Pledge. I pledge allegiance 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 Welcome, everyone. I would like to read a statement before we begin. And board meetings will no longer be live streamed. However, meetings will continue to be recorded and made available on the county website shortly after adjournment. Closed captioning will be included on all posted recordings on the public portal.
In addition, all meetings of the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Requests for additional accommodations or special services should be directed to the Freeborn County Administration office as early as possible to allow time for necessary arrangements to be made. And please note, the reason these changes have been made is to be compliant with ADA at a minimum cost to the taxpayer. With that, we'll move on looking for a motion to approve the meeting agenda.
I'll enter that motion, mister chair. Moved by commissioner Casa. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Severson. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. The meeting agenda has been approved. Moving on, someone like to enter a resolution approving the consent agenda with the following. Approval of minutes from the 05/19/2026 board meeting, approval of regular full time status employees and acceptance of resignations and retirements, approval of drainage ditch repairs,
and approval of claims. Would someone like to enter that resolution? I'll enter the resolution. Entered by commissioner Ekstrom. Is there a second? I'll second it. Second by commissioner Kasai. Any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Yes. Commissioner Casa? Yes. Mister Yes. Mister Yes. Mister Yes. That resolution has passed. Moving on, report of board committees. Commissioner Severson. Nothing to report here. Thank you. Commissioner Casa. Yes. I attended the, EMS open house at the Mayo Clinic, ambulance.
It was quite interesting, and the, highway department was there with a model that spun around and showed you what happens to you if you don't wear your seat belt. That was really cool. Football came flying out. A body came flying out. So that was good. I had a fair board meeting, and a group came and asked if they could place flags on the new on the Bridge Avenue fence. And they're going to be doing that on June 9, and they're going to keep them up through the fair, week of the fair.
Looks pretty impressive, and it was no cost to anybody. So thank you to that group. Had a library meeting. Then I went to Hillcrest Cemetery on Memorial Day and served coffee to the honor guard. I enjoy doing that every year. And then we went down to Deer Creek, Cemetery for their honor guard service, and I attended the chamber meeting. That's it. Thank you. Commissioner Schauff. Yes. I had, the building and property committee after the last meeting. Freeborn County Trail Association meeting, and the planning commission meeting last night.
So for AMC district meeting, I'll report on that under county commissioner items because there's a number of, things I can tell you about that. And for the planning commission meeting, I just noticed it's not on the agenda, so I can just give a little update on that. I mean, you all received the agenda. It is a public meeting. I guess one thing that was nice to hear about was the city of Albert Lea came and talked about updating maps, in particular about the expansion of the city of Albert Lea just for the future. So that will be we'll continue to work on that,
meaning we'll be hearing from city staff and they'll be working with the planning commission. And then again, as you can see on the agenda, dealing with cannabis in the ag area, dealing with, well, energy storage. We continue to try to work on that ordinance and, and also dealing with setbacks and that that change came about, as well, because of neighbors disputes and people not quite sure where the property line is, not getting far enough setback. And so by working on this ordinance,
we're hoping that just a few changes in that ordinance will actually prevent, disputes in the future. And, under unlisted items, we just talked about, data centers just very, very briefly in what our next steps will be because Freeborn County was actually one of the first counties to put a moratorium in place so that we could watch and and see what was transpiring, across the nation and at the state level. And we have the option. Our moratorium will actually be expiring next month, and we have the option of extending that moratorium a year or actually putting an
ordinance in place. And so we will be discussing that. That will be on the agenda again, next month for the planning commission. So, yeah. So for the AMC district meeting, I'll just wait until county commissioner items. Okay. Thank you. And I had a rather light schedule, had the, regular meetings with administration and an elderly housing and redevelopment meeting, And I had spoke last time how they were going to put a modular home in Albert Lee to increase housing and, put that up for sale. And in addition to that, they discussed how they what type of basement to put under it.
And versus, rather than put a block or poured basement, to save about $10,000 on the cost, it was decided to put in a wood basement, which some were familiar with, and they, I guess that they've been very successful in our area. Alright. Moving on. Are there any persons wishing to address the board concerning matters pertaining to this agenda as well as other matters of county concern? Seeing none, we'll move on to Report of Various Departments, starting with Report of Probation. Good morning, commissioners. I have one item before you this morning. I'm requesting to fill the vacant part time pretrial assistant position.
Miranda Herfindahl resigned this position effective, May 15. And so I'm requesting that it be filled. Over the past few months, we've had the opportunity to kind of do a trial run to see if we could make do without this position. It became very clear that it that it's not. Very specialized skill set with data entry. Those two individuals up front really are the face of our department for people coming in. And so there's been numerous times that we've had to put a sign up this morning. If you go down there, there's a sign up. Somebody just has to ring a doorbell, and request a a probation agent to come out of their office and and interact
with the individual. Also working, over the last few months to really, clean up our databases, make sure that we're standardizing our data entry and doing a lot of those tasks. And it's it's a lot for one person to really try to to tackle that. And then also moving forward to make sure that, the data that we get out of our system is only good as the data going into the system. And so making sure that, everything is entered appropriately, really making sure that those those people have consistent processes that they're following. And so and not having that shared amongst the department, but really having that,
focalized upfront, with the the staff there. Would someone like to enter a resolution to fill the vacant part time position? I'll enter that. Entered by commissioner Casa. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Ekstrom. Any discussion? The only thing is I appreciate the explanation, and I appreciate you saying how you did try to go without that. And so it's just I think it's important for the board to hear what's just more of those details, and so that's nice. It helps us make a better decision. So thank you. Thank you. Any other comments or discussion? Will the clerk call the roll?
Mr. Stevenson? Yes. Commissioner Casa? Yes. Commissioner Exter? Yes. Commissioner Trotter? Yes. Commissioner Edlund? Yes. Commissioner Edlund? Yes. That is passed. Thank you. Moving on, report of auditor treasurer. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. I have a quick thing for you today. In 2023, this particular parcel went up for forfeiture. The DNR requested it. In 'twenty three, it was classified as conservation. And this is the final paperwork to give ownership to the DNR. That's it. Someone would like to enter that resolution? I'll enter that. Entered by commissioner Schauff.
Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Severson. Any discussion? I have a quick question. Yes. I don't know. I don't I mean, I I remember this, but I don't remember. Did the DNR pay the back taxes? Or how did did the DNR pay the county anything? Or does it go to the state? Well, when parcels forfeit, they go to the state. And the DNR sort of gets first dibs, does it work? Right. Okay. No, they didn't pay any of the back taxes. Okay. And it just got wiped and yeah. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll?
Commissioner Stevenson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Estlund? Yes. Commissioner Estlund? Yes. Commissioner Estlund? Yes. That is passed. Thank you. Report of County Attorney. Mr. Chair, good morning. Good morning. Commissioners, good morning. I appear before the board this morning to recommend approval of a resolution replacing Erin O'Brien after her retirement. She's going to retire on July 9. She has been an attorney in the in Freeborn County and with the Freeborn County Attorney's Office for well over thirty years now. She does juvenile delinquency, forfeitures. She is the data practices compliance official for the county as well.
The board put her in that position years ago, so she answers the questions regarding government data practices and the requests for data. She does the CHIPS petitions, the lion's share of the juvenile delinquency work as well. So she is a very busy attorney in the office, and her work is greatly appreciated and needed. So I do request that the board approve a resolution to replace her as soon as possible after July 9. And wish us luck being able to do that because it's difficult to replace attorneys now.
Well, I want to commend her for her years of great service. Thank her very much. Thank you, General. I'll share that with her. So So would someone like to enter that resolution for the replacement in the attorney's office? I'll enter the resolution. Entered by Commissioner Ekstrom. Is there a second? I'll second it. Second by Commissioner Shaw. Any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk call a roll? Commissioner Stevenson? Yes. Commissioner Casa? Yes. Commissioner Ashley? Yes. Commissioner Shaw? Yes. Commissioner Adams? Yes. That is passed. Thank you. Thank you. Other items as necessary at this time?
Hearing none, we'll move on to county commissioner items. Commissioner Severson. Nothing from me. Thank you. Commissioner Casa. Yes. Tomorrow is three and a half years since I was appointed to this position, and I just wanna say that I entered this knowing that I had a ton to learn. And I was excited about it and, want to thank past board commissioners who have helped me and advised me. And I want to thank all of the department heads for their patience with me
when I've come and asked them questions. They've always been very willing to answer them and everything. And, I, and our administrator has kept us on the straight and narrow, making sure we're following statutes like we are to do. And the two pieces of advice that I have had through the years that have helped me through this is my dad, when I was in high school, told me, Dawn, don't worry. When they're talking about you, they're leaving somebody else alone. So consider it community service. And who would have guessed that advice I got in high school would still be relevant in my sixties?
And then the other piece of advice that I cling to is a pastor that I well respected said never accept criticism from someone you would not ask for advice. So thank you to you all, and I hope my advice can help you guys. Thank you. Commissioner Schauff? None at this time. Alright. Commissioner Ekstrom? Okay. Alright. Here we go. I'm not exactly sure where to start. But, with AMC, I know some of you could not attend the district meeting. Those the AMC events are so valuable,
for many reasons. And so one of the things that they wanted to emphasize yesterday is, counties letting them know what our priorities are, especially as we gear up for the September AMC fall policy conference. And so, you know, workshop department heads, if we wanna just kinda be talking about those, some of the things might align with other counties and some things some of our priorities might be slightly unique so we just want to be thinking about that well before September. Another thing that they talked about with this being an election year,
election integrity, and, I thought maybe it would be a good idea with whoever, auditor, treasurer's office, before the elections, to maybe we could put an article or something on the web page just about changes that have come down from the state legislature that you know, so people understand what's going on. They they read stuff on social media. It's not always accurate. The cost of elections, and so but bottom line is voter integrity, and and especially as it becomes harder and harder to get people to volunteer or
to work at the elections. And so, I think that would be beneficial to help keep our community united. And let's see. Alright. I'm just gonna kinda buzz down this list. An AMC priority, of course, is, working on the property tax tax system. And, you know, I know that the state legislature this year tried to give some people a tax break, but that doesn't change the budget. And what that does is it shifts. It just still shifts, the burden onto other property taxpayers. And so they have, staff that is going to be specifically working on that in preparation of the next
legislative session. Board relationships, they talked about how important it is that county boards are supposed to be nonpartisan and that we are supposed to be dealing with county issues that are within our authority. Again, with it being an election year, different counties were reporting that they're getting people come up during their public comment session and they're wanting you know, they're they're in essence using it as for political statements, and and so there was a nice discussion about that and how to handle those things. And on that note, I will just also express my gratitude,
to the rest of the board. We don't always agree on things. I appreciate just all our discussion. I believe it's respectful discussion, And I know that people try to trump up drama by saying we don't get along with the city and things like that, which could be nothing further from the truth. If anybody listens to our meetings, even when we report on our committees and the things that we do, and so I just want you to know I I still after these years that I've been on the board, I still really enjoy working with all of you. I appreciate Melanie's work. That was and I'll tie that into,
AMC also talked about press releases. And they don't typically do press press releases. They have felt that they've needed to do a couple more recently, but they've targeted they've released them up in the metro area. So they talked about at least letting the rural counties know what it is that they're saying, what those press releases are. And, I thought it was just kind of interesting because Melanie then had submitted her article to the Albert Lee Tribune, and I thought that was a very good article to just shed light on what the county does, and I appreciate you taking the time to write that.
Let's see here. A workshop item for next, for our next workshop, if we could maybe have the assessor talk to us and prepare us for the, board of equalization meeting. And so kinda to know even though we have taken the training, maybe a refresher on what is actually within our authority to be doing as we hear from, people in the community. And, let me quickly look through here. Vet services, I will I'll talk to them about, the cybersecurity Fortinet.
They actually have a program where they will train vets on cybersecurity in the hopes that it could be a career path for them after the military. And so, like I said, Jeff is not here today, but I'll I'll communicate with him about that and he might already know about that. State legislature, in AMC, they talked about also how a lot of times they're focused on the state legislature, but, wanting to have more of a presence in communicating with federal, federal representatives. And so especially, we've seen how now changes in federal legislation is affecting us down at the county
level as well. And with that, I thought it was really valuable last January when we met with our representatives prior to their legislative session. And I think that would be a neat thing for us to continue because there will be changes. And, and if we can meet with them, you know, again before the legislative session begins with what Freeborn County's priorities are. I think that is beneficial, and, also, it just helps with that face to face communication. Quickly looking at my notes, that might be enough. I get asked frequently if there's been any movement on,
Ditch 68 and there is. So, hopefully in the near future it will be coming up for a public hearing so but but that ball is definitely rolling now. I don't know the details but I just simply know that work is being done and we're getting much closer to the public hearing. So, with that being said, that's plenty. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. All right. Just to wrap things up for today, you talked about the Auditor Treasurer maybe submitting something to our website just to share. I've administrator and myself have talked extensively about moving forward with something where the department
heads do share a little bit about their departments, what they do, why they do it, submit those not only to our website, but possibly even our local newspaper. So hopefully, we can continue with some of those articles such as our administrator wrote to share with people on what's going on in county government and why we do what we do. Workshop, next Tuesday, the ninth, at 08:30AM in the Freeborn Room, and our next board meeting will be right here in this room on the sixteenth, also at 08:30AM.
And then I had considered when you had talked about the advice your father had given you years ago, I thought about the advice that my father had given me, but I decided it might not be appropriate. So with that I think you've shared that before. With that, we will adjourn. Thank you.