Good morning everyone. I'll call the uh committee of the whole work session to order where we are supporting community through quality public service at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20th. So we have an agenda of um the minutes from the
previous work session. Um the Northland Climate Resilience Collaboration is um going to be presenting today. Sawtooth Bluff Private Property follow-up discussion and the 2026 budget guidelines. We also have minutes of the
standing committees from airport advisory, budget and facilities, building committee, highway advisory committee, and personnel committee from past meetings. So, I'll turn this over to uh the uh Northland Climate
Resilience Collaboration introduction. All right. Good morning. Um, I am Elena Hansel for those who don't know me and the district manager for the um, Cook County Stolen Water Conservation District. I have on the phone here Deanna and I'm going to not pronounce
your name right, Gil Hood. Um, she is with ARDC and a little background and she can maybe elaborate more. Um, the ARDC reached out when administrator Yorkie was here and applied for a Noah grant and it was to build climate
resiliency uh along the Northshore. There is a map provided or you'll see one and it's it's quite extensive. It's through Lake County and through Cook County and through part of St. Louis County. It encompasses more than just environment. It encompasses a lot more
which Diana can explain because she's the lead on it. Uh I was reached out um when they started the process from Commissioner Mills to have somebody on the conservation district also be part of this process. And so actually Steven Janice, conservation technician, is
going to be taking more of the lead on this. But he it's our field season and so I'm the only one in the office right now. So I am here uh to support Deanna and the work that they're doing as it relates to all of us and all of our work that we do each day. So Diana, I'm going to turn it over to you then. Wonderful.
Thank you and good morning all. Thank you for having me today at this committee of the whole meeting. Thank you for your work and commitment to this region, making it a great place now and for future generations. Um so before I get into that slide about the Northland Climate Resilience Collaborative, I did
want to share a little bit of background. Um so yes, this is a grant from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. This is a four-year planning grant um with a purpose to strengthen resilience against climate change and coastal hazards. in this region. Um the idea of this
collaborative came from many years of conversation in the region um like the 2019 Lowe's conference, some other gatherings in 2019. Um in 2022 there was the Western Lake Superior climate resilience forum where like 115 people came together and one of one of the
recommendations was to create a collaborative in the region. This also came up in the 2023 Midwest Climate Resilience Conference in Duth. Um so the entities that make up the leadership team are the folks that came together to write a proposal for this to create a
collaborative um to plan climate resilience and just resilience for the region. Um and when we're talking about resilience um in this context we're talking about the capacity of a community, business or natural environment to prevent withstand and respond to and recover from a
disruption. Um so this can look like a whole lot of things and this work is obviously already happening in this region. Um so this collaborative is to help add capacity and time for folks to kind of cross some of those political borders
whether it be um with the tribal nations or the counties um but adding capacity for folks to come together and learn from one another. Um, so this during the proposal process, as Lena mentioned, um, administrator Yorkie was our contact for
Cook County. Um, and yeah, that was kind of the the grant launched in October. Um, I think Commissioner Stoley, you were at the November ARDC board meeting. Um, and that I think was the first time I presented about this work. Uh, so
we're still kind of in formation. um but I am the coordinator for this work um as well as my colleague Seth Spencer who's at the University of Minnesota um coming together. So let's let's take a look at this slide together. Um this is a four-year project
as I mentioned with uh the objective to create this collaborative especially this first year we're focused on relationship building of this leadership team. As you can see, the folks listed there encompasses uh other counties that are kind of in the upper watershed of Lake Superior, including Carlton because
they are in the St. Louis River, St. Louis, Lake and Cook, Grand Portage, Boysport, and Fondelac Tribal Nations. Um, as well as 1854 treaty authority because that red outline there is the seated territory which is pretty much all within the boundaries of this project.
Um so as these partners have come together uh our work will be to develop a regional climate and resilience plan um and this will involve gathering priorities from the region. So one of the aspects of this work we'll be doing
some engagement um within Cook County in upcoming years. Um and we're also really excited to be working with these tribal nations. That's kind of my background is working with tribes um to add indigenous knowledge and perspectives into this planning process and to generally just
build regional capacity um for us to do this work together. So um as I shared we're in the early stages. I presented about this work to Lake County boards getting on the schedule the other two county boards uh
which is Carlton and St. Louis. Um we I met with Commissioner Mills a couple months ago about this work. Um and then working with Lingan and Steven from the Fly Water Conservation Districts as they're part of the leadership team. We get together every other month. Um our next inerson gathering will be up in
Grand Portage in July. Um so mostly we wanted to just let you know that this work is happening and there will be some engagement in upcoming years. Um some of the outcomes for Cook County um will be increased knowledge sharing of kind of successes and what works in this region in terms of resilience. Um sharing
priorities that can be part of this regional plan. Being part of this united voice that can help the region get grants and input policy. Um having access to this regional data. The university is part of um this collaborative and they have a lot of
climate data that can get really sight specific looking at you know you know increased storms um and very specific to communities. So being able to incorporate that into planning I think will be helpful for the partners involved um as well as there'll be
community education and feedback opportunities for Cook County to benefit from. So that is a general overview. Um, happy to answer questions uh if there's any anything you're wondering about. Thank you.
Diana, can you can you remind me how to pronounce your last name? Gilhead. Yeah. Oh, and I guess I would just add I had the opportunity to to join virtually one of the uh meetings. um if not two I can't recall now but uh very
um um wonderful group of people with incredible expertise and experience and passion around this very open-minded also trying to look at things critically um I was just very impressed with the group uh and really excited for for
where it's going to go any questions or comments well thank you Diana for presenting this to us and we move forward to working with you and the group and uh upcoming um ideas and meetings and sharing um
shared um interests. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time and thank you for all your work. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. Bye bye. Next item is Saut Bluff private property follow-up discussion.
And um I've asked uh I've asked Amy um Wilfred and Sue Abramson who have been working on this in the as a community effort to join us today in the conversation so that they can give you an update on what they're
working on and we also have information from from the assessor guys here. You want me to sit here? Okay. Sus, could I have some of your water? Sure. Thank you.
How much time do I get for this? Well, I will give you um a little bit of time like 10 minutes or or five minutes or 10 or 15. Yeah, that generally I just sort of ask if we could limit this part of the discussion to an hour or less. Well, it'll be an hour or less or I mean my
discussion will be but and the reason I'm thinking is this is going to be an ongoing discussion. Yeah, this is as much as an update and people to share what they've been thinking about or ideas that they have. Well, uh before we get um I wanted to ask how come the
forest service isn't involved in that northern climate resilient thing wherever she went. Anyway, that's discussion for another day. Um, well, my name is Amy Wilford and this is Sue Abrahamson and we both live on the old
ski hill road, County Road 64. I've been there since, well, I purchased land in 1994 and um, finally moved into my house in 2000 and Sue uh, bought a house in ' 91 91. So, actually Sue's been dealing
with the old ski hill um, uh, challenges since 1991. And um I was asked by Reena to come here and just kind of help you guys maybe understand a little bit better from
where we as homeowners are coming from that live on that road and the fact that we both worked in natural resource agencies or for them. And so we do have a love for nature and we're concerned about nature not only here but elsewhere
too. So, but um so the discussion you can't talk about section 17 which is the sawtooth bluff section you know when you when you're talking about the county land and the
city land without talking about um section did I say 17 yeah and seven section 7 18 is where John sheep has his 80 acres and below him is nobody called
Roberts at all at 40 acres and then the rest of that land in that area is USFS land. So, could you kind of guide us with the maps that we have? I don't have those maps, J. She's she's got more copies. This is right. If you look at
the very first page, um the yellow areas um are I think county land. The pinkish areas are city land. Oh, that's um the white right in the middle here with the that's subdivided that's John Sheep's
and that's the other private property there. So the white are private property and then the green up here is all federal land. Yeah. Yeah. So when I'm talking about section 18 it it's like this big chunk right here. When I'm ch
talking about section section 17 it's this big chunk here. And this is your your um Sawtooth Bluff Park idea area. And then here's the the county road 64 coming down the towers. And then this is
the private land. Private land and federal. So does that help guys? The other other thing on that on the second second page here, the ownership map, Bob has circled that area as defining the bluff. That's what would be
considered the bluff. So you can see how those parcels fall. We'll get to that discussion in a minute. Yeah. And that is all a part of your sawtooth mountain range that extends like all the way down to Finland all the way up to you know
that's a very in my mind it's a very unique feature and according to the DNR um with the um what is it the Minnesota biological survey that they do um like Chel Anderson wasn't quite involved in that and she knows this area
really well it's it's rated high and Sue has a map indicating that too. Um and but anyway so but the reason uh okay so just giving you a little background of the area. Um but going back as you can
see my b my binder is 3 and 1/2 in thick and if any of you want to look at my binder you're more than welcome. Um it's there's nothing to hide in here. Um, but the one thing I wanted to just start by reading is um, and I
probably can't find it. N I know it's right here. I'm not okay. This was written in 2001. We we actually started this process back in 1997 when Karen Blackburn Burn gave a talk at the community center about we've got to do
something with that land. And after that discussion, and they listed several things from a golf course to uh park to and and I'm talking about the county cityland right now. And um we met at your house and and there were a bunch of
us involved. Um and from that discussion, we decided to create a nature center up there uh called the Sawtooth Bluff Outdoor Center. and I thought it was a good idea but um it
just never got off the ground. So um then coming back and that was in like 1997 2000 discussion um then in 2001 there was a consensus agreement of
the old ski hill consensus committee and I just want to read this history real quick. Um, now this is the the old ski hill property. It isn't John She's property, but the old ski hill property is 600 acres located immediately north
of Grand Marray. 400 acres is owned by Cook County and 200 acres is owned by the city of Grand Marray. In its entirety, located within the city limits of Grand Marray. Around the turn of the last century, the property was logged and subsequently burned. In the 1950s
and60s, a portion of the property was used as a downhill ski area, including a chalet and rogue toe, and I think it was operated by the Lions Club. Um, friend of mine, a friend of ours, uh, skied down there a lot. The ski hill operation
closed in the early 60s. Two 250 foot radio towers are located on that property. More have come since then. The Northshore State Trail and the Superior Hiking Trail cross portions of the property. The Gunplant Trail and Connie Road 64 are located on the property. A
water tank, a power line, and a brush disposal burning area also found on the property. Various proposals for development of the property have been proposed over the last 50 years, but none have come to fruition.
Most recently, development proposals were requested by the joint city county economic development authority. All the proposals were ultimately rejected. So, I'm sharing that with you because I just want to give you a sense
that we have worked hard on this and um and as you know, we both worked for the Forest Service, so we worked in government and um I'm wearing out, but I don't know about Sue. Can't speak for her. So, but anyway, so yeah, so there
were a lot of proposals proposed on that property and good ideas and we met with and then John Claire's empowers did a did a um uh request for for development proposals and they talked about the
land, the um the soils, the runoff issues. I mean, it just look at look at all this stuff they talked about and it just goes on and on. And then we came up with the Sawtooth Bluff um uh the EDA mission. We met with Matt
Garage Logger and talked with him about it and you know and he looked me right in the face and said, "Don't worry, Amy. There'll be no development up there." Haha. I know, Matt. So that's why I can say that. So, but anyway, so life goes
on. North House Folk School looked at an idea there potential. Um, you know, just I mean, I don't know how much I want to go on about this, but I don't want to take too much of your time, but but I I think you're getting the picture that there've been a lot of ideas there,
a lot of work, a lot of energy by people of Cook County that were working full-time jobs and also taking on this as their interest and passion. So, um, and then even I don't know if anybody
here knows Lloyd Sheer. He was, um, he was probably 80some when we were discussing this. He's passed away since then. He even did a handwritten document on his thoughts and ideas of that area. And his his one
thing that takeaway that I really liked is he wanted to keep it for future generations because you know we're not going to be here forever but people coming after us are going to be here. So um anyway and then uh okay so then
moving on. This is kind of a nice map. This kind of helps you. This is um I can pass it around. Uh Sue Sue designed this map. A little old. A little old, but I mean it just helps you give you a visual. You
know, you can just pass it around. So I don't know how much more Well, I'll let Sue speak. Um did what are you looking for us? So So what I was hoping you guys could share is that you've organized this
group. Oh, okay. and give us an update on what you're thinking, how how we might be able to raise this money mostly. That's what I was looking for from you guys today and you know just where you've been so far and I know that several commissioners have been thinking
about this and also maybe getting some ideas that they could share back with you. Sure, that would be wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yesterday I was um hopeful we the three of us spoke with um Christine
Oster. Yeah. Um and and she was talking about um she works with the um Minnesota land trust I think and trust for public land and um and she mentioned there's
federal grants to help purchase um land. they will purchase pay up to 50% but the max is 600,000 and so um she is going to um call contact Minnesota land trust trust public land and um see if they're
interested in uh looking into purchasing this the federal grant and so that I think is positive and just um the old skill road um I was talking with another person from the road and we we're serious about
wanting to purchase this and we can dig into our pockets that uh we want to see it happen. So, and you guys formed a group, right? Oh, yeah. And Gary is a member of our group and we're calling it preserve the bluff thanks to Gary. That
was a a good idea. So, and we met one time on the 7th of May and now we're meeting this week uh tomorrow um at the community center at 3:30 to 5:30 Thursday. Thursday. Yeah. I I Yeah.
Sorry. What day is it? Yeah. So, yeah. And in that first meeting, it was a little a little rough. I mean, when you when you're trying to get started to figure out how to move forward, it's always a little rough. But I think we're
kind of settling into our roles now. Uh Dennis Kitella is on the in the discussion group. I don't even know if we're formally a committee, but but he's kind of working with the Minnesota Land Tr talking to these folks like the Minnesota Land Trust, the the Trust for
Public Lands, the Nature Conservancy, right? And I'm uh I just had to collect my all my my info here and and been keeping notes and stuff and sending out notes and Sue's my she's my right and left
brain because I don't have a brain. No, that's I'm just joking, but got a lot on my plate right now. So anyway, Dennis also talked with um parks and trails. Oh, yeah. The parks and trails folks. Yeah. Um they had
mentioned that they wanted to see the court order that says uh she does have legal access. They needed to actually see it. And I'm not sure how to go about finding that out, but hasn't that been
reviewed by our So we can get access to that? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thanks, G. and Mitch attended the initial meeting. Oh yeah, Mitch was there too. And so
discussions relative to and I had walked the parcel with Mitch and and Bob Thompson and another member's Kyle. Kyle. Yeah. So, and we we took photos and then we looked at some other parcels that were
being developed with what is being proposed there. wanted to see. And this document that was handed out uh thank you for printing that this morning was something that um I just had requested
it. Reena and uh Bob and myself had initially met following our meeting and the decision uh that was made at the time at the board meeting when Mr. chief and um
representation came was that it it seemed the consensus of the board was that they wanted to protect the land. Correct. Mr. Stley, you were not there. But after basically hearing the input, uh the decision was made, my decision
was made with the intent that that county dollars wouldn't be used to purchase it, but that we would support in any efforts that were made to try to generate the money to purchase it. And
then Commissioner Mills had said that uh he would like to see comparison values if we were to have a an evaluation done and then Bob had commented that it would take time and who would pay for it. The
price that was being offered or proposed by Mr. Sheie was a price that would stay the same whether we had a new appraisal or not. So all of those things I think led to the fact that I was willing to make a motion that that the property
would be purchased. It was clarified by attorney that we wouldn't purchase it, but the property would be purchased and that we had till the December 1st to determine that. Subsequently, there's been conversation with Mr. chief saying
that it was his understanding that a determination would be made and paperwork would be in place by December 1st. I responded that was not the intent of my motion. My motion was made in the context that we had till the December 1st. So I said that would be have to be
a further discussion with the full board as to how we proceed with which understanding. Those are things just to be mindful of, but still uh the committee and its intent is to try to move things along. Yeah. With
a little engine I could, right? Um yeah, you know, and if Mr. chief doesn't I mean it's it's more it's I think purchasing this property by private entity and a Minnesota land trust or however if somebody can help us
pay for it that's a heck of a lot easier than digging into our pockets and raising money $475,000 I mean that's the way I see it right but I don't know if that's going to happen but we're going to try so so one of the other things that Christine
brought up yesterday was that this could be a scient a DNR scientific area. I I um she's sending somebody up to do an evaluation of that. So, I think these two might go along there because they know the trails to get there easily. Um
she was also talking about conservation easements and uh a variety of other things. So, she seemed to be a person really excited about helping. So, that was a good thing. But um she said they would need if it's a scientific natural
area, they would need an easement to access it, but it that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be an established road. It just need mean means they have to be able to walk or something across another piece of land to do that. So since that other land uh
is the county's land, it seems like that's something that could be worked out. Anyway, it was a good conversation. It was very hopeful and positive and yeah, Deb, there's another funding source called the Legacy Fund. Oh, that's right. I've heard of that before.
And they pay 80% of the of the retail of the market value. Oh, and it protects the land in perpetuity, I believe, from development. Do you know if that's through the the state or the fed state? Okay. That was
legislation that was passed in connection with waters. I believe years ago. Okay. That those monies can I should know that be applied for and they do use it for buying up um I forget which area it was in but um logging
companies got rid of a lot of their forest. Oh, right. Yeah. I I can pursue that cuz Yeah. And I and I think the umbrella thing to note and was the intention with the committee is that the committee would like to
purchase the property and then transfer fee simple over to the county and the documentation that was provided was to inform this is how you would do it legally and can we do it and do we want
to do it as individuals in the committee or through an organization that is taxexempt. Do we want to apply for exemption and will it be more attractive because of the tax exempt possibility as opposed to people who care about preserving the bluff and just giving? So
all of that strategy, marketing strategy, positioning and things like that, we're looking at anyway with a intent of right just purchasing the property. This documentation is documentation that that
Bob Thompson, the cessor group had put together following our meeting with Reena and myself. And the intent here was to show the ownership. I think if you go to page six, these aren't numbered, but it's this page. Yeah, it's
this page. about six pages in. When you look at this page, it shows uh the bluff, which is the red area, and then you can see the parcels in blue that are potential parcels
uh within that area. So, what the point is in in showing this is if we say yes to one, how many potentially would we have to say yes to? So if we say that preserving the bluff is intent, what's
our exposure? And you need to look at in the context of federal land, state land, county land, and private land. And so the blue are the parcels that are within that property. Later, I think that um
Bob put in there. And and where I'm going with this is that if we say yes to one, we are in fact whether written making precedent which makes us vulnerable if you want to put it that way to anybody else's say which we did
following the motion from the parcel in the 40 right below. Right. Well, I'll send you my parcel for that. Yeah, I must. So, how many do we have? And then the other thing that was asked of Bob was how many potentially with bluffs that run throughout Cook County. Well,
the thing is though, um, Gary, there is a Northshore initiative that was done in 2013 by the Minnesota Land Trust. So maybe they're looking at something like this. I don't know for sure, but don't I wouldn't worry about that so much. And I'll tell you why. Um it took 50 years
to get us to potentially build a park on the Sawtooth Bluff property. Um this idea of you know purchasing this piece of parcel um you can only take bite one part of
the elephant at a time, right? And I just think I mean this John Chief there could be eight homes up there and it's not that I'm against development but I'm I'm against doing and I guess it's it's
my perspective that and it's I want development done right because you have this saw this mountain range it's priceless on this planet. It it you know when you when you when you talked about
aesthetics you know that this is being driven by aesthetics. The forest service was developed on aesthetics. The park service was developed on aesthetics. All the monuments in this world that we go to that's all aesthetics at Sawtooth Mountain Range in
my mind is aesthetics. And also comes the environmental um or the n the damage to natural resources. Once you build a house, you you can't bring back the and I did the
same thing. But but you know what I did? I built close to the road because I knew snow removal issue. I protected my trees. I'm planting trees. I'm bringing back what I took away. I don't think a lot of people do that, but that's just
my mindset, you know. And I'm kind of getting off onto a zillion different tangents here, but but I understand where you're coming from and because you know we're elected to rep represent the whole that I think it's important that the board make the decision in the context of the broader which is simply
to say and that's why the discussion at that meeting led to two things. It's either a contribution to tax base or it's a cont contribution to aesthetic and aesthetic has value. Yeah. It just we understand that if we make this decision we can't be limited in our
purview relative to its impact on other people that would have the right to come say well how come you did it for them and how come you did it for that that's why matrix or the basis under which decisions are made is important so you can be consistent in their application
so what we didn't know and commissioner mill said I'd like to know if that's a reasonable price we have the uh it's not well we have the price the 400 acre on Valley Creek Road near Murphy Mountain. That's 40 acres. That's listed at
400,000. That is that raw land compare? Yes. Comparable. It It is. It has a road not developed, but it has a road into it. So, the difference you'd say would be, well, yeah, but it has access. It's not going to have to go through what
chief property have to go through. But that's 400,000 for 40 acres. The other thing, if you're comparing apples to apples, it's on top of a mountain. You can see the lake. I know. And so we want to be fair and our information needs to be, you know, comparing as much as
possible apples to apples. And you know, the thing is, I understand the fairness because as commissioners, you have to represent your constituents, correct? And that's understandable, but but the thing is um sometimes it can't be fair. I don't
know how to how to conclude that. At what price? Maybe I guess do you develop it? Do you let it be developed? And we have eight homes up there and you let this be developed. You
got homes up there, homes there. Go ahead. Go do it. I you know well it's just I mean we have to look at every aspect of it. The other thing is is that we're saying that we look up the bluff and we'll see it. That's why if you look at the last page here I believe that's taken from the parking lot. Oh yeah I
saw that that's going up there. So and what we said is we we toured that property. We went and ted the development off of seven and that one the views there you're guaranteed views there but it's access right off the road
made it more affordable and uh the the other thing you have to look at and that's why on these parcels in similar setting Bob included in here the what the revenue is what the revenue generated from those would be we with
limited revenue off of property tax in our county because so much is government owned. We need to know the cost because what you say yes to, you're saying no to something else. And in the context of when you take all of those elements that
need to be considered, you prioritize those elements based upon what's important. and if the if the uh uh aesthetic and environmental takes priority or over over tax base, but we need to know what are we talking about when we throw those words out and some
stuff ends up being subjective in its interpretation, right? I mean, so how are you going to get there? What are you going to do? Well, I think you have to look at that and the board has to make a decision. Here's the thing. on any one of these properties. Let's just say that um the intent is in the
community and the people that visit Cook County, tourism, everybody else says we want to protect we want to protect the harbor, right? Anybody wants to do that and buy it and give it to the county, that's fine. But we can't we can't do things that are putting a burden on
somebody else that's trying to stay here stay here because they can't afford to live here to ask them to pay it with taxpayer dollars. Oh yeah. That's why Yeah. No, I understand. That's why I'm saying anybody can say let's preserve this and let's have a campaign and let's let's forward it. And if the ingenuity
of the people that say they want it, they're willing to put the money there and to do the effort, celebrate that. But it doesn't mean that we as commissioners are making decisions say we're going to take taxpayer money when people are saying I don't want that and it just needs to be clear. Yeah. I I
Yeah. I mean we I think we already knew that. Yeah. I think I think that was clear. But it's underscoring and that's certainly at the basis under which the motion was made. Right. Right. No, I think there's a lot of opportunity here to to actually pursue this and make this
happen. But I do think to your point that there's going to have to be some official some some official kind of uh group that's a not for-p profofit or something that can actually own something and then donate it back. It
can't can't just kind of like unless you find one of these trust comp trust land trust organizations that just say we'll take it on. Um, holy I I think in yesterday's meeting also to your point that piece of land that 40 acres below
she chief where the woman right away said to us, "Well, I'll take that deal too." Um, this Pandora's box got opened pretty quick. Um but but she said in this one case where there was up to 600,000 that you just you needed a match
on, she said, "Why not throw that property in as well and um just do them all at once and and do that?" Then pretty much all of the roads with all the property without access up there is all would all be government uh under
government ownership, federal or county or state um or city. So, I I think there's and and that's why I wanted to kind of limit this conversation because we could go on all day, but I think we're at the beginning of it and I
wanted you to all be really aware of what uh these folks are doing and Commissioner Gamble and Bob and that there's a lot of things going on here. So, if you have ideas, you know, people
have ideas, I would say focus them to to these folks. This is going to probably hopefully go on longer than I'm sitting in the seat. So, um although you you are time limited. So, I I could see every month or every other month
them coming to this group having a conversation giving you an update on where things are at, new information. If that's that's kind of how I see it, but I'm looking for your input here. I really think um that that is a wise direction to take. I know we had
Christine come and present to the committee the whole if you recall a couple of years ago um and so there's that angle there's um looking at an SNA but I think there's lots of different opportunities in the legacy to to look
at ways that we can do this and if we can capture all these properties at once it's much more beneficial. So I really support it. I'm glad to hear about the meeting on Thursday. I didn't know about that. So, um, is that Well, that's just I it's more of a discussion. We're
in the discussion phase right now, but I think event I mean, we're calling I just kind of said we're preserve the bluff now. I just said that but Gary had the good idea of so we're we're slowly becoming formalized and we have to keep
it moving because we have a December first and the umbrella basically is is the energy because as you suggested when beginnings are always challenging but but the focus on the end game is what energizes that process and and where there's a will there's a way and we're
saying we're willing to partnership with whomever and whatever means means to look at it and to do the d you know diligence that we need to do and put the effort. I talked to Linda. I talked to a number of different people after you know the motion was made and uh if we
can find out demographics who visits here and where to target marketing dollars under the campaign. You've been very helpful, Gary. I appreciate that. Any anyway, but and I and I I recognize you guys have have challenging jobs too
as commissioners in this county. It's I don't think it's an easy place to be a commissioner sometimes because there's so many different uh people mindsets in this county, but we could always use more
housing. That's just a joke. I appreciate you coming so and Amy and you'll have an update for us perhaps in a couple months and we'll use and we'll just let you keep us posted and you can come back again. Yeah. And thank you for giving us thank you for asking. Thank
you so much. Email me or copy me if you're having meetings because I'm getting a lot of input because that is my district and I didn't know about it. Yeah. I forget cuz you're right across the road from All right. Thanks so much. Thank you very much.
Deb, you had a question? No, I No, I said goodbye to you already. Okay. Thank you. No, I just wanted to say something else before I lost it. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. All right, thanks you guys. We're going to move on to budget. So, everybody passes
around and Brady, I think maybe we'll have you join us, Brady. Gary. Yeah. Gary, I'm sorry about um we need property. We need property um taxes type
thing for development. At some point, this county will not have room for more people to come and buy land. And that's just how it is. There's nothing. You can't have infinite growth. So, if they don't get to have land up on
the bluff, well, they'll have to go boat houses on the lake and they'll have hoovering technology that allows them to live in capsules above ground. They will submarine hotels underneath the water. Yeah. So, um Josh and Randy and Gail, you want
to come up and join us up here, too? Should we scoot over so they can chair together? Yeah, we'll scoot this way and then a house boat. You could have housing on the in the harbor.
like Seattle. Yeah. Well, don't never forget that underwater hotel like I still have blueprints. Change our zoning so we go higher. Thank you for taking some time out of your daily schedule to come. We had a
very good budget meeting and we're going to um discuss some of the possibilities and some of the things that may work and some of the things we have to kind of pivot on in the future. So, thanks for having us. Yes. Yeah. Do you do you guys all know these three
people? Yes. No. Maybe you can introduce yourselves. I'm Josh and I live up on uh 2226 Conor Road 7. Randy Kudson, Conor Road 60. I'm Gail Gizki on Greenwood Lake. The beautiful
Greenwood Lake. Yes. Yes. So, these three represent the uh budget and facilities advisory committee. And uh if you recall at a previous um board meeting, we were I think it was our 5 and 1 half hour marathon meeting,
we kind of got to the conversation about budget guidelines, which I don't think anybody had the stomach for at that point. So I suggested I suggested that um perhaps we could take that up with this group that Brady and I could bring some recommendations
discuss it with this group as public as our you know really advisory from our citizens to help us understand uh and get expertise um and Mike Carlson's joining us as well here um uh on uh you know make
recommendations back to the board and these recommendations if you agree with them or you want to modify them these guidelines. Well, then uh Brady and I will get these to the mat and we will um work with them to do this. So, um I just
want to set the stage on this just a little bit first. And I I think we're in a unique budget year. Um, I think often, you know, budgets are set based on looking at last year's budget and you know what was over and under and then you put the numbers forward and then you
go and um and that usually works because things are generally in government pretty predictable from year to year. I mean there are things that affect it but it's kind of goes along like this. I think what makes this year unique is the
uncertainty that we're facing that um not just at the moment but throughout the rest of this budgeting process like you could set a budget right now and by December things could be completely changed or maybe they're not but during
the year next year things could change that you were counting on or that you had assumed and so the this particular proposal I think is put together with the idea of thinking about your putting putting your budget down like you
usually do, you know, with a couple of of maybe restrictions. Um, but then uh really looking at your budget strategically to understand it a different way in terms of where your funding sources are, where
your what your what services you provide, how those things line up. If you know your level of service, I have you added, you know, some grant dollars in there, something to increase the level of service or to make the service a little bit better, you know, how how
is it all put together so that somebody pulls out a piece of that funding somewhere, you have some general understanding to know how to react to that. And so some of this is not about putting together the budget initially.
Some of this is about managing that through the whole process. And I think it also having it laid out like this gives the um gives you as the commissioners a different way to ask the questions, right? Because I mean, you
know, a lot of times we go, well, we need to cut the budgets by 10%. So, let's let's talk about that. So, we say, okay, cut 10%. So, everybody goes, okay, cut 10%. And let's say it's for office paper in the copy machines. Well, that
wasn't a realistic cut. Probably people are going to use it and then you're going to go over budget 10% on that even though you cut it 10%. And that comes out of the, you know, the fund balance or whatever. So cutting the budget in a way that you actually can manage those
cuts is a is a different conversation than just like slicing 10% off of there. So with that, I'm not sure how you would like to approach this, Brady. I'm going to let we we kind of started out with some just
a general understanding, but then we kind of took the point of view of what are the constraints, what are the things that we can't change, what are some assumptions that we're making, and where do we see the risk? So that's kind of uh kind of laid out that strategy a little bit. And I I
think it'd also be beneficial in in the the advisory council the discussion nature of comments. In other words, what are the comments that came through in our initial discussion to inform this document? That would be helpful. Yeah, I I mean certainly Reena summed it
up and everybody was a part of that. I I did watch that meeting. I watch most meetings, but I'm pretty boring like that. Um to me what Sorry. Uh well, sometimes it's exciting. That's that's why I'm there. You never know. Um
to me, most of our conversations really delved into the last the strategic impact planning, at least from my perspective, and and that's where I kind of, you know, dove into the rest of it. I think you've all kind of talked about, but they're great things to see in there. The constraints, you know, what what are we going to see in the cola,
what are we going to see as as far as health insurance, and then the big things, of course, bringing this uh kind of the forefront this year, which is probably something that I would like to see anyway continue to be used after this year. Maybe it might be a little bit manipulated. We're not going to have
as many hopefully constraints or unknowns with the feds or the state and where that's going. So I think the the planning part of this it was is really kind of giving additional direction well because of your your request to look at
it from a standpoint of what would help the commissioners make decisions but more importantly have the department heads be looking at it from a different perspective than they have just like Reena said. So, I think that's what we wanted to see in this and that strategic
impact planning is is really the section to kind of focus in on is as far as how this is going to impact the the department heads and then give you the information that hopefully informs you at the level that you want to be. I think the the careful thing with this is not to make it too laborious for the
department heads, you know, not to come up with a hundred different scenarios on what if uh what if this happens, what if that happens, but just to make them more aware, more aware, and to really kind of center in on on core services and what are things out there that maybe they
realize they don't need to do, but we as a community value and want them to do. So, I guess that's the way I look at it. I don't know if Mike Oh, Mike didn't. Well, you know everybody. Everybody knows you. We all had to introduce ourselves. I'm
glad we met in. Hi. Hi, Jean. Anybody? In my opinion, part of it is too, you can get in the habit over time of every year you add a little bit here, a little bit there, and all a sudden you have turnover, different heads, or whatever, and all a sudden you don't
necessarily know everything going on in every department because you you see I come from private business. You see private business, we added this, we added this, we added this, it just keeps going. Never go back and reevaluate is it doing what it's supposed to do or not? It's there. Keep going, whatever.
Now, this way with turnover either in departments or county commissioners or like me, I'm new on the advisory board, it's a way to educate all of us on what is going on in the departments and just be aware so we all have an idea of what
the government is doing for us. Stuff isn't just getting lost in the shuffle year after year. So even if we're asking them to look at possible cuts, it's just a it's a good exercise to look at the what you're doing and what's all
happening even if you don't have to cut. So, I think one thing that came out of out of this discussion um was the idea. I mean, we had a conversation about should we have them try to do all these different scenarios? That'd be pretty impossible. I'm just going to say
creating a budget like say for PHS in multiple scenarios would be a very difficult thing to do. Um or any budget really saying well what if this funding got lost or you know it would be pretty hard. But I think what we arrived on
otherwise is this conversation where they would create a narrative that would accompany their budgets. Um uh you see that I think PHS does that um to a certain degree. I think um the highway
department does that. Mi MIS does that. Um and some departments they're going to look at me and go well what would be in my narrative? you know, I have these four services and it's all funded by the county levy and, you know, we don't really have much change in our budget.
That's a narrative in and of itself. So that, you know, commissioners can see that. So I I anticipate if we go down this path that um Brady and I will have a lot of meetings with department heads
with a new expectation of how to how to approach this or what what that should look like. But basically the narrative would be these four bulleted points here that they should be able to answer those questions and and like you said too not all departments are going to come with
the full complement of answers that may not be necessarily appropriate but as administrator you can kind of guide them through right that what might be appropriate for them and it's it's not it's not intended to make work it's intended to inform and this is ways we
can do it Right. And intended to give them some guidelines too that they've already thought about in advance if something suddenly changes next year. You know, I really like the fact that um you know, you talk about mandated services. We
need to know statutoily what has to be required in each department and I think it is a good exercise and that's great information not just for all of us but for the public so that they understand the requirements right that's the big thing I' I've found
being on this advisory committee that we have some citizens just helping the board and giving directions and they know that it's not just decisions being made without their thoughts and inputs. So there's a lot of fear out there. A lot of we all had a lot of unknowns and
it's just nice to know that the county is taking it step by step this way in a logical way. Right. I think it's important for the department heads too to in the beginning just say this is kind of our budget for now and then take
these other areas into consideration as we move into more statistics more things that we are going to uh experience from the feds and from the state and then make some adjustments along the way not be too con work like you say worked up
over oh I got to do this and how much do I do this with the public and how much this so Just department heads if you're listening we want to not make it that difficult in the they're they're listening. Have they given feedback on this? No
they have not seen this. This is your discussion first. Okay. I'd be very interested to see what their feedback is because I think my fear is that it will create a significant burden um in a in a challenging time already. Um but I could
be wrong there. it might just come old hat to them to be able to answer answer these questions or prioritize the remaining services. You know, it's again, I think I've expressed my um um lack of enthusiasm for
um ranking things uh in that quantitative way because it uh when you try to quantitate it gets rid of the qualitative and I think um and that qualitative is really the human aspect of really a community aspect and really
what our our end goals are. But um but I'm really curious to see what they have to say about the strategic impact planning because that's really smart to do this stuff um and to look at it and from that that different slant um up to the basics there. I'm curious about the
um second through the four bullet points. Um typically those three are all brought to the board anyways. um you know we have openings um is that staff increases that means no new
positions new new positions next year. So these are kind of recommend these are like hardline recommendations that Brady and I threw in there that said in an uncertain budget year you shouldn't count on like building your staff this year. Mhm. You shouldn't count on buying
a new equipment, buying new equipment that's not already like scheduled or replacement or something, you know, that kind of thing or um or some new project that you've been waiting to launch. It's going to cost $100,000, you know, new software or new something. This is
probably not the year for that. So So for the any staff, so we're having turnover, right? And we're doing reorganization, right? And so we're going to be filling those maybe if depending on the reorganization we don't have to fill two unless you know scenario might be excuse me but a
scenario might be you've got some openings and now you've lost some funding so now you may be in a position to say do I want to refill those positions that's part of the strategy that you might do some shifting around organizationally to meet the need but
and and let something else go and not fill that positionuring hearing that kind it's that kind of thinking. It's not I I'm sorry I really interrupted you so I I apologize but but but it's that that sort of flexibility that doesn't just keep going down the same path when
there are things that are uncertain that says I'm thinking about this a different way. That's all. Yeah. It's it's been my impression that the administrator has done these things with department heads informing all past budgets and I could
be misled there. Um you are. Yeah. Yeah. Because when I sit down and talk about these, we can go through and look at areas that were looked at. It might have been in a different way, I guess. But um it there I feel like there's a narrative
out there that government uh county government is bloated and there's lots of waste and um it's every I feel like every single year we're pinching harder and and this is going to be a harder yet pinch. Um, and so I just want to make sure that we're following our strategic
plan and also understanding the uh the uncertainty out there that the sk if the sky does fall, it hasn't fallen yet, but if it does fall, we can respond in the meanwhile. I don't want to um operate
out of fear, right? I want us to be conservative, uh, responsible, but, uh, strategic. And so that's why I appreciate the strategic impact planning. But one of the things in our strategic plan was another HR staff person. And so so that's already underway. Okay. That's what that's
that's what I'm getting at. So we're looking at next year's budget. Yeah. And nothing new is nothing new. Like that's how it always is unless the board says, "Okay, we're going to do that and we will put it in the budget." But um yeah, it's good to spell it out. Um, are there
other I mean and again for different departments are I feel like we've gotten on to a fairly uh regular uh certainly more professional capital uh expenditure uh replacement schedule. Um are there
other examples that are outside of the replacement schedule that would be a capital expense? somehow thinking of I I don't know but I but Brady maybe has a better idea about that but or like the special project funding like you know like let's say that the recycle center wanted to buy a new something oh
forklift because the old one and there's a deal no that would kind of be a replacement but something new something new for processing recycling and they picked this year to put in their budget or you know um I don't know I it's well I was like I'm trying to think of like
the practice ical. What does this do? What is this doing? Aside from hoops jumping, you know, like that's it's it we don't make the decisions. They have ownership of their departments. They have the ability to make those decisions and to inform all
of us. And if we have them the strategic impact planning, if they have to just look at these four different bullet points, uh about why are you making these changes or you're putting things there that everyone they're part of a whole
team. We're all part of this whole team and we're all making decisions based on the same criteria. And when I think of like Allison McIntyre or uh the highway engineer, they'll just say, "Oh yeah, well this is why." It's not like these
are hard questions at all. for the listing public. What are the core services your department delivers? Identify the services services funded with restricted funding. What are the restrict
unrestricted funding sources and uh what could be what the last one would be of the four bullet points to be considered? What adjustments can be made to your department operations to address those impacts and maintain a high quality of
service? And we're and this is undoubtedly funding. Do we state and federal funding if we if and when we lose more? How how can you keep your departments healthy and providing services?
So, you know, it's like what are your values? that that would be a a question like what are your values? You have to think about it and then you really know. So I just think our department heads they know what they're doing. This won't be
hard. They got Commissioner Gamble. Thank you. Yeah. I think I mean words convey emotion and meaning and so when you pick word you want to be careful because you don't want to have to have it miscommunicate what intent is
and the intent is is the matter of we are in a position to provide services to a community. We have to deal with the realities of the difficulties that come in challenging times. And so evaluating based upon value and an assessment those
disciplines are important and um I as as you aware when NOS association of counties offered this course on budgeting I jumped at it because I want to learn I want to learn from others how
they approach these things. And there's a questionnaire that they give you that you have to fill out in this process. That questionnaire in most cases as to the clarity of what we do in providing
direction for staff I had to answer no to. And so it it's it's an opportunity for us to be able to look at how can we build integrity and processes that are structured with changing staff and
whatever else that we as a county find are healthy for us communicate the stewardship fiscally and responsibly for services to our community. So, it's going to be interesting to see because
this this is somebody else helping to inform and refine and we can celebrate what we do, right? And we can learn from what areas where we can improve. And so, that's what I'm I'm looking forward. I want to I want to be in a position. I
I'll just say it. I want to humble myself to learn what other people can teach me. And if that benefits us, I want to celebrate that. That's why we invite people to sit on an advisory committee. What do you know about this
process that helps us? Because just because we're elected doesn't mean we know. It means we have opportunity to learn. Go ahead. Thank you, chair. Um, yeah, off of that, maybe this is more for Commissioner Mills, but I didn't look at
it as, you know, I realize it's going to take some time and, you know, I don't think we're looking for a list of, oh, if this happens, we're going to take your priorities and we're just going to start going down the list. It it prepares us. We hope none of these things really affect us anymore, right? We hope that we get through December and all the planning and everything the
department heads want to do kind of comes to fruition. But, you know, I hope we use something like this in the future and they're going to pick up the form they did last year too, right? And and maybe make some changes and we're going to kind of continue to to to have that
information. I think since the time I've moved up here, uh, and that's been just less than a decade, I've just seen from my perspective a little bit more transparency every year from the county um, in a lot of different areas, whether it's the CIP, whether, you know, there's many different things that have happened
over the years. This very group, the budget advisor, budget facil facilities advisory group was created to kind of I think add it started before my time, but I think to add some information, add some transparency, get different perspectives. Um, and those were a lot
more trying times, right, when it was formed. I think we have a pretty good group now and and good interactivity with commissioners, but I'm hoping that it's just an extra level of transparency, additional level of information. again not just to budget advisory or more importantly
commissioners but that the you know community can see that and if there are questions that pop up we can all we can provide that information to them that's what I'm hoping through this process this group was formed in about 2017 when I worked with the president administrator at that time and I really
felt because I was getting questions from the public about how come you're doing this or what about that hey you know maybe we should have somebody sitting that represents our area out in the county. And so we've each had different people come forward. Um I will
say that we'll have a new person joining us next week uh from my district u Amy Brook and I'll fill her in on all of this, but she volunteered after I put a plea out there that we had a vacancy for district five. So we will have another
person joining us. But you know that's that's the whole reason to have this citizens group and to join with the uh budget committee because I felt it was important to get other opinions to not voting but a lot of opinions and it's been really worthwhile and I think as
you said incrementally we've been moving along with more um transparency. Yeah sure. So couple things. There's no clear statement about filling open positions. We have no new increases. Maybe there
should be a line here. Consider carefully any replacement of open positions. The other thing is about basing on 2024. How much information of 2025 will the people have? Brady maybe I
think you said you can get monthly reports essentially for so they can really base it on 2025 to a a large half the year they have pretty good sense. Okay. So that that first line about last
year is probably sure I could I modify that. And um Commissioner Mills, you know, the don't include new staffing. Those are just suggestions. If you guys don't want to include those things, you know, in in the initial budget, if you want them to
just put whatever they want in there and then h, you know, I I just thought given the uncertainty, um Brady, when Brady and I discussed it that these three I the second, third, and fourth ones were just a smart way to look at it. just like be conservative in what you're
asking for straight up, you know, because of the uncertainty. Otherwise, you might be giving it back or you might spend money early and then not really be able to follow through with it later, you know, because funding goes away. So, you hire somebody right away and then,
you know, you're going to have to cut your staff. So, it it's it's about viewing it conservatively. the last bullet there which says understand that your initial worksheet is a starting point that may need to be adjusted several times throughout the budget process. Mhm. You know, so you know,
it's it's easier to add than it is to take away and that's the that was the thinking there with the basics like you know start with a a budget but you know don't necessarily add new things. you know just you know inflation you've got
to take into account the new union contracts there are those things that are already increasing your budget that are fixed those are the constraints I think the the key message is the flexibility this year I mean when we wrote some of
those let's say tighter lines um there was 145% tariff on China well that's how that's changed so I mean we're going to see we could see lots of changes like that during the years. So,
um, and what those effects are. So, I guess that's kind of one of my is that may not be anywhere near as harsh as looked even a month ago. Yeah. You know, I' I'd much prefer stay the course and
be aware than, you know, um curl up in a ball and then we might be able to open that up again, you know, because we're talking about services that we provide to our our most in need largely or basic services like roads um and law
enforcement. So, it's I I'm I'm fine leaving the basics in there. I was just pointing out that the I feel like two through four are are um forgiven like that's the assumption
the normal assumption. I don't think you typically have departments asking for new staff every year. No, but they might they might be ha have haven't you know have waited to do that and you know I think when I was when I was the MIS
director for quite a few years I needed an extra staff and I remember one year in a budget process people asked us to look at it and I said all right I'll put it off another year so you know we'll figure it out and that's that's what I'm talking about that sometimes departments
do change or grow or you need somebody else or a different service you've been planning on offering or well that usually comes before the board right like it's not just put it in the budget and then and we'll see what the board thinks but but you know those things often are discussed ad nauseium too
right so maybe what I'm suggesting here is that when they're putting their their their um uh budget together initially that they be conservative in what they ask for that's different from just that
incremental budget that's there and then look at that and then say now here's all the elements of my budget and how it's put together and if I had to make a change I'm starting to think about that like three-dimensional chess game like
or a Jenga game somebody pulls something out down here how do I compensate for that with the resources I already have that's that's the intent of this yeah I I do believe it's happening I think it's good to write it out and have it as a as a process. I just don't want to be
kidding ourselves about um um what this will what this will do. Like I think it's good. It's it's great work and I appreciate everyone working on that, but I don't think this is going to just be um now everything's
different. This is like, okay, we're formalizing maybe processes that a lot of departments already kind of go through um because that's they they know that we're always trying to keep the levy down. So, they are aware of trying
to keep things um lean, but um I'm I'm happy with both the basics um as well as the strategic impact planning. I think they'll be helpful. Um but I I really want to know what the MAT team says. Madam Chair. Yeah. Um,
one of the things I'm thinking as I'm hearing this discussion is that this allows our department heads to prepare in a very similar fashion to what they've been doing before. But these very specific bulleted items both for
the basics and the strategic impact planning provide us with a way to communicate with the public, communicate internally here within the county and add to transparency and that's the direction we have continued to go without whatever is happening currently
at the state or the federal level. So I like it from the fact that it increases transparency and I would look forward to this becoming a process that would continue. It's not just about this year and these economic situations and uncertain times but it's a good healthy
process to continue. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you Madam Chair. The whole course with the National Association of Counties is is to create frameworks, expectations, policies that
are clearly defined, well informed that are are followed. I'll use an example whether it works or not that if if I'm bringing a group of people together to play a sport, they all know the endgame is to win. That's what we want to do is
we want to win. But everybody has their different idea how we're going to do that. And the coach is saying, "Here's the lineman. Here's what you do." And he all I have to do is push the guy out. Yeah. But you need to know that the running back is going through this hole.
So when you push, you don't just push. You push this direction because that's the way it's set up. So having plays and practicing and the discipline of it leads to the end goal which is winning. So you can't just say we want to be
conservative and save money here. This is how you do it and this is the game plan to be able to achieve that. And Niko I think in this presentation is going to tell you this is what's tried and true and best practices. And when AMC had their government 101 meeting and
I went in, they said, "What would you like to have on the agenda?" I said, "I'd like to have best practices." Take best practices for every discipline that the county has to do and let's learn from one another. And that's that's the opportunity we have. And when things are
challenging now, you find out really your worth as people that are elected as are hired. And we see it as an an opportunity to to feel good about doing what we're hired elected to do, which is
to roll up our sleeves and work hard at serving people. And structure helps you do that, just like it does in sports. And in there are teams that have gifted people, no structure, no culture in the locker room, and they continually lose.
And people wonder why. But when you create culture where people can do their best and you create structure, you're ensuring more chance for success. I think it's a positive thing. It's an opportunity. So we brought this before the uh committee today, committee the whole.
Are there any other comments from committee? Any other questions from you? Again, I I do appreciate this. I I don't I'm not trying to say this is dumb. This is smart. This is smart. And I I I
certainly have concerns and just with our not your with the bigger our mindset and um and just fear and um but no, this is very smart. I agree with Commissioner Gamble about best practice and I really appreciate the work that you put into
this. I should thank you. It's it it's very helpful to have it spelled out and hopefully it'll be very helpful for department heads, too. So, I did share it with one department head, Rowan. Of course, he has the same view I do which is from both this angle and that angle
and he thought it was good. Yeah. But I think the way the MIS budget is prepared and what you see every year it already incorporates these kinds of things. So any other comments or questions? I'm
just anxious to have it go to our uh department heads and look forward to the Matt team and their response. Okay. Yeah, it'll be fun. Brady, you get to you get to um promote it. Okay.
I think we should you hopefully it's presented a way that looks forward to an opportunity. Right. Right. There's a challenge, but it's an opportunity. Yeah. I think it is an opportunity to show, right? I think from the Matt perspective, I think they worry about what's coming and what that might mean.
They do. And so I think there's an opportunity um to kind of almost set the guidelines for the conversation that they will have with the board moving forward as well that they can expect that the that the conversation is going
to be around services and strategies to manage those services with unpredictable things rather than saying, you know, line item number 33, can we get rid of that? You know what I mean? I think I think the that that the Matt team will like the Matt
will like welcome, you know, a that kind of a conversation that helps them navigate uh what's ahead. I think they they need to have that conversation with the board that's constructive and you're on the
same team looking at the same things, these services, what's valued, what are the impacts, how do we make that work? And I I think there's a there's a way that once they get past you're going to make me write a narrative. Yeah. Well,
Brady and I'll help you with that. you know, but but um that there's an opportunity there to have a more collaborative conversation with the board and not one where don't cut my budget and you know, we got to cut your budget and you know, but more like
working together. How do we take care of the citizens of this county when this happens, you know, and I I think they'll welcome that actually. I think it's it's seen as coming alongside as opposed to coming from above, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you all for coming. Thank you very much. Thanks, guys. And there be no further business. Um, our meeting is adjourned. I guess I was just wondering, are you guys good with me going ahead with this then? Okay. All right. Yeah.
And what was the person's name in the end? Josh Eng. Josh Engelman. K.