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Good morning. >> Good morning. Welcome to the Good morning. Welcome to the Crowing County Committee of the Whole. Um, first item on the agenda is soil and water. Uh Miss uh Madame Chair and members,

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thank you for the opportunity to come in talk to you guys. Uh Melissa Bareric, Crowing Solomon Water Conservation District and uh in partnership with uh Crowing County Land Services. Uh we have been working uh for several years on what's called uh comprehensive watershed

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management plans. So, uh, about probably in 2018 or so, we, um, uh, created our first comprehensive watershed management plan. And it's kind of the new way that the state has moved forward to deal

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with, uh, water quality planning. So, the county was involved in county water planning uh, from the very beginning in the 1980s and it has adapted to this comprehensive water watershed management plan. Um and so today I just provided a

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little bit of details of some of the um of the different wersheds we're working in. So again, Crowing County has five different major watersheds. >> Okay. Sorry. >> We got new mics now.

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>> Thank you. Um, and so if you can see up here on the map, uh, we have the Pine River, which is in Commissioner 2 district, uh, and Commissioner 5 district. We also have the Mississippi Brainer watershed that kind of follows the Mississippi River through, uh,

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Crowing County. Um, and then we also have a little part of the Crowing River, uh, which is in Commissioner 4 district and two district. Um, and then we also have a little p a little piece of the Rum River which is way down uh kind of

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by the Garrison area. And the last watershed that is um moving forward is actually called the Sartell. Um we also have a tiny little uh part of that and that's in the Plat uh Plat Lake area. Um and so we just wanted to kind of give

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you an example of what we're doing in these watersheds. So we have moved mostly from planning into what we call implementation where we're trying to do uh different projects on the lands with different partners to improve the water quality of these areas in a uh holistic

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approach with the different counties and soil and water conservation districts within these uh designated watershed areas. Um so with that I'm going to introduce Jared uh Drillic. He is uh our shoreline manager at the soil and water

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conservation district and he has present uh prepared a presentation that just kind of highlights um three different types of projects we've worked in within these watersheds and just kind of goes over the um just kind of what we've been

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doing in 2025. So thank you. >> Uh hello. Uh, I just wanted to kick it off by highlighting uh a project that we did in the Pine River Whed uh specifically on Clamshell Lake. It's located right off of County Road 16 um in a pretty visible

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spots with the Clamshell Beach Resort property. Um they had 200 ft of an old retaining wall built in the 50s or 60s that was clearly showing signs of its age. uh pockets were forming directly

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behind the wall where soil was starting to leak underneath the concrete footing of this wall. Um and significant amounts of plants, soil, dirt. Um lots of phosphorous loading was ending up in the lake because of this failure of the wall. The DNR would not permit them to

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replace the wall or to repair the wall in a way that would be a successful long-term management strategy. Um so they they came to us and with the assistance of an engineer we uh designed a plan to

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uh fix this wall by removing it and res-sloping their entire shore. Um as you can see in the before photos, it was in pretty dire shape. Um and then partway through the design process, a tornado went through the area and destroyed a portion of the wall that was not yet failing. Uh so we did have to

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expand the project last second unexpectedly. Uh but we were able to locate the funds for that through the WBIF program. Um so as far as the work that was actually done on this site, we demoed 175 ft of

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this retaining wall and regraded almost 200 cubic yards of soil at a 3:1 slope so that uh uh ice doesn't damage their shoreline. Um we installed 280 80 linear feet of 18inch core logs uh one behind the

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other. So 140 linear feet actually along the lake with 280 total. Um and almost 1,800 native plant plugs were planted um sourced through Minnesota Native Landscapes for over 3,500 square ft of shoreline restoration on a pretty

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heavily trafficked uh beach resort that sees a lot of visitors. Um, here's some after photos of what the area looked like post uh planting. Um, this was pretty shortly after the plants initially went in. So, this is a month

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of growth maybe on these. Um, but ideally it it will fill in over time and look like a natural shoreline that we like to see in our county. Um, as you can see, those two stacks of core logs help keep that soil in place short term

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while the plants develop to their roots to hold it long term. Uh, and as far as what we actually got out of this project in a in a more uh numerical way, uh, pollution prevention estimates estimate that 5.1 pounds of phosphorus

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is kept out of Clamshell Lake each year, which is the equivalent to about 2500 lb of algae growth. and 5.1 tons of sediment are kept out per year. Um, if the wall is continuing to fail, that's the estimated amounts that would have continued to wash into the clamshell

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lake every year. We also brought an existing non-conforming parcel into compliance with the modern land use ordinance uh which helps to restore the latoral zone on clamshell lake which is uh incredibly important for water quality and preventing shoreline

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erosion. And this project is also in a, as I mentioned, a super heavily visited location. And so it serves as a great example to the public on healthy shoreline practices and what they could do or promote for other locations, even in a resort setting where uh aesthetic

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desires are different. Um, the next project I wanted to highlight is uh south of Brainard here. Um, I'm not sure exactly which road this is on, but this is an annual forage grazing system that uh our shoreline tech or I'm sorry, our

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agriculture technician helped implement. Um, so it was a unused field that was uh I I say unused, but it was used for rowcrops. These photos are from uh the over winter. So, it's not being used during the winter. But um it was rowcrop

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corn that we are that was converted to a pasture grazing system because this landowner had cattle that uh were previously basically just grazing wherever they wanted on these parcels and were degrading deck brook that flows right through here.

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Uh so what we did is we excuse me helped them come up with a plan for rotational grazing which is moving cattle between these paddics to uh it improves soil health in the area and also reduces disease risk in cattle. Uh so we split

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into four paddics helped pay for the fencing and the seed to turn these rowcrop fields into uh pasture land for cattle. And so as you can see afterwards, it the the pasture seed mix we used worked well

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above what the uh estimate we kind of figured it was. You can see on the marker that second orange triangle is what the acceptable rate for it is. And I mean it it's well above that almost double the 12 in there. So

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uh pretty substantial forage that was put up here. Um, and as far as what we got out of this, again, we minimized that grazing adjacent to Daget Brook, and that causes uh a lot of dirt to wash into our streams and lakes. Uh, converted 26

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acres of corn row crop to pasture, which improves forage availability and diversity for the cattle and improves soil health by adding organic matter with diverse forage and incorporating livestock. their manure obviously helps uh introduce more organic matter into the soils and it allows the land owner

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to implement rotational grazing. Um so we are we are pretty happy with how that one turned out as well. I'm sorry I can't speak more on it. I'm not an agriculture expert. Um and the other the last project I wanted to highlight was on uh Roy Lake what on what used to be

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an old resort which is now an HOA with separate housing that with full-time residents. Um, they have a lot of impervious surface on their on their parcel. As you can see, they there's a lot of houses on a pretty small amount of area there and a lot of driveways.

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And when it rains, they had a rock whiffle here that was meant to slow down the water, help it absorb, but it is woefully undersized. Um, and there is severe severe erosion happening underneath their concrete, their bridges, their shoreline. It's it it's it's all sand as I'm sure you're aware.

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Um, and so this whipple was beginning to fail and was starting to impact the integrity of the concrete slabs as well. Um, and so something of this scale, I mean, you could crawl under that bridge and like underneath all the concrete slabs. It's it's truly something. But a

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project of this scale was beyond what we would be able to design for. So, we helped the association put them in contact with a private engineer who can help develop their storm water plan um and what they need help them find solutions for what they need to do to

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fix this issue. Um awarded them a grant of the WBI funds that we receive to have that to pay for that private engineer to do the work to come up with a plan. And so the uh HOA is currently working with WHIDS to develop a plan set that will properly manage the the storm water and

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prevent the mass erosion that we're seeing. Um and then as far as an larger overview, uh this is just what we've managed to accomplish in 2025 broken down by the three major wersheds that we most typically work in uh that are that

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dominate the majority of our of our county. Uh in just the Mississippi Briner wershed, which was that one that cuts directly to the middle of our county, we've done over 18,000 square feet of shoreline restoration. In 2025, 128 acres of agricultural practices were implemented and 475 acres of land were

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permanently protected through conservation easements. And in the Pine River, um we accomplished around 25,500 ft of shoreline restoration. uh over 2,000 acres were enrolled in the

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sustainable forestry incentive act and 180 acres were permanently protected through conservation easements. Uh the crowing river is the newest of our uh wersheds that has completed the wershed based implementation plan. So we

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were just starting off implementation last year. So it's a little bit behind the others as far as uh interest in the community. But we have uh just in the last year we did 330 ft of shoreline restoration and developed seven priority lake plans on how we're going to move

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forward and address the erosion on other lakes. Uh 306 acres in that area we're protected through conservation easements and two projects are currently slated for installation this year that we are working on. Um, and to put some of these numbers into perspective, I did also include the

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reduction estimates that we accomplished in 2025, uh, across our 41 different projects in our county that were implemented. Um, 94 pounds of phosphorus, which is equivalent to 47,000 lbs of algae, 106 tons of

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sediment, and 106 tons of soil savings. Um these are estimates but the important thing to note is that every year we get that much reduction as if because if nothing was done that's the amount that would end up in our lakes. Um believe that's

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>> uh Mr. or Madame Chair and members um we're grateful to the county for the partnership as well as the funding that is coming through this is coming through the border water and soil resources through the clean water land and legacy amendment. Um, and this funding comes to us and then we partner with land owners

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that meet these different plan priorities. Um, and all these plans are on the county's website. Uh, if you're interested, we do have copies of them. Um, and at this time we would take any questions. >> Madam Chair, um, thank you Melissa and

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Jared. But the uh so you said most of the funding does any funding really come from levy dollars from Crowing County or does the funding all are we just handling funding through soil and water? >> Um madame chair and members thank you for your question. Um yes so the funding

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that we get comes directly from the border water and soil resources. Um so each wershed is allocated a certain amount of money. Um and that money then comes down to a local partner who is the fiscal agent that then uh distributes the funding to the different partners

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when in each of these watersheds. Uh so currently we are not using any levy dollars for this work. Typically the land owners pay a certain uh percentage match towards this project. It can vary. Uh so for example the um clam beach

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resort uh project I don't remember if that was 75% 50% we paid and the landowner paid the other 50%. The agricultural projects are a little different. Um some of them we call them flat rate where they get paid per acre

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of practice. Um and then some of them are percentagebased but typically uh we do require some type of what we call match. So for every dollar we give the land owner, the land owner is required to provide either a dollar in cash or uh

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you know some work or labor in cash that we count as equivalent to what it would cost if if we had to hire someone to do that work. Also, in some of the road projects I'm familiar with, um, as as most people all know, I sit on book two of those wershed plans that we have in

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Crowing County, but on some of the county projects we do, we've used your services to help us with storm water abatement. Um, especially keeping the chlorides from getting directly into the drinking water into the aquifers and just getting them into the rain gardens

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and stuff like that. So, I appreciate the work you've done there in that area. So, um, I happened to the other day you had me and I think it was, uh, Daryl Palmer who sits on the he sits on Lassard Sands, doesn't he? We went out and looked at a project that really

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wasn't a, uh, under your, you handled it, but what was that called? That was a CL CL >> uh, conservation partnership legacy uh, project. That is, uh, funding from Lassard to kind of routed through the DNR. >> Yeah, it was in the Little Pine

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Watershed district. I went out and looked at it. It was really interesting because it was where you instead of just doing a plain old round culvert, it was a half culvert which allowed the stream bed to be able to, you know, let the fish migrate all the other little whatever that guy there from the DNR

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said he worried about the little fish and the little microbes that go back and forth. That was really interesting because it was something I don't I've never seen done before and I've been on these two wershed plans for quite a while. So, uh, thank you for inviting me out through that. So, I don't have any

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other questions unless you folks do. >> Well, thank you very much. >> Thank you for your time. [snorts] >> On the agenda is restore recovery. Good morning. Hi, my name is Mindy Mueller. I want to go ahead and share my

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screen so I can get this PowerPoint with you guys. Um, see see if I can do it. Tech. Can you guys see my screen right now? >> Yes, >> we see you. >> Okay, you see me? Okay, you don't see

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the PowerPoint. Let me get back here. Choose a screen. How about now? >> Yes. >> Perfect. All right. I just want to start off by saying thank you so much uh for giving us the opportunity to be here today and share about what Restore

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Recovery has been doing in the Crowing community. We are women's transitional living homes. Uh we also offer peer support services. And I want to just kind of share the heartbeat behind Restore Recovery. Our mission has never been to provide beds

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for people. It's to provide community and provide homes. So since September of 2024, we've opened three homes in Brainer. The opioid grants have been instrumental in helping us to expand in Crowing County, and we now serve 15 women and their children in your

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community. And again, our mission is to assist people on their pathway of recovery through peer support services, transitional housing, and collaborative partnerships with organizations in the community. Our goal is to provide services that promote a lifestyle of recovery, restore recovery in your life,

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in the lives of those you encounter. We believe that recovery is possible when an individual is paired with resources in a community that supports them. I wanted to share this with you today. So across the state of Minnesota, um our goal has been to kind of target

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underserved areas where there's not a lot of resources, where there's not a lot of housing. And uh so each week all of our houses have a community meeting where all of the women come and we share notes, we have fellowship, we share a

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meal, um we talk about our struggles, how we're overcoming them, and just support one another. But this is the community creed that we have shared in each of our meetings since we started in 2023. And it is community is fellowship. We all share a common goal and that is

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to live a life of recovery. It's the role of my community to hold me up and be there for me when I am down. We have made a commitment to one another and to ourselves that we will not go back to our old life. And we commit to support one another in that mission. Each of the women who come into our

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homes, they hear that over and over and over. And I think they feel that like knowing that we truly care about their recovery and that we're not going to walk away from them when times get hard. Some statistics I wanted to share with you guys. Uh we specifically serve women

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and the reason we do that is because women generally are underserved in the recovery community. You can look at the housing lists um in the sober homes in the state of Minnesota and see that there are tons and tons of opportunities for men. However, women, it's always

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been a barrier. In fact, one of the number one barriers to women getting housing, uh supportive housing, and even getting into treatment is what am I going to do with my children? Another statistic is that 40 to 60% of people who come out of treatment without a stable community, they relapse within

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one year. We wanted to start something so we could affect change, so we could impact those numbers for good. Uh, where we're at today is we have eight houses across the state. We have 10 staff serving and supporting our women and 50 residents. And we serve 92 community

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clients. And just to give you an idea of what some of the houses look like here in Crowing County, uh, we have the House of Refuge that serves um, each unit serves six women. We have the House of Hope again serving

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six women. And then last but not least, and this is really um so near and dear to our heart. You know, I shared statistics with you about the hurdles for women and children, but we opened up the nest and currently we have three women living in the nest with

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their children. This is there's not very many places in Minnesota that do this. And our our goal is to remove those barriers and to watch families being rebuilt because for every person who comes through like recovery or gets sober, there's at least five people

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standing behind them that are affected by their recovery, specifically their children. Some of the other homes that we have across the state, uh, the Revival House and Restoration House in Northfield, uh, Legacy and Kelly's House, both in Savage, Minnesota. Again, you can see we

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are targeting underserved areas, places where there's not a lot of support for for these women. And just to give you an idea of the impact we're making in the community and some of the women um that have come to Restore Recovery, this this slide is Katrina. Katrina and her boys, they

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faced homelessness, grief, and uncertainty. Today, she is creating a stable future for herself and for her boys through the advocacy, empowerment, and community that they found at Restore Recovery. She lives in our home with two of her boys. And then Isabella, she

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started off her journey in the Crowing County Jail. She came to Restore Recovery with a long list of goals and she's accomplished all of them. We're so proud of her. Um, she started with getting her GED and then her license, her driver's license. She then secured a job. And to top it all off, she was uh

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married to the love of her life, Ryan, and now they've moved into their own apartment. She's actively working in the recovery field and supporting families uh through services at Thrive. And so, this is the impact of like a really supportive community. This is I mean,

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this is why we do what we do. And so, right now, I want to invite Andrea. she's uh there with you guys to kind of share her testimony. Uh Andrea's been with us and she now works for us. So Andrea, I'm going to let you take it away. >> Thank you, Mindy. >> Andrea, before you start, what is those

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initials after your name mean? >> Um it means that I am a certified peer recovery support specialist with the forensics endorsement. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right. One year ago today, I came to Restore Recovery looking for a safe place to heal. What I

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found was so much more than a place to live. I found a place where I could rebuild my life. At the time I had arrived, I had been in recovery for almost two years. During those two years, I had lived in other sober homes. While those places provided sobriety,

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Restore Recovery showed me the difference between a sober home and a true recovery home. Here, I found more than accountability. I found healing, growth, community, and people who genuinely invested in my recovery and my future. From the very beginning, Restore

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welcomed me with grace, compassion, and hope. It became a place where I could learn to trust again, not only others, but most importantly myself. Through the support and guidance I received, I learned healthy boundaries. I practiced communication skills and began

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rebuilding relationships that mean the world to me. One of the greatest gifts has been reconnecting with my family, especially my two daughters. I can honestly say that without this program, I can guarantee I wouldn't be here talking to you today. Restore gave me a

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safe place to heal when I needed it the most, and that changed the course of my life forever. During my time here, I completed ATI, Alternatives to Incarceration, and participated in volunteer opportunities that helped me discover something I hadn't felt in a

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long time, which was purpose. Serving others reminded me that even in our brokenness, we still have something valuable to give. After much thoughtful prayer, God opened a new door for me. Today, I have the privilege of working here at Restore Recovery, helping others

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every day as they begin their own recovery journeys. It's an incredible blessing to walk alongside people where I once stood, offering hope because I've lived it myself. Resto Recovery didn't just help me recover. It helped me rediscover who I am. It gave me a

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foundation for a healthier future, restored relationships I cherish, and showed me that a life filled with purpose is possible. Today, helping others fills my cup and renews my hope every single day. I am deeply grateful for everyone at Restore Recovery who

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believed in me when I was learning to believe in myself. Restore Recovery is more than a recovery program. It is a family. Lives are changed. Hope is restored. I am living proof that recovery is possible. And I am honored now to help others discover this same

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for themselves. >> Oh, thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thank you, Andrea. Gosh, you guys, it's hard not to get emotional after that. Um, so you get to see kind of the the impact of the work that we do in in these lives

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and in their families and we want to continue that good work. Um, I want to tell you a little bit. Um, I know we mentioned that we have eight houses coming up here in September. We have an opportunity to open up our fourth home in Briner and this will give us the chance to add additional families. Right

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now we only have u space for three women in their families and now we have a much larger home that will accommodate more healing and more more families more people coming more andreas honestly like that's Andrea you've done such a great

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job and it's the fruit of the work that we do and it's just really an honor to see it all unfold. So again, Crowing County and the opioid funds and uh all the ways in which we've been supported up there to do this work, we are we are so grateful and thank you so much for

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the opportunity to share today. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh next on the agenda is LTSS. We sort of have a crew here today. Good morning. U Madame Chair and commissioners [clears throat] I don't know if my mic is the mic on.

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Sounds like it. Um Tammy Loick, adult services manager, community services. Um today we wanted to come and speak to you. Can we get to our PowerPoint? Maybe

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Amber's working on that. Um, so we're going to do our best not to get in the weeds, but this is really hard stuff. Um, so we're going to talk about our long-term services and supports, something you've been hearing about about these cost shifts that potentially

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will be coming to to the county um if there isn't some legislative changes by um next year. Um and so we just want to talk through that and um so with this the plan here today is

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to share a little bit about home and community based services our waiver review. We sent the review to you in advance. Um I know last year Commissioner Coring commented that he or two years ago maybe it was um that he really appreciated that report that review that we get from DHS. So we

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wanted to share that with you to kind of just give an like an umbrella of what this work is. Then we're going to talk about the long-term services and supports um work that um Morgan Altos has been a part of about bending the cost curve and then what we're doing at

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Crowing County around um this idea of what are we going to do around some of these costs that are going to potentially be shifted to the county or what can we even do. So our lead agency review um is our home and community based services. It includes these

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programs. Um, I'm not going to read them all, but it's our caddy waivers, our DD waivers, our elderly waivers. Trish Eststead, Hannah Jude, and Morgan Altos are the um supervisors that supervised this work. Um, as of January 2022, we

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served uh 1,291 individuals with long-term services and support programs with 1,185 of those individuals being served by home and community based programs. Since then, um, our number of individuals served within these programs

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has increased by 5.8% while our overall population has only increased by five 4.6. So, our waiver programs are increasing at a little bit um more rapid rate than um our population is probably

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speaks a little bit to um our over 65 population. Uh on the next slide you're going to see this just speaks to um so the gray shaded area is the cohorts that they compared us to. So other cohorts within

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the state, other counties basically is what that means and then where we're at. So DD waiver programs and our CAC um CAT and BI programs were a little bit higher but we're or we're at the top of that kind of cohort but we're kind of in line with the other cohorts. When you look

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down to our elderly waiver programs and AC, we're higher. We're at that uh 82.9% and um in our review, what they talked about is uh this is more people um utilizing home and community based

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services over institutional care. And um they commented on that Crowing County's culture amongst our seniors of being very independent and seeking services through aging programs as last resort. So, um, we are doing we are utilizing these programs that keep people out of

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institutional care. The lead agency, uh, waiver review summary, again, I'm not going to go through all these, um, but just, you know, we were 100% compliance in our face-to-face visits, assessments, and support plans. Uh, we had zero

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corrective actions. They, um, the strengths they noted was our highly knowledgeable, adaptable staff, strong leadership and support. uh communication and effective collaboration with our providers and partners in the county and around the state. They did give us some

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recommendations about exploring staffing and structural adjustments. Um expanding community partnerships. These are continue to be barriers. You've heard them before. Housing, transportation, and employment. And then strength strengthening individualized

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person- centered support plans. Um I don't know if that one's ever left our review. So, uh, they always kind of give us a little continue to work on that. Um, and then just overall, they felt that we demonstrated exceptional quality, resiliency, and person- centered practices during major

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statewide long-term services um, transitions. So, as you know, Men Choic's assessment has changed. Um they have been putting a number of changes at us that the team's going to talk about a little bit with service agree service agreements, service approvals, really

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tightening down on some of the things that we maybe were a little bit I think too loose probably. But with all that has come a lot of changes. We also went through COVID where we had individuals staying on MA, you know, and being able to maintain waiverss and then all of

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that when that all um went away or changed, I guess I should say. All right. So, now I'm going to introduce u Morgan Alouse. She's our men choices supervisor. She um has been serving on um our advisory council for MAXA, DHS,

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and AMC as the long-term services and supports um for about the last year and a half. Okay. So, I'm going to let Morgan speak to this. >> Commissioners, um I have been serving on this uh group and I'm going to give you a little background on how it form

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formed and who's a part of it. Um but really what we want to show you first is the reason that we're doing this. Um, this is all of the disability waiver expenditures for the state of Minnesota. The colors are broken down by the waiver type. So, you'll see that the blue is

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our caddy waiver that primarily serves individuals under 65 who have a disability and are receiving home and community based services. Um, that's our number that is like starkly growing at a unattainable rate for the state. Um so

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when we look at that we really have to talk about um two things. One you guys have heard of the cost shift that is being considered. Um there's a goal to find the savings to avoid the cost shift but more than that there's a stark

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growth in these numbers and we have to find a way to actually bend the cost curve for the state. So um the groups have been doing kind of two-part things. um coming up with ideas to prevent the cost shift but also really change the numbers and make um make the spending

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more sustainable for the state. So um back in 2025 during the legislative session, counties did receive a contingent cost share for residential services. So that's not looking at everything under the waiver. is looking at more of those group home

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settings, those um residential services that are paid for through the waiver programs. The funding um that is looked to being shifted is the 89.5 million in fiscal year 28 and 29. Um again, that is

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the whole state's number. So, we'll get get you some more details on what Crowing County is looking at, but um that 89.5 is that contingent cost shift that is looking to shift to counties. Um and then also during the session, the legislature has um set up a LTSS

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advisory council formed specifically to look for costsaving ideas in the LTSS programs. Um now that council is still meeting, they're still working and they're still um developing ideas, but the idea is that if the advisory council

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can successfully come up with adequate savings um that the legislature would prevent the cost shift from occurring in this um next legislative session. If they do not find the cost savings or the cost savings are not adopted by the

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legislature, then the cost shift occurs. Um, so that all kind of formed in 2025 and then as we prepped for the 2026 legislative session, um, the advisory council is made up of community members,

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public partners, um, DHS, counties, lead agencies. Um, and then what I've been participating in is a subcommittee of that advisory council specific to LTSS. Um, and it's made out of our DHS partners and then lead agencies. So,

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we've got county commissioners, we have um directors, administrators, supervisors. Um it's it's a good mix of folks that have really um good passion about finding a solution for this. Um we worked to start that as the 2026

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legislative session um came and then we developed a list of ideas. So, the list of ideas was provided to you guys. I know Commissioner Lupkkey you had asked um after attending an ANC meeting where some of these ideas were talked through and presented. I'm not going to go

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through all of them because this is just like a sliver of the whole picture. Um but what I do want to talk through is just a couple of the ideas that are on here that are actually being considered right now by the advisory council. So, as you look at the list, um, number

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three is the first one I'll touch on, and that's going to be reinstating TERA parental fees. Um, TERA is, write it down because we speak in acronyms. Um, tax equity fiscal responsibility act of 1982. So, what

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this TERA did was made it so that um individuals that have children with disabilities have access to medical assistance regardless of their income. It had a sliding scale that um made it so that families that maybe had a higher

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income paid it similar to like a deductible or something like that to receive MA um so that individuals that have disabilities could access medical assistance. 2024 the legislature took terra away. So that was no longer a

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thing. Um families had more access to MA. There wasn't a sliding scale. So just in this um recommendation that the advisory council is looking at um it could present up to 40 30 35 to $40

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million in savings to reinstate TERA. The advisory council is looking at a different number for that um reinstatement. So they have considered several different percentages of what an income would be for a family. Um right

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now the the one with the most cost savings would be um a family of four at 575% of the federal poverty guidelines. So it is a substantial amount and again it would produce that level of cost savings. That's just an example of one

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of the ideas on the table. Um, another one that they are considering is requiring a transition from elderly waiver at age 65. Right now, an individual, if they're being served by the caddy waiver under 65, they have an option to go to elderly waiver or stay

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on caddy. The savings that would be equated to um requiring that transition is um 20 to 25 million if they have an exception process. So if people are still adamant or there's a reason that they're using Caddy um with no exception

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process that could produce 100 to 105 million. So these ideas that the advisory council and the subcommittee are are um putting forward really have some substantial cost savings um but at the forefront of all the conversations is how do we bend the cost curve but

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still maintain adequate and and appropriate services for people. Um, so that brings us to now. >> Morgan, before you move on from that, those what are there 15 recommendations or something? Are they ranked in order of what the committee felt [clears throat]

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was most important to least important or doable? >> There's not necessarily a rank to them. So, what you're seeing is just uh the ones that have been formally worked up by the committee. Um, the the form that we provided to you doesn't have the all the costs attributed to them. Each one

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has its own one pager that really talks through what the changes would be and the cost savings that would go with it. Yeah. Um All right. So, we're now um the advisory council, like I said, continues to meet this week. Actually, they're hosting three different town hall um

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meetings. So, they had one yesterday, there's one this evening, and one on Friday to collect further impa um input from community members. Um, and like I said, some of the pieces from the subcommittee, that's the one pager with all of the 14 ideas. Um, I think it was

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14, they are looking at a couple of those specifically and then they also have some that are related to nursing facilities that were separate from this. Um, so they were collecting that feedback and they have a final report due to the legislature in December of

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26. So they are collecting all of this stuff. They are made up of many community partners. So when you come to the table to negotiate on the different things, there's lots of input and um conversation happening. So they have to be pretty strategic in which ones they actually bring forward. Um and that

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report is due in 26 and that is what um the legislature will review to prevent the cost shift from happening. Um, counties are preparing for the cost shift to occur because um, even last year the the subcommittee had provided

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the number of um, cost savings that would have met this criteria. Um, the key point in all of this is that the legislature has to adopt it. They have to formally say that this cost savings is going to be going towards the LTSS

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advisory council's mission to hit this number. um last year although the number was hit they didn't formally make that connection and so the savings that were attributed from LTSS were used in other ways um for example the HCMC um deal

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that happened there they use some of the funds for that so um continuing to look forward to this um also in some of the documents you'll see that it while we want to do this we know there's a value in it um there is still question

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on whether we'll actually hit the target and whether the legislature will adopt it. So, um as we step into how it affects Crowing County, you'll see kind of what our plan is to um prepare for that cost shift to happen in 27. >> But just one question. So even though

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you hit your mark, the legislature said, you know, and the legislature laid it out to you saying if you hit your mark, you know, we won't put these fees down to counties and stuff to pay it or these cost shifts to the counties. Even though you met the mark, they still did. >> Mhm. >> Oh, okay.

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>> And and for example, as you looked at the 14, I noted the two that the advisory council is looking at actively right now. Um but if you look at 10 and 11, so the vehicle modifications and home modifications, those were pieces that did change during this last

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legislative session, they did have a cost savings. They are counties are adopting the policies that came from that. Um but it didn't it didn't count towards the formal advisory council's um goal to meet. >> So what you're saying is we better just

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expect those cost shifts coming to us. I'm going to shake my head. [laughter] >> You're going to shake your head. But thank you for all the work and the collaboration. I think that's really important because if I remember when I did do that research on that, a little homework on that, it was just not one

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group. It was a whole big group getting together and really wrestling with it to try to figure out what we can do better and do it together versus having somebody telling us what we need to do. So, thank you for your service in that. >> And we're not giving up. We're still meeting. So we kind of are

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reinvigorating and starting again in August to continue to um provide more ideas that can continue to try to meet the mark. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I think the mission of the counties or for at least for Maxa, I'm assuming AMC as well is that you know just our continued goal to minimize the

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loss of essential services for people, increase integrity of programs and then result in more sustainable costs um trajectory. So, right, you know, um that yeah, we're hopeful, but we have included next year's cost shift in the

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budget. So, um so what does this look like for Crowing County? Uh the contingent cost share will go into effect next July. So, we would um have half of our projected cost um that we would um start next year in 27. So,

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based on our data, we've projected that at 283,000 for our 27 budget. And then in 2028, we would be projecting that full amount with that, you know, some increase at 578,670

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for our county. >> So the state can say we saved a whole bunch of money here at the state, >> but we're ending up paying for it at the county. >> You know, I think if other priorities come about, they may still do that. And I think that's what you know Morgan's

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talking about this year that there was a couple of these ideas put forward and we didn't get the formal recognition that that group did not get the formal recognition that they brought some cost savings forward in this program area. So as Morgan mentioned the LTSS advisory council is rep that report is due

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December 2026. You will continue to hear about this I am sure. Um in 2027 the legislative session will determine that final cost shift. So these are again just projections of from the information we've been told. Um next I have Trish

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Xstead um our disability services supervisor that's going to just walk you through some of the strategies we've been doing um to either um we've already been doing them or we're we're enhancing them to help monitor our costs. Some are things that like I said we've been doing some are kind of coming from the state.

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They're putting a few more things on us that um and on um our providers and um the people being served under this program area. So, I'm going to have Trish walk through that so that you can kind of see what we've been doing. >> Um when Good morning, Commissioner.

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Sorry, forgot that part. Um just wanting to touch base in regards to the rate exceptions and the process that has been developed at the state level, but also at the county level. When we first learned that there was a potential that this shift would happen and coming to the counties, we started tracking all of

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our rate exceptions. Rates are supposed to be um in 2014, rates were shifted from county responsibility to determine the rate to a state level responsibility. However, the rate management system that was

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developed doesn't um take into effect high needs of specific individuals. So there's an exception process that providers can step through when they feel that an individual meets an exceptional need. So within Crowing

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County, we've developed what we call the rate exception review team. And currently we have 57 active rate exceptions. Um and they range with a wide variety of the services within our under 65 waiver programs. Our highest number of exceptions occur within our

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community residential settings, which is our group home settings. Um and it's it's a process. Um so when a provider deems that there's exceptional needs, they um request through a state

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formatted form and then we have actually developed a very detailed letter that we are sharing with providers explaining the specifics of the information that we need. and some of the areas include um what they're paying their staff and we

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need actual proof of what they're paying their staff now. So, we've shifted as as we get more direct guidance from DHS and as far as what we can be asking for um we continue to shift this letter providing more concrete information to

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the providers and allowing us to get more concrete with our definitions um around why we are or are not supporting pieces of their exception requests. Um this shows you the specifics of our 57 exception requests and the framework

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rate is what we utilize as the rate management system that's through the state and then the exception rate total. So the difference is um just over 222,000 per day that we're

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authorizing for supports for individuals on waiverss. That kind of gives you the calculation and then that's just a different uh version of the same calculation and I kind of covered the rate exception process.

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So the provider asks for the exception. We supply them the letter. We ask for this that specific information. The case manager then you takes that information specific to the person and reviews it prior to our weekly we call it the root

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meeting, the rate exception review team. Um, and this involves in all of our case management team so that we're all being consistent as as consistent as possible and we're learning through each other's um,

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great exceptions. We want everyone to continue to learn through each exception. So then often times we'll get to the team and then we'll have follow-up questions. Some of those questions have to go to the state. Some of those questions go back to the provider. And then final outcome, we

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either approve it or we don't approve it. And we we then submit our submission to DHS for final approval and they determine the final calculation of that rate. >> Can you give them I'm sorry, Commissioner.

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>> Just a quick question. So you vet it. You vet it. You're looking at the provider. provider says I I deserve an exception in this rule. You vet it out and then are you the one that sent it to the state? Okay. How about if the provide and you how about you vet it out and you say provider I don't really feel

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you have an exception here. What is the provider? Can the provider go over you then and go to the state? >> It can't go over us but it makes it very difficult to continue to work with that provider for >> I bet you it does. [laughter] >> Yeah. And we have done that u more than

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a hand I mean we've done it more times than not but um it's it's a challenging kind of balance of that continued working relationship for that case manager. >> Thank you. >> I would say too that the rate um they requested the team reviews it. We're

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making the recommendation to the state and the state has the final decision. So the recommendation could say we don't support this rate. We don't think it should be at this. We could adapt it a little bit, but the state is the final determiner. >> Trish, can you give the commissioners an

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example of what an exception might be? Why would a provider ask for an exception? >> Yep. Um, so just for an example, we have an individual living in a community residential setting, um, adult foster care. The framework rate comes out at approximately $650.

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the we receive the exception documentation uh for from the provider for this individual and their requested rate is around $1,500 per day for that person. They're documenting extraordinary needs around physical and verbal aggression, property destruction,

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elopement, um threatening behaviors, legal concerns, and safety of self and others. So those are the pieces that we're really looking at as far as providers and their support or not of a rate exception. >> So you can see commissioner why if the

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recommendation is to not approve the exception, it might make it a little more difficult with working with a provider who's doing the work and >> doing the work, >> right? >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So that's one piece of what we're trying to do as case management. Another

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piece with just kinding to kind of an attempt to make sure that our services are appropriate for the people. Um we're I feel like we're really strong in making sure that um documented and identified needs are really looked at before we

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approve a service. So, we also have what's called the service approval committee, which is another separate weekly meeting that their case managers have together again to build consistency and to find maybe little loopholes where maybe something was approved that shouldn't have been approved and then we

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have to step backwards a little bit on it. And um we're experiencing a lot of that over the last year and we're stepping through a lot of different appeals because of that because we're seeing the identified needs aren't meeting the service. So, we're pulling back on the service having very clear

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justification of our reasoning of why the person doesn't quite understand that or agree with it. And um so then they'll appeal it and then we'll step through the appeal process which is also another timely timely matter. But um we're we're trying to put these build these pieces

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in in our routine to again create that consistency and um understanding to the providers and for the people that we serve. And madam chair, if I may, one last question, Trish, of the 57 exceptions, what percentage of your total case load

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would you say are the does that equate to? >> Um, we have approximately 475 cases right now and 57 those of those are exceptions. >> Any other a lot of time spent in having your little meetings and stuff like

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that, isn't it? We found an extreme um increase of time involved with specific in just these cases alone and the amount of time that's going into these, but we also we need to do it and it's it's a hard it's a hard >> balance

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>> hole because you still want to be able to be out there supporting the people. >> So, just a couple things I want to add. Carry community services. Um, this work is in line with the reclassification we talked about yesterday for Trisha's team to have a lead around all of these um,

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service approvals. There is a lot to keep track of and um, Trisha and her team and the other supervisors are doing their best to do so. Uh, but there is a lot of work here. So, this outlines kind of what we're looking at um, in terms of

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the lead position. Second, um, Commissioner, one of you commissioners and I had a conversation the other night. Um, this is in regard to that, um, rate exception. Um, there was a case

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where we determined that the, um, services provided to an individual, um, they were receiving a higher rate than, uh, we would recommend, DHS overruled us. And um so that was the case that um

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I spoke about uh the other night with the commissioner. Um and the third thing is these um requirements are coming down from the state. These are mandated services that we have to provide and and they're the typical unfunded uh requirements that come down uh from the

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state. So this team is really working hard to figure out how we provide the services at the best um cost possible but also that we have the program integrity um the watching of where the funds are going, how much is

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going out, what in is valid in terms of what we believe to be the authorized or appropriate expenditures versus what the state may be saying is what we should pay. So, we're tracking all of that um because we want to have a really clear picture of where our decisions are being

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overridden. Um so, we can tell that story if we need to. Yeah, I think we've already hit on the this last area, the service approval of service agreement process. Um we just calculated this out. It started July 1st. We're um looking at about 60 hours

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per month to meet that new requirement. So it's there's some pro there's pieces being put in place I think to put to have safeguards to make sure that um we are touching all these service approvals. Um now that was not something

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we had to do in the past. Um and so we kind of see the like the why but yet um it is going to take more time. >> Anything else questions of us? I think we're at the end >> madam chair. uh one question and then just a comment for everybody I guess but

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Tammy going all the way back to the beginning of your presentation you said that there's 1,291 >> in long-term and 1,085 in uh home service what's the remaining 206 or nound

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>> we think it's our we think it's the CFSS services I believe um which was like the PCA services that are not attached to waiver I I think [laughter] so. Um, this was in their report and, um, so that's where we're doing the men choices assessment for these individuals, but we

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don't assign a case manager to those cases when they are just CFSS alone, which is again the old PCA, you know, service. So, personal care attendant. >> Okay, perfect. >> Then I I'll just make a comment. It must be really nice to be the state of

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Minnesota. It must be really nice to be able to botch your budget so bad and then turn around and just say, "Eh, counties can deal with it." So, that's all I got. Thank you. >> That's all you had.

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[clears throat] >> Any other questions? and we'd be happy to meet, you know, um that was one thing we talked about is this is really hard stuff to kind of come and do a overall presentation on, but if you want to look like further at some of our exceptions like uh we'd be happy to talk through

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that, share that information. Um so just let us know. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Any burial discussion? >> [snorts] >> Hello commissioners. Carerry again, community services. We are here to talk

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about the county burial program. We received uh requests from our funeral home directors. uh we wanted to bring them to you since you have um been the overarching decider of our uh burial program policy. A little bit of

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background. So um the county burial um is in statute. So it is a service that we must provide for the indigent clients that we serve. So, individuals who do not have the means to

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be able to um prepay for a burial account, for example, or individuals whose families are unable to um pay for either an earth burial or a cremation. We do have a policy in place that we have been following since I believe the

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beginning of time. Um but we have um been revising it as we go along. So, for example, from 2016 to 2019, our cremation fee alone was $2,100. In 2020, we increased that amount per

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the funeral home request um to $2,900 to account for their costs. In 2025, we came before you to ask for an increase because of the medical examiner's fee. So, that um turned out to be 29.50 for commission. And in 2026, we came before

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you again to talk about the additional medical examiner's fee, which then raised the um cremation costs to 2975. Why am I talking about cremation alone? Because that's what the funeral homes are requesting is an increase to the cremation costs. U burial costs continue

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to remain uh consistent is our understanding. So they're not asking for um an increase. And burial would be an earth burial. um clients or family members can decide uh what type of burial they would like, whether that's an earth burial or cremation. Uh if

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there are no um religious beliefs or things that we are aware of that would influence that decision, funeral homes do go with cremation. Uh that's more cost-effective. Um or at least it used to be. Um so we average approximately 60 burial

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approvals uh annually. That's with earth and cremation combined. Uh through June of 26, we have had 23 burials approved. To date, funeral homes are requesting a few things. Uh the first one is cremation timing. That piece is in

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statute. Um it is a five-day requirement even if county approval has not yet been issued. Uh that's an easy one because we don't get a say in what that should look like. So we will be revising our policy to the five days. They want us to update our policy language um removing the

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requirement that families pay the entire cost of the burial if they choose to upgrade their items. So, let's say they want an upgraded casket. We were saying if they could afford to pay for the upgraded casket, let them pay for the entire funeral amount. Um we um know

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that families often purchase enhancements outside of the funeral home regardless of what we say. um and the current policy restricts them from receiving um an additional review. We

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did look through uh our surrounding county's burial policies and we think a streamlined approach to our policy in terms of the um reimbursement amounts makes sense. So, we are in favor of um the funeral home request number two and

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just making it a standard rate. Um regardless, um the funeral home then also requests an increase to the cremation rate from our current rate of $2,975 to $3,995.

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They would also like an automatic 3% annual increase um thereafter to maintain the actual costs. Do they state the reason why? >> Increased um expenditures or costs for funeral homes. They also do um more cremations now than earth burials. It

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used to be reversed and um so they're finding that there are increased expenditures. We did get a listing of all of the general price lists from some of our funeral directors. Um, as I mentioned, we compared and contrasted our rates, uh, along with the regional

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rates, and we feel like we fall pretty well in alignment with what our, um, other counties are, um, providing for um, their reimbursement costs. You can see on the document at the bottom, the regional rate uh, comparisons. Um,

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Morrison's maximum uh, reimbursement for cremation is 2500. um Sterns, you can see that the um burial assistance of 3,400 or whichever is less. Todd um for actual burial costs, Todd County has a bit higher

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reimbursement rate of 3,500. Uh Wadina cremation 3425 and Aken County cremation is uh 17 or no 2150. My apologies. You can see our budget on the second page as well. 2026 expenditures

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um to date has been 54,130. We have budgeted ongoing about 150,000. This is um kind of a crapshoot because we don't know when folks are going to be dying and needing the services. So 150,000 is our best guesstimate average

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based on past um expenditures around this work. So in um regard to the uh increase of um rates, we brought that before you today to um understand where you are at. Since

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we're in the process of setting our 2027 budget, we would incorporate any expenditures increase in expenditures into the 2027 budget uh and start January 1 of whatever you recommend. I have my own thoughts, but I will wait to

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hear yours. >> Just a question. So, somebody passes away, they don't have any family, there's not going to be a service. Cremation then would happen. We would pay for that cremation. What happens to the remains?

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>> Um, the funeral home will keep them if no one claims them and they sit on a shelf. >> They sit on a shelf. >> Quite literally. >> Mhm. >> Normally, you have recommendations. I'd like to hear the recommendation.

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>> Absolutely. So, um because of the assessment that we've done, um and we feel like we're sitting pretty well within our uh within the costs and the regional um the regional costs, um community services does not support an

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over $1,000 increase um per cremation. Um maximum amount we would potentially consider would be $500 additional. that's respecting the funeral homes uh expenditures. [sighs and gasps] Um the 3% increase over time, community services would not

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support that. We do not do that with any of our current contracted partners. Each partner has to come forward um to the board each and every year through our contract ma matrix to report any sort of uh requested increase and we would be

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happy to add um the funeral homes to that contract service matrix um for any changes in rates um but we um would not support the 3% annual uh increase also but it's up to you guys as the policy makers. Can you go back to the other

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page? >> I know it's a little >> So, right right now we're at 29 >> 75 >> and they're asking for 39.95, >> right? And 2975. That's the 75 is for

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the the coroners. >> Yes. >> Okay. And so you're recommending a $500 >> if there must be an increase and respecting the funeral home um

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in request for an increase. We feel $500 would be a reasonable increase. >> Um and then not the 3% increase every year. >> And then what about the earth and burial? >> They're not requesting an increase for

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that. So that would remain the same. >> Andrea or Tammy, do you have anything you want to add? >> Yeah, I was just going to add the part around um if we were to one of the other recommendations would be to take out the allowing the funeral homes to potentially be able to offer some of those enhancement services to the

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family. They gave us a couple of examples of that. So if the family chooses to have music or a service at the funeral home, they right now the way that our policy reads, the funeral homes don't feel that they can do that because then the family is required to pay the

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entire cost. Um so that was another way that they felt that they could generate some revenue because basically they're saying what's happening is these people families are still going to go do something and they take that they take that someplace else and so they would like us to look at removing that. So, we

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still would only pay for the services we're paying for. We and it's pretty clear in our policy that we won't pay for those extra services or those extra enhancements, whatever you know that you want to call them. But, um, the way our policy currently reads, if we were to strike the the one sentence about that

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if they if they purchase any enhancement or service from the funeral home, they have to they're responsible for the entire cost. And so, that's what the funeral homes are following right now. >> Yeah. And I think if somebody uh the injured in in

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indigent if they if they qualify if the family qualifies for it that's what state stat statute says. So I think we can pay for it. I'm okay with changing it so that if they want to um

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you know have music and I mean this is their loved one. Um, and then the thing is is and and this is there's no well it's all taxpayer dollars, but this is levy dollars that pays for this. >> Uh, people's property tax dollars, just

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to so it's clear to everybody, your property tax dollars >> um, pay for this. And but I I think we gota I think we got to be mindful of this because the taxpayers are paying for this, but I

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don't know that the funeral homes need to I think they're they're doing it at a reduced rate, but I don't know how much we need to ask them to subsidize this also. And that's really what they're doing. That'd be just like if we were gonna Oh, I don't know what a good

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comparison would be, but um I don't know that we ask any other business that we're doing businesses with to ask for a reduced rate. So, um I would support what your

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recommendation is and so would take it from 2900 to 3,400. >> 3475. >> 3475. I I would support that. >> Um, one question I had um if when somebody passes and and there is nobody

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there, who decides what funeral home does the cremation? Is there are they there's a pecking order? Do you uh this one says I'll do any of the cremations that come from Crowing County or or do you spread it around or how does that work? I believe when um someone passes

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that the Briner Police Department or whatever law enforcement goes to take the body, they consult and call up the the first available funeral home. I don't know that there's any type of I'm really not sure of what that process is.

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I would assume that the coroner reaches out to a funeral home, whoever is available first. >> And like in your case, Paul, you were a delivery service, right, at one time. So you would get a call and and there's a and so you would get paid the county would pay or the county paid the the

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service then to bring the body to whatever funeral home or did the funeral home come and pick up the body? >> Yeah. You know, it's it's a different situation if it's a um unplanned I guess unplanned death. If it's a um a drowning or

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>> not on hospice, >> not on hospice, then we have a contract and I can't remember what the guy's name is now. It isn't Steve Sewer anymore. It's a different guy. We have a >> Steve, but a different >> Okay. >> But we have a contract with that guy.

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And what what happens is is when when somebody passes away, the either the sheriff's deputy or the Brainer police or the Crosby police, they are the deputy coroner. So they'll come out there, they'll call uh down to St. Paul,

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they'll tell them what the circumstances are, and then they'll determine if they want to see that body down there. And then our transporter, who we have a contract with, will transport them down there. Then that that person is down there. Then the family, it's the

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family's choice. We don't tell them that they have to go to a certain funeral home. They can choose whatever funeral home they want. And then the funeral home makes all the arrangements to get the the person back up here. >> But if it is somebody that doesn't have any family that just passes away alone

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in their house, we we do the delivery s that the corner like you said looks and says, you know, this is just natural. This is just the way it is and and so it does don't go down to the cities. Don't go down to Ramsey that our transporter we pay the

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transporter transport them to what funeral home if there's none determined. >> If if somebody if the medical examiner does not want to see that person, then the law enforcement will try to try to figure out who the family is or who

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would be in charge of that and ask them. and they would ask not the transporter but the funeral home and then the funeral home would come out. >> Okay. >> Yeah, if that makes sense. >> Yeah, it does. It just >> we don't have a role in any of that. >> They don't typically ask us. So, usually

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either if there's family that would make that um decision andor um the people at the scene, you know, calling like other explaining >> $3,400 that we're looking at right now, there would be the other transport fee on top of that in some cases.

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I don't know. I are we I think are we paying included work back >> that's included as >> right now the that med medical examiner fee is in there and then even the the transportation is included in our >> is included in that. Okay. Okay. Okay.

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>> Those are the things that can be um build. >> Have we um checked at all to figure out why there's such a difference between Aken cremation and ours? in price. >> Well, we did we did learn that Aken has

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also been approached with a rate increase request as well. And that's when the funeral homes came to us, they when we said that we were going to go out and talk to the other counties and get these comparisons, they did say that some of them that do work in those other counties said that they were making those requests. But so we are aware that

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Aken did receive a request um as well. I don't know about the other ones at this point. Yeah. Um, and some of the counties had the like the three tier system. So, you know, they did one rate for earth burial, one rate for immediate cremation, no service, and then the

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cremation minimal service. I think when these bills come in, correct me if I'm wrong, Andrea. They bill for what is utilized. So, correct. Not every, they don't bill, you know, the 34 or the currently like the 2975. They don't bill us 2975 every time. They only bill us

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for those services that they use. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. How how many of um burials like this did we have or cremations do we have last year? >> Right around 60 so or minus three because there were about there's about three earth burials three to five earth

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burials when we went back and looked at the last five to six years and um and then the rest were cremations. >> Thank you. So the request before you is to determine the amount that you guys are comfortable with in terms of uh expenditures so we can include that in

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our 2027 planning process and then also if we have consensus on changing the policy to uh Commissioner Coring's points around um removing that family contribution piece um and then if we could make it just a set flat >> fee or up to reimbursement rate

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>> the up to Now, >> did I make myself clear? So that you know, [clears throat] >> the 3% we said nothing out of the 3%. >> The only one that would come up is a little bit of what can the family put with that and and let them just pay for

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that. >> I'm okay with that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> If they if the family has qualified and this person truly does not have the assets and they qualify for it, that's really what state statute is. They qualify for it. if they want to, if some

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family friend wants to come and do music or do some or pay for lunch, why would we be opposed to that? That's kind of stupid. >> Last week I I sit as a sex for our church cemetery and we just sat down and did this because we were having a lot of

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cremations coming in where they want to use the church and and we didn't have a fee structure set up for that because usually it all comes through the funeral home. And so we're we're kind of in a lot smaller scale looking at that. What what services do we offer? What do we charge for those services and stuff? So

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it uh it's kind of like wow. I just talked about this last week. >> So thank you. >> So kind of roll it all together. >> You did you read the tea leaves? >> So I hear consensus for a $500 increase in the policy changes as recommended. The language change

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>> and no 3% >> and no 3%. >> Okay. >> Awesome. Thank you very much. Would you like this on a regular agenda or are you okay with it on consent for next week? >> Consent. >> Got your got your plan. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.

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>> So So that would be so these guys again. >> Go ahead. Morning. >> Good morning. >> Morning. >> Good morning, commissioners. Thank you for your time on your agenda. Um, Amber, if you could go to the map, please. Uh,

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Tom Stro, environmental services supervisor, joined here by Cody Dirks, uh, representative for the Northland Reliability Project. Too far, too far. There we go. Thank you. Um, so here for discussion this morning is a lease. Uh

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the uh Great River Energy has has requested a a lease of some tax footed property for a future layown yard. Lay down yard um just consists of um equipment supplies, maybe some mobile uh mobile buildings for that type of such.

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Cody can elaborate more if um if he so chooses. Um but this uh the location here uh you can see up in the top leftand corner, this is counterard 147. That's the county landfill. And then this area here is the uh gravel pit that we acquired through a land exchange with

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the home bigs last year. Um so their their lease area is this hatched uh black area. The yellow lines are the right of way uh that they were looking at for the Northland Reliability project. And then um these other blue and teal and red lines just represent

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the um the corridors for the power line and and that new uh high voltage line that is coming through the county. So, uh, um, the Northland Liability Project is looking for a spot to stage equipment, like I mentioned, um, stage building supplies, and so they've

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identified this as a good location. It has good access. Um, it's free of trees. It's there's no really clearing needed, and, uh, and they have all season access right off of State Highway 210. Um, the lease has been reviewed by the county attorney's office. Um, we have made some

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changes which are reflected in what is in in your packet today. Uh the lease does run through December 31st of uh 2031 and it is a month-to-month lease depending on what uh what they would need after after construction. Um the

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proposed uh uh fee is $3,500 a month when the um when the layown yard is actively being used, about $42,000 a year or $1,500 a month when it's not active. um that $1,500 a month is is just for them to secure the area. So

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that way we don't lease it to anybody else. So that would be paid until about Novemberish and then after that when the when the lease is in use, um they'd be up to that $3,500 a month. So anything else you'd like to add, Cody? >> You hit the nail on the head. Um this is

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for the the phase two discussions that we've had here over the last couple months uh for the that portion of the phase 2 project. Uh we're still looking at uh September to October time frame for kicking off construction starting in two areas at the uh the south end of

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phase 2 which is just north of the Cherry Park substation east of St. Cloud and then the um second area of construction up in the Riverton area. Um so I I think the timelines for uh that holding fee ending and then the lease

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commencement rate uh is pretty accurate. Maybe you could just to talk maybe a little bit more about what you plan to store there and what that might look like. Uh >> so what we plan to store there would be some of the matting materials, composits and wood mats, um reels of cable for the power lines themselves. Uh the the power

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line poles. Um some of the equipment that would be used. Um some of the tree clearing materials. Um, and then office trailers, uh, for just kind of a a morning meeting spot for the the guys out in the field working. Um, and then

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kind of a good staging or just meeting point for different construction crews coming in to work on the the phase two. >> Yep. So, no no permanent structures. Um, and they're not requesting any access to wellwater or anything like that. >> That's what it's going to as far as utilities or anything like that. Is

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there any there that they can use or you because your trailers are going to be there. Are you going to have just portaotties in or what what's >> Yes, sir. Yep. Uh so they'd have portaotties. Uh temporary uh office space. Um water we bring ourselves. Um

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haven't discussed anything about electricity yet or any any of those for right now. It's just the uh the land itself. >> I mean but if there was if there were utilities there I mean because it's been a gravel pit. Correct. >> Correct. >> So I mean if that would all be on them.

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>> Yes. So, there is a there is an existing well on the site actually um that we have not closed off yet. Uh they're not requesting access to that. Um nor I think would we allow them access to that just because of you know when we acquired this property it was to remain vacant um and not have any concerns

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about what the landfill may be doing, you know. So, we would not allow any well access would be our recommendation. Um if they needed power, I'm pretty sure they know a guy where they could get >> they probably can find some power. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, >> Tom, question for you. So, is there a gate out there on that?

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>> Yes, there is a gate um there's a gate right up here on the map right about in here that that is our gate. Um and then there there's really two access points. There's there's the one here that Home Bigs were using. It's a paved access. Uh it also serves as this property's driveway and there's a secondary access

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here. Uh it hasn't grown over, but there is an existing approach there that they intend to use. >> Okay. Well, I was just going to suggest that if by chance there's a lot, you know, I don't know if there's a lot of thieves, but there's always thieves. And if you guys decide that you want to have

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a a gate or another gate, I think that's on you guys for sure. >> Does that make sense? >> Understood. Yep. >> You know, agreed. >> Cuz cuz if you guys have a lot of expensive stuff in there, I I think something to deter >> Yes. We have a lot of copper in there. We want to If we have a lot of copper in

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there, you definitely want to double up. Yes, >> definitely definitely definitely. Yeah. >> Is that's the that corridor there is then that's also where the two is it a 256k lines coming through is that the rightway for that also >> uh the north reliability itself that's 345 >> that's 345 excuse me

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>> existing lines through there are a 230 KV and a 69 I believe. >> Yeah. Are there any planned I mean this is a kind of a side question. Any plans for any 750 lines in the area at all? Um,

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not for this project. Um, the plans that I've seen posted from MYSO, the organization that controls the electric grid from north to south, I haven't seen any within this area. Um, this project itself would be a part of the Tunch 2.1. >> I know there was some there was one down

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in the Pipstone area that was coming through. I was talking to commissioner there and he was talking about the a 750 line which is a little different than just our 345ks because of the the high voltage and the other >> little bit different. Yes, sir. A lot a lot different. >> Okay. Thank you.

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>> No. 847 line or 38? >> They have they have a million plus lines here now. >> 150. >> Nothing that large. No sir. >> So this is something we could bring back uh for next week. Um if you'd like to

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see it presented again or on consent. >> No, I think consent fine was fine. >> Sounds good. >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> I won't swear it right into the microphone. that [laughter]

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>> madam chair, commissioners, uh Tim Bray, county engineer, I have one item for you today and I unlike me, I did not have a PowerPoint presentation. I was a little envious of all those wonderful presentations and and stuff like that. So, um in retrospect, I really should

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have had a map, but and I don't know if Amber can pull something up. might be really tough to pull up GIS, but I ask you to imagine Cross Lake area and County Road 16. And really that's the focus of uh my presentation today. Um

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really to start off, I want to introduce um maybe a a group, a civic group that operates in Cross Lake uh called the Lake Foundation. It stands for Lakes Area Kids Enrichment. And so this is set up several years ago and maybe one of

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their crowning achievements was really um their work to get the charter school started in Cross Lake and they've done a good job with that and uh we're very proud of that. They've really do a lot of things around Cross Lake. I can't even in that area. I can't even mention

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them all, but the the most recent initiative that I'm familiar with at the highway department and they're really working on is a trail initiative. And so they're doing a lot of work around trails in the Cross Lake area. As a matter of fact, they've done a good job

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of securing some federal funding along with partners at Crow Oh, excellent. Uh at Crowing County to get uh a trail from or the bridge basically down um I'm

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sorry, I'm on the totally wrong side. down uh from the bridge and the dam and cross lake down into these neighborhoods back here. So they uh so they have had some success getting some federal money to build a trail that will occupy the Casaw 3 corridor from

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the bridge down to it's called East Shore Drive. They are also been working on getting trails adjacent to County Road 103 and then continuing on down County Road 3 even further to the

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roundabout that we're proposing in a few years. And so those are act they're actively working on those and we are collaborating with them on that. Uh the initiative that they're working on current also working

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on currently is making a regional connection trail connection of the Paul Bunan trail from Jenkins to Cross Lake and the lake the representatives from the lake foundation really have been um

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trying to garner those partnerships with the uh agency government agencies so across Lake city, Jenkins City, Jenkins Township, Ideal Township, and they've reached out and gotten some letters of support from the DNR who's interested in

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trails and that regional connection and also the Paul Bunan Scenic Byway um letters supporting uh this concept and that's really what it is uh on the Conro 16 corridor and

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that is this about 15 miles actually. So, pretty huge undertaking. But these trails take time and they take a lot of coordination with [snorts] um agencies and that's where they're

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starting right now. They they've done a good job um getting the letters and the resolutions of support that are in your packet. each of the uh township and city agencies passed a resolution

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offering general uh you know support for seeking this regional trail connection and then also um recognizing the importance of Crowing County and that partnership too. It is our county road 16 corridor and

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um looking to demonstrated support that it could occupy in on in concept to occupy the concept >> the county uh 16 corridor so they can use those you know initial um commitments or

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>> um from the county about that it can occupy the space we had to figure it out there's a lot of stuff to do but But then they can utilize that to apply for outside funding. Our current cost share policy uh places the cost of trails and sidewalks on the

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local agencies who who advance them and and in turn also that relates to long-term maintenance and replacement and those kind of things. So it's really important that all of the agencies that are involved uh are on the same page on

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a concept level. so they can continue to seek funding uh state, federal, and and even do some local fundraising um to get some of these trails and trail initiatives um moving forward.

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So, they're really looking to uh connect a lot of the existing trail systems and some of those that I mentioned that are planned. And so they've approached each of those agencies in in their resolutions, talked about encouraging Crowing County to also lend their

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support or general support for this. Um, and so I drafted a resolution that does that. But it is also because it's years out. These things take a long time to build. And if you think if you remember to the G G Lake trail that took years

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and years collaborations with the city of Nisa uh east east Gal Lake I believe it's there that's the >> Fairview Township >> several several of those and I think one of the final sections just being built it it it's taken the better part of a

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decade and that I have no doubt that this will take that but you have to start somewhere. You know if you look at it's a daunting task. why you even start 20 years now, 20 years from now, you will not have a trail and wish you had started. That's what they're doing. I

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applaud them for for doing that. Now, they're asking uh the county to also demonstrate formal support and concept for this so they can continue on to move. So, that resolution I have before you kind of lays it all out there. I won't read it, but it's important to

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note that making sure that um limit our the county's exposure because we don't know what this trail looks like. We're just saying, well, it can occupy the county road 16 corridor, but we don't know if there's retaining

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wall needed or if there's property challenges or things like that. the costs are unknown and the impact of rightaway or the need for the rightway is unknown. And so what I wrote in the resolution is some of those controls that just to make sure

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that we're not overexposed and future county boards when they're building the last section of the trail 10 years from now are not bound by a decision that that you're making today about paying for it or using your condemnation authority to seek the rightway that they

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may need or things like that. So it is lending support. it lays the background out and then also kind of those guard rails to limit exposure for Crowing County. >> So, this isn't making a commitment and actually this board can't make a

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commitment because a future board could say we're not going to fund that. >> It it's not making it's it's committing to it can occupy the the 16 court if it makes >> it isn't committing dollars is what I was trying to say. No, >> no. And I was careful about that because

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>> about that >> careful about that because um there's so many unknowns. >> Right. Right. >> And it >> be dis like a pave trail similar to the Paul Bunnyan trail is what that would would >> they're seeking I believe a pave trail.

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>> Okay. >> That's the other types of trail systems that they're currently working on now is a pave system. And and one of the things in in the area up there like in Ideals's case or or Jenkins Township, you know, to get in and in and city of Jenkins actually also

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to get part of our city to be able to even connect to that trail. allow the city has to do some things to be able to have a connector, you know, and so by knowing we have a regional thing, it'll make those jurisdictions easier if we want to go out there, a local jurisdiction wants to go out there and do that, whether it be Ideal, whether it

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be Jenkins, Jenkins Township, that that gives them saying, "We have a regional thing here. Please look at ours >> to to get dollars to to connect our trails right in there." And Ideal is a is a classic one because a lot of uh Ideal Township is is north of of 16

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which would be the primary t trail and to get that connecting to either Cross Lake or to the trail um is something that this will help them in in being able to garner partnerships and being able to do that. So, >> I'd fully expect all of these resolutions and if you choose to also

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adopt one that they these would be included in applications for federal, state or even some local type grants. Um to Mr. Coring's point is that um future boards might have more might be willing

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to fund trails and so I believe this has the flexibility to to showing that initial support but then as the projects come up as the actual brick and mortar you know uh trails coming up we'll have uh there'll be some process we'll be

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approving the plans or looking at them to make sure that there's no impact to 16 if there's a request for cost that will come back and the current county board can evaluate that based on the policies and the philosophies of the board at the time >> because you know projects like this are

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endless >> they're endless because I know there's a group of people and commissioner Barrows is one of them where they would like to have the connection from Brainer to Crosby and then somebody might say well I want to go from Crosby to Emily or I

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want to go to Emily to Aken and it's just it's endless. So, I you know I I guess I'm okay with the concept, but you got to really be careful about if we're going to start committing dollars to this and taking away from what I always

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say, Grandma Johnson, to pay for something like this, I wouldn't agree to that. I think it's important that I mean these are grassroots efforts and it's this foundation uh lake foundation and cross

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lake is really facilitating that and kind of getting getting around the agencies um to say hey let's let's move this forward. Some of I think there are plenty of trails that people would do but they they're missing that. It might be one city that's trying to get their

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own done and it's fragmented. what what they've done is uh good job of kind of wrangling all of us to let's speak with one voice so we can at least get started and hopefully 10 odd years from now we'll have that 15

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miles paved and all of this connection that um contributes to economic v vitality for all of the communities connects to existing and plan trail systems. So this is an ask through you

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to us by this group. >> Yes. The recommendation is uh evaluate that re recommendation is to adopt this resolution with a general support with the guardrails on it to to have them move forward. There is no commitment. If

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you would like me to strengthen some of the language uh to to make sure that those guardrails are in place even stronger than they are, we can certainly do that. the recommended just >> the only thing you know the only thing is is we just had something I don't know

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that well it's kind of similar to this with the arboritum that came with a proposal >> and said no no not going to ask for any money and then a year later they're asking for money and so I'm just want to

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be really cautious about this but I won't be voting for any levy dollars for something like this but I I I can see the concept. I mean, so I'll just leave it at that.

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>> Uh this shows it as uh proposal as a multi-use trail. So that would be everything from 88 to ATV. >> I don't I don't believe we're talking about ATVs, but um it's pedestrians and bikes,

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multimodal, you know, rollerbladers and things like that. Um, I know that some of the trails in Nisa, for example, allow golf carts, I believe, and things like that. Uh, I don't believe is ATVs. Excuse me. >> Go to Breezy. I mean, by the time you

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put the golf carts golfing, the golf carts riding, the ATVs, the bikes, and the walkers. Maybe it'd be a nice place to put a county road because there's no place for cars. I'm sorry being a little sarcastic, but >> I think the challenge with ATVs if even if there's intent I believe for uh these

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agencies to make that also ATV trail, I think they'd be challenged to find um >> the funding for that. I don't believe the federal government and the state government uh fund um as much as they do for pedestrians and

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active living and those kind of things. So, um, so I think that bill will kind of take care of itself. There there is a shoulder on County Road 16, a very wide one also that the ATVs are legally allowed to occupy according to county or

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>> if they did if it'd be nice if they did sometimes because usually you're driving right down the regular driving lane. Sorry. >> If well, if there is a separated uh trail then then at you're removing you know the ATVs. This is a longterm

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thing and they're just getting started. This is the ground floor. Need to get all the agencies working or or looking in the same direction at least. I'm pretty much because you wrote this and you put this all the the caveats in

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there to make sure that it protects the county. I have no problem with the document that you've written. >> Okay. Also, I want to give you credit for the gentleman that's been working up there in Cross Lake is a spark plug for for this trail and it's very what you call grassroots, very orientated with it

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and you've been working really well with him over the last couple years to get all this stuff vetted out and I really want to appreciate that workmanship. Well, I want to just uh first of all, I I was not helping him with this and but we've uh had discussions about some of

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the other initiatives and and uh we've had some good discussions about it and and what I felt is kind of the best approach to kind of be successful and re you know get to the finish line without controversy and things like that. and he has done a good job of doing that and uh

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taking that advice and starting here first and I applaud him for that and appreciate him for that. I had nothing to do with actually getting these letters of support. >> No, I know that. >> Um but helping to get it all together

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>> here at this, you know, this is what ultimately they're looking for. We were the last one um in terms of got all the other agencies first and then came to us and asked through his commissioner to get it here at the committee the whole first and then eventually the county board for official adoption or

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consideration of adoption. >> Okay. So if I can go back to my question for a second. >> Um this being multi-use trail I the reason why I bring it up is because I know that question will come up. Is it going to be ADA compliant? Does this

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include ATVs? So, as we as this progresses, that needs to be considered. And, you know, you talk about the ATV on the shoulder. >> Um, that's correct for 16. There's plenty of room there for it. So, I just want to make sure we >> we identify that because it will be a

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question. >> It will absolutely be ADA compliant. Absolutely. And the ATV, there's an ATV trail now in the north ditch and it's very pronounced. And so there will be there'll have to be an ongoing discussion. If it occupies the north

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um ditch area of 16, where do they go and how does that work? That's the that's the dirty details as they start to figure out the sections and uh specific segments that they would build. That's certainly something that'll be ironed out.

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>> Okay. Thanks. So just my last question, I guess I just something just popped into my head as the county engineer. I know that when Breezy Point wanted to have golf carts on the road, you had a very very very very strong opinion.

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And so I I'm assuming you have an opinion on this too as the county engineer because your job is safety, safety, safety. So what's your opinion on this? I think it's I think it's a good idea.

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There's a large steep mountain to climb to get there in terms of funding and then ironing it all out. The good thing is that the counter 16 I'm just really focusing on the north side of 16 actually is not too bad in terms of uh

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the topography, you know, into the ditches and things like that. Not a lot of wetlands. >> It's generally a 50- foot corridor on either side. Um, so I I think it it it could fit with a minimal rightway, but

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it remains to be seen. So I I'm I'm re I uh support this with those um controls in place that we get to review it just like all the other trails to make sure that that that something isn't done that is a detriment

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to the safety or the function of counterout 16. So, I think it's a good idea. It' be a great thing for these communities. It will separate, it has an opportunity to separate some of those pedestrians uh from other traffic on 16.

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>> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Uh consent uh >> I'd say consent agenda >> if and in the and in the form that is as written. Okay, we will do that. Um, it might not be on next week's board

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meeting. It It be in the follow It could be on the following one. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Madam Chair. >> Okay. Moving adjourned 10:45.

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>> Thank you. >> Thanks, Jim. Thank you. >> Yeah.