Thank you. Good morning everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the Cook County Public Health and Human Services Board to order on Tuesday, July 15th at 8:31 a.m. Uh first item is the approval of the
consent agenda that includes our meeting agenda, minutes from uh May and June as well as financial report. Anything you would like to pull to discuss there? Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Support. Thank you. We have a motion in support.
Any further discussion? Hearing or seeing none. All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to our director's report. Plumbman, we have staff and agency
updates. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Uh members of the public health and human services board. Um others present. I'm here to represent Cook County Public Health and Human Services Agency today. I'm going to start with couple
operational reports and then I'm going to um read through some programmatic reports that have been provided to me by other by supervisors of our agency. Typically
uh this time of the year we uh present the preliminary budget for the next year. Um July is um a little challenging for us. It's a little bit early because a lot of the allocations from state and federal funds is still being
this year in particular is still being determined and calculated. So we are um I I have asked Brady Powers to give us a little uh delay to delay our presentation until sometime in August.
So there will be more to come on this but um I have submitted our preliminary budget. There is a lot to um narrow down and a lot to um still look into that before we have um something we can
present to this board. So uh more to come on that. In the last um four and some week four weeks about um my um work has been um my number one priority has been to continue to provide
services to our uh community. So um we have entered in contracts with couple of our partners. We have signed a contract with the human development center in to provide um
mobile crisis response supervision for our staff and to provide after our services uh while when our staff is not available. I thank him for uh stepping forward and helping us out. Uh we have signed a contract with
Southwood Mountain Clinic to provide clinical supervision to our staff. And um I understand the first um several weeks have have gotten as good as well as um
we could have expected. Um Sat Mountain Clinic and their staff have been longterm partner for our agency and we appreciate their help and assistance with this. I want to take a minute to to thank our staff in public health and human services who's worked really hard
uh to continue to provide services and interrupt to um guarantee that there's no interruption for um uh this several weeks in the past and we'll continue to work hard to to make sure that
um that that continues to be our goal going forward. Let's see here. Um, Reena and I and Neil from the county attorney's office met with the ground porridge with Jackie Kazowski who is the public health and
human services director and Anna Desamp. Our goal was to um reiterate our partnership and cooperation with Grandpage Human Services. And I thought the meeting was um good. It was uh we wanted to just touch base
and set some goals going forward on how we going to continue to communicate and partner um to continue to serve all the um clients in Kukon. I I thank Grandpage for that for taking the time to meet
with us and I'm looking forward to continue this uh um relationship for the future. Now I'm going to go with some of the programmatic updates that I have
received from our um public health uh supervisor Grace Kaggar. PHS staff will be attending the care partners brain health event outside of the hub on Saturday July 19th to share information about initiatives and
services within PHS. Grace Ganager, public health supervisor, presented a midcycle community health assessment, community health improvement update at the July 1st public health and human services advisory council meeting
out from Minnesota shared the presentation um at the July 8th mental health advisory council meeting on the LGBTQ plus mental health. The local mental health advisory council
is interested in August meeting that looks at the potential impact of federal funding and programming ch programming changes to local public health and human services provided in Cook County. Grazenagger is considering how to best
create this type of presentation and will consider whether it could be joint meeting of both the local mental health and the PHS advisory council. Andrea Orest, arm reduction and prevention specialist, is providing
mobile crisis response services and working to build ongoing capacity and infrastructure to support coordinated crisis response services. This is part of a temporary outclass assignment that Andrea has undertaken to support the implementation of the mobile
crisis response grant through department of human services. Clinical supervision for this services is being provided through the human development center. Rosio Rivas, youth prevention specialist attending the Montana Institute on
prevention to deepen her knowledge on of the principles of prevention work with a focus on building up norms, messages, and services that are protective against substance misuse. We received 11 applicants for a public
health grant fund in for year 2026 for a total of $282,651 in requests. Our PHS draft budget includes 190,000 towards the public health grant awards. The public health fund grant review
subcommittee of the public health and human services advisory council has begun to interview all applicants agencies and will develop funding recommendations to the public health and human services board at its August meeting for consideration and vote on the public
health and human services board members. The prevation coalition will continue in year in review meeting this afternoon at which point we will also brainstorm goals and activities of focus for the upcoming year.
The medication lockbox pilot has entered phase two and an additional pickup sites active at care partners. The public health vending machine will arrive late this week with plans to place the machine to the right of the
elevator on the second floor of the courthouse. Once the machine is operational, we will begin outreach about the project with the community, including a way to gather ongoing feedback from users or
prospective users about which items would be most helpful to include. The goal of the pilot is to learn about community needs and use and plan to reassess after one year whether and where an alternate more accessible
location for the machine could be in a community large. This project is financed entirely by the rural community's opioid response grant through HERSA. The food access council met on July 2nd at the K county food shelf. The meeting
focused on a tour of the facility and overview of services provided along with successes and challenges for the organization. Graz Granager and Andrea Toy in her role as the disease prevention and control coordinator met with Ellen Hill, the
Northeast Regional Epidemiologist with Minnesota Department of Health to discuss the updated Minnesota infectious disease operations manual and to clearly delinate local and state roles for infectious disease prevention and response.
That's all updates I have for you today. Any questions? Uh, Commissioner Stley. Yeah, thank you for that report. Um, refresh my memory on where the food shelf is. I'm always familiar with the congregational church. I'll have to reach to Greg Grace and
confirm and then I'll get back to you on that. Okay. Okay. Unless it's moved somewhere. It is there. Okay, there we go. You have the answer. Very good. I thought maybe it had moved someplace and missing adding something else in there and decided not to. Just keep it
with a future. Okay, I'm back. Any other question? Commissioner Camp. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your your report. My question has to do with the vending machine. Uh we've had discussions on
that and um uh trying to find a a location that made sense is um is something it seems we struggled with and we've come up with a uh a location that I I don't know that if
you look at it from all aspects that it makes sense and I would question that location given the courthouse second floor. Um, and the other thing I was going to ask was if we had determined what our product list would be, and it
sounds like we're waiting to make that determination. So, in some other states and places where vending machines have exist, when you look at that product list, uh, it it'd be interesting to see what we project our product list would be. But I I would um I know there's the
elements that uh restrict some locations given our access to power and other things, but I just think second floor of the courthouse is is a bit problematic. Um and I would still try to see if there's
any others that are alternative in that regard. Sometimes, and it seems like this decision, sometimes we ignore other priorities. we've set because of the convenience and the need to make a decision. And so that's why I would just challenge that maybe we should consider
given some of the other concerns that we address when our focuses are on those other concerns that we wouldn't make a decision that compromises some of those other things. So and Frank, did you have Yes, I'd like to support Commissioner Gamble. um several different things
aside from the fact that you don't have 24hour access to the upstairs port. The second part is a social psychological thing. Not everybody is comfortable walking into the courthouse and finding their way to the second floor. Um and
especially it be one of the purposes of the vending machine is that it's anonymous. Well, going up to the second floor of the courthouse is about as far from anonymous as putting it in the police station. So, uh, for most many people's perceptions, um, as far as the product list, I think
that would be, uh, partly seasonal. I know in the winter they were talking about warm socks, gloves, as well as the evergreen stuff, you know, the the the fentanyl test strips, the Narcan, the toiletries. So, it will it it will and should be
seasonal. Yeah. And and I think in any any decision, you know, identifying objective and things that need to be considered in making that decision is certainly important and it's been part of the discussion. And so sometimes I know we were frustrated just trying to
find a find a place, but I I think we can't lose um sight of the things that we identified initially when we set out to try to find a place. So thank you, Commissioner White. How big is this cabinet if we're talking about stocking
it with mittens? And I was typical vending machine. No, typical vending machine. Like a coke machine. A whole Oh, yeah. Huge. So that you probably could have what, maybe 20 items at least. Okay. Um Oh, please.
Well, we discussed this at the public health meeting one time, and I think this is a starting place for it, not that it would be the permanent place. and and with it with the acknowledgement that it's not perfect, but it's just a to see what happens with that. That was
my memory of it, that it's ongoing and will be evaluated and hopefully look for a a better place from the standpoint of access, something that's open all the time, can't be outside, you know, all these things. So, yeah,
I think it can be outside though. Oh, you think so? Yeah, that was my understanding. Oh, okay. You know, I'm I'm going to follow up with Brooke. We'd had a conversation about maybe doing something outdoors by the budget shop. Let me follow up on that. I think it would involve us putting down some concrete, but
let me follow up on that. I'll follow up on that. Yeah. I think that'd be a better a better location. It's a little more anonymous if you came in the middle of the night or always be available. Sure. Yeah, we can. Yeah. Oh, Commissioner White. But won't we have cameras for security?
No. Uh, no. I mean, we have cameras up there for security. There are already there, right? So, yes, some things had to be moved away from cameras because people wouldn't be willing to go to it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Part of the challenge is again, if if you identify what your objective is, why we're doing this, we got grant money so we could put it in. Well, that's great. So, let's do that. Now, we want to make sure that we position it the best that we can. and monitoring or we'll say
evaluating is predicated upon whether we made a good choice and some of our evaluation is going to be skewed by by our choice. So we want to be sure that it's an accurate assumptions you know coming out of what our experience is. So
I I just think you know we have this opportunity just have we positioned it the best that we can with all the considerations that go into making this decision. So, and I think to the point about cameras, there are cameras in the courthouse, too. So, there's pretty much there's there are
cameras everywhere. Mostly we we aren't even aware of them anymore. They're just everywhere. Yeah. And yeah, I I agree with all that was said and yeah, it it's maybe a baby step in in in a direction, but it's not going to maybe necessarily tell us all
that much like Commissioner Gamble um was pointing out. Um but uh we do have to implement the dollars uh and and it is a and is a great I think a great idea. It's just finding the right place and if we have to do it implement by a certain timeline and we're going to do
this as a baby step then we can you know it's going to be more work to move it again. But um one question I had was did you say Care Partners was a partner in the program too? I mean there's a new their building. Yeah. So that's maybe something to consider too but I
appreciate the followup with Brooke. I I'll follow up both places. I'll follow up with Care Partners, too. Another question. Does the grant uh include stocking and possibly building uh a location for it? In other words, just like a little outdoor kiosk, you
know, an open face thing, providing running electric to it, concrete pad, that kind of thing. So, was it just the machine? I I apologize. This grant is phasing out now. So we had to use up the funds and purchase the vending machine and initial supplies, but they all have to
be an alternative source of for continuing to replenish and alternatively moving the vending machine cost and so forth. So but it would be okay. I mean installation of the machine for whatever
is necessary running electric or whatever could be included in that grant or is the money already all spent for to buy the machine? There is um a little bit of available money um about just over $1,000 that um my understanding was that Andrea Orus was going to purchase
uh um supplies for supplies. Okay. So So the ongoing maintenance and installation is not included in the grant. Right. I think installation is just plugging in unless you need a concrete pad. Unless you're going to put it outside, right? Yeah.
Thank you, Commissioner Gamble. Yeah. Thank you. you probably didn't expect to get hit with as much conversation on this particular subject, but uh what I would say, I mean, we've gotten an opportunity and and we have
seen in in in recent meetings that sometimes we're getting a little pushed because there's money, but it's it's a timeline. It's always best to be ahead of that so that we're not driven so much by the sense of urgency. Uh the other thing I would suggest if we haven't done it is that if this is the first time
that this type of vending machine has ever been employed in a county, if not then you would think that other counties or other entities that have used this that we can borrow that learned information to help inform our decisions so we don't follow the same path that
might lead us the wrong direction. I think Boyce Fort has it. Oh, Grace is here. Good morning, Grace. You can answer questions. everything. I was listening to it on YouTube and I just come down and answer some questions about the vending machine.
So, the vending machine was purchased directly from the University of Minnesota. It's not purchased out of our grant. It's with the HERSA grant, the rural communities opioid response grant is a regional consortium. So, we're one of the subgrantees and our budget is not
paying for the materials or the machine. the University of Minnesota is paying for everything directly. So, we do have a product list for how it's built out. Um, and the reason it's going upstairs is because um, Andrea and Brooke have
been doing a quite a bit of work with the building committee as well, um, trying to figure out an appropriate location. And we are looking at this as a baby step because it's proving challenging to find a location that is
24/7 accessible and has some confidentiality. So the idea is to when it comes we need to have it somewhere. So we're going to move it upstairs by the elevator. That's the spot that Brooke recommended after looking around
all the county facilities and figuring out where there's a power source and a space for it. but that is not going to be its permanent home. Um, and so the idea was to get it here, get all the training on how to use it, to manage the
inventory, and then once we have everything settled to start phase two. And this isn't probably I mean, this is not how uh I think we would have envisioned an ideal process, but again,
it's coming from the University of Minnesota on their timeline. And so we're trying to figure out how can we get it here, get the training, get what we need to have it start and then figure out a plan that is in a more optimal site for the community and do that
community outreach and engagement as a step two. I think it would have been more ideal to do it as a step one and uh have all the have it in its ideal location from the beginning. But again, it's we're sort we're on the university's timeline and so it's
showing up this week whether we wanted to or not. I think I think we're on a similar page and have similar concerns everyone. So, and I think we're uh Andrea and and I and and Brooke have been doing quite a bit of work trying to figure out what's
the what's a good baby step to get it here and get staff trained and figure out what a better long-term plan for use and engagement would be. So, yeah, I think we're in agreement that it's not it's not going to have a long-term home up on the second floor of the courthouse, but it is going to be its
landing place. Well, and that's and the first idea was the roof of the courthouse. This is pretty pretty. This is better than this. Uh Frank, go ahead. Uh can it be outside like in a kiosk or does it have to be temperature controlled? Um no, it can be outside. We got a
indoor outdoor machine. Okay, great. Great. I think that's it helps a lot. Might be real important for like more doubles the options or more. Yeah. And uh we have a lot of outdoors here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean there there are lots of considerations to an indoor or an
outdoor site. So, Brooke has been a good support to us in trying to work through what would be an appropriate both immediate home and long-term home. So, I think the the search will continue. Yeah. Are there any more questions for
Grace directly? Well, thank you for coming down. Sorry to the meeting, but I was listening upstairs and I was like, you know what? I'll just I better Thank you. Thanks. The word bail bail out is is appropriate. Thank you all.
Feel free to reach out if you have questions as the machine comes in and you know you see it upstairs. I'm happy to talk more about it. Yeah. Great. Thank you. All right. That um is the end of our director's report and now we're moving on to committee reports. Um
active steering committee, Commissioner White. Um it's just more of the same always talking about the uh progress of the Gigi and funding and um Commissioner
Sor Sorley lives with the activities of of what's going on in the West End and she's quite aware of of the additions and things. So that's about I mean everyone's real upbeat and it's summer
and leaves are growing and trees are falling and they're really happy. I mean it's it's a very active thing so it's there's no negatives except for funding of course but everyone's positive. Um has there been much uh and I should
ask Mitch this but has there been much crossover with parks and trails and active living steering committee? I just think about the different act, you know, they they're all on the same thing. They're all we're all talking and they're all interjecting what they're doing.
Okay. Thank you. Um, next one is AUA. Uh, Commissioner White, I have a meeting coming up. Um, it's this week. Okay. Yeah, we had a presentation from Scott earlier, too. Thank you.
What's today? Today's Wednesday. No, Tuesday's Tuesday. Thursday AEO I believe. Okay. And then we the next one is Arrowhead Health Alliance. Any update there? Uh Commissioner White, I just got on that so no.
Okay. Um Arrowhead Regional Corrections. Commissioner Gamble. Uh we meet Friday. Last meeting was uh uh sparsely attended. Uh we had a commissioner show up just so we could get a quorum and then he left right
away. And uh so we did we didn't do a lot, but I'll I'll give more of a complete report after Friday's meeting. Thank you. Um child. Oh, I'm sorry. And I'll be attending on Friday also. Oh, okay. Great. And she can prove that what we're saying is correct
or I can add things, make it juicier, flavor. Uh child care solutions subcommittee. Commissioner Stley, we'll learn more at that committee of the whole. Okay. Not had any meetings. So, there's where we learn all of it. Yes.
Okay. Uh, community health board. Um, nothing from me. Uh, I missed the last meeting. I don't know if Frank, you've got any. Yeah. No. Uh, we didn't have a meeting. Um, we didn't have a meeting this month and I reported on the previous meeting, last meeting.
Thank you. Uh, Cook County Food Access Council got an update from from Plowman. Also, I was um away for that meeting so I I couldn't couldn't say. just got the summary much just the same as as plumbman reported. Um, next one is the
uh local mental health advisory council. Yes, we had a very long and interesting meeting. Um it was the uh what the name of it is talking about the
gender um changes that people have and how important it is to respect those to follow what people say if they want to be called a certain name or do certain things. And we had presentations by two people, KQ and Matt from outfront
Minnesota. And they talked about it's a statewide organization, advocacy and support. And this is all quite new for a lot of people, but it's definitely a major thing that's going on. and they just
stressed how important it is to again respect people's requests and to be open to uh you know that and and uh that that will help people feel respected and help people feel a part of the group and uh
and they talked for over an hour giving all kinds of examples of situations where people had in the past felt you know diminished and that we need to help them feel good about themselves by the way we treat people
and I thought it was a very interesting discussion. and I learned a lot from it. And one thing they did talk about was were pronouns. I got part of it, but it's like there's
especially when they came to the them they like them they. So anyway, but they were they did a really good job of trying to I thought it was a great introduction to everything that I don't know, you know. I mean it's I thought it
was very well. It was a good presentation and it was long. Yeah, it's very complicated. You know, there's a lot of aspects to it like learning the words, you know, cisgender, transgender, gender expression, um what people wear, what people, you
know, what people are expected to do. And it's kind of amazing to me how quickly all this has come about with all these major changes. I think it was very impressive that they are doing this and going around and helping people learn about it. So,
Mhm. I thought that was very good. Yeah. Thank you. Any any anything else to add there? Um I think I was thinking about um other Andrea talked about mobile crisis.
Um we because they took over our normal meeting time just for their presentation. We had a really quick little update from other people, but but I think Okay. overall it was very very helpful for people. Thank you. Um Cook County Prevention
Coalition, Commissioner White. Oh, well that's the most exciting one because it's a high energy talking about the youth and um they celebrated their oneyear anniversary of being uh a group
and they're continuing on with um and a lot of this is Andrea Orus and Grace and Andrea and they are they're pulling the statistics together, gathering statistics and then pulling
them together to do presentations to the community and to the kids and to and they're very methodical, but the enthusiasm is you can taste it. So, it's it's good. Thank you. Um, County Restorative
Justice, Commissioner Gamble. Uh, they didn't meet last uh month. They are meeting Thursday. Okay. Um, uh, Council on Aging, Commissioner White.
Council on Aging. I didn't I didn't attend the one yesterday. I was Okay. So, I don't I'm sure they're they're as enthusiastic about the other end of the of the community population, the older
people and the middle people as prevention. So, um, emergency preparedness, Commissioner Sullivan. Um, they have not met. They meet on an alternating, uh, basis, but I would take
license to talk about a meeting I did attend that impacts public health and human services. I attended the violence prevention center strategic planning and um, both Lindsey G, the former director, and Sarin Main, who's the new
director, uh, were in attendance. And one of the things I thought was particularly fascinating in relationship to public health and human services and the county organization in general is their analysis of the victims they
served and the financial impact to our county that that organization has made. Um when you look at the costs of mental health services, medical costs um related to domestic violence, loss
productivity, number of days out of work for employers across the county, um costs for law enforcement for judicial, it was incredible. The estimate is of the 244
victims that they served last year that that impacts the county by $1.2 million. And so I have all kinds of statistics and information, but I just wanted to bring that up in this venue because I
think their services for prevention, education, and also in dealing with people suffering from domestic violence um really helps our county in many many ways that we oftenimes don't think about. So I just wanted to give them a
shout out. Yeah. Violence and prevention, right? Absolutely. Commissioner. Yeah. Uh the 1.2 million um did they uh explain how that in in other words cost to our county 1.2
million that can be 1.2 million but it's like whose pockets that come out of right and that is a variety of groups. um medical care was 977,000, mental health 1299, productivity which would be to employers
throughout the county 178,000. So that brings it up to 1.2 almost 1.3 million. But um they looked at they counted number of lost days of work uh per case, total work days, loss productivity,
and then an analysis of insurance costs, mental health costs beyond insurance, um and different types of mental health services that would be accessed by these victims. So I I as I was sitting there thinking I thought it might be a
wonderful opportunity for us to have a committee of the whole presentation by the violence prevention center to inform all of us of what they provide to people here in Cook County. And I think the numbers uh as to who it
impacts the more and we say it impacts our our county our community by 1.2 two million that that if we understand how that impact gets closer to our doorstep, the more we tend to pay attention to it. Not that it doesn't matter, but when we
say 1.2 million, is that is that added cost to us or is it lost revenue for people that are the fabric of our county? So, that's why it's an important thing. certainly the um costs for law enforcement, for investigation, for
housing people um for a period of time, for helping the victims. I mean, there are lots of ways it impacts us as an organization and then our county more broadly. So, I think um those are really good questions. Commissioner Gamble, Frank, did I see
uh just just to clarify, was this like a a an annual report meeting or a board meeting? This was a strategic planning meeting. strategic planning. Thank you. Thank you for that. That moves us on to healthcare planning committee. Commissioner Stoley, we did not meet.
Okay. And there's Nicole. Yeah, we're still circling at 10,000 ft. I tell we're not going to land yet. Um there were pro they had a conference. They have a summer and a winter conference. I chose not to go to the
summer one uh just due to the cost right now. I didn't know what our budget will be for 2026. Um however, I will continue attending next year. But um we brought before that committee in Philadelphia probably
uh 28 different resolutions and I voted on three of them that I felt were important for our county. So that was my input that they took. Um, other than that, um, we'll just wait for a review of that, uh, conference. And one
way, I was glad I didn't go there because the Philadelphia city, uh, had union had, uh, were on strike and so the utilities and everything were a real mess. But they settled right the day before Niko arrived. So,
it still wasn't in shape, but, you know, they did settle. Anyway, that's where it was this year. So, uh, more to be explained, um, next month. Baded breath for sure, but yeah. Um, Northeast Minnesota Office of Job
Training, Commissioner Gamble. Um, I had three meetings happening at the same time, and so I I was not able to attend that. The meeting that I did attend was the Tai Blacknik discussion, our strategy session on on that. and uh
an important element in just understanding how we're how we're going to approach that. That's involving St. Louis County, Lake County, and Cook County in that discussion. It was held in in Lake County. So, we'll be following up on that. Um uh Bob in the
assessor's office is, you know, working very hard on that element as have the other other counties. But uh um we have our upcoming meeting for the uh Northeast Minnesota office. JobCore will be coming this month and I'll report on
that at that point. Okay. Thank you. Uh Northshore collaborative did not meet and then we have the public health human services advisory council. Frank, thank you. Um we did indeed meet and one of the main uh presentations on the
agenda was um Grace gave an overview of the community health assessment and community health improvement plan in the midyear correction phase of a five-year process. Not going to go into that in great detail because that was essentially the same presentation that she gave to the committee of the whole.
Um there were a couple other things. Um the uh the clinic gave a brief talk about the uh the tellahalth the bright spots uh and through the and and the teleahalth program is continuing um at a lesser pace than it was during COVID. Um
CO is still here but I think you know what I mean during a COVID public health emergency. Um but the the particular bright spots are some parts of some medical conditions can be done via teleaalth. Uh and most most uh
significant is behavioral health. There's been a very positive uh upswing and uh increase in usage in teleaalth for behavioral health. Again, doesn't fit everybody in all circumstances, but it's one more arrow in the quiver. So I
wanted to mention that. Um we did have a uh discussion brief discussion about the uh the vending machine and we'll certainly be updating them about what we've learned today. Um but along with that kind of like a phase
two um would be expansion of what what I call is like the the mini mini uh dispersion points. In other words, just like we have in the in the restrooms here, just a little cabinet stopped with a few things. Uh much less expensive
than a $15,000 vending machine. Um and much easier to locate in other parts of the county to cover the twothirds of the citizens who don't live in the city of Grammar. Um and and some of the suggestions that came up was in the
community centers um in the vestibule because the community centers upland trail are accessed by a key code but the vestibule is open and likewise the fireh halls um have um are controlled by key access but
the vestibule is not. So um and certainly I'm just familiar with the Gunsler Trail area. When when we come to that stage, I would like to seek input from the rest of the board about places that you know of in your areas which
could house a you small cabinet with some few drawers of supplies and make it available throughout the county. The big news this uh this month is working on the grant program as uh as playman already suggested. Um we have
started interviewing grantees. We have 12 grantees this year a couple new ones uh which is always good to see. Um and we are in the process we've interviewed six. Tomorrow we interview the final six and the day after that we
start meeting on scoring. When we last had the discussion of the of the of the budget and the overall financial information, um we saw that the uh Cook County Council on Aging, the
hub, um has been a major applicant and and recipient of these funds. And I had asked the board to make particular note of that that you you know everybody's like 10 15 20 100 you know so it's way
beyond uh way beyond the uh the median mean any kind of any kind of central tendency you want to use and I asked the board to consider how that might be funded in the future because they do provide essential services and I understand that they have come and they have made a budget request for a line
item uh for 150,000 and I would like to give our support um to that consideration as you consider the budget. They have also made a um a grant application um in the amount of uh just shy of
110,000 for a grant. As Playman said, our we're budgeting 190,000 and Cub is asking for 110. Um, obviously if if they are included as a line item that will certainly affect the grant committee meeting and and the and
the grant application, but I did want to underscore that about how important that is and considering that the budget decisions but the grant applications will be tentatively our recommendations because it's the board that votes on them but our recommendations will be
done before the budget is is set. It would have to be a contingent award uh what we what they would uh receive in the event there is not and other than that we'd have to make adjustments between the line item and what they're
asking for uh from the from the public health discretionary grant. Um and they have hired a grant writer um who will be they're working uh uh Northland Foundation has
grant opportunities and that's one that they Mhm. I mean they just like they just got started on it. I know that from a month ago. So yeah. So they're they're still they're not giving up on anything at all. So Oh no. Oh no. And part of and part of the application for the public health
grants, we do ask them to list grants they've received or income they received from other sources perspectively as well as what's already been awarded. So yeah, that's yeah, and that's a that we like to see that that they're not just relying on county funds,
right? Thank you, Commissioner Campbell. Yeah, thank you, Frank. Um, I think it's important to be mindful of the fact that as as a county, we have
ways of coming alongside organizations and helping them that don't necessarily translate directly to levy dollars. In other words, it can translate to dollars, but it doesn't mean that it has to be levy dollars. It just means we we come alongside to try to help
organizations be uh more financially supportive in in what they do. Um I think an example comes to mind would be our highway department. When we've had presentation on the highway department, we see what
we're doing with recommendations and staffing. some of the alignment of staffing has allowed our uh highway director to be able to generate significant dollars because of that focus. And I and I think you know the
comment about let's just say have you considered grants and here's some grants that might be applicable in your particular area and those are things that I think we can do and we've seen significant dollars come into the highway department because of a focus on
trying to resource those dollars and I think that's an area where we can come alongside organizations to try to help them help themselves. Um, so that's that on that subject. The other thing we did in in our meeting was discuss uh
encouraging others that might want to participate in our board and you'd put forth, you know, a letter to that regard. And I would just ask if we've seen any response at all to that that call out for in individuals that might want to sit on that board.
And which board? On on the advisory board. Oh yes, that's right. We are. Yes. We have formed the subcommittee of looking for outreach. Yeah. Yeah. And letter will be going out shortly. Uh we're taking a brief pause on that because there we've been so active with the grant writing
and it's the same people going back to the well all the time we're doing this. So we've decided to leave it for about two weeks before those letters will start going out. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Um last item is for the good of the order. I just wanted to give a couple updates. Um I've continued to attend the department of children, youth and families um intergovernmental advisory group um which is kind of uh
been going through the the the implementation of DCYF at the state level transferring services from DHS and uh Department of Corrections and um various you know um uh state uh
departments and and that transition has been by and large very smooth. Uh there were a lot of concerns before the steps um for implementation have been taken and the the approach that DCF has taken is
um there's no wrong door for questions or who to talk to because that was kind of the primary concern is we've worked with this department or this person for so long now what do we do and you know just it it was there was a lot of of nervousness there but um I'd say a lot of success and and things have calmed
down uh come October October. Now, um, via state law, there's the intergovernmental advisory council. And so, that's going to be the longstanding, um, group that advisor advises the commissioner of department of of DCIFF.
Um, and so there's going to be some transitions there. I think we have five more meetings before that that begins. And there's going to be a call out for commissioners to apply for that and to join that. um which I would highly recommend if if there's interest there. Um certainly a lot of opportunity. Um
and then the other one um that I'm just kind of subbing for um our previous uh administrator uh had had uh joined the Northland Climate Collaborative. And so um that was in Grand Portage this last
um goound. And so I I went up there and attended that. And that's a great what a enthusiastic group of people. Um, you know, much like Commissioner White has explained with with a couple her groups, this is probably the most enthusiastic group that um that I've been a part of
and just a lot of expertise. There's uh people from Noah there. Um the group is largely led from St. Louis County, but it's uh absolutely um including um all the tribes and the other counties in the region uh and trying to get all the
different perspectives there. So, um yeah, uh I did not attend any of the tours, but they toured um uh the little spirit tree via water as well as I don't know what else they saw on the water, but um I thought that was pretty unique. And then also um the farm that they have
uh up mineral center as well as um the bison um I don't know if they saw bison or not but and then I happened to be um serving at the angry trout that night and so had to get back and then they came and ate there and I got to be their waiter. So that was kind of that was
kind of fun. And um yeah yeah it caught him off guard. Uh no no one had any bison. Yeah, I think it was all fish across the board there. Yeah. Yeah, but that that was pretty fun to to be able to whine and dine them, too. So, um but yeah, that
was the good of the order. Any anyone else? Commissioner, I just want to add to that. Um ARDC, Arowhead Regional Development Commission, uh was able to receive this group with a grant. They have money for four years and they are just hitting the pavement
and they're going gang busters. I wasn't able to attend on Wednesday. I had another commitment. But um just reading what they're doing and meeting with the group once in a while when we have our meetings in Duth um is just very encouraging that um we can all maybe in
four years be able to carry on a lot of what they're initiating right now because we all live by Lake Superior and that's really an important thing plus other areas too. But yeah, thank you for going and appreciate Yeah. Well, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but then the emphasis
in Grand Porter is like, "Okay, I have to make this." Um, and one one of the points that I'd like to, I guess, bring out of that meeting is just uh a lot of the concerns about redundancy as far as we don't need to reinvent the wheel. There's a lot of different organizations uh in our region
that have climate action plans and if we can, you know, learn from each other and see what other communities are doing um just to try to be more efficient there. Um there's certainly a concern too about sifting through all the plans, you know, so it's just kind of what's more
efficient sort of thing. But um but but there's an awareness there of, you know, not wanting to spin wheels and just do it to do it, you know, there wants to be kind of this collaborative effort. So um I thought that was that was pretty wise. Um any other things? I don't think
there's anything else regarding that. Um any other for the good of the art items today? Commission White, a correction. AHA, Arrowhead Health Alliance. Yeah, they can't I've been on that one. That's the one down at Yellow Leaf. Yep. Yep.
Yeah. They didn't have one in July. They couldn't get enough people together, so they're doing it in August. Well, that's right. Actually, because Yeah, I I was also contacted and I was not available either and so Yeah. Yeah. There we are. Yeah. Couple strikeouts there, but yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Um All right. Well, with that, uh, we are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. And I was on that board. If not, yeah, you know, leadership is always an issue. Yeah. And