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e e e e e good morning everybody it's 8:30 call call this morning's meeting to order for the Clay County Board of Commissioners for Tuesday February 11th our first item will be the approval of the
agenda move to approve the agenda second have a motion and a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion
carried citizens to be heard do you have any ciens to be heard occurred on items not on the agenda I see none in the audience anything online no Mr chair thank you we'll move on to the approval of bills and
[Music] vultures I'll make a motion to approve of the bills and vur thank you do we have a second we have a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none All In in favor signify by saying I
I I oppose the same sign motion carried approval of minutes from January 28th move for approval of the minutes of January 28th second motion on the second any further discussion any further
discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the same sign motion carried we'll get get into our 835 item and we have our annual update from Soil and Water Conservation District good morning
Kevin thanks for inviting us it's always fun to come and let you guys know what we did last year and and hopefully what our 2025 program entails Kevin slide that mic a little closer to you kind of got a softer voice okay better thank you yes welcome last year at this time I
brought in our two newest employees we had been hiring for quite some time last year brought them in and introduced you to them we're in the in the hiring mode again one of those employees has since resigned and moved on so we're in the hiring process again so anyway it's something that seems like it's gotten to
be more more common than what we like but anyway I'm just going to go through our program that we did last year our 2023 program is what most people kind of recognize us with um last year we uh had another good year we sold just about
16,000 trees and shrubs and we planted for 25 landowners different land owners and had over 150 hand plan jobs we installed 11.4 miles of that matting um almost from from our office to craigus for
2024 25 uh we have thus far we have 9,3 930 trees ordered 20 machine planting jobs and 5.6 miles of of matting to apply and a couple years ago we decided that a good op option for land owners that don't have tillage
equipment to work up their ground prior to planting we H we bought a roota tiller and I'm just going to have Tony give a little brief demo here on what that can do in our s a lot of our land owners are not Farmers so heavy equipment to break up
that side is something that they don't have the ability to do and that's way we want that ground worked up just like a garden if we can um this machine does a great job we would probably go over that site a couple times just to really blacken it up and you know get the saw
chunks out of there on the right side there you can see where we had done the the roonil job previously it worked up a a black strip we planted the trees we put that black fabric down which is a weed barrier and left the grass in between and the grass in between there
is acts as a erosion control and you can see in the backgr on there was near a little Lake in the county we don't have a whole lot of lakes but preventing that soil from washing into the lake is something that that keeping the grass strips in there is a is a great option to have available to land owners good morning I don't do
this turn oh see I I didn't even I didn't even know how to do this um I'm Tony for most of you I I think I've met most of you um and I'm a a technician there at the SW Water Conservation District office Kevin asked me to come today and talk a little bit about some of the
conservation programs that we work on there um a couple of the highlighted ones that we do uh we participate in the conservation Reserve enhancement program which is a partnership between state and federal organizations um and and that's sort of
a that's sort of a good deal for for the land owners and the producers in in the county to be able to take advantage of of of some of these opportunities ities um in 2024 25 um we completed one contract for approximately 27 Acres up in the goose
Prairie Township area um we continue to Market and promote this program for 2025 we we have probably uh six land owners that are interested one of the challenges that we have with uh with this program right now
because it is a federal state program clearly we're going through some flux with some of the federal stuff right now and so there's currently no farm bill um and we're working through some things at the beginning of the fiscal year or the calendar year to be able to sort of get that program back on track so we can
start implementing that program um like I said we do have some land owners that are interested and they're on a waiting list right now to be able to kind of go through that process uh in addition we also have what uh the state calls their walk-in access
program which is a which is a program that pays land owners for allowing recreational Hunters out on their land for a for a small fee to be able to access that property um we have approximately nine contracts for almost
2,000 acres in in Clay County um 19113 Acres uh in 2025 we have five of those contracts that are expiring for about 1,200 almost 1300 Acres uh generally speaking all of those all those land owners will re reain roll those acres
and then we usually get one or two contracts per year that will that will increase the amount of uh recreational opportunities out there um we are anticipating an application period this spring there's kind of an annual
application period in March um again that is subsidized by the federal government through the farm bill uh so you know there's a lot that's potentially in flux there so we're waiting to kind of see what happens here in the next couple months with that so
we need to be retrained way too often Jackie sorry in 2012 we took over the county egg inspector program that was transferred to us um the the state of Minnesota has a noxious weed law that basically has a a list of controlled noxious weed weeds there's 16 of them in
the county or actually in the state actually and in 2012 we met with the county and Township officials to see if there's some additional weeds to add to the list the township folks thought the musk ftle and bull ftle should be added to the list as well as kosha so those
are in addition to the states list of the 16 different species that are basically required to be controlled uh we meet with the county officials at the county um Township officers meeting and we also have a training session for them each year usually in March that we'll be
providing a yearly training session for them the uh program also asks us to Proctor um non-commercial and Commercial applicator licenses for individuals we did 58 um projects for with uh individuals last year getting licensed
and we also did 291 miles of County Road right of way spring this year our program looks very similar to what we did in the past we'll be meeting with Justin to go over the uh miles that they would focus on this year for the tree spraying and then also we do have the already have done
six tests for for the uh applicator licenses already the county fot officer program the county transferred that program to us in 2007 we continue to meet with land owners and make sure they're in compliance with mpca feed lot laws at present there are 77 registered
feed Lots in the county when we took over there was 119 so you can see how many have have have gone by the wayside um we are required to do a compliance checks on 7% of those which equals six different Farms every year so Gabe is our County fi out officer he
meets with those individuals uh every year to go through and that get that 7% um in compliance uh 2025 is a re-registration year so every four years land owners that have feed lots are required to re-register with the state
and basically all all registered feed lot owners will be getting a letter requesting them to update their number of animal units that they have on their Farm the buffer law compliance we're 99% in compliance there is one or two sites out there that we're still waiting for DNR
determination um we are in charge of monitoring those buffers one onethird of the county every year so this past year we did the southern third we have another um round coming up this year and we will be doing the northern third of the county so we will be getting into
more of the wild rice Watershed District area and state legislator um legislator are there's potentially Cuts we're hearing coming from the repairi and Aid dollars that we have typically have uh worked with the county on some projects also I guess we have concerns with our
buffer funds are they going to be included in that in that reduction so I guess our legislative session we're waiting to see where where that goes this year um in addition to to those other those compliance programs we also facilitate the aquatic invasive species grp grant that comes to us through the
Minnesota DNR through the flow through the county um we get a small amount um right around $16,000 a year um most of that money we spend on Outreach and education we try to put up some Billboards um heading east out of town
towards the Lakes regions to just uh keep people aware of the the threat of aquatic invasive species both on Interstate 94 and and on Highway 10 uh in addition we spend uh a lot of our time uh aquatic invasive species time
doing uh some partnership programs with both uh riverkeepers and FM walles which is a fishing organization we we participate in the Water festival every year and we we usually have um staff members go out there and instruct some of those kids on uh a lot of the uh
clean water stuff and aquatic invasive species and and just general sort of um clean water stuff out there um we also participate in the little Fisherman's Derby with the FM ws and depending on the sort of the circumstances we'll do probably 30 to 40 children and their
parents every year um that that budget is also in in flux a little bit from the state's perspective too and so we're kind of I've been getting a lot of emails here lately about uh supporting some some efforts to to maintain the the current
budget as it is right now but the the the governor I guess is is talking about reducing that budget by about 50% so so we'll see where that takes us in the coming months um in addition to that probably my primary position over at the swcd is
Wetland Conservation act and Wetland compliance um there's been some updates with uh with the rule uh that that came out in the legislative session as of August 1 that's going to try and pair um state
laws a little bit um closer to what uh Federal swamp Buster programs are which in theory is going to make it a little bit easier to implement they're still going through the ru making process and the procedures there so we're not quite sure what that means yet hopefully we'll get some some additional guidance here
in the near future um this year was uh was a heavier year for us in terms of uh Wetland Conservation act sort of challenges and and concerns out there we had uh about
81 distinct projects out there with uh a little over 300 landowner contacts which is a huge increase for us um 2025 we'll be doing more of the same I get a lot of uh I get a lot of support from uh
Planning and Zoning from um Mark slan and GIS and those guys to be able to do what we're doing out there but it's uh it's it can be a challenging sort of program as you can probably imagine so all our noil drill rental program 32
years ago I look at 1993 it does not seem like that's 32 years ago but the commissioner kravinoff can attest to it that was when we first bought our first John Deere noil drill since that time it has been very popular and continues to be popular so in 2024 we had 1750 Acres
that we planted to rent uh to 35 different landowners so Gabe has been in charge of that one too since Craig had retired a couple years ago it seems like that it's popular every year seem L about the same number of landowners and around that same number of Acres so that's proven to be a good a good little
money maker but also a good option for land owners that want to plant um into standing residue but also to try their own uh attempts at no tail it's something those those drills are not are not cheap and it's only 15 ft wide but they're $100,000 a dumb thing so it's
it's kind of crazy we see much more of the same so like I say 32 years has gone by and it's as it's as popular as it ever has been um we also have an egg BMP low interest Loan program that also continues to be relatively popular um in 1996 the the
program was developed and we have have uh last year we had um 3% loans available to landowners for such things as septic system upgrades conservation equipment we we uh made our first loan out for a drone for an individual that
plans on planting his cover crops uh from that so kind of an interesting concept anything that reduces pollution can be put towards this low interest Loan program so it's got to be kind of popular again with the interest rates being at 3% in recent years some of the
uh um equipment dealers rates had been up to well I think right now they're probably in a 7 to 8% range they had been down to zero so we didn't have a lot of loans being taking taken from us primarily for some conventional um septic systems but since the interest
rates that the dealers have gone up they' it's become more popular we see four applications presently waiting to for some more information from them waiting for them to be processed and once again I think uh as time goes on the septic system interest continues to
be out there and maybe um take a look at pursuing those interests with the with the county to be a serving as a lender I know it's something that maybe isn't popular with every every commissioner or every um entity but if there's some way that we
could put that on property taxes uh there's about 30 plus counties in the state that do that and we have some of our land owners that have septic system issues that don't qualify for a low interest loan um either that that the banks don't take uh don't want to make
the the uh loan with them so those septic systems go un not not repaired and maybe are still leeching into the drainage ditches and stuff stuff like that so it's stuff that I think we would like to revisit again
um our Pol pollinator habitat program we continue to monitor our Crestwood site that we have with the county um we do some spot spraying every year for some thistles or some leafy spurge issues out there and also our I should say your
county walk-in public access site last spring we I guess it was actually July 9th that we planted that little acreage to a multi species native grass mix so we're hoping that those things take off and and will soon look like our our
Crestwood site some of our Urban conservation efforts education working through the more hit Community Education is something we continue to do we hold some evening workshops as well as native plant ID classes Tony mentioned about the r at FM river Keepers we held uh the
Water festival with the fourth graders throughout the the uh area um we ordered 126 native plant plugs for the dgf school and that were planted along the football field and then we also held our sixth annual pint night at the the junkyard Brewery we continue to do the
same efforts this year continuing working with the the buyout part properties for you folks um the Moray Community Education workshops are scheduled as well as another pint night is scheduled and in recent years you probably have been hearing numerous stories of the one Watershed one plan
that each Watershed District the Buffalo red as well as the wild rice are participating with in 2020 they both received funding in efforts to prioritize Target and install some of our projects these were two that were completed this past year the one on the left was just done around Christmas time
we have four land owners in the county that had severe erosion along the along the Buffalo River we put in these stream barbs basically it's a little Rock Dam that juts out into the river and forces the current to the other side of the bank um we like I said we just did four
of those probably right before the end of the year here and the one on the right over there we don't have a whole lot of lakes in the county but Turtle Lake has some has some high water issues and this land owner came into to us and his erosion along his bank was eating into his yard and we put in a basically
kind of a rock armored the U the the bank there so the like I say the one was and one plants have proven to be very popular we did 14 projects last year where we CAU share 90% of the cost of the project with the landowner we can also piggyback dollars from the federal
government to make these things a little bit uh make our money go a little further but also to get that land order that 90% has really been a a game Cher last year we spent $514,000 on projects in Clay County for 2025 we've got 11 projects on the book
on the books excuse me and $290,000 already targeted for those projects um estimated federal funds I guess we not sure yet but those things are take a little bit longer sometimes and uh I guess in in wrapping things up
here 2024 and 2025 our soil health program is something that we are partnering with the federal government on some Regional Partnerships to put cover crops on and and commissioner Mojo mentioned the black soil Black ditches those are things that continue to to uh
kind of amaze us how how how much erosion over the years is still occurring out there so our hopes are to enroll land owners into some type of a covered crop get into some more no till and some minimum tillage efforts out there to keep our soils in place
so any questions questions Dave yeah just one observation on covered crops uh the u local initiative to get a uh aviation fuel project
here uh we were at the legislature yesterday commissioner Mojo and I and I talked to some people have been to the meeting and that's going to give a a positive end on cover crops because it's not going to be a matter of just cutting the grass and and and using it for fod or
whatever there is actually going to there's going to be a market for it once this production begins okay interesting that's that's an interesting fact I learned and I think it's something to keeping the back for our heads I know it's a it's a huge initiative with the federal government but the state government has really latched onto that
planted so yeah that's interesting yeah thank you right commissioner Krab enough yeah uh Kev thank you um can we go back to the septic systems a little bit so um is most of the time the applicants that
come in for that have they is it point of sale or is there can you think of any other reason it kind of comes forward or is a is it a home permit someone's putting an addition on that type thing you know I think what we're seeing is
some of the um maybe they're not Farmers they just own a small tract or a small acreage out in the count in the in the county and as when they come into us there there's a reason for either the the SI system is not working or they're trying to upgrade and maybe at the point of sale that they need to upgrade that
system to a mound system or whatever and you know I I don't know even know the the prices on these things have gone you know when we first started doing they were about 10,000 I think they're closer to 20,000 now and what we're finding is some of those land owners out there that have their their septics isn't working I
mean and I don't know how I know it's no fun having a septic system not working and living on the country if you had problems that that is a huge issue but I think uh where our process goes is that we have a land A lender in the county that those land doers end up going to the lenders and for some reason they
they don't pass the credit check and the system continues to be a polluter out there right and that would be in noncompliance already with our with C or with the county possibly yeah you know and I guess um I guess that I don't after the system goes in I think Kent
probably goes out and does some checking to make sure that they're in in compliance but our part in there is primarily the middle man between the landowner and the and the lender and are trying to make that work for the lender um so they can see that there's a benefit but they still have to make the loan pass and that's where I think some
of the issues are is that for whatever reason there're a poor credit uh and so that's where like I say there's about 30 plus counties in the state that have offered to put the you know those those um invoices or bills on the property
taxes for the and there's a way of getting getting those paid so yeah yeah okay thank you you're welcome all right any other questions right thank you Kevin thank you guys next we have our fiveyear plan update
from Justin good morning Justin yes good morning so the first item I have is um it's with the casa 34 milon overlay project a couple weeks ago we did save about a million dollar so I
I am updating the 5year plan just for the 2025 construction season there was a project in 2026 that we can afford now due to the lower bid prices so at this time I'm not adding any construction to the Future years just sliding a project
from 2026 to 2025 you want to go all right go ahead commission all right thank you Mr chair thank you Justin this we talked about this at the highway uh committee last week and boy we're really op um encouraged when bids come out uh lower
than anticipated so that we can and Shuffle things around and get things addressed earlier than uh maybe initially planned for and I know the residents uh really appreciate that and and too it does gives give us some flexibility when Sometimes some roads
maybe aren't lasting as long as we'd initially anticipated so I'm really excited about uh one not only this uh action but any potential actions that might come as we open up more bids this spring yeah I I just want to
add to that in this discussion I know um Justin mentioned that this project is pulled from 2026 and you know so technically that would free up money in 2026 and and through in our discussions on Highway tracking we just felt that we should not
make any changes to that at this point in time there have been a few other things that have been coming up that we've been having our radar and that is what roads might need might be impacted by by the highway 10 reconstruction project that's coming up it can have a
real significant impact on traffic uh in the in the metro area and and surroundings so you know so we're going to kind of I think the it's the highway tracking committee's recommendation that Justin not um fill that $1 million gap
in 2026 yet in the event that we have something else that uh we we hadn't maybe thought of earlier that um might be the appropriate time to be able to go outside the box a little bit so and then
one thing I will mention too on the sheet that's in your packets and I I'll cover it when I have my annual Department update but the top right of that sheet the blue number the state aid regular construction allotment in future years we always estimate 3.9 which is
conservative and we did get our um this is money that comes from the gas tax in 2025 it was almost $4.8 million so that's also encouraging very good so um would you like would you like action then to yeah I'm just looking to approve
the amended 2025 construction program I'll make I'll make a motion to approve the amended 2025 construction program I'll second the motion have a motion in a second thank you any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I
I oppose the same sign motion carried okay next we have request approval to advertise for SP 04611 055 yes so this is the concrete pavement Rehabilitation project on Casa 11 that
goes from Casa 18 to Casa 26 so we did receive some federal money on this and it was approved last week so I'm just looking to advertise this project with a proposed letting date of March 18th you want to explain what that
does youit oh sure so um we don't have many concrete roads on that specific stretch of road if you ever have driven it it has what a lot of people refer to as chatter so you can feel it in your vehicle especially in heavier trucks so
what we'll do is fix a lot of the broken panels put in new panels and then at the very end we'll diamond grind it which should provide a better ride and those of you who've been on on some of the road tours you've seen where where that has been done and the
Improvement that it really does create so just wanted to for the board to yep and another thing we do too is when that project was initially built at that point in time minda wasn't really recommending ceiling joints so a lot of
the issues that we've had with buckling over the last coup couple of years is those joints get filled with salt sand gravel and when it gets hot those joints can't work like they're supposed to then causing the concrete to buckle so we'll blow all the joints out and seal them as
well with this project yes are you going to shut down that road to do all this or is it going to be at certain points there'll be closures on it but um they part of the contract is they have to maintain access for everybody that lives on that
road time wise how long does it take two to 3 weeks roughly depending on which contractor wins it any other questions all right we're looking for a motion to approve the advertisement for the CPR and concrete
grinding project offer that motion have a motion in a second any further discussion on the motion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I
oppose the same sign motion carried all right our next item is the request approval to advertise for sap4 014 632 031 I did realize right now I have a mistake in the actual agenda name it
should be 0146 3431 in my oh okay on the bottom it's correct but actual title isn't correct in the packet information it's correct yep um yeah so this is the project that I talked about that we slid from 2026 to
2025 so I'm requesting approval to advertise this one the proposed letting dates the same March 18th any questions Mr chair I'll make a motion to approve the advertisement of sa P 014
634 031 a second you have a motion in a second further discussion is do we have is there other projects that might be linked to this where we could potentially see some benefits by getting more than one
project by by contract um so that the first project that came in really well is just to the west of this one so I I would think that we're going to see really competitive bids just being that contractor already has his mobilization paid for to go to the one stretch so I'm
guessing I'm confident we'll receive good bids on this one okay any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the
same motion carried thank you all right item number seven request approval of resolution 20251 supporting a legislative appropriation oh I'm sorry oh I'm sorry we got to have okay we got to have our
update from GIS I was I was just going to skip right by you mark good morning good morning there I am good morning uh Mr chair and Commissioners it's my privilege to be here today uh to talk to you about what
our department has been doing for the past year and what we'll be doing in this next year and I was working on this yesterday and I I was going I was so excited to tell you about so many things that I had to stop at 36 slides so I'm going to have to go pretty quick here because we have so much going on um
anyway we'll talk a little bit about our department uh GIS and Communications is uh housed in the government center and uh we provide all the geographic information system services for the county county staff and departments as well as we also provide communication
services for all those those departments and staff um we have five full-time staff which is uh I'm grateful for over the last year or two if you remember we changed the name of our department we've changed the Staffing we've restructured a little bit
um last year we picked up uh the communications coordinator and added her to our our teams and we also changed at the beginning of this year our GIS technician became full-time which gives us some more capacity so what we have done is uh
we've divided those the staff into two separate teams uh we have our GIS team and our Communications team and uh so with the we're now they're fully staffed we have good quality people and we doing wonderful things with this and I think that uh um one of the things I'm
supposed to talk about is if whether or not we're going to have any needs in the next coming budget cycle and I think that right now we're sitting very well um our staffing is good our equipment is good um we may have some some issues with some some expenses that we we have
for software and things but beyond that we're in really good shape as a department all right uh this is I copied these this right off of our website talks about what the G geographic information system folks do and it's a tremendous list of things that uh that we're doing everything from keeping
track of our data and making maps and keeping data current and I'll talk about some of these in more detail but uh we also provide services to other departments and we also do a lot of stuff that for outside groups too we support them so one thing about the gis
and commun Communications Department is our customers are both internal and external so we have County people that work we work with but we also have external folks uh a good example of that is a s and water guys that were just here uh we provide them with software and data and support uh for all the
things that they're are doing and we will also do that for some of our other partners that we work with all right so one of the things I wanted to talk a little bit about that we've done in the last year is um talking a little about section Corners here for a little bit section Corners
have a document that's recorded and that's what makes them a recorded section corner and uh surveyors use that to when they go out to to work and uh the recorder's office houses those but there's a different set of tools we use to for them to access those remotely through online for free of charge what
we did this this year was we added the the way you search for that specifically a section Corner can be named many different things because it buts other sections so it could be the northeast of section two or the northwest of section one or there's a lot of different ways
to name it and how they searched for it they weren't always finding all the right documents so one of the things we looked at adding was something called an identification number so that Each corner would have a specific number so we said we'll add that to this Search tool which is what we did the BLM ID
number search but typical of how these types of things work we had to develop a process for how we number those and uh we were able to identify um a system that already was in place that the Bureau of Land Management had put together we were able to adapt
that and we put together a document that our staff could then use to put the right corners on the right sections and the reason I wanted to talk about this a little bit is because it was kind of a quite a bit of work by a b whole bunch of folks but it's a nice way of showing how our department reaches out of our Silo into the other departments that are
working on this stuff and we work all together to come up with a solution that's going to provide our customers with what what they really need and uh there's an example what these BLM numbers look like they're super big and long but they actually make a lot of sense to the folks that use them so then
now what we are doing with all that information is we're going to the next step which is instead of having to search by number here in the next month or so we're going to roll this map out application online so you'll be able to just go to a map click on it and get all that same information which makes it a lot faster and easier uh we're going to
design it so that it's mobile friendly so if you're a surveyor in the field and you want to look up the document instead to look up the document number or any of that stuff you can just click on the map click on the thing it'll bring the document up for you so that's one of the new tools that we're bringing online to support uh what's going on out there if
you remember um last year we were here we applied for a grant that was going to help us do some of this stuff we didn't we were not successful with that but we continued on with some of these things because they're they're really important and we think that uh there's a big need so speaking of section Corner
remonumentation figured I should mention talk about that a little bit that's one of the things our department overseas is the uh section the uh remonumentation program which is uh funded uh we about $42,000 a year we're spending on that uh we have a
contracted land uh surveyor out there is true nor North surveys we've selected to do that work for us each year and they are slowly working our way up the uh Eastern edge of our County we finished uh six townships and we'll be moving into the next uh tier here this next year into the Highland Grove probably is
where we'll go next and them crom well and slowly work our way up I know it's hard to see on this little tiny map but the green is good red is where we're we need to work and uh we'll slowly over time get this done um at that funding rate uh it takes us
at least two years to do a Township maybe more depending on what is there and what how hard it is um you know like well tansom was probably our our most challenging Township because there's the train is so rugged but uh we'll slowly keep plugging away on this we actually
have a document we use to guide us which is the picture of it there the remonumentation program that tells us how we're going to work through this program yes Mark on on those Corners all those little dots every one of them represents the corn are all those going to also receive that
that number that you just talked about then and so those are going to be implemented right away on all corners and it's already been done on all the existing documentation okay so yes absolutely yep and that's so hopefully streamline how things are going so or
how it is for people to find stuff so it's just a good program and um we're really grateful that we have uh this remonumentation program taking place out there um because the way it works is We remonumentation on where that corner is or was
originally placed back in the 1860s um and then we get coordinates from it and from the coordinates we're able to update our GIS data um in last summer in in July we sent our very own GIS coordinator Mandy Olen to San Diego for a na for a actually International
Conference for ES for a GIS users where she presented uh talk on the remonumentation process that we do here at Clay County so um what we're doing is uh is is getting some attention and so we're really proud of what we're doing and what she was able to present down
there and this is actually being spooled into some other places where we'll see the same con uh same information being out delivered to other folks that are interested how how it can be done so basically we survey the corners we move the stuff in GIS then we redraw the parcel map to make it match so that we
have good quality data that's the whole goal the ground or if there if there is one they'll add it if if they have to add one yes they with a new it has a new cap it'll say right on at Klay County survey Corner yes absolutely they'll either
find it if it exists but if not they reestablish it and the reestablishment is uh that's the surveyors can explain how they do it but that's what takes really a lot of work because they have to take the records from the guys from 1860 and try to re reenact them and put that in exact same same
spot Mar is that happening a lot yes okay there's a big push for it because with our GIS data people love to see their parcel lines and stuff on maps but if they're not in the right place it's hard to use so there yeah there's a need
all across the the land for this and uh it's a it's a good process so talking about Parcels one of the big data sets that we maintain is our digital Parcels we we have uh tax Parcels that we have in GIS and we also
take the data from our tax system every night and Export that out and then we use that in a whole bunch of different systems but our departments the folks that have to help deliver that out um this morning just in case you're trying to keep track we had 3,178 tax Parcels in Clay County about
half of those are inside Morehead and the g staff from City Morehead actually maintain the digital parcel fabric inside for Morehead in our data set the data lives here at the county but they reach in and they they they do the work inside Morehead so that that Pro that uh
Arrangement works well for us all right uh next I talk a little bit about imagery um we did a high resolution aerial imagery last April and that been available for staff use for several months now it'll be available on our online Maps hopefully in the next
week or two and then you remember I was here a couple weeks ago we got uh program going this year where we capture high resolution o Bleak imagery uh this spring and we actually got the kickoff emails on that yesterday so that project will be moving forward so that's a
another wonderful piece of information uh addressing something we do um all all the time we generate addresses uh we train people on how the addressing system works and uh we also support the e911 systems we're currently using and the ng911 that's coming
online uh last February Clay County delivered our nextg 911 data which is Roads address points and emergency service zones to the state of Minnesota's their enterprise system and was accepted which was a huge step and we did that again at the end of this
last year so that their data is current and up to dat and that data is a it's a big deal and it's uh going to be used for a lot of things Statewide but more locally gets used at our regional Dispatch Center for the stuff that they're doing there so we keep all that
current um one of the things we're going to talk about we'll be doing this year is with signs um with this our Highway guys specifically our Highway Department H has a sign crew that goes out and takes care of signs we're going to change the Software System they use to keep track
of those signs and we'll be doing that inhouse here in the next few month within the next month or so nice part about this is we're doing this in-house so we have the expertise on hand to do it and uh this is something we couldn't do before we never had enough staff time to do these kind of projects so now that
our GIS technicians full-time to take up some of that load our GIS coordinator is able to work on these type of things which is I think saves US money and gives us a better end result uh but hopefully by sign season which will be whenever th Frost comes out will'll be up have their new system up and running
and he'll Pro provide them some good tools we're also doing this yep EXC me on the sign inventory uh are these treated like our other highway signs are we responsible for or yes you're talking about the yeah like the blue house number signs absolutely yes and if you
remember I talked uh last year I think we just finished last year replacing them all throughout the entire County um they were about 25 years old and we're hoping to get another 25 years out of them there's about 4,800 of those blue signs out there but yeah we keep track of not just
those but also all the highway signs that they have all the signs in all the right away that of all County roads will be kept track of in there um we're doing this we'll be I mentioned we'll be doing this at house we're also doing it in conjunction with some other counties uh we work with something
called mcjis or the Minnesota County GIS Association where we share knowledge and tools between us so it helps keep our costs slow and expertise High uh Communications better move on to these folks um because we're they do some amazing stuff too there's a massive list
here of stuff they do one of the big ones they're doing is right now right here now is where they host this board meeting basically we've got Jackie right here in the room and Tim is uh streaming Us online on the internet and recording our meeting so every week when you're here with two of our staff here taking
making sure everything's taken care of and and getting all that information out um one of the big things we're they'll be working on this in the next two or three months is something called process Automation and Digital Services which is a really fancy word for
forms um we're going to be rolling out a new forms platform which which uh allows us to do a lot I I think it will do it better than what we've had before plus what we're adding to this also is the capability of getting payments through forms which is something Believe It or
Not we've never been able to do through an online form so we'll be able to collect money depending on what the form might happen to be for but it's a big change there'll be a lot of work going into it and uh but hopefully it will go well and provide us good good stuff
another thing we're going to be moving to very soon is uh moving our County Code online um our county code was hosted before in a certain way and it hadn't been updated for a long time so what we've done is we've taken the code and we've updated it or recodified it and we actually were
able to do that in-house and saved ourselves about $20,000 doing that um and we have that code ready to be delivered on the new platform which will be on our main website it'll be searchable just like you can search our site minutes It'll be we'll search a
codee also we're trying to tie this into in with uh the stuff that uh Planning and Zoning is doing with their development ordinance so it all roll out together all and it'll all be available nice part about this new platform for you uh specifically is when we do code
changes we'll do it through the platform and we'll actually see it redlined how it's going to look presently how it's going to look and then when they accept it it just will switch out but it has the ver the capability to show versioning so you can show what it used to look like what it does look like those kind of things so it's a pretty
slick platform for us to use uh we're also be they'll be working on the Eda or EDC or website which is H for economic development that uh is coming soon I think that will go live someplace in early March we'll see that
and that will uh be a a a nice way of delivering that information we you're doing something called a department header which allows us to have it look like our website but you have different buttons and menus than our main website has so that it it's targeted to that specific type of
information Mark hey Mark from from the um from a Google standpoint when somebody might be researching economic development for Clay County or whatever somebody might be looking for business or even a residential opportunity here
will will that will that have a high um we hope so what do they call that yeah results uh yeah what we'll do is on every page we put keywords and those keywords are what Google's looking for so we'll try to make sure that those are targeting what we think people are
searching for so yeah we'll do as best we can and we adapt those sometimes if we have to okay um thank you monthly uh bits of Clay comes out super fun newsletter get to see who's been here longest that kind of thing uh see if he
who's moving up the list but that's a nice piece of in thing that comes out every month just to our County staff I want to talk a little bit about digital signage uh we now have 15 of these different deployments out there everywhere from the attorney's
conference rooms to the vso office to law enforcement center Family Service Center this floor on when we're not having meetings they're all we have a wide array of these things um the one I always like to mention is on the bottom
left there is one that shows in the booking area of the correctional facility if you ever are unfortunate enough to have to go there there's a video that runs every three minutes that tells you how to be an inmate and that was produced by our staff in- housee um that was done they
were finding that people weren't always able to read the brochures that they were giving them so now they have them watch a video and there's some more of our applications excuse me uh one thing I mentioned last year we rolled out a new website and from that we came out with a
new set of colors you see those more and more and more between the stuff we're producing um printed materials website stuff everything is using colors even a slideshow matches this um you'll see that branding more and more often as we work with our through our system that
those are the the Clay County colors and the purpose for that is so that stuff that's coming from us looks like it's coming from us and we also support events like uh this wonderful ribbon cutting we had a few months back um we take care of whatever happens to be needed we'll take
care of those there new buildings we were also highly involved with uh the promotion of them um as well as the signage all of the signage inside and outside those buildings was done by our department and uh it includes everything from door numbers to signs for offices
to signs along the roadway and one thing um excuse me again but um those new buildings one thing I'm proud of is my I got this handy these team of here's a nice picture of this team of folks on a Friday night assembling
chairs in the lobby of the new DMV because our whole department is all about getting things done it doesn't matter whether it's in our Department's realm or not if something needs to happen we'll help and that's we stepped up and took care of that and uh I'm grateful for their
dedication and uh actually at the end of the day the DMV the entire Lobby was in ended up becoming our Department's responsibility included all the signage chairs TVs everything we were responsible for that to make sure that it all was up and running and working by the time we
opened and we're all happy to say yes we did including that awesome logo sign there so the gis and communication staff are here to serve and they I couldn't be prouder of this bunch of folks that uh I get to work with every
day are there any questions commission eer yeah uh Mark just an observation uh the response to your team to the N9 uh Next Generation 911 data the gis data we needed was
seamless you you told us what you needed we got you a little bit of help on it but you guys did a great job and being on the northwest uh emergency communication committee board um that's not the case
for a lot of people a lot of state or a lot of counties in the state it's been a real problem and you guys had it done done right and we an example for other counties to look at uh early in the game and I just you need to get acknowledged
for that that was a big bite so thank you thank you just um I think I mentioned this before but going down to to our AMC conferences when you go walk through if you're walking through a v fair and some of these other things and you come
across somebody who might be promoting some GIS stuff and you stop and talk to them and their first question do you know Mark Sloan and it's the it's like you're an icon you know out there just so you know that thanks well I've been around a
while lot lot of people who who uh really look up to what you do and and we certainly do here in Clay County too speaking of that one of the things I should mention I talked a little bit briefly was about MCA the Minnesota County GIS Association Mandy Olson and myself host every two weeks uh M just a
tea time where anybody can tune in and ask questions about for GIS folks and it's become hugely popular so it's kind of fun we get recognized Now by lots of folks so very good thank you Mark you're welcome all right now can I move on to
number seven okay we have a request uh approval of a resolution 2025-the supporting a legislative appropriation of $60.4 million to complete the Minnesota Financial commitment for the
construction improvements and land acquisition necessary for the faram word diversion project in Minnesota okay thank you Mr chair it's tough to follow that that uh presentation and I think you just covered pretty much everything that I
was going to talk to about as the res the resolution uh first off the our sympathies to uh Steve and his family they lost an uncle last week and so he is at the funeral today that's why I'm sitting in for him um the agenda item
for this is uh the resolution of 2025-the of 60.4 million to complete the um the uh diversion project um I know that uh commissioner Mojo and
commissioner ebinger were down there yesterday and maybe they can fill in some of the gaps uh as part of this presentation um but this is one of the uh County's priorities um the and if any of the public wants to see what the
three priorities are you can go to the Clay County website and uh one of the this is the flood diversion funding uh the other ones are mental health Acuity and the 911 emergency replacement fund but this is concerning the diversion
funds this uh 60.4 million does include the request uh as part of the um Morehead request as well which was 16 million and then uh all the other projects that are going on so the total request for 2025 would be the uh $60.4
million and with that being said I will open it up to questions I'm going to turn right to wait to my right to commissioner Mojo I'm sure she's got you did a really great job with that thanks uh well thank you Mr chair thanks
dar for kicking that off uh one you this this number is probably not a surprise to our citizens this is something that we've been advocating for the need for this funding for a long time uh felt uh Not only would it be important for us to have this as one of our legislative
priorities but specifically to have a a resolution uh speaking to what the need is as we had huge discussions yesterday and I was going to report on that um in my committee reports but uh we met with six Representatives two
senators the governor and uh chairs of several committees on what this need is and $60.4 million is all-encompassing all in all out uh you know certainly however the legislature wants to bestow
or peaca what that request is um that will be up to their um their decision but last night uh commissioner krainov went to the Buffalo red Watershed District to advocate for them also signing a resolution of support since we are making the financial ask on their
behalf for their two projects um yeah I'm not going to steal his Thunder there but that was something that was unanimously approved and uh so as we go down to St Paul for the next uh undisclosed amount of days uh it will be really helpful for us to have this
resolution of support as part of the packet uh even more so for those of you that sit around the diversion table to um have the resolution to present to them as well uh certainly we're doing the best that we can given what the
financial uh Outlook is for the State uh we'll really know a lot more after the uh the estimates and outlooks come back on I think it's March 6th now but I can stand for any questions on this but this is not a surprise this um is uh in
includes the city of morehead's needs for their lift stations it includes the road raise for Georgetown the mitigation for land owners in the uh mitigation area the cemetery mitigation The Watershed uh the Watershed projects in
um Wolverton as well all right commissioner e you want to add to that yeah uh number one commissioner Mojo did a lion share of the work on this yesterday uh she and commissioner krainov have established a great rapport with with the folks at uh
at the capital and that was made it very easy to go in there and get the message out we also are very grateful to the chamber um you know we we have had some some issues with getting
getting uh guidance into the the legislature with the diversion and the Chamber was there uh kale uh Dunwood uh Dunwoody got his name right uh had had been instrumental in arranging a lot of
this but I think one of the real factors that worked for us for the first time we had an executive director that showed up and showed up wonderfully Jason Benson the new executive director of the of the diversion
Authority uh he was as briefed up and as articulate about the details of this Arrangement and this operation and the needs as if he had and he had been the Cas County engineer But he sounded like a man who'd been the executive director
there since day one he had his facts his information down and of course his association with the state of Minnesota as a general in the in the Minnesota National Guard didn't go unnoticed with our legislators too so this was a was a
great opportunity I left a little early and commissioner moso can in a report uh they got the governor and some progress appears to be getting done there but this was just a great session overall
was a great day with a lot of positive feedback well I you know somebody who's been part of that diversion project from the beginning it's one of the when we formed the original joint Powers agreement between Fargo more headcast
and Clay count is one of the uh one of the responsibilities of Klay County was to do everything on our part we could to obtain State funding for this project project for the work that's done in Minnesota and you know this is just another example of us also um holding to
our commitment uh through our original jpa and the work that we do and so I just want to put out a thank you to everybody who has been uh spending their time in St Paul and with Watershed The Watershed district and all of those
things uh helping to fulfill our commitment now hopefully the state will come through through on on what's being asked of them to fulfill that ultimate goal so just want to say thank you for that commissioner moo thank you uh you
know I I do have a a little bit of a followup maybe that I feel like is really important for this board to discuss um there are some comments um that have been made in in different around different tables about a potential for holding up Minnesota project
construction contingent on Minnesota funding and you know as as someone who sat on the the governor's task force that really um you know saw that there were so many sacrifices being made on all different uh sides of this for us
to uh now in the middle of purchase agreements and buyouts and moving forward in this all of a sudden here that there are Minnesota projects that could potentially be held up because of the lack of Minnesota funding um is
really concerning uh our Avenue for funding in Minnesota is vastly different than the Avenue for securing funding on the North Dakota side and I can unequivocally say
that we're working very very hard to secure that funding it just is challenging and particularly challenging because uh Fargo's relationship to bismar in regards to population size is vastly different than Klay County's
population in regards to hennipin and ramsy and um you know we are are continuing to have these dialogues but it's disheartening to come back in here while there you know these these projects that need to happen in
Minnesota in the next 12 months could be delayed uh because of funding you know those of you that sit around that diversion table you know and I know you're doing this but um for from someone who's not on that board you know any help we can get to State why that's
maybe a a disingenuous um statement given the fact that we made those promises to people not only in Georgetown but also south of of Morehead in in comto and and in
Wolverton well I you know I I agree I I I'm I'm a little disappointed now I I know there was some discussion about holding back um when there was some discussion about what needs to be done in some of the rural areas with raising
roads and that was primarily north of the Morehead area and I think those projects were $5 million of this total total ask and and when we were going through this project I you know I certainly said that that those are areas that could be held off to the very end
there there were shorter projects they basically Maybe raising a few Township roads here and there to make sure that they have access in and out during times of of a 100-year flood and you know but but some of these other projects uh when it comes to 100-year flood protection
for Georgetown right in the area where the diversion is going to uh go into George right just north of Georgetown uh for us to uh be delaying that I and again I don't mind a a delay from a
standpoint of you know working on the funding but to have those things not done when this project becomes operational would be unacceptable from from the Minnesota
side and I I will continue to argue that and I also believe that it's probably even addressed in the Minnesota DNR permit so I I just we just always need to keep that in mind so commissioner yeah another another issue that comes up
until this Project's certified there's not going to be a movement through FEMA to get get us out of the flood plane and there's going to be plenty of people North Dakota and Minnesota who are paying tax uh or paying insurance for flood protection or
lacking those protections that uh are not going to be at get any relief until the project is certified and even then it's going to be what two or three years but this is something that it's not
strictly a benefit to the Minnesota side as far as these projects that are in Minnesota they are essential for the completion and certification and relief from from flood uh insurance so I think everybody benefits if we move along with
this you know and I I pointed out the the work that's in regards to Georgetown but we can't also can't forget the work that's being done on the southern part where there's a lot of impact due to the storage areas that deal with Wolverton and comto and those areas and so all of those areas are going to be equally
important that they're that they're done and fulfilled uh as part of the project so and I I I do want to I do want to add though and I do want to um I mentioned thanks to to the board here who has been doing this but I do want to send out a
thank you to our current uh diversion board chair Tony grinberg for for going going to St Paul yesterday too along with with our commissioners and and Jason Benson our new executive director I think those I think that was very helpful and
long overdue uh quite frankly um in terms of U more involvement by the executive director in in what we're trying to accomplish on the Minnesota side so so my last piece to that point uh having commissioner grinberg and uh
Jason Benson as well part of what we talked about is revisiting that historical component what the agreement was between governor berham and Governor Dayton and and they are requesting a appointment with Governor Armstrong to update him on the
status of this and then two as we were able to talk to Governor walls yesterday to extend that invitation to have the two of them come together for some sort of Round Table to talk about what the conditions of the DNR permit were why it was so imperative that these Minnesota
side projects were included as part of the project and and I'm hopeful that uh we are able to uh get to that point uh certainly it's it's helpful to have our North Dakota Partners part of that all right so we have before us uh
as an agenda item the approval of this uh uh resolution 2025-the have a motion by commissioner abinger second by commissioner kavanov any further comments any further comments seeing
none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried and Darren I think once uh once this this uh resolution is signed could you forward that to the executive director of the diversion Authority and anybody else
that we want that to go to thank I mean we've already it's already been done with the legislature right oh we'll just include it as part of our packet for our lobbying yeah okay efforts okay but if we could send a a copy of the signed resolution do we need to get a
copy to Moree uh well that's they're in we can talk about it we have a legislative update standing meeting with them once weekly so I'll bring that up all right let's uh thank you
Darren um um next we have I'm not going to jump over you on this one so right we're going to do our annual update on technology Services good morning R thank you Commissioners thank you Mr
chair well appreciate the time this morning um run through my few slides here my update for my department just things that have been up in the last year and things coming up here in the next year uh first and foremost uh in July
here uh this board recognized the need for a uh a new cyber security analyst so I I greatly appreciate uh recognition of that for the county and increasing the needs of the IT department here that's uh it's
always great to have that reinforcement from the county board for our department so as of July we were short staff then after that position uh opened and was filled and we just finally uh filled our last position here in mid December so
we're finally full staff now again it uh it feels good it's um we got a hardworking staff uh nice backbone the two new uh gentleman that started one's got a really high amount of initiative the other one is just rock solid things
are going very well with with their two new hires uh just kind of recap here in the last kind of year to year here uh employee counts uh have gone up uh significantly which you know we as our department we we feel that a little bit
so about 10% up according to HR um we support roughly 25 buildings in the county um our staff now staff ratio with that additional higher now drops down just a little bit which is which is getting to be a little more comfortable but still still kind of medium and high
range throughout the state uh desktops and laptops we've cut those quite a bit just because a lot of Staff still had a desktop and a laptop and now we've switched more to just laptops kind of cut some of that that
waste that that they don't need um not not always a popular decision but it's uh if they're not using it to their full uh potential let's let's get rid of it and save a little bit of money uh land lines is still about the same um cell phones went down just
slightly and but our active assets went up quite a bit so not necessarily things like desktops and laptops but uh cameras uh sound systems um all other type of it equipment that you that we use in a
day-to-day capacity yeah go ahead is is that why is that because we opened up two new buildings that that's part of it part of it yeah yep absolutely every new building uh the assets girl absolutely uh just this is just kind of overview what we see um in a typical
kind of year-to year of tickets uh this year right now or in 2024 we had about you know a little over 300 uh tickets a month uh different visitors and help desk calls directly as well so uh in 2025 here we're trying to get a little
bit better on the calls that we get in we we'd also like to create a corresponding ticket if it's going to take more than just like a pass reset just to help track a little bit better um manage our time a little bit better try to be as efficient as we can um and that that also helps us gauge you know
in a few years will we need U another position you know are we kind of over our head here with what we have so any little indicators that we can use to track that is uh very helpful to us so a lot of you know a lot of you've
been to our office you youve received help from from me or my staff and so you know the typical support you you have a problem you call we we fix it there's a resolution um hopefully quicker than than not but um a lot of things behind
the scenes here that that we do that are not a lot of uh people quite understand is you know we'll have um a lot lot of vendor negotiations there's a lot of pricing back and forth it's a lot of haggling and Hassle and trying to play the play the vendor game with uh with
costs um a lot of my staff are you know along with their 8 to 4:30 they're working nights and weekends too so there's a lot of systems that can't be up upgraded during the day because because staff are working so we try to reduce the amount of uh outage that
there is for for staff just so they can continue doing what they need to do and which is help the uh public and the different people that they serve um we've even just recently uh adjusted some schedules with our staff so I kind of open that up a little bit so now we instead of 8:00 to 4:30 now we
have staff here from 7:30 to 5: which which helps and I'm hoping maybe even we'll get get to the point where it's 7 to 5:30 just so we have a little more excuse me uh coverage for you know the the staff that come in earlier the staff that stay later um sometimes it's nice
to have that availability otherwise we do have uh on call staff uh we designate one person every month to be the on call person they're almost like a dispatcher so they'll receive the call you know nights nights weekends after hours and then
they will track down one of our team here to help them out with an issue if they can't solve it themselves uh one thing we have coming up here we actually have our our cyber SEC cyber security analyst Jan S she'll actually be speaking to a few students
at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch here on the 20th just to kind of give a a background of what she does how how she helps in the in this industry things to look out for just to kind of keep that keep the word spread with that and I think it'll be a good uh good kind
of start to uh reach out to those younger minds too and you know that that opens up some uh some opportunities for us in the future um a couple other things here like account management we we handle all our Verizon account uh cell phone
account um currently we have I think I saw roughly like 130 devices prices that equates to about $130 $140,000 a year in cost um shipping savings we also have uh
Amazon accounts so uh my department handles all the Amazon accounts and sub accounts for all the rest of the Departments uh Amazon's very popular we spent about $175,000 last year on Amazon which roughly saves about you know 4,500 bucks in uh shipping costs just doing the
Amazon Prime uh excuse me alongside of that we you know on those nights and weekends and even during the day when we can we we test these systems that we host for all the Departments uh we we test our backups um
unfortunately uh sometimes we we need those we don't always like to have to do that but it's it's you know it's good uh continuity it's a business it's it's good testing it's it's good to have a a working knowledge that your Disaster Recovery systems are working and your
plan is working as as expected uh we also provide a little bit of training too for any staff so any any topics if you have a new software platform that's coming out and we're familiar with it uh please reach out that is something we're
we're more than happy to train your team or even if you just want a little more knowledge on something you're you're using now please uh please reach out so just some uh some expenses just over the last couple years not a whole lot of change the onboarding costs are
typically Hardware um you know laptops monitors desktops things like that uh cell phones annual expenses would be kind of the cell phone recurring recurring charges uh software licensing increases that's where we're seeing most of the excuse me most of the increases
year-over-year but just kind of a quick quick slide on that uh a few uh recent and upcoming projects here um of course security enhancements are ongoing those just every every week there's something new that we're we're looking at
improving uh just to try to increase that Baseline that we have for our security posture here at the County uh just a few weeks ago uh the board approved some infrastructure replacement and PC refresh Cycles so we'll be starting to work on those as
well um the long distance local longdistance service with our telephone provider we work uh pretty closely uh Mark Sloan had kind of geared that for us and we set up uh renewed a new five-year contract with
Lumen and that's going to save us I think roughly close to $800,000 a month just moving to a new uh structured plan there um we also have our compliance meeting our compliance committee which
the board approved last late last year and and you were graciously able to designate one of you uh commissioner Mojo was uh accepted that so we appreciate that and we're hoping to get our first kickoff meeting here next
month I'm not the smartest one in that sure take a look around he'll do great I promise a couple uh other changes uh our tax software we're now looking to get that into a hosted environment uh we're
working with a few other counties and if we onboard as a group of counties I think uh four of them is the minimum but that can kind of save a little bit of cost as well so right right now we have two counties maybe three so we're just hoping to get one more and uh on board that so that'll that'll save a little
quite a bit of time on one of my staff that works nights and weekends doing upgrades so there'll be hopefully less nights and weekends for her she's uh I'd say 30 35 weeks out of the year she's working after hours or night weekends it's it's a lot so hoping to reduce that
toll on her um another software uh that's not on here but uh with the attorney's office um Brian and I have been working with a vendor here and some of his staff on
potential for moving to some of the cloud for his uh you know kind of client data but um we're still working through that we're not sure if it's a good fit yet but that's another thing on the horizon as well uh around law enforcement the E citation
Solutions so as officers write tickets in the vehicles um that's all software driven of course um they can print print tickets right in the vehicles um that is on its last leg so we're still we've been working the last couple years here to try to figure out a good solution for
that but we're waiting for BCA approval on certain things it's it's been a real headache there's not anything great at at the current uh position we're in but what we have now is cheap and it's
hard to move away from something that's cheap but it's also end of life end of getting to be end of support here too so that'll be another hurdle coming up with uh the six law enforcement agencies in Clay County I think that is all I have any
any questions for me right um a while back we decided and and even through the advice of MCA we used to host an awful lot of other counties information on our system and we we made the decision to go away from that from a
security standpoint with all the new Cyber stuff that goes on and and I my question to you is in in Mark's presentation this morning another area where there's an awful lot of significant information is people looking for land records issues and
parcel information and we and Mark mentioned that that we have um the city of Morehead which is half of all of our Parcels roughly or over half of all of our Parcels uh comes into our system and maintains it are is there any concern
there are we in terms of that same issue I know morehead's part of Clay County which is which is helpful but but I you know I'm just you know I when you see these presentations that we've had about the ability to go through back doors and
even access or something like that and they can work their way in I just your thoughts on that yeah and uh and since that uh incident in 20 late 2023 with the the Cyber event that has been a focus so every every other connection coming in
we've reviewed and that that was one of them our connection to Fargo our connection to Morehead uh connection to MPS as well so now there's extra rules in place there's bare minimum what they can get to what they need uh different you know reviews in place so that that
that we we feel we're in a good position on that and then all I wanted to hear yeah and then to also speak to your uh comment about the hosting counties all those counties just for an update for all of you those Counties have moved off onto uh the vendor Cloud solution or
their you know local on-prem to each respective County so all that data is now off of our system or has been since uh late December good very good well we appreciate your work on all of that so yeah no appre appreciate it thank you very much okay uh anything
else thank you Rory thank you board we're going to running behind we're going to take about a three minute break here back I got I got some head nod e e e
e e e e e our back in session our next item is our um a request approval to set a public hearing to consider amending the Clay
County tobacco ordinance Darren you going to lead this conversation uh I am going to lead this conversation as well um kind of out of my wheelhouse but I I've been in on some of these meetings so this uh this agenda item is just to uh request the approval to have a public
hearing on the tobacco um policy or the tobacco ordinance um as you recall on December 17th the ordinance passed with public input um on January 14th uh we did have board discussion with the new commissioner commissioner bear and uh
there was some uh discussion on that and so they you decide group to discuss all of those issues um The Next Step uh coming out of that work group would be to have a public hearing we do have to give a 10-day
notice and the I think the other thing that was uh up in the air is when this ordinance went into effect so I know that Kevin uh commissioner Campbell had some concerns about when it became effective so the decision was to have
open up to another public hearing and after talking to Jackie I think that March 4th would be the earliest that we could have one and that would be up to the board on whether you wanted to do it on March 4th or at a later date
well I you know for I guess one thing there there was no decision made to have a public hearing that's what we're here for today just I just want to clarify that that that um no decisions can be made in in the work group that we had
yes that is correct conversation was there and and um it was commissioner be has since then asked U to have it relooked at and reopened in a public hearing process so that's that's kind of we're at right now um I do want to um
point out that or I have a couple questions in terms of if we move forward with a um public hearing to amend do are do we have to provide some sort of um language of what what we'd be
amending I I would I would assume so because the The public's going to want to know what they're coming for the public hearing for so yeah so and I I know and I know I you know I know in our in our work group session um you know there there was kind
of all over the board here there were some who who certainly supported the original ordinance and there were others who um did not but and there was some who thought maybe tweaking it to deal
right now more with just the Vapes and and then others that you know anyway so um you know just to to start this conversation off I certainly uh I certainly think that for
now our focus should be on on The Vape uh you know and targeting that through the ordinance but I'm going to open it up here for um and I and then I don't know Kathy do you have some proposed um different options that we could be
looking at yes um uh Jason did um write a um a recommendation on what could be um changed in the original ordinance so do you do you have do you
have copies of that or I have um I can I can we can make cop if you want to just yeah I wonder if maybe Jackie Jackie could copies of that just you know Ian as we're going to talk about it I think
we need to I think we should try to establish some parameters about the what the public hearing would be about yes uh we're not creating a a new ordinance we're you know they the request from commissioner bear is to amend an ordinance and and so I think we need to
be clear on that and then um we can go with certainly set the date for the public hearing and then maybe while she's doing that um this is something where I certainly want all all of our board members present and if the
proposed time is March 4th are are we all available to be here on March 4th maybe yeah I'm looking that up right now because that's fourth and fifth um so that's I'm that's what I'm doing right
now looking for that okay because I I don't want to have a set a public hearing date that would um have one or two of us not here so when question shair yes can we is that a public hearing date do we have to set the date
we're having that public hearing or can we have a public Hearing in the future I I make it work for all well I think I think the notice has to be date specific I've got a conflict on the fourth you have a at
11:30 at 11:30 M okay we would have to be done by 11:30 11 o'clock to get there all right thank you Jackie can you find that confirmation I also believe that is the
chamber uh at the legisl yeah yeah that's what those two are looking up I think yeah next date would be the following Tuesday or well that's I I'm trying to open it would be the 11th can we talk about the
out first I think we just want to make sure here if you can just bear with us for a minute um and Brian maybe from from your standpoint I think I think if we hold a public hearing um does the does the what does the
notice need to right and I think we just look back at the last one but I think it would just be review of the current um ordinance and and potential Amendment or or discussion of of possible amendment I
think this is specific language that Jason's proposing about it but I don't that could be presented that could be that that's not about what right but I think to be in the notice correct I think the notice is the discussion of the of the current ordinance and I want
it open it won't open I can't get this to open so so when we have this hearing and we're trying to come up so we're trying to come up with a specific Amendment at
this moment right for this hearing well I don't I don't believe you have to do that here today okay I I think I think Kathy presented this but that's not really I think the point being what you need to put on there is publication of I'd have to go back and look how we did
it before but I think it's just announcement that you're going to discuss that specific ordinance and discuss potential amendment of that ordinance you don't have to and after the public hearing we can make the amendment as it is as we wish
correct you'd have that public hearing discuss that cuz I mean the public could come and say I agree we would want something I mean they can propose that's the whole reason to have a public hearing is them end up amending the amendment correct I mean right the idea this is just some recommended language
this is just fine but but this isn't like you're not locked in or somehow I mean it's just I mean we could come up with the language to say what needs to be put on there but really it's just discussion of potential Amendment to the current enacted ordinance I mean that's what's basically going to have to say
well okay so the Morhead area d at the capital starts on that Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. so we will already have to have been on the road and so I'm not sure what the appetite for yeah advertising for two Commissioners to call in remotely is there a way to do it
the last Tuesday in February on the4th or fth so yep to n said n um it would work for the extra if we were able to publish um it's deadline
is noon today to publish on Thursday but we also um need to publish in one other and so that would be the Forum and so that wouldn't be till next Wednesday it' be published all right and I I I just do
not want to have it where we would have potential calling in I I think we get into some of those um uh requirements of when you call in being able how you vote and you got to be on camera and all
those other things that are part of that and and then also then the 11th commissioner Mojo is gone on the 11th um so I think we'd probably be I think the best thing for us to do would be to look at the would it be the 18th
18th that works for me yeah the 18th of March I I no I am I believe after that so I my I would be here on the the 18th and commissioner ebringer how about
you all right so March March yes I think our administr just I better B make sure to here yeah the 18th would work for me all right so and I and again I you know I I don't because of our previous
action where we had this thing not being enforced till June 1 anyway I think I think the March 18th would would be okay um in terms of the date to hold the public hearing yeah just one thing maybe clarify now because it was an issue in
the last one just because we have the hearing on the 18th are we planning on voting on any changes or well I know you wanted more time last time I I I don't you know I think the processes you hold the hearing I think the board has the
prerogative to act on it that day but we also have time to um I agree you know so I I'm not going to I'm not going to suggest that a decision will be made on any amendment that day I think that's the that's this board's prerogative yep
and if you know like for me the last time I would have preferred more time uh but if you know if there's four of you who would disagree with me then that's the way it would be but at this point I I would if somebody wanted time
to analyze new information that might be presented in the public hearing then so be it I think that's fine I again I I think we I don't think we're harming anybody's business or any of that type of thing up until June 1 so we can take
the time that we need to get it right and Mr chair um I'm just Matt's um messaging me too yeah he he said we can have as many public hearings as you need and that you don't need to make a decision that day so pardon me I didn't hear any you don't have to make a
decision that day yep you can have as many public hearings as you need right I mean it I it could even be something where where we might even want to continue a public hearing those are all options that that we we have available to us so
um but anyway so I I you know I I think um you know I think the discussion is today according to our attorney I don't think we need to be too specific other than that we are looking at amending we're holding a public hearing to consider amending uh the ordinance and
then let the information come out in the public hearing I'll make a motion to um request a um approval for a to set up a public hearing to consider amending the Clay
County tobac ordinance on March 18th I will second that okay we have a motion by commissioner kravinoff and second by commissioner be to uh hold hold a public hearing uh I think that I
think we want to have a Time specific on there I think because we're so far out I think maybe what do we want to look at you want to time wise you want n so uh the last time we did it didn't we go about 10:30 didn't we get our business done first snowing huh it split I mean
we had a bunch of business after that too I left by left well I'm I'm in favor of uh I guess what's that 9:30 what so you're you're incorporating 9:30 as part of your yeah my motion is that does that meet your second all
right we have a motion a second to hold the public hearing on on a amending the tobacco ordinance for 9:30 on March 18th okay all right do any further discussion on the
motion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried all right thank you and then Kathy I think maybe um maybe these things maybe you
can bring this back again on the 18th sure and Mr chair I um that did come from the public health law Center who also kind of helped with drafting the whole ordinance so um but yes we'll bring that back all right
um I just I just wanted to um make one comment while we're on this topic and I and it it went to it a comment that was made in our discussion um in the work
group that other entities if they wanted to they could um their own ordinance that could be less restrictive than
ours and that is not even legal to do I once once a county adopts an ordinance another entity can make it more restrictive but not less restrictive so I Brian am I correct in
that true okay corre so I just wanted to point that out so and I don't know if that was the comment that was actually I I don't recall exactly the comment I think the comment was about whether they could make one which they can but it would have to be more restrictive than what were looking at right right yeah
the comment was was that somebody could another entity could do their own assuming that they want maybe wanted to incorporate what we didn't uh or less restrictive I guess and that was they just they can't do that so I'm
sure I made that comment well I I I again I don't care about the names I just it's just a point all right let's uh move on to our committee reports um they start with last time I think I started with Dave last time did you go
okay all right Dave you want to go first then yeah um see on Tuesday the 4th we had a work session following the uh regular meeting and I don't have my notes in front of me
I'm trying to remember what that was oh the tobacco ordinance and we moved on that today uh on the sixth um I attended the emergency communication Network legislative
committee um virtually uh looked at uh education Outreach there were no updates or planning there were no updates uh the house agreed uh to a couple of bills that will be
reintroduced uh basically for reimbursement to some counties for purchase of uh portable and mo mobile radios and not a whole lot occurred other in
general business after that excuse me my notes are a mess here I did them quick this morning um had a diversion special meeting um to discuss a consultant agreement with jod Smith who
recently uh moved to a North Dakota job that had her leave as land's director for the diversion Authority and we came up with a contract agreement for her and then uh yesterday went to the
legislature with commissioner Mojo um we've covered that fairly well I'll leave it for commissioner mosjo if there's anything we need to add to that but it was a productive meeting I really appreciate the support we got from the
chamber and uh from the Tony grinberg our chair for the diversion Authority and our new executive director Jason so that completes my report thank you Mr kinof thank you Mr chair uh just the
other piece of on Tuesday the 4th as we had our work group uh good discussions on the uh tobacco ordinance and moving forward with the amend uh with the um motion we just approved uh the
other part was that a presentation by uh um Matt Jacobson from County zoning planning uh about the um uh the changes to the um our U County
amendments on excuse me I'm getting I'm off my notes right now just one moment please anyway uh working toward um the Amendments uh of our County zoning and planning uh there are uh eight chapters
with it and the potential of having hearings in the future um to discuss those uh in a open house form so we feedback from the public before we make
um uh major or any major changes and and to come before this uh this board for um the final acception or acceptance excuse me of those uh changes on the um
20 on on third excuse me um Wednesday the second or the 5th uh February 5th I did have our uh Clay County collaborative meeting uh with our new um uh coordinator in charge of reach
and we had a really good uh drawing of uh people that are involved with it uh very pleased and really it came back back to there are so many new people uh new members to this a new coordinator to this program that we almost had like a
flake County collaborative 101 and it was very educational uh very very engaging and I think we're headed off to a good um uh uh path uh right now we'll be reviewing
what it actually are all the guidelines and principles and mission of what the collaborative is and then on to reviewing the bylaws and at the same time of course by uh in the next month uh we'll be starting to send out our
applications for this year's grants and uh we want to keep those all in motion on on a uh very Progressive and orderly um uh path so our next meeting will be Wednesday March 5th and um we'll have
more uh news at that time as this advances forward uh Thursday uh was my monthly meeting for uh Children's Mental Health uh again very well attended I'm just really impressed how this group comes
together with providers and um what we did was uh annually um the uh Lac has provided a um two surveys one that go one goes out to Consumers as to how they feel about the
work that providers are doing the accessibility for uh consumers to find the care that they need or in the direction and then the other one is to the providers a survey to the providers how they feel the referral systems and
and also um information shared between the providers um you know we had uh at this meeting in particular six seven seven different providers with and and plus schools uh that were in tendance so
anyway we we pull this uh survey all together when on uh in May on mental health month that's when typically the um children's mental um uh Children's Mental Health uh group comes forward uh
and meets our commission and they'll give the details of that survey and then uh future uh recommendations for LL as we we move forward to um make the best program we make available to our um
citizens of Clay County on uh Friday the 7th I had a couple team meetings along with um uh our PF prtf group uh we met with uh representative Keeler uh part of that
was uh commissioner Moji and Steve and Steve Summers from uh uh Solutions uh all talking in and and collectively uh looking forward to our next steps as we work through legislature also there was a follow-up
meeting with a an association that works with mental health it's an association called expire Aspire and they told about the work they did and and certainly um it's good to have uh know that there's other coalitions out there that uh could
help us if needed and then last night I was at the Buffalo Red River Watershed District board meeting for their monthly meeting the resolution that we just passed um regarding
the um our um our resolution of support for legislative appro appropriation for the 60 million or 60.4 million that we just approved as a County Board this one was more specific for the Buffalo red
and really the only difference in the verbiage for the most part was just it it broke it down a little bit more about the fact that it included um uh the buyouts of you know the the land and and
then also the fact that it includes uh 16.6 million for the wilberton project and 6.5 for the GE shown Levy so uh that unanimously passed and uh we'll be coming back to us again to work along
with our work down in St Paul and to be part of the jacketing of the bill as it moves through and with that that's my report all right thank you Paul commissioner Mojo thank you Mr chair last week I attended the highway tracking committee
meeting has been uh reported on by the actions of this board earlier and the work session later on in the afternoon gratitude to staff for getting all of those components together as we decipher what makes the most sense for our
communities uh on Friday I attended a flood mitigation legislative planning session with the Chamber of Commerce and partners from the city of Morehead in um anticipation of our visits to the capital yesterday after that meeting I attended the non-secure juvenile detention
prtf uh strategizing meeting with with our work group and representative Keeler I think really great feedback as always these things tend to move quite quickly once we enter legislative sessions so making sure that we're all on the same
page as we um work forward makes uh makes the most sense we'll meet again this Wednesday just to hash out some of the uh components yesterday as noted I attended the uh day uh in St Paul legislative
meetings highlighted by uh the chair and co-chairs of uh the capital investment committee meetings certainly having the city of Morehead representatives from the diversion Authority in Clay County present uh really uh amplifies amplifies our voices there uh part of the main
components as we worked with Min morehead's lobbyist and the chamber's lobbyist is making sure that uh we're on track for getting the bill language back from the revisor's office uh now that uh the house is in full session um they're
quite backlogged but um hopeful that we're not too far away from Senator koek getting that uh language representative Joy will be the one carrying the language uh for the bill and uh representative Keeler will be signing on
so really great supportive from those uh folks around those tables I think it is imperative as I said earlier to make sure that we have both Governor Armstrong and Governor walls part of the dialogue together uh but continue to have really great conversations down
there on the way home I tuned in to hear commissioner kraban at the Watershed District asking for that resolution of support I appreciate his willingness to do so and their support on that and did hang on for the rest of the meeting they did have a fairly good feedback a lot of
which revolved around their citizens advisory committee that has over the last few years struggled for attendance basically because they've been scheduling it when County boards were meeting so it was kind of hard for all of us to attend that and then two over it seems like they were always
scheduling it over the spring breaks of the area schools which also is difficult for folks to uh get out to that meeting so I know they they did have a a meeting or Insight on how they could best um schedule that and Outreach for that and
then Recruit new members for that and I I think that concludes my reports right thank you commissioner May thank you last week after County Board I went and toured the Clay County correal
facility with the sheriff I want to thank uh sheriff empting and the staff for taking me through that facility then on Wednesday we had a building committee meeting and we discussed the capital Improvement plan and advise staff to come up with a plan to determine the
project cost on a joint Highway building roof replacement that we share that building with minda and Morehead Highway Department it will cost about $500 to $600 for the county share to hire an architect to determine the cost of the project we also discuss the family service fit up projects for Suites 401
and 2011 the tenants lease is up July 1st and decide not to renew this lease Joe will Joe will have more on this project once we get closer to that date and we also talked about the Justice Center aka the courthouse the state probation wants to move back into the
Justice Center we talked about options where they might where we might find room for them to move into there could be room on the first floor but it might be tight but it would be a start we also talked about court security and Joe was going to come up with some numbers for card access
doors then after the building committee I went over with Paul was there with a Clay County collaborative governments board which Paul reported on I'm an alternate to that committee and uh Paul did a very good job reporting to that and then
yesterday we had a meeting about County property it wasn't a committee meeting but we had myself the planning director the sheriff's department and the group if you remember December 17th they were here to talk about bluff run the bluff run group for a single track motor
bike track and we discussed options on property in the county and solutions and they came away with not wanting that piece that they originally were talking about putting that on so now Matt Jacobson is working on finding them another spot if it's in the county or
getting them in touch with land owners where it might fit yesterday so that is all I have thank you chair thank you uh all right on we also we had some discussion
already on February 4th about the work group that we had here I don't need to add any more to that that same day we had a highway tracking committee meeting that commissioner moer report on I just want to touch on a couple of other things um Justin has requested a to purchase a
drone to help with inspections of bridges that's uh would be about a $25,000 cost to um provide that drone and I think he's working on a way to incorporate that within him his budget so I I think that's going to be coming
before the full board for consideration uh he also reported that there's uh two motor graders now where the Transmissions have gone out and the warranty was up on them last year and so the repair to each of those is about $660,000
each uh so um he's working with um uh vendors on getting quotes and tradein numbers so we'll no doubt be looking at that in the near future
um Houston engineering is working on the scope and a fee to um regarding the casat 26 Road raise and that is again in cooperation with then being rebed by the diversion Authority that's the 26
that goes just right along kragness there and then um he did report that um through the D4 ATP we receive $1.1 million in 2029 for the mill and overlay
of casat 10 um next year he has a goal to get 60% funding Federal funding so we'd be looking at another 1.6 million in 2030
for Advanced Construction that says significant road with an awful lot of traffic on it so Dave's been working hard and on obtaining funding on that and he's doing a good job so far um and then there's anticipated $ 1.1
million oh I'm oh did I say I'm Justin oh boy okay uh then in um anticipating 1.1 million in 2027 uh for casassa 3 through the
TMA and cassa 3 is just right north of 11 Street and he he talked about the 15th Avenue Corridor study the final report has been approved commissioner Mojo and I are going to be attending an information
meeting on that tomorrow morning to find out some of the issues going on there and that that kind of Might coincide with what I talked about with future considerations on things we might want to be dealing with with Highway tracking in terms of the 5year plan with that
whole Highway 10 quarter issue so so we'll keep working on that then we um had the building committee meeting on February 5th um commissioner bear gave a a good outline of that in terms of the
fourth floor and second floor um basically remodel or refit uh it's it's still uh Within the plan to com have that completed in 2025
so in case there's some folks in the family service center wondering there those two projects are still slated to be done sometime this year and it's going to have to be probably after the 1 of
July an awful lot of other things were were also discussed um I think I think um commissioner bar outlined that fairly well for now and what and what was done there on Thursday the uh February 6th we did have a uh
special meeting of the diversion Authority which commissioner eringer reported on and that was um all that was really on the agenda was the contract Consulting agreement contract
with jod Smith and I was very strongly in supportive of that uh primarily what what she's going to continue to work on is is some of the lens discussions that we have right now that are some of them are in court
proceedings and she's been very involved with that and her information and knowledge on previous actions are really important and besides that I think um she has a
good relationship working with all of these land owners not they don't necessarily like the the whole concept of it but at least they have confidence in in jod and and what she brings forward to both the uh MCC jpa and the
casc County Joint Water Resource boards for consideration uh I believe that concludes my report other than the fact that um last night I had the opportunity to stop into the mangoes who was newly here in Morhead
and I just want to publicly thank them for moving to Morhead and Clay County it's a it's a business and I'll tell you what it's uh the place was packed and the food was good the service was good and the band was
good so it was a it was a nice night and I'm just want I'm thankful that they chose Morehead and Clay County for their new home so welcome to mangoes all right Darren uh thank you Mr chair a lot of
the things have already been covered so I'll try not to take too much time um I was also a part of the work session for the tobacco ordinance on uh February 4th February 5th we had a county management commit committe meeting and um also on
the 5ifth The Land Development or ordinance discussion with the department head so after the management meeting um Matt Jacobson got some of the department heads that may have some uh part in the Land Development ordinance uh together and we kind of went through that and he
gave us a good update on on that um on uh the fifth I also attended the building committee uh meeting uh going over the 10-year plan uh also on the fifth I had some training uh with the Civic forms it's Civic
optimize it's what Mark uh talked about today where we're making all of our forms into one platform so had some training on that on how to how to do that um on the 6th I met with Kimberly for about an hour to go over their uh
recorders the state recorders uh legislative priorities um and proposals to the state I do have a copy of that that I can certainly um send out to the board just so they kind of you kind of know what the records of the state are looking at um changing as far as
legislation goes um also on the six I had uh prot Talent training which is our continuation of the onboarding and recruiting module for ukg uh hopefully we'll have that done and ready to go by the end of February maybe the beginning of March Des depending on how the
training goes um on the also on the sixth I attended to dog and counter training which was U very good uh it was kind of geared toward ours like people that go out and social workers uh Planning and Zoning assessors go out and
maybe encounter um mean dogs dog bites that type of thing so uh it was a pretty good pretty good uh lesson um on the seventh I also met with uh Kirsten Anderson on uh from Aspire
and I think uh commissioner kov was there as well he handled that um and then uh yesterday I also sat in on the um the bluff uh motorcycle club and the usage of the demo landfill area um
tomorrow afternoon I am driving to Minneapolis for a impel conference uh that's only a one- day conference it's on Thursday and then I'll be driving back Thursday night and that concludes my report thank you Darren Brian do you
have anything for us today Jackie just a reminder that on Monday we are closed for President's Day so um County buildings will be closed did you already mention that okay it's because I love working here
I'm going to work Monday if that's okay will you have fun I'll be the only one all right anything else we are Jed e e e