again for us?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yep. So, if you want to turn your cam on, we can use this as our Bor solution. According to Yeah, we we are not seeing you though. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Goodbye. All right. Okay. County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube. Please restrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that viewers can hear you. The county board observes Robert's rules of orders for its meeting. So, please
obtain the board's chair consent before addressing the county board. Public, however, public hearings. However, public comments or other agenda items may be allowed at the discretion of the chair as we begin to today's meeting. Um, please turn off your cell phones or
turn them the right rate. Thank you. Open form. We do have uh one, two, three, four. We got five people on there. Um, Daryl Water. Good morning, commissioners. Morning. Um, my name is Daryl Watercott. Uh,
address 55153rd Avenue Southeast in St. Cloud. Um, I just wanted to let this board know how those of us that worked on the petition drive and most likely the most of the
900, 1900 certified signatures that we obtained feel about what what was done here. Um because of the comments and quotes at meetings and in the Benton County News, we were told that a validated reverse referendum petition
would send this building project to a vote uh either November 26, November of 26, or a special election. That is what we all wanted to see um so that a project of this size didn't get uh
forced on the taxpayers without their say in it. But we feel that we were deceived and lied to and and here we sit. Um so one of the things I've got two questions.
One is um well you you found instead you found another more expensive option to finance it. Just kind of ignored what the public had to say about it with the referendum. So we would like to know and get it on record. What is the difference
that we will pay an interest on this project between what the CIP bonding would have been and what the HR the new HA method is. If we would have known um it would have ended this way, we probably would have not done the
petition because it's just going to cost us more money now. So, we feel that increase in financing cost is all on you guys for for doing that. So is that does somebody have that number or does it
have to be worked on or um can I we usually don't discuss in public form you know but there is a number out there there is a number yeah okay and I just want to make it make it public as much as I can. Sure. Um, so,
uh, the other thing that, uh, that I want to ask is, um, we would like to see the cost for this project when we get our property tax statements, get it separated out so that it's not just just built into the your Benton County tax,
similar to what what was I think you guys voted on to do with the airport committee. So, I'd like like to see that as well. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Mary Kay Nordman. Good morning. 9511 25th Street Northeast Sock Rapids. Um just a couple issues
that I just wanted to touch on. Um first of all, we worked hard on this petition and it was said by Pam, I believe it was 4 whatever percent of the people. Um is that people that can vote? Is that the 4.5% that you're taking into
consideration voting or all Benton County? You made the statement that it was four of the people. Yeah. 4.5% of the 42,000 in Benton County, right? So that's not even voting. We actually got signatures
that were the people that were voting and all the signatures weren't turned in. And just to make some corrections, we just didn't sit in bars and collect these votes. Um, we had numerous people come to us. They took them to their businesses. They took them to their neighborhoods. They took them to their
communities. There were a lot of votes that were not turned in our signatures that were turned in. And just so you know, there's a lot more people that are out there that are still feeling the same way. Um, as far as comments made when we brought up, well, we don't build
our homes after rebuild and we fix things up after a hundred years. I sat here the last meeting and I listened to you guys talk between the contractors and yourselves and you made references to your own homes. Well, we have this kind of cooling, heating, plumbing and
now that was okay at the last meeting but when we brought it up we were talking different this is a big construction building but then last time it was comparing it to your own homes. Um, so I think we need to stay on track with what you're telling us and then
what you're doing two weeks later. Um, I still would like to go back to the point that I've had commissioners while I was sitting out there um, making comments to me that I did refer this to the Taj Mahal and I do think that the front of the building and some of the things in
the building still could be cut out to save taxpayers money. And with that being said, we are also increasing because you sat here and we I think were laughed at that you actually thought we could get 1500 signatures which or 1100
signatures sorry um I think it was kind of a joke amongst you all um exception of Ed I believe um that we wouldn't go out and actually get them and then when we did get them you backdoored us and you backdoored the people of Benton County because they felt very strongly
about this and when it comes to election time, I guess we will work super hard to get people into these commissioner spots that we can trust. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Kapitz. Can you uh give us a sound check, please?
I'm here. We're good. All right. Thank you, sir. Yep. Tim Adelman. Good morning. Morning. Morning. Uh Tim Adelman, 225575th Avenue Northeast Sock Rapids.
Um I'm here today to state that I am in favor of what you did at the last meeting voting for this project. simply because the we when we do road projects which is many mill millions of dollars we don't
have the public vote on that. Um we met let you make your decision that decision. Um we voted for you to make those decisions. Um um you know there's something that needs to be done with the existing building
with the loss of the lower level and everything else. Um and that would end up being $70 million less than what the other pro what the new building project was. That's the only difference. Um given that if it would had to come to a
public vote, the the project came in 5 million under the estimated budget of it and it would be $3 million estimated $3 million increase if we waited that long. That's $8 million. That's more than what we
would save by using the by just re renovating this building. Um, so I feel that you made the right decision. It's just, you know, I know that everybody worked really hard to put this to a public vote, but you know, we
don't we don't have you have a public vote on all the road projects either. So, so that's what I got to say. Okay. Thanks, Luke Hillman. Morning.
Morning. Thank you for the opportunity. So, I'm simply here um not looking for any kind of answers, just to simply discuss and possibly give a little update on the Conor Road 7 project. So, we've had discussions with the
uh engineer and assistant engineer. Um as everybody knows, it's been a really wet season. The job is running behind schedule a bit because of that. Um, we had put in a formal request for a extension of days on the contract because the contract does have
liquidated damages after the completion date. We have not exactly received a formal denial or a formal acceptance of our request. So, I'm I'm simply here to simply discuss and share with you the information and findings that we have uh
so that a decent decision can be made. So, um, Katie, I also have Katie. Oh, she's here. She has she has with her information that was provided, I guess, to Chris and Mark. And, um,
this is we can share this with you. Um, but I guess before she does that, I guess I wanted to explain a couple of things that are happening out there, you know. So, so a rain day is defined as a day that allows less than six hours of
working time on the job site. Okay. So, that being said, so let's say it rains today. Let's say you get two inches of rain, the sun is shining tomorrow. It doesn't necessarily mean tomorrow's going to be a productive day. I mean, you might lose the next three or four or five days because of that one
day. So part of our request included some of these days which was one thing that they kind of questioned me on and they didn't necessarily deny it. I'm just simply saying I want to make sure there's a good understanding of what we're truly asking for here. You know,
so the soils now are so saturated, you know, as of probably around the first or second week in the week of June, the rain totals have become so much that there's such saturation in the ground that you can't get full production even when it is nice for a
week, you know. So, I'll let Katie share this stuff with you and then I do have some more details after that. Do you need me to state my address? Yeah, I suppose I'm Katie Novak with Helman Construction. Uh, my residential address is 40853
53rd Street, Foley, Minnesota. Uh, I am with Luke here. Are do you want me to read the request that we submitted or would you just like me to summarize it? I guess summarize it would be fine. All right. So, Berski Escavating is our
subcontractor doing the roadbased work out there. They have done whatever they could to get their work completed. At this point, they can't do the work. The the road is too saturated. Our original schedule for 2025 allocated 78 working
days to Briski excavating. As of right now, they have truly lost 25 days due to the moisture out there. That is a combination of the actual rainfall days and the days that they just lost work because it was too wet to do any
productive work. Now, on those days, they were out there bailing clay, farming clay, trying to dry clay. So, hopefully the next two or three days after that could be productive. Unfortunately, since May 2nd, the rainfalls, as soon as they farm that
clay, it rains again. And unfortunately, they're actually making the situation worse because their efforts of trying to dry it out and then it rains just opens the clay up to more moisture. Um, at this point we are requesting 35 total days for an extension past August
1st. That is allowing 10 days in there so that the the clay can dry or they can work the clay to dry so that we can move forward with this project. Um, when I produce this, I do want to make it very clear. I know that Helman Construction
as a prime contractor on this project has an obligation to Benton County. We need to try to reach the date. At this point, we cannot. We cannot reach the date. I want to make it clear. I did not ask for all of the days that my subcontractor requested. I went by
actual information. I could prove they could not produce work. Actual rain days, actual loss of hours. I have documented everything from rain gauges to time cards to site notes. It's all there. I didn't ask above and beyond
just to be greedy. I asked for what we needed and I hope that you guys can help us make a decision on this. Okay. Thank you. So, I to complete my side of the discussion here. So, in in talking with
with Chris and Mark, um, one thing that they had kind of questioned, so I don't know if you guys remember or not, but last fall they they let us work 15 days past what the phase one completion date was originally supposed to be. And the
idea of that was to try to get through Bible's slew before the spring rains had come, you know. So, there was 15 days there that they are now claiming that they're going to take off of our working days this summer. Okay,
let me rephrase that. They're saying they could, like I said, no decisions have been made. Anyway, so this is where this becomes a problem. So, in working through Bible's slew, it was decided that the original plan was
not going to work. The original plan was to take clay off the road, push it in the water, and build a road. It doesn't work. So, we ended up hauling in a processed rock material to get through that swamp, which has a lot of value,
and we agreed to do it for the price of sand, which is which was already a a current bid item on the project. The agreement was we'll do this, but don't use these 15 days against us. Now, after the fact, they want to take these 15 days. Again, let me rephrase that. It
has been mentioned that they may. So, the biggest thing I'm fighting for right now is these 15 days. That's my biggest concern as of right now. That's all I got. All right. Thanks. And I Yeah, that may come up in from
highway, too. Yeah, this may come up in highway. Oh, no. I I assume it will. I just wanted to get it out there so everybody knows where we stand. So, thank you. Thank you. That's it because Katie was she was the last one on there. They both signed up.
Um consent agenda items one through one through four. Move to approve. I'll second. Motion been made and seconded to approve. Mr. Chair, I think
I'd like clarification on number three. You want to pull it? Yes. Pull it, please. Mr. Chair, I'll end my motion to approve the consent agenda items one, two, and four. I'll second that. Motion's been made. Seconded to approve items one, two, and
four with three being pulled. Um Beth, will you do the roll on them? One, two, and four. Yep. Commissioner Benoy, yes. Commissioner Heinen, yes. Commissioner Pop, hi. Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Gapinsky,
hi. Thank you. Okay, Commissioner Heinen, I was just question I was just questioning the agreement uh with the city of Gilman with the road and everything. No issues. Julie, could you ask for Chris to come
back in for a second, please? We really should leave that door open. I just wanted clarification. I'm sorry, I missed the question about the administrative agreement with the city of Foley. We've got that all worked out and Gilman or Gilman, sorry, I'm looking at different things here. I I
know there was some concern in the past about that project and everything moving forward. Yeah. So, they they uh I presented this to them at their last city council meeting. I was going to bring up but we may not need to. Uh they were okay with it. They understood that that agreement
basically stipulates that they have some costs as part of the project and that they have their own funding source for their items. We have costs. We have our own funding sources. Uh there's a little bit of some nuances in there that before we pay our contractor, they want a
chance to review those pay quantities and approve it at their council level before we pay the contractor. And one of the sticking points was the days. And so we agreed to a number of days that once we send them the quantities, they have to respond to us within Oh, I'm sorry.
So the way I I I'm getting ahead of myself. So once we agree on what the contractor gets paid, we pay the contractor and then they the city of Gilman will reimburse us within 30 days of us paying the contractor. So that was a that was one negotiating point.
Another way of thinking of it, we have to front their costs for at a maximum of 30 days till we get their money back. Looking at our finances and our cash flow, that doesn't seem to be a concern for us. Uh and then ultimately they approved the agreement and um in my regular items, we'll get to the actual
bid of bid amounts that we received yesterday on that project. So, okay, that's all I wanted to know. With that, I'll make the motion to approve. Second. Motion been made. Second to approve item number three on the consent. All on Commissioner Benoy. Hi Commissioner
Heinen. Hi Commissioner Pop. Hi Commissioner Johnson. Hi Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi Carrie. Montgomery or Monty Montgomery. What my mom calls me.
That's what do we have in front of us? So Mr. Sher, the county board awarded the bids on the G project on in June 17th. Our next step is to bring to you the associated contracts. Uh as you see in my attachment looks like this. It it
amounts to 27 individual contracts with with contractors who bid on the various bid packages. Uh the dollar amount at the bottom matches uh the the agreement uh of the board on various alternatives on June uh
17th that you had the base bids and then there were three alternatives that were accepted. One was to add the snow melt system. The second was the form concrete foundation walls and then uh the last one was the security glazing on all the front
counter windows. So those are the three alternates that were accepted and those numbers are incorporated into the tolls that you see on this page. So Mr. Chair, again these these agreements are brought to us by our construction manager integrity.
Um and Pete is here from so is Evan and you have any questions about the agreements. Happy to turn it over to them if you do. And uh I wasn't expecting I'd ask you to have a motion on in other words each individual one. In other words, just one one big omnibus
motion on all 27. So, at this point, we'll just we'll stand by for questions. Questions? I guess my question is that we do we sign all these contracts before we have
a couple more steps that are in the process before we get to final agreement. M I think I I would leave that at your discretion if you if you feel comfortable. And I know um I I I think one aspect is of course you want to preserve the the bid numbers. You
know awarding the bid is more kind of a ceremonial step. Okay. Uh when the rubber meets the road is when you actually approve the contract. So this step preserves those bid numbers. So if anything would go wrong in the process, we're not bound. Is that
correct, Pete? If anything would go wrong. I'm public and we have um the H and planning commission. Don't planning commission have to go
before that? So Pete, can you talk to the termination provisions? Good morning Pete Philippi Integrity Group. Uh right now it's more of a formality to sign these contracts so we maintain that 45 days we had into the bid process. Okay. uh to maintain those
numbers is kind of currently where we're at. We did issue formal letters of intent to these contractors to start formulating their bonds, insuranceances, and things at this point in the contracts before you are part of the AA process that we have contained within the specs. Another process.
It's just another process that we have to go through. I have no questions. Okay. With that, I'll make a motion to approve contracts for the government center project identified in the attachment Benton County government center summary of contracts based on bids as awarded June
17, 2025 and authorize the board chair to sign all the contracts noted. It's 27 contracts. I'll second motion been made and second it I commissioner I
Johnson I Commissioner I good we're good okay thank you chair uh Jackie is here as chair of the benefits advisory committee are you joined work from the culture team. Yes. Okay, it's all yours. That's just so we can get Morning
Commissioners. I am here as the chair of the benefits advisory committee. With me, I have Beth. She is part of the um benefits portion of the culture team. And the reason that we're here is the culture team brought to the BAC a recommendation
to change brokers for our ancillary insurance. And going back to why is um as you know we took a survey on our culture and one of the things that was mentioned is employees were dissatisfied for some of the benefits. So the BAC then launched another survey and one of
the things that was brought up was the lack of choices and education on our current um insurance options. So the culture team recommended to the BAC that maybe we look into changing brokers on our ancillary insurance and recommended that we look into integrity employee
benefits. Um the BAC met with them and they would like to recommend to the board that we move forward um contingent on an approval of a contract. And today I have integrity here to explain a little bit about their services. And I will go ahead and pull this up and
invite Isaac up. Thank you, Jackie. Uh, commissioners, I'm Isaac Upis with Integrity Employee Benefits. We are a benefit broker that specializes in employee benefits. Um, we're an iteration of a fourth
generation business started in 1943. Our specialty is public entities. So, we work with, I'll scroll through here for those that are online, specifically cities, counties, quasi government entities in the state of
Minnesota, 140 groups in total. Our client list is listed here. Um, this county map probably paints the best picture. We work with 64 of the counties in the state, including uh most of your
neighbors. Uh and um our unique niche beyond government and public entities is ancillary benefits. So we work on um life long-term disability. Those are the two that you have today. Uh beyond that, we work on vision insurance,
supplemental health insurance, short-term disability. Um we're we also I believe in the last uh or uh latter meeting um are going to be we we facilitated an RFP for the Minnesota paid family medical leave. That's a new
um you know quasi ancillary benefit. Um have some initial results for that that look like some really good savings and options for the county there. So those are the types of benefits that we work on. Everything but medical insurance essentially. Um, in terms of medical insurance, we work alongside Amy
Dietrich and the Marsh team on every other group aside from Benton County in the um the health collaborative that you're part of, that Blue Cross Health Collaborative that you're part of. So, we work alongside uh Amy Dietrich. Um, known her for a long time. Actually, my
colleague Peter Brown is with me. He was formerly the uh HR director at Redwood County for uh over a decade and actually used us as a as a broker for him. He work he works with uh Amy Dietrich as
well and uh he could certainly speak for this, but we work collaboratively. There's no uh adversarial nature there at all. We actually work um as a team. Um, in terms of, uh, you know, the type of value that we bring, you know, we're
very hands-on. We're an independent broker. Uh, as a broker, we represent you. We don't necessarily represent the, uh, the insurance companies. So, we're here to represent you. We include the full market. When we do requests for proposals, we bring our recommendations
and expertise to the table. Usually leads to savings uh, and better participation, better engagement. And I think that was one of the main motivators for um the culture committee survey. And uh we bring all those um
those types of things to our groups, those types of services. Um this type of benchmark data, it's uh it just helps uh kind of paint a picture of uh what's being offered on these ancillary benefits. So you can get a sense of the type of benefits that we support. These
are the types of recommendations and the consulting that we bring to um our groups. So that's a really quick version of what we do, who we are. Uh we hope to, you know, engage immediately in uh finding you some savings and better
options on the life insurance and long-term disability. Uh potentially bring a voluntary vision insurance benefit to employees. And then I already mentioned the paid family medical leave. actually will be meeting with Monty and Beth here on Thursday to review those
RFP results. Um, so that is uh who we are. Uh, do you have any questions? Oh, I should address one thing. I apologize. Um, Jackie had asked uh how how do we charge for our services? There's no uh fee or consulting uh charge that we uh
assess. We get paid as a percentage of premiums on those benefits. So, it's actually baked into the cost. um you know the the net result is uh typically with the the pooling arrangements we have and the leverage that we have in
the marketplace with our specialty we actually get we find you some savings on your coverages as well. So we get paid as a percentage of those premiums. There's no specific outlay from the county. Um the only exception for that is if you do uh someday use the online
enrollment system that we support. there would be a cost of that system um because we're a reseller of that software, but that's down the road. That's something that we're not addressing immediately. Mr. Chair, Isaac, if I could um just want to reference your case study for
Lassur County. Yes. Approximately our size, a little bit bigger. Um significant savings in short-term disability and a large increase in long-term disability participation. What kind of what drives that? Yeah. Yeah, really good question. Number one is
we're an independent broker. So when we do an RFP, we typically include 20 different carriers in that. Those carriers know that they have a shot at the business. So we introduce competition. So that's really the number one thing. Um, aside from that, we also
just with our position as um, a public entity specialist, we're able to leverage um, you know, 25,000 lives worth of of business, a book of business, it's a very consistent dem demographic across
our groups. If you can think about, you know, very similar makeup of of uh you know, males versus females, people in office jobs versus um you know, uh physical, you know, bluecollar jobs. So
very uh consistent homogeneous demographic. So um less work for the insurance companies. And then they also know that we're very very hands-on with our service, those insurance companies do. So we actually alleviate some administrative effort for those
insurance companies by taking it on on our side and they know they have less cost in supporting um those clients as a result and they they pass that cost savings on. So that's on the savings side. The participation side were very
hands-on there as well. And some some of that's just engagement with employees. In this case, they actually introduced an online enrollment system and um typically that you see some just making those benefits visible to employees.
They have the ability to uh more readily see their costs rather than having to hand calculate costs of premiums and such. Um it just makes things a lot easier for employees to comprehend. So that's that participation increase in that in that case as well. and we see
that pattern um you know play out pretty routinely then we would expect similar for you. Yep. Any other questions? That's the only one I have. So Mr. I think today we're simply looking for your blessing to move forward with an agreement with with uh
integrity. Uh we don't have a contract today but we would bring one to you uh subsequently. So again just more of a blessing. Does this look like a a good idea? I don't see any negative Senate. No me. Mr. Chair, I'll move to bring the contract to us at
I'll second maid and second to bring the contract at a future date. Commissioner Benoy I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Thanks. Thank you.
All right. Summer m before we move on, I want to make sure I acknowledge uh the benefits group of culture team and the BAC. And I should say I I believe you know what you heard today was a direct result of the the employee
engagement survey that we did about a year ago. And if you may recall, uh, employees identified concerns with benefits as one of the number one issues. And it wasn't necessarily, you know, the cost. It was often times the education that they were getting about our benefits. And I think that's one thing that integrity really brings to
the table is a greater effort to educate and inform employees about the optional benefits that are available to them. So I want to thank you again, culture team and the BAC. All righty. I believe the next thing is actually on the subject of employee engagement. So about this time year ago,
we did an employee engagement survey using the services of employee strategies. And one of the services that they offer is a one-year follow-up survey. And it's a check-in to see, okay, how are we doing? Have we made improvement on our cultural issues? So I
think personally it's really important to measure h how how are we doing? Have we made some progress? Have we slipped? Are new issues coming up? And I brought this subject to the manager team recently and they they had their endorsement that we would do another uh
a one-year survey with employee strategies. So like the first survey, it's pretty intensive. So they do an online survey of all employees, but they also do focus groups where they'll identify a group of employees and meet and hear face to face employees how
they're feeling, how things are going. And they do also some one-on-one interviews with certain employees again to get more in-depth about how things are going, uh what can we do better and so on. And then they'll bring those results to our management team and help us again sort through have we made
progress and here's some maybe things that we should focus on in the future. So uh that's kind of the program that's offered by Andy uh from employee strategies. I I should mention Mr. here is that uh because we have the continued vacancy of the HR director in and county administration, we can fund this out of
the administrator's budget. So, looking for your uh consent to move forward with again the one-year anniversary follow-up survey questions. What is the cost? It's 16,500. I think it's identified in your agenda item.
Okay. Is this something that we're going to do every year or is this I don't think so. No, I think again it's his seem like maybe one year, right? Yeah. Overkill. Yeah. I wouldn't expect we would do it uh annually. No, you think, Mr. Chair, is maybe in the over the
longer term. We have the ability to do our own surveys. Uh we can use Survey Monkey and things of that nature. Um we of course can't do it nearly as intensively as Andy can, you know, like uh so but I would envision this would probably be the one and only. Yep. We'd
be done. Yeah. I I think it's important to keep moving forward with this at least for this one time. One time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I would think like every year department Well, we put a lot of money into this. So we need to see how Yeah. how we end
with this motion. Mr. Chair. Yes. Go ahead. Jared. Um Monty. In the future, I know we're not planning on spending another 16 grand. I hope next year, right? But I would think for five grand, we could
come up with our own survey that we could send out yearly that kind of mimics what we're what we're currently sending out for the 16 grand. Well, Mr. I, I think, yeah, long term, I think we could do our own surveys. I I think there's some value in have an
external party do the survey because I think employees feel that's more um confidential. You know, in other words, Andy isn't going to share with us necessarily the raw unfiltered comments from folks. He tends to summarize and identify issues and help us identify a
path to address those. And I I think that helps with participation if you have an outside party that does the survey rather than us internally. But yeah, I I think going forward long term, we can we can certainly do our own surveys and I know we have in the past using again a tool like Survey Monkey.
So, we need a motion on that. With that, I'll make a motion approve the followup employee engagement survey as proposed by employee strategies. I'll second it. Motion been made and second it. Commissioner Benoy.
Commissioner Heinen. Commissioner Pop. Hi, Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Thank you. carried. Thank you, sir. All right. I believe Mallerie for a culture team update. Okay.
Hello. My name is Mallalerie. I'm the culture team chair here at Benton County. Um it was requested that we give brief updates to the board about what we've been working on as a culture team. Um so our goal is to do that every 3,
four months as uh things come up. So, um, the whole team has been working on creating an, uh, space on our Benton County intranet. Um, and that is now up and running. So, employees, uh, will have access to that and they can see
what we've been working on and the three subgroups that we have created. Those subgroups were based off of the um, employee survey that um, Monty was just speaking of. Um, we are currently
working on recruiting. The current culture team has started about a year ago this summer. Um, and we've made a commitment to stay through December. There may be members on the current culture team who wish to end after their
term. And so we are recruiting um employees to try to fill those vacancies. Um the three subgroups that we are broken down to are the relationships and communications subcommittee, the training and onboarding committee and then the benefits committee. the
relationships and communications uh commit subcommittee introduced Bernie um which is just a fun interdep departmental um dog that we are able to pass around between departments and we submit fun
facts about each department to help the other departments within the county learn what all of the other departments do. That was one of the things that we identified is that many departments within Benton County really have no idea what the other departments are doing, what they work on, who they serve. So
that is a way that we can try to tie in all of the departments within Benton County since we are so diverse and different. Um we started department of the month again highlighting um different departments. So uh human services actually went first. They uh
just had theirs about a week ago. Employees were able to walk through. It was like a 15minute um thing that they were able to learn about all of the different services within human services and what human services does for our county. Um
the board is in July. So we will be working with the board um to help facilitate that and what you guys would like to do for that. Uh we conducted two employee uh feedback surveys via Survey
Monkey. Um the first one was wanting to gauge employees thoughts and feelings on what um the government center uh will impact them or how they how it will impact them. Um and then also opinions
and feelings around career lading which has been something that we've talked about at a county level for a while now. Um, and those results were shared with the board. We are also helping with the county appreciation and Booya event that
will be hosted by the highway department coming up this fall. The training and onboarding group was working with the assessors to build a SharePoint site for training and collaboration. Um, this is currently on pause due to a maternity
leave. Um they made updates to the financial unit SharePoint site and their goal is to offer a similar resource to other departments um and also start putting together training materials for teams where SharePoint might not be the best fit or the best option. The
benefits committee as you heard is working uh now with integrity uh benefits for ancillary benefits beginning in 2026. Um and you heard that recommendation today. Um they're looking at local businesses that might offer uh discounts
to employee benefit or to Benton County employees uh within their businesses and they brought PARA uh to the county employees to give presentations about what their um retirement benefits are or
what some of their benefits are with that. Um they had 68 people attend the first session and 24 people attend the second session and that was on Friday May 30th. Overall, PAR was very pleased with the turnout. They added some
additional resources to the county internet parah page and that's located under the benefits and HR tab. Um, if they just click on public employee retirement association, there is a link for PAR member videos and a link for PAR
member education under the resources. These are all short videos that help answer any questions that employees might have about their parah pension plans. Um, they are also working with other vendors to come out and give presentations on services that are
provided to Benton County employees. And that's what we have going on. Our next meeting is on July 10th uh from 2 to 4 in the boardroom. And so uh if any employees that are listening uh or going
to be watching this want to join us and see what we are about and what we are trying to accomplish uh you are invited to join. Great. Thank you. Thanks Sandy. I just have one contract today. Um,
as you may know, um, counties are required to transport children who are in foster care back to their home school district if possible and practical. Um, school districts are then required to enter into contracts with the counties to share costs. Um, so this is our final
contract for our local schools and so this is with Princeton. Um, and I need approval of this contract to share costs with Princeton School for this transportation. So move, Mr. Chair. Second. Motion been made and second to share the cost with Princeton School District. All
Commissioner Benoy. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. I. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Roxan. Good morning, commissioners, Mr. Chair.
All right, let's pull up my agenda item. I'm not sure if that's how I do that. Okay. So, I just want to give you a quick update on the Benton County Amnesty Day. I haven't done this. I Well, I don't think I've ever done this, so I think it was just it's good for you guys to know exactly how these are going
and um just to get an idea of what that looks like for us. So, our spring Amnesty Day was on June 14th. It was at public works from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Um, this kind of gives you a layout of what that site plan, what that site
looks like the day of the event. Um, so we've got the event hours are 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., but it's staffed from approximately 6:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Um, we do have individuals showing up as early as 500 a.m.
Uh, so what we try to do is to get as much of the traffic off of the road as possible. So we're doubling up the traffic that goes right in front of the public works building, in front of the gas pumps there. Um, so we're doubling them up. Uh we can only get a single
line between the building and that um fence in the back. Single line. And then we actually we doubled them up again right behind the main building and wrapped it around double lines all the way um between the uh salt shed and the the other building. And then they come
around and you can see the blue areas are where we have the dumpsters and the hauler trucks. Um so we we do try as much as possible to get these folks stacked up and in there. um it does end up trailing all the way down Highway 25
to the best of our intentions. There is just no way around that. Um it is staffed by five land services staff, one public work staff that operates a loader um and then a volunteer. So the public works staff in the loader will help um
kind of push down and crush some of those materials that are put into the big containers just to make room. Occasionally they have to be used for um lifting things out or heavier items. Um I will state that that is our only piece of heavy equipment. Republic staff does
not bring heavy equipment. They're not bringing loaders or anything like that. No forklifts, anything to lift anything with. So it's it it is manpower, woman power um that is unloading these vehicles. Um, so Republic does have
approximately 10 regular staff and 25 additional sta staff from a temp help agency. Um, so we've we've got a good crew out there and there it's been it's been working really well. Pretty pretty quick. Um, even the customers will say
that it's quicker than expected even when they show up and see the lines as long as they are. Um, so and and then I just mentioned the equipment. We got the one loader operated by operated by public works staff, the garbage trucks, and then it's it's man and woman power.
Um, so here we are. This is 6:15 a.m. Vehicles are double stacked in the public works parking lot and and then they are all the way down to uh all the way down Highway 25. We have attempted to get them to wrap around down um I
believe it's 75th. The problem with that is so many of these vehicles have trailers attached to them. And so by the they would literally have to go all the way around town to come in and and stack along 75th. So they just get angry at us if we try to get them to go around. Um
you can see double stacked along here. And these are just some photos just to kind of give you an idea of what we're seeing on those mornings. You can see. So over here is um where Republic's working. The double stacked was a little bit of a challenge with the
uh dirt parking lots this time, but we made it work. Here again, double stacked. Um the first area that they go through is getting rid of a lot of just literal junk. It's not it's not your um appliances, not metal, not tires. This
is literal just junk. So they're putting those into these dumpsters here. Um, back in the pit area, uh, is where we have more of your tires, your appliances, other things that can be recycled, being loaded.
And here you can see they're they're dumping those into these by hand. Few more pictures. Um, so then I want to touch on the event day counts. So the chart here is from 2015 to 2025. We had 695 cars um or
participants at this last spring event. So we literally from open to close were two lines. We haven't had that happen in a long time. So you can go back uh let's see back to 2017 before we saw a spring event even
relatively close to that. So we I I and I think the weather had a lot to do with it. It was a kind of a crummy day. It wasn't ideal for being outside and doing things. So, a lot of folks decided it was perfect opportunity to to sit in line and get rid of some stuff.
Here are the costs. So, the event is covered by the solid waste service fee and FL funds collected from participants. Gives you an idea that we do cover the bulk of those costs. But if we're covering those costs, they're not ending up in the ditch. they're not staying on these properties polluting
the properties or forcing add you know families to clean it up possibly the county to clean it up depending on what happens but um so what we do take in is relatively low compared to the cost of the event
and of course costs increase over time. I just want to touch on a few concerns that we've had. So, the vehicles arriving before 7 a.m. when we've got folks showing up at 5:00 a.m., it it causes concern because there's no one there to make sure that that that
traffic is where it needs to be. There's concern about it flowing out onto Highway 25. I don't know how we address that. If we show up earlier, then they just show up earlier. We we've it's usually the same group of people that show up at the event. We've discussed with them trying to get there a little
later that it, you know, usually it's not as busy later on. This was a this was unique this time that it was as busy as it was. Usually by about 10:00 a.m. it's more of a trickle in um and then more more traffic can come in. But just
letting you know that we're aware of the fact that it they're getting there early and it can be of a concern. Then there's the traffic lined along Highway 25. We're we're doing the best that we can. um signage, flashing lights, um trying to direct traffic, making sure it's safe for uh vehicles to pull out of the
public works um area so that they're not there is an oncoming traffic to be concerned with. Um and then I think a little more education with the public in hauling in items that are too big or too heavy to be removed without a machine. Hot tubs. Um, we had a small shed that
was literally just I think they took the loader, scooped it up and plopped it in a in a trailer and these folks are unloading by hand. And and that goes hand in hand with the small bulk debris not confined in disposable containers.
We had another trailer full of crushed tiles and they had to literally, you know, scoop it out with, you know, hand shovels and things like that. It's really hard on the staff and it holds up the line when we have to take precautions like that and and take the
time to get these things out. Um, so I I I'm not sure how we educate the public on on that. Uh, but we will try to do that more so. But other than that, we get a lot of compliments. Um, I to be honest, I don't think we really receive
any negative comments during the event. We're running around talking to a lot of people, but all in all, a lot of really positive comments from the public. Cool. Yeah. Good. Thank you for the update. Absolutely.
Thanks. Thanks, Chris. All right. Good morning, commissioners. We got a whole slew of things to discuss and I would like to bring up my items just for those following along at home.
Let's see here what today is the first. All right. Make sure I'm sharing the the screen. Okay. The first item I have before you is to consider awarding construction contract for this project SP00005-070-
016. This is a federal safety project to uh uh install uh permanent pavement markings, edge lines, and then a rumble strip outside of that white fog line.
So, uh we received, like I said, federal money. We were anticipating that we would have a 90% federal grant and then 10% would be local match. Uh based on the bids, we got confirmation uh from our funding letter that it's going to be 100% federal funded at this point. Uh
the total contract price is only about $48,000. 48,48,418 from Century Traffic LLC, not uh our other bidder. For the last couple years, Sir Lines a Lot has been the only bidder in our projects, but this year, uh, Century Traffic out of Wisconsin threw
in a bid and and out bid them. Um, so there's there's the the bid abstract. We were estimating it to be about $64,000. Century Traffic bid it at $48,418. Sir Lines was $52,000. So, uh, it is my recommendation to enter
into a construction contract with Century Traffic LLC in the amount of $48,418 and no cents. Mr. Chair, Chris, just for clarification, if you would had to do the match, where would those funds have
come from? Cassad accounts or from wheel tax, where would that money came from? Uh, yeah, good question. I think we were thinking about wheelage tax for this. So this is wheelage tax now that just goes back into our pot that we'll throw towards another road project
for approval. Mr. Chair, second motion been made and seconded for approval of the contract um SP005-070-16 Beth. Sure. Commissioner Benoy. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi.
Commissioner Kapinsky. Hi. All right. Very good. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to the next item I have on the agenda and this is to consider a construction contract of our reconstruction project is in the city of Gilman. Uh both project numbers here
005603- 034 and 005-605-014. So the bid opening was actually yesterday afternoon. So at the time that packets were submitted, we didn't know the bids, but we opened them yesterday
afternoon and we received uh three bids. I thought I had included the the summary in here, but the three bids we received was from RL Larson LLC, RL Lararsson Excavating LLC, Knife River Corp. North
Central, and JR Furchie Incorporated. Um RL Lararsson Excavating was the lowest responsible bidder. Um the total project, now this is including the county portion and the city portion, uh
was estimated at $4,63,873. And the lowest responsible bidder was 3,266,38264. That is 19.6% 6% under our estimate. Now, further, we we broke these costs out more. Just our portion alone, we
were estimating it to cost uh 2,835,754. Uh the low bid was $2,687,885.80 or 5% below our estimate. What's surprising was the city's portion came in considerably under what their engineer was estimating. Uh their engineer was estimating that the city of
Gilman sewer project was going to cost $1,228,119. The low bid came in at $578,496.84 or 52.9% under their estimate. So quite a bit of savings there on their project. Uh we sent it to their engineer
yesterday just to review that. Um they have set a special city council meeting for tomorrow evening to consider it. Uh hopefully we we have not heard any response back from their engineer. Hopefully they're looking at it and make sure nothing got missed or anything. But
uh even uh the other two bids were considerably under. I mean, the next lowest bid was 43% under their estimate, and the highest bid we received was still 42.72% under their estimate. And why those are switched is because we looked at the
total overall contract uh price. So hopefully this is really good news for the city of Gilman with all their funding sources and everything that they were looking at. I mean, they saved, you know, $500,000 right here on this portion of the project. Um, Mr. If you
recall some of our discussion, everybody was negative that government would never get their money. Exactly. Yeah. Sounds like it's going to be a done deal. Mr. Chair, Chris, can you explain or have an understanding of why it was 52% under their engineers estimate? Seems like a lot. Yeah. I
don't know if iffy, right? You know. Yeah. I mean, a couple of things was like uh mostly in the pipe price. They're estimating, you know, 8 in PVC sewer pipe at $110 a foot and the low bidder was at $48.80
a foot. So that's half the price, less more than half or less than half of the price right there. That's a big and I don't know if it's the engineer in this area of the state wasn't sure what material prices would be. Um, that seems to be the biggest thing was the pipe
prices came in at about half of what they were estimating per foot. So, I mean, I'd like to see these estimates come under, but at 52% one has to question that. So, with that, um, like I mentioned, the
city council will consider it tomorrow. I'm recommending go ahead and awarding a construction contract uh contingent upon um concurrence from the city of Gilman. So, you didn't have this resolution completed in your packet, but I have it up on the screen here. Um there's the
projects listed, whereas the the bid of RL Lararsson Excavating LLC in the amount of 3,266,382.64 was the lowest responsible bid received. Uh, board of commissioners have reviewed and agreed to award a construction contract contingent upon concurrent from
the city of Gilman to RL Lararsson Excavating LLC. So, Chris, where's Lararsson from? St. Cloud. St. Cloud. So, uh, a local contractor. So, just off of Highway 10, just south of Benton County is where their their yard is and stuff. So, Mr.
Chair, I'll move for approval of the contract in resolution. I'll second. I'll second. Okay. Motion's been made and seconded. Commissioner Benoy I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi.
Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Very good. We're hoping uh that'll move forward. We'll talk a little bit more about that later in a couple items when we talk about the Gilman days permit. We we've got some additional correspondence on that. But it looks like the next item
on the agenda is this administrative agreement with the city of Sock Rapids. And I apologize that we had a very similar agreement in the consent agenda and this one's in the regular uh agenda. This would be a very similar agreement to what you just approved with Gilman, but this is with City of Sock Rapids.
This would be for our roundabout project at CASA 29 and Cassaw 1. In your packet was a draft because uh I had not received the signed version from the city. They considered it at their last city council meeting. I believe that was on this past not yesterday but the week
ago Monday. They did approve it and sign it. So very similar. It establishes that we have a construction project where there are county costs and that there are city costs because the city has their water and sewer under our road that's being reconstructed. Uh they're
going to pay for that their portion. Um once again, we're going to hold the construction contract. We'll be making payments to the contractor. they have to reimburse us uh within I think this one we got them to agree to 21 days. So um a little bit quicker time frame than than
Gilman. So um uh this this project is a little bit different since sock Rapids is a municipal state aid city. Our cost participation policy says that when there's right-of-way costs uh they reimburse the county for the cost of the
ride ofway. And so that's this is that's a unique element to this agreement that Gilman did not have. We didn't have any rightway needs on the Gilman project. It was all being constructed with an existing rideway. The roundabout we had to acquire additional rideway to further
complicate it. Not the project is split in half by the city limits. So the north half of the project is outside city limits. Those rideway costs are on the county, but the south half of the project in the city limits of Sock Rapids. uh they're going to reimburse us for those rideway acquisition costs and
that's that's all in this agreement. Uh and uh like I said, they did approve it and sign it at their last city council meeting on the 23rd. So I have an actual agreement here uh with their signatures on it for board chair signature if if
you agree to to that contract. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the administrative agreement and authorize signatures on the same agreement with the city of Sock Rapids. I'll second. Motion been made and second. Any other discussion? These will
be yearly uh agreements that we're going to be sending out to all cities whenever we do construction. Correct, Chris? Yeah. Um to that point, we're getting pretty late. I mean, we're hoping that we're going to advertise for construction. Um, in the ideal world, I would anticipate that maybe these
agreements would come a little bit sooner in the in the process when we're still planning and designing the project. Um, even though we may not have hard numbers on what those costs would be, if we have a framework in place signed by both entities, at least gives
the engineering staff more comfort that that we're following policy and guidelines set forth in the agreement. But, but we got there. We got an agreement agreed to between both parties. So, no harm, no foul on this one. Okay. Commissioner Benoy, I.
Commissioner Heinen, I. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Kapinsky. Hi. All right. Thank you. I will leave a copy with Beth for the signature pile after that after the meeting. Uh, and I
don't believe I'm done yet. No, I'm not done. Okay. Uh if you recall at the last board meeting, we discussed and considered uh a special road use permit to close county roads within the city of Gilman for their annual Gilman days uh
parade. And we wanted to hold off until we got to this point and we knew whether we're going to be tearing up the road or not. uh initial conversations with the the low bidder a after the bids were opened yesterday was they don't
anticipate that they would be able to start before uh Gilman days. Uh I just wanted to throw that out there. So Gilman days or the parade will be on Saturday the 26th. RL Larson says realistically they probably wouldn't start till that
Monday, July 28th with road closures and starting to remove pavement. So I just wanted to bring that information back to the board. I know Commissioner Johnson and I were at their last city council meeting where it was briefly discussed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed like it the the council was okay in the
in best interest of the project. If they had to cancel the parade one year, this project was pretty important to them and they'd rather they'd make that sacrifice to get the project moving. But now we know contractor doesn't think they would start before that. Um it may make that
decision harder or but uh that's the information I know at this time. So, Mr. Chair, uh I I'd actually pretty adamant that we get going on the project as soon as possible. Um I assume once we take this auction
today, you're going to be able to reach out to their counselor, mayor, and let them know about the schedule. Yeah. So, the thing is we if they approve it tomorrow, we'll we'll send out contracts probably Thursday morning and then then getting their their company to sign it,
their bonding company and everything. That's what takes usually a couple weeks just to get contracts back and we don't want to let them start work until we have signed contracts in hand. Uh, and I think that's where the delay comes in. They want to make sure that they've got all their paperwork done and ready to go. Um, but
yeah, I'll certainly convey that to the city council after today's meeting that you guys approved it and this is what we hear from the contractor at this point. Mr. Chair, so they want to when you send out the contracts and everything, are you going to state that it can't start until that Monday, the 28th or whatever
that Monday is? The way the project was advertised and lit was we would let the contractor start as soon as they got all the paperwork. So, um, we're going to still throw it at them. Um theoretically, I guess if they got all the contracts in place and they said,
"Yeah, we've got materials in place, we would start then." Um I guess if we're signing this or agreeing to all of this and letting Gilman do their parade and the contractor says, "Well, we want to start earlier." Now, we got an issue.
Yeah. My opinion anyway. That's a good point. Um well and Commissioner Heinen they did they did talk about you know at least two weeks out they'd make a decision. Okay. So you know by July 15th or Okay. I guess from my perspective we
can approve the permit and let Gilman decide if they're going to hold their Yeah. Put it on their put it on their plate and that's fair. Yeah. They can reach out with the contractor by the decision. The only hesitation I would have is, you know, administering the contract. If we if they said they wanted
to start that week early and we said no, then we get into a rain and they say, "Well, we really would have liked to had that week. You should give us some more days back." Um, that that's a thing we run in with. But but if that's the direction of the board, we can certainly tell them we'd prefer you wait till the
28th to start. Well, to me, it doesn't matter. you know, I I'm just I'm just looking at approving a permit contract if we so choose to do that. And then they choose to go forward and pretty soon the contractor says, "I'm coming in a week
early." Now they got a problem. To Commissioner Johnson's point, we do have one more board meeting. Yeah, like you said, in two weeks, we would have a better idea where paperwork is and they probably have a better idea of materials and subcontractors. We could table it once again. I just know it was tabled last meeting, so I wanted to bring it
back and see if there was any further direction at this time. No, I don't need to table it. Special road use permit. Right. Yeah. If they don't use it, they don't use it. Yeah. That's it's got to be up to the city if they I mean, I think the city should Yeah. Okay. I'm tracking with you. I Yeah.
Just because we approve our permit doesn't mean the parades necessarily happen. Okay. Gotcha. But at least they know they have the permit and they can make their decision by July 15th. If they're going to have the permit or not. Okay. In consultation with the contractor. Sure. You know, if it
continues to rain the way it is. Yeah. Starting. Yeah. Yeah. So, with that, I'm going to move for approval of the special road use permit submitted by days. I'll second. Okay. Motion been made and seconded. Hearing no other discussion.
Commissioner Benoy. Commissioner Heinen. All right, Commissioner Pop. Hi, Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. All right. Yeah, I'll certainly pass that along to the city council as well that that the board's okay with it and
and they all need to consider in the next few weeks whether to go rate or not. So, okay. The last item I have on the agenda is to consider a letter of support uh to the Highway 23 coalition for the corridors of commerce solicitation.
This is uh well identical to uh a letter that was approved about a month ago to the APO for the same solicitation. What I'm hearing is that uh both these projects, the the APO1 and the highway 23 coalition application that they
submitted is gaining traction and a letter of support from all the agencies in which the project passes through would give it some extra points in the final solicitation scoring. So what I understand is the highway 23 coalition
through their consultant uh Bolton and mink applied for a planning study to study the possibility of a four lane of highway 23 from Foley all the way to where it intersects with uh uh 35. So this resolution or this this letter
would be just saying the board supports the concept of of um uh of the application. um it doesn't commit to any financial support or anything like that. One thing I will add though, and this was confirmed through
MindD, that although coalitions can apply, if successful, the coalition can't be the recipient of the grant. That's where a local government agency will have to step up and be the recipient and fiscal
agent of that grant and then assume those administrative responsibilities of that that grant. Um, and all those things that come with it, you know, as far as selecting the successful consultant, following the the RFP process from the state, uh, and administering that consultant contract
and and guiding the design of that. So, uh, just throw those things out there. We're not at that stage yet, but I think whenever we whenever there's a grant application, everybody's always hopeful that the grant application is successful. So, um it does garner maybe some future discussions with our our
neighbors to the east and then beyond that in Canab County and stuff um of what that that looks like. So, so this I'm just asking the board to consider if you want to sign on to a letter support for the the grant application for a planning study of
Highway 23 expanding to four lanes. Mr. Chair, I did I did receive emails this morning or yesterday afternoon. I see that Max and Kabic and Pine have all signed off. Good. I wonder and this is probably a question for attorneys, so forgive me for
bringing it up. if there's even a joint powers agreement that if it's counties that it's that you know maybe a JPA between the three counties being the grant recipient I I don't know that's just a a thought I had. So if one county was hesitant to take the sole
responsibility for a project that goes you know through three or four counties because it even goes into Pine County doesn't it? Yeah. Um if that's a possibility of being a grant recipient something we still have to vet out but an idea ahead. Mr. Chair also and and I want to give a little shout out to They helped us with connections, but um it's
not only the counties, it's the school districts, the cities, the townships, chambers of commerce. If we can get everybody to sign off on that corridor, it raises what's total points I think are 45 for that. Yeah. So, it's significant and it is in and this feasibility study is in the top five
that was presented at 7W. Yeah. It has gained some traction and again there's no local match for the study. Yeah. So yeah, we got really nothing to lose. We don't have anything. Yeah. And he's right. At some point in the future, some entity is going to have to step up and
help with that. Deal with that later at that time. Okay. Yep. Mr. Chair, I'm going to move for letter support and authorize the board chair to sign Highway toy and 23 coalition submission. I'll second.
Motion been made and second it. Any other discussion? Commissioner Benoy. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. All right. Well, thank you. Um,
that's all I have for my regularly scheduled uh items. Is there any questions uh I have at this time? Um, I will be sticking around till the end of the meeting for cows and commissioner concerns at that as that as well. So,
Mr. Chair, Go ahead. Go ahead, Jared. Uh Chris, I hate to put you on the spot, but in light of uh Helman's uh talk earlier, what I mean, do you got any update on your end? Well, that we did receive a request from
them on uh the the 20th of June. So, we took last week to kind of look at it. Um, and even last week there was little to no progress gained with the weather and stuff. So I think it begs the question even the request from a little
over a week ago is that still valid or do they think they need more days now? The additional we did have that response verbally back to them is like well you were able to gain at least 15 days of progress last fall. Um and and what we
like to look at is when they bid the project and we have our initial pre-construction meeting, they provide us a schedule. We take a look at that schedule and based on the quantities and the time, you know, we can arrive at a production rate that they're anticipating that they theoretically should have bid, you know, just for an
example, they bid that to move so many cubic yards of, you know, excavation per day. Um and so may that was our initial response is like well you gained some production last week that you didn't have to do this year and so that that should have allotted you that additional
time this year or theoretically you're able to reduce your re your production rates this year and still get it done in the the calendar completion date of August 1st and that was at 15 days. So I don't think we were so keen at first of giving them the full request as
of over a week ago. Now we forward they lost. Did they lose another six days? That's another thing too is look at their schedule too. The spec bidding spec uh specifies you know August 1st 2025 completion date assuming working six days a week. The spec even goes so
far as to say well in May anticipate 4 days of rain. June normally anticipate four days of rain. July and August is only three days of rain. And so there are some considerations that we need to look at is like okay they should have bid it of at least having four days of
non-production in the month of June four days in in in May. Um and so in realistically did they lose more than four days in May? Did they lose if they not did they lose more than eight days in June? um in those considerations. So
I guess the short end to to wrap up this long answer, we don't have a definitive uh answer yet. We do want to see revised and updated schedules periodically to say what are they looking at? How are they
anticipating getting the project done? Are they considering bringing in additional uh personnel? Uh what additional equipment help to move when they do get a a dry day and can make production? Um, is it two crews versus bidding as one? Um, so we did not
provide a written response yet. Uh, but it's still something that we're we're monitoring every week um as work work moved along. I wouldn't say progress, but Mr. Chair. Yeah. And go ahead. You know, Chris, none of us could have uh figured out we're going to have this
many rain days and or this much rain, but they do make a valid point. It rains one day. It takes 2 to 3 days for it to even to dry out. Mhm. And when you've had this amount of rain in just this month alone, we could have never predicted that either. I mean, June had
to be home for them. Yeah. Well, you know, say Mr. Chair, according to Katie's thoughts, the Percy's lost 25 days of their 78, right? Which probably sounds about right. But Chris, you I know you mentioned August 1 completion. We have a $3,000 a day
liquid after that. Yeah. Not to mention they are working in a little lower ground area too, right? You think, Jared? Yeah. So, a wetness a day. It doesn't dry out nearly as fast
as a, you know, a higher area. I mean, you know, Chris, go back to when they did 55 by Rice. It could rain one day and they were out there the next day. Yeah. Here it rains one day like we had last, you know, last week. They got I mean, I agree. She's got two, three days, four days of they can't do
anything. Yeah. I I know we've received calls and concerns from residents and I know some of you have too, but it's um Yeah, trying to be accountable to the public and be reasonable to the contractor. That's the that's the line that we walk. So, um and I'd rather have
a project completed, right, good than have it completed when it's not, you know, we're going to have issues down the road. Yeah, I I would highly consider you, Chris, to look at this a little deeper. Yeah, I'm not going to make recommendations.
you know, we're not the experts, but you know, that would be my thought, too, is look at it. And, you know, I do know that Katie said at the end of the day they were looking for only 15 more days.
But, you know, that's something you're going to have to work out with them, Chris. Yeah, I think I mean I think any reasonable person would look at this and say, "Yeah, they're owed some additional days. What is that number? Do we go ahead and grant that now or we know that they're working on it and as we get
closer to August 1st do that? We could go ahead and grant days now. Does that mean that that warrant that garers another request in two more weeks when they say you know what I thank you for the additional days but in the last two weeks we didn't they didn't benefit us so we need to move that back another 15
or 10 days 10 to 15 days. So so yeah we're we're considering it. Um, we didn't Yeah, I appreciate Luke acknowledging that we didn't deny them anything yet. We just have not formulated a formal response yet. Okay. So, I think you know kind of what
to do yet. Okay. I understand. Yeah. Thanks. Anything else from you, Chris? Uh, no. I don't have anything else to say. No. Then we're going to recess the county board and move the community health board. We'll call the Ben County Community Health Board to order. Note
that all commissioners are present andor online. Approve or amend the agenda. Any changes? Yes. Good morning. Um I have one addition um regarding a letter of intent request that the state of Minnesota emailed me yesterday at
5:'clock for so I couldn't get it on the agenda. Um so that one is for our cannabis and substance use prevention funding. And then um not necessarily agenda item. I just want to give you a printed copy of our public health newsletter for the month as well. Okay.
Move for approval of the agenda with the no changes. Okay. Second. Okay. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If not, I'll call the Beth. Roll call. Benoy. Hi. Or Commissioner Benoy. I'm so sorry. I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi.
Commissioner Johnson. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Thanks. Okay. With that, the consent agenda item one. What would you like to do with that for approval? I'll second. Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? If
not, roll call, please. Commissioner Benoy, I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. I. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Kapinsky. Commissioner Gapinsky. He's muted again. Hi. Thank you.
Okay, Jacqueline, consider the ratification of the Minnesota public health state infrastructure comp. Yes. So, our community health board um as approved by the board back in well, this has been going back all the way since October of 2024 that we've been
working on this um working on our community health um assessment and community health improvement plan with our coalition or our um joint agency, Central Minnesota Alliance. Um, in March, the board had approved us to apply for funding. We received notice
that we were awarded the funding. The state was um, happy with the project that we submitted, and we're hoping to fund that so that we can do that. Um the first goal that we'll be working on is with our county attorney's office um and the central Minnesota Alliance partners, so Centricare, the local healthcare
system, um Sherburn and Sterns and Benton to come up with some kind of more formal structured agreement between the Central Minnesota Alliance. And then once that's established, then we're going to move forward with those other um purposes of that grant agreement. Um, so the award amount that we were um
authorized from the state of Minnesota was $800,000, $400,000 a year. Um, so today I'm looking for um the board to consider ratification of our Minnesota public health state infrastructure grant contract agreement. And is is
there a match to any of that from There's no match for this one. No. Nope. Um, and really what we're hoping to do, um, just a little bit more context and grounding. So, each health department is required in statute to complete a community health assessment and a community health improvement plan and submit that back to the state of
Minnesota. Historically, we've done our community health assessment with our central Minnesota alliance, which is a regional partnership. Um, that partnership has always been u more of just a working agreement. We don't have any formal structure for that, but that dates back, I think, gosh, going on at least the last four iterations of our
assessment, and we do it once every three years. So, that community health improvement plan um and that work, we're hoping that in the future with this $800,000 that we would um propose hiring a central Minnesota Alliance program manager and then a data analyst specific
to the health data. Um, so it was for those two positions, but prior to moving into any recruitment, we want to focus on first, um, through guidance with our county attorney's office, getting some kind of more formal agreement in place with the Central Minnesota Alliance, whether it's a memorandum of understanding or a, um, joint
collaboration agreement, whatever that may be. We're going to explore that and the state of Minnesota has given us authorization to take the time to do that as well. Um the deadline for the contract signatures was um at the end of last week and so that's why I'm looking
for ratification of the contract. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the contract. Ratification of the contract. Uh ratification of the contract. Got a motion. Second. Okay. Thank you, J. Thank you. Got a motion and second.
Any further discussion? If not, roll call. Beth. Commissioner Benoy. Hi. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. Hi. Commissioner Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Thank you. Uh, next letter of intent. Yeah. Um,
really quick, one additional com comment. Underneath the um, infrastructure grant agreement. The state of Minnesota, we had a partner agency meeting with them a couple of weeks ago or three weeks ago at this point. I just wanted to share some of their feedback. They were really excited about the way that we've been working as a region and one of the things that
really impressed them and why they selected our um proposal and our grant application was that we also work with our local healthcare system, Center Care. That's unique. Um they actually do not even have like a contract um copy where they have community health boards partnered with a um hospital system. And
so because of that innovation, they were excited about that and awarded us these dollars. So part of the challenge though now is figuring out how do we do this with a hospital system and then community health boards and what does that agreement look like? So more information to come as we work through that. But it was nice to hear that
feedback and um and us receiving the support through this um large award of of funds. So it's pretty exciting. Okay. Um so moving on. So, um, yesterday at the end of day, I received notice from state of Minnesota that we need to submit our letter of intents by July
15th for our cannabis and substance use prevention funding. I submitted a copy of what I would submit to them today um, after we would receive community health board approval just to indicate that we are looking to continue on with the cannabis and substance use prevention funding. Um, as far as award amount, I
do not have a total dollar amount as far as what we would receive, but our current contract right now we receive 106, um,76 um, for that award amount. That could be subject to change depending on how many um, grantees continue or renew or seek
funding or if anybody puts their hat in the ring to also receive funding. So, just looking for approval for us to submit that notice of intent so we can um indicate we'd like to renew and continue to receive that funding and do that work. Jacquine, will this be a yearly renewal then? Um, I believe they
are looking to renew through October of 2029 is um what they had shared, but I'm not sure if they'll have us submit an intent for each year. Some of our contracts each year, even though a grant cycle might be four or five years, they ask us each year if we want to continue. So I think um that's yet to be
determined. This is new funding. Um we received this from the last um state legislature. Um we received our first iteration last year. So this is just for the renews into the second year. But um still I think determining how that will look and then of course state funding. They had a a small amount of change in
their um cannabis funding at the state level in that budget. Um and so we'll wait to see what those numbers look like. But yeah, any questions? If not, what's the board want to do?
I'll move for approval, Mr. Chair. Second. Okay, we got a motion, a second. Any further discussion on this item? If not, I'll do roll call. Commissioner Benoy. I. Commissioner Heinen. Hi. Commissioner Pop. I. Commissioner
Johnson. Hi. Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi. Okay, Jacqueline. Anything else in front of us today? No. Nope. The only other thing was just was giving you a printed out copy of our public health monthly newsletter so that you have that in print. Um each month we're highlighting a different area of public health. This month's highlight is our emergency
preparedness and um our community health specialist position. So if you have haven't seen that via your email, it gave you that printed copy there as well and encourage you to watch the video sent out. So that's it. Right. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you. At this time, we're adjourned at 10:34 and I'll
turn it back over to the board chair. Uh, we're down to commissioner meeting updates. I can go first. Um, I had a a meeting or visitation, I guess, with BEP for
National Vision. Um, real interesting on uh on how their facility runs. A lot of it's automated. Um, and then we had the special board meeting for the county on 623. I had
career solutions joint powers meeting on 623. Um I had uh the St. Cloud City Council meeting on 623. Um and then I went to an east side W 2 meeting on 6:24
and then I also did the human services uh poker run which I thought was really nice. Great. I had a CASA 29 extension meeting. Very interesting meeting. We
had a special board meeting. We had a special career solutions meeting. Uh historical society meeting and that's it. Okay. Um I had uh library finance committee
meeting which is kind of set now for the budget request. um not a lot of extra um room to wiggle in that one because we've took the funds down enough where we're under four months of reserves. So you got to kind of watch that. You got
by law you got to have that. They are getting a cut of I can't remember the I think it's like 32,000 in their library whatever they get from the state and all libraries across the state are getting that. We're not we're not singled up
anything. So So that was an interesting time. Um, they did give some time for Todd and Morrison County Commissioners to speak to their commissioners too to see what they thought about the increase and they both said, "Well, it is, you know, it is what it's got to be." So,
um, Mr. Chair, yes. Just a question. How can the state cut the library um, funds and we can't? It's an R I don't know. It's an R RSL something and we'd have to get more clarity from, you
know, it was the funding is based on year and we they did get a raise a few years ago and now they took some of that back and it come through that might be it just a question to ask. Yeah, I know it came through the education bill. You know, they've cut some of the education
bill funding. So, um then we had BEP board meeting. We discussed a little bit on budget and uh um there was some other concerns on BAP. She's got some some um stuff going on
that she's more confident that you know or confidential she can't go out there yet. Um and then we had Tri County Solid Waste. Um that was I don't know somewhat non-eventful.
um you know they're looking at getting a grant for depackaging again for the schools. I think they were like talking mainly for the schools which you know they had the grant a few years ago from Sterns County and that was really a interesting one but it was just you know
dealing in so you can what make methane gas out of the packaging food and it's a big deal from schools and that I guess the food waste and you know just to bring that up we they we did that the score grant gave money for Foley to do that trailers
wasn't it and and that only lasted a few years and then it was then they were done with it to they took it to didn't they take it to the I think it was Elk River or where did they take it to didn't they take it to out by they took it by Raleigh's in there someplace yeah
where they have organic oh that organic compost compost yeah I don't know if they're still doing it I guess I don't know we got the trailers back we did get the trailer back them so yeah so I don't know if they're still you know doing that program or not I just wanted to
bring that up and then Yesterday we had uh an executive for meeting for Micah. They're sending a letter out to all the state to the two state uh US senators and all the congressmen about the $12 billion that'll be cut to Minnesota in
SNAP programs in Medicare. Um I don't know if it'll you know I I I did see overnight that the the so-called big beautiful bill is hit a few snags in the Senate. So, um, you know, the cost in the SNAP program has already trickled
down a little bit. Um, when they talked about it last week about SNAP being cut so much, the cheese price dropped 30 cents last week because cheese is a big one of the biggest products that was in there. So, then you go back to the local
people that they'll get cut. So, and that was all that I had. All right, Mr. Chair members, uh, as Chris mentioned, him and I attended the Gilman City Council meeting. Um, you've heard about that discussion. One other thing, they did make an effort to to thank us again
for the ARPA money that was given to them for uh towards their project. Um, it was mentioned, we had our special meeting on the 23rd. On the 24th, actually was a Tuesday, which is a little bit of a rarity. Soil and Water Conservation District had their meeting instead of their monthly Wednesday meeting. I was there for the first hour
or so for that. They've had some staff turnover there, so they're trying to adjust to that. Uh later in the day, I had a virtual meeting with Judicial Ditch 1A from Lax County, reviewing uh some of the lawsuit results and that type of thing. So, pending some more information going forward there. On
the 25th, Highway 23 Coalition Board, we mentioned our letter of support today was a lot of that discussion at that meeting. Um the following day, Commissioner Pop mentioned him and I were at the Tri County Solid Waste meeting. Prior to that, I attended our subcommittee meeting which myself,
Commissioner Perski and Commissioner Felbur from Sherburn County sit on along with the solid waste officers and the executive director of the Tri County solid waste. And basically, we're trying to work on and establish a plan B going forward with our Pope Douglas contract.
So, we need to get some of that information back to the full Tri County solid waste board as we proceed. Uh, also attended the Benton County Human Services poker walk. That was interesting. picked up a lot of information and a and a bag full of treats. So that was kind of fun. Uh and then later that evening uh had a fully
care uh board meeting also uh basically reviewing results from fundays and the pork chop dinner and dwellum etc. So a typical monthly meeting there. That's all I had. Mr. Chair Jared, do you have anything? I'll just have the highlights. Uh
obviously the special board meeting uh uh Commissioner Hein and myself did have a Sock Rapids uh 29 meeting as well. Uh I think we got another one next week, don't we? Yep, I believe so. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh that's to be continued. We did
have an AMC board meeting. We approved the um increase for dues for the uh um for all the counties. uh it ended up being a 7% which it seems like a lot in percentage-wise but it but realistically
increase to Bettton County is not not very big at all. I think it was maybe a couple grand. So um other than that I had a few meetings canled because of lack of uh lack of u um content. So that's about it for me.
Okay. Anything else? Commissioner concerns. Anybody got any commissioner concerns? I have one that was brought forth by a lot of people was that we uh went forward with not acknowledging the voters that wanted to
vote on this building referendum. I mean, I'm sure glad I'm glad to see Tim up here and commented because, you know, you need to hear the other side as well as the negative side. um you you know you people are few and far between either that come forward or or speak. So
that makes it a little bit easier to stomach this but uh from the most part I can't find any any positive comments and a lot of negative comments about you know doing it without their approval. We were very open and upfront. Mr. Chair,
if I if I could continue on that particular line I didn't bring it up but I will. Um, I had approximately 15 phone calls, emails total. Of the 15, 14 were positive. I had my first negative phone call Friday. Okay, that was just for me
personally. And and I I can say the same thing. Uh, positive voicemails, uh, positive emails. Um, I had one really nasty voicemail which has been forwarded to the Benton County Sheriff's Department. Yeah, I had one nasty one, too, but that
was and I've had nine positive emails or phone call conversations. I didn't have anything positive out of my area. Set committee of the holes. Well, Mr. All we have is I know Chris would like to have a committee of the whole to discuss ditch matters. And uh just a
small technicality, I think if you're going to talk about ditch issues, you you should be sitting as the ditch authority. So, I think this should be a committee of the whole of the ditch authority. Okay. Not a big deal, but and we can we would post it accordingly. Okay. So, yeah. What you got in terms of
dates, Chris? Yeah. Excuse me. Um, so the purpose of the cow would be discuss uh the final draft of the county ditch 10 repair. So, I felt like a a work session type setting would be best for that. Uh um so not this week, of course.
Uh um next week I'm full. Okay. Um the week of the 14th, we have a county board meeting on Tuesday already. Yep. 15th. Yep. H Okay. Now that we look at schedules, uh the 21st, uh road tour day, right? That road tour day. If the
board still wants to do that, we can still give the road tour that day. Um you already booked the bus. I did book a bus, but we can still cancel it up to 5 days prior. So Monday the 14th, I'm busy that day. We have labor negotiations
that day. The Monday? I thought it was Tuesday and Wednesday. That's the 8th and 9th. That's next week. Oh. And then we're also booked for the 14th. Oh, book something else. Yes, sir. About the 28th. Oh,
28th is wide open for me. That would work. Works for me. Okay. case works. Currently works 8:30, 9:00, 6:30.
I'm 6 a.m. 6 a.m. Starting to sound like Joe Wallik. You'd say like 5 a.m. Yeah, I'm all for it. 8:30. 8:30 works. Jared, you good with 8:30? Yep. Yep.
Yep. July. Yes. July 28th, 8:30. And we'll again we'll post that as a ditch authority ditch authority. Not a cow, right? It's not a cow. Yeah, it is. It's just it's a committee the whole of the ditch authority, right? Yeah. Yep. That's all
we have, Mr. Chair. Okay. Move for approval of the cow. Mr. Chair, I'll second. Roll call. Commissioner Benoy I. Commissioner Heinen. I Commissioner Pop. Hi,
Commissioner Johnson. Hi, Commissioner Gapinsky. Hi, Nagot. This ain't going to work.