Okay, good morning everyone. It is 8:30. I'll call today's meeting of the Klay County Board of Commissioners to order. Looking for an approval of the agenda. >> Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Have a motion offered from Commissioner Bear to approve the agenda. 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. >> Opposed. Same sign carried citizens to be heard today. Are there any citizens in the audience wishing to address the
board on any item not on the agenda? >> Darren, have we had any online correspondence for this? >> Uh, Madam Chair, no online correspondence. >> Thank you. The next item is approval of payment of bills and vouchers. >> Move to approve the bills and vouchers. >> Second.
>> A motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh to approve. A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I.
>> Oppos. Same sign carried. The next item today is the minutes from the February 3rd meeting and the workg groupoup session. >> Madame chair, I have one correction from the February 3rd meeting on page 29 of our packet. It would be Cassab bridge
36, not 26 on the first paragraph there talking about the CASA bridge replacement support letter. >> With that, >> has that noted? >> With that, Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from February 3rd and the workg groupoup session minutes.
>> Have a motion offered miss com from Commissioner Bear to approve the amended minutes and the regular minutes. And >> second >> 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. >> Opposed. Same sign. Carried. I'd like to go back for a minute. I neglected in the consent to acknowledge we uh our K9 program and the sheriff's office received a very
generous donation of $5,000 from Randall's Excavating. Randles is a Klay County business. uh really fortunate to have such um generosity in our community, particularly around the K9 program. Those donations have been vital
to ensuring we have a sustainable program over there. So, thank you so much for the donation. Item two today is a request approval for out of state travel. Only if you wear that the entire trip. >> Good morning.
>> Are we doing the out of state? >> Yep. >> Your mic on Kurt. >> Out of state travel. The this year it'll be for Jennifer for Reno, Nevada. Um May 31st through June 5th. That's our annual
CU training that we get. I am not attending in person. We have our grandchild due on June 1st. So, uh I'm I'm staying behind to to do it online. So, I'm not sure my attention span can
handle all that. But, uh I will more than likely be in the office, but online, but not there. So, and then I might be in Benson doing it online where the baby's born. So, yes. So, out of
state travel for uh Jennifer for the first one would be for 31 May through June 5 to Reno for annual training. >> And this is a budgeted item. >> It is. Yes. About four years ago, the
state start stopped paying for it out of the grant for everyone except uh just VSOs to pay out of the grant. So, we had to put that in the budget. So, it's been there for a few years. >> Board questions.
>> Madam Chair. >> Yes, Commission. >> Just a point of clarification. Uh the we've got the agenda here and it's May 29th. Oh, June 5th. >> Thank you. Sure. Any questions for the board?
>> Oh, clarification. The reason why that is uh I know uh she uh Jennifer is taking the certified veterans advocate course. Extremely difficult taught by lawyers. Uh so she is uh stepping up her game here. So she has to start on
Saturday in the official date to starting Monday. So that's why she's going early. So, we will have one of few CVAs in the state in Klay County. So, hopefully it's a three-year process. So,
she'll get started this year. >> Madam Chair, Commissioner Abinger, >> I'd recommend that we approve the out ofstate travel for the veteran service representative to attend national training in Reno from May 29th to June 5th. >> A motion offered from Commissioner Ebinger to approve.
>> Second. A second from Commissioner Bear. Further discussion. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign carried. Item two would be the request approval for the out of state for the VSO DC May 10 to May 12th.
>> Yes. I got uh asked to go on the honor flight for as the VSO. So I didn't know I think it was just acknowledged that your best employee will be out of the state. So, I just brought that to your guys' attention. It'll be vacation time or however you guys see fit, but uh
it'll be a volunteer VSO status. So, I will be out uh attending that even though I hate flying, but uh figured I figured I'd be stuffed in there with a bunch of veterans. We're safe, aren't we? So, >> I don't know. So, I will be out of the
state. >> Well, congratulations, Kurt. I'll make a uh motion to approve out of state travel for veteran service officer to attend the honor flight to Washington DC from May 10th to May 12th. >> Second
>> motion offered from Commissioner Kraov, the second from Commissioner Heminger. Any further discussion? >> Any further discussion? I think it's fantastic. I just hope that you can uh enjoy it near as much as the joy that
you bring to all of us. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. You know, you know, I've witnessed them leaving and coming home and never the full process. I got asked about five, four or five years ago and said no, I just I hate flying. But ever over
the years developed, I'm like, let's do it this year. So, we're going to try it. >> Well, wonderful. Any other discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Carried. We'll go
into your annual update. Well, good morning. Our 2025 report uh uh introduction. and we're going to uh the services we provide, some county comparisons, uh payments to veterans in Klay County,
uh property tax exemption comparisons, uh from 2015, I believe, and then just some contact information. So, myself, uh extremely great team we have down there.
It's It's just not Kurt, it's all three of us basically and putting in the hours. I mean, we we go past 4:30 almost daily. So, uh but it's uh the customer service that we provide to Klay County employees is
uh remarkable. So, obtain military records, documents. We assist enrolling health care system. That's primary R1. And that's with service connections or uh just healthc care benefits income-wise.
Uh that's that's our primary one. Uh compensation claims, that's daily occurrence uh with appointments, home loans, financial assistance, MDVA benefits. We work with the state uh uh for MDVA benefits, honors briefings,
death and burial. um Voke Rehab. We appeal decisions working with their power of attorney for claim service organizations, the VF, the VA, the uh American Legion, the DAV.
Um and we just assist with overall general benefits. You know, when I took the job, now it's been a decade. Huh. Long time. Enjoyed every minute of it. But uh um no one said you had to be an
accountant, a counselor, and everything involved in the in the job, but it's it's been very rewarding. So um SSAP, these are state grants, uh special needs grants. That's a once in a-lifetime grant that a vet can apply for if they
qualify. and and that ranges from um fixing a furnace, putting in a furnace in an air conditioner, a car repairs, anything that uh keeps them in their home or gets them to work. Um
steps, you know, in the front of their house. So, it's once in a lifetime. Uh use it wisely, we say. So, uh not everybody qualifies. There are some financial constraints but not uh not not much. Dental and optical grants with
subsistence uh th those have some financial uh barriers uh to their uh income to apply. So uh we have 3419 3,419 uh vets according to uh um
the polls whatever they do annually. MDVA is recording that. I want to say that's about 7,000 in my books. Uh but uh that's the official number published by MDVA. Um our SSAP for uh 2025 was
$93,30 compared to $74,890 last year. So we upped it a little bit. Just a little comparison, Anoka County, they have 19,024 vets, six times, five
times and a half more than us. They did $45,000. Uh so it varies. It's putting in the work. This is a long application and and many supple supporting documents that go with these. Uh Washington County, they
have uh four times as much we and they did just over uh 5,000 more than we did. So, for a smaller county, um, uh, the the numbers just show that we're compared to bigger counties, putting in
the applications and approval rate, too. So, uh, payments to Klay County, these can vary. Some are retropay, meaning that uh we put the claim in in January and it gets done in August, it goes back to January uh for retro payments. Uh so
these all fall in the month. Uh and then we move it over to if it's done in August. Some money goes into February, March, April, May all the way to August. So, 765,82453 for uh 2025
um in in payments to Klay County veterans. Property tax. I started in 15 and we started recording these. I just went back to 2020. Uh Klay County uh as a whole uh not the city. Klay County had
113 and we now were 2025 had 223 uh property tax exemptions. That's that's for a veteran rated 70% or higher with the VA. Uh 70% to 100 is 150,000
currently um off their homestead uh property tax market value. So if their house is 300, they get 150 relief. They pay on 150. 100% permanent total. The highest you can get is a $300,000
benefit. Uh so um 300,000 house, they break even, they pay on school. Uh the specials are not included in that, but that doesn't add up to a whole lot. So city of Morehead 186 in
2020, we're at 347. uh for a combined of 570 total properties uh tax exemptions. Um legislation this year is a big uh big one for us to try to get the 150 to
there's many variations out there, but 150 to 200 and the 300 to 400 is the push. One of one of our one of our goals this year is to try to get that through along with other things, but that falls in there.
Uh just some numbers 241 1926 I didn't put last year. I think it was 1917. Uh we uploaded 4,217 dockets and and talked or phoned or something to 4260 uh communications. I think that's averaging what we've did in 2024 as
well. A little bit higher this year. And then me and the big thing is thank you. Over the last decade, I can't thank you enough. The commissioners that I've had have supported our office, our veterans of Klay County. It's uh great to have a supporting staff and to
support my craziness. So, and that'll continue till I retire. So, it's the way I cope for the day and get through the the hectic, but I enjoy it and I'm grateful for the position. So, thank you, Kurt. Any questions on the
presentation? >> I didn't say thank you and incredible work. Those numbers are outstanding. >> Uh, it's a team effort. It hurt by >> when we go down there, it's fun to be down there in the office with you. Yeah. Set a good good atmosphere. Yeah.
>> It's how you >> I think get through the day. >> Jennifer's birthday tomorrow, too. So, come by if you in town. >> 25. >> Yeah. >> Uh well, I just want uh also to echo the sentiments. We have been really
fortunate to have such a wonderful leadership group in your office. uh your staff uh treat our veterans in such an amazing way. And you know, you think about uploading 4,217 documents. That's a feat. Uh and if
you've ever uh worked with someone who was challenged by uploading a single document, you know how important that is for them, particularly with benefits. But uh you make something that could be quite frustrating uh just have it and you do it. So, thank you for comm
continuing to meet the needs of our veteran and our veterans in our community. And you're always so um eager to just get to work and get it done. I know you've you've yourself fixed an air conditioning unit for a veteran on a very hot day and um we really
appreciate. >> It was hotter in the house, >> which is why you were fixing. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Welcome. Thank you guys. Really? >> Okay. Item four today then would be a request approval for a vehicle
replacement in our sheriff's office. >> Morning, Sheriff. >> Sheriff. >> Yeah, you know, I knew you were coming. I I was glad I was coming before everybody asked for Bobby. They been a little cra They'd have been a little crabier.
Oh, only you. Uh, good morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Thanks for having me here this morning. I am here today to request to lease uh two Ford Expeditions for our warrants and transports division. Um, how this all came about is we did initially order vans for them and
had them upfitted and something changed somewhere from 2021 to 2025 and 2026 specifications in the vans and it's not allowing the driver's seat or the passenger seat to go back any further than what it can now. and the Warren two of the guys in the wars and transports
division are somewhat taller in stature and it's uh causing them to not be very comfortable in the vans on their long trips. And you'll hear uh next week uh during my board update that last year they put on 11,000 more miles in 2025
than they did in 24. Um so they do have some long trips that they're taking and it's getting to be very uncomfortable for them. Uh we did try and work with our installer in an effort to see if we could get those cages pushed back a little bit further. And that is something that they said they would be
willing to do, but they would be fabricating their own brackets and they would want us to sign off on a liability waiver. So if something did happen that they weren't going to be held liable for it, that's just not something that I wanted to put my name on. And I don't think the county would want to put their name on anything like that either. So I
didn't even present it to our county attorney. Um, as you can see, I'm not requesting any additional funds for this. And initially, the thought was was to turn those vans back in, but we had very little equity in them, uh, through enterprise leasing. And one night I was
at home thinking about this, and I thought, well, one, one of the investigators asked for a van. It just blends in a little bit better, things of that nature. And we have more equity in his 2023 Durango. So, if we turned around and sold his Durango and issued the van to him, that could save us
there. And then it turned out the next day when I talked to Lieutenant Schroeder, there was actually two uh investigators that wanted advance. This is actually turning out and working in our favor. So we would take those two investigator vehicles, turn those back into uh enterprise leasing in which we
have more equity built up in them in those Dodge Durango than we do the vans and then uh issue the vans out to the investigators and then get these set up and upfitted with cages in them for transports. I think we've also talked, you know,
those Durangos have been nice, but you wanted to get back to the Expedition Taho chassis, right? >> Yeah, that that's correct. And we're just having more and more equipment that we're putting in vehicles. And even for our investigator vehicles, we have different type of boxes in the way back
to secure their uh their firearms and things of that nature. So, it eats up a lot of space. >> Questions? Madam Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner. >> I I move to approve the uh lease of two
Ford Expeditions for the Sheriff's Office. >> I'll second that. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Evinger, a second from Commissioner Bear. Uh further discussion. >> Makes sense. >> That bigger vehicles >> that enterprise leasing really seems to
be the ticket. We've really saved a substantial amount of money doing that. >> Yeah. And this is just proving where it's assisting us in in this matter where you know we had had a vehicle come this year and it's like it's not it's just it didn't work for us just because we didn't we weren't aware of the specification changes and to be able to
just take that van issue it out to to an investigator and then take his vehicle which we have more equity in and sell that just that just made sense. So this just proves its value. >> Any further discussion? >> When do you think you'll have these up and running? um up and running. I'm not
sure. I I do know Enterprise has them currently on hold for us. So, as soon as we can get them here, I know our squad upfitter will uh get them in as soon as possible just because we're he knows this the situation and predicament we're in. >> Perfect. >> Any further discussion?
All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> I same sign carried. >> Thank you. Next item, sheriff, is a request approval of theou and body worn cameras addendum with the marshals task force. >> Yeah. So what this is, this is just updating our current US marshals task
force addendum with orou I'm sorry. Um with our current signatures and things of that nature. Um the currentou dates back to Sheriff Burkquist and we just wanted to get current signatures on there. Um, on top of that, we added the
body warn camera addendum to just explain who uh who gets that data and when the camera should be operated and where is that data going to go, etc. Uh, after the fact, this was um reviewed by our county attorney and approved to move
forward as well. >> Any questions? >> Any questions? >> One one question, Madam Chair. How long is this good for? >> This will be good for until it gets brought up again. Yep. >> Till names change.
>> Till names change. Exactly. Yeah. And what this does, it uh it allows the person that's working on that task force uh to have him be eligible for overtime reimbursement when they're working the US Marshall case. >> Any further discussion? Commissioner. Madam Chair, I I move to approve theou
with the BWC addendum uh to allow execution by the current sheriff and maintain Klay Countyy's ongoing participation in the US Marshalss task force. >> Thank you, Commissioner Ebinger. We have a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Bear. Any
further discussion? >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Great. Item six, sheriff, is a request approval to update theou with the US Postal Inspection Service Task Force.
>> Yes. Again, this is very similar. There's a new uh a new postal inspector special agent in charge. So, it's just updating with uh their information uh in our current information. Uh the one thing with this particularou, it not only provides uh overtime
eligible reimbursement to the sheriff's office for that deputy working, but it also uh provides an $850 a month vehicle stipen back to the sheriff's office that we uh put in into internal service for squad car replacement uh for that deputy. And what I am doing for this
particular squad car, and I should mention for the others, we're doing a 5-year lease uh on those. and it uh brings the cost down uh a little bit more. So, uh this particular squad car costs us $883 a month to lease. Uh as you see, we're getting the $850 a month
stipen, so it's about $33 for us. >> Quite a deal. >> Yeah. >> For the sheriff. >> Yeah. I I don't I'll make a motion though. Motion to approve the updated between the Klay County Sheriff's Office
and the US Postal Inspection Task Force. I'll second that >> motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh to second from Commissioner Bear. Any further discussion? >> Any further discussion? >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I.
>> I. Same sign carried. >> Thank you. >> Item seven today is a request approval of the proposed new position, the facility integrity and compliance coordinator for West Central Regional Juvenile Center. Good morning, James.
Morning, Madam Chair, commissioners. Yeah, I'm here today to seek permission to implement a facility and facility integrity and compliance coordinator. Um, this position um was approved by the pick last week and then for some
background, it's it's part of our 2026 budget. Um, I brought it before my advisory board in Janu July of 25 prior to the budget being approved at that level. Um and then I brought it again in
January of this year just understanding that all the counties are have a lot of financial constraints going on and just brought before all the counties again, you know, explain the need again. Um and they reiterated that the need for the
position um is definitely still there. um you know just kind of the need for the position kind of is manyfold but you know there's kind of two major reasons and developments that's been happening in Minnesota. One is a lack of appropriate mental health placements um
across the state um leading kids to be either boarded in hospitals, correctional facilities like ours or just you know in hotel rooms, social service offices, um all that sort of stuff. But we're getting a lot of youth
with mental health issues, significant mental health issues that shouldn't be with us that are with us for extended periods of time. Um, and the other piece of that is the new SPS rules, which is safety based separation rules. Um, we made arrangements going into that,
adjusted for that with staffing. Um but what we didn't anticipate was the amount of um regulatory, you know, reviews that are happening and how often we're having to respond to um investigations from the
state. So juvenile facilities, um although we're licensed by the DOC, um we're licensed under 2960, which is shared with DHS and DHS does a lot of the investigations. So, um, so we get kind of double looked at a lot of times.
Um, I included, um, in the packet, um, attachment B there. It just kind of, um, illustrates kind of the regulatory oversight that's currently happening in Minnesota. Um, basically, um, in this case, there's significant mental health
use that was in a facility in Minnesota. Um, you know, the NAACP was involved in that. Um, and it just kind of goes on and on. Basically, the facility was doing what they were licensely obligated
to do, but they failed to have some documentation um that cames after the site. Um, basically um it's a lot of a lot of issues and complexities are being put
on. So, um, you know, let's see here. Yeah. So, basically, I'm looking for, um, some a position that, um, is centralized oversight, regulatory compliance, um, and an increased highly scrutinized um, juvenile justice
program. Um basically we're right now the oversight is done by you know myself uh Josh or the unit supervisors and that gets spread out. Um I include in that one a time study that I did back about 7
months ago and just responding to SPS's alone. It was about 33 hours of work. Um, and so basically I'm looking for somebody that we can hire a professional that's going to be responsible to review
all the SPS's and instant reports. Um, this is going to be a person that's um, it's going to need to be very very well rehearsed in 2960. Um, an expert in 2960 and also can um, communicate
via written communication very very well. Um, and this position will be the the core responder. So when the state calls and asks a question about an incident that happened 3 months ago or something like that, that this person will already have a file on that
incident and basically we'll be inspection ready at all times. Um, instead of um getting a call about an incident, it's currently, you know, and then I have to review it, find it, and then start investigating from there. Um,
so like to be on the front side of things. Um, is there any questions? >> Yes, Commissioner Kavanagh. >> Yeah. Um, sounds very complex. Um, I'm just curious. Um, have these type of
rules or guidelines, however you want to look at, some obviously are mandatory, have they been do they um I don't know what I'm saying, have have they been building up quite a bit over the last few years as far as more
regulations or I'm just saying is or is some of this uh pretty standard what you I understand the time element But uh it's uh uh work that you've been doing all along anyway. I'm
>> Yeah. So yeah, to to answer the question, um it has been building up. There has been increasing primarily around the SPS. Anytime we separate a youth from the other youth, um there there is new language in the rules now.
Um, and that documentation alone is what's a a huge driving piece of of what all this exists. Anytime we separate a youth from the other youth, um, there's halfhour check-ins and then every hour basically it's got to be articulated what we're doing.
>> Um, what we're doing to get the youth back integrated, why we can't, and justify why we can't, and what are we doing to get over that justification so we can get the youth back into the program again. And that happens steadily. And then every four hours
there's a bigger report that goes with that. And then at 8 hours we have to trigger something to the our licensing. And >> just you've been doing that type of thing long enough. I mean you have it figured out how it flows uh down in the
nonsecure then >> in in nonsecure. >> Oh insecured area on this. This is all secured. >> Yes. This is this the SBS and and most of our >> and and it does some of our incident reports will we'll get into the
non-secure stuff but the SBS stuff safety based separation is mostly insecure because nonsecure it's not really a an an issue um but there is mental health incident reports and stuff that that does occur in that area as well.
>> Okay, thank you for that. Yeah, Madam Chair, I'm I'm on the advisory board. This was wellreceived and and James pointed out uh by counties that are running a lot tighter
to to uh meet their budget than we are. Uh West Central has proven to be fiscally a very uh desirable operation. and it pays for itself and there is surplus left over to maintain the
facilities and get the work done. One of the things that I think we're most proud of is the accountability and the the efficacy of our staff. Uh state of Minnesota is not cutting any slack for what we've done up to now. Uh every time there's an incident, there's
the same level of scrutiny directed at us as anybody else. and it the credibility is ours to lose if we don't have staff that can get these things done. So, I strongly recommend that we we do this. And having said that, I uh
we'll make a motion to hire a facility integrity and compliance coordinator at line 17 for the West Central Regional Juv Juvenile Center uh secure unit. Uh also with permission to fill back fill, the uh position is filled internally.
Thank you, Commissioner. We have a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Bearer. >> I just had one question that occurred to me. Do you have people on staff that are interested that have already have the capacity to do this work?
>> There's a lot of staff that we have that are and then there's Yeah, there's a lot of staff in our facility right now that are probably going to be interested in the position. um because there's a lot of there's a lot of knowledge and we've able able to retain a lot of staff over the years. So, we're very grateful in
that. Um one of the things that we're going to be really looking for is written and oral communication discussion. >> This did go through pick. We did uh approve of it moving forward to this discussion if you had any additional
pieces since this is new but it was part of the budget process as noted. It was went through the advisory committee also. My question is in regards to dealing with the office of inspector general and I think
having this in our facility continues to make us a leader in the state and what we're doing. I think what you what you proposed it makes it the most sense. Are we seeing an increase in in the time required to deal with some of the issues coming out of the office of inspector
general? Um, not so much the inspector general. It's coming from DHS. Um, which might have be their inspector general wing of DHS. Um, and the DOC has one too. Um, and but yeah, there's lots of requests coming out of of those. Um, the
DOC is our main licenser. Um, however, anytime there's a complaint that occurs, it seems to be DHS's side that's coming in and looking at that, um, with a lot more scrutiny and detail. And, um, and they're the DHS's tend to be less
responsive than the DOC's, too, when we ask them a question in general. So, >> I was at a meeting in St. hall Friday and we tal or Thursday we talked about the same issue where you're getting conflicting um interpretations of rules
from DHS and DOC and how that >> I mean we've talked about this at length but how that can financially really start to affect facilities and continue to keep us updated when when that starts to happen. I know it happens continually, but when it starts to
happen to a point where we're seeing um some disruption in service, let us know. >> We'll do. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> I >> oppose. Same sign carried.
>> Thank you. >> Is Justin. >> Here he comes. >> Good morning, >> Justin. And we have a request approval for of the temporary promotion of the road foreman to maintenance supervisor.
This is something we discussed at pick last Tuesday as well, but uh due to the um guidelines wanted to make sure it came before this board. >> Yeah. So currently our maintenance supervisor is out on paid family medical leave and it's looking like it's going
to be eight eight or more weeks. So, what I'm looking to do is promote our maint or our road foreman to our maintenance supervisor temporarily and then in turn also making one of the maintenance workers acting road foreman and then that would be an additional $2
per hour per the union contract. And kind of what this does is obviously we're in the middle of winter. So, our maintenance supervisor and our road forming kind of split the county at highway 10 and one takes north and one takes south. So, this would just kind of
make us be a little bit more flexible, especially with potential weather coming this week. And then once that employee does come back, then it would just go back to the way it is now. >> Question. >> That was Madam Chair. I was going to ask
what happens when the employee comes back, but he addressed that. >> Yes, Darren. Uh just a note on that also madam chair that uh I have talked to the union and they are okay with our process here. So um we shouldn't get any push back the
way we're doing it. >> There was one additional piece Justin that we talked about Tuesday to bring forward was it the union? >> Any further discussion on this? >> Madam chair I'll make a motion to approve the temporary promotion of the
road foreman to maintenance supervisor. We have a motion offered from Commissioner Bear to approve. >> Second >> and a second that reflects the increase in pay as well. Yes. Both. >> Well, we wish our uh road for him the
best in his recovery as well. Make sure he knows that. We appreciate the work they do. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. Same sign carries request approval of
resolution 2026-06 for the small city street aotment. >> Yes. So this is a resolution that I bring forward every February. So it is the funding that goes to non-state aid cities for the work done on city streets. Um and then if you would if you
looked at previous resolutions in the past, this was also when the city of Morehead turnback payment would also be included. So this one is significantly less than it normally was. >> Questions for Justin. >> One question, Madam Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner Bear.
>> They receive this aotment once a year. >> Correct. >> Make a motion to approve resolution 2026-06 for small city street a lotment. >> Motion offered from Commissioner Kavanagh to approve. A second from Commissioner Ebinger. Any further
discussion? Any further discussion? Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. >> Carried. >> Thank you. >> Okay. We'll do our update from the
attorney's office since we are ahead of schedule. >> Yeah. Good morning, Mr. Melton. Good morning, Miss Foss. >> Good morning, Madam Chair. Thank you for having us today. I don't have a jacket like uh >> Kurt. So, sorry.
>> Kurt Cannon had a USA blazer. >> We were all black. >> Stars and Stripes Fourth of July type thing. >> It's quite a show. >> Right. I Yeah, there you go. Right. >> My gosh. >> Well, thank you, Madam Chair, commissioners for having us today. It's
always nice to be able to present here in front of you. I think a lot of times we seem like the county attorneys goes at the end. Um, which is always interesting because we get to see a lot of the others that have gone before us and and we obviously work across a great deal of the different departments within
the county itself. Um, obviously just very glad to be here and appreciative of the opportunity. Uh obviously our uh mission to be able to promote justice and work through public safety uh prosecute crime is a primary uh piece as
well as protecting those in need through children protection uh need of protection services uh juvenile uh criminal matters uh and then representing uh all different departments across Klay County. Uh obviously I've got uh Pam here, Miss
Foss here with me today. Katie Stock couldn't be here um as the our two chief uh assistants uh within the office that do a great deal of work. Uh a lot of stuff going on. We'll talk through some of it here today. Uh my budget around
2.5 million. I think it's gone up a little bit from that, but uh primarily salaries, trial expenses that we have. Our clearance rates still uh are very good across the compared across the state. We clear about 88% of cases. somewhere between six to 10% are
typically in warrant status over time. Uh I know the board's very aware we've had some volatility within staff for a period of time, but we are fully staffed now. Um so I don't even want to talk about it, but I'll knock on wood to make sure we're staying. But both chief
assistants obviously uh 10 assistant county attorneys, uh seven legal assistants and other office staff, and then five victim service staff. our case totals remain pretty steady somewhere around right around 2,000 new cases per year that we're processing through. And
then technology obviously is a very important piece that we continue to work through uh and continue to be on the cutting edge both through our office, the courts. Uh we do secure file transfer for all disclosure now which helps not having to copy onto discs or
sticks, those types of things. And probably one of our biggest issues that we're going to see continue throughout the future uh video evidence is a a expected thing common thing that we use daily uh within contested hearings
within trials. Uh that storage of all that is a big uh matter for between our office and it um and likely require new software for management of all that into the future. Again, crime remains generally steady
and and around the same amount due to population growth. Drug use within the community has a piece to everything that we do. Uh grand juries are important to us. That's where if we have bigger cases, very serious cases, premeditated murder, uh some of those types of
things. We did have one grand jury last year. Um our child in need of protection or service cases continue to remain steady. We'll show some stats here in just a future about that. our mental health commitments also u steady increasing over time. We just see
a lot of mental health pieces that I know the board is very familiar with within different committee committees that we work with. And then our civil work is uh a lot of different things going on obviously within the county uh that we cut across the office staff, the legal assistants
there. Uh I like to give a picture of them. They're not always seen as much. They're doing a lot of the work every day. Um if you look at some of the uh trial prep um preparation of cases that we have to be ready to go for trial if they ultimately come up, most of them
resolve. Um but 412 trials that were prepared last year. Uh that includes 1300 subpoenas uh notices to law enforcement. Uh and then disclosure, uh 3,200 plus um pieces of disclosure sent
out, 11,000 efiled items with the court as we move through cases and process them. Uh administrative subpoenas that we help support law enforcement with to help gain information or help them when they're doing investigations. And then other individuals that are out there
that have failed to peer or have warrants um rits that they've been arrested in other states. that type of thing and they need to be processed and brought back here. We have 52 of those and uh those continue to increase at all times. So, a lot of work going on. Uh
the ladies there in the office do a tremendous amount of of work, put a lot of effort in everything they do and so we really appreciate all the work they do. Uh again, like I said, Miss Foss is here today and I'll let her talk through just the criminal division.
>> Thank you for having us. >> Thank you. Thank you for having us here. Um giving me the opportunity to talk about the criminal team that we have down in her office. Right now we have seven attorneys or six attorney. Seven. Um we have Caitlyn Herurlock, Brittany
Hartzil. Now she got married, so we've got a name change there. Megan Kelly Jacksonquist, Michael Euan, Cecilia Knap, and Ashley Turner. Um Cecilia is on leave right now but expected to come back next month. So we'll be very happy to get her back in
the office. But they are attorneys. They are split up their case loads um different areas. Some do property crimes, some do drug crimes, some do the crim and the more assaulted person crimes in our office. Um just kind of an overview of last
year. We had 60 criminal trials last year that went through verdict. uh that is triple from the year before. The year before we had 10. Um so we have been very busy with jury trials in the past year. This was probably the first year
that I can remember that every single member of the criminal team actually had at least one jury trial. Um sometimes it's clumped to mainly person crimes or something like that or there's not a lot of trials, but this past year every single one of our criminal attorneys had at least one jury trial. couple of them
had about five or six. So, lots of jury trials, a lot of work by the whole team. We, like Brian mentioned, we had one grand jury for a first-degree murder. Um, the year before, we had two grand juries for murder cases. So, the grand juries, at least for murders, were down
this past year. Um, with the jury trials, when you look at appeals, um, when we try those cases that have the serious consequences or the prison sentences, um, they normally result in an appeal. So, when we have high years of jury trials, we know the next year is
going to be a high year of appeals. Um, right now we have 14 pending. We've had six come in since January 2nd. Um, so we are not only working on the litigating in the court for in the district court,
but a lot of our attorneys are now working in the appellet court as well, writing the briefs and doing the oral arguments. So, it will be a busy year of appellet work as well. Um, I just threw in a some of the stats for our convictions. Um, we had three murder
cases resolved that it resulted in about 787 months of prison. We had four attempted murders that we either went through trial or resolved for 753 months. Again, the drugs and the weapon charges, as usual, were pretty high. Um,
they come with pretty high prison sentences. So, we had 16 either drug or weapons crimes that resolved. We actually had a carjacking, which is a newer statute in Minnesota. Um, but we have seen those come through as well.
and we had a criminal vehicular homicide that also resolved. As for the drug seizures or um work within our community, we had 44 first or second degree drug sale cases charged
out. We seized 155 fentinel pills from the puny, 340 grams of powdered fentanyl. um up dramatically I think from last year was the amount of meth that was seized and certainly the amount
of cocaine. Um we had one I think one big case that had a lot of cocaine seizure that we were able to get off of the streets um and get those individuals charged. I think it is worth saying uh 30 criminal jury trials, not 60. Uh just uh
I think when we said that originally, it's 30 as in the slide, which is still up greatly. You know, we've averaged for a long time somewhere in the 25 to 30 range for a long time and then they went down remarkably over the co years and then kind of stayed very low for quite a
period of time, but we're back around and that's averaging two or a little bit more than that per month, which is about right like like Pam said, more attorneys getting uh more familiar with the the trial piece and everything. I will say this year looks to be extremely busy. As
you might know or understand the idea sometimes those bigger cases, some of the murder cases that we've had, uh we've had some different um defendants um that were uh what we call rule 20, but not competent to stand trial. It takes a long period of time to get them
back up to competency. So, that's happened. And so we have some uh murder trials u couple different cases that have moved quicker but several that were slower are all kind of coming at at one time. So I know uh Miss Foss is a very busy schedule for murder trials coming
up this year. So it's going to be going to be a very hectic year I think on the trial side of things. So >> and then one other thing that I wanted to note about our office is that we do have a high volume of violent crimes which means a high volume of victim needs. That's one thing I think our
office really focuses on is keeping the public safe but also when we have these victims of these violent crimes like being supportive of them um trying to make those victims whole which I think will come up later in the presentation.
Um but we had 174 new domestic related offenses LA opened in the past year. Um we had 70 sexual assaults or child sexual assault or um CSAM or used to be called child pornography cases or
predatory offender cases. We had 70 opened in the past year and 94 assault or serious assault or robbery cases. Um that means we have a lot of victims with a lot of needs that not only um are suffering either economically or
emotionally from the event itself but the stress of going through a trial. So, one of our highlights and we talked about it I think last year is we are working towards getting a facility dog in the office that will help with those victims to navigate through the process.
We are top on the list is what I'm said for the next dog that comes through. So, we're hoping within the next few months we will have that dog in the office and get that training going. >> What? >> We haven't in our office before. No. So,
this will be the first time. It's a kind of a new thing in Minnesota, but a lot of agencies are jumping on board. I know Pulp County Attorney's Office, they just got one in October. >> Um, from the same place that we're hoping to get one. I've met that dog. So they're really helpful in this.
>> I think as the board might remember we presented before and and we had been told that it could be anywhere from 6 to 12 months but uh in fact it um uh we were hoping it'd be shorter but it really has been close to about a year now. So that uh just the way it it goes
but we are anxious and hoping that it'll come sooner than later. So, >> uh, in regard to the civil division, um, the three attorneys that work with, uh, with Miss Stock, um, James Lopez, Reed
Thomas, Melissa McCabe, both Reed and and Melissa are newer, uh, within the office, but they're doing a terrific job for us. Looking at the some of the numbers, the CHIPS cases, about uh, 66 cases. We had three uh, termination of
parental rights trials last year. those are regularly appealed. Our our truency work both between the the civil office and then also um with the u victim witness service and and and juvenile services that I know Michelle
will talk about here shortly. Um but but constantly working to to work on truency. We know that truency is important just because that can kind of be that tip of the iceberg if a child's missing school that that can show or lead to other difficulties that that child might be experiencing. So we do
the county attorney mediation program where we invite parents to come in before we have to file a chips um involving that family and involving that juvenile to just uh stress on them the importance of getting into school and and being productive, understanding
their place in society. So, we've been doing that for uh the last two years and it's been very successful. Um I the the long uh the MAFPA, the Minnesota African-American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act
that I know you're familiar with and have seen from Quinn. We know that's coming up uh as a a piece that will be impacted by as well. I think largely when we look at everything that's going to happen with that, we believe that,
you know, the the real impact is upfront to to social services and the work they have to do, it may even cause some of our numbers to go down a little bit in the CHIPS area just because it's about reunification and keeping the child out with family members. So, we'll see how that goes, but we're prepared for it,
prepared for its imple implementation. So, I think it should go pretty smooth within our office. Our juvenile cases, uh, you can see they're they're up a little bit. Uh it's good to have the SRO's back in the school. That's uh obviously helps us to have eyes on and and see what's out there as well as
again juvenile services from our office that are in the schools. We have seen an increase in some of the more serious crimes within the schools. Fentanyl pills within a middle school, that's pretty serious. We just haven't really seen that kind of thing. some firearms issues also that again we're we're
looking to address those and and stay on top of those along with law enforcement. And then lastly on this slide, the law change that goes into effect August 1st of 2026 where 10 through 12 year olds will no longer be considered uh if if
they have an act that's regularly considered a crime, it will not be considered a crime any longer. that will be a child in need of protection or services matter. And I think how that impacts is more than likely what you'll see is a lowering of the juvenile case numbers, but you're going to see an
increase within the the CHIPS cases when those matters come be more directed towards getting the parents to be involved instead of putting them into the juvenile system. So, uh that's how we look at that and and we'll see where that impact comes. We'll probably have some bigger numbers for you next year. I
think one of the things that Miss Stock really wanted to highlight is the work we've done with adoptions. And I do think it's it's it's a terrific amount of work and very uh interesting and productive. And the next slide I have too just demonstrates within a graph. But back in 2022 when we were looking at
average days that a child that was looking at adoption was in foster care, they were at around an average of 883 days almost three years uh that they were there. and and that just had to do with a lot of the wasn't that they were just languishing, but a lot of the work
that went into it, private attorneys trying to work through the whole process thing. And then we adopted a a more streamlined uh approach where we're doing the majority of the paperwork up front uh for them. And that really
worked to drop the days that uh child is in foster care. So we went from 883 days down to 570 down to 497. The average days last year 2000 2025 were 205 days. And so you just look at that financial
impact or cost uh that's a child in foster care every day. Just the work that socials workers are doing, mileage, meals, the travel time, all that. It just it really helps to reduce u cost, case load, stress that's on that system. So uh they should be very proud of
themselves the work they did. just a graph demonstrating the the amount of time and the fact that that increased or the decrease in time in foster care for those children's around 77%. So they really need to be complimented on that work that's been going on. Our
guardianships were were fairly uh limited last year but that's usually about average 9 to 12 somewhere around there. Um we're seeing higher levels of litigation in some of those uh get more contested. our commitments are up uh which we've kind of expected and seen
that uh just a lot of different mental health issues that are ongoing. Rule 20s are again cases where individuals have committed a crime but have mental health issues and then they're not processing through the court currently. They're instead going through mental health
treatment and and and that type of thing. So had quite a few of those as well. uh adult foster care license revocations was another piece that u that Miss Doc wanted to highlight because we have seen that where instead of uh the child foster care side of
things. This is adult foster care for for um adults that are are um vulnerable. So vulnerable adult issues. Um but we had seen abuses in the past and where you see some of that fraud. Uh, I think it's good for the board to
know that that social service has done a terrific job of faring that out, finding that out and and and stopping it. So, a lot of the cases that we've had, um, the last five or six, um, they've identified that early. They've been successful, uh,
they've been successful on appeal, and a lot of those cases are now cases that are being seen in court when they're discussing some of the fraud type things that you're seeing down in in the Twin Cities. they're they're referencing back to Klay County cases. So, uh they've done a great job uh both social services
as well as the attorneys that have worked on those cases. And then, uh financial recovery side of things, our forfeitures, we we took in about 39,000 uh dollars in forfeite money last year. Our billing for child support and
welfare fraud that we can get from the state. Uh again, around 17,000. We've had several tax court appeals. uh those are businesses that are are working uh with and and disputing issues uh through Jill um with the assessor's office. And
so we uh work through those. They are complex litigation. They involve lengthy discovery and work. Um and then the probate work that we've done over the last few years when Katie came on, I think also needs to be highlighted. We we didn't always see some of those
numbers uh getting uh money back. you know, the the money that's owed for medical assistance and those types of things that uh can and should be recovered. We've done a good job of of bringing that in. So, um those are important numbers to look at as well. We
had contract litigation last year. We were able to recover about $135,000 and so that was good work in the civil team. And then obviously just continue to advise all the county departments. talked a little bit last week just in my
update um when when Mark Sloan was talking about ADA compliance. We have a lot of compliance uh issues that are ongoing and so our documents that we use proposed orders um when we do motions and everything else. So the court now
need to be in a ADA compliance form. So that's a we have over 200 uh proposed orders that we provide to the court. So, we're working through all those now to have them uh updated and correct here by April. So, that's a a big project that the the legal assistants are working on.
With that, I know Michelle's here and I'll let her jump in to talk victim services and juvenile diversion. >> Sorry to bump the time up. >> That's okay. Good morning. I'm glad it was here. So, thank you. Um, so as far as our victim services and juvenile
diversion team, um, we have currently, uh, we're in negotiations with filling our part-time, um, victim witness coordinator position. That individual would be working primarily with our juvenile matters. And then, uh, some of our adult case load as well. um that's a
20-hour a week position that's been really helpful for um just some of the increases that we're seeing and the the severity of cases that kind of take away time from other coordinators as well um to kind of fill in. So Lexi Gomez is I
think on her um started her sixth year, fifth or sixth year here with the county um as a full-time she's the 40hour uh victim coordinator that works primarily with our domestic violence type cases. Um and then Nikki Ericson uh has been
she's on her 17th year here with the county and she does a lot with our um property related offenses but really has taken on a a higher level of some of our more serious um personal crimes as well. Just again because of the nature of what we're taking in and how we can kind of
uh spread that out amongst all of the coordinators that we do have. Um, as far as our juvenile diversion and restorative justice, we have Lucas Brandon still in the role of our coordinator for uh, restorative practices, and he's at a full-time um, level. And then Peter Ferguson was who
we were able to bring in um, part-time at 20 hours uh, for the duration of our um, uh, restorative practices initiative grant that we received from the state. So, both of those individuals are out in the schools. Um, Lucas is someone who
travels out in um all of the Klay County school districts. Uh, Peter is primarily focused on Morehead schools. Uh, most often at Horizon just because that's where a lot of our needs are being met with um with the cases that that we're
seeing there. Um, we for victim services, we continue to provide support and assistance to victims and witnesses throughout the criminal justice system. I would say um in years past are kind of from incident
to trial. We wouldn't normally say maybe that would take about nine months to a year's time. I would say we have cases now that are on that 2 to three year mark. So, the length of time that we're continuing to work with some victims throughout the criminal justice system
has definitely extended just because of the I think the um the volume of cases, the severity of cases and just um the reality I think of the the justice system and and the case loads that the judges are seeing as well. So, um, we do
feel like we're having a lot of our connections are are kind of a little more, uh, lengthy than what we've experienced to in the past, but we want to make sure that we're still providing um, victims their informations for their rights to be able to um, enforce and ensure those throughout our court
processes. Um, provide with those court notifications, assist with any restitution and reimbursement that they might have available to them. um attend court with them and then really connect them to some of the re uh referrals and resources in our community. Um and then
with restitution um this is a big piece that I know Nikki provides for our office which has been super helpful. She just is um really knowledgeable and and just really competent in in working through some of our restitution requests. So, we had um 43
requests for just individuals um for reimbursement. That amounted to $296,000 that were able to be requested back from defendants. And then 46 businesses requested a total of $3,444,000
um in this last calendar year. Uh committee work. So we're uh each coordinator kind of has some designation based on their case load. So we do participate in elder the elder abuse committee that's designated to Klay County. Um our domestic violence court
is something that Lexi assists with and kind of co-f facilitates with the rape and abuse crisis center. We have a human trafficking committee that we're involved in. our juvenile law enforcement committee, the Klay County collaborative, safe roads, um our restorative practices advisory
committee, and then Lucas is a part of one of the stakeholders with the family resource center. So, I think all of that connection allows us to learn what's going on, be kind of at the front end of of changes as they happen, but also make sure that those partners know what
services that we're able to offer to those individuals, too. Um, there'll be another request for proposals for uh another grant for our crime victim services grant. That's been one that we've continued to have, I know, throughout my duration here, I'm sure,
back into the uh n u 1990s there was probably funding. So, we've we've maintained and um continue to seek out funding to help support some of the costs with our program. Um this year is a competitive grant. I know they've already talked about there's going to be
a reduction in what dollars are available from the state. Um I did meet with my grant manager. Uh the challenge I see is that we aren't really viewed as um we're viewed more rural at times and
so we get similar grant funding than some of our very rural counterparts. um you know, even Norman County, I think, is similar because the state just kind of disperses based on geographical regions. And so I've been working with her to show how we can better align the
work that we're doing, the cases that we have, and try to correlate that better with the grant funds that we receive because I do think um it could be more proportionate is kind of my goal here too in this next cycle. Um, with the juvenile referrals, I just
wanted to take a look at 24 and 25. So, um, we received 253 referrals for our juvenile diversion program. 42 of those for were for outside of the Morehead area. 180 were within Morehead. 31 could be individuals who committed an offense
in Morehead, but don't necessarily reside here. So, we've had some juveniles maybe who are in Fargo or they've gotten traffic things, but they're not from this community. And so, we do help and kind of manage some referrals even uh with individuals outside. A lot of those are probably
going to be our online educational courses. So, those are self-pay um programs that those juveniles might be receiving as well. But, um we do have some individuals if the crime is happening here in Morehead, we're still working through those. Um, so for
prevention cases, these are individuals who are not yet gotten or it hasn't been to the point of law enforcement involvement, but they're kind of seeing that things are either bubbling up. We have students that are selfreerring. Actually, they've said that we have
issues with another student. How can you help me kind of work through this? And so those prevention referrals, I think, are really impactful. And that's a lot of the work that Peter is doing right now, too. Um and then 20 145 were direct diversion referrals either through law
enforcement or um our the county attorney's office and then 20 were from disposition. So these would be after someone's gone through court. Um there's some restorative practices opportunities we can do while on probation. Um so
those numbers definitely increased from 24 to 25. A lot of that again I think is just um a role of Peter being in the schools, us being a little more prevention focused to try to alleviate um and address these issues sooner than
it becoming a criminal act. And so um the prevention, it was just great to see how much more we can do kind of on the front end. So we're seeing an increase. A lot of that too I think is just being in the schools being present. I know both Lucas and Peter are individuals
that students, teachers, and administrators recognize and are kind of reaching out to them to um let them know what's going on and trying to get a handle on things. So, um as far as the grant portion of this funding, um we do
receive Klay County collaborative funds and then um most of the growth that we were able to have came from this restorative practices initiative grant. And so we had some uh budgeting set aside for consulting. Um check and connect is through Morehead Area Public
Schools. We were able to partner with them to hire a full-time um truency coordinator. That would be uh Brody Clark is his name. So he is working with students who are really at the cusp of not quite um that full 15-day drop, but
kind of that's where they're going is is some of those really um those truency concerns. And so he's doing daily check-ins with them, whether that's one-on-one or um electronically texting them, where you at, are you at school? How are things going? And then there's
weekly um face tofaces that he's having with those students as well. And program evaluation, we're meeting with an individual um from UND who's helping us just kind of uh work through efficiency, what's going how are we showing our
success as far as this program goes. And so that's been I think will be a really uh beneficial thing too on the back end of this to show what this um 18 months has been for this funding. And then we do have some restitution dollars which is a great resource that we have
available. A lot of juveniles if they have a criminal offense that then they're responsible for that cost. It's either on the parents or we're trying to recoup that in a lot of different ways and it's really challenging. So through this grant we were able to allocate a
certain set of funding to um be able to pay to re make that victim whole for what they were out and in um lie of that we're asking juveniles to do community service. So we kind of have a graph um designated by how many hours they would
need to do um in order to kind of re um show their faith in kind of getting this um reimbursement given to the victim. So, it's been a great opportunity that we just haven't had funding like that for in the past. Um, and then the rest really is just that um assistance with
helping uh fund uh both Peter fully but then a portion of Lucas's role as well. Um, and then just as far as victim services, really just the amount of contacts with victims, um, and our increase over the
years, we're just, uh, again, I think what we're seeing is the numbers might not be that much more, but the severity of the cases and the longevity of having contact with these individuals, I think, is we're really seeing the impacts of that.
And with that, uh, again, thank you for everything, the support, uh, of our office and and support of public safety and and everything that all of you do for it. So much appreciated. Been a busy year and I expect it'll be a busy year upcoming. >> Yeah.
>> Fantastic. Yes, Commissioner. >> I just want to jump in. Uh, part of my portfolio, I'm on the the ARPAC committee, restorative justice practices. Uh Michelle has done a remarkable job at getting grant funding
and with that money she's put together a great group of community members on our pack and I can't say enough about uh Peter and Lucas and and Brody. You've got some real exceptional
great people that are working with our schools and the kids relate to them. I I work out with one of the teachers at Morehead High and knows knows these two guys like she just gives the highest praise to
them and they relate to the kids and they do really good work. Uh you know, I can't say enough about that. I we this is an area that's overlooked a whole lot of places and this is pulling kids out
of a situation uh before it becomes ingrained or more ingrained and gives kids that have made a mistake a chance to own their pro their their actions and be accountable for them but not go into life with the label and it's just been a
great experience for me to work with them and I can't say enough about it. Michelle's done an excellent job. >> Thank you so much for the work that you do for the county. We really are grateful for all of that. And uh I echo
the sentiments on the grant pieces. Uh finding folks that can write well to secure funding to continue those the great work. And I'm sure that you'll need some grant funding potentially for the dog piece. I don't know if that's
>> I I think largely that's going to come through uh use with forfeite funds. We'll be able to fund any piece of that with forfeite. >> Wonderful. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you all. Appreciate it. >> We'll go ahead and take a fivem minute break quick.
Okay. Item 12, we're back. is a request for approval for the Klay County Board of Commissioners to send a letter to Minnesota DNR requesting an extension for public comment opportunity pertaining to the recent release of the public water inventory study. >> All right, Erin, you're going to pitch
it. >> I'm going to try to pitch it. Um, my next two things deal with water and uh not my wheelhouse except for drinking it. So, I'm going to try to muddle through this. Um, as you know, in and last week we had a few citizens come in
and describe the difficulty that they were having in filling out the forms for the MD um, Minnesota DNR for the uh, public water inventory study. And unfortunately that the comment period is
was only 60 days and ends on February 19th. And so, um, Commissioner Bear asked that we submit a letter to the Minnesota DNR, uh, requesting a 30-day extension to that comment period. And
so, that is what's in your packet, um, on I don't know what page it is, but the letter is uh, in your packet, and the request is to send that to DNR to see if they would extend the uh, extend the comment period for another 30 days. Good
job, Darren. Commissioner Bear. >> So, after last week's meeting, I had some more land owners reach out to me and explain the difficulty of a putting comment in. So, I thought this would be a good idea to see if we could get them to extend it 30 more days. So, the 60
days, it's a 60-day comment period, but the first 30 days, they sent out a letter notifying us about of a public hearing 30 days later. And then after that 30 days, that's when the last 30 days starts. And it's coming to a head here on Friday,
>> Thursday. I think it's Thursday the 19th. >> The 19th. 19th or 20th. But yeah. So with this letter, hopefully they'll extend it another 30 days, especially Klay County being the first county to go through this. I I think that hopefully they'll listen to us and give give the
land owners another 30 days to get through this process and see how it works out. So that's why I asked for this letter and I support this letter. >> Commissioner Kov, did you have that comfort and make a motion? >> Is uh
>> Wait, >> I just >> So Commissioner Kavanagh made a motion. Do you want to second that? >> Second. >> Okay. Commissioner Ebinger comments. >> I thought we were one of five counties that are doing >> four. >> One of one of four, but we were the first one to hold the public hearing of the four. Have we uh reached out the
other four to see if they want to join us in this effort? I >> I have not yet. No. So, Commissioner Ebinger, to that question. One, we've not reached out to the other counties, but shortly after the hearing that was held at the Yums, Commissioner Bear and
I uh had AMC's environment policy analyst, Brian Martinson, reach out to us to ask us about potential issues that had been brought up from residents during that time, all falling sort of within the same uh area. Because I heard
Thursday that we were putting this on the agenda. I did have a chance to circle back with Brian about the dialogue. There have been some additional comments from folks that have expressed difficulty with the mediums allowed to submit comments. And he he
did generally support what Klay County is doing here. understanding that this is a short turnaround and given session starts at noon might not have official action from DNR but thought it was important for counties to go on the record about the counties or the
difficulties being encountered. Now, I think it's important for the public to know that because the comments are set to close on Friday, DNR will start working through the comments that have been received. And there is um an
ability, not official, an ability for folks to continue to upload comments during the process as they work through that. And then once DNR weighs in on official comments on the received questions, there'll be an additional
90day time frame for folks to submit comments. So, um, there is a avenue for folks to continue to do this, but given the fact that Commissioner Bear expressed we're the first four counties to do this. We're the first county to
have the deadline, uh, making sure that they tweak this for a better userfriendly process moving forward is the most. >> There's still a lot of counties out there that haven't even started in this and we can impact on that. >> That's a great I appreciate Commissioner
Bear bringing this to uh bringing up this this idea and it addresses the concerns we've heard heard from our constituents. So very very much supportive of this. >> We do have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
>> Could we also send the letters to Senator Coop Kek and Representative Joy so they're aware of it. >> Let's copy Koop Joy. Well, all all of them. >> All five. >> Keeler, Gander, and Johnson. >> Yeah. I'll accept that in the motion.
>> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Item 13 is a request approval to submit congressional directed funding application Klay Countyy's magnes and
arsenic mitigation west central regional water supply project. Darren, are you pitching this one, too? >> I'm gonna I'm gonna tackle this one, too. Um, this is a uh West Central Regional Water Supply Project. Uh, as you know, goes from Norman and Pulk
County and Klay County. And what they're looking at is um bringing over four 40,000 residents and businesses uh a sustainable and abundant water supply uh coming from I believe it's the source is North Dakota.
>> Yeah. East Central Regional Water. Yeah. >> And so, um, they are looking for a grant to, I believe it's to water test for these maganesees and arsenic levels within the water supply. And the
cost for that testing would be $5,566. And I'm sorry, five 5,566,888. So, so >> that would be more than just testing >> that that's what we are looking for to
receive from the >> where we at here >> the application pot 5 million6 >> and we we've applied for this through Klay County from years past. So this isn't the first time we Klay County is
doing this on behalf of West Central Regional Water District. The only clarification maybe for the minutes would be that it's identified that that's the pool of money. The cost impact is slightly deceiving. It looks like it could potentially uh be a Clay
County specific. >> So, let's just have the minutes reflect that if that's the intent. >> That's the intent. >> Any further discussion >> here? Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the submitting the con congressional directed funding application for the West Central
Regional Water District Project. >> We have a motion offered by Commissioner Bayer, a second from Commissioner Krabanoff. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed, same sign. Carried. Thank you.
>> Thank you, >> Commissioner Ebinger. Committee reports. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, last Tuesday on the 10th, uh, I attended with the rest of the county EDC EDA quarterly discussion.
Uh, Matt Lysith is a new executive director in MOR Downtown Morehead, Inc. or Morehead Downtown, Inc. Uh we've had a lot of support from them in the past and uh Matt presented gave us some uh
information on what's going on in downtown Morehead and he also indicated a fairly good idea of of the county position on a lot of things. um update on social media and highlighting businesses and Klay County
land availability and promotion of economic uh development tools. I had a up brief update on innovate 28 and Klay County Commission cho choosing not to participate in that.
um had reports from the comm from the cities on this and it really was impressive what they're doing out in some of our smaller cities in the county. A lot of good ideas and a lot of good energy. Dworth, Barnesville, Holly
uh really are are breaking some ground to in growth and and funding on things. So all all things considered was very impressive meeting and that concludes my report. >> Thank you Commissioner Evinger. Commissioner Kavanagh.
>> Thank you Madam Chair. So Tuesday the 10th along with uh the rest of you uh I was part of the EDA EDA EDC and EDA that Commissioner just reported on very thoroughly. I really
don't have anything to add other than just uh um double down on how effectively the work is going for these four communities that uh we talked to with the bigger projects and growth for their
own communities. On Wednesday the 11th, I along with Steve Sums from um Solutions Behavioral Health went down to uh the cities uh to the Association of Minnesota Counties and meted met with a
ad hoc group between AMC and Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. Um uh we gave a presentation for our uh two-step process with the PRTF and the nonsecure um
uh uh request that we're trying to get bonding for from u uh legislature this session. Um a lot of support uh by all the tribes and um um yeah it was afternoon well spent. We
discussed it for over an hour. So, a lot of positive feedback and energy to move into session. And then on Thursday, I was part of the SWCD meeting. I think on those notes, uh I think I'll pass on to uh Ezra and he can give a more thorough
report. That's all my my meetings. >> Thank you, Commissioner Kraov. Commissioner Barry. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I was also at the EDC meeting last Tuesday. And then that night I went to three township meetings, Spring Prairie, Glendon, and
Riverton Township. Attended all three of those meetings, gave them an update at what's happening at the county and informed them about the public hearing on the rifle zone that we did earlier that day. Then on Wednesday the 11th, I was at the
Wild Rice Wershed District meeting. It was a quick meeting. They only had five applications there. Two of them were tabled. One was returned and one was approved and one was withdrawn. We also had another public waters input there
update there from Wild Rice because of a lot of the property in Klay County is in the wild rice district that is being added. So we discussed that at that meeting as well. And then Thursday, I went to the S SWCD
board meeting where we discussed farm farmstead windbreaks and field wind brakes where we approve where they approved about what is it 2, three, four, five,
six, six field windbreaks and another four farmstead windbreaks for cash share. And then we also discussed the public waters input study that they're doing and we went more in depth with them
there. They came out of that meeting said going to be sending a letter to the DNR as well to ask them to come out and look at all the properties that they're potentially adding to actually have them physically come out and look at them. Put boots on the ground. So they will be sending that letter out.
Hopefully that was meeting. Hopefully they'll have it sent out. if they haven't I haven't followed back to see when they've gotten it sent out, but they plan on getting it sent out this in this week. And then that evening I went to
Mullen Township and Highland Grove meeting. I went to both those meetings also on Wednesday, Thursday night. And then last night I went to the Keen Township meeting. So, I've attended a few township meetings and given them updates on yeah, what's
happening at the county with the West Regional Water District meetings and uh gun shotgun rifle zones. So, and other updates in the county. So, that was all the uh meetings I had. Madam Chair, >> thank you, Commissioner Bear. Last week,
I also had the opportunity to attend the EDA EDC meeting. Really grateful for that opportunity to hear from them. uh they just do such a great job of finding additional resources and grants available for their communities.
Barnesville just had a a federal awardee of some congressional designated uh funds as well. That's really exciting. uh but to hear from all of them uh what they're doing and then to talk a little bit about how we can continue to
collaborate with them or share resources to uh expedite the cause. We did have a pretty good discussion about legislative priorities and how we can continue to help each other going forward there as well. Earlier that day I had the pick committee meeting. We did have a long
discussion on all of the items that this board uh did address earlier. So, I appreciate this board's support on that. The Wednesday the 11th, I attended the Red River Basin Commission joint powers
board meeting. We had really good updates on some of the grant processes and work there. I attended the Buffalo Reder Watershed District Citizen Advisory Committee. Great updates on
those projects, particularly of note are the the Clay Clay County ones that they're continuing or just um starting. So, I appreciate that dialogue. I did we cancel the legislative meeting
day? >> Okay. I believe we did have a Klay County legislative planning meeting. We talked about uh the session that starts here in two hours. So uh we will continue the work. I'll head down to the Twin Cities uh in a half hour to make
sure we're there for the opening day of session. And then that day I also had the solid waste discussion. We did discuss a number of issues that are moving forward particularly in the uh realm of the demo landfill discussion.
Thursday morning I had an additional uh watershed policy committee meeting did have some discussion on some uh work with Houston agreements moving forward and then traveled down to St. Paul, I
attended Thursday and Friday the AMC futures committee meeting. Really great planning and dialogue. We had a long long discussion with uh DOC representatives particularly in um uh the rule making realm. How what is the
process for rule making? What is the input ability for rule making? what is that cycle and how it gets back to legislators which it doesn't really seem like uh rulemaking discussion does get back to legislators. I know we've had this discussion in regards to
environment natural resources issues as well. And so how do we fill that void so that we're educating legislators that are making the rules on issues that are uh really pertinent to folks uh locally. So really great updates on that. And then we did have a representative from
the Minnesota Sheriff's Association. As you know, the sheriff's association did have a vote of no confidence uh with uh the commissioner. And so how do we bridge that gap since we're all really working together uh on issues and then
also had a long discussion with the uh deed commissioner on issues that local folks are seeing particularly with paid family implementation and how um if there's any iss uh room for negotiations when we see some issues that might not
uh might gaps in what's allowed and not allowed. So, uh definitely more to come on that one, but uh we will see. And that I believe concludes my reports.
Darren, thank you, Madam Chair. Um first and foremost, and probably the most important is that uh Anna and Eric uh welcomed a new baby boy last Tuesday. All are doing well and healthy as far as I know. Um, I I did ask her she was
coming back to work on Monday and I did not hear back from her. So, I'm assuming I'm going to be in that role for the next 12 weeks. >> So, cong congratulations to them. Uh, Tuesday the uh 10th, I also attended the
pick meeting. U most of the items were dealt with today. Um, we do appreciate the department heads not having to come back and that that things are on the consent of agenda if they're just replacing uh an employee that's already been budgeted for. I think that certainly helps and we can try that and
see if it it works. Um, I also attended the EDC EDA meeting which has already been covered on Wednesday the 11th. Um, we had a Klay County management meeting. some of the things that we discussed there. Uh we discussed the uh April 24th
management retreat and uh what what that's going to entail and uh trying to get maximum participation on that. Uh we notified the department's heads of the change from 1,000 to 5,000 for the inventory asset policy and the 1,000 to
10,000 for the building asset policy which uh the board approved. I believe it was last week. Um, we discussed some of the 2026 legislative priorities. We had an update from IT on the new app extender program, which is uh what HR
uses and other departments use for all of our file um documentation and data. Um, we got a update on the GIS website accessibility improvements and we
discussed uh that during you we discussed that during Mark's uh department update when he gave that on uh making our website accessible um meeting uh referenced the background checks for detox with Melissa, Jesse and
Troy. a legislative planning meeting. I also attended that. Um the bathing committee meeting. Uh one of the big projects this year is the replacement of the heating plant roof at a cost of about $100,000. Um Joe went
through that. uh also discussed the security at the front desk of the courthouse and how that can be configured uh better to have more people come in and not have to stand outside when they're processing people through the uh the um metal detectors.
Uh we talked about public health giving up a portion of their area and we also talked about um the LEC. The BCA came down and did an inspection on the LEC and had some security storm uh concerns
about some of the windows and the door alarms. So Joe is working on that as well. Um, and then we also talked about uh the county conference space and and who can use county meeting rooms and when. So
Joe put together a policy on that. Um, and so I'm assuming eventually that will come to the full board for approval. Um, meeting with Corey referenced the demo landfill and some of the portions that might be available going forward. uh
it's still in the initial planning phases and we also discussed the score funding and how funds are distributed and trying to come up with a fair calculation method. So that was all on uh February 11th. So it was a very busy
day. Um on the Thursday the 12th I had a discussions with Quinn on some personnel issues. had an email going to the 49ers group on the maintenance supervisor and road foreman moves that we were planning to do which we discussed today and on
Friday had a meeting with Steve to discuss items that may come up during his vacation time and that concludes my report. >> Thank you Darren Brian. >> No thank you. >> Okay Sarah, do you have anything? Okay. All right. Any other business before the
board? If not, our next meeting would be Tuesday, February 24th at 8:30. We are adjourned.