2025 to order. If you'll stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. Good morning everyone. At this time, I'll call the Crowing County regular board meeting for August 12th, 2025 to order. You'll stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. All right. At this time, we have the recognition of retiring employee Lori
Thompson. Is there someone who will welcome to the microphone? Oh, I'm glad I have my heels on. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have reached it. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Hannah Jude and I serve as the long-term
uh care supervisor with community services. Lori, no pressure. Would you like to stand up here? You're welcome. Lorie Thompson has served Crowing County for over 25 years, and her dedication, compassion, resourcefulness, and heart have been
evident every step of the way. One client once said, "Lori goes beyond and then beyond that with her follow-up, offering solutions to every problem I had. In fact, she found problems I didn't even know I had and helped solve
those, too." Another shared, "I would change nothing about Lorie. She is great. She makes sure I am safe and happy. These aren't just kind words. They reflect Lor's unwavering dedication to truly improving lives. Lorie's actions speak just as
loudly as her words. In one instance, she personally visited two police stations to help locate a client's personal belongings after his vehicle was towed. Just one example of her going the extra mile. In 2016, Lorie was appointed to the
Minnesota Board of Social Work. serving the state of Minnesota and the board with integrity and excellence. One of her client success stories was featured in a health plan newsletter in May 2024, highlighting the outstanding work happening here in Crowing County. In
addition, Lori has served her community through the pop-up pantry, Cross Lake Cares, and participating in the Alzheimer's Walk. Outside of work, Lori brings the same energy and passion to her personal life. She enjoys hunting, car shows, gardening, traveling, and
spending time with her family who are also active members of this community that she loves so much. Lori, your presence will be deeply missed. We thank you for your many years of dedicated service, your kindness, and the positive impact you've made on so many lives. We
wish you all the best in this next chapter of life. May it be full of adventure, joy, and welldeserved relaxation. Congratulations, Lori, on your retirement. Can I thank you, Lord? You sure can, Lori.
Thank you. You always think about this day and now that it's here, it seems a bit surreal. I came to Crowing County in January 2000 as an intern in the long-term care unit. Susan Misena was my supervisor at this time and this is when social services
was over land services at now. I was hired just a few months later and this was a leap of faith for me. I had worked for almost 15 years at Essentia and we had three small daughters at the time. I needed to ensure that this was going to be a long-term plan for me. Well, 25
years later, here I am and it's turned out to be a good move for me. First, I need to thank my husband Dale. He's been a my biggest supporter. when I decided to go back to college for my bachelor's degree and then my master's degree, he I
was working at that time, so he was the one taking care of our daughters, taking them to dance, softball, making their school lunches, taking them to church events. Um, he rode they rode in the tractors with him. He was the one to fix
the meals when I wasn't there. I also need to thank my long-term care team. They're all in the back. 25 years, many of us have been on that same team. They've been supportive. When we had a tough case, there was always one of them there to help me out. Men choices came
around. We were there together. Thank you, team. And lastly, the Men Choices team. They've been so gracious. Thank you. It's been a pleasure to work with so many wonderful elderly members of our community, the over 65 population. For
most of my career, I've been in homes where there's been no furniture and I've done the assessment sitting on the floor. And then I've been in other homes where there's just a path and I've tried to find a chair to sit on. I've done
assessments where there's more critters that that have outnumbered the people. I've heard some beautiful love stories and I've assisted with funerals where the client had no family. People in our community are so gracious and
appreciative for the services that they can receive that will allow them to remain safe in their home just a little bit longer. I've been so rewarding to work with this group of people. I've been trying to figure out how many cups of coffee I
shared at with these clients at their kitchen table doing these visits and assessments. I figured I've completed over 6,000 visits. and assessments in my 25 years working for Crowing County. Again, in
closing, just a big thank you to my team and my husband. He thinks he's going to get me down at the main farm driving one of those very big John Deere tractors or grain trucks, but I think I have a deer stand that's calling my name. Thank you
all. Take that leap of faith and enjoy. Be kind. Come back up to the front here. [Applause] [Applause] On behalf of the Crowing County and the
Board of Commissioners, I'd like to present to you the certification of excellence for the 25 years that you put in here, the 15 years you put into it's quite a career in helping people in Kwick County. So,
thank you very much for your service. Thank you. [Applause] Gets [Applause] to your husband, Lori. I just My wife just retired and to him I want to say your life won't get any easier. I'll
just tell you that. All right, with that, uh, is there anyone here who would like to speak to open forum? That's any issue that's not currently on our agenda. Anyone in the audience that would like to speak during open forum? Final call.
Anyone who would like to speak? Hearing none, we'll move on. Number four on our agenda is to review and approve the minutes from July 22nd, 2025 and amend the minutes from July 8th, 2025. So moved.
Motion by Commissioner Franzine, second. Second by Commissioner Coring. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Hearing none. Number five is to review and approve today's agenda. Administrator.
Mr. Mr. Chair, we do have one additional business item, a budget amendment for the highway department. If we could add that under additional business, please. We will do that. Looking for a motion to approve the agenda as amended. So move. Commissioner Coring makes a motion to
approve. Second. Second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Number six is our consent agenda.
Motion to approve. Motion by Commissioner Coring to approve. Second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. I. Number seven, Brainer Lakes Area Airport
Commission. Welcome, Mr. Joerger, Mr. Planser, and Miss Ruling. [Applause] Good morning. Good morning. Uh, I'd like to just take a second and thank you all for seeing us
today. Uh, Mr. created. So, just real quick as a as a point of introduction, this is the interim director, Neil Planser, who came here and we are honored to have him here to help us through the process of finding
the next full-time director. Well, yes, thank you. Uh, I have two functions when I came here. one is to make sure that the airport is running well and uh to find a a permanent long-term director. Before I go into
we're here to talk about essential air services. Before I do that, I want to mention a couple of things about the airport that I think you all know, but I'd like to emphasize as a community. We're very lucky to have
that airport. It really is a jewel. It's very wellrun. It's very wellmaintained. The people who work out there have a great work ethic. Uh there are limited numbers of people who work there. There are six people including myself that manage that airport. You
have uh four operations men that work that airport, keep it open 365 days a year, every single day. And those are the four people that do a herculean work. The glue that holds them together is sitting on my right. and that's uh
Jessica. She really keeps everything flowing and we're lucky to have her as well. The other thing I'd like to mention as a group, the commission that you have between Crowing County and the city of Brainard is really really well
integrated. I want to compliment uh Commissioner Barrows, Councilman Joerger, and he's although he's not here, he's on vacation. uh Daryl Palmer. The three of them really, really, really work well together. We wouldn't make
very little progress if it wasn't for the integration that they provide to us and the thoughtfulness and the input that they do. I wanted to make sure that I got an opportunity to let you know how lucky we are as a community to have both that commission and also the strong work
ethic of the people at the airport. really really the essential air services is critical to the community. When they deregulated aviation in 1974 in order to ensure that communities like
this one were able to maintain airline service, they created essential air service. It is a federally subsidized program that allows the federal government to pay a fee to
allow them to service the airport so that they are not in a position where they will come and go because of the flow of dollars going into the airline service. They rebid that occasionally
and we are in the middle of what is a rebid for that services and understand that we as a community don't choose who gets it but we are a critical part of it is the community
telling the federal government why and which airline they want. There was two biders uh Delta through Sky West which is Delta Connection and another one Denver Air Connection both flying back and forth
same same route to Minneapolis St. Paul. The fact that they were bidding against each other uh was very very beneficial to us. Because of that, we were able to talk to Sky West and tell them that in order to get the support from the community, we
must have a morning flight return. Right now, there's a morning flight at 11:00. We told them that the community wanted a flight between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning with a late return and a plane to remain overnight for that early morning flight. Why is that important? Well, if you have
a medical need and you have a doctor and you have to go to the cities, you will it allows you to go back and forth the same day. That early morning flight, they can't do that. Now, if you're traveling to the east or the west coast of the United States or even the
international flights, either way, that morning flight between 6 and 7 allows you to get to the first bank of airplanes leaving from Minneapolis St. Paul. So it is critical for the livelihood of the community that they
reinstate that. The airport brings in about $30 million of revenue into the community and about 280 jobs in a study done about three years ago. So it may have changed a little bit little bit but it's it's pretty healthy for our
community. The airport is not only a jewel, it is a bargain considering what we pay to run that airport. The majority of the funds that run that airport come from federal subsidies like the essential air services and also capital
improvements in a program called airport improvement uh program. In addition, the tenants at the airport pay about half the operating cost of the airport and they provide quite a bit of revenue
as well. So when you look at that community, you realize that the airport is valuable, but the essential air services is really the key to the whole thing. So when the commission, the airport commission looked at it, there were a couple of factors that I want to
reiterate that were critical and why they chose Delta. One is Delta is a code share. The community is generally understands even if they don't know the phrase code share. What that means is it's seamless. They get onto the Delta
site. They book their flights from Brainer to Minneapolis. Minneapolis to their final destination if it's not Minneapolis. They see no difference. This other bidder did what they call an interline. Interline is not as robust as
code share. So if there's a disruption to service, the interline has much less responsibility. the co-chair has a lot more responsibility getting you on another flight, making sure that your uh bags are are all taken care of. So, the
co-chair was a critical piece to it. Did what they call Delta and Sky West has served that airport for 12 years and it is a pretty good service. Their uh their depart, you know, airplanes break, all airplanes break and
it doesn't happen often. They have like a 94% departure on time rate which is pretty good. The other part of the continuing of service is the community understands how it works. If we were to change
to another carrier, it would be very my opinion and my history would tell you and I've seen lots of airports. It's very disruptive. They won't understand why it's not Delta. They won't understand why they have to make two
phone calls and not one phone call. So that the fact that we have the co-chair through Delta and they like Delta, there was a study done here in the Crowing County two years ago where the people overwhelmingly supported continuing with
Delta on the earlier uh request for proposal to service this airport. So we we considered all of those factors so that what the airport doesn't want, what the community doesn't want is a
disruption. So we want to continue with Delta and the commission voted unanimously. The airport commission, I'm sorry, we got two commissions. The airport commission voted unanimously. We made this presentation on Monday. Uh so
we we to the to the city council. It wasn't Monday. That was it. It was was it Friday, I think last Monday? Last Monday. And they also voted unanimously to continue with Delta Commission. Our only
consideration in the determination of who gets the contract is through community involvement. So, we have a letter coming from the city of Brainard and I sent a
package to Debbie and I have handouts that I can leave with you if you'd like to look at a paper copy. I'm a paper copy guy so I like paper copies and you can look at that. I also took the liberty of writing a draft letter
that uh you can use to get started on. The key to it is that the letters must be to the Department of Transportation no later than the 29th. Uh I think it's critical that we get them there earlier than that. And I ask
Miss Ericson to send me a copy of whatever letter you send because I want to do it twice. You send your letter and we're going to send all of the letters from the airport. We'll send all of them to make sure that they got all of them. We've got the opportunity to meet with
Congressman Stalber yesterday and Congressman Stalber was critical extremely supportive to the point where he told his aid that this was his uh number one priority. He wants to wait
until this council votes so he knows that it's a a unanimous community. the the three the two commissions in the council unanimously agree to be uh supportive of Delta.
The timing of the commitment was originally the 15th of August and we weren't able to meet it because it for reasons that I don't have to go into. We were not fully aware that it was even being rebid. Uh so we called up and
petitioned to get an extension. They gave us till the 28th. we can meet the 28th. We also contacted a number of the larger businesses in the community and they're also going to write letters of support. Our only input
other than phone calls is that that letter of community support. It is critical and of course Congressman Stalber's unwavering support of it is also very critical. he is on the transportation subcom uh transportation
committee in the house and that's very important to the DOT. So the fact that he's willing to support this is really really really important. I think uh if you have any questions I can answer and
I think that pretty much covers at a high level what we need to do. If there's any questions or you want me to go into any depth on anything, I can do that. I don't want to waste your time. I want to make just want to get your support. So, the fact that So, Mr. Planser.
Yes, sir. For clarification, it's a four-year contract that we're bidding or being bid at this point. Correct. Yes, it is a four-year contract. And that can let me give a little color to that because I meant to do it early and I didn't. The Denver Air Connection bid
is slightly lower than the Delta bid, but from everybody I've spoken to, an overwhelming support by the community will allow us to overcome the bid difference. And over the four-year periods, by the end of the year is only a $20,000 difference, which in the
scheme of things is not very much. So, we think that if we do a good job in our support and the airport uh takes the lead in making sure all the letters get done and get sent there, then it'll be a 4-year contract will allow us to
overcome. So, for clarification, what what's being asked of us today in our resolution is to support Sky West as the preferred provider which has the co-chair relationship with Delta. Yes, sir. And that will become part of the record
that we will send to the federal DOT. Exactly. Chair move the adoption of the resolution that's presented to us here. Commissioner Coring makes the motion to approve the adoption as presented.
I'll second it. Second by Commissioner Lubkkey. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Thank you very much for all the work to all of you, the staff out there,
the city council of Brainard. We appreciate all of the efforts that have been made. Um, I know the business community, the chamber is on board. Yes, sir. Sourcewell is on board. They've already presented a letter. So, we have some regional
partners in this process also. So, thank you very much. No, thank you. appreciate all the hard work that this commission does and I'm going to repeat by intent and not senility. I want to thank uh uh Commissioner Burroughs, Councilman
Joerger, and uh Mr. Palmer, who isn't here, who's the chair of the airport commission. Uh we're very lucky to have a team that works so integrated. Thank you. And I should mention Miss Ericson took a big
problem away from us with a great letter she wrote. I told her earlier I carried it around just to just because it's so well taught. So thank you for that. It was so thank you very much again. Appreciate it.
And with that we'll move on to number eight. Community Services is Terry. Chief Garcia. Careful Jo. Hello, Mr. Chair. Uh, Commissioners Keratary, Crowing County Community
Services. Do you want to introduce yourselves? Uh, Sergeant Joe Garcia, Breezy Point Police Department. Good morning. I'm Maria Stevenson. I'm the community paramedic supervisor at North Memorial. So, thank you for having us here today. We come before you with a pilot project
idea and we seek your approval. Um, a little bit of history. So, in May of 2018, the Crowing County Board um signed a resolution to reduce the number of individuals with mental illness um
sitting in the county jail. As a part of the work around that, community services was able to partner with law enforcement entities as well as other community partners and we embedded three social workers in the county jail to help alleviate some of those concerns. Fast
forward a bit until let me get my notes. Uh 2022, we were able to um complete a further iteration of the project in which we embedded two social workers into our local law enforcement. One social worker is embedded in the Crowing
County Sheriff's Office and the other is embedded in the Brainer Police Department. These social workers um have a number of focus areas that include um screening, reviewing, and responding to reports that law enforcement receives
and go on calls with law enforcement when there's a mental health substance um misuse issue um or other community service needs. Uh they do outreach to consumers and any collaterals involved in calls to evaluate needs for further assistance. Um they facilitate and
integrate and mobilize those community resources to support those in the community who might be having um mental health or substance misuse issues. They work with our mobile crisis team and our mental health urgent care um to utilize those services when needed. Uh they also
assist with safety planning and stabilization. and then they communicate um with our law enforcement contact on open uh cases in the community that they need to collaborate with each other.
So, law enforcement utilization, we know that the majority of the calls for our social workers come from, bless you, the Brainer and Baxter uh areas. There are other calls though within the Crowing County community in other jurisdictions
that our social workers do respond to. Uh sometimes it might take them a little while to get to those other calls um because they are either coming from the Brainer or Baxter area or are on another call and need to respond. But what we know is our coordinated community
response total calls that our social workers assisted with in 2024 were 850. part of those calls, 216 of them actually, law enforcement was cleared either partially or fully from those
calls so law enforcement could go deal with other important issues um leaving the social workers there to help the individuals that they were working with. I believe you've heard from our law enforcement partners on the um positive
interactions and the amount of help that both our jail staff and our law enforcement agencies are feeling from having the social workers uh embedded and to be able to respond. We believe um that this um pilot project, the
community paramedic, is the next iteration in the overall project that we started uh back in 2019. As you know, mental health calls and issues um continue to intensify. They um continue to increase not only in the Brainer
Baxter area, but in all parts of Crowing County. um issues with um transportation for those outlying areas um as well as not as many um healthc care opportunities or possibilities in those
outlying areas uh also exist and so we believe that um intensify two things. So looking at at this work from a business perspective we do not see the number of calls related to specifically to mental health and substance use disorder
to justify having a social worker stationed in the northern part of the county and paid for by community services. We do know, however, there are there is a need for um additional services in the
northern part of the county. We believe a community paramedic could not only provide assistance with mental health and substance use disorder calls but could also um nicely fit into um the four categories of our blade opioid um
work. So those categories include prevention, treatment and recovery, harm reduction, and the justice system. Our community paramedic would be much like our social workers currently to be able to respond to not only mental health and substance use disorder calls but any
health related calls um med management for example or other health related issues um that somebody might need help with. We know that 31% of our calls in quarter 2 were related to health issues. So, not only would the community
paramedic be able to respond to clients um in the northern portion of the county, but they'll also be able to support other clients throughout Crowing County and our social workers who work in the field. Our social workers often run into issue
health related issues and they have to refer to um maybe it's or CRMC or other clinics and then figure out the transportation to be able to get the individuals to those locations. a community paramedic can not only consult with our social workers but potentially
help with those medical issues in the areas in which the um clients live. So I will stop talking and turn it over to my co-presenters. Um Sergeant Garcia, if you want to come. Uh Mr. Chair, commissioners, I
appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk today. I've never sat in this seat, so I apologize if I'm a little nervous. I know a lot of you. I've I've worked with you. Uh some of you, if I can just stop you, that seat isn't anywhere as
impactful as the one up here. Oh, sure. So, [Laughter] I appreciate that. Um I I've worked with a lot of you. um you know whether it's uh Commissioner Lee uh
out on the streets in the trenches or um I had the honor uh Commissioner Coring presented me back in 2007 uh with the Star of Life award from uh the Minnesota Legislature which is still one of my greatest honors that I've had um or I
appreciate that uh Commissioner Lupkkey um when he was the mayor of of Jenkins um I worked really closely with him and the Pekquat Lakes Police Department Some of you um I've only met recently Commissioner Barrows um and I'm familiar
with Commissioner Franzine's work with the mental health committee um which just underscores what her dedication is as to what we're talking to here today. Commissioner, this pilot program is something unique
for the area, but it's not brand new. Um there are successful programs similar to this throughout the state and this barrels and this is really a bottomdriven and a trenches driven initiative. We um speaking for myself
and my colleagues uh in law enforcement in the area um in the northern part of the county and the central part of the county recognized that there was a gap. We were dealing with increasing numbers of repeat 911 calls, increasing numbers
of mental health calls, increasing and increasing numbers of those calls were related to substance use disorder. Um myself and my colleagues all of those things go hand in hand. Um health problems other health problems accompany
substance use disorder. when you have those other health problems 911 calls you utilize those people utilize more and more of the resources um it won't come as any surprise to you that you know um
law enforcement EMS are are dealing with a crisis of resources right now. Uh I think you've seen the the letter uh Cross Lake Mayor Puri put out um about ambulance response times. And while that's not in my wheelhouse, what
I can tell you in talking with people at North Memorial and stuff, every community paramedic that you have out there taking the medicine to the patients of resources will have an ambulance available for
those true emergency high acuity calls. more often it'll we will uh programs have seen 30% um drops in repeat 911 calls uh across the country when they implement similar
models than this. So, um, I I stand ready to answer your questions, but from a boots on the ground perspective, I don't see a better solution to some of the challenges we're facing out there today.
And I'll just note, I did not mention in my initial comments that this would be a collaboration between Crowing County Community Services. We would potentially, if approved today, fund the position through our opioid dollars. ready to
um the position would be housed at Breezy PD but would respond to the north and central parts of the county and North Ambulance would employ the person um and be responsible for training equipment, that type of thing. Maria, do
you want to speak to your portion now? Yeah. Um thank you for meeting with us today. Um a couple things. Um, a lot of people don't have never heard of a community paramedic before. So, I'd like to just kind of explain that a little bit. Um, community paramedics are
paramedics that have been on the street for at least two years. They get an extra training um college training um that allows them to become more versed in chronic disease management, preventative care, um all kinds of
different things that we can do multi multiple things as far as medication management, home safety evaluations. Um we are able to um help with resources. resources are a huge thing for us. We try and connect people to the
correct steps so that if they are um struggling that they're not by themselves. Um we try and and um help connect those dots for those people because if you've never been in healthcare, you have no idea how to
connect those dots. um we are able to help um people that are struggling with substance use disorder get help with um mental health because a lot of statistics show that the um mental
health is the number one reason for substance use disorder. we're able to help decrease the calls um for the law enforcement officers that maybe they don't need to respond to um necessarily.
Um in throughout the state, we have three different models that we employ for community paramedics. Um in the metro, we do a non-emergency appointment-based response. So, we see patients in their own homes on a
scheduled basis. We get these referrals from the hospital clinics and from the ambulance. Um and then also in the metro, we're working with Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center Police Departments um on an alternative response team.
These teams are a community paramedic and a social worker and we're responding to 911 calls. Um most of those calls are going to be for welfare checks, mental health calls, um disturbances. Um dispatch is the teams are dispatched
out of the county. The county dispatch um goes through the pre-arrival making sure that the scene is safe. If the scene is safe and no officers are needed to respond, the team is able to go. Um that is freeing up officers
from responding to calls that they wouldn't have to. Um and then we have a third model which we um use up in Grand Rapids that is a um
it's a community or county contract that we work with the counties um and this community paramedic is seeing patients from um adult protection services and CPS, APS and CPS. So that if um the team
is on the scene with a a patient and they feel that there's some kind of medical needs, medication management, um a physical assessment, do this does this person need to go to the ER? Um our community paramedic is able to respond.
Um with this model, this project, we are looking at combining a little bit of all of them. So it's going to be unique. to fit the Crowing County needs assessment.
Anything else? We got all all sorts of stuff we can share with you, but we'll wait for questions. How about that? Questions? Absolutely. Commissioner Lee, I got all sorts of questions for you. Um, what is your
these other pilot programs that are around the state? Are they all with North? Correct. Okay. and what kind of success have they had and how long have they been doing them? Um, so the um Brooklyn Park started um three years
ago. Uh they have have expanded um the first um alternative response team started as a community paramedic and a social worker um during the daytime hours. Um they've switched
now where they have three teams. They have um the art team one which is the community paramedic and the social worker. During the day they have a two social workers in the evening that do response and then they have one social
worker that works more with PD on um as a co-responder on the more dangerous situations where support is needed. And I I think uh the after their first year the the in
Brooklyn Park the alternative response team I think they saw they they responded to 800 incidents that that one team and reduced um health mental health related 911 calls reduced by about 20% from about 1300 to about just just over
a thousand. So, okay. Um, what did So, what would this um response what would this paramedic position be offering that um reduced um
our embedded social workers aren't able to do and then keeping them from a trip to the hospital, that type of stuff. So, it um it's a new concept for me, so I had to do a lot of research. I just uh this morning I talked um with one of the
North Memorial medical directors who oversees a community paramedic program and he kind of opened uh helps uh reinforce my knowledge. They can do point of scene care. Um they can help um you know we're talking about opioid dollars and opioid addiction, substance
use disorder. Um sometimes those conditions are managed with medications, Suboxone, things like that. Um the community be community paramedic through the um uh medical director can assist
and potentially um my site prescribe those addiction medications to uh they can um in me in times of mental health crisis they can administer medications right at the scene and um then further
evaluate the patient to if the crisis is done. Um can put them in touch with a uh mental health provider either through the Northern Pines urgent care um their own personal uh mental health safety net
or um do the transport thereby freeing up an ambulance um the community paramedic can actually do the transport. Um, social workers, as great as they are at connecting people with resources, don't have the ability or the scope of practice to do medication,
prescriptions, medication administration. Um, wound care and other health assessments like that. Okay. Um, how is this how would this person be scheduled? I mean, it's obviously one person that we're talking about. So, how
would they be scheduled? Uh, I think needs drive operations. I think that's that's the way to go. I think um you know it would start out as a um administration um a a co-scheduling with with the hours that our uh mental
health social workers and our and the dedicated mental health deputy are on and then we would we would track and uh on a regular basis. I would I would assume that community services would track the needs and adjust the schedule as necessary.
And um to Sergeant Garcia's point, we've done a lot of uh evaluation on the social workers um embedded. And we found that, you know, while mental health calls don't necessarily come in between 8 and 5, that would make our lives a
whole lot easier. We do rely on our mobile crisis outreach team to provide after hours services. We contract with them to provide those services and our embedded social workers are doing an amazing job not only during the day responding but following up with our
mobile crisis outreach to hear about what happened during the evening hours or overnights um and then following up um on any of those calls. So we would see our community paramedic potentially at least initially operating on those same hours. We also have expectations
for the community paramedic, if you approve them, the position to be a part of our um mental health screenings that take place with local law enforcement a couple times a week. So, the group gets together to talk about what cases they have, what they're hearing, what ICRs
they've received. Um we would expect that that person would be a part of of that group as well as being a consult for our social workers for our adult protection cases that may have health related um issues or other health related concerns that uh our social
workers need a resource for. Okay. And then um how long do you um expect this pilot program to be a pilot program and how are you going to be evaluating it? So, we would like to have um a year worth of
time to be able to um get a sound evaluation. Uh if you were to approve the funding today, um I think North has a timeline to bring the community paramedic on board in January. Is that right, Maria? Correct.
Uh so it' be uh January to January pilot. Um you can see in our project definition that I uh submitted um we have our expected end results of the effort. So how will the world be different if we're implementing this
information can or the the expected end results that we have outlined here will help us outline and define our goal areas. I also see the goal areas to be quite consistent with the social work goal areas that we have. So we track things like the number of calls, the
number of mental health issues on the calls, substance use disorder or health related issues, the number of calls that our law enforcement can clear from or partially clear from, um the number of community connections that individuals make, including hopefully with a primary
care provider in the future because of community paramedics work. So we have a number of different uh outcomes that we'll measure. uh our supervisor over this team um Morgan does a a really great job job in tracking all of the data and I would see the same tracking
to occur both with us in community services and with our partners in this project hopefully okay um I guess the the two concerns that I have
uh one is as a guy who worked nights um really great. There's always like our embedded social workers now are are daytime employees. This position is most likely going to be that or at least an overlap with days. Um so my concern is what happens on
nights and weekends. What are we doing with that? And then my second concern is I uh maybe you guys can elaborate on this, but um my understanding is what's happened with Cross Lake is partially due to a a staffing issue. Um, are we even is North even going to be able to
staff a position like this? I can respond to the first concern. Um, we do partner closely with our mobile crisis outreach team. Um, our social workers actually did ride alongs with them to ensure they understood their process. Um, they understood ours. Um,
and so we rely on mobile crisis outreach to do the after hours and on weekend calls. um if you want more information on that, we have our team here to be able to um respond to any more in-depth questions that you have related to those kind of questions. And then Maria, do you want to speak to the staffing?
Yeah. Um one of the things that the community paramedic would be able to do is follow up after the call, too. Um but we um the community paramedic is going to be separate from the ambulance, but they're still employed with North. It's
a separate program. um respond to any and you have a couple staff who could potentially take that on that role. Correct. There are multiple um community paramedics in the area.
Okay, I think I'm good for the moment. Commissioner Corning. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I have a lot of constituents that watch this meeting and either live or later on because I get emails when they ask
questions. So, first question I have is could either Cara or Debbie Ericson, can you explain, you know, when we say, "Oh, it's going to be paid for with the opioid dollars." I think people that might be listening go, "Well, what what does that mean?" Can you just explain
that there was a lawsuit and just where that money is coming from because I think they're going to want to know. Absolutely. So, at the federal level, there was a lawsuit related to the opioid epidemic nationwide that held drug manufacturers and distributors
sounds not, you know, not a better term to use. Um, responsible for that opioid epidemic. So, um, companies like the Sacklers, um, CVS, Walgreens, all, uh, all of those different businesses that
profited from, uh, the opioid epidemic are now being held accountable through the court system at the federal level and have to pay settlement dollars to the states. The state of Minnesota has an agreement with the federal um court
system that Minnesota will receive some of those dollars through the federal opioid settlement. Counties then have an agreement with the state um with the attorney general's office on um not only the amount of money that we'll be receiving but the requirements by which
we must follow to allocate the money. So, these are um federal court dollars from manufacturers and distributors of the opioid um epidemic that are being held accountable and then we utilize the dollars here at
the county level to be able to impact what we've seen uh from the opioid epidemic. Does that help? Debbie, you want to add anything that way? The only thing I would add, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Coring, is that the the dollars are estimated until we actually
receive them. So, we know an estimate of based on who the settlement agreements have gone through with, what that amount would potentially be coming to the county. Um, we get notice of of settlements that occur a few months
before we get an actual payment that happens. So, it is a projection, but we don't know what those actual dollars are until we actually get the money from those settlements. Correct. That's helpful, Mr. Chair. another uh uh question.
So the if you look at the the doc and thank you for the doc documents that you sent last night, Cara, the documents are are on what our responsibilities is
are as far as spending the money. It's pretty vague. It's it's very vague. Um, so what what happens then is each it's up to each because each commissioner is elected, they have the
decision of how they interpret how the money would be spent. And so we have the opioid coalition that's set up to filter some of this stuff out before it gets to us where we make the ultimate decision.
So the question is is this came obviously this came and I must have missed that meeting uh but this came through the opioid committee. It was a unanimous decision to uh to move this forward.
It was not unanimous. Um Commissioner Coring and u Mr. chair. Um the vote actually of respondents the the outcome of the vote was 18 to 14 18 in favor and 14 not in favor. Those um not in favor
votes included staff from community services as well as community partners, many who are here uh today. Um the way we have things laid out with our opioid coalition since its inception is that it's a democratic process. Um the
majority of times we have a unanimous um vote, but this time we did not. And we respect uh the concerns that were shared from those who voted no and look to how do we improve the project based on their
concerns. And then Mr. Chair, so what I guess obviously this is just my decision. Everybody else makes their own decisions. But I I I and not that you guys aren't that you're talking about great work and it's absolutely great
great things. But I guess the way I kind of look at this is I interpret it as prevention. How do we prevent people from Mr. getting on opioids or getting on drugs and and I don't see a lot of times
when these things come forward I don't see a whole lot of prevention. And it's almost like after the fact. Mhm. And I I interpret that the money is really the lawsuit was really to kind of
prevent for prevention and I don't see any prevention in this. Um I understand that we have a we have lots of problems with mental health and and um there's just a lot of troubles out there. But I I I look at
this the the paperwork that you sent last night. This almost just this pilot project, the cost of it would use up almost 2/3 of the um opioid dollars for in what you're projected for 2025 or if
it was 2026, it's like 2/3 of the money would be used just for this alone. So, I I just in my mind it, you know, I'm sorry to say that I'm I'm probably going to be a no on this because I just I don't feel like it meets the criteria
that I think that that money should be used for, and that's prevention. And so, um I apologize for that, but uh but I just um I don't know, that's my thinking on it, unless somebody can convince me otherwise.
So, uh Mr. Chair, Commissioner Coring, um I appreciate this concern. You do bring this up a a prevention focus um at each of the projects and um when we bring those forward to you or grant
applications um at that time. So I appreciate your consistency. It gives me an opportunity to think ahead um before coming here to speak with you. So in terms of prevention, that is one of the four categories
um that the uh opioid coalition, the blade opioid coalition um developed. So, it's prevention, justice system, um harm reduction, and treatment and recovery are the four areas that our blade opioid
coalition decided were top priority areas and areas in which we could utilize the funding. Granted, this came about in 2021 or so, 22 um when we started initially having the discussions around opioid
funding. But in in terms of revisiting with our um existing opioid coalition, um we are still behind these um focus areas for the dollars. In terms of prevention from a community services standpoint,
what we see is a lot of generational substance use disorder um issues. So mom and dad use, kids think it's okay to use, and then they utilize um substances as well. where we see this position as
potentially having an impact on this is um impacting those families with kids in the northern and central part of the county um to be able to um interact with those individuals who are facing
substance um use disorders. So hopefully influencing the children's um choices that they make um through seeing the community paramedic interact um with their parents or their significant trusted adults. Um a community paramedic
is a lot friendlier of a face. Not that they're friendlier, so to speak, but a perceived friendliness than a child protection social worker, for example, um or even a law enforcement officer, for example. So, we see it through a community services prevention lens of
impacting those kiddos who u might be on the calls. Sergeant Garcia, do you have anything to add? Um, I guess, you know, for me it's being proactive in treatment and intervention. community paramedics um go to where the
crisis is occurring and can um put those people it deliver harm reduction measures but also um put those people those generational um um those generationally impacted in touch
with support services and stuff in in hopes of you know we break that cycle. So when you talk about um the prevention uh justice, harm reduction and treatment and recovery, I mean this is the community paramedic is is putting people
in touch with those resources right now and not you know waiting for um the DARE program in school or waiting for that. I think if we look at the
efficacy of traditional prevention programs, I I I think we can all look at the the state we're in as far as substance use disorder, specifically opioids, and realize that, you know, the traditional approach, how we're doing it
or how we've always done it hasn't worked. and we need to come up with I I don't think we we should ever stop looking for better ways to protect our community. I I think as a citizen and um
of of Crowing County, it's it's incumbent upon us to to opioids to advocate for for new and innovative ways and and and look at okay, if what we're doing now doesn't work, then what are we going to do in the future? we we should
ever stop looking for better ways to Mr. Lucky. Yeah. Um the since I'm kind of like the numbers guy, look at this 160ome thousand coming out of the opiates funds. Um I'm I'm definitely okay with going out there and being out there as a
as a as a level instead of having like you said an officer coming out there or a child protection person coming out there which kind of comes out there as authority. it's coming out there more as I'm your liaison to get you connected. I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to to do
this. Um I have a daughter who is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor and works in harm reduction. And it's been really hard for me to understand what harm reduction is. And and and she has helped me to understand the fact that harm reduction is getting people back
on with their life versus in jail or in some place where you can't find them. Um so I'm I'm supportive of it. I question the only thing I question because it's a pilot program. I'm always worried about the oneoff. Okay, we're going to come
next year. This is 161,000. This is a lot of money. Uh, and we're going to come. How is it going to be funded next year? How's it going to be funded the year after? That's my question more than anything else. I support what you're doing. I I know your work uh officer and you've done excellent work up in our
neck of the woods. So, and I know North's work uh has done really well and I I do have an officer, a niece who's an officer down in Brooklyn Park. So, um I know what you guys are doing down there. So, I support it. Mine mine is it's coming from the opiate funds. Where are
other communities getting their funding for this? You know that, you know, because there's other programs out there. Where is it coming from? Is it coming from regular levy dollars in those things or safety dollars or is there other grants out there to help fund this as we go on with this program?
Bri, I don't know if you know the funding source for the counties you're working with. I I don't specifically. I do know that they are using some funding dollars, but I'm not sure where the rest of it comes from. Uh my my understanding is in Henipin County, they're using um a combination
of of of grant funding, levy dollars, and um I don't know the status of of their because theirs is more mental health focused. I don't know that they're using opioid dollars. Um but um through some of the justice burn grants and public
safety grants through Minnesota DPS and um department federal department of justice. So we utilize a number of different grants for um our positions. Um Tammy Luick thinks I use the adult mental health initiative grant too much. Maybe
that's true, but it's a good funding source. Um so we would look at other grant opportunities during the course of this pilot project. Perhaps Sourcewell would have some dollars if this um is successful and could go regional. I'm not sure yet, but the pilot project
would help us to get some data uh and information under our belt to be able to apply for other grants. Um currently our or at the end of 2024, our year-end balance was $931,000. To Commissioner Coring's point, um we
anticipate future pro projections to be around the 2502,500. That opioid pot of money isn't going to be there forever. And so if we truly value this, we're going to figure out a way to be able to fund it. Much like we've done, I think with the ARPA
positions that we were able to continue to utilize um in finding those areas where we could reallocate resources. We're going to do the same thing with with these positions or this position uh that we would um with any other position
that we find value in. Keep in mind, we are not the ones employing the staff person that's North. So, we're going to have to potentially get creative with our funding. Um but this year gives us some time to to figure that out. And we may come in front of you um in a year's
time and say we find X amount of value and would you consider funding again? or we may say, "Well, that was a flop or that wasn't as successful as we thought it would be." Not that I'm sure it won't be that because we have Sergeant Garcia and North working on this, but um but if it doesn't work, then we don't fund it.
You know, it's already been proven there's a need for it. I mean, this goes way back years ago when it was first talked about mental health, when it was first talked about with I think it was the chief of Baxter got involved in it through some of the pilot program and it and it's taken off from that. So, I I see the need out there again in our
county. I don't think you're going to have like maybe in in some of the metro areas where you can focus just on one whether it be mental health whether it be right. So we're going to it's going to be kind of a poperria of going out there for different functions. I mean I do support it. I would have a heck of a
time coming back here next year and asking for the opiate funds to support the whole thing again. I would have a I would have a real challenge with that. I I since we haven't done it here before, it is a good place to get the funds from to do it. But I know there's some questions. You know, these are
opiate funds and and I don't want them just to be, oh, it's a it's a lowhanging fruit. Let's just grab it from there and not look and come back and say, oh, next year, let's grab it from there again. I I couldn't support that. I can support this and try it, but I can't support using the OPIC funds as our own funding
source from ongoing. So, that's my opinion. Thank you. Well, I feel the same as Commissioner Labkkey. I this is a one-year program in my opinion and um
we'll see how it goes if it passes and um you'll have to come back next year to see if we will go on and and I anticipate coming before you even before that to give you an update and we can do that at any um point in time. You know, first quarter might be a little rough.
We probably won't have a lot of great numbers, but maybe six months in, we can come in front of you and share information about what we're seeing currently. Um, happy to do that as well. I just volunteered. Do you guys hope you're okay with that? So, awesome.
Couple things. I have to recognize myself. Yeah. Who are you? First of all, going back on the funding for from the opiate dollars to allow the public to understand that the dollars that come
into Minnesota, the counties get 75%, the state gets 25%. We don't know what the state's doing with their 25%. We only know what Crowing County is doing with their 75%. And those dollars are front-loaded. So, they're we're getting more dollars early
on and over the course of is it 18 years? It's a declining scale that we'll be getting that. So when we think of of to Commissioner Levky's point, how do we the one-offs where we're investing today
and how do we carry on to be impactful into perpetuity is the issue that we're dealing with. So we know the there also some additional lawsuits that are still pending out there where additional dollars may be coming. um hopefully so, but they may not be as large as some of
the initial lawsuits that the companies lost. So, where my question is, you you referenced Sergeant the mayor up in Cross Lake and the response times for an ambulance.
Is this position going to have its own vehicle first of all? And how will the answer is yes. Yes. And when I look at the communities that this individual will be serving, have you done any referenced
compilation of response times out to those outer ring of because they're they're being housed in Breezy Point, but you're talking about Cross Lake, you're talking about, you know, u Lake
Edward Township. how what's the response time for that person to get there versus what North is doing. Sure. To to speak to that, I think the ambulance response time and the community paramemed medic response times
are are two separate things. Um what I think the most impactful the most impact the community paramedic has on response time that generally they're not going to be responding in an emerent fashion. They're going to be, you know, urg urgently responding to to people in
crisis. Um, but their primary role is is not that of your typical street uh ambulance paramedic. What they will be able to do is free up ambulances from going to these low acuity non-medical emergency
calls and allowing more um so allowing more ambulances to go to those higher acuity medical emergencies whereas the community paramedic will be able to um respond to those low acuity
calls such as um you know mental health crisis. So instead of staging an ambulance in the area, um the community paramedic could respond. Um instead of uh sending an ambulance to a lift assist,
the community paramedic could respond and evaluate that patient and decide, you know, and make the medical call. Does this person need an ambulance? um to a opioid overdose where Narcan is administered and now the patient is
refusing um that community paramedic can go and uh evaluate that patient and put them in contact with with a health care provider um instead of tying up an ambulance
um which that p that patient will ultimately refuse transport oftent times. Um, so, so from Breezy Point to the outer, to answer your question more directly, the question you did ask is, you know, from Breezy Point, you can get
to the outer reaches of of that geographical area, target geographical area in probably 30 minutes or less, anywhere there. Um but I think the biggest impact um that the community paramedic program will
have is onirectly freeing up ambulances for emergency response. You know from breezy point you can get to the reaches. So I think that's where kind of the question presents itself. Is this about
medical or is this about the opiid use? And I know medical is one of the things that you identified as the four buckets where these dollars can be used um or mental health. Um but when we're only talking about
response of an ambulance, we're not necessarily narrowing it down to mental health and opioid or substance abuse issues. So that's where I start to kind of question and get cloudy in my thinking
on the funding. Then Miss Luick, would you like to speak? Could I please? Yes. Um, so I know the funding piece keeps coming up and I just want to make sure everybody understands that our two embedded social workers are funded
through our adult mental health initiative through the region 5 as well as an office of justice grant. to start this program in the jail. We got a DHS innovations grant and then we got source grant. This last year we had a source grant. Like we have had to work really
hard at diversifying our funding for this project because this isn't something that's just paid for, you know, like we can do some there's an office involved care coordination program that we could be claiming and it's very difficult for us to even do that. Um so I just want to speak to like this is bigger than just a community
paramedic. the idea um what they were doing in or what they are doing down in Brooklyn Park is they're bringing a community paramedic in with a team of social workers and we also have our mental health deputy coming from the jail which I believe is funded through our sheriff's office. So, uh you know, I just want to just make sure that we
understand that this I know you're looking at the community paramedic as being fully funded by the opioid dollars, but the opioid dollars do not this is the first time we've actually really tapped into the opioid dollars for this team. So, just wanted to make that clarification.
So, to that point, and I'm going to be very pointed to North Ambulance. This is your employee. Same thing we get faced with ARPA dollars and that. What are you going to do in year two when we don't give you $161,000? We
have you have you our group has done a great job of trying to figure out different pots of money to cobble all this stuff together. you guys haven't been in, at least that I understand that world as much as we have at community services. So, what
would be your approach? Um, the community paramedic would be able to fall back onto the ambulance if needed um in the area, but um we are uh will be contracted. So, you be contracted with this
individual? No, with the with the county. I'm not following that. I think what she said was uh that paramedic if they employ one person for this position, it would they would likely get an internal candidate and
then um that candidate if this position wasn't funded and the position went away next year, that person would be able to reintegrate into North Memorial Health back into their previous position. And and one of the things we've got going for us, Commissioner, is this
collaboration. So any grant applications that we um complete, A, we have a lot of history behind completing grant applications, and Tammy and her team have done a great job in finding other funding sources. And B, this collaboration with our three partners
coming to the table makes any grant application even stronger um as long as we can demonstrate the effectiveness. So to your point about um utilizing the opioid funds for this work, we recognize that there are not enough calls
associated with mental health substance use disorder um the type of calls that our social workers are currently responding to in the Brainard Baxter area. We also recognize that those calls are increasing, however, and there is a strong need for response in that area,
and there's only so much that our two social workers can do. I mean, they're pretty amazing individuals, but they're only able to do so much. So, how do we continue to build on the program that we have with our social workers? And we believe that a community paramedic, like
I said initially, is the next iteration of that work. So, not only can the community paramedic work with our social workers to make those connections to important resource needs, but then they can also help with medication management
for the substance use disorder or help with medications for a mental health crisis. And they can also help our social workers with our adult protection cases. They can help with some of the um the property assessment, the public
health nuisance cases. um potentially if there's a medical component to those um and they can help just support clients in general up in that section of the county. Um we believe strongly that this
would be a very beneficial uh ad to our Crowing County Community Services I forgot our acronym Morgan I apologize. Um the law enforcement liaison's um work. We'll just say that. So, back to North Ambulance. You're going to
dedicate one of your current employees to this position funded by opiate dollars. How's that impacting your schedule? You're taking one of your workforce employees away from ambulance response
to put in. Are you flush with these people? Um we're we're constantly um looking to hire. We we've been trying to to do that. Um this this person that will be
um with this program will be dedicated. Um and it's my understanding you would um potentially fill that role that would be vacated by the community paramedic moving into this program. fill that position.
Um, is that right? That would become open when you correct move a community paramedic. So, they would hire for the vacancy that would be created in moving a position to the community paramedic work similar to us. Then, year two, the dollars go away.
Mhm. Is this person going to reapply to you folks? What I mean or are you just going to say goodbye and No, they would be um reabsorbed back into to the north um in the in Brainer
area if they come from Brainard. So, is this cleared with your senior management that you have I see a lot a head shaker back there. Um that's Eric. So they so they understand what's going to happen and it'll become
North Ambulance's responsibility if in year two there's no dollars available. Correct. Mr. Chair, I'm not done yet. Thank you. when you when you clarify for me when it comes to mental health and uh who and Sergeant you also
who does that initial assessment whether it requires an ambulance response or because it's my understanding when the when the bells go off everybody shoots for that spot. That's a pretty simplification of the way the system works. But so do you call
them off then? but they've already responded, so they have an expense that's been incurred. Clarify for me how this is going to work and how this is going to diminish the
ambulance response opportunities during the hours um that the community paramedic is on. Um dispatch will be able to um kind of weed those those out. um they're able to ask certain questions to see if an ambulance response is
needed. If the um officer believes that um an ambulance is needed um above the community paramedic if the community paramedic is responding also then they could um either cancel the ambulance if they're not needed and or request one if
one isn't being sent also. And I think um some clarification or maybe just because I don't think a lot of people know how dispatch works as far as medicals go around here. Um it's it's kind of a confusing mess cuz
it depends on where in the county it happens. Um but for the for the target geographical area someone let's say um my grandmother falls and she's she doesn't think she hurts but she hits her medical alarm, right? and they can talk
back and forth with her and she says, "I don't think I'm hurt. I just need help. I can't get up." They call Crowing County Dispatch. Crowing County Dispatch, depending on where it's at, will send the local first responder group, the lo the local law enforcement group, and then they
transfer the call down to Brooklyn Center to North Memorial Ambulance. All medical calls in the county go down to North Memorial for pre-arrival uh screening and instructions. And that that North Memorial Dispatch determines
what level of response to send and whether to send that emerent or lights and sirens or without lights and sirens in routine. And then they dispatch um if it's in North Memorial's area, they dispatch the North Memorial
ambulance. If it's not in North Memorial and North Memorial's area, then they they tell uh then Crowing County dispatch will dispatch the other ambulance service. Usually in Crowing County, that's uh Cayenne Regional Medical Center ambulance out of
Crosby Hospital. So dispatch um both can do the pre-screening and realize, okay, this doesn't need a full ambulance response. We have we can look at our status board. We can see we have a paramedic on dut, a community paramedic on duty up in that area and send the
community paramedic. The community paramedic um will also have a radio monitoring um uh all of the dispatch traffic both for North Memorial and for Crowing County and be able to um triage some of those
calls uh his or herself and uh self-dispatch to calls he or she feels are appropriate. Um and also police officers um first responder groups and um uh even other ambulances can request
the community paramedic respond. So to you Cara, you mentioned 850 calls of the originally in your presentation. How many of those were in the Brainer Baxter area versus the outlying areas?
Oh my goodness. Have I got a deal for you? So, we can see that I need to take my glasses off. Um, for law enforcement utilization in the Brainer area, and Morgan, is this for 24?
Yes. Thank you. So, in 2024, uh, 380 of the calls were through the Crowing County Sheriff's Office, 292 of the calls were through Brainer PD, and then all of the outlying um, jurisdictions.
So, Cross Lake was 107. Um, looking at my colors, Peekquat was 12, um, Nisa was six, um, and then so on and so forth. So all of the other smaller agencies um are
those additional calls for 2024. So the so twothirds are in the Brainer Baxter area and one-third is not confined to that geographic area because there's still a huge part of Crowing
County that's not being talked about. So the eastern part, the southern part, we would split that other third. Correct. So one less than half just looking at this pie
chart less than half uh so about 3 903 were uh less than half were Brainard Baxter. So about if if you say about half 50/50 are county
local people. What was you said 380 and then you had a 292 number. Yep. 380 is for the sheriff's office specifically and then the 292 is for Brainard. Um so 380 would cover the whole county there. Correct. Under the sheriff's.
Yep. And then the smaller law enforcement agencies um make up the rest of the of the numbers there. I can provide you with this data too if you want a copy of it. No, you clarified it for me so I understand that. Um
I think that's the end of mine. Commissioner Lubkkey, you ask more. You know, we're we're going down kind of into the weeds about all this. You know, we don't know what this program will bring until we try it. You know, we don't know all the needs that are out there that we never hear
about. The neighbor that picks up the guy and brings him in because he's not going to go in an ambulance. somebody else that's that's dealing with um pain management and has gone through their whole prescription that they have for a
month in 5 days and and is doing what we don't know any of those things yet. I I am I am supportive of of doing this as a pilot, but I definitely want to be looking at it 6 months into it and see if it's something that's going to sunset or if it's something else that we're
actively looking for other funds for because I do not I do not support this being an ongoing funding from the opiates. I think it's a just like we're doing in some of I've sat at a lot of the different uh blade meetings. I sat at the one that last Friday that when when everybody made went went up and
made their proposals, you know, they they've tried it. They've got some stuff working. They're coming back and asking for more funding. They're showing what they've done. They're they're presenting it. Um then that coalition supports that and then it comes to us for final
approval. If that's the way I understand it, I believe that should be the same thing in here. I I can support it and I will make a motion to support it, but I definitely want to see it come back in 6 months or a year because if it isn't working, let's not be funding it.
Yes, sir. And find another and if it is working, let's find some other funding sources other than the opiate. So, I do have one additional question. You mentioned in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, it's a team that goes out. So,
it's a it's a this individual and it's a social worker. So they have a team that's approaching the situation. We have one individual although we have the support of community services, social workers and and that but they aren't on scene. Um
does that give us comfort in what's taking place at the scene? I operationally I can speak to that. Um there again, the community paramedic will will always have a radio that I if he or she feels that they need
additional assistance, whether it be from a social worker or from uh local law enforcement or from um the dedicated mental health uh deputy with the Crowing County Sheriff's Office. Um, for
example, let's say um EMS the previous night um resuscitates uh an opioid overdose with Narcan. One of the goals and I think one of the measurables of the program would be to within 72 hours have a community paramedic follow-up
with that person put them in try to put them in touch immediate touch with um treatment needs, treatment resources, safe housing, things like that. Um, that is something that can be scheduled either as a co-response with a with a um
uh social worker or the mental health uh uh deputy or local law enforcement if it's in one of the smaller jurisdictions. Um, if it's a if it's a health screening um say it's someone who's repeatedly called 911 um to um uh
for varying health concerns um which is something we see very frequently. people who are disproportionately uh utilizing 911 resources. Maybe they go out, maybe the community paramedic, maybe it's my grandma cuz she falls six times in in
one week, right? And she's uh disproportionately using those 911 resources, then the community paramedic can probably go do that assessment and screening on his or her own without any concern. but those other maybe um
different types of experiences. That's what's so great about this being a a team and a partnership is they will have the resources um to go with a a social worker if if it's determined. They will have the ability to go with law enforcement if it's determined and vice
versa, right? Maybe um the mental health uh deputy is responding to a person um with an intractable anxiety attack. Our community paramedic can go ad uh administer some medications, bring that
crisis to an end and further evaluate and we and and um put that person in touch with with the resources they need. Um so yeah, the expectation commissioner that we've laid out with our um project group thus
far is that the community paramedic would be an integral part of our co-response team. So they would participate in meetings, they would build relationships, they would um uh go out on calls together if need be. They
would be communicating back and forth uh frequently. our uh law enforcement liaison have radios as well. So there would be an expectation that that person would be a part of our community services team ongoing.
So one last thing one last No, he's got one too. Okay. So my question is this. Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, how long have they been doing it? Three years.
Three years. So they do have data on their response. Now again going back to my previous concern is they have a team that responds but clarify why their data their results weren't included in the justification
for this position. So Brooklyn Park Brooklyn Center we have North has that data. Um, our program, while we aren't reinventing the wheel completely, will be different than what Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center have.
Um, a, we're not the metro, nor do we want to be. Um, and B, we're we're creating this as it fits for Crowing County. So, Maria has the data here um, if you'd like to hear it, but we didn't include it in the packet because it's
not going to be the same program. for example. Understood. But it would since we haven't done anything here similar to this, it would seem that that would be just something to cue us into what Yeah. potentially could be the results.
Yeah, the project team has used it. Um, Maria has shared it with all of us and so I apologize I didn't uh include it in the packet, but she can share it right now if you'd like to hear it. Mhm. Um so the date range is uh January 1st 24 to 6:30 of 25
um between Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center together. Our art team has responded to 228 events across 156 individuals. 175 of these were listed as mental
health and 50 which is uh 76.8% 8% and um 52 22.8% were mental health slash um substance use disorder. So they don't deal with psychotropic
drugs though, do they? This individual that you're going to hire? Um it it can you clarify that? Um we do have some medications that we are able to administer um that our art team does
carry um s such as um so if the if the individual has a prescription they could we and you now have knowledge that they've been out of that medication could start that. Is that a doctor's order that's required for that?
With our medical director he is able to um prescribe medications if needed on an emergency basis. Um but um a as a paramedic um we have standing orders with our medical director where we are able to give out some medications also. So we
would be able to give um like anxiety medications and stuff on the scene immediately. Injectables versus pill all the both. Yeah. We carry a a complement of oral and injectable stuff.
So you're you're driving a pharmacy down the road with that ambulance. Mr. Lee. Okay. Mr. Garcia, you were discussing the dispatch tree. Tell me what happens when that community uh paramedic is not working. So when that community paramedic is not
working, uh I would it would go very much the same as it does now. Uh you know um with the current response. Yeah. Okay. So, there wouldn't be he wouldn't be getting called out or anything like that? No.
Okay. Um, and I guess the last biggest question I've got maybe is for you, Mr. Terry. Um, as you were rattling off those numbers, I was adding them up and that was 125 for 2024 for that area that we're talking about, the pilot area.
Mhm. Um, we're talking about $161,000 for a year and maybe we won't do it after that, but help me explain to my constituents how I can justify $161,000
for 125 calls. I can I please I can speak to that from an operational standpoint. Um, sometimes if you build it, they will come, right? Um often times we don't we
know how busy the law enforcement liaison are um and sometimes um because they're so busy we don't even request or utilize them because they're not available. And so, um,
and obviously this is just my projection, but I p I project based on my knowledge of of working in law enforcement in that area for the last 20 years that if we had a resource that was closer and more readily available and
focused on the issues that we're seeing and the the gaps that we've identified that they would be utilized more than thatund 20 or 126 times, I forget the number you said, but yeah. Okay.
Um, you know, from my background, I I understand why this is would be a great thing from the law enforcement standpoint and and the paramedics that are working the rigs. I get that 100%. and and I'm I'm new to this board, so
maybe I'm not reading the tea leaves right the way everybody else does, but I think everybody's kind of can see the need, but are really struggling with the price tag and where we're going to end up in a year from now. So, it's uh I don't think it's going to be a
an easy decision to make. So, and and to your point, Commissioner, we don't come and Mr. chair, we don't come to you um often with um project pilot project ideas. So, we've been vetting this since
March um as a group and we didn't bring it to you until now because we had to really think through it and make sure that the use of the opioid dollars was initially the right way to go. make sure we had all of the right
people at the table and we don't want to throw opioid dollars at something that we don't believe is going to be successful either. So, um that's why we're here today with this um vetted pilot project to ask for this support
because and if it's not successful in the year's time, we won't do it anymore. And I think community services has has demonstrated that we um if things aren't working, we adjust to either make it work or we don't do it anymore. So just
that um if we vote to move it forward, I I hope it's extremely successful. I hope it's that's what we would want it to be. Otherwise, there's no sense in sitting here talking about it. Um, what I'm concerned about is a year from now when
it is successful, then we have to make a decision on how we're going to fund it. And that screams levy dollars to me. And that's that's a scary thing. So, how do we get past that? And to Tammy's point, we've been really creative in finding our grant, our funding sources, and so I don't see that
going away. Um, in terms of our creativity and funding, we still have AMHI dollars, too, right Tammy? Mr. I'm done. I'm done. And I I totally I believe it's going to
work and I and I will make I will make the motion to support it with that with that same thing concerned about how it's going to work. It is a pilot program. We're using opiate dollars. Coalitions and collaborations do cry out for other
funding. And when you go with that and if it is a collaborated effort and it's working, I hope you're looking for those funds long before we get to this time next year where we're trying to see how we're going to fund it again. So, absolutely. So, I make a motion to go ahead and if I can before you do that,
Brian, tell me, Cara, for this proposal, did this follow the normal process for all the other individuals or groups that were presenting? Did it follow the same process and was it vetted the same way?
So, it wasn't vetted in the same way that the grant applications um were vetted. So, I know you were both there at the grant application meeting where I did a a mini presentation of sorts and Sergeant Garcia also uh talked to the project. I sent out an email
outlining the project detail with the project definition to the coalition and ask for their consideration that way. This was just really poor timing in terms of our grant application process. So, we didn't have another meeting to bring it to before we had to um move on
it to be a part of North's budget process that they have going on. So, we were under a bit of a timeline crunch with that process as well as our budget process. Um, and in the past, we have not followed, as a Crowing County
Community Services Agency and the Sheriff's Office and the jail, we have not followed any sort of grant process like our community providers have um for requesting funds. And we do bring it to the coalition to let them know, but we
do not go through a grant process for um requesting funds for community service, sheriff's office, or jail projects. Um, as you know or you may have seen in the MOA with the Attorney General's office, public health is the chief strategist
over these dollars. And so it's our job as public health to go out and seek ideas or areas of funding. um and then gather feedback from our community members. Um
and so as a chief strategist for the dollars, we bring our county stuff to you directly and inform the coalition. So we kind of follow a different process um than we normally would, if that makes sense. So, it followed the normal
process like we would for a community services, sheriff's office or jail process. Okay, Mr. Andrews. Yeah. Thank you very much. First and foremost, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 people
died while we've had this conversation today from opiate addiction. North Memorial saved my life when I overdosed. Crowing County Community Services also has been a part of me being sober and to be able to give back to the community.
Uh but when I'm looking at the process uh is a a need, I I support it as being a need. Uh the presentation you guys got today, I would love to have the coalition be able to hear that whole presentation. Uh it was 11:15
11:14 uh on July 24th that we received an email the night before the presentation. Uh so we come in 184 was the ask in email 184,000 as we are contending for
as 22 organizations $200,000. Uh so it was hard number one. Uh is it worth the effort? Yeah. Should we know more about it? Yeah. And as I listen to the presentation, I'm still I'm still asking myself where where is the
information that supports this in a way that helps people be able to understand that that the people that died ahead of this that this money is attached to that it that it is is is honoring them. It's answering the future. It's it's a
response of action towards your uh towards the people that you're serving. Uh everybody sitting at this table, I support them in this action to to come here today. I think maybe I got two hours of sleep last night. Uh because I question whether I should say anything
or not. Uh but to speak for the people that can no longer speak, I have a requirement and responsibility to speak to the for the representative of the community. I have a responsibility to come before you guys today and to say uh do I support uh uh this possibly moving
forward? Yes. Today, no. I believe that needs to come back before the before the committee uh have this discussion, let this team answer the questions because I don't think they're all answered yet, but to be able to answer the questions that that supported help us to understand that the outcomes as a as a
county and as a community is trying to achieve that this is the best use of dollars. I have a whole outline here to to go through. But the fact is that uh the important part is transparency uh best use of funds. The 6 day time window
for us to respond uh and give a give an answer for this vote. Out of 143 people that received the email, 18 and 13, I would say that not enough people know about it yet. And so uh uh I
know it's a different track. There's two tracks. I think it needs to be clear process so that that the county and the community services and everybody is working together as a collaboration uh and and a unified county. Uh this this action and this fast track and and I
know it was good intentions from everybody involved, but it it starts to cause questions. Uh and I think that's that's where we're at. If if the position isn't until January and if it's been docked about since March, my question is is why why did we just find
out about it and if it is vetted and I believe that they have done their work, but they haven't presented it to us as a coalition. And I'm here today as a member of the coalition and a member of Crowing County. This is our home. We need to represent the people the best way possible, but we also want to make sure that people aren't questioning what
we're doing in actions. And that's why I'm here today. Thank you. Thank you. I know there's there's some things that that we do where we don't have outside groups that attend our meetings to understand what we're doing with the sheriff's department or the county attorney's office. Um we do have
those opportunities that take place that don't include a lot of community involvement. So, um, and this apparently is one of those that gets done in a different manner, but because it's sort of comes alongside the
opiate dollars feels like this group has been disenfranchised from understanding or knowing what's going on within the county itself. So, I understand Brian your position and I understand the
coalition's position, but the county does have other missions, I'll say, or directions that we go and sometimes that just doesn't feel comfortable. But it's true that we do that year after year after year. So,
it's not unusual for us to be in this position. With that, are there any other questions? Look for a motion to approve or deny. I make a motion. I make a motion to approve the funding for this pilot
program for one year for the community paramedic operation. Lubkkey makes a motion to approve the opiate funding in the amount of 161,000 $198 to be paid to North Memorial. Let
me hold back one second. Um, could I have a little bit of a range? 161 to 175. North hasn't finished their union contracts yet or their negotiations for salary. So, I am not sure what the
amount is going to be yet. The 161 is based on 2025 wages. Correct. So, it won't be a huge increase by any means. But I 161 to 175 is is a lot of money. But I'll we're done. I'm going to ask you to take
your motion back and consider one to table at this point. Yeah, let's table it. Okay. Until we know North I will take my motion back and since there wasn't any second, we don't have to ask and I'll make a motion to table until we get a final number. Commissioner Lupkkey makes a motion to
table. Second. Second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Those not in favor, same sign. That motion passes. It'll be tabled until we get further information.
Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Move on to number nine, land services, Mr. Pence. Thank you for second on that. Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. I have before you today a
citizen petition to consider amendments to the land use ordinance. I'd like to introduce uh Steve Zalinsky. Steve was the one who made the application and uh is requesting that the county consider amending our current land use ordinance
uh from allowing commercial cannabis cultivation in the rural residential five and 10 land use districts with an intermuse permit. Uh the planning commission board of adjustment did um consider this request at the meeting uh at the meeting last month and uh they
made no recommendation to the county board and forward that on to you for your consideration. Uh just a couple things uh to consider is that the county board um did amend the land use ordinance uh back on December 17th of 2024 related to regulating commercial
use of cannabis. The ordinance amendment updated that all cannabis uses which related to cultivation, manufacturer, process, retail, and wholesale must be located in the commercial, waterfront, commercial, or the airport district. Um, and all cannabis uses um require an
interim use permit. Um, Mr. Zinsky reached out to our department uh to inquire about the ability to cultivate cannabis on his property in Oaklan Township, which is located off of Conro 25. Um, Mr. Zillinsky has been growing hemp through the Department of Agriculture on this parcel in the past.
Um the current zoning on the property is RR5 and is surrounded by the real residential 5 zoning. The nearest commercial land use district is approximately 1 mile north um on Highway uh 210. And so what he's asking is for
the county board to consider allowing um the commercial cultivation of cannabis in the rural residential five and 10 land use districts. Um he did include uh some information in the packet to you located on page 116 and 117. Um if we
could just uh Amber if you could turn to page uh 122 of the packet just to show what the changes just how they're being proposed. This is where you can see where we currently have the um uses listed in in
uh this is in article our uh table E of uh 10.3 of the land use tables. You can see where it says cannabis cultivation commercial. Um right now it is an intermuse in the commercial and in the waterfront commercial land use districts and he's requesting that it'll also be
allowed as an interim use permit the in the rural residential 5 and 10. Uh I just included in your packet as well. Uh I just did a quick little little bit of research um for the meeting and just looked at what do some of the cities this would be on page 126
of the packet just what are some of the local cities how they're handling cannabis regulation related to both retail and cultivation. Um and you can see that uh most generally speaking the cities are following the counties are not following the county but we're um in
alignment. I guess the difference would be that Peekquat Lakes um allows cultivation in their forest management agricultural zoning which would be similar to our egg forested district that we have. Um but everybody else um is having that cultivation retail both
in commercial or in some sort of an industrial district. Um I would be happy to answer any questions otherwise I'd turn it over to uh Mr. Linsky and he can explain um where he's at and and what the why he's making the request this morning. Commissioner Franz,
I have a question. Um you said it's a petition. Is this a petition like the ditch petition where one person? That's the way the ordinance reads when it talks about it's just a citizen. He's making an individual just a one just it's just That's what I just him.
That's what I wondered. Yep. Just him alone. So he hasn't gotten around and gotten into. This is just he's on his is this just him himself? Okay. So Mr. Zillinsky, if you would like to make some remarks, you're certainly welcome to do that.
Yes. Uh first of all, I'd like to point out that of course in a in a city, you're not going to want it people growing it in their yard or anything. So that's why they did that. But when we're talking about the county, we're talking about rural area.
Um, I just want to point out that this has been a long process for us. We've been working on this for six years since 2019. Uh, we've since got a a license pre-approval from the state of Minnesota
to have a micro business which allows us to grow 5,000 square ft of indoor cannabis. and uh we have a permit from the Brainer City of Brainard to open a retail, but
we just need to be able to grow. And now we're in a point where we've gotten to this point and in 2024 when they came to you and OCM came to you and said, "What are you going to do?" And nobody even knew what was going on yet. Now we know that it's very micromanaged. We have
been vetted. We have been through the ringer just to get to the point we are uh from security to our employees have to be vetted and uh background checked. It's going to be very micromanaged.
So, I'm coming to you saying, can we loosen the reinss now and find a way to grow on our own property rather than have all the restrictions of growing in a commercial area in Crowing County, which is basically the only place we can
grow right now. We can't grow in the city because of the water. Uh the water's chlorinated. It is a uh agricultural it is a uh cult uh crop uh agricultural crop. It has to have uh good water.
We're not asking you to just open it up to five and 10 acre lots. Is there a way we can look at if you have a large amount of property that we can actually do what we want to do with our own property? Um,
so in a nutshell, I'm coming to you saying, is there a way we can loosen the rains and keep this local, keep us in our community, keeping the integrity integrity of what we've done with our
businesses in the community and move forward with that. Questions for Mr. Zalinski? So Chris, one question. If if we would change this for Mr. Zillinski, does that change it for all RR5s across
the county? Correct. Yep. So, do we have do we have any way of carving out that property like grandfathering or because I'm assuming you had permission from the state to start what you did? We Yes, we've been working with the state for six years. We've had a hemp
license through the Department of Agriculture, uh, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and then when the OCM came along, that got transferred to OCM. We had to give up our hemp license to apply for a cannabis license.
Uh, all the way along we've been working with the state and we got to the point where we were going to have a building ready to go. And then in 2024, they asked you, "What are you going to do?" And you said, "Well, we're not going to let nobody do nothing on their own land. We're going to go to the commercial
land." And now you haven't built a building yet. We have a building. You have a building. And so you invested in that. Yes, I've invested. And I'm not asking you to give me any leeway personally. I'm I'm here for the whole community if
we can find a way to I think what what I'm getting at though is the state created a mess create state created a big mess and so the county we we do what we do with land use maps and the state made a decision and
individuals like you made a decision business decision and correct and here we are today where what our land use is conflicts with what the state was allowing before any consideration of what counties might be doing correct in terms of their land use. Would that
be correct, Chris? Uh uh Mr. Chair, uh county board, the the state of Minnesota gave counties the ability to regulate the location, place, and timing of, you know, of these of these uses. So, okay. Um, so that's what
that's what our ability is is to be able to say what's the proper zoning district, what's the proper permitting, those sorts of performance standards. Um, is what the state gave the counties authority to implement. And uh and so when we did that process back last
December, it was the you know at that point the the board had talked about you know I think everybody was pretty clear retail you know all those sort of things should have been you know were pretty clearly in the commercial and then cultivation was also put into that as well. I know we had talked at some point
about should cultivation maybe be allowed in the agricultural you know forested area potentially as a zoning district. Um but it was decided at that point that um to incorporate everything into that uh into the commercial or the waterfront commercial particularly
related to cultivation and that and so I think it's important to um to know that as as as was mentioned uh by chair Barrows that it it applies you know to Mr. Zilinski's property is is currently zone R5 and it's a 20 acre piece of
property. Um and it's located over in Oaklan Township off of Cairo 25. Uh if you we did the updated um comprehensive plan uh last year and then we made some changes to the zoning map. He was still
R5 prior to the comprehensive plan at that point. there was some land that would have been to the um to the west of him that would have been that was zoned agricultural forces at that time. But as we made the change, we looked at that and said we thought that made more sense in that area to be residential in nature
and maybe not agricultural. Not that you can't do agricultural practices on you can still farm and and do those sorts of things on the R5, you know, generally speaking. Um but the the county carved out and said they really felt uh that cultivation was appropriate at this
point at least um to be in that commercial and that waterfront commercial uh land use districts that we have. And remind me we had a public hearing about that. We did we had a public hearing we had public comment uh we had all those all those um activities. So So Mr. Zillinsky did you attend the
public hearing or did you make any comments about what we were proposing at the time? I did not know that. Okay. So, can I no other question? Go ahead. Sure. Is there no way to put a limit on the
amount of land you own to be able to do this? Like, we own 40 acres and we're out in the middle of nowhere. Is there any any way to put to adjust what we're doing is what I'm asking.
allow it in five and 10, but you must have 40 acres and you must not be by your neighbor. And I mean, what we're talking about is a building, enclosed building with security cameras, and OCM has watching what we're doing and and
we're in the middle of nowhere. We just want to be able to use our land as we wish to use it. I'm going to say respectfully today, I don't think this board's ready to make any kind of change like that. I think there would have to be a lot of
discussion with plan services and and Chris and his group to look at any possibility that might have and I think if I'm not mistaken your group has already Chris your team has looked at what's possible and what isn't possible
and currently it's not possible. Is that correct? uh not possible to with the current way of the ordinance to grow R5 R it's not it's not an allowed use in the R5. So it would require
if what he's asking for we'd have to go through another public hearing. It's a change of a land use map. Is that correct? And uh and then it would impact every RR5 in the county. It wouldn't. And and regardless of if we make any future
changes to this, it would still have that, you know, countywide effect. Um, you know, I mean, if if it was something that the board was interested in, you know, they you could give direction and we could we'd then have to go look at article 15, which is the article that
deals with the performance standards for cannabis use within the county. And then if you wanted to say we can allow it in the R5 or maybe the R10 as well, but the minimum lot size is 40 and it has to be grown. I mean, those are some things that you that would would be considered.
Um, if that's something that it's not something, you know, that um I would say staff on this are probably neutral. I mean, if it's I would say it's this policy decision that if that's the direction that you wanted us to go, we could definitely put some drafting together and and uh put that out for
public comment. So, um, again, this is not a a staff-driven request. It's coming from Mr. Zillinsky. So, so, Administrator Ericson, so his request is coming to us because we make
the final decisions on the land use map. Is that correct? Correct. His request, Mr. Chair, is coming to you. He made the through the petition process to ask for a change to the ordinance or amendment to the ordinance. The PCBOA heard the request at their level first chose not to make
any recommendation on the particular ask. You obviously are the final authority on any amendments to the land use ordinance. So that is why it is before you today. And if you are interested in directing staff to look at what potential changes could be, they
can look at what that is um as Chris pointed out through that process or you can say you're not interested in any amendments at this point in time. from the cannabis perspective of things, you know, the the statute 34213 tells you
you like Chris said, you get to regulate time, place, and manner, location, whatever that might be, as long as it is meeting what your current zoning ordinance is. And that was the process that we just went through last year. Okay. Preference of the board?
No preverence. Mr. Chair and to the county administrator, do we need to take any action or if no action is action or what what would you say as the parliamentarian? Because the request is before you to
consider the amendment. I believe if I remember what the statute says that you do have to consider it. So it's either I would say you need a vote up or down on whether you would uh approve the petition. Yes. So directing in directing staffing staff to
yes you should make changes or you would deny the petition for amendment change or amendment to the ordinance. So direct clarification clarification if you want to consider what Mr. Zalinsky is asking you to consider. If you want
to consider making changes to allow for cultivation in RR5 or 10, you would direct staff to consider amending article 15. Look at bringing considerations for article 15 to allow for that to occur. If you are not
wanting to consider it, you would vote to deny the petition for land use ordinance amendment. Well, Mr. Chair, I I just think that we're like I I mean, we've made a lot of changes to our ordinance and we're only eight
months into this change and all of a sudden we're going to change it again. I I guess I'm I'm really hesitant. I understand what Mr. Zillinski's up against. But I we don't even don't even know how this is all going to shake out
really. I mean, we're only eight eight months into it and now we're being asked to change it already. Uh we I think we sometime we got to leave these ordinances to see how they're working and then if they're not working then change them. But eight months in I guess
I at this point I'm not I'm not ready to to make any changes. So I would appropriate motion would be a motion to deny the petition for land use amend ordinance amendment. That's my motion.
I have a motion on the floor to deny. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Second by Commissioner Lee. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Not in favor. Same sign.
Petition is denied. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Fisher. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. I'm Amy Fischer, the human resources manager, and I'm here this morning regarding paid family and
medical leave, also known as PFML. This is a new unfunded state mandate that will be effective January 1st of 2026. On April 22nd of 25, the county board of commissioners authorized a request for a proposal process to obtain plan design
proposals and pricing quotes for for a private plan to administer the county's PFML. Integrity Benefits conducted the RFP on our behalf as well as on the behalf of numerous other city and county entities throughout Minnesota. Five companies
responded to the RFP with Metife submitting the most favorable proposal at a payroll premium rate of.79% compared to the states.88% if selected. This rate is estimated to
save approximately $37,000 in premium. MetLife's proposal also includes a 2-year rate guarantee dependent on the county utilizing some of MetLife's other insurance products. To be eligible for the 2-year rate guarantee, we received quotes on
MetLife's short-term disability and long-term disability plans. The county's current short-term disability plan is self-funded and the plan through Metife will be a voluntary pay a voluntary plan paid 100% by the employee. Metife's
quote on long-term disability is estimated to save the county approximately $14,000 in premiums. Choosing a private plan also does require the county to be responsible for a fee of $1,000
paid to the state for being on a private plan versus on the state plan. Um, Met Life has experience with the administration of a paid leave plan on a large scale and combining our other leaves such as short-term and long-term
disability makes for a seamless process for our employees. They're just submitting their leave paperwork to one place and they're processing it for the short term, the PFML, and then if it continues on to be a longer leave, the long-term disability as well. So, if
there aren't any questions, I'm asking us to authorization to enter into a contract with Integrity Benefits and Metife for PFML voluntary short-term disability plan and long-term disability effective January 1 of 2026. Commissioner Lee,
the $1,000 is that annual, excuse me, annual. It's just a one-time application fee with the state for getting approval to go with a private plan. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.
Um, so that you're saying the savings is approximately 37. What is the actual cost of this uh paid family medical leave? That's the employee is going to pay part of that premium and this and the county's paying part of that
premium, right? It's mandated by the state for us to do that. Correct. The state or the the state the employer has to pay at least 50% of the premium and I'll be working with the labor our labor partners and stuff to talk, you know, do the 50/50 split with
employees on that. So approximately 50% of the total premium would be around $177,000 which is slightly less than a half a percent of levy. So the employees are going to pay
$170ome,000. We're going to pay the countyy's going to correct 17. So it's costing over 300 and some thousand dollars for this Yep. unfunded mandate from the state. Correct. Okay. That's all I need.
I'm glad I'm not a state senator anymore because I'd be getting beat up here all the time. You You would be. Yes, you would be, sir. But you were a state senator. Yeah. Thank you for reminding us. All right. If there's no other questions, I would look for a motion to
approve entering into a contract with Integrity Benefits/Metlife for the paid family and medical leave private plan. and the voluntary short-term and the long-term and the disability or
long-term disability plan effective January 1, 2026. I'll make the motion as long as I don't have to repeat what you just said. Commissioner Lee makes it to approve and Commissioner Loveky seconds that motion. All in favor signify by saying I.
I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Thank you, commissioners. Very much. That takes care of 10.1 10.2. My second item is the appointment of a new county attorney to fill the upcoming vacancy. The county board of commissioners previously accepted the
resignation of county attorney Donald F. Ryan and declared a vacancy in the office of Crowing County Attorney effective September 12th, 2025 at 4:30 p.m. Pursuant to Minnesota Statute 375.08, 08. The Crowing County Board of
Commissioners has the authority to fill the vacancy in office by appointment. The county board has taken cover letters and resumes from interested internal candidates. After reviewing the cover letters and resumes submitted, assistant county attorney Kelsey A. Hops has been
selected to serve the remainder of the term vacated by county attorney Donald F. Ryan effective September 12th. So, I'm just looking to approve the resolution appointing Kelsey A. Hops as the county attorney effective September 12th, 2025. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Coring.
Mr. Chair, I first of all, I want to publicly say thank you to Kelsey for stepping up and wanting to do this job. I mean, there could have been a chance that nobody wanted to do it because it's not
it's a it's a challenging job. It's a very challenging job. Murders, rapists, all kinds of stuff that normally people don't have to deal with on a daily basis. So, it kind of it's it's a it's a it's a challenging job.
And so, as you move forward into this job, at least from me, I'm hoping that I'm I'm I'm a tough on crime kind of guy. So, I'm hoping that you will do the same because you have an awesome responsibility. You have a lot of
discretion. It's kind of like a police officer. They pull you over, they can they can give you a ticket, they can give you a warning, they can give you a verbal warning. It's their discretion and you have the same discretion. I think about Mary Mor
Morardi who's the uh attorney county attorney for Henipin County and um thank God she's not going to run again. But I think about this this guy that that scratched I think five or six Teslas and it was about $20,000 in damage which
really was a felony but put him on a diversion program. And that's where I say that there's so much that a county attorney can either charge or not charge. And but um but I I'm just so glad that that you accepted the
position. And um I think back because I can remember when the county attorney's office was one hell of a mess when and I think it was his f I'm trying to think of his first name is Steven Rathky. Stephen Rathky was there and it was
really a mess. And then uh Jack Graham ran and it was really a mess. And thank God we had Don Ryan who stepped up and Don Ryan has had a steady steady hand for the last 30 years and and there was
no no drama there. And um I wish you all the success in the world and and I'll be supporting you wholeheartedly. And um if nobody else has any comments, Mr. Chair, I would move the request for
board action to uh fill the uh the attorney attorney. Yeah, Kelsey. to fill the the vacancy that um was put forward by Don Ryan. Second.
We have a motion by Commissioner Coring, seconded by Commissioner Franzine to support the resolution appointing Kelsey Hops to the County Attorney position. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
Not in favor. Same sign. Congratulations. Yeah. Welcome, attorney. Congratulations, Kelsey. County attorney. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you, Amy. Are we going to point the sheriff now or Oh, there is a county chair. Let's dep one today there.
Uh, good morning, Mr. Chair and county commissioners. Appreciate the opportunity to be before you today. I got to tell you a story here. A couple weeks ago, I ended up in the emergency room uh twice in one week because I um had an allergic reaction. I got stung by
a bee uh on Monday and then I got stung on Sunday morning, then I got stung again that week. And um I ended up in the emergency room on two different occasions. Uh not I was in crisis, but I wasn't it wasn't life or death. And uh I
just uh when I went into the emergency room and had my time there for a couple hours, I was they treated me really well and I really appreciated that uh you know when you're in crisis, you want to be treated like somebody really cares about you and I did get that uh when I
when I showed up in the ER and it kind of just reminded me that uh the a lot of the people that we deal with are in crisis and that's why we have to provide that wow factor to home because we want them to leave um having a great experience with us
when they're in crisis. So, that's that's a kind of a reoccurring message that I keep telling our staff. Uh and we celebrate these wow factor uh moments when we uh provide exceptional service and we want to share that with others so
that they can um also uh personify that when they're out and about in our community as well. So when they're dealing with uh crisises. So that's just a side note. Uh this week we have uh BIR this weekend. It's actually started. They opened up the gates on Tuesday to
let people come in and and uh set up camp early just to try to relieve some uh pressure that's on our roadways. And uh so far so good with that. Um, if you guys are interested in a ride along or coming out to BIR to take a look at
what's uh going on out there or how they operate, please get a hold of one of our staff. We'd be glad to give you a uh a tour out there so you can see what's going on. Um, with that, I would certainly take any questions or concerns
uh or compliments that you may have. Uh, any questions? It's good to see your shirt is white today. Yes. He he brings that up because we had the fair and uh we had uh um you know you've heard of touch a truck and I wear
this like I I always have a nice white shirt and we I had all these people coming up and you know patting me on the back and it seemed like everybody was always trying to touch me and get my shirt dirty and I just like so next year the the guys were talking about having a touch a sheriff. Uh
I think it's a good idea. We need a motion for that. No. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you, county. It's your first chance to speak. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I don't have anything today
besides just saying thank you very much for this opportunity. I'm super excited to step into this new role and continue the momentum that Mr. Ryan has pushed through for 31 years. Um, and just looking forward to working with all of you and working with and for the people
of Crowen County. So, thank you very much. You're very welcome. Welld deserved. County administrator. Mr. Chair, commissioners, a couple of items for you. First of all, our senior management team did meet yesterday. We had a very robust conversation on a
number of different topics, including social media and communications. Darcy reminded us that she is a resource available for any of the assistance that's needed there. And we also talked about having some backups for her. You know, we just went through severe storm season here. Well, we're probably
technically still in it and we probably will get some more, but we want to make sure that we have some folks who are available to help with some of those community posts to get the word out to folks without Darcy feeling like she can never be on vacation or away from her desk or phone either. So, we did talk
about some opportunities for other folks in our organization to assist in that regard. We talked about some potential training partnerships with CLC for some technical hands-on how-to training with things like Excel or PowerBI or some of
our software training needs that we might have there. So, we are working to see if there are opportunities for us to partner with them similar to how we had done in the past. So, it's kind of reviving a process that we previously had in place there. Um because it is budget season, we
continued our discussion of the 2026 budget and finalized the information that you will all be seeing on Thursday at the budget committee meeting. And then we had a good discussion around our performance management process and as we begin the redesign of what that looks
like, we made some commitments as a team of how we are going to proceed with completing that process and then supporting it as it moves forward. We're looking to spend about a full day here coming up in early September to have senior management work through the final
processes of what that would look like as well. And then finally, we just talked a little bit about grant opportunities that come our way and how as a senior management team we can work to make sure that all areas are being considered for when those potential grants come up as well.
The other item I have before you today is the lease agreement with the Crowing County Fair Association. If you recall, this is a 10-year lease agreement that we have we own as the county owns the property that the fairgrounds are on and
lease the property to the fairgrounds for that purpose of utilizing it. The uh contract is a 10-year contract with consideration of a dollar for the entire 10 years. That term is up again here coming up in January of 2026. So, we are
looking to uh amend or to agree to entering into the contract between Crowing County and the Crowing County Fair Association to extend the lease for the term from January 1st of 2026 through December 31st of 2035.
Commissioner Coring, just a question. Um, I know that way back long time ago, I used to be on the fair board and it was uh it was the Crowing County Agricultural Society and I see it's uh contract with the Crowing
County Fair Association. I would assume it's the same thing or they It is the same thing. Name change. Okay. Any other questions? Not. I'd look for a motion. Move the lease agreement. Commissioner Cory makes the motion to approve.
Second. Second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor. Same sign. That motion passes. Thank you, commissioners. Mr. Chair, that's all I have today, unless anyone has any questions for me. Any questions for the administrator.
Seeing none, we'll move on to number 14, Mr. Bray. Uh, Mr. Chair and Commissioners, thank you for allowing me to add this um agenda item under additional business. It's um a budget amendment. Uh normally
we would go through the budget committee process with this, but we are asking or seeking approval for this a budget budget amendment right at the board um to seek an opportunity to advance one of our projects and I provided a packet for
for you that has a lot of the background information. Uh the short version really is that uh in May the city of Baxter and u representatives from Sourceville came forward asking for a a delay of a portion of our county road 170 project
which is scheduled for next year. During that meeting um they requested that we consider an interim fix or a shorter term fix as they do their planning. uh the source source well owned some adjacent property there and in that meeting you gave the county highway
department direction to seek that interim fix. And after that meeting we went back to the office and modified our our plans for 2026 for the reconstruction and uh the resurfacing of 170 to include um a thinner overlay that
was expected to last much uh less. Uh the concern from all of us was would we spend a very large amount of money on a thick long lasting fix only to be uh tore up later as source in the city of
Axer developed that area. Since that time um we have been made aware and received some advice from one of the industry experts on a process called microsurfacing. This is kind of what the name suggests.
It is a thin surfacing and it is uh not completely new to us but we have not fully utilized it but other counties do and the state does and things like that. The advantage of of doing that is it it lasts the same amount of time as we were
going to do with the overlay the interim fix but it's at a much cheaper cost and with the same life expectancy. So, we thought it's uh really good and uh going from that overlay normal overlay process
to this is saving about $20,000 and we can move it up one year and that's the basis of the budget amendment. The money that we were going to spend on that that interim fix in that area um we were going to do in 2026. The budget amendment is to allow
it to do it this year. Currently the city of Baxter it utilizes seal coating um process on their roads and after we had received the information from the industry expert. We uh asked that that the city of B uh
Baxter would allow us to kind of join their contract this year to take care of that and they have agreed and they are going to start in within a a couple weeks. And so again, kind of a short uh kind of a short timeline and again the
advantages are we deliver to the public this year one almost a full year in advance. We save $20,000 and there's an added benefit because we are considering if microsurfing is microervicing that
process is a strategy that we want to continue on and this will act as a very good tech very good short test section for that and so there's a lot of advantages to it and I'm asking for approval to for the budget amendment 20
for 2025 budget to advance this project questions. Commission. Mr. Chair and Tim Bray. So, question just a a difference between a seal coat. I've seen the seal coats where they spray on and then they put if people
have seen the small rocks that are on there. Yes. What's the difference between the seal coating and the micro? Sure. Whatever it is, they are they look similar similar, but they have uh different functions. A seal coating is really um to keep the water
out. That that's it. It does have a very thin layer of aggregates sprayed on and then covered with a fog sealing or an asphalt um seal coat. I guess fog seal we call
it. What that does is really try to work to keep the water out, maybe seal up the cracks and and water of course is one of the things that damages our roads the most. It doesn't do a very good job at all of improving the ride quality. Think about
these roads and all the defects. There are cracks that have cupped out. Um there might be rudding where trucks have compressed the asphalt over time. And so those don't get fixed with that um a seal coat. It just kind of covers them
up, paints paints over them. And uh the microsurfacing does the same thing, but it also is thick enough and is resilient enough to fill in those surface uh defects. So not only do you get a a
sealed roadway, but you also get a smoother uh ride and you can improve that quality of the user too. It is a little more expensive, but you get a lot more benefits out of it as well. And uh it's one thing that we explored years ago on
Conor Road 32 over by the Aken County Lion. I don't know that we used it in the right application and it was something that we did not continue. That was kind of a pilot as well. We're kind of back at the table. The technology has
changed since probably 14 years ago when we first did it and we're ready to try it again on this three twothirds of a mile to see if it's something that uh we'll come to you to ask you um to adopt as a strategy as we continue to protect
the investments we make in our infrastructure. Commissioner Lee, did you have a question? I had a question, but while you were talking I found my answer, so I don't Yeah, I did. We didn't. Amber, we I I sent Amber the this packet and there
there's a map in the original letter from uh the city of Baxter and then also that difference. There is some literature, Commissioner Corning, about the differences between microsurfacing and seal coating and their costs.
So, if there's no other questions, I would look for a motion to approve. Mr. Chair, uh motion to approve the Can you put that back up there? Yeah. Uh motion to request for board action budget amendment to advance County Road
170 surface treatment from 2026 to 2025. Motion by Commissioner Coring, second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Those not in favor, same sign. That motion passes. Thank you Tim very much.
Before we adjourn, I would like to uh do you have a comment? I just want us just to comment uh you know if you remember on Monday I got a couple of constituent calls and and uh you know always try to take care of those and and I just want
to publicly also thank the county engineer for you know all of our staff. It's absolutely amazing how quickly they get after things. uh had a gentleman over on County Road 10 who is it's the north
side of Bordon Lake where it's a 30 mph zone and you know it's the bad thing is about us getting great roads is everybody starts going really fast and so they're barreling through there and I called up Tim I believe it was on Monday
afternoon and by Thursday we had some temporary those signs that show what your speed is. By Thursday, his staff already had them out there. I went and ate out at JJ's Bird's Nest and and I drove through
there. I made sure I didn't get the signs to start blinking at me. And um so I I want to thank Tim for that. And then I also want to thank Gary Griffin. Um you probably saw that sign that I had on on Monday. It was the Lake Stewart
program that a couple of the great people down at South Long Lake are trying to get a buffer zone down by the edge of the lake to keep silt and everything from running to the lake. And so people have to fill out an application and then the two people that
are in charge of that volunteering to do that. Then they give them a nice Stewart um sign and they asked if we could have one of those to promote that program at the Little South Long Lake Park. And I
called up Gary and he said, "Yeah, I think that's a great idea." So we we were down there on uh this just this last week uh and put that sign up and had a lot of lot of positive comments on Facebook. So, just wanted to let the board know that that I'm I'm not on
vacation. I'm I'm working. So, thank you, Commissioner. Um, I have four things that I want to bring up. The first one is that on the 13th, tomorrow, is National Left-handers Day. Oh, wow.
On the 17th, National Baby Boomers Recognition Day. Yay. On the 19th is National Aviation Day. So to uh Mr. Planser being here and and the job he's doing, the great job he's doing at the
airport. And on the 21st, National Seniors Day. Pretty soon we're going to have to get rid of National Baby Booners because they all are seniors. So we can eliminate one off the calendar. But with with all that being said, I would look for a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn.
Motion by Commissioner Lubkkey. Second, second by Commissioner Franzine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Not in favor, same sign or you can hang around. It's up to you. That motion passed.