Good morning everyone. I will go ahead and call today's meeting of the Klay County Board of Commissioners to order. The first item of the agenda on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. >> Madam Chair, I move for approval of the agenda. >> Motion to approve the agenda by Commissioner Ebinger, a second from Commissioner Bayer. Any further
discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Same sign. Carried. Our second item today would be citizens to be heard. Are there any
individuals in the audience wishing to address the board on any item that's not on the agenda? Anyone in the audience? Steve, have we had any online correspondents? >> We have not, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. The next item would be the approval of
the payment of bills and vouchers. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the bills and vouchers. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Barer to approve. >> Second. >> A second from Commissioner Kabanoff. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the
motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Same sign. Items carried. The next item would be the minutes presented from the December 30th, 2025 meeting. >> Madam chair, I move for approval of the minutes from December 30th, 2025.
>> A motion to approve offered from Commissioner Ebinger, a second from Commissioner Bayer. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I.
>> Oppose. Same sign. That item carries. Next item on the agenda today would be the 2025 Metro Profile Report presentation. Good morning. And we have Cararissa and Aiden from Metrocog. >> Thank you, commissioners. Good morning.
Um uh like Commissioner Mojo said, today we're going to be presenting our 2025 Metro profile. Uh this is a document that we've been uh producing uh we produce every year and have been producing over the last year. So excited to bring it in front of you all this morning. Um there is a lot of
information in this document and so um we're not going to be going over all of it today, but uh if you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out to myself or to Carissa or anybody at MetroCog. Um and we'd be glad to answer answer any questions. Um all right so just jumping into the
presentation uh the metro profile is separated into six chapters each of which focuses on trends affecting the development patterns and transportation network of the Fargo Morehead metropolitan area. Uh together these chapters provide a comprehensive snapshot of the conditions and trends uh
affecting our metro area. Uh the first chapter in this document is the community profile chapter. Um, and just some highlights on on the community profile chapter. Uh, the Fargo Morehead metro area has continued to experience faster population growth than the
country as a whole. Uh, in 2024, uh, there were 5,173 new residents added to the metro area. Um, resulting in a nearly 2% change um, over the previous year. Um, Morehead saw a nearly 1% change. Uh, Dworth saw 0.63%
increase. And then rural rural Clay County saw just a slight decrease of80%. Moving on to our demographics, uh the population of our metro area remains younger and more educated than the national average. Our metro area also continues to look more diverse despite
having lower rates of foreignb born individuals and those speaking a language other than English at home. uh even though our metropolitan area is diversifying uh we're still regional trends are still slower than what is occurring at the national level.
And lastly under community profile is our employment section. Uh and in 2024 the Fargo Morehead metro area was ranked number two in the nation for lowest unemployment rate. This is the second year in a row that we've been ranked uh number two which is pretty awesome. And then the other thing to highlight on
this page is that our metro area sees higher than average percent participation in the labor force uh when compared to the rest of the nation. For the for the [clears throat] roadways chapter um we look at trends of how many miles are traveled per capita in the
metro. The average commute time is about 17 minutes compared to the national average of 27 minutes. >> [clears throat] >> Um we also track the number of projects and funding sources in the tip. Um some of the major projects in 2024 were the 11th Street underpass in Morehead and
the reconstruction of 32nd Avenue in Fargo. >> All right, moving on to our freight section. Um, in 2024 there were 349 uh 3 million uh pounds of air cargo landed at Fargo Hector International
Airport. Um, this is a a 14% decrease over the previous year. Um, that increase reflects a couple things. There's a national downward trend in air cargo, something that's occurring at the national level that we're also seeing here. Um, and then there was also a a a
mail contract that FedEx had with USPS that was terminated. So um that is why there was such a drastic uh decrease this year. >> Um the other thing we're uh >> I have a question really briefly. >> Yeah. >> Would the addition of the Amazon facility in North Fargo have any uh
input on those numbers understanding that uh likely the folks are still making those purchases but because there's an availability locally that wouldn't be coming in by freight. >> That's a very good point. Okay, that'd be something to look into as well with the next years is we can maybe reach out
to Amazon and and get some numbers. Okay. How much cargo they're bringing in. >> Thank you. >> Um and then the other thing to note on this page, uh kind of a new um metric that we're tracking this year is the um percent of freight trucks on our interstate systems. So, freight trucks
account for 11.7% of all traffic on Interstate 29 and 7.4% of all traffic on Interstate 94. All right. And then moving on to our rail and air section. Um Amtrak's Empire Builder uh saw a pretty significant
increase in ridership this year, marking a almost 14% change over the previous year. Uh and then the on-time performance also uh increased by 4.5%. Um so hoping to see those trends continue into the future. Uh and then uh
Fargo Hector International saw its busiest uh year on record um for the I believe second or third year now um with nearly 1.1 million passengers served. And as many of you know the uh construction of the terminal expansion and parking garage uh that began in
2024. Um the parking garage is now complete and the terminal expansion uh should hopefully be completed in in 2027. We [clears throat] also track bike and pedestrian activity. Um, Fargo Morehead has an extensive network of trails and
bike paths nearing almost 300 miles. By using a widespread automatic and manual counting program, we track the number of trips made by foot and bike over year-over-year [clears throat] with 2024 seeing a 4% increase. Broadway and the Lynenwood Pedestrian Bridge are
some of the most used corridors in the metro. >> [snorts] >> um safety. Um additionally, tracking all crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians, we can identify trends of non-motorized safety. Um in 2024, the
metro saw an increase in the number of these crashes, um including two fatalities in South Fargo. [clears throat] >> Um and then yeah, uh just wanted to kind of highlight our our bike and pedestrian counting program. Um we have 14
automated bicycle and pedestrian counters um located throughout our metro area. Um and then in addition to that, we have we do manual counts every year um at 16 locations. Um so we're continuing to expand this program and and uh we have quite a robust um
counting program for for a metro our our size. Um, and then here are just some kind of highlights um of some of the counts that we uh get from these counters. Um, won't go super in-depth into any of these um
but just just here for your reference. All right, moving on to our transit section. Um, this year or in 2024, Matt Bus served over 1.3 million passengers. Um, resulting in a 2.2% increase from
2023. Uh, MAPAS has continued to see uh this growth trend um since uh since COVID or or postcoid. Um so we are hoping to see this continue and and reach uh pre-COVID levels. And then just one more slide on this and
this just kind of highlights the inventory um that that Mattbus has and I just wanted to highlight that uh there were 10 bus replacements ordered in 2022 by Mattbus and all of them uh were finally received in 2024. So a lot of those older buses have been replaced uh
and won't need to be replaced for for quite a bit longer. >> This is our new chapter um system performance. The system performance tracks how well the transportation system is working across the metro. Um, this includes traffic flow, travel time,
safety, and on-time performance. This helps us make smarter decisions about future projects and investments that keep people and goods moving safely and effectively. [clears throat] >> All right. Uh, this is this is one of my
favorite slides in this in this whole uh document. So, this is kind of an interesting trend that we've been tracking now over over the last couple years, but um over the past five years, our total vehicle miles traveled has remained relatively steady. However, during the same period, we've seen a
pretty significant population growth in our metro area. Um so, typically when you have more people that means you have more cars on the road, so you would expect a higher VMT, but that's actually not what we are experiencing. Um the data is telling us that even though
we've had that population growth, our vehicle miles are staying the same. So this could mean a couple different things. Um it's hard to exactly pinpoint what it could mean, but um it could be that uh changes in driver behavior. So people are just choosing to drive less.
Um fewer young people acquiring driver's licenses is also another thing that we've been um seeing kind of at the national level that may be happening here. Um or there could be increased reliance on alternative forms of transportation like our Matt bus transit
system or uh more people choosing to walk or bike to work to get groceries um that type of thing. So uh just something we wanted to uh put in into the document this year and and we're hoping to continue tracking this into the future.
And then the last uh slide that we have prepared for you is uh just kind of tracking the demographics of people living within a half mile of transit stops. Um so within a half mile of of uh transit stops, 170,000 people live
within that that buffer. Um 108,74 jobs are within that buffer. Um 8% of people living within that are car-free households. either uh voluntary or involuntary. Um 12% pe 12% of people are
living with a disability and 65 or 13% of people are 65 plus. Um and so our hope is to um continue again tracking these into the future. um hopefully maybe targeting some areas of town that u that may have high populations of
people that uh are car-free or 65 plus populations because these are the um populations that are most likely to use the transit service. Uh so with that, that's all we have uh prepared for you all today. Um there's a lot of information in here. So again, if
you ever have any questions, uh, feel free to reach out to Chris or or I, um, and we can take any questions at this time. >> Thank you, Carissa. Thank you, Aiden. Any questions from the board? >> The amount of work that has gone into this document is in incredibly large.
And, uh, this is one of those documents that I think as a commissioner is really handy to have in our back pocket. We sit on so many uh different committees revolving around a lot of the issues in which uh are talked about in this document and I think having the data will really help us make decisions
moving forward. So I know the planning piece is yours and then you hand it off to the decision makers. Uh gratitude on my part. Anything else? >> Thank you both of you. >> Yes. Next item today would be the request approval to award the food service
contract for the West Central Regional Juvenile Center Correctional Facility and withdrawal management. Good morning, James and Troy. >> Good morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Yeah, we're here today to
um request um permission for the board to make a decision on the food service contract. Um we came with a recommendation today um as part of compliance with uh the national school lunch program etc. I I provided something in your packet um with our
objective evaluation. Um the biggest price um is the price the biggest weighted one is is the price proposal but we weighed on several categories. Price proposal vendor pref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre ref pre references plan of operation nutrition and education past history with
compliance and um then total points possible. Um basically um going through it um from my point of view um and on those scores both proposals were almost identical in terms of um the references
that they provided their plan of operations um their standards or menus um pretty much identical of what they were planning to offer. Um the difference between the two was that um Trinity Food Services um came in cheaper
than um uh Summit Food. So um recommendation is to go with the cheaper option of the two. >> Thank you, James. Another direction from the board, I believe last week was to talk a little bit about what was
budgeted. Do you want and I know it's in the memo, but do you want to just highlight that piece? >> We'll do. Um, so when I broke that down, um, I budgeted for an 8.5% increase. Um, and I did that based on the consumer price index, um,
for that, um, that's given out. Um, and the actual increase from Trinity for the juvenile center, not for um, the other facilities, um, that actually came out to be a 26% increase. Um,
however, um, and that's the lowest of the two bids. Um, however, one thing with the National School Lunch Program is, um, access to commodity foods, um, and crediting that can be done with our vendor, which was in the RFP and will be
in the contract as part of the thing, which would reduce our the juvenile cent's cost by up to 45% 45 cents per meal. So with that addition that would put it within what you budgeted for? >> Lower than what I budgeted for actually.
>> Okay. >> Questions of the board? >> Yes. >> Question madam chair. >> Who are we currently using for this service? >> Trinity food services. >> Any further discussion questions? >> Commissioner Kavanagh.
>> Yeah. Just want to thank you for all your work. Very well done. I'd make a motion uh motion to award the food services contract to Trinity Food Services effective February 7th. >> Second. >> A motion offered from Commissioner
Kabanov, a second from Commissioner Ebinger. The date is correct. >> That is correct. February 7th would be the start date of the new contract. >> Any further discussion? >> One question. >> Yes, Commissioner Bear. >> That is for a one-year contract with additional years on top of that.
>> That is correct. two two additional years. >> We have up to four additional years >> with an in with a set increase >> that'll be in contract. But what is standard is the um consumer price index for the urban and food preparation thing.
>> Yeah, that would be the increase on >> any further discussion. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> oppose. Same sign carried. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you.
>> Item five. >> Does anybody else just get cracked up when Justin just automatically comes through the door when it's [laughter] >> Your item today would be to request the approval of MDOT limited use permit for resolution 2026-5 for the snowmobile trail.
>> Um I think you missed the first. Let's do the joint facility [clears throat] roof first. Does that work? >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Um good morning, Madam Chair, board members. Uh yes, we're here today to request approval of the final contract for the joint facility roof. So
project ended up um ended at the end of um October, early part of November. Everything went well and so we're uh requesting to move forward with that fifth and final payment. Any questions for me? This would be obviously the joint
facility. >> So the final contract amount would be the 44691. >> Correct. Correct. >> And then there's three shares to that. Correct. >> Correct. Yep. Yep. Our share would be 198,310 95.
>> Questions from the board? >> Wishes. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the final contract vure for the joint facility roof project in the amount of $440,691. >> Second. >> Commissioner Bear offers a motion to approve the final contract vure. Commissioner Ebinger seconds the motion.
Any further discussion? 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, board. Let's do the approval of the mindot
limited use permit resolution 2026-5 for the snowmobile trail, please. >> Yes. So, this is [clears throat] amendment number two. And basically what this does is it just extends the limited use permit that allows for the use of snowmobile trails throughout Klay County for another 10 years. Pretty standard.
We've came come to the board with this agreement a few different times and I think it works really well when we get snow. We'll do these in two separate motions. >> Any questions of the board? >> So, the first item would be the LUP
number 1401-000014 amendment two. >> I'll make that motion. >> Motion [clears throat] offered from Commissioner Bayer to approve that. >> Second. >> A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further
discussion? All those in favor of that motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. >> Make a motion to approve resolution 2026-05. >> A motion offered from Commissioner
Kavanagh to approve resolution 2026-05. >> Second. >> A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I >> oppos same sign carried. Thank you. Next
item would be request approval of the final contract voucher for SP014-614-001. >> Yes. So this was the bridge project that was on Cassaw 14 just southwest of Glendon. I think this project turned out really really well and it finished about a month ahead of schedule just because
of the obviously light winter we had last year and they were able to start in February. [snorts] Um, Redstone Construction was the contractor. The final amount to be approved is 1,731, $61.37. >> Questions from the board?
>> Having this get done early was really helpful for harvest. >> Yes. >> Yes, definitely. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. I'll make a motion to approve the final contract vure for SP014-614-001 in the amount of $1,731,61.37.
>> Motion offered from Commissioner Bayer to approve. [snorts] >> Second. >> A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Discussion. >> Just a question. Uh, as mentioned here, I want um as part of that motion, there was a potentially a contingency upon upon the
rep approval of the clubs up. >> Yes. >> The motion and second represents the memo. >> Can you speak to that a little bit? >> Yeah. So, beans, >> I want to make sure we had the motion approved, the second. Yes. Okay. Thank you. >> Beans, this was a federal project. There was a DBE goal on it. So, there's just
one piece that they have to get Office of Civil Rights approval before we pay them. It's It's pretty standard and not not super complicated, but I just put it in there just in case. >> Any further discussion?
Any further discussion? All those in favor of that motion signify by saying I >> I >> oppose. Same sign. Carried. Next item would be the request approval of the final contract voucher for SAP014-598-079,
SAP 014-599-105, and SAP014-599-114. >> Yes. So, the reason they're all on the same agenda item is they were tied by contract, so they were the same bid. Um, once I say the actual totals, I will need three separate motions for each
project. Um, so this is the final contract voucher for three bridge replacement projects. Two of them were township, one being in Elkton Township and one being in Goose Prairie. Then the county one was just on County Road 51 just south of Comtock. And that was a
much needed project. All three turned out really well. Hool Excavating was the contractor. [snorts] And for the first one, this would be the county one. SAP14598079 final amount to be approved would be 326,38020.
Do you want me to just go pause? >> Yeah. >> Any questions on the presentation? >> Question. Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> The initial bid to approve and then the difference between the approval. What what is why is it more money?
Um, so on these bridge replacement projects, most of the time it's an aggregate. Um, the one by Comtock, we had to cut a bypass channel because we got a ton of rain. So then we have to pay for that aggregate to back fill it. Um, obviously going into it, we didn't really know it.
>> Yeah. >> Let's go forward with a a motion on that that first final contract. Ify. >> I'll make a motion to approve the file contract voucher for SCP 014598079 in the amount of $326,38020.
>> Thank you. We have a motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh to approve. >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> I
>> oppose same sign carried. The next final contract voucher is will you >> SAP 014599105. This was the Goose Prairie project. Final amount to be approved would be $195,5440.
And the reason for the overage on that one is once we got the old box out the bed was complete. like we had to over excavate quite a bit. >> Board wishes. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the final contract vulture for SAP
014599105 in the amount of $195,544. >> Second. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Bear, a second from Commissioner Ebinger to approve the voucher. Any further discussion? Any further discussion?
>> They did a very nice job. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. The third third contract voucher. >> Yeah. So this one's for SAP14599114.
This one was in Elkton Township. The final amount to be approved is $140,961. >> The board. Madam Chair, I move motion to approve the final contract voucher for SAP014599114 the amount of $140,961. >> Motion offered from Commissioner
Ebinger, a second from Commissioner Bayer to approve. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. Thank you.
Next item, agenda 8, SAP 014609010 advertised. >> Yeah. So I'm requesting approval to advertise for this project. So this is a mill and overlay project on CASSA 9 in
Dworth. So it goes from trunk highway 10 um up to CASA 18. This is one that kind of goes by that U-Haul building. Um, it's a project we've been working on for quite a while, so we're excited to see it done. And then the proposed letting date would be February 24th
>> at 9:00 a.m. at the board like we always do. >> Madam Chair, question. >> Yes. >> Roughly how many miles is that? >> Two. >> Two. >> Questions of the board. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the advertisement of SAP 014609010
with a leting date of February 24th, 2026 9 a.m. >> Have a motion offered from Commissioner Bayer to approve. A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor
of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. Thank you, Justin. >> Thank you. Rich, you walked in after public comment. Did you have anything for public comment? Okay, >> thank you. Uh, we're on to committee
reports. Commissioner Ebinger. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh last week um on Thursday the 8th, I attended the Morehead or the uh uh the diversion authority annual meeting. Uh
Mo Mayor Mahoney was elected chair and Mayor Carlson vice chair. Give me a minute to find my agenda. Um, we had a resolution appointed 2026 members of the diversion authority
board, land management committee and finance committee and the planning committee for the diversion authority elected again as I stated the vice chair for the diversion authority and the secretary for the diversion authority. Uh and then the standard business of
approving meeting dates. Uh we discussed the 20126 diversion authority governance annual work plan. We're moving into the onm transition period uh with with the completion of the projects throughout the year and we
were briefed on that. And on Monday the 12th, myself and Commissioner Krabangh attended uh a meeting about discussion of alcohol uh social host uh uh social host
ordinances with some of the staff at public health. Uh we do not have a social host ordinance. The one that is being proposed would be a civil ordinance, not a criminal one. >> Mh. Commissioner Ever, can I ask a question? >> Sure.
>> What is a social host ordinance? >> That was going to be next thing I said. We Morehead has had one, a criminal one, uh, for about [bell] >> Let's take a break for just a minute while we uh, the microphones.
Apologize for that interruption. We all had notifications going on community. All right. >> A social host ordinance is one that attaches liability to an adult hosting uh a party or a group gathering of
minors who are either drinking or using controlled substances. Uh the criminal one has been in Morehead. Uh the city council passed it I want to say 15 years ago. Uh this would be a civil one and has civil consequences.
Uh it is not the burden of proof is not as uh it it is preponderance of evidence as opposed to beyond reasonable doubt. Uh this is only in the discussion phase at this point and would be brought before the commission for clarification
and input before anything's actually done. But uh the civil one would be less uh of an obstacle to the uh officers involved because it has a lower uh level
of of of uh requirement of evidence. And so the case is not going to be a matter of bringing people in and trying to prove intent and purpose and and a lot of other different things. >> And that committee is with the courts.
The committee that is talking about this. What committee is that? >> Oh, public health. There's just a group of them that have brought this forward. Uh we left it with uh sort of the guidance that uh Sheriff Empting be uh this be cleared and see where his stance
is on it. before they proceed any further. But obviously and we've asked them to make sure that uh the county administrator obviously is is kept a breast of anything that happens. So that was the conclusion of that meeting and that con
concludes my report. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger. Commissioner Kraban. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Is there a final words to say for the first time? >> Thank you. Um let's see. Uh going back
to last Thursday on the 8th, uh I had the monthly meeting for the Claysw um much of the meeting had to do with the beginning of the year items uh for their assignments and do area pay. Uh
there were uh two um final requested payments for two water sediment control basins that was a big project in the Holly area. Also the other uh thing of dis another thing of discussion is that
Comtock has put in a water treatment area just on the north side of the town and some of that land had been exempted out by the diversion. Other pieces uh weren't any problem with the potential wetlands. So that uh they approved the
wetland type delineation for that area and it was found that there's going to be 048 just under half acre of the land that uh will need to meet the criteria for uh uh wetland replacement. So just
to give the figure they put out. So that's you double that. It's the two to one. Uh so 916 acre and to replace that um will be $49,800. Not bad. Anyway, it's good. They needed
to go ahead and certainly [cough] [clears throat] uh they felt uh good about uh how everything turned out. Then the last thing I'll mention from that meeting is uh through the county obviously uh DNR completed the preliminary map and the P
uh WI for corrections uh list for Clay County and that there's going to be a presentation on that by DNR on January 20th 6 o'clock at the MCOM center and that takes care of that meeting. Um
on Friday uh as um being invited by the chamber, I did go out to the new airport expansion. Very very very nice. And the architecture in there is great. Uh so the timeline I
is going to be this year. That's what I'm going to put uh for that to happen. It may be three months, three or four months, something like that. But uh anyway, um I think uh We were able to go on both levels. You can see the um
carousels and everything underneath and and the new area where people will be uh going to their gates. Um for now there are eight gates operating. Those eight gates will go to the other side there
and and then there will be a little disruption starting in two or three weeks here where they start transitioning everything to that side and they got a um TSA is going to move in that. So, u there might be a week where lines are going to be a little
longer because that's going to uh that area is narrowed and they'll have to move to one one entry or excuse me TSA one entry instead of two, but it's only one week. Then, uh as soon as that gets
over there and that time, then the uh the other part of the airport then will uh start it renovation. And when they're all done, you know, the whole place will have um uh nine gates. So, I said that wrong earlier. It's four and four. That
makes sense. So, anyway, uh it's a it was really um enjoyable to see and just hear the project manager and all the things they had done. Uh again uh I had uh meeting yesterday along with uh Commissioner Ever and that
was for um uh that public health uh substance prevention. Um and again on that the only thing I'll add on that as he said that'll move on uh through our administrator and and then whatever our
sheriff and uh legal has to add on it and before he comes here. Um, I was I was surprised that you Yeah, I guess maybe I'd heard something about this, but I didn't realize how many counties. So, 37 counties already have this
ordinance and like Morehead 147 cities. So, anyway, it's uh been going on I believe since 200 somewhere 2012 or somewhere in that period of time. Um, let's see.
Then uh in yesterday afternoon was historical cultural society. We had a finance and executive committee uh looking at the uh our finances where we're sitting. Are there ways we should shuffle money to make it more efficient
for what we're doing and get higher rate of return. And we've come up with a couple options which we'll keep working toward and finalize with the board. And then uh uh last night it was just a discussion that came up from my work on
the food commission um a few weeks ago. I apologize having to forget his last name but Fred came and presented on the organic compost recycling and anyway um this group uh called climate action
committee it's a group out of Morehead kind of brought some preliminary things that they brought forward. Uh, I think the next steps may happen. They'll be talking to you, Steve, and then perhaps get, if interested, get SWAC involved and and and others. So, anyway, a
continuing dialogue for something for the future. And that's my report. >> Commissioner Abinger, >> I failed to mention I also attended that meeting and I understand that they are set to present the swag in the upcoming
SWAG meeting. We told them that their portfolios here and that uh you and Commissioner Campbell are the ones that are would be overseeing this on on behalf of the council, but these were were constituents of ours that asked us to attend.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger. Thank you, Commissioner Kavanagh. Commissioner Campbell. >> Thank you. January 8th, I attended the Klay County Intergovernmental Committee. uh our most of our focus was on the intergovernmental retreat which is going
to be on Friday January 30th. Um, I think the items on the agenda, we're going to have some speakers from DED and West Central Initiative, MetroCOG, and then there's going to be a cities panel, uh, legislative update, and then there's
going to be a another panel regarding uh, school issues and what's going on with the different school districts in Klay County. that same day. Then I traveled to Fergus Falls for Lakes Country Service Cooperative meeting. That's that meeting
was basically the organizational meeting for 2026 where we approved the election of officers. Um and then the committees
um that we we all serve on different committees within that organization. Then I came back in time for the uh diversion planning commission that was also that same day and basically that
that meeting was a presentation regarding our our executive director's priorities for 2026. So those uh those were shared with us. And my fourth meeting that day was the diversion authority board or diversion
board of authority meeting. And again we elected a new uh chair and vice chair and secretary and we had some discussion regarding our governance annual work plan.
And as was mentioned we are shifting to onm with with the anticipated completion of the project in in October of this year. there will be a significant shift
to um operations and maintenance. And yesterday I had a highway tracking committee meeting. We had a highway tracking committee meeting there. There was um there was some discussion about
overweight permits regarding uh CASA 26 and I think it was our our feeling uh out of the highway tracking committee that we did not support giving out um those um excess
loads for the for the permit price that we get and the potential damage to our roads. There was just u it wasn't we didn't feel it was in our best interest to deal with that. Um
uh then we there was I don't if you recall but I reported on there was a con there was a constituent up in the Wall Street Broadway area who had put a request out to eliminate the four-way stop signs at
Wall Street and Broadway. Uh we asked that our county engineer reach out to MDOT and get MDOT's opinion of that. That that opinion came back that they did not believe that we should alter that four-way stop.
And so I believe that's we we we instructed our or asked our county engineer to reach out to that individual and let them know that we got the response from Mandot and they felt that that was not really a
safe alternative for that intersection. We had some uh staffing update engineering technicians. There's uh two of them that are going to be one's going to be out on on paid family medical leave and another
one we understand is going to be taking the early retirement between now and June. So there's going to be a short so um Justin will be coming before the board to have those positions replaced. Transportation day on the capital is
February 19th. Justin intends to be there. Did you find out if is that the same day as the Morhead days? Okay, we we don't need no guess. And then [clears throat] um Justin had brought before us two the survey
equipment replacement and that dollar amount came in and there are two new GPS units. They're very valuable and they serve a really good p service and save a lot of time. And so
um the internal service fund will cover the cost of those and the total um on that is $124,2363. So that will be coming before the board. He also talked about uh two pickup
purchases needing to be done. that also was is within his internal service fund to purchase those. So, he will be actually he's going to he has to get more information on those and that's going to be coming back to to highway tracking before any recommendation is
done on that one. And then after that, we um Commissioner Mojo and I did meet with Corey and Darren and Steve regarding this issue that's being talked about
regarding the organics. And so we're, you know, we we have a lot of questions. We need there's a lot of talk about these grants and who writes these grants and so we have a there's a lot of questions. So we just and we got we
wanted to get Cory's input on this stuff too uh before we met with SWAC. So we had a preliminary meeting on that. Certainly um we all believe that doing something is is a is a good option as
was mentioned by the gentleman that was here last time. You know when we have 30 some% of our waste is organic you know there's you know can there be better ways to do it? that it's implementing it. That's that's going to be the
difficult thing and and it's I'm afraid it's not going to be it's not going to be free. So So the grants will be important to help us with that. That concludes my report. >> Thank you, Commissioner Campbell.
Morehead day at the capital with the chamber is March 11th and 12th, but they do have a uh a legislative priority session that week that I'm attending. That's where the confusion was. Commissioner Bear. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I only had one meeting last Thursday the 8th. It was
the intergovernmental committee and Commissioner Campbell chatted about that, so I have nothing to add. >> Thank you, Commissioner Bear. Last week, I attended the legislative check-in we had with our lobbyists, with Commissioner Kavanagh and uh Steve Larson. Really great dialogue as we gear
forward towards uh work we need for the legislature. This conversation revolved around the bill language, needing to amend the bill language for the updated costs and any other provisions that need to be looked at. Glad to be going into session with
existing bills. I had a meeting with the AMC environment natural resources policy uh leadership. We have uh check-ins with all of the agencies, DNR, MPCA, uh Bowser tomorrow in St. Paul. Uh
looking at some some uh minor language. I'm glad you brought up the two for one dialogue. We're talking about replacing it with a one for one, which might make more sense in regards to land mitigation. More to come on that. I attended a meeting Friday with the
non-secured detention BRTF conversation. Uh we had this I think this is just a brief okay thank you. Uh let's see. Friday I had the nonsecured
detention PRTF conversation. uh working with solutions on any additional um strategizing moving forward. I attended the highway tracking committee that Commissioner Campbell covered quite well. I think the other piece is making sure that we're working
This is insane. They're going off again, right? Uh working uh with FEMA in regards to the protection areas. Commissioner Campbell serves on planning, so he's continuing to keep us updated on that with the diversion and then had the uh solid waste conversation
internally uh as a planning meeting in front of the SWAC presentation. I also have been approached by those individuals in the community as well with those concerns. Um, you know, what's really great is, uh, we receive score funding from the
state that helps to go, uh, to mitigate programs with cities and this might be a really great opportunity for um, cities to kind of take the lead on where they want to spend their uh, score dollars as well. So, lots of uh, great dialogue to come out of that. Uh, and then moving
forward, uh, we'll see what comes forward. That concludes my report. Steve. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Last Tuesday, I participated uh in what nearly one of our final plannings with
the Budweiser uh MPCA uh planning uh that public health received dollars. Uh there's been three public hearings along with several uh internal staff meetings with between Klay County, City of Morehead. Uh I believe the PIC
will be hearing uh an update this morning. and then will be coming before the board here in the coming weeks. Uh that afternoon I was able to uh go to Derek La Point's open house, wish him well in his uh new role and thank him for all the work that he did on behalf
of Klay County. Uh on the 7th met with Anna, most of our focus was on paid family medical uh and other HR issues. Uh participated also in the legislative planning that's been well discussed. That afternoon I met with Mr. Milton on
a series of county issues. On the 8th, participated in the intergovernmental retreat uh meeting. Uh again, if you have not asked us to have you registered for that, please do so. Uh Jessica met with Jessica and Anna. Uh they have some pick
items today uh that we're going to be discussed. Also then met with Lori Johnson as we uh complete our our separation with Ottertale County and Wil County and the CHB. Uh we're just trying to make sure that all of our financials are in order. Uh on the 9th I met uh
with the non-secured detention PRTF meeting with Representative Keeler staff and Steve Summers. That's been well covered. Uh yesterday I participated in highway tracking which again has been well well covered and also the organics discussion. And just a reminder to our
citizens next Monday the county will be closed in recognition of Martin Luther King Day. That concludes my report. >> Thank you Steve Darren. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a couple things. Um, on the 6th, I had ad uh union negotiations with jail
administration. That was the first one that we had with them. 7th, 8th, and 9th, I was on vacation and got to take advantage of the airport parking garage, which was very nice not to have to come back and shovel snow off of my car. Um, and then yesterday, I attended the meetings that have already been covered
by Commissioner Mojo and uh, Commissioner Campbell. Thank you. >> On the solid waste. >> Sarah, anything? Thank you. That concludes our business. Our next meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, January 20th. We are adjourned.