WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 2
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=tcOX2FwlR50
Video-2: youtube.com/watch?v=KwVf3EpgZpE

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: tcOX2FwlR50):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Call to Order and Agenda Approval
- 00:00:44: Employee Recognition: Brenda Paper, Child Support Services
- 00:04:15: Employee Recognition: Corey Runger & Elizabeth Beer
- 00:07:26: Payment of Bills and Vouchers Approval
- 00:08:21: Citizens to be Heard - No Speakers Present
- 00:08:37: Approval of Minutes from April 21st, 2026
- 00:09:10: Nature Conservancy Presentation: Wildlife Habitat Protection Project
- 00:13:59: Questions for the Nature Conservancy Regarding Land
- 00:15:21: Further Statements of Support for Nature Conservancy
- 00:16:30: Contact Information Exchanged; Transition to Next Item
- 00:16:57: Children's Mental Health Annual Report Presentation
- 00:23:56: Workforce Shortages and Impact on Mental Health Services
- 00:25:14: Discussion about the Morehead Police Program
- 00:26:03: Continuing Mental Health Challenges and Recommendations
- 00:28:10: Discussion on Low Reimbursement Rates for Mental Health Services
- 00:31:20: Comments on Collaboration and School Involvement
- 00:32:11: Additional Questions for Mental Health Experts
- 00:33:02: Discussion of Transportation Challenges & Volunteer Driver Program
- 00:35:11: Email Clarification and LAC Grant Money
- 00:36:14: Mental Health Proclamation Reading and Approval
- 00:37:52: Motion to Approve Children's Mental Health LAC Membership
- 00:38:41: Closed Session Motion Regarding Security System Issues
- 00:39:41: Back in Session: Replacement Firewalls Approval Request
- 00:43:09: Questions and Discussion Regarding the Firewall Purchase
- 00:47:21: Approval of Firewall Purchase; Discussion Concludes
- 00:47:57: Final Contract Voucher Approval: Milan Overlay Project
- 00:49:15: Coordination of Projects with Diversion Authority
- 00:50:01: Law Enforcement Center Feasibility Study Proposal
- 00:55:12: Disappointment Regarding Morehead PD's Potential Departure
- 00:59:19: Approval of Law Enforcement Center Feasibility Study
- 00:59:53: Committee Reports: Commissioner Krabanov and Mojo
- 01:04:29: Committee Reports: Commissioners Campbell and Bear
- 01:11:31: Thank You and Committee Reports: Steve Larson
- 01:14:51: NICO Application and County Fees Discussion
- 01:15:07: Committee Reports: Darren
- 01:15:53: Meeting Adjournment

Part 2 (Video ID: KwVf3EpgZpE):
- 00:40:42: Meeting Called to Order, Agenda, Employee Recognitions
- 00:41:26: Brenda Paper Honored for Work in Child Support
- 00:44:38: Corey Runner and Elizabeth Beer Celebrated for Service
- 00:48:18: Payment of Bills, Vouchers, Minutes Approval
- 00:49:06: Public Comment Slot 1: No Requests to Speak
- 00:49:23: Nature Conservancy presents Wildlife Habitat Protection Project
- 00:54:47: Public Comment Slot 2: Questions regarding land transfer, access
- 00:57:13: Children’s Mental Health Annual Report and Proclamation
- 01:04:35: Public Comment Slot 3: workforce shortages, access, police program
- 01:11:11: Public Comment Slot 4: Preventative care, workforce reimbursement rates
- 01:19:07: Children's Mental Health LAC Membership Approved
- 01:19:44: Closed Session Approved and Immediately Started
- 02:00:23: Replacement Firewalls Purchase Request Approval
- 02:06:45: Public Comment Slot 5: Questions concerning budget, staffing services
- 02:07:34: Klay County Law Enforcement Center Feasibility Study proposal
- 02:13:18: Milan Overlay Final Contract Voucher Approval
- 02:14:31: Diversion Authority Meeting and Project Coordination
- 02:15:21: Klay County Law Enforcement Center Feasibility Study
- 02:24:25: LEC Feasibility Study Motion Offered and Seconded
- 02:25:18: Committee Reports: Legislative Activities, Planning Commision
- 02:29:48: Committee Reports: AMC, Rural Water District, MRC
- 02:30:55: Committee Reports: Legislature, NAMI, MRC, Metrocog
- 02:36:51: Committee Reports: Ma Leadership, legislative planning meeting
- 02:39:00: Nico Application, Cadet Program, MCIT, Data Response


Part: 1

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--------- Good morning. It's 8:30. I'll call today's meeting of the Klay County Board of Commissioners to order. Our first item on the agenda is an approval of the agenda. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion offered from Bear to approve the agenda. Second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion?

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Discussion. Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Same sign. Carries. Employee recognitions. Our first individual today that we'd like to recognize is Brenda Paper. Uh

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Brenda has 15 years of service to Klay County. >> She's got more than that. >> I know. And I know you'll tell us. Brenda, this plaque is given to you today in grateful recognition for the service that you've given to Klay County over the 15 years or more.

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Congratulations. >> So, I didn't I wasn't sure if Brenda was going to be here today, so I was going to print out a picture of her head and have a little poster for you, but she drove in. So, yay. >> She'll never come again. >> Yeah. >> I didn't know that was

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>> Yeah. So, I want to introduce Brenda Paper. She quietly handles some of the toughest work in child support. Her story with Klay County actually comes in two chapters, kind of like last month when I was talking to you about Sherry. Uh she first started with child support

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back in 1995, worked here for three years, and then she left to raise her family and came back in 2011. Yay. Um worked way back into a child support officer position in 2017 and is doing a great job ever

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since. So, not all case loads are created equal in the child support world. Brenda handles what we'd like to call the no easy answer qu cases. Depending on the day, they could also be the OFA cases. Um, there are cases where in her case load

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where child support comes in like clockwork, but many of those cases are a lot more challenging. There's situations where there's no employer for income withholding. Individuals might be self-employed or working in the gig economy. and there's just no real easy

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answer to get them to pay child support. None of our usual tools work. She also handles incoming interstate cases, which we have no control over. Another state sets the order, the person can't afford to pay it, and we're stuck

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with it, and she's stuck with it in her case load with nothing she can do. Um, but what really stands out about Brenda's work is that it's not just about enforcement. It's about building trust with the people that she's trying to work with. She's very, very good at

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that. Um, she works with people that might already be overwhelmed or they're very hesitant to talk to child support. And she finds a way to gain their cooperation when there really isn't a clear pa path forward. She's also a breakdown guru. She gets

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mad at me when I try and do one. I've spent two days trying to do it and I get stuck and she'll be like, "Why are you doing these Sandy? I'll do them for you. It's awesome." But if you've ever looked at what you think is a complicated

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accounting system in a computer, yeah, come and see Prism someday because it's crazy. Um, all through this, she stays incredibly calm. Nothing really rattles her. It's very impressive because for a lot of people, we'd be beating our head

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against the wall before we had our first cup of coffee. We're really fortunate that she chose to return to Klay County. Uh her experience, her skill, and her ability to handle the toughest cases makes a real difference for our team and for the families we serve. So, congrats

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to Brenda for 15 plus years. Thank you for coming back to Klay County. >> Thank you. The next individual is Corey Runger. >> Morning, Corey. Corey, this plaque is given to you day today in grateful recognition for 15 years of service to

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Klay County and our citizens. >> Thank you so much for all that you do. >> Thank you. >> Good morning, everyone. Um today we we are proud to recognize and celebrate 15 years of dedicated service by Corey Runger. Over the past decade and a half, she's consistently demonstrated what it

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means to be a committed public servant. Corey's known for her strong work ethic and her willingness to go above and beyond for the individuals and families she serves. She approaches her work with compassion, professionalism, and a clear focus on achieving best the best possible outcomes for her clients. Her

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commitment is not just to the job, but to the people behind the work. she ensuring that they're heard, supported, and treated with dignity. Her impact over these 15 years has made a meaningful difference in our community, and we are grateful for her continued dedication to support this work. Please

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join me in congratulating Corey on this milestone and thanking her for this service. So, and Elizabeth Beer, it beer. Okay. Elizabeth, we are excited to recognize

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you today for 20 years of outstanding service to Klay County and our citizens. Thank you for all that you do. We really appreciate it. >> Yes. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Today, we recognize Liz for 20 years of dedicated services service to Klay

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County Public Health and the meaningful impact she's had on the community and the families we serve. It's especially fitting today of all days to recognize this as we kick off National Nurses Week. For the past or for the first part of Liz's career, she worked in family

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home visiting where she made a lasting impact on countless families. Her passion for that work is clear. She's helped parents build confidence, strengthened family relationships, and set children on a path towards healthier, safer, and more successful

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futures. That kind of work changes lives and Liz has been at the center of it. Since stepping into her supervisor role, Liz has taken on many responsibilities including overseeing school nursing, disease prevention and control, family home visiting, and the public health

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clinic. Just a few things. Through all of that, she's brought not only strong leadership, but exceptional clinical oversight. She also played a pivotal role in keeping our community safe dur during the CO 19 pandemic. She's become

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a trusted mentor and role model to staff and someone people can turn to for guidance, support, and leadership. I've only had the opportunity to work with Liz for a short while, but it's clear to me that she truly loves what she does and her passion shines through every

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day. Liz, thank you for your dedicated years to Klay County Public Health. We're very fortunate to have you. Thank you everyone. I think Commissioner Gross would talk often about how this was one of his favorite parts of being a commissioner. having uh supervisors come

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in to talk about the great work that all of our uh employees do uh really helps us to understand better all of the work. So, thank you. Next item on the agenda today, looking for an approval of the payment of bills

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and vouchers. >> Madam Chair, I move for approval of payment of bills and vouchers. >> Second. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Ebinger uh to pay the bills and bills and vouchers. Second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion?

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Any further discussion? Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. Citizens to be heard. Are there any citizens in the audience wishing to address the county board?

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You're all on the agenda. Any citizens to be heard? Steve, have we had any requests to speak online? >> We have not, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. Moving into the minutes from April 21st, 2026 that were in the packet.

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>> I'll move to approve the minutes from April 2126. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Krabangh >> to approve the minutes. A second from Commissioner Bear. Further discussion discussion discussion.

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All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. The item carries. Item two today is a wildlife wildlife habitat protection presentation from the Nature Conservancy. Uh we have quite a

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gaggle of folks here, so feel free to come up if you need to scoot chairs up. Not sure who's taking the lead. Good morning. Just green. As long as they're green, you're good.

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All right. Well, Good morning, Madame Chair and commissioners. Thank you for allowing us to come present to you today. Uh my name is Liz Berry and I'm the associate director of grasslands in Minnesota for the Nature Conservancy. Um and I'm based in Fergus Falls and I'm

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really excited to join you today. >> Good morning all. My name is Jane Cowen with the Nature Conservancy. I'm the habitat protection program manager based out of Minneapolis. So happy to be out from my computer and with you today. >> Welcome. Uh so we're excited to share

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some information about a wildlife habitat protection project in Keen and Hagen townships that the Nature Conservancy has been working on with feeasants forever. A landowner approached the Nature Conservancy last year wishing to sell wet meadow prairie and marginal cropland that can be

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protected and restored for wildlife habitat. the land owner is keeping the most profitable crop land for continued agricultural use and uh feels that the marginal cropland acres are not profitable uh and not highly productive. So they don't see the value in

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continuing to farm those acres long term. Uh through this land protection project uh we're very pleased to protect more land for wildlife habitat and for controlled uh public recreational access. Hunting will be allowed on all

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1,900 acres and long-term ownership of this land will be split between the Nature Conservancy uh will own 480 acres. Uh the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will own 320 acres as a WMA and the US Fish and Wildlife

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Service will own 1,100 acres. A good portion of this land has historically been used as hay fields because it contains wet soils that are not productive for crops. Uh current land use on nearby conservation lands owned by the Nature Conservancy, the DNR, and

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the US Fish and Wildlife Service include rotational haying. So that fits right in. Uh as well as conservation grazing, uh controlled burning and weed control. Uh we also plan to farm a portion of this land um within the next two years to prepare for prairie restoration

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seating and future hanging and grazing efforts will be completed in collaboration with local land owners um because many of them are producers and they have the equipment and the the cattle to help us with those uh land management efforts. Um I'm just going to pull up a couple of photos quickly. Um I

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don't have a big presentation prepared, but I figured it'd be fun for everyone to just see uh what we're looking at when we talk about this project. So, um this is just one snapshot of of this beautiful um native wet meadow. Um lots

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of wild flowers, um lots of native grass, lots of open habitat, great recreational um land that many many people will be able to enjoy in the future. Uh this wildlife habitat complex will be critically important in connecting uh

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rare native prairie ecosystems in this area and they help sustain pollinators, grassland birds, mammals, and other animals. These grassland wetland complexes are declining on the landscape across uh western Minnesota, so it's important to protect and reconnect them

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when possible. Large grassland complexes provide abundant breeding and nesting grounds for many game species, which means these areas will also be favored by hunters and burers and uh general people

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interested in recreation um which would bring additional income to surrounding areas uh especially in summer and fall uh when recreational use will be the highest. Uh, additionally, the benefits of perennial cover include improved water quality, elimination of soil

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erosion on these acres, and improved aquafer recharging after heavy rainfall. Um, I just have one other photo to show you, just a a cool photo of a bottle genten, which is a beautiful wild flower on the left, and then some blazing star with the monarch butterfly on the right

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there. Um when uh when we were out here last summer, it was just teeming with butterflies and bees and just, you know, beautiful array of pollinators and birds and many other critters that were not really jumping up around us, but they uh they're used to having their peace and

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quiet, but it's it's a beautiful open landscape and we're we're really excited to protect this. Um so the the source of funding for this land protection project comes from the outdoor heritage fund portion of the clean water land and legacy amendment. Um, and thank you for

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for your time today and Jane and I are happy to answer any questions that you might have related to this project. >> Thank you for the presentation. Any questions? >> Just one question. >> Commissioner Bear, >> when do you plan on switching that land over to the federal feds in Minnesota?

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>> Uh, we'll be uh transitioning those acres to uh the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minnesota DNR within the next one to two years. Uh generally we prefer to do some restoration on those acres before we transfer them over. >> So you haven't transferred anything over yet? >> No.

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>> Yeah. All right. >> We have a bunch of folks here. Did anyone else want to speak? Just in vibrant support. >> Everyone's here in support and we figured if you had any more complicated questions, we have lots of people to help them. So

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>> questions. Well, I appreciate uh one all of you being here. It's great to put faces to names. Uh certainly uh there's some unique landscapes up there and um hearing that it was the land owners approaching you is always, you know,

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important for us and as that work goes forward. Um it is certainly beautiful to see that uh prairie being restored and protected as well. Any other questions from the board? Thank you for coming in. >> Yeah.

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>> Yeah. >> Thank you, Commissioner Kraov. >> Yeah, I appreciate so much the work you do and again um just that opportunity u when you see it out there uh just for a private land owner to have that I'll say

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it uh in their heart uh for these things to uh take place. I just um it's uh good for our landscape not only and for our community. Thank you. >> You have something pretty rare here in Klay County. I

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>> I do have one other question. Over time, uh it's free access. Do um you develop any type of walking paths out there or anything? >> Uh well, thank you for that question. We don't tend to establish walking trails or paths. We just keep it wide open for

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wildlife habitat. Um certainly, you know, sometimes people that might frequent the area might, you know, walk around enough to create some trails and paths. Um and also periodically if we're ever planning for controlled burns, we might mow >> um paths that would be good for walking,

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you know, around and a little easier for walking. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Just I was curious. >> Permanent recreational. >> I tend to walk grass though. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thanks. >> Anything else? >> Thank you for being here and for the presentations. >> Thank you all. Have a great day.

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>> You too. >> Do we have your contact information? Could you forward that to Steve just to have? I think it would be helpful. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Item three today,

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the Klay County Local Advisory Council for Children's Mental Health Annual Report and Mental Health Proclamation. Do you have the whole team here? >> All right. >> Just us. >> All right. >> You important ones, right? >> We'll go with that.

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>> All right. Michelle, take it away and you can introduce the other Michelle. >> All right. I'm Michelle Thor. I'm a supervisor at social services and I sit on the lac as the new secretary treasurer. How are you? I am Michelle. I am

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>> first time. Um I'm Michelle Mullikin. I am a children's rule 79 case manager at Lakeland and I'm the newly elected chairperson for our children's lac. >> Get started. So, good morning, Madame Chair Mojo, commissioners, and county administrator Larson. Thank you

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for the opportunity to be here today. Today's update is intended to do four things. First, we'll provide a snapshot of the council's current work and community engagement. We'll also share this year's survey participation and key themes. Then, we wanted to take a step back and look at the larger trend over

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multiple years. Finally, outline the recommendations that continue to emerge from that work. And then this year we wanted to go beyond a one-year summary and show the bigger picture. So at its core, the LACE brings together a lot of different voices, providers,

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school staff, county staff, families, and community partners to talk about children's mental health needs in Klay County. Our job is to listen, identify gaps, raise awareness, and make recommendations based on what we're hearing from the community. >> So this year we continue to have a

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really strong and active group. We have more than 20 members regularly participating. We've continued using surveys and partner feedback to help identify where families are still running into barriers. We were also pleased to have both parents and youth participate in meetings this year, which helping bring in perspectives that have

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sometimes been missing in past years. We also kept focus on visibility and transparency, posting agenda agendas and minutes online, showing up at community events, promoting mental health awareness month, and finding simple ways to connect with families. Um, one fun example of that was partnering with the

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Morhead schools robotic team to purchase fidgets um that we could hand out at different events. >> It was really kind of a cool thing. One of our members of the LAC had a contact at the Morehead High School robotics team and they did these fidgets. And so

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in talking with them, they're like, "We'd like to get our name out. We wanted a partner." And so I mean, they've just been a hit. So that we were really excited about that. Um, so the council approved a motion last year, I believe it was, to continue to allocate many grants to supplement

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mental health programming. Um, it's especially important this year since the Morhead Police Program is no longer operating in the same way that it has in the past years. So, there were two grants that were requested and and were granted this year. Um, and both were to Lakeland Mental Health Center. $1,500

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was granted to their school-based CTSS program, their summer program, and then $750 was allocated to the uh children's rule 79 summer program. Both of these grants are going to help improve access for children and families to essential mental health programming that they

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provide in the summer. Um that really helps get them there, provides for them to be able to do different activities and um things like that. Just to touch on that a little bit. Um Lakeland has received grants the last couple years from LAC and the children have really

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benefit benefited from that funding and they've had a great time. Um I have usually come in at the end of the summer and or in the fall come back with like a little survey just a verbal one, but this year we're actually going to do a one on paper that we're going to get all the kids um at the end of the summer activities just to kind of see what they

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liked, what they didn't like. Um, but it is it has been very beneficial, not especially with the police program not um being up and running. So, I'm just saying thank you in advance for that. Um, this year it says we received 327 total survey submissions, but I think

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Michelle said we actually had three stragglers at the end, so it was 330 total, which is amazing. Um, it gave us a really strong amount of feedback to work from. Again, um, we offered incentives to help encourage participation and we were pleased with the level of response. The surveys

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continue to be one of the main ways we gather input and make sure our recommendations are grounded and what families and providers are actually experiencing. >> So this year we uh decided to approach our report a little differently. We wanted to add add a multi-year view. Um

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instead of only focusing on what we're hearing this year, we thought we'd take a step back and ask what keeps showing up year after year. We were seeing patterns. Feels like every time we would come here, we would report on the same thing. Um but in reviewing the reports from 2019 to 2025, it really allows us

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to see what issues are temporary and then which ones are recurring. Um it helps us understand the barriers that families describe as whether they're isolated problems or part of a larger system issue. So this time really tells the story. So

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in 2019, we started clearly identifying recoccurring access and service gaps. In 2020, those same barriers showed up again across both family and provider feedback. In 2021, CO increased the level of need and put even more main even strain on the system. By 2022, it

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was very clear that the demand was outpacing the number of available providers and services. In 2023, the same themes continued which confirmed that these were not temporary disruptions. And by 2025, the conversation had shifted more towards root causes like workforce retention,

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reimbursement, and the need for a stronger continuum of care. The main takeaway is really pretty simple. Um the same core issues have continued to come up over and over again. At the same time, we saw that the system has some real strengths. Collaboration is strong. School

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participate partnerships are strong. Awareness work has grown. But the most persistent unresolved issues remain workforce shortages, timely access to care and gaps, and higher level treatment options. Um in other words, the issue is no longer whether we can

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identify the barriers. The issue is that the same barriers continue over time. >> So, do we we do want to be clear that there are a lot of positives here in Klay County. Um, we have a lot of strong network partners um who are doing working or working very well together.

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Mental health supports are available in every school district in the county. Outreach and awareness efforts continue to grow. And when families are able to get connected to services, we are often hearing that those reservices are helping. This is not a story of a system that isn't trying. It's more of a story. The system that has strong people,

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strong partnerships, but is still facing capacity challenges. >> The same challenges continue to rise. Oh, Michelle, Commissioner uh Campbell has a question. >> Yeah. When we talk about um the workforce shortages being an

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issue and it has been, we have that in multitude of areas. Can you explain to us how work for force shortages impact this particular >> So, you know, in regards to like access to family therapy or the our community

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health um uh partnerships with Lakeland Solutions, they have a hard time keeping people in those roles. they see a lot of their therapists going into private practice um because reimbursement rates are low, wages can't compare. And so that really adds to, you know, we

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contract with um social services contracts with the village and um um LSS for inhome services, but it's really hard to keep people in those positions. Well, >> it's those areas that are experiencing the shortages in workplace.

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>> Yes. And you know, if you have Minnesota MA, there are only certain providers that will take that insurance. And so those are the agencies like Lakeland, like Solutions that are having a hard time keeping therapists in that role. So then that's where we see the shortages because they're going to private

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practice >> and then any gap in what the staffing pattern is only creates this backlog of long wait times, etc. Commissioner Abinger. >> Yes. Uh you you mentioned a couple times

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the police program. I don't know the specifics on that. Could you tell me what's happened? >> You know, I don't do you know what what I was told is that um they aren't they used to you know it was a huge program with the lots of kids and now they're pairing it down and going to be more

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targeted in their approach. So what we were told is that access is going to be less just less kids that are going to be um I I don't know for sure. I wasn't told on the specifics. So, sorry I don't have that. >> Send an email to whoever could. >> Yeah. Yeah.

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>> Yeah. That's a a great program and I hope it's not being being pulled back. >> Yeah. Um I I guess I don't know the specifics. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> Um Okay. So, workforce shortages remain a big issue. Service capacity is still

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limited. Families still talk about difficulty knowing where to start or move through the system. Transportation continues to be a barrier. Um and there are still gaps at higher level of care, especially for youth who need more intensive services. Those themes have shown up consistently enough over time

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that we feel confident in saying that they reflect broader system constraints. So the first recommendation area is workforce and reimbursement. We continue to hear that low reimbursement rates make it harder to retain staff, offer competitive wages, and keep services available. When agencies struggle to

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recruit and keep providers, families feel that directly through longer waits and fewer options. >> The second area is the continuum of care. Families and providers continue to identify gaps in adolescent substance use treatment and in higher level

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residential options. This includes the continued need for a stronger regional option like a PRTF capacity and other intensive supports. Some youth need more than outpatient care. Um, and those options are still limited, especially in our area. The third area is supporting

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the services that are already helping. That includes respit care, sibs, mental health case management, and school-based mental health services. These services matter because they help stabilize families and often prevent needs from getting worse. The fourth area is access and

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navigation. Families still need clearer entry points into the system. um and even better support in understanding what is available and how to get connected. Even when services exist, they're not always easy to find or easy to access quickly. Helping families

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navigate the system continues to be an important need. In closing, the LAC's message is that Klay County has a committed and collaborative children's mental health system with real strengths. At the same time, the same barriers have remained visible across multiple years. Continued

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investment in workforce service capacity and easier access to care will be necessary to improve outcomes for children and families. Thank you very much for your time and for your continued support. >> Thank you both. Questions, Commissioner Campbell. >> I just want to go back to your theme one

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here page that I'm looking at when we talk about the low reimbursement rates and and you know we're talking about um services for kids, right? with a lot of them might have mental health issues. Um, when we don't provide that, what

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happens? >> Well, we often see them in our child protection system. We see them in our juvenile centers. Um, >> exactly the answer I was expecting. >> Yeah. >> And um that's very expensive. >> It's very expensive.

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>> So, you know, so when you start to look at, you know, where's a better way to invest? Um, Well, I think we better be looking at that when something keeps showing up year after year after year and nothing's done

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on it. Um, I think maybe there's time to start asking those questions like what's the al what happens if we don't >> and I I knew what the answers were going to be when I asked the question and

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those those alternatives are not good for the children and it's also very expensive to to provide those when we might be able to be changing the way we keep or are able to

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uh increase the rates that you know as Michelle talked about maybe these people won't be leaving these entities where we need their assistance. So I I don't know it's something that that needs to be talked about quite a bit more. I do really appreciate that Commissioner

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Campbell brought that point up because that was what we took out of the conversations from uh not only this group but social services is that it was a nonsustainable rate and that was the non-negotiable DHS threw out be in the

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bill that we wrote threw out before it wouldn't even be part of the hearing. It was just a no. And again, to Commissioner Campbell's point, counties are triaging what that cost is, whether they want to address it or not. So that's where I think we need to, you

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know, in the off season. We need to continue to reintroduce bills about that one specific piece because it it's not just a Klay County issue, but it it's not going to go away. We have to fix fix it. >> Commissioner Kavanagh, >> thank you uh uh for all you do. uh just

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to uh share on this. Um uh certainly our whole work and your work is in uh you know toward that preventative care and again just uh catching it early rather than the the later responses that come

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from not helping people along this path. And then it turns into things to the uh community that just become more um well just have a a way of not having a um to

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get them out of the system if I may say and just at a higher cost. Um it's been wonderful being with you all for the last three years. Our monthly meetings are vibrant. Um uh when you when you

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gave us your list of the people that are there and on this list was 19 but um we know that you bring team members in and the discussions um are just always there. Subject matter

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can change but everybody delves in on it and shares their resources, their opportunities and and where the gaps are and you try to fill them together. And I I think the collaboration there is just tremendous um um my monthly meetings.

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It's absolutely one of my favorite. But uh and thank you for stepping up, Michelle, for helping us this year. And Michelle, you're just a a real stable force for the group and you do a wonderful job. Uh I I just want to last

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end on um bringing in the schools. I just want to bring that matter in and how we have Holly, Barnesville, uh, DFD and Morehead, you know, participating every month and talking about the

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challenges that of helping those kids so we don't create truency which then creates other problems down the line and and that's a conversation we have almost monthly. So that engagement is um very very important. So thanks for all you

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do. >> Thank you. >> Additional questions or comments? >> One question. Madam >> Commissioner Bear, >> how do how do we compare to the rest of the counties in the state? Everybody having the same do we do we compare to other counties or >> the needs or >> the needs the needs? And

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>> I mean I I attend a regional supervisors meeting every month. Um I think there's like eight counties that are represented and everybody reports having the same issues, you know, uh long wait times, service capacity. So I don't think we're unique. I think some counties do things, you know, have

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access to different things, but um that we maybe don't, but overall I would say I mean that's kind of a hard question to answer, but I would say the general theme is that they deal with the same >> same problem. >> Yeah. Is that a um a consistent trend having

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mental health supports in every school of a county? Is that what other counties? >> Yeah, >> that's a great >> Yeah, >> I have one last thing. Um it goes to the one of the areas um transportation. Mhm.

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>> Michelle, I know you sat at the same table with me when we had our last uh retreat and one of the things we talked about was transportation and in some areas where we've and you even oversee the volunteer driver program

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and that that again is another area where it's a big savings when we can have those volunteers that can help us. And when we when I heard our numbers are down to two >> Yeah. I remember when that that number

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was way higher than that. So all of those transportation volunteers that we had have gone away and somewhere along the line those expenses had to be picked up by somebody else because those people still needed

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to go somewhere. So, another area that I think this board can do for Klay County is to look at revitalizing that volunteer program by changing the stipend, >> right? Because >> I think just that alone could probably

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do a lot to bring more people to help with the transportation issues that we have. And now we try some other things with um you know, the bus thing and stuff that we do, but but that doesn't solve individual needs where volunteers in the past I know have done a good job.

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So, I I would like to see something um move forward on that. That's just a comment. >> Okay. Mr. Abinger. >> Yes. Just a point of reference. Uh the chief deputy from sheriff's office just sent me an email and Morehead PD is no

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longer hosting the summer youth program. Uh they didn't get their YIPA grant, which was what we operated on the whole time I was there. So, they're trying to retool it to something smaller, more focused, uh, that they'll be a able to

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do, but that's not been devised yet. That's unfortunate. >> Thank you for getting that information. Commissioner Kavanagh, >> just to add to that, if we can go back to our last meeting, those grants, just so you know, we're really uh counting

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money that we had accumulated over a number of years, hadn't spent in some areas, and we just saw that need and picked up uh those two small grants, and we'll continue doing that. That'll be

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But it's smaller amounts. >> Anything else? Yeah, we'll do the proclamation. >> All right. Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being. And whereas all Americans experience times of difficulty

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and stress in their lives, and >> whereas identifying and addressing mental health concerns earlier improves the quality of life for adults and children and their chance to succeed. And whereas Klay County has made a commitment to community-based systems of

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mental health, care for all residents, and has appointed local mental health advisory councils for adults and children. And >> whereas each business, school, government, agency, health care provider, organization, and citizen share the responsibility to address

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mental health concerns and promote mental wellness and prevention efforts. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Klay County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim May 2026 as mental health month and specifically May 5th as

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Children's Mental Health Day in Klay County. As commissioners of Klay County, we call upon our citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses, and schools in Klay County to recommmit our community to increase awareness and understanding

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of mental health. the steps our citizens can take to protect their mental health and the need for appropriate and accessible services for all people with mental health conditions. Adopted this the fifth day of May, 2026. >> Madam Chair, I move the proclamation.

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>> Motion offered from Commissioner Campbell. Second >> and a second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I

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>> I oppose. Same sign. Carried. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Excuse me, >> Commissioner Abinger. >> Are we needing a >> motion? >> A motion for >> Yeah, I was going to say I need to make a motion for us to approve the Children's Mental Health LAC membership.

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>> Oh, >> okay. Um I wasn't I didn't see the membership list in there. Just it's >> attached. Okay. All right. So, you did offer a motion to approve. Commissioner Ebinger offered a motion to approve. Commissioner Kraov a

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second. >> Any further discussion? I got it now. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. >> Thank you. >> Got a minute before Can we close it a

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minute early? No. >> Yes. Okay. Uh we will uh item four on our agenda is a closed session permitted by section 13D.05 subdivision 3D to discuss issues related to security systems and receive security

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briefings. >> Move to close. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Campbell to close. >> Second. and a second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? Discussion. Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I.

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>> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. We're closed. Right. >> Okay. We are back in session. Our next item on the agenda is item five. to request approval to purchase replacement firewalls. Rory, >> thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you,

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commissioners. Uh the request today is to purchase a uh replacement firewall, a pair of firewalls here for the county. Um this due to increased network traffic. Um state of Minnesota IT department is our internet primary

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internet provider. They've expanded our bandwidth now to accommodate for all of us agencies that fall underneath which is Morehead Public Service, City of Morehead, Klay County, and a handful of state agencies as well. So, combined, I

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mean, we're we're talking 3,000 3,000 plus staff computers that use this internet connection. So, they they've doubled our speed. And one of the reasons to take advantage of that would be uh the set of new firewalls is capable of handling that. Um, another

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another portion of that or another reasoning that we're looking for is we'll be able to better separate our interdep departmental traffic between you know say example my machine maybe shouldn't get to like an HR server vice

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versa things like that. So this is going to improve that process that we can do to separate some of that traffic and inspect it a little bit more and protect protects ourselves a little bit better. We don't want anybody seeing our current administrator screen. >> That's right. That's right.

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>> Unless they like Kroi. >> So the uh so then what we would do with uh the existing firewalls um the overall goal would be to move those over to the criminal justice network to pro to protect them separately than we do the rest of the play county network.

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Currently it's all combined on the same firewall and to help with uh sis compliance. That's one other reason we'd like to separate it off and just move them over to their own separate connection through the state. Uh so we did receive >> Say that again. Who who was that we're

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separating from? >> Oh, uh criminal justice network. So it be sheriff's office, jail, attorneys, um juvenile detention in some aspects. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> So uh we did receive uh three quotes for for new firewalls. Uh first one uh

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coming in from High Point Networks for $93,37. Uh the other two, one from CDW uh CDWG $119,848.36 and last one from SHI for $165,313. So the the request today would be uh to

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go with the lowest uh quote through High Point Networks for $93,37. All right, questions. Oh, >> I I should mention too the so the costing or the funding source uh we'd like to use uh $83,37

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from our 2026 technology services fund and then another 10,000 through internal services fund >> and then you'll add those to the >> correct >> replacement. Yep. >> Commissioner Campbell and then Commissioner Kavanagh. >> All right. So the what's the lifespan of

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a firewall like >> typically five years. So we're in about I believe our third year of our current firewalls. So that's why we would take those and move those over to uh criminal justice side. And then when those are due for replacement, we've already have those on internal services. So that's

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building up funds to pay for part of this, you know, 10,000 we're requesting. So as we separate that off, the next time we replace those firewalls, they won't need such big hardware. They'll be a little bit less. So, the cost overall should be cheaper for that side of it at least.

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>> I'm just kind of curious what what we might be looking at um in terms of having to add to the as we start talking about budgets, >> what we're going to have to add to that internal service fund for this.

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Typically, you would you take divide it out by its life expectancy and then you would add 3%. And I think that's how Lori does it. But you're saying next time around the cost might not be this much >> or the Yeah. for the current firewalls

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that were that are in place now. Yeah. They would they would go to a lower model in in a couple years when we need to replace those. So at that time there would would be a little bit of leftover money in that internal services fund to you know help with replacement of the the bigger ones that we're asking for

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today. >> Thank you. >> Commissioner Kavanagh. >> Yeah. um along the same line. So if well number one this idea of a new firewall was uh in in your your plan

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already or it's something new that's been brought because of your conversations of so >> not not necessarily because of the the close session we just had but more so we've been having a lot of speed issues across the county. I don't know if everybody's been hearing about we we've

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been hearing about it from a lot of departments. Um so this is to also help uh address that too. I know we have some vendors that are working even Wednesday afternoon and then again Monday to help us do some more troubleshooting and prepare for you know just some

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configuration changes. >> And I'm not saying I'm against doing this. I'm just asking a question on your budget though. When you take this uh 93,000, is that going to affect something that you have planned for 26 or

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>> Oh, >> no. We would just we would sacrifice other things the remainder of the year to um for that >> balance out. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, based based on the memo, is the services that we're providing to the

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state components bogging down? Is that is that what I'm hearing? Is >> not necessarily. I know um we've been hearing from judges too. So just slow connections in the courtrooms, >> but is that because we've added more users

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that are using a higher >> It's hard to Okay. say, but um yeah, each each year there's more cloud-based systems. You know, as the court moves things from local servers to the cloud, I mean, that's all internet traffic. >> So maybe I'm not asking correctly and I

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apologize. Is it, you know, because we're hosting different entities, is it Klay County users? Is it state users? Is it just the combination of >> combination? Okay. >> Yep. >> But we'll pay for it. >> Yeah.

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>> Hopefully not for longer. Yeah. >> Yes. Commissioner Bear. >> So, so going forward, your budget for next year will have this included >> for a portion of portion. A portion of it. Yeah. >> You could probably maybe be thinking 15 to 20. Yeah. Yeah.

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>> Yeah. And actually this this would be for 5 years. So it'd be >> Yeah. But break it to divide by five and it'd be about 15 to 20 grand to replace it. >> Yeah. >> That'll be added to his internal budget. >> Yeah.

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>> Additional questions, >> requests, wishes. >> Move to approve. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Campbell to approve as presented. >> Yes. $93,37. >> Okay. A second from Commissioner Kraban.

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Further discussion. Discussion. Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I make one more. >> Commissioner Kavanaghoft. >> So I again um high praise for you know

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his report on that audit. I mean to hear how low you are compared. Oh, >> close. >> That's close session. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> I appreciate it. Thank you. We are scheduled for a break. Item six. We'll

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be back in five minutes. >> Schedule. Item seven is a request approval of final contract voucher for SAP 014-634-32. Justin, good morning. >> Good morning. And so yes, this is the final contract voucher for the Milan overlay and CASAW 34. This was from

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trunk highway 9 to Casaw 11. Central Specialties was a contractor and I thought it turned out really well. Um the initial bid was 1,846,16010 and the final amount to be approved today is1,846,67144. Okay.

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>> About as close as possible as he could come to the initial bid. >> No kidding. >> Any questions for Justin wishes of the board? >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the final contract vulture. >> Second.

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>> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Bear, second from Commissioner Ebinger in the amount as presented. Any further discussion? >> Discussion discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. All right. Same sign carried. Just

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can you really briefly talk about because I think it came uh Commissioner Ebinger and Commissioner Campbell were at the diversion authority and had questions about coordinating projects. Can you talk briefly about the Friday meeting? >> Yes. So on Friday at uh CW Valley, the

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um diversion authority as well as the core of engineers had a meeting just discussing what closures were going to be happening and when. They did reach out to me and I suggested that it at least be a bi-weekly meeting, if not a weekly meeting, and they seemed really supportive of that.

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>> Good. >> Very good. >> Well, thank you for always showing up. I mean, you have been very available to folks down there between the township and other residents and the business. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Justin. Item eight today is a

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request approval of the Klay County Law Enforcement Center feasibility study professional services proposal. We have County Administrator Steve Larson's here. The sheriff's also in attendance. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, as you are

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certainly aware, the Klay County Sheriff's Department and Morehead Police Department have shared the law enforcement center since its construction uh in 2018. Uh, the building is separated uh into different areas of utilization and also shared area uh by the police department and the

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sheriff's department. Recently, we were notified uh from from the Morhead Police Department that their space uh that they had for expansion has now been expanded. Uh and it's part of their strategic plan into the future. They're going to need some additional spaces.

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Uh and so u that is something that triggered this conversation. uh the the um study in front of you uh would take a look at the feasibility. If you recall, uh for those that have were part of the process, uh this building was originally

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constructed with the ability to expand to the north of I believe roughly 15,000 square feet. Um and that's a that would be a possibility. Um unsure and unclear of what necessarily the specific needs of of more the police department would

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be. uh we would be requesting a study to uh to look at that ability to to find their hear from them and find what their needs are. Uh in the event that that would not would not work for Morhead Police Department, part of the study would also look at the feasibility of

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potentially adjusting and moving uh county uh county departments into that facility. Um and uh that that concludes my report or excuse me computes. Uh, any questions the board may have? >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Just for

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memory's sake and looking at um just refresh my memory, when we built the law enforcement center, specifically with the garage space, there was um thought that went into how we built the garage so that there could

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be an expansion on the second level above. Correct. The footings reported to that. >> That that is correct. There's uh there's a little bit of an elevation change, but it was set up to be able to uh to build out I believe roughly 15,000 square feet.

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>> And with that, the focus of their growth would exceed what could be developed with that scope in mind. >> That is I think with the combination of the future needs of the sheriff's department and the mor police department's future needs. I think that

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would be what this feasibility study uh would would look at uh whether or not that both the needs of the sheriff's department and and Morhead PD's uh future needs uh would be addressed. Okay. >> And so that just for clarification, it is a feasibility study. We're not

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looking at uh at this stage of of of costing it out per se. We're just looking to see if if from uh from a planning perspective that that would work. And that was basically done in a in a reason that to save save funds in the

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event that it does not work, we wouldn't go into a full study. >> Yeah, Madam Chair, I I you know, I think it's, you know, we've talked about this in our building committee and I think it's worthwhile for us to go through

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this phase. I I think there's an awful lot of additional um questions and logistics that I think we're going to need to have law enforcement involved with if something were ever to be done and how that would change. And also, um,

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we're going to have to review, uh, and again, I'm going I'm going out ahead a little bit here in terms of, um, future considerations, and that is, um, the current bond that we had on that

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facility and how how we u managed the financing of that to cover the bond. And part of that included the contract with the city of Morehead. And so I think it's going to be really important for us to understand uh if if

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Morehead, you know, I mean, if they're if they think they've outgrown and they want to maybe look somewhere else, what that does to that contract and how that could potentially impact um our financial plan on the bond. And I've got some numbers down. I'm not don't need to

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share them today because like I said this is just a feasibility thing but I think it's it's going to be a critical component in terms of of what decisions we make and I did a little bit I'll share it with

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everybody later but it's it's there's there's some con there's some concern that I have in terms of of um where some of these extra monies would come from but that's for a later date. >> Thank you Commissioner Campbell. Commissioner Ebinger.

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>> Yeah. Just um my perspective on this is this is a disappointment for me. Uh and I think for a lot of us who worked on making this project happen a number of years ago. Uh there were efforts made

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and at that time I was working for the city but this c the county uh extended a real opportunity for us to get into it at an extremely low cost. When I say us, I mean the city and Morehead PD because we did not have the

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funding to come in and take a share of it at that time. So, a lot of the debt that's that that we're responsible for that the county is responsible for uh meeting now has been loaded to the years

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to come. And if this if we are going to sever the partnership before the termination of this current agreement, I want to make sure that we're made whole. And you know, that's something I think we need to be aware of and scrutinize

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any future agreements should the one we have now change is that we did not address a lot of this debt on the front end because city of Morehead needed time and we gave it to them. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger.

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Commissioner Campbell. >> Yeah, Madam Chair and thank you and Commissioner Ebinger. you know those are valid points and I you know I I think um you know this this can become a also I'm also disappointed uh I'm disappointed in

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in well I mean any entity needs to do what they need to do if they need room or what have you. Uh but when when we went through this, just like Commissioner Erbinger said, um the

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city of Morehead had had been a uh partners with Klay County, even in the previous law enforcement center going back to the 1960s. And when we planned this, never in my wildest dreams would I even have thought

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that, you know, they were would be looking at pulling out. Um but again I I they they got to make their decisions based on you know what they have to do and but I but I do think that

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um you know and let's get by let's get by this feasibility thing first but if it if it gets beyond that um I I do think we may have to have a close session discussion about contractual uh

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issues that could be of concern to us and you know but that that can be for another day. I think I don't want to get the cart before the horse here but uh still it still is a potential um concern that that we need to be

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looking at up front. Maybe there's some good ideas there that I'm not aware of yet, but we'll see. >> Discussion. I agree. I uh you know we're in times when we're trying to figure out how we can collaborate with entities to save

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money and and not overduplicate services throughout the entire county. And it is disappointing that 10 years after this great plan that we had, we're at this point. I think that it's a a minimal cost impact to address the future needs

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of what the building could be. And that's part of what my my question was in regards to what we did on the front side to address future growth areas. Um, you know, hopeful that we can continue to be good partners in in pieces, but uh

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it's it is disappointing uh given how much teamwork we had with it. But um anyway, >> further wishes of the board. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the Klay County Law Enforcement Center feasibility study. >> Second.

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>> Motion offered from Commissioner Bear, second from Commissioner Ebinger. Where is the $10,000 coming from? >> That was my question. Um, Madam Chair, Commissioners, that would uh would need to come from the reserves. County reserves. >> Okay.

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Any other questions? I've served with you long enough. If I knew that was voter. Any other questions? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Car. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Sheriff, did you have anything?

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>> Okay. Move into committee reports. Commissioner. >> Okay. Commissioner Krabanov. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um going back to last Wednesday the 29th.

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Um last week had a lot of involvement with our continuation of uh moving forward with our bonding request regarding the nonsecure facility. Uh that day we met with our lo lobbyists

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uh online set up our strategies as both uh Misha Mojo and I were in St. Paul the following day and uh she was part on Wednesday. So um

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that led to uh what our main intent was for Thursday and then on Thursday we were in St. Paul uh beginning that morning we went met with the National Alliance on Mental

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Illness in Minnesota. Uh that's called NAMI. And this is a group that gives guidance uh also um education, advice, funding sources, uh working on a

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national level toward the state of Minnesota and DHS. Uh, our purpose of the visit was to make sure they knew what our request was regarding the nonsecure or bonding as for the non-secure facility and then how

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that would impact um our ability to um have the PRTF. Um uh we met with the executive director Marcus Kit and he he was enthusiastic about what we were talking about, wanted to jump on support immediately. And and

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last night we did receive the letter uh from NAMI that uh and in the support that we will use and pass on to our legislators knowing that we have um uh momentum uh on a larger level behind us.

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Uh that afternoon um we were in the cap and uh on my part um Commissioner Mo can speak to hers um in the afternoon we were able to uh reach one of the high uh

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senators in the uh investment committee. Uh we met Senator Hley. We talked to you of Senator Edki, Senator Rasmmanson who's also on capital investments and then Senator Coopek and then a little bit la later after that we met up with

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Representative Joy in the House all working uh forward on a bonding bill and uh we'll get more to come this week. So that's what our activity was legislatively last week uh for me anyway. Uh yesterday

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I had morning mo planning commission. Um three things were online. One may have be of interest. Um they uh there was a request for a conditional use permit for excavation fill and construction of a flood wall and that um

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that flood wall is going to be going on first avenue north is where you go under the underpass if it floods and the flood wall will then give a protective height to that uh underpass up to a 100redyear

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flood protection. So that'll be good. it was part of their mitigation uh project plan that they they had had and that was passed. Other two parts were um simply flood um excuse me uh text amendments.

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One on mapping for um uh light light industrial head um industrial I'm industrial text map amendments I'm sorry uh in the comprehensive plan. those were passed and then also text amendments

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regarding mixed neighborhood uses uh mainly dealing with infield just uh working on setbacks to make it more amenable to fill those places uh that aren't filled. Uh that's my report. >> Thank you, Commissioner Kraov. Commissioner Campbell,

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>> I have nothing to report. >> Commissioner Bear, >> last Wednesday I went down to St. Paul for the nuts and bolts boardrooms commissioner technical days with the the AMC put on. It was a great uh networking

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experience and learning experience. And then that was from Wednesday through Friday. On Thursday, I snuck out of there in the morning so I could go to the capital and talk with representatives Joy Gander, Scabra, and Baker Backer about the rural water

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district that is formed and another grant bill that will help the world water district. And then yesterday I attended MRC online as a Zoom meeting where we had a session update and an

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update on the census tracker and who was eligible for that in the state of Minnesota and I believe we forwarded that information on to Steve Larson and Commissioner Mojo was also in on that meeting. That is all my committee

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reports. Madam Chair, >> thank you, Commissioner Mayor. Last week, I also attended the Nuts, Bolts, and Boardrooms uh conference. Really great opportunity um for shared education and issues uh facing all counties. It was really great to triage

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some of the issues that we're all facing together. It was a good update. We had some um great discussion around DHS, the federal and state implications. Uh we talked about uh bonding, the process for state bonding requests. We talked about

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the the congressional designated uh funding component. So that was um really helpful. I attended two days of meetings at the capital. Uh some committee hearings on Wednesday. Had great opportunity to chat with Representative

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Joy on pushing issues forward. On Thursday, I had a meeting with uh Senate Majority Leader, Senator Murphy, Senator Coopek, and our legislative team on um the final two weeks of session and how

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we strategize uh that so many moving parts. Really great. Um they're signaling that the all leaders of the caucuses are talking now, which is a great signal for all of us as we continue to move things forward. I also attended the NAMI uh presentation.

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Really, this has been a two and a half year process to get in front of them and uh when we sat down, they um he basically said, "Why haven't you come to us sooner?" Uh and wholeheartedly uh agreed with the the work that this county is doing in um addressing mental

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health needs. So, huge congratulations to all of you. That was a huge feat. uh and then had additional Senate uh pulling uh with discussions with additional senators that day as well. I um sorry

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Friday we had a great update with our nonsecure detention uh folks. Solutions was around that table. We had uh Quinn and James and staff on uh triaging the additional information from Wednesday Thursday into our messaging for this

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week. um really great uh momentum moving forward on that. Another meeting yesterday to highlight um what had changed over the weekend since the Friday morning meeting. Uh really I I

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think Steve has reached out to you on some additional correspondence that we've had in regard to congressional designated spending earmarks. Uh meeting yesterday with MRC, great updates from the legislature on everything that's happening fast. Ezra uh reported on

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that. Well, I attended a meeting with the metrog executive committee meeting. Uh we did because of the frequency in federal shutdowns, there has been a slight issue in regards to um billing.

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So, the entities will be slowly um building up a a small reserve account just for payroll pieces. Um, it's going to be $2 to $3,000 additionally for Klay County, I believe, that will be requested so that they can make payroll.

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Last year with the shutdown in November and December, it got really tight. Obviously, the big uh the big reimbursements for projects will will be held during that time. But, um, that's how the executive board is is going to be dealing with those those disruptions

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if if it's it will be in a separate reserve account. And then if they never use it, they never use it, but they'll have it. And um then we also talked about the Casclay Food Commission that has been something

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for 11 years that we've been part of uh early on did really great work. It was spearheaded through some pretty big grants through the state of North Dakota and Megan Murdall was really the champion on that that front. We addressed the planning commissions and

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zoning concerns that uh different entities had and created some pretty amazing blueprints. But now um there's been some disruption to funding and grant availability and it was requested by the chair Heather Nissyer that Metrocog

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absorb that um $6,000 funding to keep it going. I do know that the local entities are are paying for like the materials and the time to get agendas together, but uh it did come before the executive committee and I did talk with

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Commissioner Kavanagh. Uh it was not recommended that uh we approve that expenditure for a couple reasons. one, we are under pretty um stiff requirements from Federal Highway on what's appropriate funding for the

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agency and and the work before because it was planning really sort sort of met what that need was and federal highway has issued opinions that it's outside of the scope of what the transportation planning organization should do and so we did recommend not paying that. Um

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certainly, you know, I know that's challenging and I know the committee is in kind of a soularching time, uh too. Um so more to come on that I guess uh maybe on your side than Metro, but just wanted to update you on that. Uh but

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that concludes Oh, then um Kevin had an announcement last week and I just want to say that in my time on this board, um it has been a really a privilege to work with you. Um, and I know that we all have different seasons of life and go on to provide our skills

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and talents in different ways, but um, you've really uh, given a lifetime of service to Klay County in a number of different ways. And it and I do mean this truly. It uh, Kevin and I have had fierce arguments and fierce agreements. And in all that time, I've really grown

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to respect your position and your approach and your advocacy. Uh, so thank you. >> Thank you, Steve. Uh thank you madam chair. Last Tuesday I participated uh in MACA leadership committee. We're looking at us setting

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up the MACA and Macra fall annual conference. uh on the 29th participate in the legislative uh planning meeting with our staff and lobbyists. Uh again, it just can't be more happy with the the doors that the lobbyists are are opening

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uh as we plan for hopefully what will be funding of our non-secured detention. Uh on the 30th uh uh we had a meeting on the MPCA Budweiser settlement and heard project updates. Again, if you recall, uh we have to have that done uh here by

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early June. Uh and so we're making sure that we're meeting the legislative requirements. It looks like we are on track at this point. So that's great news. Uh on Friday, participated in the nonsecured legislative meeting which has been uh been covered. Uh and that afternoon worked on a department head

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evaluation. uh on Monday uh worked uh part of our our plan moving forward is to to reach out to our legislators uh both locally by Capital Investments uh co-authors authors of our of our non-dis nonsecured detention legislation uh and

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uh and so each of us are taking a day this week to make sure that we get keep that on top of their mind as we move through the last few weeks. Um, let's see. Met with Sheriff Empty on a series of different issues on Friday or excuse me, yesterday. Uh, also met with Derek

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Leo and Lori Johnson uh, about different services that Bell Bank could offer the county. Uh, and then lastly met with Mr. Melton and Troy Amenson. Uh, Friday, I think we've talked about it. We have a hearing with MCIT uh about a coverage

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possible a coverage denial and we have a we are appealing that that request and so we have a hearing uh on Friday Friday Friday morning. Uh and again just a reminder next week uh after board we do have our ED quarterly EDA EDC meeting

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and that concludes my report. >> Thank you. Another item that I did have is you all received several emails, one from Niko, but one for AMC that talked about the Niko application for the 2026 2027 uh committee appointments. And so

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whether or not you attend national conferences, there still are lots of great opportunities to be on a committee. And even if you don't attend the committee, you get the materials. Last year I was put on the uh public lands P uh committee and so had the

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opportunity to sit through those and to be able to have that extra layer of information is uh proved to be really really helpful. Um basically what you do is you go in click what you're interested in and then Julie Ring will assign and then you'll be appointed to it and then added into the fold. There

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is a a deadline of the ETH. So, I would encourage all of you to uh find something two or three uh committees that are of interest to you. Uh I do think it would be really in our best interest since Klay County is paying to be part of Nico through uh AMC as well.

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So, I think it's helpful. Uh Brian, did you have any? >> Okay. Darren, >> thank you, Madam Chair. Most of my stuff has already been covered. A couple outstanding things was on Tuesday I met with the sheriff on his cadet program.

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Uh trying to get that underway. Uh Wednesday I met with an employee about an employee issue. Thursday I worked on a payroll estimate for MCIT which I submitted on Friday. And then yesterday um had I sat in on the non-secure

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detention check uh meeting and also had a data request or data subject uh requests that I sat down with social services and the supervisors on that process of data practices responses. >> Okay

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Sarah, anything anything else? If not, we have addressed all the issues on the agenda and we will meet here next Tuesday. We are adjourned.

Part: 2

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Good morning. It's 8:30. I'll call today's meeting of the Klay County Board of Commissioners to order. Our first item on the agenda is an approval of the agenda. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion offered from Bearer to approve the agenda. Second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion?

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Discussion discussion all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> I post same sign carries employee recognitions. Our first individual today that we'd like to recognize is Brenda Paper. Uh,

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Brenda has 15 years of service to Klay County. >> She's got more than that. >> I know. And I know you'll tell us. >> Brenda, this plaque is given to you today in grateful recognition for the service that you've given to Klay County over the 15 years or more.

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Congratulations. So, I didn't I wasn't sure Brenda was going to be here today, so I was going to print out a picture of her head and have a little poster for you, but she drove in. So, yay. Never come again. >> Yeah, >> I didn't know that was

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>> Yeah. So, I want to introduce Brenda Paper. She quietly handles some of the toughest work in child support. Her story with Klay County actually comes in two chapters, kind of like last month when I was talking to you about Sherry. Uh she first started with child support

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back in 1995. Worked here for three years and then she left to raise her family and came back in 2011. Yay. Um, worked way back into a child support officer position in 2017 and is doing a great job ever since. So,

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not all case loads are created equal in the child support world. Brenda handles what we'd like to call the no easy answer qu cases. Depending on the day, they could also be the OFA cases. Um there are cases where in her case load

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where child support comes in like clockwork, but many of those cases are a lot more challenging. There's situations where there's no employer for income withholding. Individuals might be self-employed or working in the gig economy and there's just no real easy

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answer to get them to pay child support. None of our usual tools work. She also handles incoming interstate cases, which we have no control over. Another state sets the order, the person can't afford to pay it, and we're stuck

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with it, and she's stuck with it in her case load with nothing she can do. Um, but what really stands out about Brenda's work is that it's not just about enforcement. It's about building trust with the people that she's trying to work with. She's very, very good at

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that. Um, she works with people that might already be overwhelmed or they're very hesitant to talk to child support. And she finds a way to gain their cooperation when there really isn't a clear pa path forward. She's also a breakdown guru. She gets

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mad at me when I try and do one. I've spent two days trying to do it and I get stuck and she'll be like, "Why are you doing these, Sandy? I'll do them for you." It's awesome. But if you've ever looked at what you think is a complicated

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accounting system in a computer, yeah, come and see Prism someday because it's crazy. Um, all through this she stays incredibly calm. Nothing really rattles her. It's very impressive because for a lot of people, we'd be beating our head

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against the wall before we hit our first cup of coffee. We're really fortunate that she chose to return to Klay County. uh her experience, her skill, and her ability to handle the toughest cases makes a real difference for our team and for the families we serve. So, congrats

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to Brenda for 15 plus years. Thank you for coming back to Klay County. >> The next individual is Corey Runner. Morning, Corey. Corey, this plaque is given to you day today in grateful recognition for 15 years of service to Klay County and our citizens.

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>> Thank you so much for all that you do. >> Thank you. >> Good morning everyone. Um today we we are proud to recognize and celebrate 15 years of dedicated service by Corey Runger. Over the past decade and a half, she's consistently demonstrated what it means to be a committed public servant.

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Corey's known for her strong work ethic and her willingness to go above and beyond for the individuals and families she serves. She approaches her work with compassion, professionalism, and a clear focus on achieving best the best possible outcomes for her clients. Her commitment is not just to the job, but

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to the people behind the work. She ensuring that they're heard, supported, and treated with dignity. Her impact over these 15 years has made a meaningful difference in our community, and we are grateful for her continued dedication to support this work. Please join me in congratulating Corey on this

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milestone and thanking her for this service. And Elizabeth Beer, it beer. Okay. Elizabeth, we are excited to recognize you today for 20 years of outstanding service to Klay County and

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our citizens. Thank you for all that you do. We really appreciate it. Yes. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Today we recognize Liz for 20 years of dedicated services service to Klay County Public Health and the meaningful impact she's had on the community and

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the families we serve. It's especially fitting today of all days to recognize this as we kick off National Nurses Week. For the past or for the first part of Liz's career, she worked in family home visiting where she made a lasting impact on countless families. Her

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passion for that work is clear. She's helped parents build confidence, strengthened family relationships, and set children on a path towards healthier, safer, and more successful futures. That kind of work changes lives, and Liz has been at the center of

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it. Since stepping into her supervisor role, Liz has taken on many responsibilities, including overseeing school nursing, disease prevention and control, family home visiting, and the public health clinic. just a few things.

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Through all of that, she's brought not only strong leadership but exceptional clinical oversight. She also played a pivotal role in keeping our community safe dur during the CO 19 pandemic. She's become a trusted mentor and role model to staff and someone people can

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turn to for guidance, support, and leadership. I've only had the opportunity to work with Liz for a short while, but it's clear to me that she truly loves what she does and her passion shines through every day. Liz, thank you for your dedicated years to

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Klay County Public Health. We're very fortunate to have you. Thank you everyone. I think Commissioner Gross would talk often about how this was one of his favorite parts of being a commissioner, having uh supervisors come in to talk about the great work that all

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of our uh employees do. Uh it really helps us to understand better all of the work. So, thank you. >> Next item on the agenda today, looking for an approval of the payment of bills and vouchers. Madam Chair, I move for approval of

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payment of bills and vouchers. >> Second. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Evinger uh to pay the bills and bills and vouchers. Second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? Any further discussion?

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Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Carried. Citizens to be heard. Are there any citizens in the audience wishing to address the county board? You're all on the agenda.

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Any citizens have you heard? Steve, have we had any requests to speak online? >> We have not, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. Moving into the minutes from April 21st, 2026 that were in the packet. >> I'll move to approve the minutes from April 2126.

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>> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Krabangh >> to approve the minutes. A second from Commissioner Bayer. Further discussion. Discussion. Discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I.

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>> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. The item carries. Item two today is a wildlife wildlife habitat protection presentation from the Nature Conservancy. Uh we have quite a gaggle of folks here. So feel free to

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come up if you need to scoot chairs up. Not sure who's taking the lead. Good morning. Just green. As long as they're green, you're good. All right. Well, good morning, Madam

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Chair and commissioners. Thank you for allowing us to come present to you today. Uh my name is Liz Berry and I'm the associate director of grasslands in Minnesota for the Nature Conservancy. Um and I'm based in Fergus Falls and I'm really excited to join you today.

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Good morning all. My name is Jane Cowen with the Nature Conservancy. I'm the habitat protection program manager based out of Minneapolis. So happy to be out from my computer and with you today. >> Welcome. Uh so we're excited to share some information about a wildlife habitat protection project in Keen and

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Hagen Townships that the Nature Conservancy has been working on with feeasants forever. A landowner approached the Nature Conservancy last year wishing to sell wet meadow prairie and marginal cropland that can be protected and restored for wildlife habitat. The landowner is keeping the

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most profitable cropland for continued agricultural use and uh feels that the marginal cropland acres are not profitable uh and not highly productive. So they don't see the value in continuing to farm those acres long term. Uh through this land protection

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project, uh we're very pleased to protect more land for wildlife habitat and for controlled uh public recreational access. Hunting will be allowed on all 1,900 acres and long-term ownership of this land will be split

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between the Nature Conservancy uh will own 480 acres. Uh the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will own 320 acres as a WMA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service will own 1,100 acres. A good portion of this land has

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historically been used as hay fields because it contains wet soils that are not productive for crops. Uh current land use on nearby conservation lands owned by the Nature Conservancy, the DNR, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service include rotational haying. So that fits right in. Uh as well as

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conservation grazing, uh controlled burning and weed control. Uh we also plan to farm a portion of this land um within the next two years to prepare for prairie restoration seating. and future hanging and grazing efforts will be completed in

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collaboration with local land owners um because many of them are producers and they have the equipment and the the cattle to help us with those uh land management efforts. Um I'm just going to pull up a couple of photos quickly. Um I don't have a big presentation prepared, but I figured it'd be fun for everyone

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to just see uh what we're looking at when we talk about this project. So, um this is just one snapshot of of this beautiful um native wet meadow. Um lots of wild flowers, um lots of native grass, lots of open habitat, great

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recreational um land that many many people will be able to enjoy in the future. Uh this wildlife habitat complex will be critically important in connecting uh rare native prairie ecosystems in this area and they help sustain pollinators,

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grassland birds, mammals, and other animals. These grassland wetland complexes are declining on the landscape across uh western Minnesota, so it's important to protect and reconnect them when possible. Large grassland complexes provide

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abundant breeding and nesting grounds for many game species, which means these areas will also be favored by hunters and birders and uh general people interested in recreation um which would bring additional income to surrounding

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areas uh especially in summer and fall uh when recreational use will be the highest. Uh, additionally, the benefits of perennial cover include improved water quality, elimination of soil erosion on these acres and improved aquafer recharging after heavy rainfall.

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Um, I just have one other photo to show you, just a a cool photo of a bottle genten, which is a beautiful wildflower on the left, and then some blazing star with a monarch butterfly on the right there. Um when uh when we were out here last summer, it was just teeming with

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butterflies and bees and just, you know, beautiful array of pollinators and birds and many other critters that were not really jumping up around us, but they uh they're used to having their peace and quiet, but it's it's a beautiful open landscape and we're we're really excited

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to protect this. Um so the the source of funding for this land protection project comes from the outdoor heritage fund portion of the clean water land and legacy amendment. Um, and thank you for for your time today and Jane and I are happy to answer any questions that you might have related to this project.

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>> Thank you for the presentation. Any questions? >> Just one question. >> Commissioner Bear, >> when do you plan on switching that land over to the federal feds in Minnesota? >> Uh, we'll be uh transitioning those acres to uh the US Fish and Wildlife

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Service and the Minnesota DNR within the next one to two years. Uh generally we prefer to do some restoration on those acres before we transfer them over. >> You haven't transferred anything over yet? >> No. >> Yeah. All right. >> You have a bunch of folks here. Did

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anyone else want to speak? Just in vibrant support. >> Everyone's here in support and we figured if you had any more complicated questions, we have lots of people to help answer them. So >> questions. Well, I appreciate uh one all of you

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being here. It's great to put faces to names. Uh certainly uh there's some unique landscapes up there and um hearing that it was the land owners approaching you is always, you know, important for us and as that work goes forward. Um it is certainly beautiful to

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see that uh prairie being restored and protected as well. Any other questions from the board? Thank you for coming in. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Commissioner Kraov. >> Yeah. I appreciate so much the work you

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do and again um just that opportunity u when you see it out there uh just for a private land owner to have that I'll say it uh in their heart uh for these things to uh take place. I just um it's uh good

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for our landscape not only and for our community. Thank you. >> You have something pretty rare here in Klay County. >> I do have one other question. Over time, uh it's free access. Do um you develop any type of walking paths out there or

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anything? >> Uh well, thank you for that question. We don't tend to establish walking trails or paths. We just keep it wide open for wildlife habitat. Um certainly, you know, sometimes people that might frequent the area might, you know, walk around enough to create some trails and

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paths. Um and also periodically if we're ever planning for controlled burns, we might mow >> um paths that would be good for walking, you know, around and a little easier for walking. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Just I was curious. >> No permanent recreational. >> I tend to walk grass though. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.

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>> All right. Thanks. >> Anything else? >> Thank you for being here and for the presentations. >> Thank you all. Have a great day. >> You too. >> Do we have your contact information? Could you forward that to Steve just to

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have? I think it would be helpful. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Item three today, the Klay County Local Advisory Council for Children's Mental Health Annual Report and Mental Health Proclamation.

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Do you have the whole team here? >> All right. >> Just us. >> All right. >> You important ones, right? >> We'll go with that. >> All right. Michelle, take it away and you can introduce the other Michelle. >> All right. I'm Michelle Thor. I'm a supervisor at social services and I sit

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on the LAC as the new secretary treasurer. >> Good morning. I am Michelle Mulligan. I am >> first time. Um I'm Michelle Mulligan. I am a children's rule 79 case manager at Lakeland and I'm the newly elected

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chairperson for our children's le get started. So, good morning, Madame Chair Mojo, commissioners, and county minister Larson. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. Today's update is intended to do four things. First, we'll provide a snapshot

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of the council's current work and community engagement. We'll also share this year's survey participation and key themes. Then, we wanted to take a step back and look at the larger trend over multiple years. Finally, outline the recommendations that continue emerge from that work. And then this year we

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wanted to go beyond a one-year summary and show the bigger picture. So at its core, the LACE brings together a lot of different voices, providers, school staff, county staff, families, and community partners to talk about children's mental health needs in Klay

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County. Our job is to listen, identify gaps, raise awareness, and make recommendations based on what we're hearing from the community. >> So this year we continue to have a really strong and active group. We have more than 20 members regularly participating. We have continued using surveys and partner feedback to help

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identify where families are still running into barriers. We were also pleased to have both parents and youth participate in meetings this year, which helping bring in perspectives that have sometimes been missing in past years. We also kept focused on visibility and transparency, hosting agenda agendas and

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minutes online, showing up at community events, promoting mental health awareness month, and finding simple ways to connect with families. Uh, one fun example of that was partnering with the Morhead schools robotic team to purchase fidgets um that we can hand out at different events.

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>> It was really kind of a cool thing. One of our members of the LAC had a contact at the Morehead High School robotics team and they did these fidgets and so in talking with them they're like, "We'd like to get our name out. We wanted a partner." And so, I mean, they've just been a hit. So, that we were really

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excited about that. Um, so the council approved a motion last year, I believe it was, to continue to allocate many grants to supplement mental health programming. Um, it's especially important this year since the Morhead Police Program is no longer operating in the same way that it has in

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the past years. So, there were two grants that were requested and and were granted this year. Um, and both were to Lakeland Mental Health Center. $1,500 was granted to their school-based CTSS program, their summer program, and then $750 was allocated to the uh children's

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rule 79 summer program. Both of these grants are going to help improve access for children and families to essential mental health programming that they provide in the summer. Um that really helps get them there, provides for them to be able to do different activities and um things like that. Just to touch

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on that a little bit. Um Lakeland has received grants the last couple years from LAC and the children have really benefit benefited from that funding and they've had a great time. Um I have usually come in at the end of the summer and or in the fall I'll come back with like a little survey just a verbal one

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but this year we're actually going to do a one on paper that we're going to all the kids um at the end of the summer activities just to kind of see what they liked, what they didn't like. Um, but it is it has been very beneficial, not especially with the police program not um being up and running. So, I'm just

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saying thank you in advance for that. Um, this year it says we received 327 total survey submissions, but I think Michelle said we actually had three stragglers at the end, so it was 330 total, which is amazing. Um, it gave us a really strong amount of feedback to

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work from. Again, um, we offered incentives to help encourage participation and we were pleased with the level of response. The surveys continue to be one of the main ways we gather input and make sure our recommendations are grounded and what families and providers are actually experiencing.

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So this year we uh decided to approach our report a little differently. We wanted to add add a multi-year view. Um instead of only focusing on what we're hearing this year. We thought we'd take a step back and ask what keeps showing up year after year. We were seeing patterns. Feels like every time we would

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come here we would report on the same thing. Um but in reviewing the reports from 2019 to 2025, it really allows us to see what issues are temporary and then which ones are recurring. Um it helps us understand the barriers that families describe as whether they're isolated problems or part of a larger

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system issue. So this time really tells the story. So in 2019, we started clearly identifying recoccurring access and service gaps. In 2020, those same barriers showed up again across both family and provider feedback. In 2021, CO increased the

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level of need and put even more main even strain on the system. By 2022, it was very clear that the demand was outpacing the number of available providers and services. In 2023, the same themes continued, which confirmed that these were not temporary disruptions. And by 2025, the

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conversation had shifted more towards root causes like workforce retention, reimbursement, and the need for a stronger continuum of care. The main takeaway is really pretty simple. Um the same core issues have continued to come up over and over

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again. At the same time, we saw that the system has some real strengths. Collaboration is strong. School participate partnerships are strong, awareness work has grown, but the most persistent unresolved issues remain workforce shortages, timely access to care and gaps, and higher level

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treatment options. Um in other words, the issue is no longer whether we can identify the barriers. The issue is that the same barriers continue over time. >> So, do we we do want to be clear that there are a lot of positives here in Klay County. Um, we have a lot of strong

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network partners um who are doing working or working very well together. Mental health supports are available in every school district in the county. Outreach and awareness efforts continue to grow and when families are able to get connected to services, we are often hearing that those reservices are helping. This is not a story of a system

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that isn't trying. It's more of a story. The system that has strong people, strong partnerships, but is still facing capacity challenges. >> The same challenges continue to rise. Oh, Michelle, Commissioner uh Campbell has a question. >> Yeah. When we talk about

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um the workforce shortages being an issue, and it has been, I we have that in multitude of areas. Can you explain to us how work force shortages impact this particular >> So, you know, in regards to like access

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to family therapy or the our community health um uh partnerships with Lakeland Solutions, they have a hard time keeping people in those roles. they see a lot of their therapists going into private practice um because reimbursement rates are low, wages can't compare. And so

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that really adds to, you know, we contract with um social services contracts with the village and um um LSS for inhome services, but it's really hard to keep people in those positions. >> Well, it's those areas that are

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experiencing the shortages in work. >> Yes. And you know, if you have Minnesota MA, there are only certain providers that will take that insurance. And so those are the agencies like Lakeland, like Solutions that are having a hard time keeping therapists in that role. So

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then that's where we see the shortages because they're going to private practice. >> And then any gap in what the staffing pattern is only creates this backlog of long wait times, etc. Commissioner Abinger.

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>> Yes. Uh you you mentioned a couple times the police program. I don't know the specifics on that. Could you tell me what's happened? >> You know, I don't do you know what what I was told is that um they aren't they used to you know it was a huge program

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with lots of kids and now they're pairing it down and going to be more targeted in their approach. So what we were told is that access is going to be less just less kids that are going to be um I I don't know for sure. I wasn't told on the specifics. So, sorry I don't have that.

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>> Send an email to whoever could. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's a a great program and I hope it's not being being pulled back. >> Yeah. Um I I guess I don't know the specifics. Sorry. >> Thank you.

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>> Um okay, so workforce shortages remain a big issue. Service capacity is still limited. Families still talk about difficulty knowing where to start or move through the system. Transportation continues to be a barrier. um and there are still gaps at higher level of care, especially for youth who

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need more intensive services. Those themes have shown up consistently enough over time that we feel confident in saying that they reflect broader system constraints. So, the first recommendation area is workforce and reimbursement. We continue to hear that low reimbursement rates

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make it harder to retain staff, offer competitive wages, and keep services available. When agencies struggle to recruit and keep providers, families feel that directly through longer waits and fewer options. The second area is the continuum of care. Families and providers continue to

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identify gaps in adolescent substance use treatment and in higher level residential options. This includes the continued need for a stronger regional option like a PRTF capacity and other intensive supports. Some youth need more than outpatient care. Um and those

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options are still limited especially in our area. The >> third area is supporting the services that are already helping. That includes respare, sibs, mental health case management, and school-based mental health services. These services matter because they help stabilize families and

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often prevent needs from getting worse. The fourth area is access and navigation. Families still need clearer entry points into the system um and even better support in understanding what is available and how to get connected. Even

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when services exist, they're not always easy to find or easy to access quickly. Helping families navigate the system continues to be an important need. In closing, the LAC's message is that Klay County has a committed and collaborative children's mental health system with real strengths. At the same

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time, the same barriers have remained visible across multiple years. Continued investment in workforce service capacity and easier access to care will be necessary to improve outcomes for children and families. Thank you very much for your time and for your continued support. >> Thank you both questions. Commissioner

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Campbell, >> I just want to go back to your theme one here page that I'm looking at when we talk about the low reimbursement rates and and you know, we're talking about um services for kids, right? With a lot of

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them might have mental health issues. Um when we don't provide that, what happens? >> Well, we often see them in our child protection system. We see them in our juvenile centers. Um >> exactly the answer I was expecting. Yeah.

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>> And um that's very expensive. >> It's very expensive. >> So, you know, so when you start to look at, you know, where's a better way to invest, um you know, I think we better be looking at that.

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when something keeps showing up year after year after year and nothing is done on it. Um, I think maybe there's time to start asking those questions like what's the al what happens if we don't >> and I I knew what the answers were going

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to be when I asked the question and those those alternatives are not good for the children and it's also very expensive to to provide those when we might be able to be changing the way we

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keep or are able to uh increase the rates that you know as Michelle talked about maybe these people won't be leaving these entities where we need their assistance. So I I don't know it's something that that needs to be

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talked about quite a bit more. I do really appreciate that Commissioner Campbell brought that point up because that was what we took out of the conversations from uh not only this group but social services is that it was a nonsustainable rate and that was the

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non-negotiable DHS threw out be in the bill that we wrote threw out before it wouldn't even be part of the hearing. It was just a no. And again, to Commissioner Campbell's point, counties are triaging what that cost is, whether they want to address it or not. So

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that's where I think we need to, you know, in the off season. We need to continue to reintroduce bills about that one specific piece because it it's not just a Klay County issue, but it it's not going to go away. We have to fix it. >> Commissioner Kavanagh,

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>> thank you uh uh for all you do. uh just to uh share on this. Um uh certainly our whole work and your work is in uh you know toward that preventative care and again just uh catching it early rather

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than the later responses that come from not helping people along this path. and then it turns into things to the uh community that just become more um well just have a a way of not having a um to

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get them out of the system if I may say and just at a higher cost. Um it's been wonderful being with you all for the last three years. Our monthly meetings are vibrant. Um uh when you when you

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gave us your list of the people that are there and on this list was 19 but um we know that you bring team members in and the discussions um are just always there. Subject matter can change but

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everybody delves in on it and shares their resources, their opportunities and and where the gaps are and you try to fill them together. And I I think the collaboration there is just tremendous um um my monthly meetings. It's

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absolutely one of my favorite. But uh and thank you for stepping up, Michelle, for helping us this year. And Michelle, you're just a a real stable force for the group and you do a wonderful job. Uh

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I I just want to last end on um bringing in the schools. I just want to bring that matter in and how we have Holly, Barnesville, uh, DFD and Morehead, you know, participating every month and

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talking about the challenges that of helping those kids so we don't create truency which then creates other problems down the line and and that's a conversation we have almost monthly. So that engagement is um very very

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important. So thanks for all you do. >> Thank you. >> Additional questions or comments? >> One question mad. >> Commissioner Bear, >> how do how do we compare to the rest of the counties in the state? Everybody having the same do we do we compare to other counties or >> the needs or

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>> the needs the needs? And >> I mean I I attend a regional supervisors meeting every month. Um, I think there's like eight counties that are represented and everybody reports having the same issues, you know, uh, long wait times, service capacity. So, I

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don't think we're unique. I think some counties do things, you know, have access to different things, but, um, that we maybe don't, but overall, I would say I mean, that's kind of a hard question to answer, but I would say the general theme is that they deal with the same >> same problem.

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>> Yeah. Is that a um a consistent trend having mental health supports in every school of a county? Is that what other counties? >> Yeah, >> that's a great >> Yeah, >> I have one last thing. Um it goes to the

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one of the areas um transportation. Mhm. >> Michelle, I know you sat on at the same table with me when we had our last uh retreat and one of the things we talked about was transportation and in some areas where we've and you even oversee the volunteer driver

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program and that that again is another area where it's a big savings when we can have those volunteers that can help us. And when we when I heard our numbers are down to two

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>> Yeah. I remember when that that number was way higher than that. So all of those transportation volunteers that we had have gone away and somewhere along the line those expenses had to be picked up by somebody

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else because those people still needed to go somewhere. So, another area that I think this board can do for Klay County is to look at revitalizing that volunteer program by changing the stipend, >> right? Because

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>> I think just that alone could probably do a lot to bring more people to help with the transportation issues that we have. And now we try some other things with um you know the bus thing and stuff that we do, but but that doesn't solve individual needs where volunteers in the

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past I know have done a good job. So, I I would like to see something um move forward on that. That's just a comment. >> Okay. Mr. Ebinger. >> Yes. Just a point of reference, uh the chief deputy from sheriff's office just

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sent me an email and Morehead PD is no longer hosting the summer youth program. Uh they didn't get their YIPA grant, which was what we operated on the whole time I was there. So, they're trying to retool it to something smaller, more

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focused, uh, that they'll be able to do, but that's not been devised yet. That's unfortunate. >> Thank you for getting that information, Commissioner Kavanagh. Just to add to that, if we go back to our last meeting, those grants, just so you know, we're

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really uh county money that we had accumulated over a number of years hadn't spent in some areas and we just saw that need and picked up uh those two small grants and we'll continue doing that. That'll be but it's smaller

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amounts. >> Anything else? Yeah, we'll do the proclamation. >> All right. Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being. And whereas all Americans experience times of difficulty

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and stress in their lives, and whereas identifying and addressing mental health concerns earlier improves the quality of life for adults and children and their chance to succeed. And whereas Klay County has made a commitment to community-based systems of mental health

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care for all residents and has appointed local mental health advisory councils for adults and children. And >> whereas each business, school, government, agency, health care provider, organization, and citizen share the responsibility to address

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mental health concerns and promote mental wellness and prevention efforts. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Klay County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim May 2026 as mental health month and specifically May 5th as

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Children's Mental Health Day in Klay County. As commissioners of Klay County, we call upon our citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses, and schools in Klay County to recommmit our community to increase awareness and understanding

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of mental health. the steps our citizens can take to protect their mental health and the need for appropriate and accessible services for all people with mental health conditions. Adopted this the 5th day of May, 2026. >> Madam Chair, I move the proclamation.

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>> Motion offered from Commissioner Campbell. Second >> and a second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I

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>> oppose. Same sign. Carried. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Excuse me. >> Commissioner Abinger, >> are we needing a >> motion? >> A motion for >> Yeah, I was going to say I need to make a motion for us to approve the Children's Mental Health LAC membership.

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>> Oh, >> okay. Um I wasn't I didn't see the membership list in there. Just it's it >> was attached. >> Okay. All right. So, you did offer a motion to approve. Commissioner Ebinger offered a motion to approve. Commissioner Kraov, a

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second. >> Any further discussion? I got it. No. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Carried. >> Thank you. >> Got a minute before. Can we close it a

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minute early? No. >> Yes. Okay. Uh we will uh item four on our agenda is a closed session permitted by section 13D.05 subdivision 3D to discuss issues related

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to security systems and receive security briefings. >> Move to close. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Campbell to close. >> Second. and a second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? Discussion discussion. All those in favor of the

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motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. We're closed. All right. >> Okay. We are back in session. Our next item on the agenda is item five and a request approval to purchase replacement firewalls. Rory,

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>> thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, commissioners. Uh the request today is to purchase a uh replacement firewall, a pair of firewalls here for the county. Um this due to increased network traffic um state of Minnesota IT department is

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our internet primary internet provider. They've expanded our bandwidth now to accommodate for all of us agencies that fall underneath which is Morhead public service, city of Morhead, Klay County, and a handful of state agencies as well. So combined, I mean, we're we're talking

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3,000 3,000 plus staff computers that use this internet connection. So they they've doubled our speed. And one of the reasons to take advantage of that would be uh the set of new firewalls that is capable of handling that. Um, another another portion of that or

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another reasoning that we're looking for is we'll be able to better separate our interdep departmental traffic between you know say example my machine maybe shouldn't get to like an HR server vice versa things like that. So this is going

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to improve that process that we can do to separate some of that traffic and inspect it a little bit more and protect protects ourselves a little bit better. We don't want anybody seeing our current administrator screen. >> That's right. That's right. >> Unless they like roi.

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>> So the uh so then what we would do with uh the existing firewalls um the overall goal would be to move those over to the criminal justice network to proect to protect them separately than we do the rest of the play county network. Currently it's all combined on the same

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firewall and to help with uh sieges compliance. That's one other reason we'd like to separate it off and just move them over to their own separate connection through the state. U so we did receive >> Say that again. Who was that we're separating from?

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>> Oh, uh criminal justice network. So it be sheriff's office, jail, attorneys, um juvenile detention in some aspects. >> Okay. >> Y >> thank you. >> So uh we did receive uh three quotes for for new firewalls. Uh first one uh

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coming in from High Point Networks for $93,37. Uh the other two, one from CDW uh CDWG $119,848.36 and last one from SHI for $165,313. So the the request today would be uh to

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go with the lowest uh quote through High Point Networks for $93,37. All right, questions. Oh, >> I I should mention too the so the costing or the funding source uh we'd like to use uh $83,37

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from our 2026 technology services fund and then another 10,000 through internal services fund >> and then you'll add those to the >> correct >> replacement. Yep. >> Commissioner Campbell and then Commissioner Kavanagh. >> All right. So the what's the lifespan of

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a firewall? typically five years. So, we're in about, I believe, our third year of our current firewalls. So, that's why we would take those and move those over to the criminal justice side. And then when those are due for replacement, we've already have those on internal services. So, that's building up funds to pay for part of this, you

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know, 10,000 we're requesting. So, as we separate that off, the next time we replace those firewalls, they won't need such big hardware. They'll be a little bit less. So, the cost overall should be cheaper for that side of it at least. I'm just kind of curious what

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what we might be looking at um in terms of having to add to the as we start talking about budgets, >> what we're going to have to add to that internal service fund for this. Typically, you would you take divide it out by its life expectancy and then you

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would add 3%. And I think that's how Lori does it. But but you're saying next time around the cost might not be this much >> or the Yeah. For the current firewalls that were that are in place now. Yeah. They would they would go to a lower model in in a couple years when we need

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to replace those. So at that time there would would be a little bit of leftover money in that internal services fund to you know help with replacement of the the bigger ones that we're asking for today. >> Thank you. >> Commissioner Kavanaaugh.

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>> Yeah. um along the same line. So if well number one, this idea of a new firewall was uh in in your your plan already or it's something new that's been brought because of

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>> your conversations of so >> not not necessarily because of the the close session we just had, but more so we've been having a lot of speed issues across the county. I don't know if everybody's been hearing about we we've been hearing about it from a lot of departments. Um so this is to also help

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address that too. I know we have some vendors that are working even Wednesday afternoon and then again Monday to help us do some more troubleshooting and prepare for you know just some configuration changes. >> And I'm not saying I'm against doing

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this. I'm just asking a question on your budget though when you take this uh 93,000. Is that going to affect something that you have planned for >> 26 or no >> we would just we would sacrifice other

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things the remainder of the year to um for that >> balance out. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. So based based on the memo is the services that we're providing to the state components bogging down is that is that what I'm hearing is

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>> not necessarily. I know um we've been hearing from judges too. So just slow connections in the courtrooms, >> but is that because we've added more users that are using a higher >> It's hard to say, but um yeah, each each

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year there's more say cloud-based systems, you know, as the court moves things from local servers to the cloud. I mean, that's all inter. >> So maybe I'm not asking correctly and I apologize. Is it, you know, because we're hosting different entities, is it

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Klay County users? Is it state users? Is it just the combination of >> combination? Okay. >> Yep. >> But we'll pay for it. >> Yeah. >> Hopefully not for longer. Yeah. >> Yes. Commissioner Bear. >> So, so going forward, your budget for

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next year will have this included >> for a portion of a portion of it. Yes. >> You could probably maybe be thinking 15 to 20. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. And actually add this would be for 5 years. So it' be >> Yeah. But break it divide by five and it'd be about 15 to 20 grand to replace

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it. >> Yeah. >> That'll be added to his internal budget. >> Yeah. >> Additional questions, >> requests, wishes. >> Move to approve. >> Motion offered from Commissioner

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Campbell to approve as presented. >> Yes. $93,37. >> Okay. A second from Commissioner Krabanoff. Further discussion discussion discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I.

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>> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. Thank you. Commissioners, >> Commissioner Kavanagh. >> So I again um high praise for you know his report on that audit. I mean to hear how low you are from. Oh, close.

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>> That's close session. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> I appreciate it. Thank you. We are scheduled for a break. Item six. We'll be back in five minutes. Schedule item seven is a request

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approval of final contract voucher for SAP 014-634-32. Justin, good morning. >> Good morning. So, yes, this is the final contract voucher for the Milan overlay and CASAW 34. This was from trunk highway 9 to Casaw 11. Central

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Specialties was a contractor and I thought it turned out really well. Um the initial bid was 1,846,16010 and the final amount to be approved today is1,846,67144. About as close as possible as you could come to the initial bid. >> No kidding.

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>> Any questions for Justin? wishes of the board. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the final contract vulture. >> Second. >> We have a motion offered from Commissioner Bear, second from Commissioner Ebinger in the amount as

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presented. Any further discussion, discussion, discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Same sign carried. Jessica, can you really briefly talk about because I think it came uh Commissioner Ebinger and Commissioner Campbell were at the

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diversion authority and had questions about coordinating projects. Can you talk briefly about the Friday meeting? >> Yes. So on Friday at uh CW Valley, the um diversion authority as well as the core of engineers had a meeting just discussing what closures were going to

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be happening and when. They did reach out to me and I suggested that it at least be a bi-weekly meeting if not a weekly meeting. and they seemed really supportive of the >> Good. >> Very good. >> Well, thank you for always showing up. I mean, you have been very available to

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folks down there between the township and other residents and the business. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Justin. Item eight today is a request approval of the Klay County Law Enforcement Center feasibility study professional services proposal. We have County Administrator Steve Larson's

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here. The sheriff's also in attendance. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, as you are certainly aware, the Klay County Sheriff's Department and Morehead Police Department have shared the law enforcement center since its construction uh in 2018. Uh, the

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building is separated uh into different areas of utilization and also shared area uh by the police department and the sheriff's department. Recently, we were notified uh from from the Morhead Police Department that their space uh that they had for expansion has now been expanded.

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Uh and it's part of their strategic plan into the future. They're going to need some additional spaces. Uh and so u that is something that triggered this conversation. uh the the um study in front of you uh would take a

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look at the feasibility. If you recall, uh for those that have were part of the process, uh this building was originally constructed with the ability to expand to the north of I believe roughly 15,000 square feet. Um and that's a that would

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be a possibility. Um unsure and unclear of what necessarily the specific needs of of more the police department would be. uh we would be requesting a study to uh to look at that ability to to find their hear from them and find what their needs are. Uh in the event that that

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would not would not work for Morehead Police Department, part of the study would also look at the feasibility of potentially adjusting and moving uh county uh county departments into that facility. Um and uh that that concludes

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my report or excuse me computes. Uh any questions the board may have? Thank you. I appreciate it. Just for memory's sake and looking at um just refresh my memory, when we built the law enforcement center,

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specifically with the garage space, there was um thought that went into how we built the garage so that there could be an expansion on a second level above. Correct. The footings were poured to that. >> That that is correct. There's uh there's

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a little bit of an elevation change, but it was set up to be able to to build out I believe roughly 15,000 square feet. >> And with that, the focus of their growth would exceed what could be developed with that scope

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in mind. >> That is I think with the combination of the future needs of the sheriff's department and the mor police department's future needs. I think that would be what this feasibility study uh would would look at. Uh whether or not that both the needs of the sheriff's

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department and and Morhead PD's uh future needs would be addressed. Okay. >> And so that just for clarification, it is a feasibility study. We're not looking at uh at this stage of of of costing it out per se. We're just

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looking to see if if from uh from a planning perspective that that would work. And that was basically done in a in a reason that to save save funds in the event that it does not work, we wouldn't go into a full study.

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>> Yeah, Madam Chair, I I you know, I think it's you know, we've talked about this in our building committee and I think it's worthwhile for us to go through this phase. I I think there's an awful lot of additional um questions and

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logistics that I think we're going to need to have law enforcement involved with if something were ever to be done and how that would change. And also, um, we're going to have to review, uh, and again, I'm going I'm going out ahead a

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little bit here in terms of, um, future considerations, and that is, um, the current bond that we had on that facility and how how we uh, managed the financing of that to

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cover the bond. And part of that included the contract with the city of Morehead. And so I think it's going to be really important for us to understand uh if if Morehead, you know, I mean, if they're

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if they think they've outgrown and they want to maybe look somewhere else, what that does to that contract and how that could potentially impact um our financial plan on the bond. And I've got some numbers down. I'm not don't need to share them today because like I said

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this is just a feasibility thing but I think it's it's going to be a critical component in terms of of what decisions we make and I did a little bit I'll share it with everybody later but it's it's there's

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there's some con there's some concern that I have in terms of of um where some of these extra monies would come from but that's for a later date. >> Thank you Commissioner Campbell. Commissioner Abinger. >> Yeah. Just um my perspective on this is

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this is a disappointment for me. Uh and I think for a lot of us who worked on making this project happened a number of years ago. Uh there were efforts made and at that time I was working for the city but this c the county

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uh extended a real opportunity for us to get into it at an extremely low cost. When I say us, I mean the city and Morehead PD because we did not have the funding to come in and take a share of it at that time. So, a lot of the debt

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that's that that we're responsible for that the county is responsible for uh meeting now has been loaded to the years to come. And if this if we are going to sever the partnership before the termination of this current agreement, I

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want to make sure that we're made whole. And you know, that's something I think we need to be aware of and scrutinize any future agreements should the one we have now change is that we did not

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address a lot of this debt on the front end because city of Morehead needed time and we gave it to them. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger. Commissioner Campbell. >> Yeah, Madam Chair and thank you and Commissioner Ebinger. you know those are

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valid points and I you know I I think um you know this this can become a also I'm also disappointed uh I'm disappointed in in well I mean any entity needs to do what they need to do if they need room or what have you.

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Uh but when when we went through this, just like Commissioner Erbinger said, um the city of Morehead had had been a uh partners with Klay County, even in the previous law enforcement center going

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back to the 1960s. And when we planned this, never in my wildest dreams would I even have thought that, you know, they were would be looking at pulling out. Um but again I I they they got to make their decisions

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based on you know what they have to do and but I but I do think that um you know and let's get by let's get by this feasibility thing first. But if it if it gets beyond that, um I I do

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think we may have to have a close session discussion about contractual uh issues that could be of concern to us. And you know, but that that can be for another day. I think I don't want to get the cart before the horse here, but uh

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it still it still is a potential um concern that that we need to be looking at up front. Maybe there's some good ideas there that I'm not aware of yet, but we'll see. >> Discussion.

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I agree. I uh you know we're in times when we're trying to figure out how we can collaborate with entities to save money and and not overduplicate services throughout the entire county. And it is disappointing that 10 years after this

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great plan that we had, we're at this point. I think that it's a a minimal cost impact to address the future needs of what the building could be. And that's part of what my my question was in regards to what we did on the front side to address future growth areas. Um,

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you know, hopeful that we can continue to be good partners in in pieces, but uh it's it is disappointing uh given how much teamwork we had with it. But um anyway, further wishes of the board.

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Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the Klay County Law Enforcement Center feasibility study. >> Second. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Bear, second from Commissioner Ebinger. Where is the $10,000 coming from? >> That was my question. Um, Madam Chair,

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Commissioners, that would uh would need to come from the reserves. County reserves. >> Okay. Any other questions? I've served with you long enough. If I knew that was voted. Any other questions? All those in favor

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of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Car. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Sheriff, did you have anything? >> Okay. Move into committee reports. Commissioner. Okay. Commissioner Kraov.

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>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um going back to last Wednesday the 29th. Um last week had a lot of involvement with our continuation of uh moving forward

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with our bonding request regarding the nonsecure facility. Uh that day we met with our lo lobbyists uh online set up our strategies as both uh Commissioner Mojo and I were in St.

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Paul the following day and uh she was part on Wednesday. So um that led to uh what our main intent was for Thursday

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and then on Thursday we were in St. Paul uh beginning that morning we went met with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Minnesota. Uh that's called NAMI. And this is a group that gives guidance uh also

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um education, advice, funding sources, uh working on a national level toward the state of Minnesota and DHS. Uh our purpose of the visit was to make sure they knew what our request was

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regarding the nonsecure our bonding act for the nonsecure facility and then how that would impact um our ability to um have the PRTF. Um uh we met with the executive

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director, Marcus Schmidt, and he he was enthusiastic about what we were talking about, wanted to jump on support immediately. And and last night, we did receive the letter uh from NAMI that uh and in the support that we will use and

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pass on to our legislators knowing that we have um uh momentum uh on a larger level behind us. Uh that afternoon um we were in the cap and uh on my part um Commissioner Mo can

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speak um in the afternoon we were able to uh reach one of the high uh senators in the uh investment committee. Uh we met Senator Hley. We talked to you of Senator Edi, Senator Rasmmanson who's

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also on capital investments and then Senator Koop and then a little bit la later after that we met up with Representative Joy in the House all working uh forward on a bonding bill and uh we'll get more to come this week. So

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that's what our activity was legislatively last week uh for me anyway. Uh yesterday I had morning mo planning commission. Um three things were online. One may have be of interest. Um they uh there

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was a request for a conditional use permit for excavation fill and construction of a flood wall and that um that flood wall is going to be going on first avenue north is where you go under the underpass if it floods and the flood

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wall will then give a protective height to that uh underpass up to a 100redyear flood protection. So that'll be good. it was part of their mitigation uh project plan that it they had and that was

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passed. Other two parts were um simply flood um excuse me uh text amendments. One on mapping for um uh light light industrial head um industrial I'm

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industrial text map amendments I'm sorry uh in the comprehensive plan. those were passed and then also text amendments amendments regarding mixed neighborhood uses uh mainly dealing with infield just uh working on setbacks to make it more

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minimal to fill those places uh that aren't filled. Uh that's my report. >> Thank you Commissioner Krabanov. Commissioner Campbell >> I have nothing to report. >> Commissioner Bear >> last Wednesday I went down to St. Paul

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for the nuts and bolts boardrooms commissioner technical days with the the AMC put on. It was a great uh networking experience and learning experience. And then that was from Wednesday through Friday. On Thursday, I snuck out of there in the morning so I could go to

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the cap and talk with representatives Joy Gander, Scabra, and Baker Backer about the rural water district that is formed and another grant bill that will help the world water district. And then yesterday

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I attended MRC online as a Zoom meeting where we had a session update and an update on the census tracker and who is eligible for that in the state of Minnesota and I believe we forwarded

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that information on to Steve Larson and Commissioner Mojo was also in on that meeting. That is all my committee reports. Madam Chair, >> thank you, Commissioner Mayor. Last week, I also attended the Nuts, Bolts, and Boardrooms uh conference. Really

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great opportunity um for shared education and issues uh facing all counties. It was really great to triage some of the issues that we're all facing together. It was a good update. We had some um great discussion around DHS, the federal and state implications. Uh we

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talked about uh bonding, the process for state bonding requests. We talked about the the congressional designated uh funding component. So that was um really helpful. I attended two days of meetings at the capital. Uh some committee

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hearings on Wednesday. Had great opportunity to chat with Representative Joy on pushing issues forward. On Thursday, I had a meeting with uh Senate Majority Leader, Senator Murphy, Senator Coop, and our legislative team on um the

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final two weeks of session and how we strategize uh that so many moving parts. Really great um they're signaling that the all leaders of the caucuses are talking now, which is a great signal for all of us as we continue to move things

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forward. I also attended the NAMI uh presentation really this has been a two and a half year process to get in front of them and uh when we sat down they um he basically said why haven't you come to us sooner uh and wholeheartedly

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uh agreed with the the work that this county is doing in um addressing mental health needs. So huge congratulations to all of you. That was a huge feat. uh and then had additional Senate uh pulling uh with discussions with additional

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senators that day as well. I um sorry Friday we had a great update with our non secure detention uh folks. Solutions was around that table. We had uh Quinn

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and James and staff on uh triaging the additional information from Wednesday Thursday into our messaging for this week. um really great uh momentum moving forward on that. Another meeting yesterday to highlight um what had

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changed over the weekend since the Friday morning meeting. Uh really I I think Steve has reached out to you on some additional correspondence that we've had in regard to congressional designated spending earmarks. Uh meeting yesterday with MRC, great updates from

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the legislature on everything that's happening fast. Ezra uh reported on that. Well, I attended a meeting with the Metrocog executive committee meeting. Uh we did because of the frequency in federal shutdowns, there

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has been a slight issue in regards to um billing. So, the entities will be slowly um building up a a small reserve account just for payroll pieces. Um, it's going

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to be $2 to $3,000 additionally for Klay County, I believe, that will be requested so that they can make payroll. Last year with the shutdown in November and December, it got really tight. Obviously, the big uh the big reimbursements for projects will will be

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held during that time. But, um, that's how the executive board is is going to be dealing with those those disruptions if if it's it will be in a separate reserve account. And then if they never use it, they never use it, but they'll

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have it. And then we also talked about the Casclay food commission that has been something for 11 years that we've been part of uh early on. Did really great work. It was spearheaded through some pretty big grants through the state of North Dakota

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and Megan Murdall was really the champion on that that front. We addressed the planning commissions and zoning concerns that uh different entities had and created some pretty amazing blueprints. But now um there's been some disruption to funding and

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grant availability and it was requested by the chair Heather Nissimire that Metro Cog absorb that um $6,000 funding to keep it going. I do know that the local entities are are paying for like

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the materials and the time to get agendas together, but uh it did come before the executive committee and I did talk with Commissioner Kraban. Uh it was not recommended that uh we approve that expenditure for a couple reasons. one,

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we are under pretty um stiff requirements from Federal Highway on what's appropriate funding for the agency and and the work before because it was planning really sort sort of met what that need was and federal highway has issued opinions that it's outside of

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the scope of what the transportation planning organization should do and so we did recommend not paying that. Um certainly you know I know that's challenging and I know the committee is in kind of a soularching time uh too. Um so more to come on that I guess uh maybe

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on your side than Metro but just wanted to update you on that. Uh but that concludes Oh, then um Kevin had an announcement last week and I just want to say that in my time on this board um it has been a really a

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privilege to work with you. Um and I know that we all have different seasons of life and go on to provide our skills and talents in different ways, but um you've really uh given a lifetime of service to Klay County in a number of different ways. And it and I do mean

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this truly. it. Uh Kevin and I have had fierce arguments and fierce agreements and in all that time I've really grown to respect your position and your approach and your advocacy. Uh so thank you. >> Thank you, >> Steve.

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>> Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Last Tuesday participated uh in Ma Leadership Committee. We're looking at us setting up the MAC and Macra fall annual conference. uh on the 29th participate in the legislative uh planning meeting

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with our staff and lobbyists. Uh again, it just can't be more happy with the the doors that the lobbyists are are opening uh as we plan for hopefully what will be funding of our non-secured detention. Uh on the 30th uh uh we had a meeting on

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the MPCA Budweiser settlement and heard project updates. Again, if you recall, uh we have to have that done uh here by early June. Uh and so we're making sure that we're meeting the legislative requirements. Uh it looks like we are on track at this point. So that's great news. Uh on Friday participated in the

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nonsecured legislative meeting which has been uh been covered. Uh and that afternoon worked on a department head evaluation. uh on Monday uh worked uh part of our our plan moving forward is to to reach out to our legislators uh

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both locally capital investments uh co-authors authors of our of our non-dis nonsecured detention legislation uh and uh and so each of us are taking a day this week to make sure that we get keep

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that on top of their mind as we move through the last few weeks. Um, let's see. Met with Sheriff Empt on a series of different issues on Friday or excuse me, yesterday. Uh, also met with Derek Leo Point, Lori Johnson, uh, about

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different services that Bell Bank could offer the county. Uh, and then lastly met with Mr. Melton and Troy Amenson. Uh Friday, I think we've talked about it. We have a hearing with MCIT uh about a coverage possible a coverage denial and

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we have a we are appealing that that request and so we have a hearing uh on Friday Friday morning. Uh and again just a reminder next week uh after board we do have our ED quarterly EDA EDC meeting and that concludes my report.

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>> Thank you. Another item that I did have is you all received several emails, one from Niko, but one for AMC that talked about the Niko application for the 2026 2027 uh committee appointments. And so whether or not you attend national

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conferences, there still are lots of great opportunities to be on a committee. And even if you don't attend the committee, you get the materials. Last year I was put on the uh public lands P uh committee and so had the opportunity to sit through those and to

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be able to have that extra layer of information is uh proved to be really really helpful. Um basically what you do is you go in click what you're interested in and then Julie Ring will assign and then you'll be appointed to it and then added into the fold. There is a a deadline of the ETH. So, I would

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encourage all of you to uh find something two or three uh committees that are of interest to you. Uh I do think it would be really in our best interest since Klay County is paying to be part of Nico through uh AMC as well. So, I think it's helpful. Uh Brian, did

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you have any? >> Okay, Darren. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Most of my stuff has already been covered. A couple outstanding things was on Tuesday I met with the sheriff on his cadet program. Uh trying to get that underway. Uh

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Wednesday I met with an employee about an employee issue. Thursday I worked on the payroll estimate for MCIT which I submitted on Friday. And then yesterday um had I sat in on the non-secured detention check uh meeting and also had

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a data request or data subject uh requests that I sat down with social services and the supervisors on that process of data practices responses. >> Okay Sarah,

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anything anything else? If not, we have addressed all the issues on the agenda and we will meet here next Tuesday. Okay, we are journed.