Motion carried. Citizens to be heard. Do we have any citizens to be heard on items not on the agenda today? U Mr. Chair, my understanding is as I shared last week, there's a gentleman that wished to speak to the board in talking with court security. I
believe that he may be here uh but isn't present in the in the room right now. All right, let's um let's move on to the Oh, okay. Is this might be our gentleman. Uh we are under citizens
comments. Uh citizens comments. Do we have anybody who wishes to be heard? If you want to come up, if you want to come up to the podium and state your name, please. Uh good morning. Uh Julian Gilbert from Glendon.
Good morning. Uh so this is in regards to the um property that White Earth Casino is looking to uh build a casino on and they're looking to ask the commissioners to put the property into trust which will exempt it from sales tax and property tax. In regards to
that, um, if you take example the Bagley location they opened up in 2017, uh, that generates about $1 million in revenue a year, which would then give roughly 68,000 in sales tax and 288,000 in property tax if my math
is correct. Um, and I think the commissioners should uh take a look at this is a business they're running and should be treated as such and there should be a direct economic impact to the community if they wish to build there and would like help from the uh commissioners or the
county. Um, for example, that money could be allocated to the H Heartland Trail, which is looking to be built through Klay County, which would then be a direct um impact or good impact to the citizens of Klay County. Um, I'm also requesting that the commissioners request a environmental
impact study um to be done before um they look at you look at uh exempting them or putting the property into trust. And also uh please take a look at the current economic point of unemployment in Klay County which currently is at
three 3.1%. Last November it was at 1.6%. So you have to have a market where there's a viable uh job force available. Uh the other thing to consider is that the Bagley position currently runs with 40
full-time employees and and they're estimated by part-time employees. So the question needs to be raised that what um what economic impact it would have on the job force if they were if they were to build in that location. The other the other
thing to consider would be a traffic study. Um up at the Bagley location, there was a hit and run which caused a fatality from the casino about two years after it opened. And uh as recently as 2025 of this year, there was incident of
DUI um or intoxicated driving in the parking lot causing damage to vehicles. So I would ask that a traffic study be done. And the second thing to look at is to make sure that all the paperwork and um
correct paperwork and procedures are followed. Uh because they did attempt to open up a location in Ottertale County and that failed due to improper paperwork filing and also opposition from the residents. So, I ask that the if it's possible to put a 90-day um
window out there for residents of Clay County to come forward to give their opinions of the uh build. That's it. Okay. Well, thank you. You you give some good thoughts there and good questions to be asked and I'm sure all those are going to be um asked and
we're going to be expecting answers. It's my understanding that White Earth uh is planning on being here a week from today. That's that's my understanding that that we've heard from them, they'll be here. Um other than that, we know as
much as you know right now and so until we uh hear from them and we'll be able to ask some of these questions and some we'll have to just do our own research on as well. Yep. And I'll send you um I was I did I did have notes typed up to hand out but I left them at home. My apologies, but I can email a copy to
your email copies to you guys. Very good. All right. Well, thank you for being here. Oh, Commissioner Mojo, thank you. Uh, thank you for your time today and testimony. I just want to clarify that it's the ability to place the land in the trust is not within the county commission's purview. Correct. That is
correct. Uh, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Mojo. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Do we have any other citizens to be heard on items not on the agenda? Seeing none, we will move on to the approval of bills and vouchers.
We offer approval to pay the bills and vouchers. Mr. Chair, second motion by Commissioner Mojo, second by Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion on the motion? Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos the same
sign. Motion carried. Next we have the mint minutes from April 1st. A move to approve. Second. Have a motion by Commissioner Kavanagh. Second by Commissioner Ebinger. Any further
discussion? Any further discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose the same sign. Motion carried. Our next item is the Klay County Tobacco Ordinance Discussion. Steve, are you going to lead this off?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can uh yeah, I can tee this off here this morning. As just the board certainly aware on March 18th, uh there was a public hearing held in regards to consideration considering amending the Klay County tobacco ordinance. You had the opportunity to hear both in person and written
testimony uh uh in in regards to that ordinance. uh and based on the the amount of information that was shared with you, this board asked to have a delay in making a decision until a later date. Uh and so uh you've uh indicated that you have have now had enough time
to digest the information. Uh and uh we're here today to to discuss uh the findings of or the thoughts that you had based on based on that information. Uh just for the board's direction, I have had a conversation with Mr. Melton uh
and in conferring uh with our with our discussion uh any decision made today would be could be a final would be a final decision if accepted based on based on the public hearing that you had previously held. uh if if your no action
was taken, the current ordinance would would remain in intact and it would follow basic basically the information that you guys have followed as far as implementation uh in June 1st, 2025 unless otherwise noted. With that, I'd yield for for your
comments. Thank you, Steve. As noted, um, we currently do have a a ordinance on this that was passed in December of 2024. um a request was made to have an additional hearing on that which was
held as you explained and at this point in time um today's agenda is a discussion amongst the board um to determine if they are satisfied with the ordinance as it is or if they care to amend it
um or whatever. And as stated, um, if there is action, that would either way the ordinance, uh, there will be an ordinance in force, unless there'd be a motion to not have one at all, which I don't anticipate that being the case.
Um, so, um, but but we did we also did have um the board took separate action after that that delayed the implementation of that ordinance until June 1st. I know that you mentioned and
our county attorney said if if we don't choose another date it becomes effective today. Is that correct Brian? Right. I think just to make sure I mean the public hearing that you had complies with public hearing to address and it it's talking about notice of intention that there's you we published and and
put in there there's a stating the subject matter and general purpose of reviewing the ordinance. And so now choosing whatever you choose to do. I mean if you choose to amend it like you said Commissioner Canwell I mean if you chose to abolish it I mean that's an
action you can take from this you've had the public hearing. So whatever action you take could or would go into effect today if if you choose to amend in any way. Otherwise if nothing occurs the current ordinance would remain effect. All
right. All right. With that, we're open it up for discussion amongst board. Miss Yeah, Mr. Chair. Yes. If it helps with the discussion to help us get started, um I just like to make a motion that we
uphold and keep the current ordinance as it's written. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Seeing none. Roll call vote, please.
Commissioner Krabanov, yes. Commissioner Mojo, no. Commissioner Campbell, no. Commissioner Bayer, no. Commissioner Ebinger, yes. That motion fails. All right. So, um, further discussion. Commissioner Bearer, I'd
like to make a motion to abolish the whole tobacco ordinance. We have a motion to abolish the entire ordinance. Is there a second? Is there a second? Is there a
second? Lack of a second. That motion fails. Then, Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to amend the tobacco ordinance in section 7 C to strike that language from the ordinance.
Right. Let's see. Page 37 packet. That helps to get the page number. I'll second the motion, Mr. Chair. Sorry. Okay. So, we do have a motion and a second. Commissioner Kavanagh. Okay. So,
to speak to that, obviously, um I agree with the first part trying to get all the the our new ordinance in line with law in line with other factors that have come through state law and federal law since the other ordinance was made.
However, taking out number C would take out all flavored products, which to me almost sounds like the one that didn't re uh the motion that didn't receive the second. Uh I want to go back to all the testimony that was
uh taken. Um we were here all uh for both the hearings. Uh we had 27 people testify. There could have been more, but we didn't want to be repeating on that testimony. The whole issue here is about
flavors. It's about kid products, uh, which would include uh, as it's uh, written, um, it would include vaping products and it would, um, include nicotine pouches. and with the detriment
to brain development that is scientifically known and experienced. Um, these are the two problem areas I and I really want these to uh I I hope that these stay in play.
Uh again, we've heard from we had 26 verbal testimonies, medical professionals, public health, we had college students talking about that continuing of uh nicotine addiction. Two
superintendants, the problems uh that vaping and nick nick pouches create. And uh with that, that's pretty much where I'll end it for now. Thank you. Commissioner.
Yeah. Just to concur with um Commissioner Kraov, we've had two public hearings for this. Overwhelmingly, people that came forward were opposed to the flavored tobacco products and nicotine pouches.
Uh the reason being with with the nicotine pouches which are prevalent even in middle schools according to the school superintendent we had here uh they're find them stuck under lunch tables. Uh these things contain I don't remember four to eight the equivalent of
four to eight cigarettes. We are programming adolescent children to addiction with these products. If it tastes like tobacco, I guess that would meet the adult market for this. But these things
are being specifically marketed to children to get them addicted. I had I I smoked at 16 and it took me years to get get off my pack and a half a day habit is what it eventually grew up to. I had
Steve McQueen and John Wayne convincing me to smoke as you were cool. That was back in the 60s and 70s. We had gotten past that. But now through social media, through advertising from tobacco, we've got
products that are that taste like candy that are being used to get the next generation addicted. Um and overwhelmingly what we heard and from the people we want to we want going want to hear it from parents, students,
school superintendants, we're health officials, we're hearing that these are not desirable items to have out there. the the requirement that they be at least 21 at the point of marketing. You talk to anybody in the school, kids are getting
flavored vapes and they're getting flavored nicotine pouches somewhere. And the bottom line is if they if they aren't marketed, they're not going to get these kids. I think this is a reasonable ordinance. Nobody's gone out of business in the city of
Morehead and they've had a similar ordinance for some time now. And nobody brought merchants in here to say that they were they were losing their businesses because of it. So I think it's a prudent and respectful ordinance to protect our kids from a product
that's harmful and we'll dict them for life. Any other comments? One comment, Mr. Chair. I believe right now you have to be 21 to buy them. So that is an adult in the eyes of the government. This stuff is legal in the state of Minnesota. This is legal in the federal
government's eyes and I believe it should be legal in the state in Klay County to be sold. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I um wasn't able to attend in person the last hearing. I did uh participate virtually from St. Paul and did have the opportunity to not
only listen to the testimony on that day, but the other hearings that this board has had. Um, yeah, I think when it comes down to the consistent concerns, uh, the loudest, probably most prominent concern tended to revolve around, uh,
vaping, the liquid component being, uh, far more potent, the ability for it to be, um, other substances or elicit drugs to be, um, dissolved into that liquid. um you know and and I have children that
attend a college but also a high school and so um talking with them and their peers about the most prevalent component that they're seeing. Certainly vaping uh seems to be the trendy issue uh that poses the most um health concerns at
this point in in regards to addiction. So, uh, that's why I'm, uh, you know, happy to support what the motion is by, uh, you know, specifically targeting that point because of the inability to really guarantee what that, uh, substance is in there. Uh, I will also
concur. I you know I think uh what's frustrating to me is this is really um uh in my eyes not going to make a difference because of the fact that we are a border city that um you know this is an accessible uh far less cheaper
option on the North Dakota side that is not that far away from uh us. I'll also say that we uh do a lot with our partners across the river in regards to flood mitigation and transportation and dispatch and all in homelessness. And so
um you know unless this is more of a targeted effort holistically I I'm not exactly sure that we're going to see the results that we're wanting. I do hear the concerns, which is why I'm uh happy to be flexible today with this. But uh
you know it these are legal products and unfortunately if we don't have adults who can legally purchase these items stepping up to not provide to underage children, we are not going to see uh a
difference, unfortunately. All right. Um I wrote down a couple notes here. Uh, I certainly agree that the testimony that we had was overwhelmingly in support of of this policy.
Um, at the same point in time, the testimony was overwhelmingly regarding vaping. It's almost everyone they brought up vaping was was the main concern. It's not to say that they
didn't have concerns about the other things, but that was the over overwhelming. Um, it's my understanding that this policy applies to currently I think it's 11 entities in Klay County that would that this applies
to. Um it's not like those 11 entities are um providing all of the vaping and tobacco products that our citizens residents whether legal or illegal using are obtaining from those
places. Um something that really concerns me and it was even addressed by I believe one of our school board superintendent was that vaping is easily accessible. vaping products are
easily accessible over the internet. That's that's that really concerns me that that that is an option for them. Um my I also have a concern that this is the first time Klay County in my time on the board has ever basically
banned illegal product. That goes to what Commissioner Bear is saying. Um the legalizing of all these products, every food and beverage product that we have, every drug and
alcohol we have or all those standards are set by the state and federal government, not by county commissions. Um, I really have some concerns about when we start um as a as a
board banning um legal products. uh it it becomes an easy standard for somebody who might not like what's being done in the community because then all they all they need to have is three votes instead of having
something legisl legislatively done at the state and state and federal level where all those rules are made. So I so I really I really struggle with that. You know, we talk about, you know, and the incentive how the uh com
commissioner talked about how they're enticing kids now with flavor flavoring and we heard that. We heard that and I don't disagree with it. We also have other products that are enticing adults to use other products. Think of all of
the craft beer flavorings that we have, all of the selzers and all of those types of things that are flavored. And you know, somebody having too much of those isn't good for you either. And it can create addiction. So, so at what at what point
are county boards going to be the ones who determine what's the next group that's going to come in here? You know, in the first public hearing, I brought up the fact that, and I think all of us on this board had, with the exception of Commissioner Bear because wasn't on here at the time, all of us were reached out
by somebody who wanted our county board to determine when life begins. I I I I raised that issue for a reason when I when I said it. It's because if they can't get something done at the federal and state level, they'll try to do it at a local level.
and and is is do we do we want that? Is that is that what we want county boards to become? And I don't think it is. Um you know, all of these people that came in here rightfully so. I didn't hear one of
them though say we're going to the state of Minnesota asking them to do this statewide. I didn't hear any of them say we need to we need to be on the federal government. We need to be on our legislators to change these things. The easy way is to go to county
board. All you got to do is count to three. You can have it done. And I saw I do struggle with that a lot. I And again, it's it's not this. I mean, you look at heart disease. One of the main reasons for
heart disease is too much salt. So, what's next? Are we going to have somebody come in here say we should be we should be banning salt because it's bad for your heart. I this is I mean I'm just expressing where this could lead to uh you know if if you're
going to allow individual types of products to be done at a county board level. Uh, but when it, you know, I'm going to kind of eat my own words a little bit here because at the same point in time, I I do um I do think we
need to keep in our recently drafted ordinance the issue regarding vaping. And the reason I say that is a it's a much newer product. And the testimony that I've heard is that those vaping
products can be manipulated. they can be manipulated to have fentanyl added to them. That is just something we can't let happen. So to the best of our ability, I mean I that's like Commissioner Mosul, I'm I'm real I'm
willing to concede that that should stay there. It's it's something that's so new. You know what I remember in my high school days, you walk into the bathroom at noon time and the bathrooms would be full of smoke, kids smoking. I'm seeing kids nodding. Yes, they they know it. They
they had the same thing happen, but you didn't you don't you didn't have all this vaping stuff going on. Um yeah. So, and then you know and there there's other good things that have that have been done in regards to tobacco
compliing where it can be used. That's that is that is certainly a a a public, you know, something that city councils and county commissioners can and should do. And that's making sure that it isn't done, you know, uh in public areas where
it can impede on somebody else's health. So, you know, so from that standpoint, I you know, this is I don't take this lightly. I I I don't think any of us take it lightly, but um you I I think of those college kids
that were up here saying, "Well, boy, you just need to do this and do this." And and um we might have a different set of college students wanting us to ban something else next. That's a legal product. And I I I just I'm very nervous about what precedents we're setting when
we start to do those types of things. So, those are my comments. And um I am going to support uh I obviously I didn't support the total abolishing of it, but I will support uh Commissioner Bear's motion as it stands right now um
eliminating C. M chair, could I could I amend my motion as long as the second follows it? Can I be a start date of June 1st? Okay. Uh let's see. Did you second? Okay. Does that does that meet with first and second? Okay.
So, so the uh amend basically the motion would be to um remove item C uh 7 C remove 7 C from the current ordinance
section 7 section 7 C yeah section 7C with an effective date of June 1. And so my question becomes um you know we we've talked about we've talked about uh allowing our
um maybe a a question uh would be does it is that give sufficient time to just let all of those current licens who would who would be involved with this give them ample time. I point just for clarification. If
7C passes, that would uh relieve any uh sanctions against flavored vapes. They they'll be they'll be perfectly legal. No vapes are vapes are D. They're
in D. Okay. So, when they say flavored products, no person shall sell or offer for sale any flavored product. doesn't say smoking product. It doesn't say vaping product. I just want to make sure that we don't have a uh a conflict
there. My my understanding of it and maybe I can be corrected, but D talks about liquid is vapes, right? Um, liquid would be what is used to refill your vapes, but this one, if you if you follow down to like the third sentence, unless it's in a child resistance
packaging. This is actually part of the state law that was passed specifically to make sure that vaping products would be in a childproof package. Um, it would not actually remove flavored vapes from the market. I think with the liquid packaging, it would you're you're
identifying liquid in D, correct? So, and only as the packaging. But if you purchase a vape, that's a packaging. Correct. But it wouldn't it would because you can buy vape separately from
from the liquid itself. So, it wouldn't um I see where you're going, but it hasn't everywhere else in the state. This is state law and they're still selling vapes. What could be done um if I may offer is
C could be amended to just say no person shall sell or offer sell any flavored electronic delivery devices which would take care of the flavored vapes at that point in time according to our definitions and our ordinance and I and I think that's been that's been the
intent of what we want is is that yeah I I will concede on the nicotine pouches although I think flavored ones It's candy to a baby. But I, you
know, the primary thing we're concerned about are flavored vapes. And as long as we get language that's that clearly will prohibit those, I'll concede on nicotine pouches. So yeah, and I I guess and thank you for the clar and that's why I was kind of
hoping we could have more discussion before we had motions made because then we could have resolved this. But um yeah cuz I was under the understanding that D dealt with vapes. So uh D would stay keep its current
language and can you can you repeat what you proposed if so so to go to to combine page nine where we have our flavored products and page three um of in the definitions where electronic delivery device is used as a definition.
It says any product containing or delivering nicotine, loilia, or any other substance. So that would cover any drugs that might be put into one, whether natural or synthetic. That would cover the v all the vaping product flavored vaping products intended for human consumption. So that combined with
our definition on page 9 of C, if it said no person shall sell or offer for sale any flavored electronic delivery device, period. Cut the rest of it. And then you would you would get exactly what you're looking for. only flavored vaping devices would be covered. All
right, let's let's Mr. Chair, one question to staff. Would that also prohibit the sales of THC vapes? It would it could be argued that yes, it could um there is a a separate ordinance
for retail of THC products that could be used to combine with this to make sure that that was covered if that was the intent. Mr. Sure. Commissioner Abbe on that issue. There's going to be a separate ordinance that's
we're working on right now that we're going to have to have in fairly short order and specifically that should be addressed within the cannabis uh retail ordinance that we're going to be looking at here in the coming
weeks. Um we wouldn't need to rely on this if that's addressed in the cannabis uh sale ordinance. So, so that so that we don't wouldn't have and and again this this I like this so to avoid any
conflict because right right now even you yourself said there could be conflict. Yes. Right now with what we have right now and what we might have in our cannabis ordinance and if you wrote them separately then then so here here would be an example.
If we said today um the commissioners wanted to um restrict the sale of flavored vaping nicotine products and then we passed a cannabis uh retail ordinance that did not cover flavored THC vaping and said that that was okay,
then we could have owners in here saying, "Well, why can they sell this, but we can't sell that?" Um, and and that is something very good to ask a question because right now on the market there are products that have nicotine and THC and you can just switch a button
and flip them back and forth or get both in your vape at the same time. Which which area within the current ordinance were you just talking about, Commissioner Bar, you asked that question? It' be page 31 of our packet, section three, electronic
delivery devices. So that's just under definitions. Yeah. Would if chair I'd like to ask staff a question. Yes. for C instead of striking it all the way out. If we if the motion would be to prohibit the sales of flavored
nicotine liquids, would that cover vapes or how that that could work? We the reason why we have such a long definition, I realize it may look burdensome, is to cover there's so many different weird things that happen inside the vaping
market. Um, and so that's why we have this. So, in a nutshell, yes. But it could when I would go out and do compliance checks, it could open up questions like, well, does this actually fit here? Um, we noticed um we actually
had to help Morehead um with their ordinance because we found out that um uh store owners thought that, uh synthetic nicotine was going to be something that would be just fine to be sold. Whereas at the federal level, it says no, that actually is still included.
Um, so it I I would just you could do that. I would definitely urge to stay within our definitions because that makes us bulletproof um with people trying to um ask questions about, you know, what was the actual intent.
Well, I I do I do I do like this proposed uh language and see as it is, but I still think we need to somehow address the potential confusion. Yes. That could be with the THC. Yes. Right.
You could write that in there. So, excluding THC products or or did you want to include them or exclude them? Yeah. I don't want to ban THC vapes. Okay. I don't. Okay. Then if you don't
include the those words, then it's not covered. So, can I just really quickly, we did not have we did not have that as part of the testimony for all of the public hearings. That was not something that we included. So, my understanding is that's not something we can just add
lib into when we've not advertise to the public that we are having discussions. But I but I I do think, you know, as Commissioner Aberinger talked about, there probably is going to be some some sort of uh regul or stipulations that we're going to have to do through an
ordinance regarding um cannabis. Right. Correct. And so when that time addressed within that and then at that point in time, we can make sure that there's no conflicting language between that and and this. Correct. Does that Commissioner Bear? Does that sound
reasonable? All right. So, until Yes. So, Mr. Chair, just to clarify, in the conversations that that uh that that you mentioned, Commissioner Everar, are you anticipating that that ordinance would be brought before this commission before the June 1st deadline?
I believe we can do that. Yes. Just look at um Miss McCay and Yes. Yeah. just just I don't I don't know that that June 1st deadline would apply to this anyway because those
entities probably won't be the ones who are going to be selling cannabis. So So that that deadline issue probably would not pertain to them anyway. Correct. Mr. Chair, if we do look at currently what the projected
date of licensing and that was in in the forum this morning, I believe or day before right or yesterday. We're looking at licenses coming out in May. So, we'll we'll need to be prepared with the THC ordinance in fairly short order. Uh and
licensing requires that the merchants know what the what the ground rules are. So, we'll need to have that prepared. And that was a point of discussion I've had with public health. I mean, yeah, I strongly uh support let's keep THC where it belongs in the
cannabis rule. I my opinion. Can you talk your mind? Yes. I um I agree. I want them separate. Um but we've had a discussion. I I mean I just offer that we'll work on that cannabis ordinance
next and move it forward as quickly as we can given time. I agree with um Commissioner Mojo. We need that public feedback. Yeah. And I think that's the proper way to do it. So, is there a motion on the floor right
now? Yeah. So, so I was just going to it's going to kind of clarify what that current motion is. The current motion is is to um the motion was to original motion was to abol or to uh remove uh section 7
C from the ordinance. And then that motion was with a friendly amendment was to change the language in 7C to read uh flavored products. No person shall
sell or offer for sale in person or by delivery any electronic delivery devices of nicotine containing flavored tobacco. Is that Yeah. Okay. And that and with a start date of June 1st with a start date of
June 1st and that was a new that was the amendment. That's the amended. Well, it was a friendly amendment that was done. Just just to make sure I don't think that's actually occurred, Mr. Chair, just I I think currently the just the abolishment of C is what's out there. There's discussion of that. I don't think you've actually had a a motion
with a second on the record. I don't I don't believe that's happened. So, I think to make that official if that's going to happen. And just to clarify, you said flavored liquid and I think we're talking liquid completely liquid, right? Flavored and unflavored. Yeah.
And I don't know what the actual one we Okay, I got to go back. So, didn't we So, we originally voted on on his motion to abolish C. We voted on that. Y and then and then didn't you make another motion? There was lack of a second. It died. It died from lack of a second to
abolish the whole thing. Right. Then I made a motion to Strike C the language is C completely. Jenny second that I made amendment to start at June 1st. Okay. And now I'll make another I seconded that amendment for June 1st.
June 1st. So then I'll make a second amendment. Instead of striking C, we remove the words flavored products. No. Well, no pet shall sell or offer for sale any flavored products excluding Well, we'd strike strike that
but then add What did I write here? Can we just withdraw the first motion? Yeah, maybe. All right, I'll withdraw my first motion. All right, I'll withdraw that. We have a motion is withdrawn. the 4 leader is rolling in her grave. And I I'm not really a fan of friendly
amendments under Robert's rules and order, but all right. Okay. No, it's we're starting clean. If I could make a suggestion, let's defer to staff on what I think we know. We all know where we want to go with this, and that's to eliminate flavored
vapes. Right now, the THC issue can be addressed in the upcoming ordinance. What does staff recommend to me for us to meet the objective of eliminating flavored vapes that are the problem in
school? Do we need to address it as nicotine? Do we need simply say uh flavored liquids used in an electronic device as defined by what what is going to work in this? If I could make just a quick
question for Commissioner Mojo. Um, you had mentioned all fla Were you wanting all vapes included or were you wanting flavored uh vapes to be covered? Based on what I'm hearing from you, the liquid is easily changed based on what
can be inserted in it. Correct. Correct. Yes. And so I think that that would be an all-encompassing. Okay. Right. I mean, if I'm listening to what you're hearing. Yes. So with that as an idea, what you could strike C or change C,
instead of saying flavored products, it could just say no person shall sell or offer for sale any electronic delivery device using our definition. That would then cover all all vaping products. It
would not cover THC though because that would be that would be in in the realm of cannabis because we have a state statute that way. Would that cover would that cover sale of the vape liquid if it was exclusive of the device itself? Yes,
absolutely. Okay. So, I'd like to make a motion what he just said. Okay. I'd like to second that motion and and it is it's close to what I gave you. Kevin, take out the exclude mental apart and just
read the top. So the so your motion your current motion that you just did is no uh under C Y in section seven right would read no person shall sell or offer for sale in person or by delivery any
electronic delivery devices as a flavored product right electronic device I thought he I thought if he suggested removing that if you dropped the last three words there any flavored product then it would cover all vapes This commissioner Mojo has made a
suggestion that is actually better for the kids in the county if we it would then step beyond flavored vapes. It would actually cover all vaping products flavored or unflavored. Yeah, I'd certainly support that with a start date of June 1st. So, okay. So, let me clarify. So, so your
motion is section 7 C. No person shall sell or offer for sale in person or by delivery any electronic delivery devices. Period. That is my motion. With an effective
date of June 1st and a second on that. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on that motion? I believe this is a good compromise, chair. All right. I am gratified that we got to
make sausage in front of everybody. This is how democracies are supposed to work. This is this is being transparent, let me tell you. Yeah. All right. Any further discussion on the motion? Commissioner Mojo, thank you. This is the discussion that probably
should have happened at a board level before we push ordinances like this through. So, I'm encouraging us to have uh this type of uh encompassing discussion in regards to the cannabis piece. I am um I'm hopeful that this uh makes a difference. Um, you know, I'll
I'll lean into what you say here, but um I'm also just maybe also a suggestion. This county just opened a uh amazing substance use withdrawal management facility and we have not even had discussion at this board even close to
the discussion that we've had regarding this about the work that they do there, the education in the community to the clients they serve. Um, it is a state-of-the-art facility that we've not even talked about. And so, I just want to caution all of us that we need to lift up the efforts in a lot of
different arenas in regards to keeping our community safe. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I you know, I you know, when this was first done in December of 2024, my frustration was is we had none of this dialogue.
we had none of this dialogue and we put something in and u being able to have this dialogue is important. I think it's um you know and I'm going to look at our our county administrator when we look at future ordinance that we probably make
sure that we um that we have this these open and transparent discussions u on potential changes to ordinance or new ordinances. And I and I expect the same to happen when we do our uh ordinance on cannabis. I think it's uh good for the
public input. And I think the sometimes the people who might be um advocating for something uh might also learn that there's other important components to why we do things and don't do things. Um so with that, we do have a motion. Mr.
Sheriff, if I I could add just and that's why Steve and I talked and I just want to make sure that the board knew, you know, under the the statute and the allowance. I mean, this this is what's supposed to happen. It sometimes it happens in a maybe an easier way that we all have worked through a a workg group
or something else where it's very transparent, very clear that we need an ordinance to do something and it's it's a simple matter and get it passed and we have it written out. In this case, we didn't have it written out because there is debate that needs to happen and and needs occur. And that's a good thing.
And so, um, as we talked about, the the statute allows for that. We don't have to publish an ordinance and say, "This is what's pre-ordained, and now you must vote on it." You have the ability to look at it, discuss it, argue about it, and then come up with something. And so, I think that's a good thing. That is
what's allowed under the statute and what we're doing here today. So, great. Thank you, Brian. Any further comments on the motion? Any further comments on the motion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Commissioner Kavanagh, yes.
Commissioner Mojo, yes. Commissioner Campbell, yes. Commissioner Bayer, no. Commissioner Ebinger, yes. Motion carries. We have a change to our ordinance, tobacco ordinance back June 1st. Thank Thank
you, Commission. All right, Kathy McKay. Morning, Kathy and Rory. Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. We are requesting um approval of two grant um
applications. I did provide a a brief description of those grants as well as the implementation timeline um and then the cost to impact. We also have um with if these two grants are are fully funded
um and we receive those it would require hiring one FTE uh grant manager for that um for the two grants. So the the hire would not be a request until the grant funds. Hopefully we'll receive both of
those. If you would like some additional information on on those grants, Rory can certainly give you a little more detail than what the brief description is. Maybe we can Commissioner Mojo has Thank you. Uh I have a question in regards to uh hiring a grant manager. Would the
grant manager only facilitate this grant? the two the two grants. Correct. But your department currently receives several grants. Is is it in statute per the awardee of this these two grants that it
has to have their own grant manager or could you ever combine and have a a general grant manager oversee implementation of those other grants? Each of our grants um have full-time people that are required to just cover those grants. So they wouldn't have any
capacity to cover these at all. These are pretty pretty large grants and for a long period of time. So it would require one FTE for just these two. So their time is 100% only on the grants grant funded managed. The only specific grants
identified. Yes, correct. These two Yes. Commissioner Bear, have these grants been secured from MDH? No, this is approval to apply for these grants and we will do we know when the
award time frame is? It's a pretty short window. Um the the first grant, the one that's called the super grant, substance use prevention, education, recovery, we would know by the end of April and the uh communities that care would be by the middle of May
with both with a June 1st start. So, if I could So, if I could ask, so the the um motion that's been requested here would be to uh submit the grant applications and to fund a one full-time grant manager. uh you know wouldn't
wouldn't the appropriate thing right now just to be to approve filing for the grants and then uh based on uh those grants being approved then we could um do that additional part about the manager because right now if we approve
a FTE right now um we're basically saying that we're going to hire that whether we get the grant or not. Um correction Mr. SH the correction is to hire only if we receive the two grants. Okay, that's not in our document.
Sorry, that was my intent. We would not hire someone unless we received um confirmation of both two grants. So if you would prefer that I come back once those grants, if they are secured. So under our typical process in public
health when we when we apply for a grant you you get approval from the board to apply for a grant and then if if the award is granted does the county board then have to uh approve of that as well or is it just become automatic where
that's automatically approved? Right. We we have so many grants and contracts. You typically will get um at the beginning of the year um the I'm not sure how many um all our contracts and grants for approval at the beginning of
the year. So yes, that would be approved. Addition approval proc there's there's the there's the request for the grant that's approved by the board and then if the grant is approved at the state level then it comes back where we
then approve that the acceptance of that grant or don't we? No. Okay. All right. Well um question. Yes. Commissioner Mojo. Thank you. Uh so in looking at this um MDH is the awardee
for that. um in your discussion statewide. Um just my question is in regards to the grant because they over they um encompass a couple bianiums at the legislature and given the dis discussion that we've heard about at the
state there's just sweeping cuts to what these are and so how are we one are we for sure that this this fund these funds have been allocated and two um what happens in the end of May if they're
Um, Mr. Chair and Commissioner Mojo, um, the state has um um they've confirmed that they don't anticipate a cut in these or they would not be offering that option. What we're seeing at the state
level is when federal funds are being cut, uh, then potentially there's some cuts at MDH. So, this would be just state funds. But I guess that goes to my question. I mean, there's enormous cuts that we're seeing at the federal
level. Are we not also anticipating cuts here? Um, locally, are you talking about, Commissioner? I guess these these are um Minnesota Department of Health grants. Yep. Right. Right. And you know, I just sat sat through hours of testimony in St. Paul on Wednesday about all of the
grants that are being reduced for the next bianium. And so, um, are these are the have these been earmarked for just ongoing years? Yes, Mr. Chair and Commissioner Mojo. Yes. The MDH the conversations with MDH
is um that they they aren't anticipating um potential cuts. There's going to be cuts, but not necessarily in this area. So, hopefully that answers your question. They are not anticipating they would not offer this this funding option
at this time if they anticipated that the cuts would be happening in this area. And then my final question I think Steve has something. When is the deadline for the application? The deadline is this week for the CTC and the super grant. Okay. Right. Mr.
Larson, Mr. Chair, thank you. Uh I think that there's great opportunity here for uh uh for the the board to consider. I think one of the things that to to your point, it sounds like there's several concerns. Uh there are two grants here and the one position that they would be looking would be assuming the need would
be if both grants were filled. Uh and so to the board's board's uh uh board's uh concerns, maybe addressing the application process and then asking Corey, Kathy, and Rory to come back in the event that they get both of them uh to make that request with some
additional information in in the in the uh in the situation where maybe they only get one one grant, maybe one a full full-time position would be warranted. And so, right, that was my Okay. In in the grants, we intend to
apply include a 0.5 FTE for each. Okay. That's part of the application. Yes. All right. What's the board's wishes? Mr. Chair, Mr. I would move that uh we approve the submission of grant applications for
both these grants and tenatively approve a 0.5 employee uh for each of them upon the approval of the grant. Right. We have a motion. Is there a second?
Okay, we have a second. Motion by Commissioner Ever, second by Commissioner Krabnoff. Any further discussion? Commissioner Mojo. Uh, personally I would approve um I'm just more in favor of applying for the grants right now because I think that if you're
if we're approving a 0.5 for each grant that might be um that one might not be encompassing if you do want just one person. I think it could be read that it's half and half. Um, and so I I just um given the uncertainty would prefer to
go the application route now and then address the the funding of the manager uh per the approval. But um certainly I'm only one person. Mr. Sure. Thanks. Does just to staff um
does that if we withheld the approval of the hiring of the new employee, would that inhibit you guys in any way or is it a problem if you wait till the grants approved? Um it um Mr. chair and Commissioner um
Evinger. Um that that's kind of the intent um that there might be a crunch if we have to put an application out and and go through that approval process um because it starts June 1st. So we if we
know something um in the next month it's easier but trying to find someone that can manage that sometimes can take a while to find the grant manager. So it it gives us an opportunity to maybe apply a little bit sooner or put the application out um for uh FTE. Now uh
given the fact that um you know we have other grant managers who may choose to move to this these two if we get them we'd have to backfill. So we'd have that um option as well. Okay. I would include the back fill in my motion if Yeah. But
just to clarify, nobody's going to be hired until we know we have the grants. Absolutely not. Okay. Commissioner. Yeah. Just to follow up, uh I agree with that. I uh would support that. So each half position is
contingent upon successful grant being acquired. There is a line set and we have a way out. Well, it's my based on what I am hearing here. Um, the grant
application each grant application includes the understanding that the county will hire a 0.5 full-time position to to manage the commissioner. We have to include that in the application. So, you know, so as
part of our as part of our request for in that application, we're saying that we will do that, you know. So, I I I think that language is is probably appropriate. In an ideal word world, I'd like to um make
sure that we have the grant in place before we hire somebody. And I think that's your intent here, right? not to go out and hire somebody till we've gotten word that the grant has been approved. Commissioner, we don't have funding for it if we don't get the grant. So, we we
wouldn't be able to. Good point. Or your permission. I Mr. Chair, I I think the history of um public health is we would never hire someone before we had funding. That's a good thing. Okay. Any further
discussion on the motion? Just a clarification, uh, the communities that care, it looks like that ends May 31st, 2030, not June 30th, 2030. What What was that again? The Well, on the implementation time, there's just a month off. Oh. On the communities that
care on the ending of it. Yep. So, okay. It's May 31st. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I oppose the same. I. Motion carried. All right.
Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, Rory. Um, just real briefly, I I know we've have our social service people patiently waiting here. I'm just wondering if it would be all right if we could uh just take in item number six real quickly. We have somebody here. I
don't think I don't think ours is going to take very long. and that'll allow you uh time to so why don't you come on up here. Let's uh let's move on to item number six and that is a request approved to sign a letter of support for the river communications federal broadband equity access and development
speed grant application and provide $5,000 in ARPA funds. All right, good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for that time and and uh thank you if this uh works better for you to to bump me ahead. I much
appreciate it. Thank you for your time this morning. Uh I'm going to start off with a little bit of apology if this is a little bit more chaotic on this situation than what you're used to with Red River Communications. Um we are applying for a bead grant. You may have
heard that it's a national funding. Um, it is being administered by the Minnesota Deed Office in in in uh collaboration with the NTIA. Specifically, what I'm here to speak about this morning, if you're familiar, we have an existing project
going on north of Holly. This encompasses approximately 17 locations north of Holly following some traditional telephone exchange boundaries is what it is. There's about
17 locations that were excluded out of that last broadband grant that you accepted. We are applying for this grant and we are including this area in that. The one thing about this grant that I'm working on is we are also applying for
some locations down in Traverse County. So, uh it is all in one application. Um I spoke with uh with Steve very briefly. This has been very chaotic from getting onto your schedule and agenda and possibly maybe not
getting everything communicated correctly, which will fall on my shoulders, not Steve's. But we had hoped to have a resolution passed. I believe that is in your packet as well as a memorandum of understanding and a letter
of support. Um the other discussion that was had was basically to get as many points as we can on these kind of grants. Any kind of monetary donation, donation or contribution is
what I should say from from you all as a government entity usually helps. The reason for my choosing $5,000 is just it is only 17 locations. You know, in the past we had another grant where you guys had actually
committed 25 to $30,000. Not sure whether those funds are even still around, but I wouldn't feel comfortable taking too much of that in regards to what this would actually be fixing for a problem. Does my brief description make sense to you, Mr.
Chairman? Perfect. It's perfect for me. See, I'll have my colleagues up here think if they have any questions. Mr. Bear, I have questions. So, this map here is what you're looking for for letter support, correct? those 17
locations in that that's I'm assuming that's your district am I okay so you're very familiar it goes up almost kind of comes to a point there getting close to hitter correct I know most of these people personally that this would perfect thank you my question to you is
have you gone and talked to these people that live there that see even if they want this um sir we have not we are in the process of selling the other grant which which this this entity has given our support
in prior to you having your seat on there and we have 50% of those people already subscribed waiting for service when it is we just do not have time typically we do look for letters of support we know that the only broadband
service that people really have access to is one something of a cellular network called 5G or another provider has a what we call a pointto multi-point be mid-continent communications and and some of those services work well for
their needs others don't in the future our perspective is in order to thrive as a family working education or what have you a fiber optic connection is what's going to be needed in the future there there's also starlink up in that area that people Starlink is a low earth
orbiting satellite thing yep yep all right any other questions Can I just I don't quite understand, Mr. Chair, the ARPA funds where those come from. Yeah. So um in our in our past
these are all things that are typically approved through the ARPA committee and those are those are federal funds that came came through us and I believe in a previous application that uh Red River Communications had brought before us
ARPA did approve up to $30,000 um for another grant application that was done which at that time I guess was not successful. That one was not successful. That was specifically a bordertoborder application completely
administered by Minnesota deed office. Since then, we have received a federal grant under USDA. That is for what we call rural comtock and rural sabin areas south of here. And there was a contribution and and just to just to
give you a little bit of of history if you will and and Klay County stature, I I visited with Steve about this and stuff in some of those grant applications. There are other counties closer to the metro area or what have you that are just able to provide a lot
more dollars. We've had very good conversation with this commission. those always look favorably when the local government entity is able to put up some dollars. So, as as Chairman Campbell had had indicated, at that time, this commission was was great through their
ARPA uh committee, and that was a 25 to $30,000 commitment. At the same time, that was nearly a $7 million build. Yeah. I you know, and um so that that $30,000 was is is still
out there in ARPA dollars. that's been designated for for a previous project. But it but this project, you know, and Steve reached out to me and u art I have to say that our ARPA committee has not met on this issue, but um it's it's my
understanding or my opinion that that this would still qualify um for that some of that $30,000. It's basically the same thing, just a different area within the county that would be providing broadband service
for. So, you know, so again, I hope that answers your question in terms of the funding. So, there would be um we would just be taking 5,000 of that original 30,000 and applying it towards this new grant application.
Steve, do you have anything else you want to No, you did very well explaining that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for the questions, uh, Commissioner Bear on this. Um, the spirit of the ARPA and CARES Act, um, funds were really to, um,
identify some of the issues that were identified with COVID in regards to our community. Um, certainly when a lot of things went online, it became very apparent that there were um, gapping holes in in accessibility for broadband throughout a lot of different spaces in
the county. And so um just because the ARPA committee did not specifically meet on this um because those funds weren't allocated from the last goound, this certainly fits within what the vision of this board was is to help in any way knowing that we didn't have the reserves
to um spearhead projects like this. But having companies come forward like this to um find some sort of leverage buyin to help you with the grants and the points uh with um with that I think is important. I think it it's also important to note that uh residents are
not required to sign on to these um these projects. Uh I I think a lot of times people maybe just aren't aware. They're just okay understanding that you have less than amazing accessibility for that. And so um once it is in place, if
we're successful with this, I think that um we'll find a lot of folks want to sign into it. I think part of the discussion that we have um with the economic development lens for Klay County is how do we uh make nominal changes or drastic changes to make Klay
County a uh moreospitable place for folks to live uh work remotely if that's the case or uh insert businesses into Klay County. And I think given the map and the expansion of the broadband access in Klay County, I'm really excited about the economic opportunities
that a project like this would um uh create for the county. So again, Tom, we've had lots of discussions on this. Thanks for bringing it forward. I know in regards to grants, it is a a crazy cycle, and so I appreciate you working with uh Steve uh to get this done. Uh
you certainly have my support. All right, any other comments, questions for Tom? Seeing none, what's the board's wishes? We're looking at a u a request to approve a letter of support for Red River Communications Federal Broadband
Equity Access and deployment bead grant application and provide $5,000 in ARPA funding if the grant is um accepted. Mr. Chair, can I ask what would the resolution number be?
This is a just a letter of support. This isn't a resolution. There's a resolution in I don't Yeah, we Mr. Chair, Commissioner Mojo did talk to Tom prior to that. Again, I just want to reiterate your comments, Commissioner
Mojo. The quick turnaround uh that that has happened in almost all the grant applications that Red River has worked with us on has not been uh the the uh inability to get information has not been on Red River's ability. It's been
there needing to act as quickly to to meet deadlines. And so the resolution that was not part of our initial discussion, it was just a letter of support. Okay. So, you're not looking for uh in talking with Tom prior to the meeting, it sound like the letter of
support would be sufficient for the grant. If we can get the letter of support be greatly appreciated. I understand the protocol and not having the correct things on the agenda. That's that that is on us and the timets that we've been executing on. So, no worries. Mr. Chair, if I might then um make a
motion to approve a letter of support for Red River Communications, their federal broadband equity access and deployment bead grant application also providing um uh contribution of $5,000 of ARPA funding to the grant application. I will second that. Chair,
we have a motion and a second. And just to clarify those that $5,000 will be awarded as part of it if the grant is accepted. Correct. Only if the grant is accepted. That is correct. clarifying that. All right, we have a motion in a second. Uh, any further
discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. Oh, the same sign. Motion carried. Tom, you I signed it already. That's how perfect. Perfect. I I I assume Steve will step around and grab that for me. One other quick update on the on what we call the North Holly
project. It has been bid and we are ready to start. We are waiting on the state historical and preservation office to get get some things taken care of with there. Uh, Commissioner Bayer, I believe, I hope I pronounced that correctly. Would love to get together with you offline, make sure you're
you're up to speed on all the things we have going there. And thank you for your support. Maybe. All right. Thanks. That'd be appreciated. All right, board. Are we are we good or do we need a five minute break or we do three minute break? Three minute break.
All right. And folks, we're uh we're running a little bit late. Um, that'll All right, we're back in session here and our next item is the annual update for social services or financial and
child support fraud and collection division. And I'm assuming Quinn, you're going to start this off. I'll kick it away. Um, I'm sure you moved us to the end so there was as much time as humanly possible to hear what we had to say. A little disappointed we lost our audience, but thank you. Thank you so
much. You have the whole world watching you online. That's perfect. That's right. Thank Thank you very much uh Mr. Chair and commissioners. Yes, we are here today uh to wrap up our social services uh departmental update. Uh we're going to start with our financial services uh which is Karen and Michaela
and then move on to Sandy's unit, child support, fraud and collections. uh I will keep my mouth shut and kick it over to them. So good morning. You can go to the next slide. So just to start off, I'll just do a brief introduction for everybody.
Um as you can see listed on the slide here, here are the programs that our unit offers and services. Uh, under cash grant programs, we have MIP, DWP, GA, housing support, and RCA. Um, SNAP, of
course, child care assistance. We do several emergency assistance programs. Uh, and then we have multiple health care programs, long-term care programs, and then county burials. So, a lot going into the income maintenance department. And you can go ahead and go to the next
slide. And following that, um, Karen is the supervisor for those programs that you see listed beneath her. And then I'm the supervisor for the healthcare long-term care programs. And then you can see our staffing breakdown under
that. All right. And then I will kick it off with the um 2024 federal poverty guidelines. Um the level is based on modified adjusted gross income which is essentially your income before taxes and not your net income. This would include
all income sources such as salaries, interest, and social security. These figures are based on the 2024 federal poverty guidelines or the FPG which are used to determine eligibility for various programs such as Medicaid, SNAP,
and cash. And one of our main family programs is MIP, uh, Minnesota Family Investment Program. Um, we are very, we like our, um, abbreviations.
So, and you can see in 2024 it was slightly up from 23. Um, MIP normally it doesn't eb and flow too much. Um, it receives the annual TANIF
block grant from the federal government which is used to fund MIP and other programs assisting low-income families. Minnesota also contributes state funds to support MIP. Uh the MIP consolidated fund has an allocation formula that
determines how funds are distributed to counties and tribes based on factors such as their historic spending base and their share of MIP and diversionary work program case loads. Counties could also be awarded additional funding based on
their performance. If a county rates above the range of expected performance, you could earn a bonus equal to 2 and a half% of the initial allocation. uh the unused MIP funds don't roll over to the next calendar year unfortunately
uh and the allocation is usually determined in July or August. Another one of our family programs is our DWP. Um this is also a program that uh was only one higher this year than or
in 2024 than last year. Uh this program is funded with a combination of state funds and federal. The TANF funds the temporary assistance for needy families is what TANF means. MIP and DWP grants are
administrated administered by counties and tribes. Uh the initial goal of DWP was to stabilize income so families would not need to apply for broader benefits such as MIP. But the state of Minnesota is
discontinuing the DWP program in 2026 because some experts and lawmakers believe it isn't achieving the goals of helping families find work to achieve financial stability. So they are considering uh alternative approaches.
When they apply for cash assistance, they will go right to the MIP program instead of the DWP, which they currently do now if eligible. Yes. Yes, Commissioner B. How's that program worked in Klay County with those 16 15
16 um in speaking with the eligibility workers? It [Music] is they're divided. Um normally what happens is they are on the DWP program for three months and
most of them do transition to the MIT program. So it's it's not as successful as we would like it to be. um DWP, they they're on the program and their income doesn't count. So, if they do get a job, it's kind of designed
to they get the DWP funding plus their paycheck. Mhm. Um hoping that they can build up funding so that they can become stable. Uh they've found that that is not working the way that they wanted it
to. So that's kind of the reason that they're going away from that program. And then we have our child care. Uh there are two different um areas of child care. One is MIP and then
the other is our basic sliding fee. program is funded with county, state, and federal funds that include the federal child care and development fund and the Tanaf fund. Not all families who meet eligibility requirements under this
program receive benefits because funding is capped at a specific amount each year. Counties administer the child care assistance program. State law determines the maximum rates the program will pay to the providers. Maximum rates paid to
providers under the child care assistance program may not cover the full cost of care because they're not based on the current market rates. Minnesota has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the county in the country for providers. And then our emergency
assistance. You guys are going to get sick of me talking. Uh we have our family emergency assistance which is our EA funds. Um emergency assistance is for people who have children in the home under the age of 21. Family EA is funded through a
portion of our MIP consolidated fund. This is designed for families with low incomes experiencing household emergencies such as evictions, foreclosures, utility shut offs, or other household emergencies to help resolve
uh the 12 month gap. They're eligible every 12 months and they can't get it sooner than that. Um, applicants must meet income guidelines to qualify. And like I said, you can only receive it one
time in a 12-month period. And now we are going to go to our adult programs. Uh, the adult cash program is our general assistance, which is a state program. Uh, it helps people without children pay for basic needs, provides money to people who can't work
enough to support themselves and whose income and resources are very low. GA is funded solely by state general fund dollars with no federal funding involved. The asset limit for this program is $10,000 per
person and it um has increased a little bit in 2024. And um this is mainly we've seen um a lot because of our homeless population. And another adult cash
program is our Minnesota Supplemental Assistance or MSA. Uh the state of Minnesota knows you need a certain amount of money each month to pay for your basic needs. This amount is called MSA assistance. Most people who get SEP supplemental security
income or SSI qualify for MSA. The gross income limit for MSA is $2,91 per month for an individual and $5,800 a month for eligible couples. The
amount of the MSA assistance standard that an individual receives depends on their living situation. And then our housing grant uh formerly GRH housing support program is a state funded program that provides an income supplement to help seniors and adults
with disabilities cover room and board costs. The program helps individuals with low incomes who have disabilities or are seniors to pay for housing and food. State of Minnesota pays providers on behalf of the beneficiaries. As of July 1st, 2024, the program pays up to
$1,170 per month in group settings and $1,220 per month in community settings for housing and food costs. And this amount is going up again this July. Just wanted to add on the housing support. A a lot of you commissioners are familiar with this program um due to
the conversations we had regarding Churches United back in November and December. Uh happy to report we had a meeting yesterday where those numbers of churches have increased. Uh they have 19 total housing support beds at Micah's Mission and they're up to 12 of 19. So making some good progress on that.
All right. And then emergency assistance for our adults. Um EGA is 100% state funded. The state determines the total allocation of for EGA based on state law and the agency's
average share of past EGA expenses. So if we don't spend it, we lose it. Counties can spend beyond their state allocation using their own funds, but additional spending must come from county sources. So we watch this fund
very close so we don't overspend. Applicants must have a current net income under 200% of the federal poverty guideline for the previous year and not have received EGA within 12 months of the application date.
And now SNAP, our uh federal program. The money for SNAP benefits comes from federal funds. Program is administered by the USDA and states like Minnesota are responsible for implementing the program and ensuring it's delivered effectively to their
communities. In Minnesota, SNAP is administered at the county level. SNAP benefits are issued through electronic benefit cards or EBT which can be used like a debit card to purchase food at authorized real retailers. The DCYF Department of
Children, Youth, and Families overseas SNAP in Minnesota and provides information and resources for the programs. A little fun fact that I found in the month of December 2024, Klay County had
3,717 active SNAP cases which served 7,74 residents, which equals 1,297,312 in food that was purchased mainly in this county or retailers from our county. So putting back into the
economy, SNAP benefits the economy by stimulating local and national economic activity through increased spending on food and other essentials, creating jobs, and acting as a stabilizer during economic downturns. And then this slide, I just
have some benefits of our economy. I won't read everything. Um, the one thing at the bottom I want to point out, every snap dollar that households redeem expands the economy about
$154. The food purchased also puts money directly in the pockets of farmers and distributors who in turn can then afford goods, services, and food for themselves. So, if you remember from the fun fact on the previous slide, the total SNAP received by residents of Klay County
just in the month of December was 1,297,312. And I'm a numbers person, so if we take the $154 by that number, we end up with 1,997,860.40 in an expansion to the economy for just that month.
Thanks, Karen. So, healthc care programs in Minnesota and across the country are a hot topic right now, and I'm going to speak with you about specifically our Klay County cases. So, as you can see,
in 2024, we had a very small dip to our active healthc care cases. We did anticipate this as um you can see the the COVID bell, right? Um, so as we're unwinding from all of the COVID waiverss and things like that, we're seeing the
cases dip just a little bit. Not as much as we may have anticipated or liked um from a workload standpoint just because more people are moving to the county, more people are eligible for um health care benefits and so our case numbers
are are stabilizing um at this rate. um little bit it's okay you can go back a little bit about our workload in particular um our CA our case workers do an incredible job across the state in comparable counties of our size the
ratio of cases to workers about 650 here in Klay County with our current staffing we're at about a thousand cases per worker so they're working very hard every day to serve our community um and as far as families versus adults results
were about 50/50 split on our healthcare benefits. Um, something that I did want to highlight too that's really exciting that's currently happening in our unit with our healthcare workers is Klay County Healthcare Team was identified as one of the top four performing in the
state on a certain um certain aspect of our cases. And so we're actually a pilot county for an exciting new program related to healthcare renewals. We're right in the middle of it right now. We've been doing it for a couple months. It's going very well and we're just really honored to be a part of that
project and looking forward to seeing it to completion and helping improve things across the state for everyone. So, I just wanted to lift up our team there. They're doing a wonderful job with that project. All right. And then next up is our long-term care program. And this is something that we anticipate growing and
continue to grow across Klay County with more people being eligible um maybe moving to the area, things like that. In the United States, um, seven people turn 65 every minute. So, that's a
pretty impactful number. And this is going to directly go on the shoulders of our long-term care team. So, they have a lot on their plate. They do the health care benefits. They also do the SNAP, the cash, really any programs in our income maintenance unit for individuals
over 65 or in a long-term care facility. Um, very full plates there. um they actually climbed some last year they were 5% of our healthcare cases and this year they're actually 11. So that
really speaks to the rising need in this population and where we kind of are projecting that that workload to continue to go uh when we are thinking about income maintenance programs in Klay County. And then just kind of elaborating on that right now. So, the
team on our long-term care program, they there are three of them and right now they're about 350 to 380 cases per worker. Ideally, we would like to see that more closer to 200 or a little under per worker. So, very full plates
right now. And so when we think about long-term needs for our unit, um this is I would say one of the top priorities on on my radar for sure is how can we support this program and how can we help alleviate our current workers. um they
do I kind of listed here we have significant number of facilities in Klay County um assisted living settings and then also if clients can't get into a local facility because they are booked then they may be placed elsewhere in the state and we would still service that um
because they started with us and and we know them and their authorized representative may be here just easier to work with the the family that way and then also they communicate with so many people every day everyone from clients to lawyers to funeral homes to um social
workers at hospitals. I mean, they're always they're very indepth in the work that they do and the amount of um digging and verifications that go into an application. So, just wanted to highlight our long-term care program
today. Um it's definitely on the forefront as we're working on planning for for our unit. And then uh speaking of things that we're working on, county burials as well. Um we are currently Quinn, Karen, and myself are in the middle of
researching and analyzing and kind of doing, you know, cost analysis on our county burials. We are seeing the cost rising and so we'd like to see, okay, what where do we go from here? What are other counties in our state doing? What are border, you know, maybe in North
Dakota doing? How can we remain cost-effective and just be good stewards of our tax dollars here? So, just know we are working on re digging into this and seeing how we can be more better spending with our dollars
maybe. And that's what I have for you guys. Any questions? Thank you. Yeah. Wonderful. All right. Back to me. I just want to highlight how hard our eligibility workers have been working. Um we are extremely proud of them. Like
Michaela said, um one of the four counties in the state that are doing this pilot project. Um in 2024, they processed two 20 237,166 forms.
Um that is everything coming in from the applications to pay stubs, update forms, return mail. Um it's it's been crazy. And then a little day in the life, we
have 29 eligibility workers and when we break that down, it's 8,178 documents per year per worker. um 259 251 working days is about 33
documents a day. They also have seen 8,915 in office appointments and those are just the people coming in the office. They mainly have phone interviews and that doesn't include the ones that they talk to on the phone.
They have their daily tasks that they are responsible to do every day. So they are working hard to make sure the citizens of Klay County get the benefits that they need. I just have to chime in here right before we jump over to Sandy. When as
you all know my purview was in child protection before I took this role. So I actually knew very little about first floor. All I knew is that every time we called down there, you helped us like you're talking about. Every time we talked to you, you got us the answers that we needed. When I truly learned the amount of data entry and processing that
was occurring down there, I was actually pretty floored and taken away. And when I when I compare that with the accuracy and the performance measures that we have, I am equally as floored to see with that much data entry with
237,000 forms how few mistakes are made. And so I think that's a testament to the training, the onboarding, and just the team culture that we have down on first floor. And I am just absolutely excited and thrilled to have two supervisors here to run that unit and all the eligibility workers that do what they
do. It's pretty astounding. Can I make one more comment? Yeah, go ahead. Um, one more thing. Um, in going with how excited we are supporting Michaela. She has been nominated to president of our MA office
group, uh, the Minnesota Association of Financial Assistant Supervisors. So she is the president for the whole state of Minnesota um supporting Klay County. So I think that is a very stellar
um accomplishment. Thank you. I'm very proud of her. Congratulations. Congratulations. And with that, I'll kick it over to Sandy. Alrighty. Now we're gonna talk about my favorite unit in the whole
county. Oh, come on. They're awesome. So, I supervise three different areas, child support, welfare fraud, and collections. So, starting with fraud, we have two full-time investigators, and we handle two different types of
investigations um for the county. We do the FBI or front-end investigations, and those are intended to prevent a grant from their units in going out in error. Um, and then we also do criminal
investigations, which are the backend. So, the money has already gone to somebody and we've discovered after the fact that they were not entitled to that um that money or that benefit. And so, we then work with the county attorney's
office to um look at trying to get some of that money back. Um, the majority of our referrals come from an eligibility worker and most of those referrals are for household composition, unreported
income or employment, and verification of residency. We also do things like looking at returned mail to try and figure out if maybe somebody's no longer living or somebody is no longer residing in Minnesota.
Um, we also can look at EBT usage to see if they're being used out of state on a regular basis and we get referrals from the state tip line and also from the child support unit. Um, some statistics here.
Um, I did leave some of the older stuff in just so you can kind of see how COVID impacted what we could do in welfare fraud for a few years. Uh the top grid is regarding criminal referrals. So you
can see at the bottom in 2019 um kind of the kickstart of the end of COVID we had 21 criminal criminal referrals that year, eight convictions. Um one administrative disqualification
hearing and had overpayments allocated at $89,942. Progressively, those overpayments are reducing up until we hit 2024. Uh the overpayment totals are
still low, but that's due to CO again. Um some of our biggest cases deal with the medical and as of June 1st of 2023, we now have to get a court order to try
and and collect that medical. It used to be that we would refer it to the county attorney's office once they got involved. That person rather than getting a criminal conviction would start paying that down and we can't do that anymore. So, we still have to
calculate the amount that we feel was paid out in error, but we have to get a court order and we're just starting to do that now. Um, so that's a lot more work for the investigators and it also has a big
impact on Brian's unit in um having to do more work in in that area. Um, so we we did get more criminal referrals sent in in 2024 and hopefully
we'll see that progress as as we go into 2025. I believe we already have six or eight sent over. So far this year um in FPI area we
uh go with direct savings. So somebody applies we look at the application and think it doesn't look quite right. um we start looking at it and say, "Yep, this person really doesn't qualify because of whatever factor it was that they're
working or they've got the other parent in the home or that who is working, that type of thing." And um so we get direct savings of they could have been entitled to receive $700 in public assistance.
They're not entitled to that. And so we look at that as a direct savings. And then it looks at three times that amount for the cost avoidance because generally it would take about three months before some of our automated processes would
catch up where we might get a flag that somebody is working or something like that. Um so we're we're doing really well at keeping right around three days for an investigation to be completed. that
helps um eligibility workers in processing applications where they're not having to hold it for a long period of time to make any determinations there. Um for funding for this program,
um the FBI program is a mandated program by the state and it's funded by the state. So, um, up through state fiscal year 2025, we've been receiving $125,000 to fund 1.25 full-time
equivalent. And then the balance of that program has been paid um by the county with 50% federal financial participation dollars. So, it's good program. stops money from going out, brings some money
back in, and is a small part of county budget for funding. Moving on to county collections, we have two uh full-time collection officers and they work on collecting outstanding debt that's owed to the county or various programs within
social services. Um, these positions are also eligible for 50% FFP and they work with public assistance overpayments and we receive incentives for those collections. Uh, we
do foster care placement reimbursement, probate, medical assistance recovery, county burial, uh, collections, detox, highway department, and environmental health. or some of the other departments
like environmental health um they do their own collection first and generally it comes to us if they're unsuccessful. So not a lot there anymore but still something that we do work on. Um collection officers have a wide
variety of duties. Um they're just kind of all over the place with what they work on. The biggest thing and the thing that takes their most the most time is a state recovery um and enforcing probate cases. And these are cases where the county has a preferred preferred claim
for medical assistance. Um people over the age of 55 if they're on medical assistance their estate and assets can be assigned back to the state upon their death or the death of a spouse if the spouse is still living.
Um in these um cases it's very time consuming. Um it's processing a lot of documents dealing with attorneys, family members, uh funeral homes. Um so that really takes a huge chunk of their time.
They also work with county burial, reconciliation, and recovery of assets. So, somebody might apply for a county burial in the income or in the financial services division. There's a change there. And um we can see on the
application that they might have had $500 in a checking account or something like that. We would then work to collect that back to help pay for the funeral service. Um we collect balances on public assistance cases for
overpayments. We do skip tracing trying to locate people which can be very challenging because many of these people are low income and um so that that can be difficult to do. We file um for revenue recapture on
overdue debts for anybody who might get a Minnesota tax return. And then they also do several functions for child support, which would be buckle swabs, um, driver's license suspension cases, and facilitating judgment
renewals. Statistics wise, um, I pulled in 2023 and 24, and we did this a little different this time for you. So, it was a lot of work for um, Deian in the auditor's office. So, I just went with two years worth.
But you can see that these two people bring a lot of money in. In 2023 it was uh over a million dollars. 2024 944,000. Out of that um we have to pay
money back to the state for their share and that can also go some of it to federal for the federal programs. But the county share was 173,000 and then county departments was 155,000. So these two collections
officers brought in $328,670 to the county last year. Okay. And then I included statutory requirements for why counties have to have collections officers and work to collect these funds back. In child support services, we have
six child support officers and six child support aids. Federally, we are required to provide services to locate parents, establish parentage, establish court orders that include in Minnesota basic
support, medical support, and child care reimbursement. And the three of those together are considered to be a child support obligation. We enforce court orders for support. We review and modify court orders for support. We cooperate with
other states and countries when one parent doesn't reside in Minnesota. and we need their assistance to work or they need ours and we collect and process payments. Funding for the child support area, we receive federal financial
participation at 66% and that is based on statewide performance in five different areas. We are required to focus on paternity establishment, current support collected, establishment of court
orders, collections on arars and program cost effectiveness. So revenues to our program. Then in 2024, we got federal financial participation and federal and state incentives totaling one 1
million500 plus dollars. In 2024, we collected just in Clay or for Klay County cases 7,699,928. Um the vast majority of that goes towards current support, but we're also collecting towards age balances on
cases where somebody has fallen behind in their obligations. On average, we had 2,411 cases in Klay County. Our expenditures were 2,245,000. For every dollar we spent, we
collected $343. Over 90% of our cases are not receiving a cash grant. And that's important because the money that we're collecting for current support then goes directly to the families to help support those kids. money also is passed through in a public
assistance case. Um, and then that's taken off of their grants in three months later, something like that. Um, a unique thing for Klay County is that about a third of our case load is interstate. Either we're asking another
state to enforce for us or they're asking us. And that really has a big impact on our ability to collect support in a lot of cases. And it also impacts our current collection numbers um because we just don't have that control.
Um we in Minnesota focus on getting correct orders. So modifications are considered on a very regular basis. We could enter an order one month and two months later have a request to look at it again and we do. Other states have
different rules and um they don't look at it um more than once every three years or have very limited ways of doing this. And that makes it so that sometimes when they're asking us to enforce their order, their
order is uninforceable. The person might be receiving public assistance of some type. We can't do anything about that. And so we're really struggling with our current collections as you'll see on our next slide. Um for federal performance
measures um we do really well in paternity establishment order established um arars collections and cost effectiveness. We do struggle on current collections. We've been 72 73% for
years. We just can't get that number to budge. We've been trying to analyze what that might be and we finally kind of went to we believe it's the interstate cases because we have that lower control and Klay County has a much higher
interstate case load. Um included funding and statutory requirements for this area. It's uh mandated federally through title 4D of the Social Security Act. So, a lot of times you hear child support referred to
as the the 4D program. Um and then in Minnesota, we're set up as a partnership with the state where the state um oversees the program and the counties administer it. So, some of the changes and challenges
in for my unit um in 2024 was um moving from DHS to DCYF. Um that move ended up changing a lot of our statute numbers, which has been a really big deal um both at the state and
at the county level. Um and in the child support area, we're continuing to look at our program trying to get with the times and be with how people deal with life today. Um, we're hoping to be able to accept credit card
payments in the next couple of months. Um, up until now, we have never been able to do that and I think that hurts us in a lot of ways. Um, we've also had changes that allow a worker to be more mindful. Minnesota went to being very automated
that if you met these criteria, this was going to happen as an enforcement remedy and it hurt a lot of people. And we're recognizing that now. And we're moving into more being more thoughtful in a lot of those processes because we realize
working with people is going to get them to comply with um what they need to do um better than just that very author authoritarian um work in collections. Um we contacted the
state about death notices. Um, we get a a daily report on deaths in Minnesota, but we're in that unique position where our hospitals are in North Dakota. We usually would find out pretty quickly, but by getting this notice from them um,
we should be able to find out within a day or so. And um, we were going to do it just for Klay County, but we approached the state. They like the idea, and so they're now looking into doing that statewide. Um, one of the things in our collections
unit is I just received a notice of retirement from one of my collections officers. So Quinn and I will be back to visit you next [Laughter] week. Um, to hopefully fill that position.
Um, in the fraud unit, we've lost almost 39 years of experience since January of 2024 with an a retirement and then another investigator moving to DHS just in February of this year. Um, so now I have one person who's been there for a
year and a brand new person and they are both doing awesome. So we are really in good shape even with that change. Um, and looking at in 2024, we completed the highest number of FBI investigations we've ever had in one year. So, I think
that area is doing really well and we're doing so well that um the state upon review of how Klay County is doing. They have increased our grant from 125,000 to 189,000 starting with state fiscal year
2026. So, we'll have that for the next two years. So again, a lot of you know Sandy. You've you've met Sandy. She's been here. Her experience really can't even be captured in words. Um I I need to extend my personal thanks to to Sandy as well being my office neighbor right
across the hallway and the guidance and support that she's given me really with with learning her program area as well. And just to reiterate what she said, the even though we've lost such a significant amount of years of experience, it's been really um heartening to see really Travis, you
know, Travis in that role, he's one of our fraud investigators, just really pick up that torch or uh Jim and Adam left it and do such good work. Um and we're hoping that Ally, who's our new new hireer in that uh in that position, is going to do the exact same thing. She seems to be a real go-getter. So, um,
greatly appreciate Sy's leadership in her unit. Well, there's a little institutional knowledge there. Little bit. Little bit. It's almost as if the loss of it was completely handled by what Sandy does. Absolutely. Any questions, Mr. Chair,
Commissioner? Any questions? Well, as we've said before, another great update from from all of you and thank you for being here today and um yeah, we're thankful for the work that you do. appreciate your time. Thank you. All right. Now, we'll move up to
item move to item number five, a request approval of riparian aid fund distribution plan. We're going to have Darren Yeah, the reports are coming next. They are the best, aren't they?
All right. Um, well, thanks for having me. Uh, in my new role here, taking over the seven departments, I've also taken on the the buffer committee, which was completely new to me. And um so the
we've had a couple uh meetings so far and a little background information is that uh the legislation was uh made in 2015 at the state to provide funds to counties uh based on the new buffer laws
that went into effect. And so since 2017, Klay County has been receiving about $160,000 a year. And over that time, our current balance is $832,771.73. And so the not the last
one, but the one before meeting that we had, we've thought, well, what are we going to do with this money? Um the state statute doesn't really identify specific things that the money is has to be used for. I think it was
kind of initially made so that if there was legal challenges and all of that to the buffer age, it was providing some support to the counties to consider those things. And uh and so going forward, we thought we
shouldn't probably just have $832,000 sitting out there without some plan to spend it. So that the last board meeting we met and uh Commissioner Mojo and Commissioner Bearer were also at that meeting um along with Matt
Jacobson, Mark Sloan, uh Jill Murray, Kevin Cassenberg from the soil and water, Gabe and and Tony both from soil and water. Um we came up with five categories that we could probably allocate this money to that would still meet the intent of what the state was
intending this money to be used for. So the first thing was to uh allocate $150,000 to soil and water conservation and that would be for continuing monitoring of eros erosion control um uh
buying necessary supplies to um help in their fight against um land land issues and erosion issues and water issues. Um the second the second uh category
that we were looking at was to keep $100,000 in the legal reserve in case we did need to have that. I think since we've got started getting this money, we haven't had hardly any if if any uh legal um cost associated with the buffer
zone legislation. Um and so that would be uh held in reserve to anticipate any legal requirements that we may have. Um and then the third category was uh county-owned land
maintenance uh putting away about 300,000 for that uh and allocating 300,000 for that. And that would be targeted for future projects um contingencies. Um, I got information from our planning and zoning director
that uh the county Klay County currently owns uh approximately 260 acres of uh repairarian land. And so going forward that would be for weed control, mowing, seating, potential needs uh tied the FM
area diversion project. I don't know what exactly those might be, but um that money could be put towards something that came up unanticipated. Uh possibly. The fourth area is the West Central Regional
Wershed District, which if you recall, you did approve already $78,000 in the repairing aid money to go and they uh are working with uh Pulk, Norman, and and Clay counties to bring uh clean
water treatment uh water to the rural areas of those three counties. And I think you're all pretty much aware of of that project as well. Um, so allocating 150,000 for that. And last but not least would be
133,000 for imagery and mapping. Uh, if you recall back in January, you did approve a three-year contract for that. Came out to about $133 or $44,333 per year. And what this provides
is a 3D highdefinition aerial photography of Klay County which can also be used with uh with the citizens and also with our other departments can u planning and zoning uh assessor
highway department all of those departments can also benefit from that uh imagery. And so with that being said um I I mentioned earlier that the funds from the state there is a lot of
flexibility. There's not a lot of definition on exactly what these funds could be used for. And um with that being said, we I believe uh that the board
would still have to approve some of this before we go, you know, spending all of this. And if the board wants to put any restrictions on, you know, what type of projects would the would the these uh categories have to come back to the
board to ask permission to spend that money? So, with that being said, I will open it up for questions. Commissioner Mosel, thank you. Darren, you did a really great job with that. that was, you know, from the HR world to now environment natural learning things
all over the place here. Great work. Uh, thank you for that. Um, just kind of a backstory if you recall the Minnesota buffer law that I believe was 2017 2018 roundabout there um was the requirement that there was a a vegetative buffer u
if you will of up to 50 feet on on waterways um ditches, lakes, streams, those components. um they were uh challenging to implement. Uh Commissioner Kavanagh was on the SWCD at that time and we really worked with the SWCD as well as the watershed in
Barnesville to make sure there was an implementation of that compliance of that. Uh throughout the time I think this board has been really cautious about how to allocate the funds for that to maintain the integrity of how the funds were uh supposed to be uh spent.
And so there was some um money held aside in case there was some future litigation costs that um needed to come out of that. Um looking to uh how we should best implement these funds. I
really appreciate we've had several meetings at that buffer committee and Commissioner Gross was there before Commissioner Bearer on on what makes the most sense utilizing the funds given um to kind of help the integrity of groundwater resources and we really feel
that this recommendation does a couple things. One, it it maintains that the SWCD has the uh funds available for continued seed planting mitigation in that component if needed. um signage. Uh if you've ever drone drove out in the
country, sometimes you'll see big swaths into the buffer uh where tractors are maybe turning and so that unintended consequence of encroachment tends to happen. So there is a a continual receding that needs to happen there and and really felt that given the structure
at the SWCD, they have the opportunity to do that local landowner outreach to that. So um think that that allows them the opportunity to do that. understanding that there still are funds coming through that uh the county can uh earmark if we want and and knowing that
uh the county um own land that you identified. There are some continued costs that the highway department and planning and zoning and even um solid waste have in regards to managing those county-owned properties and and the management of those properties. Often
because they're uh around rivers or waterways we've bought out because of uh flood mitigation. There are some components that making sure that those are are maintained well to help the groundwater in that capacity. Uh we we still are trying to figure out what the
future of uh the operations and maintenance for those county owned lands uh that will be affected with the MCCJPA diversion property. Wanting to make sure there's funds available to uh keep the promises that we've said to those townships and communities down there uh
and even up north I guess. Um, and then two, knowing the commitment that this board has with the West Central Regional Watershed District, knowing that we've already allocated a certain amount of funds and that uh likely given the growth and excitement of what that project looks like, there should be uh
some more additional funds that uh likely will need to come out of that. Eararking that for that uh um need and then to the imagery piece really goes to the earlier component that I talked about making sure that there's not encroachment on the buffers. uh a
cost-effective way is to utilize uh item five for that. Um you know if if I think it's important that this board knows any uh any allocations we're just allocating the funds from the main amount. I think it's important to identify that and two
any additional expenditures will need to come to this board. Uh that was a discussion that we wanted to allow the board to still have the opportunity to provide insight and input on that before funds uh get diverted. Um and then two, as funds come in, we'll have the
opportunity to talk a little bit about um where we want those to uh go. The watersheds are currently doing this. I've talked to several commissioners throughout the state. Klay County maintained that right in 2018 to have
the ability to kind of help with implementation. Some counties have completely signed it off to other departments. Um, but we can stand for any questions if you have feedback or concern. Commissioner Bear was there. Commissioner Bear, I was also there at that committee meeting. I think J uh
Commissioner Mono did a perfect job explaining that with Darren as well. I don't have anything other to add other than we will re should be receiving another 160,000 this year and so far that money hasn't been taken away from us from the state legislature. So
continually going forward we we should still be receiving that those funds. And there's a um just a little bit of a clarification out of that 160,000 um 53,771 goes to the Buffalo Red River water district as well. Yeah. just to u
make comments. when the when the buffer regulations were being discussed at the state level, there was really concerns amongst the counties about potential lawsuits and those types of things and what would happen and you know so I think you know when we start talking
about oh boy there's $833,000 sitting in account some of that was purposefully done because it took a while for that to be implemented and we needed to make sure that we had the ability to deal with those litigation things that the counties were concerned
about. Uh the fact of the matter that we haven't had to use those funds for that, the credit goes to the SWCD, the watershed, and our planning department uh here in Klay County that things have been done really in a in a good way that our land owners have really participated
in a positive way. And so I I do like the fact that the um you know this buffer committee has met and has come forward with these suggestions to basically set aside these funds. I think it's the appropriate
thing to do. Uh it's kind of to me it just kind of fairly distributes those anticipated future costs and I think it's a a good recommendation. Okay.
Anybody else? Yes, Commissioner Krabnoff. Thank you, uh, Commissioner. Um, I totally agree. Just as already said, just, um, being around when this first started out, I think this all these five categories are very worthy. Totally
makes sense. And uh to your point um um uh Kevin we didn't know at that time you know on the lawsuits and that I mean a lot of people were very very unhappy right and it was a land grab all kinds
of different words were used and uh you know we maintained the course and the integrity of what it was meant for and and and this is just absolutely showing uh what a good job a well done job was done in Clay County. So, strongly
support the the five buckets, if you will, and and again, we can always adjust. So, so um Darren, is it is it the um is it the group's wishes that we we adopt some sort of a motion here that
designates these into these five categories? Is that is that what I would think so? I mean just to identify these five categories with the amounts listed as a motion. Commissioner Mojo. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Part of the discussion at the uh committee level was
to work with Lori to deem what was the most appropriate uh you know bucket of of account or line item on that. So we were able to track where that is and how it's spent. And so these fund allocations to each of these
prior to dollars being spent, they would still come before the board for discussion. I think that's the intent. Yes. All right. So I'm looking for guidance on a motion that could go towards to help Lori and establishing these
allocations. Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the distribution plan as highlighted of the repairarian aid funds and presented today. I will second that. We have a motion by Commissioner Mojo, second by Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by
saying I oppose the same sign. Motion carried. Thank you Darren for your presentation. Mr. Chair, I only have one more clarification. As discussed in the committee um the item under number five uh currently the
board had already allocated using the funds. Uh we talked about um if payable for the entire amount was available. Did we talk that today? We haven't talked uh no I'll have to ask Mark. Okay. All right. But the board has already
approved the whole 133,000 and so we discussed if it made sense to send that full upfront payment or not. So maybe you can work with Steve I'll All right. Move on to committee reports. Commissioner Bear, would you like to
start today? Sure. On Tuesday, last Tuesday, we had the buffer committee which we addressed just now. What happened there? Then on Wednesday, it was I had a wild
rice watershed district committee where they approved six projects and tabled five and returned two other permits. We had [Music] discussion about the citizens committee
that was that met uh two weeks prior to this meeting and we discussed about the property that the wild rice wershed owns and they're going to look into seeing what options are with that property. And then that's pretty much what was all discussed up there. And
then on Thursday, I was at the SWCD board meeting with Commissioner Krabangh where we discussed well they uh they approved five wind windbreak farmstead windbreaks
and three water sediment control basin plans in the district. And we also discussed about the tree orders. So, the tree orders should be coming today, I believe. And they sold about 10,000 trees, right?
Give or take about that. And then coming next week would be Earth Day in the annual pollinator pint night at the Junkyard Brewing from 4 to 8. You are all invited to attend that. And that's pretty much all that was discussed there.
Mr. Krabangh can also, Commissioner Kenoff can also add to that if he wishes. But that was all my committees for last week. Right. Thank you, Commissioner Abier. Thank you. Uh, last week on Wednesday the 9th, I remotely attended Northwest Emergency
Communication Board meeting uh joint meeting with with the RACK as well. main reason we we called the meeting early uh to discuss getting grant funding submissions in
um for the uh school mapping grant that is out and we're going to enter into a partnership with the Metro Central um emergency communication board since
they have the staff and a lot of us don't uh they've offered to oversee the grant and get the submissions in, but they needed commitment from each region on how many schools they wanted to have committed. So, we've got that uh count
underway to get it to the uh Metro Central by the May 16th date. Uh just looking at Klay County, Gabe Tweeton and um City Morehead, their fire department has done a really good job. All our
schools have been contacted and all of them have committed. This program will provide data. We'll need a system in in the PAPs and the radio centers that can use that data, but it'll give
a map where in a call can come in and within basically a footprint of the school, it'll show where the caller is and it'll give responding emergency services the entrance to go to and the
directions to wherever the call is coming is going to be invaluable. not just in in uh active shooter incidents, but in medical emergencies, in disturbances and a lot of things. And we will have all of our
schools in this county mapped out and the data ready to be put into a system with the dispatch center to where calls can be zeroed in on like that. It's it's going to be a really good system and we will get our share of the state funding
to get that initiated. There may be costs later down the road to get the software that would actually enable the Red River Regional Dispatch Center to use that data, but uh this is a great first step. Uh Thursday on the 10th, I
attended the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon meeting. Um, we did have uh a fair amount of conversation about the uh white earth possible uh use of the land that they've purchased. Uh they
everybody was well aware of the 22nd meeting that's planned here. uh a lot of the uh gaming, charitable gaming that goes through for the BFW and the other veterans groups. Uh they have concerns about the impact that a casino would
have on the funding. So, they will probably be actively participating. We did have report from Kurt Cannon. uh he uh reminded us that 4:26 through 52 is Vietnam Veterans Week and everybody who has uh friend, relative or loved one who
served in Vietnam, keep that in mind and thank him during that period of time. Uh we also uh Kurt indicated he is busy. uh Wilin and Becker, they have pending uh VSOs
uh for those uh two counties, but at this up to this point, they've been um open. Kurt's been trying to help out as he can. And now the new hires will need to be certified and he's going to assist with that. But as usual, Kurt's doing
his his best to to address the needs of the veterans, not just here, but in those counties. Um later that day I had a meeting with the executive committee at Lake Agon Lake Agassy Regional Library. We are in
negotiations with the city of Morehead to try and determine a rent for the space we'll be using in the new library community center. We will have about 9% of the space in that library
um that that Lake Agassy personnel will be occupying. We've set some funds aside to get offices equipped and furnishings in them. Um they've given us an offer. We have counter offered on that and
hopefully uh we'll be able to come to an agreement. Um and even later in that day I remotely attended the treatment court initiative advisory committee which I'm part of representing AMC
uh the judicial uh courts uh state judicial court um team is oversees that and we are AMC is represented by me. I'm appointed on that. We uh gave a preliminary approval
to Howard County for DWI court uh and a pre-approval for Clearwater County to uh set up a DWI court. We discussed several different uh parts of the strategic planning uh
committees report that's been put in. They've established priorities for treatment courts that we think are going to be sound and it'll go to a vote when they get the final drafts completed. Um on Friday the 11th I attended the
joint mayoral and county proclamation for United Den homeless uh committee that's being put together. Uh it was great press conference. uh Chander Esling Chandler Esling Eslinger should be able to pronounce
that it's very close to uh is a head of the homeless coalition u she presented along with uh Taylor Severson with United Way. We had all the mayors uh we had Commissioner Viddle from Cass County and myself from Clay.
Um this is going to be a good collaboration of partnerships in this. Look forward to working with them. they are going to become getting us together to identify personnel and other individuals that need to serve on
this. Um later that day I attended Senator Clolobisher's press conference um over at Swing Barrel. Uh that was a interesting presentation and uh she
addressed some of the issues that we're looking at with the current tariff legislation. or current terrorist ter tariff uh executive orders. There's no legislation on it at this point. Uh Monday the 14th,
I attended a meeting with Commissioner Kravangh and I with some of the staff at public health. We discussed the tobacco ordinance and upcoming needs and in establishing a cannabis ordinance. And that completes my report. Thank you, Commissioner Kavanagh. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. Uh so on uh Thursday the uh 10th uh as Commissioner Bear has already reported I was part of the Klay County SWCD board meeting. I just want to mention one other thing that
um uh he didn't mention and that just went it was part of the treasures report that uh the final payment was made for the Stony Creek project that was uh done so well on 11th Street going down to the
uh uh tributary of the red. And anyway, if you get a chance sometime, drive by it. It's excellent work. Um the grass is all put into place and uh without the heavy rains and flooding. I they felt uh everything is done and and that project
uh to the contractor was paid in full. on uh Friday the the 11th we had our small group PTR PRTF uh group and I'm going to defer mostly comments here to Commissioner Mojo as uh she was
reporting back from her work in St. call. And then we have a tour upcoming that her and I will be part of on Thursday with Senator Murphy and representing Frederick uh on the juvenile center, but more in particular
on that one showing transformation of the PRTF as we could be in our unsecured unit today. Um then yesterday I um I I spent time in the morning with Quinn uh going through
um learning more a deeper dive into the social service department and much of um I had a little preview of what we heard today and certainly the reporting we've had over the last couple weeks from the department and um u huge budget uh huge
staff and a lot of good work do being done very very well. So, uh congratulations to all that group. Um the afternoon um Commissioner Ever already mentioned uh short visit with um the department of health and involving
tobacco and the can upcoming cannabis ordinance. And then last night I was at the uh Buffalo Red River Wershed District monthly meeting. Um, one permit was gone through uh that having to do with the development over the morning center mall. They'd reviewed the project
for the runoff and every um uh which really goes into existing infrastructure into the red and that was approved by the board. And then also um upcoming work um there was a fact of finding to
be done on ditch nine which is coming is excuse me uh uh on the round with the roundabout on highway 52 and road 12. And so that day nine um uh there was a um Houston
main did a report of findings uh was part of that permit process and he found no negative effects to that ditch. So that that goes part of the planning with the uh for that road change and and then
also along with that now that the report is done the findings there'll be a public hearing on that May 12th and that'll be down in uh at the uh uh district uh office in Barnesville and that'll be taking place at uh 6
o'clock. Um yeah, that was the main points of the um uh from that meeting. That concludes my report. Thank you, Mr. Mojo. Thank you. Last week on Tuesday, I had a discussion with administrator Larson and Commissioner
Campbell referencing legislative uh finance in regards to a clarification asked from DNR on the HA has mitigation application. So, we're in the process of working that through. That afternoon, I also had the buffer
program uh quarterly committee meeting that we referenced in the discussion earlier. The evening of April 8th, I travel to St. Paul to provide testimony at 8:15 on Wednesday at the um the capital or not capital, I'm
sorry, uh Senate House uh human finance committee meeting. I apologize. uh great opportunity to speak to the needs of Klay County in regards to the inclusion of our PRTF uh startup funding and the omnimous vehicle that was acted
on uh that day. Um also that day the Senate had also included our project in that their omnimous bill. So tended the testimony on that had key conversations with uh legislators on strategy moving
our um our asks forward. I will say there still remains substantial cost shifts to counties in those packages. Uh in many cases they're actually worse. The House um omnimous bill is particularly worse uh for counties in
that. Uh I've talked to administrator Larson a little bit about how we prepare what for what those cost shifts will be. Uh if there is no change to that, assuming there's no change to what the county program aid will be, uh we're looking at almost 10% shift to counties
in regards to what that would be on our levy. Uh and so, you know, I know you're having discussions upcoming with staff departments on what uh the budget cycle will look like, what proposals will look like. Um, you know, we've had years on
this board in my amount of time serving here where there need there needed to be lean years as we looked forward to um uh what uh impacts to levies could be. And I I will say the outlook for what this budget cycle is probably the most dire than I've ever seen in my time here. Uh
so we just we need to be um really frugal in regards to moving forward with that if uh nothing changes at the state. You know, I I think I've said before AMC is providing us a really great platform to uh reach out to the legislators now
with the break. Uh it's even more important to have those discussions. But um yeah, just kind of some feedback in that. Uh and I also provided in my testimony what those cost shifts would mean for Klay County. So, we'll see what uh what comes out of that. But exciting
that our project was included in both omnimous bills. the uh so that was on the 9th. On the 11th uh had a a large scale of meetings. We met their flood mitigation check-in with the city of Morehead
uh the chamber in Klay County in regards to some clarification in the work and how we advocate at the state for the uh projects to move forward. We had a 10:15 checkup with um our PRTF, non-secure detention team, uh planning for a tour
with the legislative representation that will be in uh town this Thursday. Out of that meeting at 9:30, we um are having conversations. Uh we will be meeting with Governor Walls this week to discuss the scope of the diversion project on
the Minnesota side, the components that need to be completed to protect our residents uh both within uh cities but also in the rural areas. So looking forward to that opportunity. I also attended the uh press conference that Senator Clolobashar had in town. I
appreciate the uh chance for her to visit a small business in Klay County. She spoke of the dire needs for egg. I'll I'll reiterate uh one, we need a farm bill and uh there's some pretty substantial issues that will affect our farming community as well that um we
need some more advocacy with. And then at 1:00 um I attended the research committee meeting for AMC. That was the first opportunity to meet. Now that I'm chair of that committee, we discussed what the research um vision is for the next year. talked a lot about how we can
uh leverage resources to communicate with counties as um they're facing the issues that I highlighted earlier in my report. And um then yesterday again we had a check-in on the planning for the flood mitigation project uh pulling
together funds not funds pulling together uh the data from the funds that Klay County and the city have um acquired and spent on projects on the Minnesota side so that we can um continue to tell that story in our other committees. And I
think that concludes my reports. Thank you. on um let's see, Friday, April or excuse me, Thursday, April 10th, I did attend the annual uh audit entrance meeting with the state
auditor's office regarding uh the upcoming um audit for Klay County. Um that meeting went well. I think there's there's three areas that uh will be required to um audit
uh and that would be the child support services uh the co 19 fund and then medical assistance program or the three areas that will have an emphasis on those areas as required um by the state
statute on uh let's see pardon me my calendar. On Friday, April 11th, I did attend the um through the, you know, chamber public policy group that were working on uh
legislative issues as it pertains to flood mitigation. So, we had conversations uh that day in preparation for a meeting with Governor Walls. Uh we did the same thing happened again yesterday. Uh we did have um
another meeting on that and in in planning and preparations and uh going over documents that will be presented um on behalf of um our different entities. And that concludes my report
for the week. There's more of those meetings coming up this week. But Steve, uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh last Tuesday participated in the buffer program quarterly committee meeting that's been addressed. Also on the eth or 9th participate in county management. Again,
we spoke uh on the 2026 budget uh legislation and the impacts uh to uh both the overall budget and individual departments. Uh we also spoke on our risk management program updates uh and heard an update from HR. Uh on the 9th
again worked with Commissioner Campbell, Commissioner Mojo on some diversion legislation. Uh on the 10th or 10th I met with Sheriff Empt on a series of issues with the sheriff's department. Um that afternoon I met with Darren and
also Mark Sloan uh with Mary Philippy and Paul Laney. Uh they are going to be presenting at our intergovernmental retreat here in two weeks. And so we went over the uh the agenda for the day finalizing that um on the 11th uh and 12th participated in the flood
mitigation check-ins that have been addressed. Uh also the PRTF uh PRTF discussion in the upcoming tour on Thursday. Uh 11th I also met with Commissioner Krabanhoff on a series of issues.
uh and uh 14th uh met with Joe uh on a series of issues both office space, family service center, capital improve improvement plan. Um and uh those things will be coming forward in our committee soon. Also just a note uh today, this
week is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. Want to just recognize the great work that our dispatchers do at the Red River Regional Dispatch Center over in Fargo. Uh and then just lastly, I just want to acknowledge that today is going to be Jackie's uh well, she'll be here again
from time to time, but her last meeting on a consistent basis with the uh some of the changes with the communications department and uh the work that that's needed through our economic development. We continue to make some shifts and so next week that Sarah is going to be uh
sitting in that spot. Uh, but wanted to thank Jackie for all the work that she's done uh and will continue to do for us moving forward. So, thank you. Darren, I thought you were going to Brian next. You caught me off guard. Um, Tuesday, April 8th, I
celebrated my birthday with wine women in song. That was exciting. Less the women, the song, and the wine. Um, also that day I attended the buffer committee meeting which has already been discussed and acted upon today. Um, Wednesday, April 9th, I attended the manager
meeting which Steve just covered. Uh, worked on some tweaking some of the forms that we have out there right now. And I also worked on the 2026 risk assessment for MCIT on Thursday, April 10th. Uh, continued work on the 2026 risk assessment which was uh, submitted
yesterday. Uh, I listened to a paid leave webinar by deed and also sat in on a call with our presenters uh for the county retreat which Steve also uh mentioned. Uh Friday, April 11th, uh continued work on the county code with
Mark Sloan, M Jacobson, and Kent Severson. I think we're making some progress there going through that line by line basically. and uh then uh continued work on the uh 2026 payroll estimate for MCIT yesterday. Worked on some HR issues
since Anna was gone last week and yesterday. So, thank God she's back today. So, and that's all I have. Thank you, Brian. Hey, Mr. Chair, I just wanted to highlight one uh item in regard to restorative justice. I know this board's been a strong supporter of
restorative justice uh throughout and and over the last three years we've had uh Lucas out of our office working that um uh the referrals that have come in just for the 2024 2025 we've had 125
diversions but we had a 50% increase in prevention cases meaning cases that are coming before there's any type of ticket or any other court action that kind of thing um but Tara Cystead the principal from Horizon East had reached out to Michelle in our office and she just
highlighted some numbers and so sometimes I think it's hard to quantify some things sometimes but I think when you look at she provided just uh reduced numbers of physical altercations uh within uh Horizon East over the last
three years uh 2022 to 2023 uh there were 63 uh physical altercations 2023 to 2024 51 21 and now this year and I know the school year is not quite over but 2024 to 2025 we were down to 30. Uh so
you've seen a 50% decrease um and an increase in those prevention cases and and not that that's all associated that there's a lot of great work that's done there in the schools with uh being in the hallways everything else uh by teachers and other people but I think uh
uh having restorative justice in the school has definitely been a benefit and I think we're seeing some of those results now. So just thought I'd highlight those those numbers that I just got. I did ask her to see if we could get any other schools uh numbers available to us uh for that kind of
thing. Just I know that's just the horizon u but it but that's a very encouraging number to see. Mer just uh to let Brian know I I was part of the group that looked at restorative justice on the grants that
we've applied for. Michelle Lucas, you've got a remarkable team there. So remarkable that the head of restorative justice for the state was one of the speakers we had at the legislative AMC meeting and he singled us out and he
came up to me before his presentation and said that we we were without a doubt the premier county in our community group that was there that day um in in the presentation. So you've got good people there and we're really lucky to
have them. Yeah, we certainly have supported restorative justice for many years in Klay County and we'll we'll continue to do that, I'm sure. So, Darren, um I just got word from Mark that we are allowed to um pay the whole um imagery aerial in
one payment for the three years. So, I know Commissioner Mojo had a question on that. Jackie. Um, nothing to report on, but um, I'll miss seeing everybody on Tuesdays, but obviously I'll still be in
the office, so I'll be seeing you then. But excited to work on some more communications um, items. So, I'm sure we'll still still see you here from time to time, but thank you for your work, Jackie. Anything else we need to cover today?
Seeing none, we are adjourned.