good morning everyone at this time I'll call the Crowing County Committee of the whole meeting for February 18th 2025 to order first up today we have carater roll call call the roll please I think we should call roll
call uh commissioner Corin here commissioner luy is absent commissioner barrows here commissioner franzine here commissioner Lee here thank you welcome thank you uh Mr chair County
Board Kary with community services and I'm Tina ebertowski supervisor in Income Maintenance all right so we are here today to talk about County funded burials statute 26.357896 to pay for a burial or cremation the
county shall pay for the cremation or the burial um on the preference of the person if known or on The Descendants descedants Faith tradition boy I can't talk this morning it's like a Monday um we haven't been here for a while around
this topic um and we have a potential change to the policy so we thought this would be a good time to share some information with you um get your approval on the potential change and see if you have any questions questions around this service so as um Caris stated you know
we are required to um provide those services and what I've outlined on the um PowerPoint here is what we look at for immediate Earth burial and immediate cremation currently uh as noted to the
method of preferred method is cremation and we currently pay 2900 plus Transportation costs on that if they are um have to be transported more than 20 miles outside of the
area and that's what the majority of our barriers are are cremations and then for Earth burial it is 3,900 is the max that we pay on that quick question for you who makes the decision Earth or
cremation um we only do the Earth barrier if the family has um a reason that they would not want the cremation normally it's a religious belief so that they don't want the cremation okay so it's based on their religious teachings
or beliefs typically typically yes okay you say typically care because some people regardless of their religious beliefs they may not want the body cremated they might want an earth burial to be able to visit the site and that type of thing so um typically it's based on relig
preference but not always sometimes they just prefer to be buried instead of cremated in my mind I'm questioning why there would be a choice if they're asking for assistance from the taxpayers why wouldn't the less costly
one be the choice that would be up to the legislator leg legislature good Lord and the statute so we're following the statute and it outlines specifically that if the if the decedent preferred an earth Berry or and or had a religious
belief around that then we have to honor that so most likely or most often I want to say when the family is meeting with a funeral home the funeral home will let them know that the preferred method is cremation and if they question that
method you know if they say that you know they question why it would be that versus an earth burial that's where it normally gets worked out is that followup question then if we follow what the decedent wishes are
what if we don't know what their wishes are but the family says we want an earth burial is there a form that gets signed by the decedent prior to death that would indicate their preference not that I'm aware of uh-uh
so some situations then we wouldn't know correct what their pref what the decedent's preference is we know what the family's preference is okay yes want to be clear yes very truly So currently we're seeing um various amounts requested for local
funeral homes on the cost of good and services and that's um where it's there's now a medical examiner fee that is um in place and so when uh when a body is going to be cremated a
medical examiner has to sign off on that before the body can be cre prated and um Ramsey County charges a $50 fee for that and they're move um forwarding that on to the funeral homes and recently we've been seeing them list
a varying amount on that some are listing 50 some are listing 75 some have even put a 100 on that so it caused us to question you know why there's a difference in that fee so uh doing some investigation on that um I did contact
Ramsey County Medic examiner's office and it is a $50 fee they did send us verification of that so we do know that it's that fee I don't know why they were you know somewhat increasing that fee but talking with a couple of them you
know they're talking about all of the they're already taking a cut in um what our limit is um one Funeral Home told me the max they pay is what they would charge someone coming in for a cremation is 4,400 the other funeral home to me
47 so they already felt they were taking a cut so they're wanting to pass that $50 medical examiner fee on to us so I would like to update the policy to include that fee of $50 a Max of 50 because we know that that's what they're
currently being charged from Ramsey County question for you there can they just arbitrarily raise that cost at any time if they choose to so there's no control over that we have no say in it
no legislature has no say in it no interesting thank you so um Jeff and I actually worked on this together and reached out to some other counties and um here you can see that from the counties that responded
there is a varying amount yet really when you average it out um the average was 2,878 so I feel where we're at at the 2900 is really within the range of um where we should be um and I don't know
in other you know counties what their funeral providers are charging but um I feel that we're in a good spot where we're at with that question just full of them today that's okay so this list of counties
that you have here and the amounts when I go back to our change we're adding in the transportation and that do their numbers also add in transportation and and give us a ballpark a lot of them do add in transportation the amounts um I
know are differing some are it's a dollar more that they add on um some of them I notice though are like $3,500 and that might be inclusive of great some of those so it's hard to judge than if
we're comparing Apples to Apples correct well and when we got the information from them the question that we ask is what what is the Mex that they pay for the direct uh cremation and then they would some of them noted if it was
additional for mileage that they would pay typically we're only paying mileage if someone's um someone has to go down they have to go down to pick them up at the medical examiner's office it's typically the only time we're paying
that CU if someone chooses to um use a funeral home say in St Cloud which they can they can use any funeral home that they choose and we're not going to pay mileage there okay good and then I wanted to give you an
idea of um you know kind of the last few years of what the history of our applications has been and um as you can see it's it does vary but then again that's not something that we can really determine you know how many barriers
applications are going to come to us um and also you can see that not every burial application that we receive is paid um denials could be they have excess assets uh they have
prepaid burials already out there or lack of follow through from the applicants and then also I put on there the applications like how many are received from funeral homes that are incorr County and then the ones that are received outside of the
county so the majority are from in there the other um one thing too with the other counties some of them are like The Cremation Society someone will some individuals will choose to go through that and not have any type of other
service and as far as our budget um we've stuck pretty um straightforward on that as far as or keeping it somewhat aligned over the last few years um you can see 20 in
2023 um we had more burials um so the expenses were higher um not as many recoveries there but then you can look at like this this last year in 2024 we had a lot more recovery so that ended up being under the budget
there it's interesting interesting that when you look at the Baby Boomers you would think there'd be a big bubble going through like 20 21 22 23 because we're now aging very aging population um and certainly death is not
predictable so the younger generation the next one's coming up can be just as have just as many deaths as a bigger population an older population um so it's interesting that our budget has stay
M pretty much where it has been regardless of those ups and downs and so has the number of funerals in that so I find that interesting demographically and that was all that I information that I brought forward for you today do you have any other
questions for us so commissioner cor go ahead so the only ask today is to pay the um the $50 fee that's what the ask is today yes to
add the $50 fee into the existing policy yep and that would be if they are requesting that because not all funeral um homes have been adding that cost to their cost of goods and services
but the ones that are adding it to it we would like to be able to pay them that $50 you know I I guess I'm okay with this the only thing it kind of bothers me that we're we're paying a you know a substantial amount to Ramsey County
Medical Examiner to be our County corner I don't know why they have to have that $50 fee it seems like it's almost another way to just make some additional Revenue um you know if it was a if it
was a medical examiner call I I don't know why they're charging that $50 fee but I I guess I'm I'm I'm fine with it thank you commissioner Lee did you have a question no I think I was going to kind
of echo actually what he just said I'm not I'm not a big fan of the nickel and dime fees on top of things but it's roughly 3,200 bucks I think is what we're looking at so I don't I don't see a problem with it okay so
seems like there's a consensus to absorb this one okay you'll bring that on the next um we don't usually bring our policies forward for board approval but just bringing it to you for your knowledge and um but we can certainly bring it back with the request for board
action nope if it's not necessary let's not do it okay thank you very much you thank you so do I flip this one more time oh you already took good morning Tom good morning commissioners
first item we have for you today is a uh an easement um this easement request is actually an easement uh for Crowing County and uh once the map pulls up here in a second we'll so the the area we're talking
about here is in the City of Baxter kind of by Home Depot um the county has three lots on Perch Lake that uh we technically don't have access to so as you see on the map grous drive up there is a private roadway and there is an
outlot uh that we've been discussing with the novelist Land Company if they'd be willing to give us an easement and we wanted to come here and talk with County Board and make sure that is okay for us to continue on that process to secure that easement to hopefully devest of
these properties in the future and so here to just have that conversation today and uh see if you have any questions comments or concerns any questions Mr chair go go ahead commission Mr chair uh I I I think I I
just got my question answered so we're we are going to divest uh of these properties if we can get this easement obviously they're landlocked now is that right Tom that is correct and and we have tried to sell these in the past on Tim land sales and we've been
unsuccessful because there is no Public Access okay well I want to say thanks to the Land Services Department this is this is something uh that you know going way back to Paul TTI and rosemary and myself we you know wanted to divest
ourselves of these different properties that are not really in our Timber Management program and and it just makes total sense so I'm I'm glad to see you guys are continuing to work on uh
identifying Parcels that um that makes no sense for us to hold on to so thanks Tom I'm all favor of this good idea so we we'll bring some action uh to the next meeting very good I think there's a consensus to support this so
thank you Tom thank you move on to the next one yes uh so the next one involves um some property up in Timothy Township off the old Grade Road we'll get a map here in a second Tom I'm going to interrupt you just for
a second so commissioner coring a you list are you comfortable putting that uh first one with the easement on consent rather than Absol absolutely Steve y Perfect all right Tom if you'll put that on consent Teresa and Jesse thank you
all right sorry to inter all good uh like I mentioned this this next one up is is up in Timothy Township uh off of the old Grade Road and so uh this is an existing easement that was granted back in 2005 uh in 2005 it was granted to Dan
and an stward and the legal description and Survey were accurate and good but the easement ran with the stewards and not the property uh fast forward to 2007 uh County Board action again uh was taken to transfer the easement to a David Baston trust and once again that
easement was transferred to a person not the parcel um and so we've we've seen this a few times here in that the easements we used to Grant were to a person and not the parcel and so uh we've changed our policy and how we handle easy ments and now we're granting them to the parcel and so we received a
request um from Mr Baston to have the easement updated to our new format which uh includes U transferring with the property Mr basson is looking at selling his property and his title company is is saying that the access they have cannot transfer and so they're not able to um
complete the sale and so once again here to just chat about um one of these easements we granted a long time ago um Mr basson is is aware that uh any survey and uh legal fees that they may inquire are their responsibilties along with as
long u excuse me included with the recording of the easement as well so um we don't see any negative impacts to our operations or Timber sales uh there's already an existing easement in place for the stewards and Mr Baston this would just rework the existing easement
to transfer with the property uh Mr chair commissioner Corin go ahead yeah just I think you just there again I think Tom you just answered my question so we're not going to incur any cost is there going to be any staff cost that we would pass on to
this uh to to work on putting this together or there or I guess that's my question yeah commissioner coring no there will not um you know when when we have uh an easement like a new easement request we
have quite a bit more considerable staff time and so with these um they'll be handed our easement template and then it'll be their responsibility to fill it out return it to us um including the survey and and all the good documents that go with it so um they'll just be
pay be paying for the like I said the survey and have that easement recorded I'm okay with this Steve as long as we don't uh incur any cost uh to the taxpayers on this that that should be be borne by the person that wants the
easement so I'm good to go okay any you're comfortable with that would we want that on consent also yes yes okay Tom thank you have a good day thank you very
much Trevor we have Trevor here from the Arboretum morning Commissioners good morning morning thanks for having me all right and assuming everybody received the couple documents I set over their U draft resolutions um so what we're looking for
for the Arboretum is um a couple resolutions we are seeking Regional designation through the greater uh Minnesota regional parks and trails commission we have done this in the past we have 12 letters of support um both from City Brainard City of Baxter and a
bunch of our partners CLC and or um excuse me yeah Central a college and um a bunch of nonprofits in the region so if I don't know how familiar everyone is with Greater Minnesota regional parks and trails okay so the purpose of the commission is to make recommendations to
the legislature for Grants funded by the parks and Trail funds to counties and cities outside the seven metro area so regional parks are fancy Parks right they they get State funding so that they can uh invest in infrastructure what they do fund is uh Acquisitions
infrastructure any anything underground bathrooms uh Pavilions Chalet Parks Trails what they don't fund operations Insurance payroll um nothing assoc no no pickups no tractors right so some
examples of these are like Spirit Mountain in duth is a regional uh regionally designated facility the Milford mine is a regionally designated uh goal Lake Trail in Cass County is a regionally designated facility as well so there's about 80 of these floating
around um so the Legacy funds were passed by Minnesota voters in 2008 and that's where these funds come from so um that was just and if there's any questions about that I can answer those at this time before I move
on hear so Trevor just quick so you got two resolutions so the let's let's talk about the first one first what's that going to accomplish okay um this here yes there oh thank you
okay so they prefer the DNR grants officer that that actually grants These funds prefers that there's two resolutions so one of these is for the one that we're looking at now is a resolution with intent to purchase AR burum um land under a long-term lease
agreement so we currently lease about 80 acres give or take from the county um 80 7.9 acres under a current lease agreement uh those Parcels are just north of the brainer landfill site the
old dump one is to the north of it and one is just to the east of it okay so this this resolution would be uh with the intent to purchase the North 120 Acres at the ARB burum our northernmost property under the same lease agreement
so it would just extend and we would ask that you would extend the lease agreement on the pre-existing properties as well to be used only for recreation purposes and that's um because there had been previous state and federal funding associated with those properties and so Greater Minnesota parks and trails has
asked me to be clear that they are for uh Recreation purposes only so a quick question for you then y there's been talk about extending um Cypress Drive North to Wise Road yep and
that that could have some impact on the Paul bunan Trail which could have some impact act on our bedum property yep any thoughts about that because you're saying that it can only be used for recreation but here we'd be moving dirt
to put a road in place basically is that would that cause a conflict as long as it's to the west of the property I don't see any conflict and where it currently is it goes between the gulf course and the Arboretum property um there is if you look at a a map there is one small
sliver where the so it was would really it would depend on where the road goes so if you're looking at a parcel map you'll notice that the Paul bunion Trail does intersect the northern westmost portion of our property um so we own a really weird little sliver of
property on the West Northwest side of the Paul bunan Trail up there okay um so it does intersect and it says 120 acres here I wanted to make a quick clarification that it would actually be 118.1 n Acres once you remove the state-owned Paul bunion trail from that
small parcel up there so we would want the 120 to reflect at 118 then on the on the resolution If This Were to move forward then I would I will send over um modified resolutions okay it'll also include um the nonre um you know if they
were ever converted to non-recreational use then they would need to fulfill the original Grant contract so I'd like that verbiage included in there as well if this were to move forward today so the first resolution was the intent to purchase okay that that we're looking
at here so so question Steve go ahead commissioner so so first of all Trevor just and don't don't take this the wrong way I guess I'm kind of an old-fashioned guy but you know just in case this did fly and you had to go down to the
legislature and testify to try to get some funds uh I wouldn't wear a hat you know I guess I I guess I'm just kind of oldfashioned that way I just kind of comes ac across as you know disrespectful I think but um so so with
that said so what the ask is is you're wanting Crowing County to buy this 120 acres and then lease it back to you is that what the ask is um commissioner coring it would be to purchase the the
intent is to purchase the land with State funding and then lease it back or lease it to the Arboretum under the conditions outlined in the resolution so so right now the land is owned by the Arboretum that's
correct and then you'd sell it to croing County with lands from or some uh money from like maybe the lassard Sam's fund is that what you're saying yeah the Greater Minnesota parks and Trail the Legacy funds um we and I could probably
provide a verification as well the natural resource based uh Parks classification uh they do have a a requirement that there's 200 plus acres in Municipal ownership they do believe that's the best classification for our Park currently and so this would help us
fulfill that that minimum land ownership uh requirement um if that provides has Trevor so it has to or Jesse it has to be uh growing County
land in order and then lease back to you in order for you to to apply for these grants is that what I'm understanding that would be correct for us to achieve Regional designation we would also need an approved master plan that would be that would go in front of the county so there's a few conditions
here um some of the barriers that we're experiencing right now is the odd land ownership right so we own some land um there we also own the dump land the nature conserv owns and manages um 160 acres in the middle of the Arboretum
property and so we're just looking to clean up some of the land ownership issues to uh reduce some of these barriers um last time we rank we ranked medium on our designation application and the primary thing that didn't allow us to rank high which then
did not allow us to get designated so then we could not procure funding or apply for funding so yes we would need to uh resolve the land ownership they have indicated that a resolution with the intent to purchase would suffice for the application and if once
we rank high and become a designated facility we are then capable of applying for funds for procurement so so a question so for the start of this so Crowing County in essence would really have to
be applying for the money to be able to buy this from you right that's correct okay and then how how much are we how much are we talking about or is it does Gary have a Gary Griffin have a
a price on it what it considered it's worth uh it would be under we would have to have an appraisal um okay by by I mean we're looking at somewhere in the realm and this is a guess just based on the crowing County's website but uh I think the current land valuation was
about $420,000 for the 120 Acres um RG title came out and made sure there were no deed restrictions no no conservation easements nothing funny with the land and it came back clean um they preliminarily assessed the value uh just over a half a million and so we haven't
had a formal assessment done so we would actually have to have a certified assessor come out and assess the land so this wouldn't happen unless we were successful in getting the money Crowing County to get the money to buy this we're not we're not I would not be
in favor of us trying to sell other land and then come and buy this and at lease it to you for a dollar that doesn't make sense for the taxpayers in my mind I would agree okay is this is this the project
that you and former um administrator hul were working on when he was here that's correct okay then I know about it yeah Rosemary I I agree with you Tim Tim explained it to me I'm just trying to refresh myself it's that seems like
it's been over a year ago or it been a while ago so okay so so uh The Next Step then okay so let's say we get this money we we buy that lease it back to you for
a hundred years I guess and then and then what's the next what's the next step then then then it's all in your bul it's your ball game and you're applying for Grants to make
it appealing to people that want to visit there is that right yeah that's correct so so right now I maintain and manage 13 miles of hiking and cross country ski trails couple miles of Snowshoe Trails some lighted sling Hills um we just last year built a nature-based playscape and education
area outdoor fitness equipment botanical gardens um this year uh will be uh well last year we broke ground on the largest bike park in uh bike skills playground in Central Minnesota um so we're we're really shifting gears we're we're trying
to become a premier Recreation destination for Central Minnesota and croing County if this if this application were approved and we we did receive Regional designation and we were able to complete the land acquisition we would still be eligible for further
funding Cycles so if we if our master plan were approved and and we wanted to expand the bike park or if we wanted to install outdoor recreation amenities like a Four Season Chalet or a disc golf course or um other recreational
amenities to draw uh visitors to croing County we would still be eligible for another round of funding uh under the the designation Jesse another question so who owns the Arboretum now who's like
the what is it just a an organization or who I I guess I don't understand that the Northland arbed is a 501c3 nonprofit um we we own and operate the Arboretum The Visitor Center is currently on
Crowing County least land though the bike park will be on the former landfill site and some of our botanical gardens are also on Crowing County Land um additionally um we run like the Haunted Trail on croing County Land um some of
our cross country ski trails um though not many are on croing County Land and currently we have um a portion of our Snowshoe Trails most of our Botanical Gardens and demonstration Gardens are on the Southeast parel which is the same parcel as The Visitor Center um but we
own the Southwest quadrant we own the landfill site and we also currently own um the northern 120 Acres but yes we are a nonprofit organiz gation that oper we're leasing it to you a lot we're leasing land to you now I guess that's
correct right okay so who's who uh who makes decisions for the ARB is there ARB radium is there a is there a local board that's in charge of this 501c3 yes that's correct um I have I essentially have nine bosses so there's
nine board of directors nine people on the board um I would be the I'm the executive director so I'm essentially the 10th person on the the board of directors so so this land is this isn't like uh we're buying
private land this is actually all owned this 120 acres is owned by the arbura right that's correct okay so okay I'll think I had another question and I forgot what it was now so go ahead commissioner Lee oh you know
what I know what it was you know I don't if this is if this is a big deal or not but thees if you put up that first resolution uh Jesse's got it down as commission I don't I believe we're a board not a commission I don't know if
that makes any difference it was in parentheses towards the it would be another just little clean up that because we are a board rather than Commissioners rer know board is of Commissioners okay Board of
commission okay I can make that edit okay Trevor yes sir uh I saw a map that you were looking at on your desk and that we don't have that that I'm aware of is this 118 acres is that um in between these County land that we
already own that are leasing to you and not in the city limits is that correct I believe all of the land is in the city limit limits it is north of the nature conservancy property uh it's also adjacent to City of Brainard property
they have that the parking lot where they think they intended parks and recck intended to build ball fields kind of in that marshy area to the north okay so I believe it it is all in city limits okay um have either one of those brainer or city of bter been contacted or
approached or what's the um I guess I'm curious as to why we're the propos new owners of it um the the recommendation by the Greater Minnesota parks and trails commission was to stay consistent in the land ownership since
we already lease 80 some odd Acres from the county um it made more sense to reduce owners rather than increase owners it just cleans things up and so okay perfect that's what I needed to know thank you yep thank
you okay so we have the first one which is just the intent correct if I understand right and then the second one would be the ask for the money the the second one is for the application so the county would be the
applicant for regional designation actually so the the first one would be more of the ask for the money the intent to purchase okay um the second one is the county as lead applicant to become a
regional facility there is a funding agreement clause in there as well but it's the legal authority to enter into formal designation so essentially the first one is saying that this board agrees to it and that we're asking for the money to
purchase and then the second one allows you to to enter into a formal funding agreement and the regional designation process okay and I would go back to follow up on what commissioner coring said to at the end it says signed by the chair and then
it says the clerk I think normally it would be the administrator if that would be signed yes the administrator is the clerk to the board so it should say administrator administrator Mr chair I'll work with Trevor to clean it up to
our standards okay thanks any other concerns for what is being presented today well the only thing is is I just want to make sure that we're held that when I say we the county that we don't
have uh staff staff is busy enough as it is this is this is your deal so I want to make sure that you're handling all of this well it sounds like T is going to help you a little bit that's okay but uh and then if we don't get and if we're
not don't get the money then this thing is not going to happen right that's correct sir okay I you know what I I guess it I don't see anything that's raising a red
flag for me um I know there's a lot of people that like the Arboretum I think you you you're doing a great job I think you've got some uh great ideas to bring in more people because there our whole County there's not a whole lot of manufacturing
and you know tourism is our deal so if we have places that people want to come that's a good thing so as long as it doesn't create more work for us here at the county and and um and we're not having to Levy property
taxpayers to pay for this then I'm I'm I'm okay with it sounds like we have consensus to put it on the uh Mr chair this will be on the March 11th County board meeting so not the next one but the following one okay um
you want it on regular or consent I think it should be on the regular myself okay I would agree with that oh and you did have somebody coming for that anyway didn't you Joe kishki from Greater Minnesota um that's his availability so he'll be here as well to
answer the the deeper uh questions cuz he him and Renee are much more intricately involved with the evaluation team and um they've got a they've got a formal process as well so they'd like this to work for everyone okay so
commissioner coring you have until March 11th to get all your questions formalized yeah exactly all right well good job good job today in your presentation thank you sir thank you Commissioners thank you Trevor
appreciate it and with that we have nothing else so we are adjourned can I'll go back