is 8:30 I'll go ahead and call today's meeting of the Clay County Board of Commissioners to order looking for an approval of the agenda so move second a motion by beay second by evinger to approve the agenda any further
discussion all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I I oppose same sign carried employee recognitions I ran up the stairs and that wasn't smart I'm trying to catch my breath sorry you always think you're in
more shavee until you run up the stairs okay today we are excited to have three people that we're acknowledging the first person today will be Kristen depri from Social Services we have Holly here Kristen we are so excited to a
knowledge your 20 years of service to Clay County and our Citizens We're so grateful to have you as part of the team congratulations thank you all right so just a few words on Kristen so she started um with Clay County in our child protection unit as an ongoing Child Protection case manager
um she was in that role for seven years and then moved over to our home and Community Based unit and has been a disability case manager since that time um Kristen's caseo is a bit unique in our unit she's the only case manager that works with children birth to 12
years old so a lot of times she's working with families who are new to disability services and may be feeling overwhelmed with where do I go what do I do to help connect my son or daughter to services so she does an excellent job connecting with families um I can think
of many situations over the years where um she's provided compassion support court or just that listening ear to a parent who just does not know you know what what do I do how do I help my child so um in addition to that Kristen has a great relationship with our community
stakeholders particularly our schools she works really closely with our early intervention services in elementary schools in collaborating with services for um kiddos on our Cas load so thank you Kristen and congratulations on 20 years with Klay Cony
[Applause] our next individual today is from public health Valerie nesset okay wonderful well can you acknowledge the fact that uh Valerie has been with Clay County for 20 Years and we're just so excited to have had this
time with her she's such a valuable asset to the team yeah she's an admin admin support person and so she's worked in all program areas and particularly her claim to fame is she goes out to every vaccine clinic we do influenza vaccine clinics around the county and
she is so excited to go out there and and work with uh people that want vaccines and she's um really helpful to the nurses she's loading up their stuff and Hauling the supplies so Val is a a great asset so we appreciate all she
does thank you and another one from public health Patrick Hollister have Rory with today Patrick this uh plaque is given to you today in grateful recognition for your service to Clay County and its citizens over your 15 years thank you so
much for your work we really appreciate well Patrick came to us back uh the Minnesota state legislature in 2009 approved some funding for a novel approach Statewide Health Improvement program to address some chronic disease and um healthy weight issues and our
fearless leader of health promotion at the time Gina Noti assembled a team of which Patrick was part of we still have three from that team that are that are with us which is really really unheard of in the grant funded World Patrick one of those um he's the only one in the
state I believe who's a a city planner he's an active living planner his specialty is um helping to design communities to make it easier for people to walk and bike um he's recognized as an expert by mdh he's spoken at national conferences he's been recognized by a
national group smart growth um for his work um so he's a wealth of knowledge and currently he's working on helping to extend the heart trail with FM metr Cog um through CL through Clay County to the Red River so Patrick thanks for all that
you do you [Applause] everyone couple so you can catch your breath you want me take the next couple so you can catch all right the next item is the payment of bills vouchers I would move to approve nson
vouchers second second we have a motion from commissioner karoff to approve the payment of bills and vouchers a second from commissioner eer any further discussion any further discussion all those in favor of the motion signified by saying I I I oppose
same sign carried and then the next item before commissioner Campbell takes over would be the minutes from January 21st 2025 that were included in the packet I'll make a motion to approve with one uh spelling error on page 10
for Anna Moore her name is last name is spelled wrong if we correct that I'll make a motion to approve okay second we have a motion to offer approval of the minutes with the amendment of the spelling any further
discussion any further discussion all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I oppose same sign carried yeah it is yours Mr chair commissioner moo we did skip over uh citizens to be heard okay I'll handle
that all right good morning any uh do we have any ciens to be heard on items not on the agenda today any s to be heard any online nothing Mr chair seeing none we will move on to item number two request for approval of m. Grant
agreement resolution 20257 good morning Justin good morning so yes the first item I have is approval of Mind mindat agreement for Casa 14 Southwest of Glendon so this is a bridge replacement that was bid early or later
in 2024 and as required by mot for the use of bridge bond funding we have a grant agreement and supporting resolution then the cost impact and funding is laid out in your packet so we did receive almost $700,000 in Bridge bonding for this
project all right questions I have one question okay is this uh construction going to happen this year yep so the road will be will actually be sending out a news flash later this week the road will be closing February 20th so they'll tear the bridge
out this winter pound all the py lane this winter then depending on Spring conditions continue to go after that that's all I had all right thank you we're looking for a resolution of support for motion to approve resolution
2025-the none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same motion carried next item is approval of Minnesota m. Grant agreement with resolution
20258 yes so this this one on the next item are kind of a partnership project with both the city of Delworth and the Buffalo Red River Watershed District so we were able to receive Bridge bonding for a bridge replacement in the city of dillworth on a local street so the funds
come to us but we're just a sponsor for the city in the Buffalo Red River Watershed District so there's no cost impact to the county we the bridge bond funds just have to come through us well offer a motion of support or motion to approve resolution 2025 08 for
sap 014 59703 I'll second that second all right we have a motion in a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same
motion carried next item Grant agreement 20 2025 to 09 yes so this is the same thing as the previous one just on a different straight in the city of Dorth it was a joint project no cost impact to the
county I'll make a motion to approve mot agreement 1055 977 and resolution 20 25-9 all right we have a motion a second we have a second any further
discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried all right request 2025-the
head for work done on County Roads within the city of Morehead kind of one item to note I did include the 40th turn back within your packet this is the last payment um which is payable in 2024 so it'll be on 2024's budget and like I had
mentioned throughout my 2025 budget cycle I used that funding to seal coat and stripe this year have one question okay Morehead take care of the County Roads inside the city of Morehead yes maintain them and
yep so they plow all the like 11th Street they plow that for example all right any further questions I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025 d10 for the small City SE elment right we have a motion second and
a second any further discussion further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same sign motion carried all right we will move into our thanks Justin we move in
to our item number six request approval to fill a welfare fraud investigator position good morning Quinn morning Mr chair Commissioners I'm here today uh firstly to request to refill the welfare fraud investigator position due to a
resignation the state keeps stealing our people um and what I mean by that is uh this is a 12-year veteran who we're losing so a lot of institutional knowledge that we're losing and again is Bittersweet as it is uh for him to move on to go to the state I'm also proud at
the same time that his his knowledge and expertise is something that the state is interested in so um it's a very Bittersweet thing to lose um him as well uh obviously we received his notice of resignation uh currently there's two staff that are doing that job as we speak uh based on current workload
Trends we do recommend that that two staff continue being assigned to this work we did see a very significant drop in the fraud cases during covid with all of the I guess orders that were around what fraud looked like during Co um however as you can see based on the
numbers it they had dropped from over 500 prior to covid to down to 274 in 2022 um since then we've started to see with those uh kind of orders being reversed see that Trend go back up and as of last year the number has exceeded
our preo numbers up to 638 um good to see that I guess we're back on track in terms of the fraud uh prevention um I included the wage calculator it this isn't a straight dollar for dollar with how the wage
calculator works because uh 1.25 FTE of this position is funded by a state and federal fraud prevention Grant um so although the wage calculator projects a cost Savings of 22246 how we claim the salaries to the
grant based on um the salary of the person and how fast we're able to draw down from the grant it will ultimately res result in an estimated cost Savings of 5,000 44 um even though we're going from uh
grade 16 step 12 to very likely grade 16 step 1 so I just wanted to be transparent with the board about that um I guess with that I would yield to any questions to co was it was were there two positions then too yes yeah
yeah the numbers were above 500 prior to co and that was definitely need for two two positions and this would be un likely to have backfill right because of the uniqueness of the job or I I will request backfill however I I'm not
anticipating any right now but I would rather get it approved just in case right Mr chair oh go ahead commissioner kbov yeah just a little background I am curious um so number one what do you
think is the greatest reason for this almost doubling I think that the concerns for fraud were present it's just the orders and the kind of how they redefined what fraud looked like they I don't want to say that they just opened it up but they
really shut off a lot of things that might have been considered fraud during covid so things that were occurring just we weren't allowed to look into okay that makes sense okay thank you yes commissioner eer yeah I'd move to approve the vacant welfare fraud
investigator position with mville good second we have a motion in a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I I oppose the
same motion carried all right when you have another one I do and one more after that I just see you guys all right uh now now I'm here to speak to the local homeless prevention aid um I'm looking for a motion to approve a
contract with caplp to utilize the local homeless prevention aid funds for a total of $33,135 um the Commissioners remember back on November 5th uh You' approved an issuance of a request for proposal for the distribution of these funds uh we
went through that we posted the RFP uh received the responders application we did have one application that was submitted um what I think is great about this specific application is it wasn't just caplp it was a partnership of our local uh provider was caplp Morhead
public schools and Churches United wrote together for for these funds um you can see that uh kind of what's proposed in the application was funding a full-time Advocate to provide Outreach uh housing navigation and support services to families and youth uh within caplp uh
funding for 247 shelter Advocates at Micah's Mission uh under Churches United and also funding for full-time position at Morhead area public schools to provide tailored support for Native American families experiencing homelessness um to recap the local
homeless prevention aid was created in 2021 by the state legislature to help local governments ensure no child is homeless within a local jurisdiction by keeping families from losing their housing and helping those experiencing homelessness find housing um we've had a
good partnership with caplp with UTI utilizing these funds in the past uh and I think their application and partnership with our other providers in the area goes to show that they don't want to do this work alone uh again we were allocated
$33,135 for State fiscal year 25 uh for these uh for this year and for this project uh it's paid in two installments July 20th and December 26 I would be looking to sign contracts immediately upon approval uh again to remind the
commission uh this is Department of Revenue funds not DHS funds the allocations change each year uh last year was a slightly smaller amount so I was happy to see that the allocation this year was increased I gu that I would yield for any questions was is the allocation amount the same we talked
about though in the fall yes the 303,000 is the same amount that didn't change correct any other questions commissioner kov just a comment um I too you know being part of this I it's two years in a row I guess maybe it happened before but
for sure since I've been here um I really appre appreciate that we get this collaboration of these groups uh so they're talking to each other kind of knowing what fits best for them within the RFP uh rather than having three
individuals that are competing against each other where uh we have to decide it's so much easier to have that cooperation among each and obviously we know they do and it's longstanding so I
just appreciate that and uh certainly support it commissioner ainger yeah I concur with commissioner karbin off's observations we have good partners in this and it's been successful in previous collaborations so I'd like to
make a motion uh that we uh approve this uh Grant Aid uh with the partners identified approve and uh the selection and subsequent contract with cap Bel P which includes
her partnership with Churches United and Morehead public schools for local homeless prevention aid in he amount of $33,135 I'll second you have a motion and a second any further discussion one question when are you the
one that facilitates going after this grant money uh this is this is set by the legislature by legislature do the other school districts have you ever asked the other school districts to tie in with these that are in the county other than just Morehead um I I haven't
specifically targeted any one person but we put it out as an RFP we put it on our website and we get it out to all of our uh homeless providers all right just curious any other comments questions seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same motion
carried all right Quinn one more okay I'm here to do the exact same thing with the Statewide affordable housing aid um this was an amount of $6 68,69 uh we had one applicant again for this RFP which was Klay County
HRA uh Klay County H was awarded the funds in state fiscal year 2024 as well um again in October 22nd the board approved the RFP process for the Statewide local uh Statewide affordable housing aid as well uh we reviewed the applications and scored them again with
HRA being the sole applicant uh according to their application they'll use these funds to support operations at Gateway Gardens and bright Sky Apartments as well as to assist or provide assistance for recently added housing support clients at bright Sky Apartments as they took on that role
from Churches United um in summary the Statewide affordable housing aid is designed to help counties tribal governments and local jurisdictions in Greater Minnesota develop and maintain affordable housing prevent housing loss and support individuals experiencing homelessness in securing stable housing
Clos in uh again I have drafted contracts ready to be signed if approved uh again this is a Department of Revenue funds that's paid in two installments of July 20th and December 26th totaling $ 68,69
uh requesting that we approve this motion but I would yield to any questions any questions and again this is the same thing we talked about in the fall right correct dollar amount same dollar amount y yeah and there again collaboration
with Churches United so I I again I think it's wonderful what they do right Mr chair yes I would approve the make a motion that we approve the selection subsequent contract with Clay County HRA for utilization of Statewide
affordable housing in the amount of $ 68,69 I'll second that we have a motion in a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor sign ify by saying I I oppose the same
sign motion carried thank you Quinn thank you so much next we have an update um from West Central Regional water district with a2s we have with us this morning Steven
slick with a2s and our water district chairman of the board Lucas spaith good morning maybe just to just to start this off a little bit um commissioner be and I at our last board meeting we talked
about the most recent update that we had at our last meeting in regard to finances and we'll get into that a little bit in their PowerPoint today uh we're not expecting a board to make any decision today on but I think it's going to be important for us to have that that
discussion as to where we are and and what is needed to keep this thing moving along so Lucas are you going to start off or yep okay yes yeah as commissioner Campbell mentioned U my name is Lucas spith I'm the board chair for the West Central Regional water district your
West Central Regional water district um also the utility superintendent uh for the city of Hallstead where we have a distribution of water Wastewater and electric uh in my background um with with the West Central of course you
as you all may remember it's three countywide we're going through a process um through the state process um it's a 116a process to be formally uh accepted as a public water system as part of that the engineering
that we we've hired a2s uh to continue to do um is really realizing where the water supply waters are coming from um as much much as where the water um is needed uh in your communities and Rural it's up to 30 cities and 40,000 people
and we'll get into how how we've grown um quite quickly um in the last 12 months major needs for the project the water quality concerns um this this probably hits your rural residents um a
little more than what we do in in the city side but the Aging infrastructure on City side is a large dollar amounts that they're looking for um critical critical infrastructure such as in their it could be water treatment facilities
it could be water towers um some some have other needs in their distribution system as well lack of licensed operators um right now the city of hallad or our holon Municipal Utilities is our utility company um we are contracted with
um right now F not Felton um borup this small city of borup and the small city of perly they are both in Norman County um previously I we did contract with the city of Georgetown until we cross Tred the Georgetown mayor's wife she is now
their certified operator um I had a call yesterday from Glendon um they're um engineer altg engineering and they're currently looking for an A C certified operator um and so I mean it was more of
a question and answer right now but we could you could see us in Hal or in Glendon in the future potentially short term um as we mentioned you know those critical infrastructures there's super high Capital cost so with the engineers
um and we're developing out kind of a master plan and that's really what has been taking a lot of the time um on the engineering side is recognizing these small cities and their needs um what those end up being um in consideration like the city of borup they put about $3
million into a small water plant and to find Wells um of course their Wells they needed to put at it a an additional storage Reservoir and and these are tanks inside of a shed but they um once they've drilled they drilled three new
wells and they're only able to supply 35 gallons a minute out of one and then about 55 gallons a INE out of the other so they needed to add quite a bit of storage um and then also then they have some pressurized tanks that that put pressure into the system and then the
emerging contaminants um we they come down from the DNR but mostly from the Minnesota Department of Health who's overseas water qualities and what they call Max contaminant levels we see a lot of those in Arsenic levels um which would be one of the more
particular ones that uh we we see in the Rural and there's some cities that have had to put treatment in for arsenic as well um I I believe hater doll is looking at a plant of sorts potentially for the Arsenic that they're that they see in that area and then we see we've
seen it a lot through surveys that it's in the rural area um much more difficult for you know a private citizen to treat for that arsenic so I'll let uh Stephen kind of talk about the mapping and uh the
progress yeah thank you Lucas um I'm going to start off by apologizing to uh commissioner Mojo because she's seen some of these slides I kind of scavenged them from a update we gave to the Basin commission a couple weeks ago so this is very timely it's good stuff no I like it
so um just to kind of reiterate so the conception of this project uh came around in 2019 2020 uh with the city of climax kind of looking for their long-term water Supply um they'd been looking for 10 years trying to determine
if they should build a plant or regionalize um with a nearby water district um through that process they had connected with East Central Regional water district in North Dakota um and determined that that would be a good
long-term fit for the city as they're facing you know high arsenic issues um in a plant that has passed its useful life um in that throughout that process uh East Central Regional water district really wanted to kind of reach out and understand you know if there's
going to be a pipe going across the river to climax um we want to make sure it's big enough to possibly serve you know those in the future that may need it um and through that process Outreach and you know folks even coming to East Central they realized you know there
might be a bigger need here um and in November 2021 um you can kind of see that's where we realize that the some mailers that had gone out that yeah there might be um this Highway 75 Corridor um and many rural residents in the area that uh
could use a new Regional water supply Source uh summer 2022 um as that project had come to fruition design was completed funding was secured through uh USDA the pipeline
was built to the city of climax um with that pipeline mean to the city of climax being funded through USDA funding uh the way it works out is USDA is only going to size uh pay for the sizing that you know that Community
needs um and at that point kind of all this information and research is brought to uh the P County Board and they had paid upsize that pipeline from an 8 in to a 12 in um to serve you know rural P
pul Norman uh counties at that time so initially um as this as this concept had grown um grown and really kind of Taken hold of the region um resolutions to form the district were signed by
Norman and pulk counties in Fall of 2022 uh in Fall of 2022 $30,000 investment was made uh by Norman County um for you know the initial um studies and actually legal work more so um to
figure out what needs to be done to form a water district you know what are the steps um and that $30,000 investment was eventually incorporated into kind of a a later budget um it's hard to believe that's already almost been two years ago that I
was here in front of many of this board times kind of flying but uh spring of 2023 um Clay County had as well passed um the resolution and at that time to join the district and form the district and at that time within the resolution
um that all the counties had side and we were kind of looking at this uh footprint of um pulk excluding Crookston all of Norman and then really the the top tier townships of Clay County um kind of at that point and then some of
the subsequent presentations that um Daniel Marks I think myself had given to this board um and the other board just kind of what we thought it would take um to what we thought it would take to form this District look at what's required by
Statute as a feasibility study um and at that time a $300,000 budget was set um with proportionate being PK at$ 135,000 clay at 117,000 and Norman at 48,000 and those numbers are derived or
based off of uh board apportionment um within that District so as you know we had evolved from a steering committee into kind of the full uh functioning board that was appointed by the court um we had really kind of
played around with you know if we're going to do this um and the counties are going to go forward with this effort and saying you know to go through this process it's a lot there's a lot there there's a lot of study there's a lot of legal work and I think you know pul Norman and Clay counties realize that we
want to extend this opportunity um to you know everyone within the county boundary whether it can serve them right now or whether it's 10 20 years down the road we're going to go through the process um go through it one time um and
as you can see um in a very short period of time over summer 2023 to today the district you know encompasses all of pulk that is in Marshall and P R water system all of Norman um and all of clay
excluding the ETA area by um by city of Morehead um and Morhead Public Services you know anticipated service area um and as we kind of get into it here um though that this boundaries derived we've seen some recent
developments um that may end up having a positive impact to water supply across the county so what we're really looking at in this long-term study um many of you have seen this uh but for those that haven't is when we had done the
feasibility study the initial step in the court process um we're trying to figure out how do you how do you approach this how do you tackle this dart board I mean it's a it's a wide area there's a lot of variables we don't know um and some that we do um so what
was proposed in um except in that first feasibility study was to really look at breaking this District in kind of five study zones um to use as a starting point you know this isn't written in
stone I imagine this changing many times but what we had kind of looked at is breaking into five zones based on uh known water supply uh known project participants and users uh elevation and really you know what is our variety of
sources that we think is out there and their operational capabilities um and so with that this proposed Improvement in five zones is really the the basis of what um our engineering
study slash um master plan is going to kind of focus on um really what um being that much of the early on development um and part of the process and started in Zone 3 um which is that
basically original boundary um we really want to focus our first phase one improvements um within this court process on that while kind of looking to master plan uh the rest of the zones with you know our proposed future improvements once we um know a little
bit more and maybe some uh Capital Improvement projects identified so some completed steps in the process um the coun has have formed the West Central Regional water district via resolution uh it's the first water district in the state of Minnesota since
1985 so we're really kind of uh Reinventing the re wheel and trying to work through a very uh Antiquated statute with how today's uh regulatory environment is and how uh funding programs work um the petition was filed
and accepted to initiate the district court proceedings uh the appointment of the engineer for the project is completed um we've developed and submitted a preliminary engineering survey for the project and had our subsequent um hearing on that um
preliminary engineering survey um which was actually right here in uh Clay County uh District Court um I think it was slotted for courtroom 4 but we might have ended up taking a couple others as well with the amount of uh with the
amount of folks that came to the hearing um which is very positive um subsequent to that the court had issued an order um in the next step for kind of our a detailed engineering survey outside of the court process um I
you'll see on the next slide or a couple slides from now I I kind of have a map we tried to really work out um and identify like how how does this process look it's not linear there's a lot of other things that aren't contemplated in the statute and one of those is funding
for the project project um to date uh we had secured $3.5 million um in federal EPA grants um part of that which is going to be used for uh Master planning and The Phase One Design as well as
legal work um we've had 16 counties cities and agencies filed resolutions and letters of support um with recent Outreach um through some water provider meetings we're expecting four or five addition from uh Regional water providers within
Minnesota um 60 plus public meetings uh we've had over 450 plus rural testimonials uh from residents saying that uh they would like the opportunity to hook up to rur water um within that uh those rural testimonials I'd kind of
put an infographic together here on the right uh to try to identify we have them identify you know why do you want to hook up to real water what's your driving fact factor from being on your own well um and as you can see the larger Graphics are you know the words that were used more the smaller ones
were um in various other um you know various other reasons why they would want it but the big ones that we come up is uh hard water concerned about reliability odor staining um well which
shows that most of these are rural residents arsenic uh and taste were large concerns among many other various ones that are on there um you know today too we've had multiple funding Awards and multiple
pending applications I'll kind of get into those a little bit more in this next slide um we've met with countless means of legislators uh Regulatory Agencies and I know um commissioner Campbell and Fisher bear have also met
you know with um respect you know respected legisl ERS um expressing kind the need for a project like this uh Lucas's phone seems to ring more often than not anymore about the interest that's growing for this project so um in
previous years that um we've been uh had a bonding Bill drafted um and last year we did have about $4.5 million uh in bonding that was in the final you know official unofficial list that was out there that didn't make it across the
finish line so um hopeful something will get done this session or next session with that throughout this process you know there's been um quite a few other things
that have come about that really fall outside of what was expected with kind of the engineering um and thought process of how this project is growing and the ripple effect that it's had um you know
I had said we 3.5 million in um Federal monies that was awarded right now there's another pending $750,000 in federal grants um that we're hoping makes it through to the final budget in March um $2.4 million has been
secured locally um by Regional cities for infrastructure related to hooking up to this project when it comes um and that was through Minnesota Department of Economic Development six cities and the district are are applying for a combined $20
million uh for phase one funding for Grants and loans for infrastructure buildout um there's already been um you like I said strong state level support um including kind of future Financial
pledges um and the project you know we we're looking at it a lot of times from uh Minnesota um and the three count perspective uh but there's a lot going on on the outside the peripheries across the border um there's been quite a few
discussions uh regarding you know how this project um can help communities like Morehead public service or communities like Morehead Morehead public service and East Grand Forks with looking at a long-term water supply through the Red River Valley water supply project uh which is a 72in
pipeline coming from the Missouri River um east across North Dakota um and you know they're looking for all the support they can get to get that project done it's under construction right now um and anticipates to be completed in 78 years
um I kind of attached a letter is you know through our regional meetings um this Pro that project had kept coming up and kept coming up is that it's something that the district should look into you know longterm as well as it could help all the communities up and
down the region uh so we had drafted up and submitted a letter of support support for the project for Senator kashar uh to work with Senator hovind um to pass some endos funding and it does sound like that that uh um letter had
gone to where it needed to be so and supports expected um and you know other the other kind of cool part that's come about this district and the evolution of it is we're able to meet with all of these communities all these touch points
all these municip alties and as part of the preliminary engineering survey uh we had identified 11 different Regional water uh providers that could maybe Supply this system um with the two more I think one maybe scheduled this week and one more we're trying to get done
this month yet to get of them all but we've had a strong backing from uh everyone across the board both North Dakota um and Minnesota Regional water suppliers uh to the effect that some very large Regional water providers that
are you know right here near Clay County are actually um launching studies that have um studies on how they could provide water to the West Central Regional water district and what that looks like long term um I actually just
got a call from Holly I think it was middle of last week um asking you know if we would help them with their long-term water supply project and seeing how this could be helpful for both entities so kind of a a cool ripple effect that's that's
happened from the Outreach of the project so far so kind of the next steps in the public process um we're going to submit the detailed engineering survey and viewer report to the court um from that we'll be hold the second public hearing
on the detailed survey uh and issue the notices that are required um these hearing notices um that kind of wasn't contemplated originally um when we had done the first survey we noticed everyone within every land owner within
Zone 3 whether they're um in a city limits or rural um now this next hearing notice we're anticipating noticing every land owner in the 3count region that falls within the district whether you live in the middle of a city um or
rurally as well so it's about 15 or 16,000 notices that we expect to go out you know this spring or summer so it's there'll be quite a bit of probably talk and maybe questions coming your way about that just a heads up um and then
Court approval and order for buildout of the project some of the things I wanted to get into quickly as I know we're we're running a little bit late but uh we when we had first kind of looked at okay how what does this look like what does this
project look like um what is required by Statute we had kind of looked at that zone three right those middle you know first initial boundaries that were set and we had mapped out okay these are the steps we need to establish our
governance we need to notice the project we need to do a preliminary project hearing and a detailed project survey um you know noticing and then project PL specifications but what the but what we had kind of realized as we started working through the statute um as the
scope had you know kind of evolved is you know it the statute requires you to do a feasibility study of that Z but it doesn't account for what's next like what are you sizing that pipeline for after the first cities who are you building it out to how is this going to
be financed how are rates going to be structured you know how are board policies going to be adopted that support all of this and you know talking through um all of this um with the board and um you know some colleagues and it
and Hood um we had really come out with well let's try to look at you know we we're doing the court survey but how do we make this more of a a court survey with a master plan aspect to look at um anything we do here sets the district up for you know financial success down the
line and ability to expand grow um do everything that we had promised it to do to um residents and municipalities within the three count region so with that you know we had kind of broken into okay we got the court process we got the master plan that kind
of ties into the court process and we got the work plan um with the EPA with secured dollars to how can we make this all mesh together and eventually get us to bidding a project um before bidding a project we want all these things in
place um not don't want it to be the wild west because we've learned from uh the sins of our past in uh North Dakota and other Regional places in how things were done when these were first incepted to how things are done now so the remaining efforts um that are
part of the master plan SLC Court survey uh that we're kind of in the in the midst of right now um we're looking at system participation you know getting uh memorandums of inclusion from all the cities who's in for planning doll or planning amounts how much water where
are you when do you need it um master plan kind of we talked about where the infrastructures at what's needed um timing and phases uh board Financial policies how do we set rates how do we set cost allocations so that each Community each
resident feels like we have um a fair rate structure to serve them um as well as you know if the the district's going to acquire these grants what is the distribution of those grants and who receives benefits of these and how is this done
equitably um and then additional funding sources you know what are what are the ways that we can fund you know not only the first phase but um you know future future phases um and that can be done many ways grants bonds and Loans uh through your rate structure and setting
strategic reserves so our project budget updates um initially we had had that 3ou $300,000 budget that was proposed early on in 2022 2020 3 um to establish the district and obtain the judicial approval um you know through that
significant process has been made um as discussed you know our scope is expanded a little bit um we anticipate the efforts to be kind of a lot larger than we originally did um so kind of as of last week actually that initial budget
is you know officially exhausted that was approved uh by the counties and it was an up to amount budget um what we were anticipating is that initial budget um would get us to our EPA funds or Grant funds that are
available out there um that are allocated to the project um but through uh working out we need to get the work plan approved by the EPA it's been in their hands um they have to give us a grant agreement and then agreement um
between Norman County um Felton and west Central Regional water district and uh those funds needs to be done yet so all those things are going to take a little bit of time and we think we're looking at about by six months or sometime this summer um sometime this summer to where
we can actually get to access those funds um those funds actually are potentially reimbursable to the counties uh following funding that was committed um I believe March of 23 is where the
reimbursement date um may come in line where some of the costs that have previously been Sun could be reimbursable um so where we're at today is um we're kind of requesting and we're going to be talking to pul Norman clay
um requesting you know between 150,000 200,000 total to use as stop Gap funding uh needed to kind of avoid delays in this engineering and master plan project um until additional funds are available um
the consequences delayed you know obviously the risk of halting pretty much everything that we're doing you know the momentum seems like it's been building and building and building um to we're we're taking pretty seriously now um and with regulatory agencies um
funding agencies um and legislators and no increased future construction cost delaying this might delay another Full Construction season um so you're looking at a full another year where cities like uh Felton and pearly they couldn't have
this water to their door soon enough um so kind of what we're recommending uh is that there'd be an approval of stop Gap funding just to keep the project on track um which can be reimbursable under the EPA Grant or through District Revenue uh payback in the future as well
the statute does contemplate that um that if the counties are fronting money for it uh once there is uh sufficient Revenue that the district can be paying the County's back through that so this was uh discussed at the
last West Central meeting um we had kind of looked at okay if we were to um look at this stop Gap funding um through a $150,000 or $200,000 scenario and a portion it um based offly and Norman
backwards up there yes I do yes I do so I'm us I'm us saying them right north to south right so thank you for correcting me um so what we had discussed is okay what if we were to apportion some stop Gap
funding um based on our previous formula um what would it look like and what are some scenarios that we may be asking the counties for in the future um so today I kind of wanted to just you know I I know there won't be any action maybe some
discussion but I want wanted to let everyone know you know this is something that um the West Central board had talked about uh this is the scenarios that were proposed by um kind of a2s and flan hood of what we think it would take
to get to that you know six-month time frame um and um you know get us to keep the ball and momentum rolling to try to get this thing through the cord process this summer yet and I definitely will be correct in
those uh order of names so so lastly um what's next you know we need to finalize our funding plan for the court process we need to figure out you know how we're going to finish it out um which will includ in um finalizing our detailed engineering
survey and master plan um that includes working with all our state local and federal Regulatory Agencies um The District's going to continue to apply for funding as it comes up I think the rounded year mark if if your marks are around um I would anticipate there'd be some applications
again um this round um finalized design bid project identified from the engineering survey and once the court orders the build out begin the project build out um for a safe sustainable long-term water supply for residents of
Western Minnesota and uh Beyond possibly so we've been hearing a bit of interest from um possibly residents and um a little bit of counties um around you so it's been it's been interesting to watch how this
concept has has evolved and grown a little bit further so with that I guess I'll ask if there's any um questions from the commission Lucas if you have anything or commissioner camer commissioner bear if you have anything to to add that I
forgot about so commiss be I just thank you guys for coming in I even learned some on how this all started because I was not On It originally so thank you guys for coming in and Felton has procured some money with a USA Grant waiting for yeah they're working on a
USDA Grant um they've probably got some search Grant monies as well I don't know for sure and they were one of the applicants for the um when we had done the original earmarks with the original boundary Felton was one of the applicants and Norman County was one of the applicants and Felton was successful
so so so we're waiting on those funds to come in in the next six months to keep this project y moving forward correct thank you guys for I say largely you know when we' recognized all these other Water Systems that's added kind of to to
the initial budget process to cost and and as well as you know some of the additional meetings and understanding with with like Minnesota Department of Health Minnesota DNR they're they're they want to know what we're doing and they need to sit down and talk with us
and so those those kind of things have initially I would guess that we were a little short on the estimate and yeah not knowing how many these meetings and and and how many of these presentations that together yeah that's one thing that
it kind of wasn't anticipated or um that we weren't looking at doing initially um is we're going to actually be meeting with for sure every city city in Zone 3 um as well as the additional water providers um to present them the project
again what it all means um what a memorandum of inclusion looks like you know how much when all those kinds of things and you know it's I don't know we've probably had already 40 plus 50 maybe other meetings with another 20 30
anticipated just in the City Works so in our our last meeting that we had in holstead the you know the the board did express some concerns about um having this thing not moving anywhere for a while with the momentum that's been
talked about uh you know so I think it's important for us to uh take into an enough a lot of considerations and I know one of the things that um isn't even talked about in this whole process is the economic developments that might happen as a result of these projects
moving forward too so uh you know I think we've talked to Steve Larson's been on our on these meetings and you know just going back to that last slide when you showed the stop Gap numbers at 150 and at
200,000 one of the things that we also need to pay attention to is the number that was talked about to really get this thing through uh the second Court proceeding yeah uh is just about doubled
that 200,000 proba close to that 400,000 and I'm a little bit skeptical of where government is moving right now both at the state and federal level and to keep this thing moving I you know I I think
we're going to have to have those serious discussions um what happens if it does go beyond six months we need to be prepared for what we're going to be willing to do to make sure this thing goes through uh so we'll have those discussions I know Steve's been working on from County standpoint where would
Kay County's money come from there's some ideas that we've got floating around that we'll talk about next week I think we'll have this on the agenda next week to to talk about the the funding Gap um we don't need to dive too deep in that right now but but we will be doing
that next week and it's certainly our hope that we can come up with uh something real soon that will keep the momentum going I just want to briefly mention that commissioner be and I did meet both with the cities of Holly and
Barnesville last week along with Lucas and Steven and the the feedback we got is very positive um in in their involvement both of those entities would probably be looking at being a water
supplier of which we also need uh in this whole process so there was really some really positive feedback that we got there and for those of you who were able to be at the hearing you know and I saw all these people coming to these hearings we filled basically two
courtrooms and I'm think oh boy this is going to be a long day and what it turned out is everybody that was there was supportive of the project and it turned out to be a a really good deal um so so we need to keep this thing moving and and so we'll have that discussion
next week and I just real briefly Lucas can you can you talk about obviously Kay County can't be the only one to do this it's got to take all three counties to do it and is there a timeline for the other counties that you know of where they're going to be talking about this
we know Paul County was meeting today and and was not on the agenda for for their the P County meeting um they're expecting um kind of a memorandum of understanding of how the funding is going to be requested and if it if it's
paid back uh or or not which you'll be yeah and because we all act at different times everything's going to probably have to be contingent on what the others decide you know but so I I think we're we're kind of running right up against our time so I want to thank you both for
being here uh is there any questions that a board member has of these two because if so I'd like to you have that opportunity to ask them that if there's not then then we'll and we'll probably get into some more deeply into this next week when we have it on the agenda but
thank you both for coming and and um keep up the good work yeah thank you appreciate your time we will take a five minute break before we do our we are back in session our next item is scheduled to be
a closed session for attorney client privilege pursuant to Minnesota statute 13.05 sub division 3B Union negotiation Mr chair I'll make a motion to go into close session uh under the rules that
were provided second we have a motion in a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I I oppose the same motion carried we're in close session we'll just give a minute for we are now back in session uh we
were just in closed session for um Union negotiations and uh coming out of that meeting um I think it would be appropriate for us to um ask our assistant County
Administrator uh to follow up on some negotiations with Sergeant pay and first Deputy first class pay as relates to current mou so we'd be looking probably for a modified
mou Comm chair commissioner ainger I I uh move that we direct HR to move forward with uh readdressing the current M us with uh sergeants and Deputy first class salaries
uh as discussed we have a motion is there a second second we have a second any further discussion any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying I
byose the same sign motion carried thank you Darren okay thank you all right we'll move to our committee reports and we're going to start with Ezra today commissioner bear last Tuesday I went to the Planning
Commission with where we had a Fargo Morehead diversion update by Eric dos from ae2s and he informed the commission that about 61% of the diversion is complete we also discussed the southern Shore
embankment on the Clay County side Minnesota DNR came out with a recommendation that no development should be done on the dry side of the embankment on the first quarter mile from the toe of the embankment in case there's a breach in the
embankment after that update update there was a public hearing we had about the Clay County development code we received chapters 5 through eight we talked about changes that were were made and added a few more changes for almost the last two years
we've had public input at the Planning Commission on the development code changes and staff is getting ready to hold their final public hearing to discuss the whole code update before it comes to this board for approval and we have a work session on that matter later
today then on Thursday the 30th Lucas SP Steven slick from a2s and commissioner Campbell and myself represented the West Regional water district at a meeting with the city of Barnesville with a city administrator Jeremy cassette to talk
about the Water Project we gave him an update on the project and it sounds like he would give a letter of support to the project and that long term they would be interested in working with the water district we're making it a point to go out and introduce ourselves to all the cities in Clay County that this water
district could Supply in the future and then on Friday we had the Clay County intergovernmental committee Retreat where we had great conversation about the opioid crisis and the physical the
prtf and the legislation panel that is all my committees right thank you commissioner eringer thank you uh last Tuesday we had a pck meeting with the
discussion we we had today in in uh our earlier Clos session involving Sargeant and Deputy first class pay uh Friday I or no I'm sorry Wednesday had uh a meeting
with um County Administrator and commissioner moso simp we had a discussion on some of the legislative issues involving the diversion Authority funding uh following that I attended the
award ceremony at Sheriff's Office and a swearing in new Deputy we have Deputy Heidi and uh just want to remark and I know it's my old line of OCC my occupation line of work but there's some
fantastic work being done by our deputy the life saving and exemplary performance a lot of Officer or deputies were recognized for goes above and beyond it shows real skill it show shows an ability to respond and take care of
our people particularly out in the rural parts of the county where they may be the first people to get there and they've got a high degree of confidence in addressing all sorts of issues once they're there so I was real proud to see and congratulations the officers I was
proud to see they're recognized for this kind of performance then Friday I also attended the Klay County intergovernmental uh Retreat um had a good I was very impressed with our our staff addressing the O opioid
crisis Annabel Annabelle default um and Lieutenant Mike detloff with the Morehead Police Department really showed some expertise and their their colleague Cassie Kowski uh with best place we've got a
great response we put together for to address some of our issues with the opioid crisis it's not going to go away and we've got to have some response for it and I'm quite impressed with what uh what we're doing up to this point uh
commissioner moso and administrator Larson commissioner Campbell and Steve suner from uh Solutions gave a great great presentation on our prtf efforts we've got a lot of work put into it uh
I'm I'm another reason to be proud that we're in Clay County these are things that people around the state have talked about needing and we're actually doing something about it and I look forward to a legislature that gets back on the deal and helps us move forward with this
great idea that we we desperately need for our kids in this in this state people in Minnesota don't realize it but we are 50th in in the country on what we provide for psychiatric care critical
psychiatric care for kids and we're we're moving forward with something that's going to address that for the Northwest part of the state well for the entire state but there's nothing even close in our part of the state right now
I appreciate Senator kupek representative joy and Keeler uh and representative from uh Senator Smith's office that came and gave us an update on uh legislative issues I'm sorry Senator Johnson oh oh
don't want to forget Senator Johnson um they they gave us a good update on where we're at and where we need to go and hopefully we'll get we'll get the legislature moving here soon and get some of this work done and then the the
presentation uh by quiner and uh Chandler eslinger on on the homeless issue was very informative and it's a current issue that uh dialogue needs to be shared on
both sides of the river maybe we'll get there but as we saw in what uh Mr Jagger brought in or um sorry Jagger brought in earlier today that passed uh there is efforts within our community within Clay
County and from the state to get some some things done and that completes my report thank you commissioner kof thank you Mr chair I was uh gone last week on vacation but I'll go back to my meetings uh beginning on January
22nd uh on that date uh allign with commissioner excuse me um commissioner Mojo and Steve our administrator I to um went to St Paul advocating for the prtf funding uh we met with people and uh
members of the Senate and House members I know it was talked about last week in last week's meeting and we'll continue to Advocate and push on um Thursday uh the 23rd uh that had two meetings with cap
LP we had our fin finance committee um it's important to note that cap P right now is in very good standing um cash flow looks good and the reason
I'm bringing it up is um there's been some executive orders put out uh over the last week we'll see how that all falls out on the with the uh um administra uh Federal
Administration and um the some of the f p funding excuse me was paused shortly but then came back on but I just uh for the purpose of cap LP locally uh if there are a little bumps along the way
here um they're they're in good shape to continue uh we had a board of directors meeting um after that Finance meeting we have a new board member Jill mag uh magnel uh Jill is a uh operates a Child
Care Center in South Morhead we welcome her to the board um we had a um communication uh and marketing Spotlight the work being done by cap locally um on their Communications Outreach done by um
employee Brie Glenn uh then go uh further down we uh approved a new Head Start director Patty Lopez she's been with our local cap LP for 20 years um the previous uh uh that
position was open because the previous director moved up into director operations uh went through some u mcap meaning uh Minnesota uh Community Action uh partnership um legislative agendas
that will be working um with legislature and I think other than that it was all reports that I'd really um talk about I will do a shout out for
those of you that uh would like to help keep supporting caplp and their services uh in the local area there uh we will be part of giving hearts day on February 13th so consider your giving toward
that and uh yesterday I had a couple meetings on February 3rd the first was the Planning Commission and board of adjust ments with the city of Morehead um two simple things say had a request for vacation of a RightWay that
is part of the downtown Morehead and this area is where Fourth Street um pretty much north of Center Avenue uh that vacation um just have that uh in place
so then as that parcel is um being developed uh it opens a path for that um new developer or whatever the case whoever they sell it to to have um not deal with that right away that exists
also there were other text amendments that are being um Rewritten uh to bring them current with projected uses also in the downtown area which involves uh mixed use districts commercial districts
signs and other zoning amendments all those both those items were approved uh we were given our 2024 annual report it's very long but it was for information and uh find it interesting also um with the mor Center Mall
Redevelopment project there had been an environmental assessment statement um that um was reviewed and no uh defects were found with the uh questionnaire that was given and it was accepted and
they about the only thing left to do on that environmentally as they're digging and working through that area Arch archeological uh searches will be um uh done uh during the process of all the doing and
that concludes that and then after that I had the monthly meeting for the Clay County early early U childhood initiative um uh there were five new members that came came into the meeting last night um uh their work uh in the
child care area um they all interact it's good good networking to be part of those meetings um the Clay County um ECI is setting up a um has set up I should say a Early Childhood fund uh their goal
is to raise $440,000 and these would be for Shing grants um emergency needs for certain care um care caregivers whether centers or home units um uh to help them um maybe they're in need of something
small or um needing u a small grant for something that will help them in their uh providing uh Services uh other than that two things uh just planning for uh events in the coming year we have the kid kids Fest
coming up May 3rd at the library that's always been popular event and then also preparing for the longest table event which will be in September this year and that concludes my
report thank you m Mojo thank you Mr chair last week I attended a discussion with the city of Morehead and Klay County Representatives on the resource recovery contract discussion as you recall we were provided notice in November from the city uh on their
intent to vacate that agreement ment uh certainly from the County's perspective we are trying to identify the most financially conservative uh approach to how our citizens pay for trash uh
mitigation and uh I I think we maintain that this agreement one not only uh is the most streamlined for citizens to drop off at that site and the landfill but really the the most cost-effective way to do so so um we really see value
in that value in that continued partnership the city does have some concerns uh raised um you know I think part of what happens and we need to continue to um educate as new um folks come to leadership positions is just to
refresh on on why we started Journeys like this together what the mutual understandings were what the financial savings were and what the promises in St Paul were as we were given uh 8 million to um have that facility so I I think
we'll continue to to highlight those components and the county maintains steadfast in the commitment to keep the cost for our citizens as low as um possible and those costs as low as possible to not only Clay County um greater but also the city of Morehead
and the cities in which we help serve that um so I I I think it was um a big first step meeting I think there's a lot a lot that we need to work through but I'm I'm hopeful uh the next day I attended a
meeting the Prairie Lakes uh Solid Waste Authority meeting in purum or Municipal Solid Waste Authority in pum there was election of officers our own commissioner Campbell is now serving as the vice chair of that board with Bill Sterns serving as chair uh talked about
the meeting schedule committee assignments and the member contact components all save the financial report for commissioner Campbell but um overall uh in regards to the performance and and um and what materials are coming in
there uh we just are really in great financial standing we're in great um material standing as we talk about uh you know the ash management the mitigation of that Ash uh there was um a grant award and mot correspondence
regarding that um you know that's that Ash can really be utilized in a number of road projects Statewide we've talked about how that is an asset that we can Market um and while there is a stockpile uh at the Otter Tail facility I believe
uh that that still isn't an enormous amount of Ash meaning a single or two projects could really um exhaust all of the stockpiled ash so just talking about what that asset looks like there was a facility to tour for
the new um board members commissioner Hansen from Becker County and commissioner Sullivan from otter tale County were going to be part of that we talked about the toughy 2025 steam sales rate letter in that meeting and uh
talked about a potential for a demo landfill plant granting opportunity and I believe that was mpca that presented on that that afternoon I attended the no first 100 days uh meeting that put on
virtually really to uh update entities and folks on what the executive orders mean and how we can uh utilize those and and plan for those and communicate with staff on those um even
now a lot has changed since that meeting so I appreciate no and AMC for really keeping all of us up today and on what's going on I also attended the meeting that commissioner eer referred to in regards legislative strategizing for the DM uh
um the diversion Authority Financial ask in St Paul the next day I attended a um Metro Transit development plan study Review
Committee uh I really appreciate the opportunity both administrator Larson and I sat through that appreciate the opportunity to sit through that I really felt I was a little out of my Lane per se because they are so planning driven but felt it was a really great opportunity in in regards to
talking scenarios on on bus plans to um insert clay County's um desire and hope that our facilities will continue to all be serviced on a bus line not only now but in the future even if it's a on on
demand type service um you know It's Tricky and that service is expensive but I appreciate having the opportunity to uh attend that and share that perspective Friday I attended the Metro or the intergovernmental retreat with
all of you I really appreciate the joint Powers group for putting that on thanks to staff it was a really great opportunity to meet with so many different folks I appreciate the panels they were uh very thought-provoking and also the opportunity to share our prtf
story with uh so many people in the room who have supported that initiative and also see the value in that need uh and also thanks to our uh State Legislative Reps for being there I think that's a really important opportunity to share
and hear from them yesterday I attended the AMC board of directors onboarding meeting uh a really self-explanatory talked about the history of uh the AMC group that's been in existence since 190 4 I believe and
then later attended the MRC board of directors meeting after that had a uh discussion with Senate GOP leader Mark Johnson who uh did really give us quite the lay of the landscape in St Paul which I think is frustrating for all of
us in Greater Minnesota but uh you know I I know we talk bondie asks but I I think really right now we we need to push to get a budget I mean we are we're at the point where we're getting so delayed we're missing important Targets in the budget uh piece and and given
Governor wal's budget there were some pretty big cost shifts to counties um hundreds of millions of dollars to counties and and so while we will continue to tell the story at the capital about these legislative um bonding asks uh we need to talk about
passing a budget and how important that is to Greater Minnesota and so um just had a a pretty good strategizing session with the MRC legislative lobbying team and after that I attended the Metro
Cog executive committee meeting uh we talked about the MTP update uh the indirect rate that uh we've talked about not covering 100% what the work entails there might be some nominal losses but those nominal
losses can add up through the agency so talking about how we tell that story at the capital not only in bismar but St Paul and then had agency updates from the director and um besides that I'm not
sure how how much you want me to update you on the legislative contacts that I have throughout the week but um really great feedback still with representative Keeler and uh representative Joy uh Monday I'm facilitating visits with diversion Authority uh representatives
to those leaders in St Paul I've maintained uh a lot about how important it is for those reps to also be part of the legislative ask so um I'll be going Sunday to the uh to St Paul and then we'll have a full um in-depth slate of
meetings on Monday to update there and then also uh the Buffalo red Watershed district has uh maintained that they want to have a presentation at their board meeting on Monday and we'll be asking that board for a letter of support so Steve I'll just need to get
uh talk with you after about who will present that and provide that but um onward I guess that concludes my reports thank you all right on Tuesday the 28th we did have our um Personnel issues
committee meeting we had two items on there one was what we talked about today with the sergeants pay and for Deputy first class pay we also had another um issue that was presented to us regarding a vacation schedule a difference or some
uh how it's done in the ukg which is the software is that right and Personnel policy and we just determine that that's something that administratively can be fixed without action of this board um so that was um that was that uh and I I do
want to also follow up that same day we did have that joint meeting with Morehead regarding the resource recovery a letter that they had submitted to us to try to go over some issues there and and I think commissioner M was right
when she said that you know I think there needs to be a constant uh discussion uh with government entities when you have contracts uh so that there's a clear understanding of of why things were done when they were
done uh you know in this particular case you know Morhead came back and they they felt maybe that they um maybe shouldn't be handling a certain amount of garbage because it comes from rural areas and but you know I think you need
to be able to look at what the whole picture was and the whole contract was and there was an awful lot of concessions that were made on behalf of the county too in in the whole financial process of that and I do agree that what
we had I think was a a really good contract and and a fair contract and you know we'll we'll see where it goes I we had that discussion yesterday and I think there's um I think we still would prefer to see that partnership continue
as opposed to uh going a different route um I think I think some some folks might be less happy if if we start having to look at Alternatives so um so we'll we'll continue that dialogue um I know
that Corey our Solid Waste director is going to put together some more um f details on on that whole deal there so we get a true true
picture um then on the um let see on the 30th I attended the um oh excuse me going back to the 29th I
attended Prairie Lake Solid Waste meeting uh commissioner Mojo has gave a really good report on that detailed report on that uh we did establish our calendar for the year and in terms of the finances I just want to say
that um we ended we ended up you know with a cash balance fairly similar to what we had the previous year uh when you consider that we had in increased our internal service fund by another quar million which is now up to
$1.3 million it wasn't too long ago when there wasn't a nickel in that um and so we've really made some some good progress on that and they even with that they were able to do about three or
$400,000 worth of capital expenditures that they took out of the annual budget as opposed to taking it out of internal service fund so uh overall um I really want to give credit to Brian over there the plant
manager and Chris mccon who acts as um our executive director of the prey Lakes I think they really do a good job um in keeping that facility there wasn't too many year
years ago when we were having to ask for cash calls from each count member County and that was not that's never any fun uh so then on so then on the 30th then I met uh with commissioner be and I
met in Barnesville regarding the West Central Regional water project um commissioner be gave a good report on that I just want to State again that you know when we go and we sit down and we
further give them information on what this whole project project is because it still is you know there's a lot of questions and a lot of people don't really know the details on it and you know we spent some time talking about that and there was really some you know
positive you know thoughts on the part of how these cities there's some small cities are going to not be able to act as a supplier but certainly some of our larger ones have that ability so overall a good meeting um
and then Friday we had the interg governmental Retreat I you know I just going to Echo what everybody else said about about the uh the day and everybody who participated I think it was very well done I I just want to give a
special thank you to Jackie and Sarah um I think this this was my 33rd intergovernmental Retreat and I think of all the Retreats this is the first time where we didn't have technical issues glitches or
anything like that it just went smooth and it went smooth because of those two and I just really want to thank them for that so so you beat out the other 32 yes they have computers 33 years oh
oh okay but were you six well I do recall there were some After parties where some people were smoking cigars and in their rooms we won't get into that but yeah but anyway thank you very much for that and um that
concludes my report Steve uh thank you Mr chair last Tuesday I participated in the pic meeting that is well covered been well covered and also the resource recovery Cooperative service agreement with the city Morehead on the 29th I met with commissioner Mojo and commissioner
eer in regards to the legislative uh flood funding also uh participated in the sheriff's award ceremony and the swearing in again I think it's one one thing to uh to hear about it or even see some of the news stories it's another
thing to see the families uh that came uh to to uh I guess thank the officers again for for the life- saving awards that were provided so it was very neat um on the 30th participated metr Cog meeting that commissioner Mojo addressed
again uh the real push for us is making sure that uh our facilities are continued to be used they provided us with two scenarios to which they're uh that they're looking and proposing changes and so there'll be more to come on that on 31st participated in the
intergovernmental Retreat uh again I just would note that in addition to it things running smoothly was very well received this was our we had over 70 uh registered and walkup attendees which is the largest largest that we've had in uh several years uh and again just to to
reiterate thanks uh that commissioner Campbell put out uh uh our staff did an amazing job and Sarah specifically uh last last year was Clay County's year to to host the intergovernmental group uh and so getting up being up early having
agendas out uh just really great work so I appreciate that yesterday uh spent much of the day uh working on the MMB documentation for our prtf as this board knows we submitted uh we submitted MMB documentation previously uh for a prtf
uh but uh in with the change in the request uh now being focused on nonar Juvenile Facility uh we had to submit that and so that was submitted both to the house and the Senate uh we have a work session scheduled this afternoon from 1: to 230 and also just for the
board's awareness starting next week through the end of April we're going to be starting our department updates uh from from each of our departments throughout the county and that concludes my report thank you Brian nothing Jackie
Darren uh most of the things that has already been discussed I attended as well the pick committee the resource recovery contract um I did attend the board of adjustment and Planning Commission meetings on
stop on Tuesday I'll sit back here um I had a meeting with Josh hagum on Wednesday and had uh our Pro Talent ukg meeting on Thursday and then
uh went to Wal Disney World on the weekend so if I I can go into that if you want me to but uh we're already over time so I'll all right I'll save that you didn't fall off any rides or anything to uh close but no all right we will be
adjourned e e