It's 8:30. I'll go ahead and call today's meeting of the Klay County Board of Commissioners to order. The first item is looking for an approval of the agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Have a motion by Commissioner Bayer to approve the agenda. >> Second.
>> A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? >> Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign carried. Our next item today is citizens to be heard. Is there any citizen wishing to address the
board on any item that is not on the agenda? >> Have we had any online correspondent? Nothing madam chair. >> Thank you. Next item is the payment approval of payment of bills and vouchers. >> Move to approve the payment of the bills
and vouchers. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh to approve the payment of bills and vouchers. >> Second. >> A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I.
>> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. The next item is the November 18th, 2025 meeting minutes. >> Madam Chair, I uh move to approve the minutes from November 18th, 2025. >> Motion offered from Commissioner
Ebinger, a second from Commissioner Bayer. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Same sign. Carried. Our 8:35 item is our annual treatment court
update. We have Judge Liser, Judge Rosenfeld, Crystal is here. Boy, from going to junior high with both of you to be able to refer to you as the honorable. Good to see you both this morning and your group. Good morning.
Good morning. Thank you for having us. And we're ahead of schedule, which is good because some of you know I like to talk. So, um, good morning. Thank you so much for having us. This is um my first year uh running the drug court and as all of you
know this is our first year having the DWI court and Judge Liser is presiding over that. Um this has been an incredible opportunity. So thank you first and foremost for having these treatment courts, supporting these treatment courts and truly um for me
professionally in my job this is really the highlight of what I get to do every single week. Um, and so I want to introduce Lindsay Cassette. She is our new coordinator. She's our new Crystal Cry. Um, Crystal Cry is now in a supervisory role with respect to both
the seventh and eighth judicial districts. She supervises all of the treatment courts within those two districts. Lindseay Cassette is here um, presiding over and running the drug court, the DWI court, and the Veterans Court here in Klay County. So, Lindsay,
I'll turn it over to you for a few introduction and remarks. >> Yes, good morning and thank you again for having us. We of course appreciate it and um hope to highlight kind of the overview of the impact of our courts as
well as the public safety impact. So, as you know, uh Klay County has three treatment courts. a drug court which has been longwstanding going on 20 years, a DWI court which has been operational since January 16th of last year and a
veterans court which also has been longwstanding but has recently had um become operational again because we have a veteran. So all of these courts serve high-risk high needs justice involved in
individuals. The high-risisk and high need comes in the fact that there is a substance use disorder or disorders and potentially mental health disorders. So our courts al um my team as well as the
judges wrap around these individuals through evidence-based protocols with substance use disorder treatment, mental health treatment, high intense supervision through our DOC partnerships as well as after the acute stabilization
phase wrap around them for economic, educational and social, emotional and family um building and kind of figuring out their needs and move them into a more stable
and connected life within our community. From there, I'm going to move it to Judge Rosenfeld to give kind of the impact overview. Thank you. So, of course, we all love numbers, so I'm going to just talk briefly about some numbers with respect
to the treatment courts. Um, in 2025, our drug court has 19 participants. DWI court, 10 participants, which is a phenomenal number given that it's only been operational for one year. Veterans Court, one. Um, and then I want to talk
a little bit about graduations. Drug court, we had seven graduations this year. You are always invited to those graduations. We will send out the email. We know your schedules are quite busy, but please feel free to come. They are very impactful um and really celebratory
moments for our treatment court participants. For DWI court, of course, we haven't had any graduates, but we do have some individuals who are on the path to graduating in 2026. So, look forward to those. Veterans Court, same thing. No graduations, but we do have
one veteran who is on a path to graduate in 2026. Beyond the numbers, um, we we really have wanted to use 2025 to lift these courts up. The drug court's been operational for 20 years. New team
members have come along, including myself, but several other team members. And so, I want to just talk about what we've done in 2025 beyond the numbers to really increase um, our our court and its visibility. We have our new coordinator, which has been very helpful
to have someone here in Klay County coordinating all three courts. Of course, we also applied for at the end of 2024 and received in 2025 a grant from Allrise. For those of you that don't know, Allrise is the national
entity, national organization that presides over all treatment courts across the nation. They provide the training. They provide the evidence-based best practices for operational treatment courts. So, with the help of Miss Cadri, at the end of 2024, we applied for our drug court to
receive what's called a foundational training for allrise um faculty to come here to Klay County and do a training for our team, which for the most part are all new team members, and we received that. So, at no cost to anyone,
all rise came here for three days. their faculty that included one judge and two faculty members and spent three full days with our drug court team. Uh Mr. Mountain was a part of that. I would I'll I'll let him tell you if he disagrees with me, but overall it was an
incredible training. It was educational. It was helpful. It was the most up-to-date information and again at no cost to anyone. So we feel really good about that base level training. We have a long list of things that we want to revamp and redo with respect to our drug
court, but we needed that training to all get on the same page, all have that same information. We also created a SharePoint site uh for our treatment courts, which just makes everything streamlines our communication and our organization much better. We've also
really um made a direct effort to be visible within the community. So, we have spoke at a Kanas meeting. We're speaking at the Greater Morehead Business Association meeting in January. We have partnered with the Lotus Center here in Morehead. We have uh the
director of the Lotus Center on our drug core team as well. She is a licensed addiction counselor provides some really incredible insight for when we're we're working with our participants. We added def a defense attorney. We've partnered with the Joy Project for Christmas to
help um our participants with uh providing Christmas gifts for their children, but also having a wonderful holiday party to celebrate the end of the year. We have invited graduates to come back to treatment court. So, we're forming an alumni network. Uh we've partnered with Heart of Clay. I think
many of you know Heart of Clay within our jail. Um we've invited them to come and speak with our drug court trying to strengthen that collaboration a little bit with the heart of clay and the great work that they do. We have implemented peer support. Peer support individuals are coming to all of our drug court me
drug court sessions. We have implemented attending career fairs for our participants. Uh, Churches United, we've partnered with them so that our individuals when they are doing community service hours, they are doing those often at Churches United, which of course is a great need in our community.
Klay County Jail, we've partnered with them. Bri from the Klay County Jail is now on our drug court and comes to all of our drug court sessions as well. We've partnered with uh Detox, Klay County Detox. We've toured their facility and we are using the detox center much more than we are with
respect to jail. So, if someone has had a relapse, there's no new criminal behavior. We can use that facility as opposed to um putting people in jail. We are updating our manual and our handbook. We're updating our referral and our acceptance process as well. We
have many new team members. Um we have a new prosecutor. Miss Foss has been on the drug court team now for I think since about March. Um, and overall it's it's really looking like 2026 is going to be a wonderful year for the drug court and we're really excited about it.
I'll turn it over to Judge Lisa to talk about DWI court. >> So, as you know, DWI court has been off the ground now since February of last of this year and we had a bottleneck of folks that were waiting to get in the
program even going back to 2024. So, uh, rumors can fly pretty fast in the courthouse and, uh, there was rumors that this program was coming and I think folks at this program for them, they were able to hang in there, wait a
little bit for this to get off the ground. So, we had a kind of a first wave of participants come in right at the beginning. And uh, of course, one of the prerequisites for those folks is going
to be demonstrating that they were serious about probation and soiety. And so, a lot of them came in with a large chunk of coming into the program. But is not the only thing that we're working on. We're working on all these other things. We're going to talk about some of them later. But once we got that
first wave in, we had a few more that we've added throughout the summer and we're starting to have a little bit more of a an even dis distribution of folks and where they're at in the program. So, uh we have some people that are progressing and they're starting to get a little bit advanced in the program.
It's been a lot of fun to see them uh doing well. Had some people that had struggles coming in right away as well and we're taking different routes and procedures with them. But, uh so we don't have any graduations yet. That's what I'm trying to get. But they will be
coming. And we have just had a great year of growth. We have a lot of lot to learn. We're making some of it up as we go. But I also want to thank Mr. Melton for sending Kelly from his office. She's on our team. She's fantastic.
Thank Sheriff Empting for sending his chief deputy Martin to be with us. He is just invaluable. His experience and that law enforcement participation so crucial and and Chief Deputy Martin is as you all know is not find anybody
better. So um we are very fortunate to have a lot of people from the county and the community in our program as well and so we will be leaving with you today an executive summary of 2025. Lots of data,
lots of really good information. don't like to hand it out right at the beginning because then we know you're going to start looking at this and not listen listen necessarily to what we're saying. But we'll leave this with you. Um so if you have any questions, concerns, please feel free to reach out to myself, Judge Liser, Lindsay, Miss
Cry, um if you ever have any questions, concerns about any of the programs. Um as you know, we are obviously here as well because we do come here and make that request for some financial contribution to these programs. our our request this year is the same as it is
last year. We're not asking for an increase in the money that the courts receive. Um the only slight modification that we're asking for this year um and we did have a a wonderful meeting with administrator Larson regarding this request is we would like to be able to
keep about a third of the funds here locally. And this um I just want to give a brief outline for uh what treatment courts are really focusing on now is recovery capital. So we know how to treat substance use disorders. We know
how to treat mental health. We know how to treat criminal behavior thinking. We do all of that and we've done all of that. Now of course the research is saying but we need to do a little bit more. We need to invest in these individuals. We need to get them connected in the community in a positive
way. And so how do we do that? We need to build the recovery capital. That includes employment, education, driver's license, community involvement, new community organizations, groups. It might have a faith component. All of those things are very important to
having these individuals fill up that recovery capital. We we're in a loneliness epidemic and our participants have not um evaded that. They when we ask them, "Do you have a hobby?" They don't have a hobby. They don't have any groups that they're with. And so we
would like to be able to keep some of these funds local to spend them on recovery capital expenses. Minnesota for the money that they give us very much says what you can and cannot spend that money on. I think that will change in the coming future just because of this
push for recovery capital. But in the time until that happens, we would like to keep this money local. This is at the recommendation of All Rise saying, "Hey, treatment courts, if you want to have some discretionary money to be able to spend on recovery capital, you have two
options. One, you can ask your local officials to keep that local and use the city auditor to sort of manage those funds, keep those funds, make sure that they're being spent appropriately. Or you can form a 501c3 as a side nonprofit.
Certainly, we can look at a 501c3. that we kind of thought it would be easier to keep a small amount of money here. The auditor would have that money. We would submit, of course, just like you would any other expense. If you want an example, one example is I think we all see those community education books from
the city of Morehead. Um, phenomenal classes, phenomenal opportunities. Sometimes they're like $70, sometimes they're 140. Um, one of our participants would like to do silver smithing. So, we would like to be able to help pay for those to get these folks connected with
hobbies and different groups um and organizations. Another example would be driver's classes. Many of our individuals don't have driver's license and they need to go through the driver's training. They've never done it. It's about $130. For our participants to be able to save up $130, we might be
talking about months. But if we can match them, if they can pay half and we can pay half, that's where this money would come in would be helpful. Um, and so it just gives us a little bit more flexibility with what we could spend the money on. So that's the request this year with respect to the the financial
contribution. >> Questions from the board? >> Commissioner Kavanagh. >> Thank you for everything. I have a bunch of questions, but I think I better read that first. Anyway, I I thank you for all the things you do. So, this
discretionary money, if if I may, when do you start implementing those type of uh that strategy? I guess you know where they go out where in their development have they just graduated or is it prior that?
>> Yeah, it would usually fall within uh phases three and four of the program. Phases one and two are really focusing on stabilization, addressing those substance use disorders, mental health disorders, the criminal behavior thinking. Once you've reached that point of stabilization, okay, now how can we
add to your life to make sure that we are not coming back to um and recivid and committing new crimes. >> Okay. So then um so it's in and there was another question. So what what are the typical what's the typical time
frame of this whole court? >> Yeah, for drug court it's right around 18 to 24 months. I mean it could be as short as 12 months. That's pretty >> something that may happen in like the last six months or so. >> Absolutely. >> Transition >> and then with that so going to the grad
rate or what you have now. So this would the money you're asking about you feel will be able to serve what you're the amount of people you're working with now. >> Yes. Uh you mean the amount of participants that are in the court right now?
>> Yeah. Citizen, >> we do. So, what I will say is right now we have 19 people in our drug court. Y >> um we had our compliance agent resign. She has moved on to some other things. about the fall of 2025. We have
just offered and have an acceptance for a new compliance agent. Without that compliance agent, our probation agent is kind of capped at about 20 participants. >> That's just, you know, how much she can manage. Adding that compliance agent, we can definitely increase our numbers a
little bit with respect to drug court, but yes, we feel like this money will be enough. >> Okay. and judge Lisa to the new DWI. You talked about bottlenecks. So I guess I'm asking what will your capacity be as you see it?
>> Well, I think that our capacity will be impacted mostly by So the participants are all working very intensely with a probation agent. Uh much more so than a regular person on probation that might meet with their agent once a month, maybe once a couple
months. These folks are meeting with their agent at least once a week likely more than that via phone and text me message as well. So um what we've been told by the doc is that for that heightened level of
supervision they really try to keep it at about 20 per agent. >> Okay. >> So we have one agent assigned to our program. that sort of translates into anything more than 20, I feel like we'd be really piling on to this one agent. Wouldn't be fair to the agent, wouldn't
be fair to the other participants. So, um, for now, assuming that we are going to be with one agent in the foreseeable future, which I think is fair to say, I think that we're about 20 is probably our >> and our needs in the DWI court program
are slightly different from a financial standpoint than folks, I think, in the drug court program. Judge Rosenfeld has other thoughts. Um, but just generally speaking, very broad strokes here, uh, folks with alcohol dependency issues are
are oftentimes just coming from a different socioeconomic background than folks with with a say a methamphetamine or fentanyl program, fentanyl issue. A lot of our participants already have full-time jobs. You wouldn't know that they are struggling with alcoholism.
They've navigated their lives to a degree that they have professional jobs and come from professional settings. They make mistakes, get in trouble while driving. Prosecutor's office, police get involved. They're in the criminal justice system. But um you know, some of
our folks have uh economic hardships as well. But the majority of them are working and and don't need as much of this I think as the third. But we would certainly probably avail ourselves of these funds from time to time from the DWI core program but probably not quite as much.
>> And then last question uh what is onethird? What does that amount to? >> Uh 10,000. >> Okay. >> So it's 30,000 total and then so 10,000 would stay local. One other example I failed to mention was CAP LP. We have many of our participants who've never
had a checking account. um have no budget, have not any skills on a budget. CAPLP runs a phenomenal financial class, but of course um it is not at a time during the day that often works for our participants. It's often when they're in
treatment. So doing something at a different time and we've discussed that with CAPLP, but of course they need to get paid something for that class. So they've offered to do that class for $200 for all of our participants. That's another example of what we we would use
the money for. >> Thank you. >> Additional questions. >> Other Can I make a motion or what? >> Yeah. >> Are you looking for a motion in reclassifying the funds? >> I would defer to administrator Larson. >> Um Madam Chair, commissioners, we don't
have to do that. Your investment in that program would uh would just remain as part of the budget. Uh we'll I'll work with Lori to make sure that uh that that is there. or they're going to provide invoices for those funds as they use them. And so, uh, ultimately, in the
past, the funds went directly to court and they used it as as they saw necessary. Now, a portion of that will stay back and they'll only receive it should they should they need it. So, >> well, I really appreciate coming here to
update all of us. Uh, it's great to see how this these programs have changed over the years. In my time on this board, this board has always been incredibly supportive of the work, of the investment. Uh, Judge Judge Lawson would always come and give us the
updates. And and part of what folks in the community don't quite realize is these are individuals that walk among us every single day. And I appreciate the recovery capital component because those are that's an ability to invest in the community residents that we have while
also keeping those funds locally. Making sure that you figure out how best to support people. Recovery is really challenging and tricky and it takes a lot of buyin from many different partners and and so from our aspect, thank you so much for your work. It's
challenging. It's uh tricky. But if you've ever had the opportunity to attend a graduation, it is immensely powerful. And even ones that may have been delayed for whatever reason, when they do get to their graduation, the appreciation of themselves for their
work that they've done is even um magnetized even more. So, thank you. Uh we appreciate it. Commissioner Ebinger. >> Yeah. I'd just like to make a quick uh thank you. I've had a chance to talk to Judge Rosenville lately. Uh we both serve on a subcommittee with state treatment
courts. I represent the AMC on that on that uh subcommittee and the state is engaged in this. Uh it is a this is a almost an expectation that a court system have these options
for for people. I think it's a great investment. When I was chief, we invested asset forfeiture funds in it every year. And the the return on it is manyfold to get people productive, get them out
of the system, and get them uh give them their life back. So, you're doing a remarkable job. There's a lot of energy out of all three of you, and this is uh this is a good thing for Klay County. So, thank you. >> Thank you.
very much. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item three today is a request approval to fill the vacant general maintenance tech position. Good morning, Joe. >> Morning, Madam Chair and board members.
Um, yes. I'm here to u request approval to fill a vacant u general maintenance tech position. Uh, first want to thank Craig Severson. Been working for us for a few years. Um, real hard worker. Um, he's taken another career path that he's worked hard to get to and um I want to
congratulate him on that and um he will be missed. So, so thank you Craig. Um, just a little history here. We do have six uh full-time uh maintenance techs. Um as uh early 2000s, we operated with
five and um we ended up adding this sixth position uh in 2020. Uh what happened is um we kind of held that line for a while. When we added the 28 uh buildings in 2018 and uh LEC in the jail, we we decided to hold off and then
when the government center came is when we really felt that pull. Uh so we requested to add that position. Um it's a very necessary position I feel. Um um as far as uh since then we've added um the resource recovery center, the DMV um
and detox buildings out there. So much needed position. Um January 2nd is when he'd be done. Um I do have an attached um worksheet for calculation here and it would be a cost savings at $6,56. Um, and then I did take it to pick and I
believe they approved it. So with that, any questions for me? >> Commissioner Abinger, it did go to pick. >> Yeah, it went to pick and it's been forwarded with approval. >> Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Uh just coming going back to the 2020 piece, we had anticipated that need once we were
building the jail 2017 2018 that we knew that the capacity for the um space would be too much for your your group and you said no, we can figure it out. We'll make it work and you made it work as long as possible. And that was just one building. Now we've talked about additional expansions and that and
>> um I messaged you after a planning commission meeting. I think it was like 9:45 at night and you had you were on it. You >> staff figured it out and you're just always so uh responsive to the needs of everyone, you and your staff.
>> Any other questions from the county board wishes? >> Madame Chair, I move that we fill the vacant general maintenance technician position. >> Motion by Commissioner Ebinger to approve. A second
>> and a second from >> Can I Can I insert one thing? Uh, can I ask for a back fill if necessary? I don't >> Yes, sir. >> I'll add that into my motion. >> Not see your second. Okay. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify
by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Carried. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item number four today. Are you anticipating Ashley coming? Okay. Item number four today is a request approval to reappoint Ashley Hang to a second
term on the planning commission. We have our planning and zoning director Matt Jacobson with us today. Good morning. >> Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair and commissioners. Yeah, looking to uh act on the planning commission recommendation to uh reappoint Ashley Hang to a second term. Um I do have her
uh interest form that she had submitted back during her first term. Uh Ashley has been just a wonderful addition to the planning commission. uh very thoughtful, brings a lot of great questions. She's one of the planning commissioners that um I speak with uh with somewhat regularity in between
meetings on different issues happening in the county and and that's really um great to have uh such an active and engaged uh member of the community on the planning commission. Um it'd be great to have her back for a second term.
>> Thank you. Any questions? >> Just one comment. >> Yep. Commissioner Emmer or Commissioner Bar >> when I was on planning and zoning commission I worked handinhand with her. I think she's great asset on that committee. So I'll make a motion to reappoint Ashley Hang to the second term of the planning commission.
>> Okay. Motion offered from Commissioner Bear. >> Second >> and a second from Commissioner Ebinger. Further discussion. Further discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. We do have
a number of other openings that we're currently advertising for as we're continuing to drum up community applications. Correct. >> Yes, that's correct. We have two open positions right now. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item five today is a request approval to
post the request for proposals for food services. We have James. Are you taking it for uh the group today? >> Morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Yeah, I'm I'm here today to request uh permission to um post the RFP um for our
food services um food services contracts up uh February 6th of 2026. Um I'm here today taking it for everybody because um the Juvenile Center qualifies as a um for the National School Lunch Program. Um and that's
where it gets really complicated. So, um, but, um, it's it's worth a lot of money to us and following the National School Lunch Program. Um, I it was reviewed by the attorney's office, too, um, for contacts and we got to get it
posted. Um, so hopefully we get some good bids. I do got to say that um, the the correctional facility, having that facility over there and that uh, that kitchen available to us has paid dividends over the years. It's really reduced our food
service costs. So, >> agreed. >> Questions for James on the item? Commissioner Abinger? >> And James, the school lunch programs requirements are kind of complex. We're not going to try and get a bid that includes those requirements for the
correctional facilities and the uh detox or are they going to be on a separate tier? It >> it's going to be a separate. So, they um the RFP is set up so they can provide three separate bids. one for the juvenile center, one for um the correctional facility, and then one for detox and price it accordingly.
>> Thank you. >> Commissioner Barry, >> in those bids, could they also utilize our kitchen on site or No, >> that's that's correct. That's that's part of the the bid is um we got in there um that they're going to use our site and um and whatever resources go
with that and we'll see what the contract comes up with. But yep, >> and we have seen savings over the years because of >> significant savings because of that. Yep. >> Questions. >> Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Ebinger,
>> I move that uh to approve approve the posting of an RFP for food services following Minnesota rules and regulations for the West Central Regional Juvenile Center, Correctional Facility, and withdrawal management detox facility. We
have a motion offered. I'll >> go ahead. >> A second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? >> One one question. How long How long would this contract be? >> So that's that's with the new National School Lunch Program. Is the It'll only
allow us to do one-year contract with four one-year follow-ups after that. Um and they're kind of stringent um upon, you know, what the follow-ups are. And usually it just it's pretty standard to follow um a consumer price index for the raise for whatever that is. So
>> Okay. >> But then after four years you got to re >> got to redo it. >> Redo it. >> We have a motion and a second on the table. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I
>> oppose. Same sign. Carried. Thank you. Thought you'd come in with a Theelin jersey on today. >> That went back to school. >> I know. It's a shock that my little boy wore one to school today. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. So, today we have the request for approval in supporting resolution
2025-36 for Dworth's LRIP. >> Yeah. So, Dworth is applying for local road improvement funds to construct 4th Avenue Northeast to 60th Street Northeast. Then also paving 60th Street Northeast to trunk highway 10. Since
they are a non-state aid city, they're required to have a supporting resolution from the county who would be required to be the project sponsor. So kind of same as the resolutions that I brought last week. This one's just for Dworth. >> Questions? Word questions?
>> And I'll make a motion to approve resolution 25 2025-36. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh. >> Second, >> and a second from Commissioner Bayer. Further discussion. Further discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify
by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. The next item is a request approval of supporting resolution 2025-37 for Holly's LRIP. >> Yeah. So, same thing here. So, Holly's going to be applying for LRIP funds to
improve A Street South. And since they're not a non-stated city, the county is required to have a supporting resolution be their sponsor. I have one question. >> Commissioner Bear, >> what what makes a state a state aid city non-state? What's the difference here? Is it just the population?
>> Yep. So, anything over under 5,000 or is a non-state aid city? Anything over 5,000 is then eligible to be a state aid city? >> Then they wouldn't need your your signing off on this. >> Correct. So, Dworth is actually probably the next census. They're going to be really close
would be my guess. Um, and then they would get a state aid basically aotment each year, which for a city is a lot lower, especially if you're right at that 5,000 >> than going after this kind of money. >> Yep. >> With that, Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion
to approve resolution 2025-37 for the city of Holly's LRIP application. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Bayer. >> Second. >> A second offered from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Yes, Commissioner Kavanagh. >> Yeah. Going back to what was just asked,
if they hit that 5,000 threshold, >> are they required then >> to go on their own >> if there's more money available through this process? >> Um, so it wouldn't be this process. They would just So the gas tax is allocated
both to counties and cities. There's a certain formula. Then once they hit that threshold of being over 5,000, they're eligible to be a state aid city, which by stat I can look into it, but I believe by statute they have to. >> Okay, just car. Thank you.
>> Further discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. >> Thank you, >> Justin. Thank you also for your work with our first snow event. Make sure you tell the crew we are appreciative.
>> Thank you. Number eight today is our 2026 budget discussion. We have our county administrator, Mr. Larson. Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Just uh have a few different updates that I was looking to provide here generally as we get as we
approach uh the finalization of our budget. I'd like to provide just a a little update both one on our halfsent sales tax uh and also our uh expense by departments uh and also we have a updated summary of tax of our tax levy
by funds uh of where we sit as of as of today. And so the first document just going to touch base with you guys on is the halfsent sales tax. We try to provide at least quarterly updates on on where we are. As we've talked this year, we we had uh uh something happen on a
couple months that we haven't seen for a while is a little bit of a dip uh where we didn't have more uh more funds collected this year versus last year. Uh having having said that uh we've been extremely steady over the last four
months. Uh again having uh at or above increases uh with the expectation is we haven't received our November payment this this month yet. Uh with that, uh we have our two payments remaining. We would uh if we had the same dollar
amount as we did last year, uh we would be at right around $4.6 million. As you recall, earlier this year, we did refinance uh the the bonds associated with the law enforcement correctional facility. we mirrored mirrored the remaining amount of time uh that we
initially had set up from a budget standpoint and a time frame from 20 uh 2018 to 2038. And so uh again we're pleased to see uh as uh we received support from the community in receiving the half cent sales tax. Initially, we
had fund funds that uh were associated uh from our levy to cover some of the costs of the law enforcement center and correctional facility. Fortunately, roughly two years ago, two budget cycles ago, we were able to remove all those dollars. Uh and the repayment for that
bond is now specifically uh specifically just paid through by the halfsent sales tax which has been uh impact positive impact to our to our citizens. Uh and so uh again, I know the question happens a lot. We ask the question a lot is if we
continue to uh receive funds at the this track, we'll be able to pay off or sunset the bond earlier. Uh and we're hopeful that could happen, but we don't necessarily have uh have that answer at this point. But with that, I would yield for any questions on the sales tax.
>> Thank you, Steve. In regards to the sunset, remind me again what we anticipated early on before we saw >> Yeah. So, so we're looking at a sunset of of 2038 is would be our last payment. >> Okay.
Questions from the board. >> Thanks for the report on this. It's always important for us to see obviously with um inflation things, you know, are not exactly apples to apples. the 67 joke. You didn't see it. So, um I
think it's really important as we can continue to evaluate it. Uh it is interesting now that additional sales taxes have gone into effect how that could or could not affect what the purchasing in the community is, but uh so far it's it's really been an
important tool that we utilize to help pay for the project. >> Okay. Next item, Steve. Uh the next item I'd like to to cover is just uh looking at our summary of revenues and expenditures by department. Again, most of our focus here is is the expenses
from the standpoint that our revenues generally fall six to eight weeks uh behind. Uh we were able to uh get the last uh November payroll and and uh bills uh in this. So, we're just under
90 under 192% of the year uh has been complete from our billing standpoint. Again, just want to highlight a couple different areas that uh that maybe either be are below or above uh where we are at from an expectation standpoint. Fortunately, most of them are below. Uh
and so the first area I just want to touch on is county public defenders. Uh uh again, we provide uh we provide funding through the courts for public defenders. We also provide uh through their through their different cases, they also may have additional costs that
we're responsible to cover. Uh and so from from our standpoint of where we sit uh at this point, our our um the amount of money that we've had to spend uh to this year has just been a little bit lower than what we've seen in the past. uh the county administrator's role if
you recall the board's position the board uh was fortunate to or I was fortunate that the board provided a county assistant county administrator uh at the end of the budget year last year after uh after the board had been the board had acted on the final budget
uh uh and therefore we knew that we were going to be operating in a deficit this year and so that uh captured there in the county administrator position uh motor vehicle We've would just like to touch base. We're we're already higher than expected
revenues. Again, this board is invested a great deal into motor vehicle making sure that our citizens one have a uh an acceptable facility to to utilize, but also have uh a number of windows that that speed up the service. And so, it's
uh it's great to see that our our weight times are down uh and also that our revenues are higher uh in that in that area. Um let's see that's we our personnel uh
area I would just point out because of the county administrators area went up we also saw some decreases uh there based on the hiring of of new positions of Anna and Jesse uh just came into that at at a lower salary technology services
is at 78% uh the big portion of that has to do with internal services and end ofear renewals. that are going to be coming. Uh, and so I've spoken with Rory and and uh they're going to be right around that 94%. It would be sitting right at 94% uh
with those internal service increases. A victim witness advocate is at 67% my understanding is they had a staff turnover uh that sat open for a while and so that's how we ended up with that savings. Law enforcement uh is at 78%.
Again, we've had some openings uh in the sheriff's department that have increased that. 911 fees are at re or revenues, excuse me, expenses are at 75%. Uh and if you jump down to uh jump down
a little bit lower, our dispatch uh is at 84%. That has to do with billing uh billing time frames uh that uh just haven't happened yet. Um the probation uh department 65%
um let's see that has to do with the billing also. We received quarterly bills throughout the year and and have not received uh the final two yet to this year. Uh let's see public health is down. We haven't transferred our third
quarter uh funding aotment there. That's why uh the expenses are down in that that case. Metro Council is at 76%. Uh if you recall last year, Metro Cog was doing a study. They're trying to wrap up a study and they asked for funding uh in
24 for some of the 25 funding requests and so we're going to we saw a little bit of a lower lower dollar amount there. >> Mr. Chair or not, sorry, Mr. Larson. Yes. on the metricog piece. We But did we sent a 100% of the dues, the
additional was just for the project specifically? >> Correct. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry for not being clear. Yes, that's correct. We >> Sorry for calling you, Mr. Chair. >> Uhhuh. Um, any other questions on the on the front page? >> Questions from the board?
>> I just had a question on the Greater Fargo Morehead EDC and abatement program. Are we really not seeing any abatements that qualify for that? >> Um 400. >> So So the uh
>> it's right above unallocated. It's a 435,000. >> That's that the taxes the uh uh excuse me, the abatement program is done at in a onetime payment at the end of the year. So that'll we'll see a significant increase there. >> Okay. So we're in we're anticipating
100% utilization. is that you just basically budget what >> existing abatements are out there. Correct. >> That's correct. Yes. >> But then the e greater FMEDC is included in that light item. Correct. >> That is also correct. >> So did they not request the 25 funds?
>> Uh they have they have express that. Lori just text and said that they're they get paid out in December. >> Okay. I I guess I just have a question on the timing of that and maybe that's what they want internally, but it's interesting that they don't they asked
for funds in 25 and have no time in 25 to utilize it. >> I can do some additional additional checking in on that for the >> additional questions. Pardon? >> Oh, good point. >> Maybe that's not why we're not seeing a
bunch of work done at the PDC if we don't pay. I thought we I thought we >> Commissioner Bear >> I I believe we've we have paid them. >> I know that you approved I know you approved the payment. >> Yeah, >> just check >> as as we're talking here. Loriy's watching, so maybe she'll maybe she'll
have some input as we go. >> We just haven't cash check. >> Additional questions from the board on these items. >> All right, if you flip the flip the page over, uh we have uh uh first item is road and bridge. were at 79%. I think
that uh three things have really impacted that budget. Number one, uh as you recall, we saw some pretty significant savings in projects this year. Uh and so that uh that certainly is bene beneficial to our construction budget. Uh we we also haven't made any
significant internal service purchases this year. of the funding is set aside as as we'll remind our citizens, we we set sid set a portion of the the the funds uh away each year uh rather than put a uh make the entire purchase of a
piece of equipment. Uh so we haven't done that. Uh and then also fortunately uh we had we've had a nice nice winter spring at the beginning of of 2025 and so we had some lower gas prices. Um
non-secured detention facility. Uh again the the expenses are sitting around 79%. Again that has to do with some of the staffing uh challenges that they had. Again public health shows up here at 78%. Just a reminder that we haven't
done the third quarter uh shift uh shift change. Uh solid waste is mostly salaries. Uh but also they haven't recognized the depreciation uh of that facility uh at this stage. Uh and then the family service center. Uh again
we're just uh we have not seen haven't seen the expenses. There'll be some coming up at the end. Uh we do have uh uh when we recognize everything and redistribute at the end of the year. Uh, with that, I'd yield for any questions on the back page. >> Thank you, Steve. I have a question on
the recycling piece, the expenditures. Are we uh do we um do we send out the small city's allocation of the recycling funds once a year or twice a year? >> Um, madame chair, commissioners, each
each, uh, municipality has a maximum amount that they can submit for. Uh and so um we haven't received I would assume we haven't received all the submissions from our from our municipalities at this point, >> but we're anticipating by the end of the year doing >> Yes, that's correct.
>> Additional questions from the board on the budget? Any other questions? >> One question. >> Okay, Commissioner Bear. Are are we going to have an updated one of these in uh in two weeks or is this what we get till the end of the year?
>> Um I mean as a board you can request what you what if you'd like to see this again. We certainly uh can do that in two weeks. You're probably not going to see a significant adjustment uh from from where we're at. Um but uh but certainly can do we can do whatever the board would like.
>> So are we are we going to so in two weeks or when do we lock in our budget for next year? Is it 23 the 23rd or the 16th? >> Uh so so Madam Chair, Commissioner Bear, we are uh we are having we have truth and taxation on the 16th. We don't have board next week because we'll all be at
the EMC conference. Uh and then we'll be looking to finalize the budget on December 23rd. >> But typically because of these being endofear items, you don't have final numbers for 25 until >> Yeah, correct. We we won't have the final numbers probably until the end of
March, beginning of April. Um, so >> well, thank you for that, Mr. Larson. Any questions from board members on the presentation? >> Madam Chair, I did include the levy levy by funds. We've we've kind of we've talked about that 4.66
is where we ended up where we where we are currently. Um, again, we talked about that 646, but with all the different adjustments that we made at the last board meeting, did have Lori uh go back, we reviewed all of our uh internal and external uh funding funding
amounts, and that's what that's where we're at. I would would note that as part of the the 16th meeting, um I will we will have will be needing to make some uh finalizations on the cola for for next year uh to make sure that that
uh that is taken into consideration uh when we come back that final week. And so um I know that uh part of our part of our discussion is with we've been working with our unions. Uh Darren may have some updates uh in in his uh in his update here at the end of the meeting,
but uh right now we're sitting at 4.66%. Part of my question on the abatement program is that's a large number uh unutilized is 432 and depending on what we're anticipating that coming out as if it's 100% if
there's any additional pieces of that could that be utilized to help buy down the levy. >> So the the abatement is specific to properties over that two-year piece. And so um so basically what happens is we collect the tax on all those properties
and at the end of the year the check is sent back out and so all of those funds will be utilized and spent back to given back to to our citizens. U I did check part of Lori did respond that uh just to be clear the EDC is has um received
their pay 100% of their payment. >> It just doesn't show it. >> I think we should probably update this forum. It's confusing to have it both lumped in because it only looks like $2,000. >> Sure. >> Yeah, I can I will uh I'll talk to >> Did you have a question? I
>> I'll just ask for them to be separated. >> Okay. >> On the next one forward. >> Any other questions? Commissioner Abbinger? >> Yes. Steve, just to refresh my memory, we factored 4.5 in as COLA. >> We have right now we have three we have
3% as the as the cola. Um, and we'll have to make we'll make adjustments as as we figure with our contract. >> Okay. Additional questions? >> All right. Thank you for preparing this for us.
>> Thank you. >> Committee reports. Commissioner Kavanagh, would you like to start today? Certainly. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, uh, last Wednesday we had our monthly board meeting for the historical and
cultural society. Uh main things I want to uh uh just bring out are some of the um fundraising events we had um over the last month. We
had a 5K u u raise fund raiser that brought in $3,600 and very happy with that. And the number of people involved was uh more than the year before. And then our big event was pangia and the
count on the pangia was just s shy of uh was480 people and so very well attended and um one of the things that we kind of chuckle about if you ever drive around the impromps that's not an easy place to
navigate with a lot of people and they did an excellent excellent job. So anyway, um other than that, it was really just um pretty uh uh straightforward business as usual.
Uh then on Thanks, uh Thursday, I celebrated Thanksgiving and I hope you all enjoyed yours too. Um uh then yesterday I had the uh planning commission and board of adjustments for
the city of Morehead. We had one plan, one hearing, public hearing, and that's for an addition in the uh Prairie Parkway edition, which uh is just uh an area just to the east
of the soccer field down there, just north of 40th Avenue. Uh anyway, this will uh it was all approved. Uh really uh happy for this uh addition being filled there. That's property that's been uh open for quite a while.
Originally, it was possibly going to be a uh more a mixed use uh area, but it did turn into being single family um density. So, that was approved. Now, it's the two meetings I had.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Kavanagh. Commissioner Bear. >> Madam Chair, I did not have any committee to report. >> Thank you, Commissioner Bear. Commissioner Evinger. Thank you, Madam Chair. Only meeting I had was last Tuesday. We had the pick uh committee meeting
u discussed the CDL policy uh with Corey Bang. I believe as I recall from that we're going to keep the CDL incentives. >> That's that's correct. The board has continued to provide those until further
notice. >> Yep. And then the facil facility tech that we had brought up with Joe Olsen today. Uh salary discussions for uh the sheriff, county attorney, and the assistant county attorney or attorneys.
Um and then we had an additional discussion on the early retirement incentive program. We have some employees that have been with us for a substantial amount of time or just a couple, but um through no fault of their own, they were put in a different grade
and so they haven't reached the 12th step of that grade, although they've been long-term employees. and we've decided to let uh let uh county administrator and personnel take that on a case-byase basis to look
towards approval. And that concludes uh my my meetings. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger. Yesterday was my only meeting for the last week. I attended the Metrocog executive committee meeting. We talked about the 2026 employee salary
adjustment. Typically what we do is follow what the city of Fargo is since they're an over 50% contributor but um based on the average uh it was about 3% 3.1% was the average COLA increase for all of the jurisdictions.
Uh so we went forward with the 3% that was budgeted. We did talk about how we understanding their bargaining units and it's hard for the entities to give Metrocog what that average is. Steve, they're going to work with you hopefully in June earlier to kind of um see where
we're we're thinking we might be at. So, it's easier to budget because if we would have had a large increase yesterday, we just didn't have the budget for it at all. We talked about Metro Cog's financial standing and then had agency updates from the director. And that concludes my reports. Mr.
Larson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Last uh Tuesday participated in the PIC program. And just a little further clarification uh on what Commissioner Everger talked about uh when it came to the early retirement. We had some employees if you recall early retirement meant you were
at 20 years uh and and at step 12 we had several employees because of the market studies that we have done have shifted backwards. Uh and so they they've met the 20-year requirement but weren't on that 12th step. And so, uh, wanted to to honor honor those requests, uh, as they
came forward, uh, because we brought it forward in in a quick quick fashion. There may be some other things that pop up. Uh, uh, but hopefully this will solve that issue. Um, that afternoon worked uh with Lori and and getting preparing this uh, the uh, excuse me,
the the 2026 budget update u information that was shared this morning. Uh, also just of note for for our citizens, I mentioned earlier, we won't have a board meeting uh next Tuesday. Uh, because we'll all be at the AMC conference, our the next time that we meet will be at
5:00 p.m. on December 16th. Uh, and we'll follow that up with Truth and Taxation. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Brian. Do you have anything? >> Darren, >> thank you, Madam Chair. Um I was also at the pick meeting and just to piggyback
on uh Steve and Commissioner Amber's that we have we identified eight other um individuals that fall into that over 20 but aren't quite at 12 due to the market studies and or grade changes. So um we're not talking a lot of people. I
think what we decided on at pick would be to um just put in a consent agenda for next week or then our next board meeting just outlining that little bit about if you're here 20 and no fault of your own you had to go to step 11 then
we would still consider that as part of the early retirement program. So I'll put that into the consent agenda on our next board meeting. Um uh after the pick meeting uh I didn't have anything after that. Wednesday I had off. Thursday and Friday it was
Thanksgiving holiday. Yesterday I had highway negotiations which went very good. Uh we have now uh five tenative agreements with our unions and uh so that's uh looking well.
Just a reminder that uh we have our Christmas party on Friday at 4:45 at the American Legion. Um you can buy your tickets now for $10 and after tomorrow they'll be $15 or $15 at the door. And
also yesterday uh HR sent out a um policy on paid leave. We had to notify all of our employees by December 1st of the paid leave that starts on January 1st. And so it's set up through the no
before uh application where you'll get an email, you click on it, it will show you the policy, you have to read through that and then acknowledge that and then it'll uh give us a tracking of who has acknowledged and who is not. It's not
something that we have to necessarily do, but it's it's part of the law that every employee has to acknowledge the paid leave uh policies that are going forward. So, um that's if you see that coming through your email, please uh
attend to that. And uh if you have any questions on any of that, please direct them to either Anna, Jesse, or uh Melissa at in HR. That's concludes my report. >> Thank you. Just thank you to HR going
through open enrollment. There's so many different challenging components. I know I was personally reached out to a couple times to uh answer some questions and help. So, make sure you extend gratitude to those folks for doing that. And then I did have a follow-up yesterday with our national legislative leaders. I did
um wasn't able to reach someone with Fishbox office, but did talk with both the senator's offices about CRP payments. There's a question on some of those federal conservation grant payments that were supposed to come out in December and seem to have still been delayed until uh once the government
came back open. Um my answer from them was that uh those checks should be uh become the run should be issued in the next week. So anyone waiting for those payments, that's that. Any other business before the board? Any other business? If not, we are
scheduled to meet on December 16th at 5:00 pm. We are adjourned.