the whole meeting for November 18th, 2025 to order. Our first order of business is the Crowing County 4 report. Mr. Hansen Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. Good morning. >> Tony Hansen, regional director with the
University of Minnesota Extension. Pleased to be for you all this morning. Um, extension's mission is to make a difference by connecting community needs and university resources to address critical issues in our state. One of the most impactful ways that we live out
this mission is through our 4 program, which helps young people develop leadership, citizenship, and life skills. Today, my colleagues, Shana, and one of our regional staff, Cassie, will uh share how our 4 program is making an impact on our youth and families here in
Crowing County. This work is possible because of the strong partnership and investment from Crowing County and we deeply value your commitment to youth development. Thank you for your continued support of extension and our 4 program.
>> Thank you. >> Hi, thank you for um allowing us to be here today. My name is Shana O'Shea. I'm the Crowing County 4 extension educator and with me is my colleague. Go ahead. >> Um Cassie Gerling. I am the regional educator in the northeast region for Minnesota 4.
So um along with our county program Crowing County 4, Minnesota 4 is divided up into five regions for our staffing plan and we're a part of that northeast region. So in each of those counties on the screen there is at least one county educator per county and then we have um
Shashana and Crowing County. And so behind each of those counties is a regional educator team. And so from the top, I'll just walk down kind of what each of those responsibilities are. Um we have Jenna Clayool in the volunteer systems role and she ensures that our volunteers have role descriptions and so
their um their work is clear and uh defined as to what they can do within those roles in Crowing County. Um we also provide consistent volunteer training so that those volunteers feel equipped and confident to provide positive youth development programming.
Then we have David Foley who is our animal science educator. So what he does is ensures that we have um animal ID systems in place so that it's fair and equitable for everybody who is competing in those programs and also provides um educational opportunities at the local
regional and state level. And then we have me who is um a civic engagement and leadership educator. So my focus is again providing those scaffolded leadership opportunities from the local, regional, state, and national levels and then also working with Shashana to strengthen her youth leadership
programming within Crowing County. Um so we do a lot of work with the ambassador program which you'll hear a little bit more about later on. Then we have Lori Hall. Um she is somebody who specializes in the finances and the risk management pieces. So ensuring that our programs are safe and we are um in the green for
finances. Then over on the right hand side we have Kate Pryiner who is our quality program system specialist. Um she will go out and observe our educators in the teaching role to ensure that those programs are um again quality. We use a quality youth program
pyramid to um ensure that we have all of those pieces in place to make sure that they're they're good spaces for our youth to be in. And then we have Janerowski who is our program leader and she is um both Shashan and I supervisor but but more importantly make sure that all of those programs are strategically
and um they prov she provides direction for intentional program design. So our vision for our Minnesota youth is that we want them to thrive um and so we want them to be confident in who they are. We want them to be successful in what they're doing and we want them to feel connected to others in their
community and outside their community. And so we do this by providing meaningful experiences and building those relationships. And for helps those youth discover the discover their potential and create positive change in their communities. We have three overarching center goals
for the department of youth development. One is that youth will learn by developing a passion in their interests. Um so we have several project areas that they can choose from ranging from photography um performing arts, animal science, lots of different things they can choose from. The second being that
youth will lead by being innovators and positive change agents. Just this last weekend we had nearly 20 youth leaders at a hotel in Baxter and we did a lot of um skill building and talked about 4 and how we could be servants in our community. So we want to provide
leadership opportunities for them. And then lastly, adults will create high quality responsive learning environments. So again, we partner with those adults to um teach them the positive development essentials and um provide spaces for them to thrive in.
So in 2024, our local 4 program reached 315 youth, including 99 new members. And that was spread across our 12 community clubs that are located around the county. Of those new members, 50 were first generation youth, which means that
no one in their family has ever been in 4 before. This growth was made possible by the support of 94 dedicated adult volunteers whose commitment plays a vital role in our program's success. We also added two new clubs this year. One
of them is led by 4 alumni who wanted to give their children the same experience they had growing up in 4. I've been working closely with both new clubs and they have built strong participation and they continue to grow.
Uh what where are those two new clubs at? >> One is in Center Township and one is in Cross Lake. >> Okay. >> Y >> So we're intentional in our program design for them to gain confidence strengthening their leadership and
problem solving skills. These valuable skills can be transferred into their everyday lives. The Crowing County 4 ambassadors are a prime example of youth building and utilizing leadership skills. This past year, 17 ambassadors,
grades 6 through 13, led meetings as club officers, mentored younger youth in a variety of project areas, led leadership activities, and served their community through service learning projects. Our ambassadors continue to play an important role in program
growth. Their visibility and involvement across local clubs help younger members see leadership in action and build excitement about becoming ambassadors themselves in the future. Next up is our Cloverbud Project Club. This club is made up of youth in grades
K through two. We meet each month October through April leading themed lessons and projects. Cloverbuds have the opportunity to explore different project areas, helping them to discover their interests and learn more about themselves while they're building
connections with other youth. After completing the project club, we encourage them to join a community club if they haven't already. Youth in third grade are then invited to attend summer camp where they can continue developing leadership skills and forming new
connections as they grow older. 4 offers additional leadership opportunities creating that pathway for youth to build and strengthen their leadership abilities over time. All right. So last year we had over 26,000 youth across Minnesota showcase
their learning and that's at the local, regional and state events. And so the reason we offer these showcase opportunities is that it completes the experiential learning cycle that 4 is um all about. So that's like doing the project, reflecting on that project and then applying their skills either in
that project area again to keep growing or in other areas of their life. Um it provides expert feedback. So we invite um experts in that project area to be the judge in those areas. Um and so they have that guidance from those experts to continue their guided learning process.
And then um it builds the communication skills for those youth and those public speaking skills and just the practice and the confidence in that um in that in a safe place um for them to showcase their learning. Um so at the local level we've got um county fair. So if you walk
into the Crowing County Fairgrounds, the big one with the 4 clover on it, you'll see lots of different static projects or general projects. They use it interchangeably um in that building. And then if you go into the animal buildings at the Crowing County Fair, you'll see um clover. I think you have clovers on your like um cards, doll cards. Those
are 4 projects. Um horse show too. Um we've got local, we've got a county dog show that they can choose to participate in the horse show. Um there's a shooting sports program in Crowing County. So lots of different opportunities for them to showcase their learning locally. Then
regionally they can do um Project Bowl, which is um animal based too, or they can do Northeast Livestock Show. We had over 300 exhibi exhibitors at the Northeast Livestock Show just in September. Um and then they can choose to advance to state. So state fair, um static projects or animal projects.
We've got engineering design challenge. Um there's a state horse show they can participate in state dogs. So there's really anything lots of different things for anyone they can choose to go further into. So locally in Crowing County, we had 188
youth bring projects to the county fair this year. 109 youth brought livestock projects and 114 youth brought general projects. So there's a lot of crossover there. Um we also had strong representation at the state showcases. We had 49 youth attend the Minnesota
State Fair. 16 youth compete at the horse show. Seven youth attend the dog show and 35 youth attended the Northeast Livestock Show in Morrison County. Next, I want to highlight a youth named Jared. He is in our local program who
has taken advantage of the many opportunities that 4 has to offer. His interests include dairy goats, rabbits, and leadership. Jared serves as a county ambassador and has held the treasurer role in both the Baxter Sandpipers Club and the Federation. He is also a member
of the senior rabbit knowledge bowl team and attends leadership events such as Blue and Yellow, which are designed for teens who want to take their leadership to the next level. He has put those skills into action as a summer camp counselor, helping younger youth grow and learn. Jared is just one example of
the many Crowing County 4 youth who demonstrates dedication to his own leadership development while inspiring others along the way. >> I'd like to add to that he was at the retreat this last weekend and it was his 18th birthday on Saturday and he chose to spend it at 4. So that's how
dedicated this young person is. >> Yeah, he's amazing. And lastly, we wouldn't be able to run our program without all of our amazing volunteers. One of those volunteers, Gretchen Nelson, a 4-H alum and club leader of the DGET Brook Club, says,
"The reason others should become 4 volunteers is because it's incredibly rewarding to be able to coach and encourage youth as they gain their leadership skills is an experience like no other. Knowing that you are able to have an impact on youth that will serve them their entire lives is a humbling
experience." And that is Gretchen on the far left there. So, thank you. That wraps up our presentation. We're very grateful for your partnership. We appreciate your time today. >> Thank you very much. It's interesting
that you have 315 youth. I think that's shows a huge impact in our our county. So, >> yes, >> I appreciate but also the 94 volunteers that are bringing them along and and helping them in their endeavors. So, appreciate it very much. >> Yes. Thank you.
>> Any other comments, Commissioner Coring? He's watching, >> Mr. Chairman. No, no comments. Thanks. >> He's watching you from the side, just so you know. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have the recreation update,
Gary and Tom. Well, good morning, commissioners. Good morning. Uh today you're going to hear yeah the uh about some park trail updates and then um maybe something not as fun the uh enforcement efforts that land
services has been doing. But before Tom starts taking you through uh the parks uh uh and maintenance stuff is uh I think it's important that we re um remember remind folks in the in the public that you know with the millions
of dollars that we put into our parks. Um none of that was levy dollars. You know the funding comes from the sale of timber and the sale of tax forfeited land. Um and a portion of that we have used to um really create um a really
special county park system. Uh and that has been supplemented with um 18 or 14 boat launches and numerous trails for hunter hiker and ATV and crosscountry uh ski trail. So it's um pretty cool that
uh we can do that without asking people open their wallet to do those efforts. Um, well, thanks and go ahead Tom. Yeah, >> Gary. I just I would just piggyback on that just to point out somebody might say, "Well, why don't you use that money
to offset our taxes?" Well, by statute, that money is restricted for certain uses. Can you just go into that just a little bit so that um people understand that? >> Absolutely. So when um every dollar that's generated from uh timber and the
sale of that tax forfeited land goes into an account and that account has to be settled out on an annual basis and it can only be used for specific items. So we do use um um the majority of it for
operations. So for staff and equipment and um things of that nature to keep um our program going. But, uh, statute does not allow us to say take the, um, let's say we may make $2 million on timber
revenue this year and put that right into the general fund. Um, uh, it's it we can't we're not allowed to do to do that. So, um, Yep. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Good morning, commissioners. So, >> good morning. Um, you know, in 2024, we
were pretty pleased and happy and surprised to see that we broke 100,000 users that enter our parks. Um, and so as somebody drives in to the park, we have a car counter that's buried at the park. And so it it's basically a metal detector, they drive past, it counts one, and then um we're able to pull
those data. We check them monthly. And so these numbers that you see for 2025 in front of you here are through the first part of November. Um, so we're not quite done with the year. We're hoping that uh we stretch that number a little bit more, but for 2025, we're at almost 108,000, which is a 6% increase over
2024. So, it's it just goes to show that people are continuing to use our parks. Um, yes, Commissioner. >> Question. >> It counts them going in. Does it count them going out also? >> Yes, it does. >> So, you divide that in half and that's your real number then? >> Yep. Correct. Yep. Yes, we do. Yep. We
have to divide that in half. Um, we also have some infrared counters. um as somebody walks by it breaks a beam and that counts people as well. So that way we have those uh true numbers of how many people are going into the parks and maybe accessing unique things. Um so it's uh it's just really cool to see
that people are continuing to find our parks, use our parks. Um it's just a it's a great uh resource that we have and you know Gary talked about the money we put into them. It's they're being well used. Um, you know, the fire tower continues to be the uh the most popular
place um because of the tower and and the fall colors. If anybody has the opportunity to go there uh during the fall time, it's hard to find a parking spot. We've, you know, over the years since we acquired the tower in 2018, uh we've expanded that parking lot three times and it continues to just be a very
popular place. Um, moving on uh into some of our uh other trails, we also have counters buried at our OV trails. These are our um class one, class 2 ATV trails as well as our OM our offhighway motorcycle trails. So
for uh 2025, we're almost almost at 100,000. We uh continue to see increases there. Uh ATVs continue to be very popular here in the county. Um, we have one of the some of the busiest trails in the state here locally with the uh with some of the trails up in Emily. Uh, we
saw, you know, roughly 21,000 um on our Emily Blind Lake Trail alone. People just driving by and and enjoying our trails and and the resources that we have here in the county. And then we also have uh um 17 hunter hiker or ski trails.
>> Um, before you go on from that, the ATV trails, is there a season that they can ride those on? >> Yes, good question. So, a typical season is anywhere from that May 1st to 15th it starts depending on how much snow and how much frost we've had. Um, we wait to make sure those trails are good and and
safe and able to be ridden. And then the uh the OV season closes November 1st per DNR rules. And so that's to allow for people to get out and hunt and use the tax forfeited land and public land in other ways. Yep. So those those counters
have been pulled for the year. Um, so that that 96,000 number is what we're going to see for 2025, but still a pretty impressive number. It's a lot of machines um traveling the trails and buying gas and hamburgers. So, >> right. >> Yeah. So, for our um and excuse me, I
should back up just one second. Uh the uh the Big Island, I know that was a question last year of of trying to get those numbers reported. Um, for 2025, I did reach out to to the Raleigh Johnson group and they had 291 campers and uh 307 uh people just using the island as
as day use only. So, those numbers are pretty pretty steady. Um, they don't show up well here on the map when you're talking about, you know, 300 people versus uh 50,000 at the fire tower, but still an important park that we have um in the Whitefish chain.
Uh for those non-motorized trails, we have like I said about 17. Um we got a couple that are that are ski trails in the wintertime and then hunter hiker trails in the summer. So that ends up being about 17 trails. Of those 17 uh six are well situated to have a car counter on them. And so we did see a
small decrease uh this year, but still uh you know almost 20,000 users getting out using those trails for um whether it's horseback riding, um birding, hunting, enjoying nature. Uh these are the uh these are the trails that we go
out, we mow twice a year. We hit them once in June and then once in September. Um trying to help people get out and enjoy them so they're not walking through waste tall grass when it's wet. um or hunters, whatever the like may be. >> Why was the poor farm so high in 22?
>> That's a good question. Um I don't I don't know if I have an answer for that. Um we uh we didn't collect anything in 23 and 24 because somebody stole the counter. Um it's it it happens. Um we tried again this year. We did get some numbers. Um it's it's hard to say why
that number is so high. >> Interesting. Yeah, I suppose. >> Sheriff, could you address that? >> Tom, do we have any count the counters at the landings that we managed? We
managed some landings. Is there counters at those? >> These these counters that we're using today used to be at the landings for AIS work. >> Um, but we actually we we repurposed them um to collect the data on the trails. And so we don't have any to say how much are the landings being used
>> at this time? No. Is that something you're looking at looking into? >> Um, not at this time. No. >> So, we don't know how many what landings are used more than other landings unless we have AIS people there that are counting the people coming through. >> Yeah. We we know um you know someone
anecdotally just by you know the type of access and where it's at how which ones get used more. You know those that get used more have um upgraded facilities. You look at uh like Jones Bay. It has a bathroom. The whole entire thing is paved. It has two nice docks. that's a, you know, a very well-used type access.
Um, you've got other accesses that are carry-in only, so they're meant for a small canoe or maybe somebody that's got a a duck boat, those types of things. Those smaller um, you know, lakes that are just they don't have as much fish in them. >> Little Emily, that's a carry-in only,
right, for that if somebody wants a kayak on that lake, then they carry it in. >> Yep. So, the county maintains a canoe access on that. Um, there is a private launch through the resort if somebody wanted to launch a boat. >> Okay. But that's not something we control. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. So, moving on into some some just wanted to highlight some of the work that uh staff has has been doing in 2025. Uh the first one here is is Milford. We've been uh working on a couple parks this year. And so the uh the the trail on the right as you see
there um all the white lines are existing trails that we've built from you know 2017 until today. Basically uh we've done a couple different iterations of park expansions and and now we're um to the largest park expansion that we've
done to date and that's an additional 2.2 mi of trail as you see on the left there. Um crews are actually out there actively working on building boardwalks um on that southern piece of of uh of trail to get that open to the public. Um it's going to be a nice ext uh extension
to the park. It's going to offer a more scenic and and nature type trails. Um when you go out there today, we've got some really good trails that get to some really neat spots. We've got a lot of interpretive information, but one thing we heard is that people want to get out and spend more time. You know, they want to get away from the masses of the public, the people that are out there.
So now they have a nice long trail loop um that we're hoping to finish in 2026 that'll connect um from the existing trails all the way around and then back to the existing trails again. So you can park your car, start at one point, walk all the way back. You don't have to turn around and come back and and uh you can
experience some of the some of the lake that uh was made possible. We um acquired a small piece of property here in 2022, I believe it was, um on the northeast side of the lake. And so now the county owns all the way around Milford Lake, which is um just it's
pretty neat. Okay. Uh we also did some expansions uh at South Long Lake and so we uh built approximately 700 ft of new trails and then um we also redid the existing trails. You can see the the um picture
on the right there. um some of the trails were kind of, you know, washing out and and just got heavy. They were heavily used and so they needed to be updated a little bit. Um made them a little bit more uh ADA compliant so that way people can actually get out and enjoy the park. Um the top left there is
a picture of the boardwalk that we had to build to get across um one of the small wetlands. And then we also uh put up some new interpretive signs that talk about, you know, different county things that we have. So like different trees within the county and you know why wetlands are important and and those
types of things to help educate the public and and spend some time. Um and then uh for 2026 we also uh intend to install a playground similar to what's at Little Emily. So some pretty cool improvements to that park. If you uh haven't been able to check them out,
it's it's it's looking really good. Also for 2025, if you remember, um we had a cooperative agreement with the DNR to extend the fishing pier at Little Emily. Um we actually put a 20 foot extension on Little Emily. Uh that was paid for by the DNR. Uh that went uh
that went pretty well. And then of course, as always, um we did have some vandalism at the parks. Uh thankfully this year it wasn't um excessive, but we have seen some, you know, some continued people that will uh shoot our signs. And you know, we did have one case at the
fire tower where somebody backed into the fence. It was just an accident, but we got that fixed. And then uh we have seen some graffiti up in the tower again. And so staff are uh making sure they climb that tower fairly routinely um to ensure that type of stuff is is being identified and and cleaned up. We
have been working um with both the sheriff's office and Peekquat Police Department to try to catch some of these people. Um we've been successful a few times and the I know um the police chief up in Peekquat has uh chewed a few few people out for us. So it's been it's been good. Um just unfortunate that we
continue to see some vandalism but not as much as we've seen in the past. >> Um do all the parks have some type of a uh a camera system now? I know. I know. I was out at uh my wife and I were out at the Milford mine one and doing a walk around. She just couldn't believe how
nice the trails were, but I could see there was a camera up there. >> And is that just a How does that How does that get fed back that information come back? Do we see that live? Do we see it is it How does that work? >> Yep. I don't want to give away too many secrets, but it's just a it's a solar
camera that we have access through an app. And so if we um we're not necessarily sitting on our computers watching it, but if but if if we see something and we want to look into it, we can go back into that feed and you know try to catch somebody. Uh you know they they are solar cameras and so they
don't do the best at night, you know. So um when it's real dark out, we have troubles, but uh if somebody's doing something during the day, we'll usually be able to catch them and and then we forward that stuff on to the sheriff's office or the local PD. Um, and so we've we've done all these nice improvements. We buil we've built
all these nice parks. Um, we also need to maintain them. And so this year we did purchase a small box blade. You can see up on the you can't see that pointer very well, but up on the left hand side here, it's a little box drag that the uh the technicians can pull behind an ATV. And then this is the product here on the
bottom bottom left. Uh, you know, as as time goes, we get some small wash outs or real erosion or just people walking and moving dirt. We like to make sure those trails are have a nice crown and they're nice and smooth and level. So, um that was a um a small purchase, but it's made a big impact. Um and then we
also did some improvements at the fire tower. You can see uh this spring we got some really heavy rains here in the center picture and it it caused some erosion that just was uh unsafe for people. And so we we spent some time um with the contractor to install some storm water basins and and diversions so
that way we can um eliminate that problem. And then now we now with the box drag, we can continue to maintain those nicely and keep them to a standard that the public have come to expect at our parks. This is one of those uh um don't knock it till you try it kind of things. So we
uh you know, we we build these trails and they get kind of remote sometimes. There's lots of trees and there's lots of leaves. Um as the leaves fall in the fall, we like to remove them. Um they start to decompose in the trail. They get real wet. They get real thick. people just don't like walking through them. And uh and so the staff came up
with uh what I think is a pretty innovative idea. It's a trial run for this year and it and it worked. Um you can see in the on the left the the technicians take a leaf blower with some uh with some ducting and and they uh able to blow the leaves off the trail. And so this is they they make two
passes. It really saves us a ton of time versus having to walk um a trail. You know, it it this is that little Emily. Um, three miles of trails pretty much takes us all day with the leaf blower to walk. Um, now they're doing this in an hour or two. Um, we're going to make some improvements to that uh, duct work,
make it look a little nicer with some PVC next year, but uh, we didn't want to spend a bunch of money. You know, we've got maybe 40 bucks invested there. Um, and we also don't want to, you know, if you ever seen like commercial people that have like a Billy Go leaf blower, we don't want to blow all our granite off the trail. So, this is a good
solution where we can control um, the amount of pressure we're putting on those trails and blowing those leaves off. So, don't knock it till you try it. It's uh it's working well. >> Keep us updated on that, will you? >> Well, sir, >> and my wife would want me to make one for her ride lawn. You can see that right now. >> Yep.
>> Be in the shop next year. >> Uh also, you know, with maintenance, um we've got a lot of bridges and boardwalks. The one on the bottom right there is Little Emily. Again, staff are just getting out, making sure that we're staining those, keeping them looking nice, making sure that they last for a long time. We've invested a lot of money
in the trails. We want to make sure that we're just we're doing a good job. Um, and then the picture on the left there is is the entrance to Milford. Um, we did spend some of that uh tax forfeit money like Gary mentioned to um add some gravel to the to the road there so that way it's not so washboardy. We can do a
better job maintaining and grading that. So just small improvements that that really go a long way to keeping what we have looking really nice. And then uh once a month the staff, the technicians go out and they um actually close each park for half a morning and
they treat um for mosquitoes and for flies. So the up on the right there, that's a mosquito mister that we use. We put it in the back of our side by side. And so they go out and they make a couple passes and they're blowing um kind of like Mosquito Squatter or similar company would do and making sure that our parks are enjoyable for people.
They're not getting overrun by by mosquitoes and flies. Uh the thing is is that they're still pretty remote, so we get some control, but the mosquitoes and flies do come back. But once a month, we're going out first around the first of the month and and treating our our trails. Um and then the bottom picture just represents that, you know, we we
build these trails and we want to make sure that they stay weed-free. And so while this while their staff are out there spraying from mosquitoes, they're out there um treating weeds, removing those that way, we keep them looking nice. Otherwise, Mother Nature would do her thing and reclaim those trails very quickly if we didn't uh didn't do some
work to keep them looking nice. Any questions on 2025 park maintenance? If if not, >> I can just say thank you very much for the crew and and what you guys do out there. It's we did enhance the number of parks over the course of at least my
tenure here and I think that the maintenance of it has been outstanding. But it and the expansion has been amazing and that's reflected in the number of people that visit our park. So they're wellplaced and they're it's
attracting people. So but you guys are doing a great job of maintaining it and keeping it up. So thank you very much. >> Yeah. And of course, we appreciate, you know, your guidance and vision and trust for us to do that work. And um I'd be remiss if I didn't, you know, pass that thanks along to the technicians. They're
the ones out there dayto-day, you know, cleaning the bathrooms and spraying the weeds and making sure the garbages are empty. They're the ones that are out there doing the hard work. So, kudos to them. >> Any other remarks, questions? >> Okay, remarks. Um the you know I'm kind of involved a
little bit with pollinators and stuff like that and the product you're using for the mosquitoes. How does that affect the the bees and that type? Is it the same product that would affect them also? >> Yes, it would. Yep. It is it is a pesticide. Um it's it's not definitely
not selective for individual types of of animals. Um you know what we're treating is a is a very small portion of our landscapes in general. um you know our our we have you know quite a few miles of trails at our parks but it's it's relatively a small piece of our land
base. >> I know on on the um Milford mind I remember sending you a picture of a of of a plant that my wife looked at and says good you know and I know it's some native species that's out there. So, >> you know, those are the other things we kind of think about that that's some of the stuff that's in our area that you
normally don't find in parks is some of that native species and stuff. And I don't wouldn't want to herbicide too much stuff and make it just a a mon monoculture out there of just green grass. So, >> yeah. Yep. We're not we're not spraying any herbicide in the woods. Um we I I should say we do treat some buckthornne
at our parks, right? Um some very selective things, but we're not just broadcasting herbicide everywhere. It's very selective to on the trail um just to make sure those trails stay weed free. Yeah, we don't we don't want to lose any of our native vegetation and you know the variety that's out there. Our our goal isn't to have lawns out
there. Um we want it to be as natural as possible. >> Um the other thing is is since we have so many parks now, are you do you have a a budget? Do you figure what your budget's going to be for just the maintenance of the park? I mean, because we've added, you know, trails and and all that stuff is taking more
maintenance and and we know that through the uh you know, the revenue that comes in from the timber, that's one thing, but the revenue that comes in through the land sales and some of the other stuff is is kind of tenuous. Are we set to make sure we can maintain those parks throughout without having to look in
other sources of revenue? >> Uh yes. Uh I think we are in a good uh position to uh the parks we have currently even with some um potential future enhancements in 27 maybe 28. Um
I think uh almost I can't guarantee anything but for a long time out we don't see any levy dollars needed to maintain these parks. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Let's get on to the part that probably isn't. So,
>> well, we I got a couple more um for under recreation. >> Okay. Sorry, >> we just got to park it for a minute. >> Okay. Thanks, Gary. >> So, for 2026, um we do have some plans to make some additional improvements at our parks. Um one of those improvements
is a couple fishing pier. And so, there's uh there's a proposed pier at South Long Lake. Um so, if you look at the map there, there's you can kind of see the one. It's uh there's already a small fishing pier right at the uh the the confluence of the lake and the No
Mississippi River there. Um we also plan to add another I think it's about 164t long pier that does jet out in the lake um to provide more fishing opportunities um for people. I uh I like to bring my daughter here and it's it it's it's quite busy. It's hard to find a place to
fish. So this will be a good enhancement for this park um for 2026 along with the playground and it's going to be looking really good. You don't have a personal agenda in this? >> No, no, sir. All for the betterment of the the taxpayers of Crowing County. Um I think that fish computer was actually
Gary's idea. So uh we also have a proposal to put one on Papoose Lake. This is a little bit shorter one. I think this is 60 70 ft long. Um right in that red circle there on the left map. Uh we do have a a fishing pier on Little Emily. But one thing that we've seen as
we've started to open the park and maintain the park is people are walking to papoose. um with fishing poles and so they're trying to fish off a shore trying to look for additional opportunities to fish. Uh Papoose Lake um is once again surrounded by public land and so there's no development on
the lake. It's a it's just a really nice small little body of water and uh rumor has it there's some crappies in there. um can't divulge where but and then uh we do plan on putting another um 40 foot extension on little the pier on little Emily Lake to continue to push that out,
give people a better opportunity um to fish and and use our parks. And then uh for uh for 2026 as well, just a couple enhancements. Um we're going to put uh potentially two new pavilions out on some scenic overlooks.
They're hopefully in strategic locations where people will need a rest anyways from walking along the trails. Um both of these uh are are really good overlooks. The one on the east side there or the right side uh overlooks Milford. You can kind of see some of the existing park infrastructure that'll be really neat. These are the same types of
pavilions that you would see at our parks. They've got the granite surface. Couple picnic tables. They're about 16 by 20 ft in in length. And the other one will overlook Island Lake. Um, and then we'll also be adding some more granite to the trails. And so when we when we
first u proposed this expansion, um, we were trying to be cost effective and and work in the budget we had. And so we didn't have granite for those trails. And, uh, and now we're looking at making sure those trails look just as good as our rest of our trails. And then, uh, there's quite a few boardwalks that are
out at the park and we, um, plan to make sure we stain those in 2026. That way we keep those looking nice. I know Commissioner Lupkey has mentioned a few boards on the existing boardwalk that are looking a little tough. We're going to get those replaced and then make sure we um get those stained that nice floating boardwalk that we have. Making
sure that continues to look nice and doesn't turn gray and just keep our parks looking um as good as they always have. So, that's all I have unless there is questions. >> Tom, are the parks closed at any point in time during the year? Are they open year round? What when can people visit
the parks? >> The parks are open year round. Um, they're open sunrise to sunset. Yep. And they're free. We don't charge anything for people to come and use them. >> Very good. >> Thank you. When Chris is coming up on the
enforcement stuff, um I just wanted to mention when he talks about this, the the the thing that I've learned in in my tenure is we do a lot of stuff in land services, of course, but one of the more difficult things is trying to have somebody get compliance without having a
hammer. And the stories you'll hear from Nichollet and Chris um it is um you would think maybe um setting value or or talking taxes are the toughest thing but this this enforcement um um task is uh
quite difficult because a lot of times folks either don't have the means to clean up uh uh things for themselves or it's their treasures and they maybe don't agree that um you know it's making the environmental impact that we believe
it is and it's it's a um it's a tough it's a tough gig. So, thanks for that. >> Thank you very much, Nichollet and Chris. Welcome. Good morning.
Uh we just wanted to take a few minutes this morning and provide an update on uh some of our enforcement numbers and and uh you know what we've been up to uh this year as far as getting compliance. Um just uh brought Nichollet with me. She's been with the county about six and
a half years. She started in our customer service team and then moved up into uh the role of being an environmental service specialist and she held that for about 5 years. And then about a year ago she was promoted to be a senior environmental service specialist. And so she really works with me on helping to coordinate some of our
more field activities and back with the other environmental service specialists, but her real primary goal is to help um coordinate the planning commission board of adjustment items. And so we just wanted to invite her up today and and kind of just walk through have her share some of her thoughts. We got some
examples of some enforcements that we'll show you that she worked on herself that I thought she'd like to maybe share those stories and and how they were able to to work out. So, just going to give you a real quick rundown on just more of uh from an enforcement standpoint, policy, how we really do the the process. Um, as Gary mentioned, I think,
you know, anytime you have rules, you have to have enforcement. It's just part of the part of the gig. Um, it's one of the more challenging things that we do. And I think when we get new staff that come onto the team, the enforcement piece is usually the part that um is kind of where they have to decide if they like working as an environmental
service specialist. It's fun to permit a house up on Whitefish, but it's not a lot of fun to go down to Dagger Brook Township and tell somebody they got to get rid of 75 cars on their property. That's not as that's always not it's not really a always a fun conversation. But just to give you just a couple things so
that we have a multiple um list of items that that we're responsible to enforce. So, we do the land use ordinance, salt waste ordinance, short-term rental ordinance, wetland conservation act, and then we also work in um um collaboration with the with public health nuisances
with the community services office. Um and so again, to go back to what is the overall fundamental um goal of enforcement is to get voluntary compliance. So, we're not out driving around looking for problems. We're not look they they they come find us. I will
say that if an environmental service specialist is out working in in their in their area and they're doing their field work and they drive by a house also they notice there's a garage being built and they said, "Uh, I didn't permit a garage there." We'll stop in and have that conversation and get those things, but
we're not out driving around looking for any of these junk nuisance violations. Those are typically um we respond to those um on a complaint basis. Uh and so when we get a complaint, uh one of the first things people need to do is the person making the complaint, we need to know who you are. So we need your name,
we need your phone number, and then you need to tell us exactly where this complaint is located. Um if you're not willing to give us your name and a phone number so we can follow back and that we're just not going to take the complaint. Uh we need that information so that uh we can ask questions and get more information. Um, but we also don't
we also will get calls. Oh, I was over on Rush Lake today and I'm pretty sure somebody's building a permit on the south side. Where? Well, on the Okay. So, can you go back? We we'll instruct them you need to go back. We need an address. Tell us exactly where it's at. Um, because we don't we have a limited
amount of time and just trying to search and find some of these violations can be very problematic. So um so that's kind of and when when people call I mean it's the simple what when where why how you know who give us all as much information as you can so that
we have some information um you know there are certain violations depending on what comes in we'll will drive how quick we respond. So, if somebody calls in today and says, "I think my neighbor's septic system is surfacing and there's sewage on the ground." We're going to be out there today. No question
about it. They'll have a 24-hour time frame to um resolve that issue to either cap that tank off to um and then treat as a holding tank until they can get the res issue resolved. Um but if we have and if we have a situation where we get a call once in a while, somebody's got a
back hole in the lake, we're going out right now because we got to see what is going on. But if it's typically the activity is has occurred and um the goal that we have or the the policy says that we want the environmental service specialists out to that property within five business days uh just to go out and
just view the property. And um you know when we go out to a property, you know, we're being very um cognizant of of private property and and making sure that we're not just we don't have the ability to just start snooping around and peeking in people's windows of garages and that sort of thing. And so,
you know, we go to somebody's house and we knock on the front door. We always want to talk to people. We don't we're not a big believer in writing letters as that's a last resort. We always want to talk to people. Uh and so, um when we go out and we we always knock on the door and if there's nobody there, we kind of
walk around the backyard to see if we can see any are there. We do whatever we can to try to get a hold of somebody. We always leave a card when we're there so that people know who we are and and what our purpose was. Um, and then after they've been to the site, you know, within a couple days, we want the ESS to
be able to have reached out to the, you know, try to find a phone number, whatever way we can, um, try to get that contact information. And if after that point we can't get a hold, then we'll we'll send them a letter. But, uh, we get a lot more work done when we talk to people in person or by a phone call
versus sending letters out, it's it's just a much more, um, much more productive when you do that. Um, one of the things that, um, you know, as as Gary mentioned with, uh, enforcements being challenging, um, there are situations where, um, the people don't
want us on their property and they're not happy to see us. And so, we've got a really great relationship with the sheriff with with Sheriff Cang and uh, his team to make sure that if we are feel like we're walking into a situation where it's dangerous, um, we're going to be escorted out there by a deputy. Um,
I've worked real close with a good relationship with Jessica over at Dispatch. And so if we're going to go out to a site that we've got some questions on, we'll we'll we'll call. They they've asked us to call the day of um because, you know, if we ask them a week ago and things were great. A lot of things can happen in a week. And so we
talked the day of, they let us know if there's been any issues out there, if anything we need to be aware of. This is the one example I can give is uh um we had staff go out to a site and then I talked with one of the deputies and they go, "Oh, we wouldn't go out there unless we had two deputies and we had one of
our ESS going out." So, that really got my mind thinking, "Oh, we got this safety is is paramount. We need to make sure that we're not putting staff into a position where um they're going to, you know, run into a nasty situation with somebody who could, you know, might try to harm them or hurt them. We want we we
want everybody to come home every night after work. So, um there are times when we're in a situation where the active the operation is active and we need to go issue a cease and assist order and we work with the county attorney's office on that to to stop that activity until
um they can get resolution as far as what it takes to get compliance. Uh so what are you know some of the options that folks have when they're in when they're out of compliance is they can just apply for a permit. Um, we don't, you know, find people. We just want compliance. We just want to work with people to get things figured out and
back into compliance. Maybe they have to move a structure or remove a structure because it's not in the right location. Um, sometimes they can apply for a variance if they want to to see if they can keep it or sometimes they need a conditional use permit depending on the activity. So, our goal is to is to help them find solutions to gain compliance
with the ordinance. Um, unfortunately, when you're dealing with like the solid waste ordinance and that, you have one option. you got to get your you got to remove your the junk off the property. When we work through the Wetland Conservation Act, there's different ways of uh getting compliance. There's exemptions. There's replacement plans.
Um there's just removal of the fill. We we'll have a couple examples of that to show you today. Um and then, you know, again, as I mentioned, we're really looking for voluntary compliance. And so, um for example, if this I'm just I'm just really reading from a policy we
have in place on how we handle this. um just to so this is this is really clear I think for staff is the expectations but if somebody has uh let's say they've had a wetland impact where they've filled a wetland they shouldn't have they have a 30-day window to remove that. Um if somebody has a septic system
that is failing it's it's uh it's not protecting groundwater for a for whatever reason they have a 10-month window to upgrade that. Uh if we have the system like I said where it's surfacing on the ground you have a 24-hour window to resolve that issue and get that taken care of. Um, you know, if
somebody's got junk or solid waste on their property, they got a 30-day window. Um, per, you know, let's say they need to get a permit, they give them, we'll give them 2 weeks. We'll also give extensions if people are working towards it. You know, if if they're, you know, if we go out to a property and they had 50 junk cars today and we go back out in a month, they got
40. Okay, let's just, you know, and the the mo the most important part about working in enforcement is is making sure that the people are in control as much as they can. And so when we're working with them, we're out there saying, you know, this is what needs to happen. How when can you have, you know, what time frame can you do that in? Well, I could
probably do it by the end of the month. Well, great. It puts them in control of the situation where they don't feel like they're being boxed into a corner. We've had some people say, "Well, I could do it in 3 years." And we like, well, you know, that might not be quite fast enough for us. So then we'll work with them a little bit on setting a more
timely time frame for that. Um, but it's really, you know, we want to most of the time when we leave these properties, it would be I think you'd be surprised people say, "Thanks. That was, you know, that went better than I thought it would." And we're just there to to get that compliance in place and work with
them. So, um, so that's kind of just the process of how we go through the enforcement. Um, up on the screen, um, just to give you some numbers of things that, you know, what we've looked at so far this year. So, we've uh out of uh for 2025, we've had 227
documented complaints. Um and we've been able to resolve 176 of those. So, we're at a 77% closure rate. Our goal as a department is 75%. Um and so that's this is for usually this time of year. Um it's probably
closer to the 60s than previous years. So, I'm really pleased with the staff at how well they've done um putting all this together and really getting out and and working on these um uh these uh issues that we've got with the ordinance. So, if you like so just for example, I just I'll point out a couple
I think that were important. So, we had 63 failing compliance inspections. So, that would be somebody had an inspection because they needed a permit or property transfer and the system didn't pass. They would there'd be a 10-month window to uh to upgrade those. And if you look so far this year, we've been able to
upgrade a total of of about half of those systems, just a little under half tornado systems have been upgraded. I think one of the big things that we do as a county is making sure that people have compliant septic systems. I think that's one of the most important things that we do. Um, we had some land use ordinance violations that would resolve
I didn't get a permit for a certain activity or, you know, maybe uh, you know, typically it's didn't get a permit, working with people to get permits and and that. Um we had uh 47 short-term rental violations, you know, uh this year. Um the majority of those
are for folks who just didn't get a license. And so we work with them to get a license. We had 14 complaints about, you know, hey, they're too loud. This we had a situation where we had sent out um a couple of uh letters with strike one saying you got three strikes and you're
you're done with your rental. We only had two issues where he had to send those letters out. So, um I think it's an example of people showing that they're >> and this is the first year that I think the Cross Lake took over their own in their jurisdiction. >> Correct. That'd be correct.
>> And I think they had of I think they had last time I checked, they had like 111 uh I'm trying to remember the number, but was it about 111 that they have in their own jurisdiction that we don't have anymore, plus whatever has been added on to that.
>> Right. Yeah. Yeah. Have we had many new ones in our area come in in in the area that we take care of >> ones? Oh, absolutely. There's always new ones coming in. New one. There's new ones coming in. There's ones not getting a license anymore. It's a very fluid uh very dynamic company. >> The other thing you have here failing
compliance inspections and you opened in 25. Was there some that came over from 24? Because some of those >> We did have a rollover. Yep. We did have we had we had uh probably about half that number roll over from 24. We're down to >> I believe seven of those we're still
working on and frankly they're going to go to the county attorney's office because we're not getting anywhere with them voluntarily. So we're working on that. Uh so and then if just to give you an idea um we sent uh this year we were able to send over some cases the county
attorney's office and so they've been really um really helpful because sometimes a letter from the county attorney tends to maybe get people more motivated than maybe a letter from land services. So just a a big thank you to the county attorney's office and Stephanie and her willingness to help us um resolve these cases. So she like for
example um they helped us resolve 39 cases in in 2024. We've done 35 of them so far this year. Um a lot of them have just been um sometimes when property transfers they don't get the compliance inspection then we send them a letter that says get your septic inspected and
they just kind of ignore it. So that's one that's been helpful for us. Um short-term rental uh when folks don't a lot of folks just don't want to get their license. Uh so we work with those. they've been helpful with that and then getting some septic upgrades when we know we have a failing septic. We got a notice of non-compliance and they just
don't want to upgrade their system. And so we've so it's it's been a great relationship with the county attorney's office. I appreciate uh all the time and effort that goes into that. So we're going to go into just some examples quick of just to show you some
of the cleanups that have happened. Um look at that. So this would be in district 4 with Commissioner Franzine. This is off the off of Soda Road. You can just see the assorted junk that we had out there. And then this is what it was done when it was cleaned up. And I think it's important for folks to know
that when we do cleanups, it doesn't mean everything on the property is going to be removed. It's going to be what is in violation of the ordinance. Sometimes, you know, folks might not like that there's these different sheds and that on there. That's not a that's not a non-compliant issue. Uh and so
we're not we're really focusing on what does the ordinance require and what is that people can still keep and remain on the property >> and the cost of doing those are put onto the >> So everything that you see today is voluntary. There's we we didn't this is
all voluntary cleanups where staff work with folks and and they were motivated to to voluntarily clean up and not have to go through the >> or whatever we do that we go out there and clean it up and then put it on their tax. >> We can and that would we would always come back to the county board and you
guys would always authorize us to go in and do those cleanups. But I'm going to pass this over to Nichollet and she's going to share these are some files that she worked on herself. So I wanted her to kind of share her story about >> just as Nichollet's getting ready. Just one thing on those the ones that you would assess back to the property. Typically, when those notices go out, it
gives them the opportunity to voluntarily clean it up before it gets to that assessment piece. So, you might see a notice that comes from public health or from the enforcement. And actually, they're now becoming these joint assessment notices. If you've noticed on the last few that you might
have seen where it's showing that it's both a a solid waste enforcement and a public health enforcement piece that is being addressed, they're given that opportunity to clean that up voluntarily um before it gets to the point where it would be assessed back onto their
property when we would go out and clean it. If we actually are doing the effort, if we are coordinating with the contractor and saying that it needs to be cleaned up and we're scheduling someone to come out and do it, that's when it's going to get assessed back to the property. >> Correct. And and it's important to know when you're dealing with solid way or
with the public health nuisance, there's a very tight timeline as far as and that's why these letters go out. doesn't always mean we're going to do the cleanup, but it it puts folks on notice that if they don't do the cleanup, this is what the next steps would would be potentially to to, you know, to require a mandatory cleanup, which we don't want
to avoid at all costs because it's much more cost effective if folks can clean up their own property versus us going in and doing it on their behalf. So, but why don't you go and explain which some of these projects? >> Okay. Good morning, commissioners. >> Morning. Good morning. Um, this enforcement is in district 4 and this is
off of County Road 3 just east of Clouse Stamping on Lake Edward. Um, and this is a side that has a wetland fringe along the lake and there was um a homemade dock um through the wetland and um this was a joint effort with the DNR, the
soil and water conservation district and land services. And so this is a picture of before. And um here's a really good aerial of the restoration of before and after.
They removed all of the pallets and the um asphalt shingles out of the wetland and uh the wetland fill that was also placed. So it was very successful. >> Was that volunteer or did that No, you
>> voluntary. >> That was also voluntary. Everything we talk about today is voluntary. >> Okay. >> Um once they work with us, we might have gave two extensions for that one, but he completed it on his own. >> Um
>> he thought he should dump all that stuff out there to begin with. >> He wanted to get the lake. >> He was trying to get access to the lake and that was what he had available to him to try to get out there so he could get across the wetland. That was >> now he has no access to the lake. >> He could there's always access availability. So it would require a
boardwalk if you want to across those, you know, a riparian wetland. >> He probably doesn't have the money for that. >> That's why he did what he did. And so sometimes, you know, depending on the season and how rainy and wet it gets, sometimes it's a dry wetland, sometimes it's wet. So
>> Okay. >> Um this enforcement is in district 1 and um Garrison Township on Kenny Lake on Lon Lane. And um this one we just recently closed. This one opened in 2020
actually the beginning of 2020. And um it was at first difficult to get a hold of the land owners but once we did um they they worked very quickly on getting things cleaned up and this is what it looks like now. So um vehicles were all
licensed, collector plates were placed and junk successfully cleaned up. So, >> and that's another piece I'd like to remind um is that when we are dealing with with uh junk vehicles, we have a limit of two unlicensed vehicles in the Shorland district and then once you get
the all the non-shorland, you can have basically two unlicensed cars and then one for every acre up to 10. So, you could have a potential for 10. So, when we work with somebody who might have some cars, it doesn't mean they have to remove them. They have to prove to us that they're licensed and operable. And if they're licensed and operable, there's no limit to um to the number of
vehicles they can have on the property. So >> this um this violation was a wetland violation where there was unpermitted fill and um this property is in the Shorland district which at this time was only allowed 400 square ft of fill with
an overthec counter permit. Um the fill amounts were extensive beyond that. And um this was also another joint enforcement with the DNR and the soil and water conservation district and land services. All three of us worked together on um what needed to be done
with the land owner and they were very compliant as far as removing the wetland fill and doing what was recommended by the soil and water conservation for restoration. This is a photo of what that restoration looks like. >> Wow.
So, another success. >> And you say voluntarily, but I'm sure it's not real voluntarily. Sometimes >> I voluntary means they chose to do it themselves. Mandatory is that they were ordered to either by the county board through a cleanup or by a judge if they
found guilty of a, you know, an offense. So, >> yeah. >> Is this God? >> Yes. >> Yep. So this one um is in district 2 and um Jenkins Township, Pine Noel Circle um
on lower Whitefish Lake and um >> my district. >> Yeah, it was um it was quite extensive throughout the entire property, but um we worked with the land owners and it was completely cleaned up. So um and I
mean within their own set time frame. So this was a huge success for us. So the next one again is up in district 2. Um this one is again in Commissioner Lupkey's area. This is an ideal off of Kai Road 16. Again just uh you know just
the pictures could be one and the same. I mean they're all very common when you start looking at these as far as what's there. Um you know and then you when you're done you know you have a property that's that's cleaned up and looking pretty good. So, um, another good example of voluntary compliance, uh,
where they clean it up on their own. This, uh, this one is over in, uh, Commissioner Lee's district. This would be over on Deerwood off of, uh, uh, Rice Lake Road. Hard to tell, but that's a pile of tires. That's a big pile of tires. Um, and so we got the complaint
on that and we kind of, as we came out to start working with the folks, it turned out that they were already in the process of removing it. I think they had heard that maybe, you know, that we were coming on that had been reported as a complaint. And so if you look at the next picture, you can kind of see this has been where the tires would have been. So all those were were cleaned up
and and resolved and taken care of. Again, no cost out of the county's pocket to do that. Again, this this is up in district 5. Uh this is up in Commissioner Lee's area. This is in Fairfield Township. This is Ky Road 36. It's uh near Rogers Lake.
And he just had somebody who frankly didn't have garbage service. And so they just tossed it out in the front yard. And so uh staff worked with this person. Uh took a few months to to get them to voluntarily clean it up and this is what you've got today. So um you know it was
a it was a really good I think example of a of just working with folks and they were able to work within their time frame and setting it on their own um and and getting it cleaned up. Um, I do want to point out that there was nothing from district 3 and that is uh but we do get
some calls uh commissioner barrels just wanted you to know that and and we work closely with uh both Baxter and Brainard to report um any sort of issues that they have and uh they've been really good about taking that information and going out and and getting that resolution in place. So um just wanted
to today we just just want to kind of go over the policy how do we do the enforcements then just some examples of what's happening in your different you know in your district. So you could see um just some of the cleanups and and hoping that you know what I hope people hear is that um we do have some
requirements that they have to follow. Um and when we come out we're there to help figure out a solution to the problem. And so we're there to to be a solution and to be a helper. So um but we really hope that we don't if we didn't have any enforcements that would
be perfect, but there always will be. Um and uh and I I just want to say a couple things. Um, one, um, Anthony Moberg in the office did a great job putting together this PowerPoint today and the pictures and getting all this information. He's done a really good job of getting us a a really good, um,
spreadsheet up on SharePoint so we can document and track and know where we're going, able to take notes. Um, but it's also just the the environmental service specialists who are the ones that are going out day in day out and working with these folks and um and really helping them um make the right choice
and giving them that guidance on how to gain compliance. And um it's it's not easy. You know, when you go on somebody's property, you've got about two minutes to establish a relationship and uh and they they've done a really good job at doing that and and people have trusted them. And unfortunately, we
have some where we haven't gained compliance and we're working closely with the county attorney's office to assist us with those. So, um just want to say thank you to the board for your support and for um sticking with us on some ways. I know some you get the calls first. They come to us or you'll get a call after you know they've the
complaint has come and our off and our and our team has gone out to work with them. And so really appreciate the support that that the board has given to us in this enforcement because this is probably one of the more touchy subjects I think that that we deal with from a department standpoint. I appreciate you pointing out the Brainard Baxter which
sounds or looks like there's no issues. I do get calls on that. So those issues do exist. >> Yes, they do. >> Absolutely. >> Borders of those two cities. Also, how do you look at um for instance this last slide here, you said they don't
potentially have garbage collection. So what's the future look like for this property? Will they be >> Right. Well, and and so we can't, you know, we're we encourage them to get that. Um I think what this what they turned out in this situation was they're being a self hauler. They're going to
put the garbage in the bags and they're going to self haul over to the ideal transfer station probably would be where they're going to go. But unfortunately, we have repeat offenders and so um we've had to clean up a few properties across the county a couple different times and and uh there might be another cleanup
coming to a property that we're all familiar with up in first assessment. we got another complaint and I think Commissioner Franzine knows who I'm talking about and uh and so we may be required to go back in and do another cleanup on that property as well. So we do have repeat offenders unfortunately.
>> Okay. And one of the things I do appreciate I think that one that was up in district 2 there um you made me aware of it I think ahead of time >> right? >> You know before anything happened and I think that's really important because you're going to get we get the call or we'll maybe know something more to do with that.
>> Yeah. we when we do get those complaint I mean there are some complaints that hey I didn't get a permit for a deck those are those are pretty easy ones but the ones that are a little more sticky um a little more tricky we're going to definitely reach out to the commissioner to make sure you're aware of what's going on cuz you're going to get the call
>> and it's nice I think it's it's helpful to have that information on the front end so that when they do call you can say oh I did talk with land services and kind of takes the wind out of their sale sometimes when when they have that because they there's always a story to tell and uh there's always three sides to the story. My side, your side, and
the truth. So, we got to figure out what that is, right? So, >> well, thank you to your team for all the efforts. There's always a rub there and and you guys seem to manage that very well and appreciate that. I I think we're I think we get minimal calls if I
look at what the potential is out there because of the efforts that are made over at your office there. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. Is that it for the day? >> No, we have one more. Commissioner, uh Jordan Larson's going to come up on
unpaved roads. >> Okay. I I have something on the end, too. If you could just make a note of that, like to say something. >> Morning. Good morning. So, my name is Jordan Larson and I'm going
to give you an update on the unpaved road study that the county has been working on for the last 6 to 8 months. So, right now the county maintains 42 mi of gravel road and over the over the past we've heard, you know, comments
from the public. Why aren't why aren't we looking at paving these gravel roads? You know, we've also seen an increase in population over the last few years. And then obviously with the with the uh influx of traffic during the summer months, these roads are, you know,
starting to see a little bit higher volumes on them. And also with that uh local option sales tax that I believe came into play in 2015 and has been doing well. You know, as we look into the future, if that's something that's continued, if we catch
up on our um our current paved roads, um looking at possibly paving some of these gravel roads may be an option. So we wanted to do a we wanted a study to see if that was you know financially viable
and something that uh something we could do. So what so the engineering department has a good idea of what currently exists out there from a a surface level standpoint. You know we know the ADTS we know you know a few of the problem spots
that you know from spring and spring thaw you know where the bad spots are. But what we really wanted was a data-driven approach to help us to get a an idea of the engineering feasibility of each of the uh each of the roads. We
wanted to have a good idea of what it would cost to to pave these roads. We wanted to know what the long-term value of paving these roads were. And we also wanted to learn more about the community benefit. So that's why last spring we we sent out
an RFP to multiple consultants and short Elliot Hendrickson or SE was selected to do this study for us. Oops, wrong one. Yes. So there was there's about six key areas that we wanted them to touch on. So the first
one was the field conditions. We wanted them to, you know, get an idea of of what's out there. today. So, they went out there, took photographs, took some measurements, gravel thickness, road widths, kind of did an overall assessment of the
roads to, you know, see what currently exists out there today. One thing I didn't mention in the opener is this of those 42 mi of roads, it's broken down into 15 different segments, and you'll see those coming up on a later slide.
So after they did the kind of a a field condition assessment, they moved into trying to determine the current existing condition of the subgrade. So they used a falling weight defletometer test. It's basically a device that they uh they
pull behind a vehicle. They take 10 tests per mile. It's a very short and effective test that's able to get an idea of that subgrade condition, what kind of support it has, and that'll in
turn they're able to put that into the software and give us information as far as what type of pavement design would be needed on these roads, which in turn will really drive the can drive the cost. After the after doing that falling
weight defletoter testing which is just the mainly a surface level test we had had them do some geotechnical investigations. So we had them look do some soil borings. So they went out and did uh 32 soil borings throughout those 15 segments of road.
Um with those soil borings they were able to determine you know where those areas um where there was you know organic materials. So, as you probably know if you've driven some of these gravel roads, some of them there's a reason why they remain unpaved to this
point, just due to the the wetlands and the swamps and the environmental um concerns. A lot of them aren't aren't built on the the greatest of subgrade materials. And they also use those soil warnings to kind of verify their falling weight
defletoter data. So that was a that was something that was good to see. The next kind of key area they looked at was uh traffic analysis. The county provided the consultant with some traffic data over the last 15 years
and they were able to use that data to, you know, to forecast into the future. after meeting with them, we uh we encourage them or we made sure that they used at least a 4% growth factor for these um for their study because we know
that if any of these roads were to be paved, there's a there's a good amount of people that may start using them. And to try to encapsulate that number of people that would start using them if they were paved is paved is a bit difficult. So using that 4% uh growth
factor was uh more of a conservative number than we would typically use for any of our other projects. The next area of that they looked at was a benefit cost analysis. So this benefit cost analysis takes into
multiple takes into account a bunch of different inputs into a calculation and then outputs a number. So, some of the inputs that go into this formula are the construction cost, the length of each uh road segment, current and future uh
traffic volumes, annual maintenance on our gravel roads, as well as annual maintenance on a paved road. They also took into account uh vehicle operation and maintenance savings. So that value right there would be uh a
vehicle driving on a gravel road versus a vehicle driving on a paved road. What that maintenance savings would be for the the traveler themselves. And it also took into account a time savings per mile. Uh someone driving on a gravel road at 45 miles or 40 m hour versus
someone driving on a paved road at 55 miles an hour. There is a value for that. Um, it's a very it's a it's a little bit of a a subjective number, but the consultants looked at different studies from other agencies to kind of determine that
number. And back to that, so that benefit cost ratio that I mentioned, those inputs go into that formula. And the goal is is if that benefit cost ratio is greater than a 1.0, 0
that means that paving that road would be uh financially viable that that there would we would see a monetary return on investment. Anything below a 1.0 that would that would show that it's
financially not viable to do that. The next area they studied was a mat a prioritization matrix. This matrix basically was a combination of of the traffic volumes that they looked at in their traffic analysis, the subgrade
conditions that they looked at with their uh falling weight defletoter along with the soil borings, construction costs, those benefit cost ratios that I just talked about as well as environmental and community impacts.
So what what they did was they took each of those categories and each one was scored on a one through five basis with one being the poorest and five being the the greatest the best. And though those
that matrix is kind of what uh kind of summed all those top five key areas up to kind of prioritize uh which road may be more viable than the others. So this slide here is shows a lot of the
uh it shows some of the segments combined. Um, I know I said earlier there was 15 total segments we looked at. Some of those segments were next to each other and it just made uh financial or it just made sense that if you're paving one, you would pave the other.
This chart here shows on the far left shows the the road number. The next column you see is the the location of the segment where you see that total weighted score. That is that prioritization matrix that I talked about that took into account
the traffic volumes subgrade construction costs benefit cost ratios and those community environmental impacts. That column there is is that prioritization matrix and that the higher the number the higher the
score the higher on the priority that it that each of those segments fell. um that combined uh benefit cost ratio there in the next column that one like I said earlier above a 1.0
is should be financially u viable that you'd see a return on investment. Anything below a one is showing that that's not necessarily the case. And as you can see none of the roads quite meet that 1.0
cut off line. And there are some that are very near or below that zero mark. And then there's also there's some construction costs up there as well. And they they vary significant a decent amount there. And
that's basically main mainly due to the soil conditions and the the wetland, the pete and organic materials that are would be below the surface that may need to be removed. This next slide just uh one thing I wanted to point out on here is each of
those 15 segments is broken down and one of the main driving factors in that benefit cost ratio is the average daily traffic or the ADT and you can see toward the right of that table there it
shows the 25 2025 projected ADT to get an ADT that would bring it close to that 1.0 threshold, um you're looking at a a relatively significant amount of more traffic to
get to those levels. And that's shown there in that far right column. Um kind of as a conclusion, um there's this study shows that there's really no monetary return on investment to pave any of these roads, but that necessarily
doesn't mean that it's a that it's not a good option. Obviously paving any of these roads would provide, you know, benefits to the traveling public such as improved travel, reduce wear and tear on vehicle, enhanced safety, more reliability for
emergency vehicles, reduce dust, noise, and a potential increase in property values. So, just looking ahead as far as the next steps, I know in our long range transportation plan comments, I know we've received some comments regarding
these uh gravel roads. Um, so we just want to just kind of see how this uh study fits into that plan. And then also, you know, we want to work on prior prioritizing any of these road
segments, you know, if any um we would want to look at further. Um with that being said, what uh what questions do you guys have? >> So my my question to you is so none of these have reached the the 1.0
threshold. So in the future as we accomplish what we need to with lost on our current paved roads and let's say none of these continue to not reach the 1.0 would we start
considering some of the higher ones like the the 81 at that point even though it doesn't reach the 1.0 No. And even though the cost benefit doesn't say it's a good idea,
>> that's that's certainly something that we could look into. Like like I was saying, there are certainly benefits uh to the traveling public for paving some of these roads. And I did look into the past a little bit at some of the roads that we have paved. And
some of those numbers are very close to that 1.0 in a just a real brief analysis. So there it's I think it's something that we should probably look into but it's something that would be down the
line. >> Okay. I just you know there comes a point where we have the money to start going after some of those. So my thought was it should be considered at that point. I don't know
that we'd have to look at what, you know, once we've done that, we still have to go back and recondition some of our paved roads because we know that's on a rotation. So, we'll have to determine whether there's money available and whether the legislature
allows us to go on with the lost. So, I mean, there are some variables in there. So, just my thought that sometimes it's nice to get ahead of the curve, but we want to make sure that we're still taking care of the ones that we have to take care of. So, questions,
Commissioner Lee. um talking about well County Road 36 is the one that I get questioned about a lot and I know the reasons of why 36 is as low as it is on the priority list but um could you or maybe Tim kind of
expound on the environmental issues there with that road as to why that one is so problematic? Well, that road in particular, I think, has a lot of there's it's a lot of um vertical changes in the profile which drove the
cost up. There would when we with this study everything want we wanted to compare everything on an apples to apples basis. So the the design that we wanted the consultant to look at was the same design for every road as far as
width goes and shoulder like lane width, shoulder width, ditches, etc. And that that road 36 has some vertical uh curves where there would be significant grading as well as a lot of uh environmental and impacts. And in
turn with those added costs that drove that drove that benefit cost ratio probably down compared to some of the roads that were more level more without all those
those difficulties. >> Okay. Thanks. I um to your point um Commissioner Barrows, you know, that's that's a road that I think if um
it probably isn't going to happen for a long time. I understand that it may never happen because of, you know, the the issues you spoke of and I know there's issues with um actual areas where there's running water underneath that road. Um, but
there is a connection there between Aken County and Highway 6 that is traveled a lot now u as it is and I think that would be a um an added benefit down the road if we ever get to that point and it
would would lead 106 to being um a good connecting road too if if 36 was paved. So, um, if we ever get to a point where we're looking at that, that would be one of my my first choices that we look at, and I know it's the most expensive
choice, but, um, I think it would be the most beneficial, too. So, um, since we're talking about unpaved roads, uh, could you or Tim, um, give me an update on dust control? >> I think I'm better suited to to talk
about dust control. Um, as you know, and thank you for asking the question, we're we're getting close to putting together that contract for 2026, and we've talked at our TAC meetings, and uh you've received uh comments from your
constituents over the last year. Of course, last year there was no dust control placed anywhere in the county, and that was a decision uh made early on in the year, and I've heard from all of you about that. you've been relaying some of those messages from your
constituents and you've been processing that and so um I think I reached out recently uh to a few of you check you were asking me to check on that. So, we are planning to move forward with a dust
control contract this year based on that feedback that I've received uh and you've relayed to me through your constituents. And uh we will I believe at the next board meeting we will have a authorization we we get authorization
from the board to release competitive bids every single year and dust control is no exclusion. And so I believe in the next either next board meeting or the one after that we will be pursuing that and uh we'll have the contract ready. So
what I'm here's this is what I'm hearing and each of you can confirm. Uh, district one. District one. District one is still no dust control except for county road 142, which is
right by the highway department and does not have a lot of residential traffic. And that's um Commissioner Coring has indicated he was okay with with 142, but wants to continue to be responsive to the residents down in southern Crowin
County to not do those. Uh District 2, I know Commissioner Lupkkey left. I know that he had received quite a bit of feedback about Conor Road 56 um and his desires to have it in the dust control contract.
Uh, in district three, oops, in district three, there uh is none. There is no gravel. Uh, in district four, there is none except for the FAD, and we'll talk about that in a second. District 5. Commissioner Lee, you and I recently spoke and that you were
interested in moving it forward with the county roads 105, 106, 142, and 36 for dust control, but um we're were not was not interested because of some of the financial challenges that the SAD has, second
assessment district, um to not uh provide dust control in those areas. Um and then for all of the fad that uh Commissioner Franzine and others that represent that district um at a
recent TAC meeting indicated that there is a desire to have a dust control contract for all the official FAD roads in 2026. So that's how we're planning to write the contract and that you'll be
asked to consider at one of the next board meetings. and just want to check in with you if that is correct and what your wishes are. >> Can you just um expound a little bit about the financial side of it? Why we
are able to do it with some and why we're choosing not to do it with SA? >> Right. Uh that's a good point and we did have this discussion. Um the dust control for the county roads is eligible for local option sales tax. So we do use that. So it's not levy tax levby based
it is public funds but it's not property tax levy and um so we have that avenue in the first assessment district it lost cannot be used or the second assessment district lost it's not eligible to be uh used on
those and those would be levybased uh on their township level tax levy. the first assessment district and is a is a good position to be able to afford that and be responsive to those residents up there. It's about four miles of gravel
in the second assessment district. Uh they are not they're still because there's six miles of road. That's doesn't seem like a lot, but it's about $20,000 worth of dust control and uh
there's so few residents up there. the lo the township level taxes can't really keep up with um the hundreds of thousands of dollars we have to put on to resurface the gravel portion every five years and then
also dust control and they're still kind of in the hole for many years and then save enough money up to be able to have that several hundred,000 graveling contract and then they're back down below. So, it's really financial and I think that's what you indicated to me.
So, so that I just wanted to check base with everybody to make sure that I've talked to each of you individually and so we're writing that contract in the appropriate manner that you all asked to be considering short order.
>> That's good. That's all I got. Can I just go back quickly just uh to the unpaved road study real quickly and um just the point about the cost benefit ratio and um how basically what that's saying
is that um the benefits don't outweigh the cost. If it was a 1.0 I know there it means that you're going to get the same benefit at least uh as what you're planning to spend, but that doesn't mean
um that we still or you all can't put together a priority list. And so it might say that it's not financially feasible. We're not going to in in the 20 years we're not going to be able to get the return on investment. And that's how we approach many different of our uh
roadway investments. But there's a component that all of you uh know and that's um what your residents are saying those quality of life things that Jordan was talking about wear and tear in vehicles time savings and things like that. So it's still doesn't mean that
we're not going to consider that or you should not consider it but it but it might not be based solely on the financial return on investment like we view many other things. So I look forward to continuing it. You know, I want you to consider that and as we meet
at the TAC meeting here next week or part shortly after the 1 of December, we can have another discussion about that. Certainly, as we uh move into the final stages of our long range plan, which will address this, we'll be asking for
your inputs on on that very subject. What are we going to do with it? and if and if we do as a team, which one's going to be first and which one's not going to be first and put together a strategy for that if you desire.
So, I just want to wrap that up. It's it may not get that return on investment, but there's much more to it than when you're being responsive to your residents. Sometimes it might make a good make good sense to you to not
always focus completely on that and and more from the input and the residents. >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Corin, go ahead. >> Yeah, you know what? I uh I really really appreciate the study. Uh the
study doesn't tell me what I want it to tell me, but I'm not discouraged by the study because, you know, in my 60 years of living in Crowing County, uh I can remember I can remember Thompson Road uh
was never a tar road. I can remember 144 when I used to go over to Drogers Resort and dance up a storm on the weekend. 44 was not a tar road. So it is not unheard of of
uh the county to um you know look at the options of of taring roads uh in the future. So, I'm still going to champion this and um figure out a
prioritization, at least down in my district, of what I'm going to push for for my constituents into the future. Because just because it doesn't meet that 1.0, that doesn't mean that in my mind, the elected people uh like myself
um don't think it's priority, which I think it is a priority. So, I'm going to keep pursuing it. But this was really helpful, this study. I think it was a it was a good exercise. Um, so I just appreciate that, Tim, and
uh and the presenter. >> Yeah, George did a great job of uh leading us through that. He before he came to Crowing County, he had a little background in geotechnical, so I think he was happy to kind of dive back into those subjects again. Maybe I just want I want to touch on a
on a quick point is for years and I've been in uh district five at a couple tough township meetings asking for 36 to be paved and um all of those years we were just kind of going on our knowledge what we think
we're we're seeing water seep out of the ground in the ditches. We're seeing the swamps right there and it just in our experience we know it's very very expensive to deal with that and you want to make sure that you're building a good road bed before you pave it. Some of
those roads that uh Commissioner Coring was mentioning like Thompson Road and some of those other ones were maybe paved years and years ago just simply it was a gravel road. Let's put some pavement on it and expect it to last. And we've had varying levels of success
with that. We know that the best roads you take it as a holistic approach. You're you're down way below the pavement before the below the gravel and things like that. And those are the probably the most expensive things that lead to these high numbers here. But prior to this study, we're kind of
anecdotally, you know, on our engineering experience just looking at the environment that it's too expensive and it's just not coste effective. But we felt, you know, there's each of you uh that have gravel roads have been talking about wanting to start
potentially converting these to these gravel roads to pavement. And so we thought it was very important certainly during the long range transportation plan to do uh an official study to put that data driven thing to kind of reinforce kind of what we were thinking
in our head and uh be able to show the residents and give you the tools maybe to have those conversations and real data and why maybe it's not on the top of the list uh in terms of financial you know return on investment but as as I
mentioned and Paul Coring reinforces that there's more to it than that. That um it's not always financial. It's a consideration but not the end all be all. So, I just wanted to say thank you to Jordan for that and I'm glad that we're done with this study and we'll get
to dig into it a little bit more maybe a little bit more detail at the TAC or if you come up with some questions or as we continue on towards finalizing the long range transportation plan. >> Very good. >> Thank you, Jordan. Thank you for your presentation
>> and and it was a good presentation. It was a good piece of information for us to have to get ready for the TAC meeting. So, >> thank you very much. Commissioner Coring, you had something you wanted to add on. >> Yes. you know, as as I'm sure all of us um read the Brainer Dispatch at some
point and uh I think um um who puts together the 60 years, the 80 years is that um uh Deb who puts that together? >> Terry McCulla. >> Yeah, Terry puts that together. Anyway, I was just looking at it this morning
and I just thought this was um I wouldn't say interesting, but it's kind of uh it's really something. So, I'm going to read this. 60 years ago, Marine Private First Class Robert Conl, 23, died yesterday at the Great Lakes Naval
Hospital from complications of wounds wounds received in Vietnam. He was the first in the area to die uh in this area to die. He he was the son of pro-wing county commissioner Ross
Conungl and his wife Ethel of Fort Ripley. Ross Conungl was had the seat that I hold now and was a county commissioner for 24 years. So, and I I obviously I don't didn't know his son,
but I I did know Ross Conl very well. just a very good family and just thought I'd point this out. It's kind of a sad but it's um something that need needs to be pointed out. So, thanks.
>> Thank you. Anything else? We are released. It's not official here, so it's not an adjournment.