We're ready at 10:30. We'll call the August 19 for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome, everyone. Looking for a motion to approve our meeting agenda with the following addition on the report of public works to consider a resolution to approve a culvert replacement project. Would somebody like to make that motion? And by commissioner Casa, is there a second? Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign.
Agenda has passed. Consider a resolution of food proving the consent agenda with the following, approval of minutes from the 08/05/2025 board meeting. Approval of regular full time status employees. Approval of drainage ditch repairs. And the informational August policy review meeting minutes. Would somebody like to enter that resolution? All in a motion. Moved by commissioner Severson. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Ekstrom. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll look for please call the roll. Mister Mister Stevenson?
Yes. Mister Casa? Yes. Mister Exer? Yes. Mister Troff? Yes. Mister Edmond? Yes. That has passed. Moving on, report of board committees. Mister Mitsubishi? Yes. I had one meeting since in that class, and that was our monthly SEMPACT meeting. The main focus of that meeting was our fiscal year. PAC meeting. The main focus to that meeting was our fiscal year twenty twenty four audit review. And then there was a Minnesota Department of Commerce fiscal year twenty twenty five program audit report, and it had Minnesota office of And, Thank you. Mister Shaw. I did miss the, developmental health, monthly meetings again because of their workout.
And then we had some Thank you. Commissioner Extra. Hey. I attended the virtual AMC effects of the federal reconciliation bill. Let's see. I did, volunteered a bit wind down Wednesday for public outreach. So that was nice to get enough of people through my shift, stopping and asking about not only Blazing Star Trail and, other, healthy events but also, of course, the Songbird Trail which was one of the purposes that I was up there. And at the same time, with that public outreach, we were able to give away, some bike helmets and promote safe riding.
I headed, the AMC solid waste working group. That will be interesting. More to come on that. An old state law from decades ago, permitting districting for solid waste management and, the law is outdated, never really been used. So, we're working on trying to redo that. Waste management, again, will be very costly and big topic. I mean, it is right now but it will be more so as the state changes their rules on landfilling and incineration. I was able to attend a few of my small city and township meetings this
past month. It's nice to pop in every now and then and give them an update when I can. I had a number of, conversations with residents again from between Lakes area going with their city council. And so in that situation, careful not to take any side but to try to talk to them about, different resources that they can use in hoping to come to, some satisfactory solutions in that situation. And I had emergency communication board as well. Thank you. I met with our policy committee at that. We are making some progress there,
Slow But Sure. Also attended the Alida Jobs meeting, and, their focus tends to be on housing in that area. As far as, seeing some new new businesses coming to Albert Lea. There are some things in the works. Looking forward to that and making start making public announcements. Of course, at the, weekly administration meetings, commissioner Eckstrom pushed into the lower the sure watershed. One watershed, one plan meeting up in Waseca. I enjoyed that. I hadn't seen some of them for quite some time. I had our personnel committee meeting and,
had a very good interview with, someone that we'll be moving forward with. Also attended the Shell Rock Watershed Policy Committee meeting. We had some policy changes there that had to do with cover crops and how we were gonna work through, land owners that had land in two different watersheds and that type of thing. And then, also was part of the mediation of curing on Friday. And, yes, it was very interesting. And that's what I've been doing for the last couple weeks since our last four years. So we'll move on from there to miscellaneous business and we'll start off with,
Doug Hoess from Clifton, Carson Allen to present our audit report. Alright. Me? How we doing today? Good. How are you? Living the dream? Good. Well, it's great to be here again. I am the host I'm the principal, at CLA, and I've been the principal on here on for about seven years now. So I I don't see anybody printing out the PowerPoint, but it's up there. So with that, let let you go. Right? Alright. Page two. Here's the thing we'll go over today. A little brief introduction. We're already done with one of the items.
So how about that? Required communications and internal control. The the audience standards boards requires us to do some certain communications with you. We'll go through that. The state of Hodges office requires us to test your compliance with various state statutes. The federal government requires us to do some testing over your federal grant expenditures, and then we'll take a high level look at your financial results and wrap it up. So page three, the required communications, the dog and standards board tells us what tests we need to perform, how many,
and all that, and also the communication. And there's one requirement that we, do via the four page letter. The boiler plate is basically the same as priority. So I'll just touch on some of that. We issue an opinion on your financial statements, and we issue a clean opinion. That's the best one we can give. We did have any difficulty performing the audit. We didn't have any disagreements with management or anything. Actually, as I know I said every year that I need it, is the staff wonderful to work with.
We ask a lot of questions. They spend tons and tons of time getting the stuff ready to be out of there, and, they still smile over here, so we appreciate that. So thank you very much to everyone that we've loved for about two weeks Page four, the audit standard requires to communicate material weaknesses to, happy to report there are none that weren't getting last year either, and I'll just make it up. That's pretty rare. I mean, normally, there's an audit adjustment that we've held across in where we got to get that
to them. To have none, couple years in a row, that's pretty good. Raw materials are business. There was an item that first came up in the '22 on it. This is on page five regarding the payroll. There was a little break in the policies and procedures that the county had in place. We hadn't reported '22. We came across it in '23. So halfway through the year, it was still kinda happening. So the last half of the year, the '20, the '80, maybe a year straight, we had '23. And then Page six,
part of that state auditor required testing. You know, I have some ditches. Some of them have deficit fund balances. We're just required to communicate that to you. I think, basically, every county that has more than one hitch. I have one, county I audit that has one yet. It's got positive pump health. With any other county that has multiple ones, there's some that are, having deficit pump health. So so we're just required to communicate that to you. Page seven. Each year, we audit different programs over the last few years. We audited, a lot of ARPA on there. You have SLF around us with COVID money and the CARES wasn't before that.
For '24, we audited medical assistance and child support. We had no findings to report. So that, to be honest, is also pretty rare. Especially with the medical assistance program, a lot of human services program because of COVID. DHS sort of put a waiver on having to do these redeterminations on eligibility in the majority of the counties that, I audit when that waiver got eliminated and they have to go back to the regular cycle normally. We're seeing a lot of counties aren't doing those redeterminations.
So here you work. So great job there. And child support, we test about every three years and there's no items to communicate weekly insurance control week. Any questions so far? Alright. Page nine. Financially, the county, we got a fund balance policy that's being implemented in 2019 to keep at least 50% of the not that. 50% unassigned and assigned fund balances. Good quality to have some reserves available, and you're compliant with that for 2024. Page 10, we look at all the different revenue types that the county gets.
And, at the beginning of Verona, we had a team planning meeting to guide what we expect to see. We've read them in as we've done some inquiries. And, for the most part on the revenue side, yeah, they were up about 1,400,000.0 for the year. One of the things we saw in the minutes was the levy was bumped up by two or three percent. Cash reckons came in basically 3% higher. So that that came in right as expected. Charges for services was, I believe that there's 1,100,000.0.
It's an increase due to an increase in the rate for detainee, I think. Is that alright? Yep. I got that that wasn't. It went up. You had a little bit in '23, but '24 was increasing above 200,000, which is what we've been seeing across all of our other county islands. Page 11, expenditures without down 8,900,000.0. There's three areas I'll highlight. The general government, roll nets, and all the auditor, treasurer, recorder, administration, county board, decreased quite a bit because in '23, there there
were a lot of expenditures for the government center update project, and they're going like 55,000 of those expenditures in '24. So we kinda knew that was gonna go down. Highways and streets, that's the road to bridge fund down about 3,600,000.0. A fewer projects going on in '24. That is a bit of a roller coaster based on the number of projects that have been approved in Capital Outlay. There's just less profit less projects in this area in general government type functions,
public safety, road bridge, just across the board. So funds. First of all, the general fund. And for the year, the revenues exceeded expenditures by about 1,500,000. That's do you have five years now where the revenues have exceeded expenditures, and you have sufficient fund balance in there. At the end of the year, the gentleman has about seven months of expenditures and fund balance. That's healthy. Thanks. The places that I audit that only have one or two months, we we have So understandable that that one might be a little bit less for the year.
The revenues did exceed expenditures in Rome created by about 3,800,000.0, and then there was about $550,000 transfer out, according That is very, very small. The total pump balance did increase, by 229,000 after there was a 389,000 transfer in. And this one has two point six months of expenditures available. Also, the grants, the social services fund, they a lot of them come in monthly or quarterly. So maybe that five, six month target,
then see doctor's office talks thousand. And as discussed earlier, there are some individual pitches that have debts. Well, balance, page sixteenth. Excuse me. As part of the auto, we verified that all the debt payments for me is going to, to be paying the schedule. There's no issues there. Comp absence is compensated assets. This is the unused vacation, comp time, sick leave. Government funds adds a total increase from now about 5,600,000, in twenty three's audit. The company received the certificate of excellence in financial reporting from the GFOA of the
finance officers association. This year was submitted as well. Probably find out in February or so. Maybe we'll see you again. Did request an extension this year to get the final keys crossed, and I got it. But, that's been submitted. I mentioned we wanted to NA and Johnson board. Staff were great to work with again, implemented the new standard, and I hate to say it, but I don't I don't know if you would as an auditor, we always like, obviously, our board.
I don't say there's this, excitement. Mine. I have all my highlights. Oh my god. So Good deal. So thank you. No problem. Yeah. We'll start next year's on probably in a Zoom. So Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks so much. Thank you. Any other miscellaneous business? Alright. Moving on. Are there any persons present wishing to address the board concerning matters pertaining to this agenda or any other matters? Seeing none, we'll move on to reports to various departments beginning with the report of public health. Commissioners, would you like me to move up with a punt or can I just stay
where I We can do it? Thank you. Appreciate it. Good morning. I have three items for your consideration this morning. The first is to consider a resolution to approve the Incredible Minds Behavioral Health three sixty maintenance agreement. In our community, we have done for the last, fourteen years that I've been the director, all of our community health assessments that we've done over those years. We do them every every five years. We do them every license as public health, and then the whole community is able to utilize it for free. There's, more than,
15,000 resources that are, in this program area. We're able 100 over a 140 different topics. It's also offered in Spanish, and so I would like to be able to offer it in Spanish to our community also so that we can, be able to that I was hoping to be able to have. So I asked for that, that resolution to be Would someone like to enter that resolution? Enter by commissioner Casa. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Severson. Any discussion? Mister chair? Yes. So I know I had a number of concerns about this during the workshop, and then and I I still have concerns. And then I think there's potential here and,
like, I'm not, like, a hard I mean, for today, I feel like I'm gonna be a no, and I'll tell you why. But it doesn't mean it's a no for forever. So I I just think maybe some time to get some questions answered depending on how, you know, the vote goes. Mhmm. So in reviewing the contract, or this license agreement, is so incredibly one-sided. Obviously, it's written by the company that's totally protecting the company. There's not a stitch of any wording in here that would protect the county,
for any type of liability. And as a matter of fact, I think there's a number of clauses in here that actually shifts any and all liability to the so that's concerning to me. I'll just rattle off a number of concerns. The renewal terms automatically renews 5% increase every year. I know within sixty days, I think it says that we have to let them know if they're gonna continue the contract. But, and and maybe this will be an answer that you something that you can answer easily. If we're using that opioid money, are we do we know we're gonna have that each year and at what point if that's the money that we're gonna be using to pay for this program? I'd be curious to know if David Walker had had a chance to review the
contract and his thoughts on it. So again, I'm just gonna keep rattling off some of this stuff. Also in reading the contract and I did get on, like, for example, I I did see the other counties, some of the other counties that are using it, and I hopped on, and in essence, just used it. And, so I'd be curious to know, like, so for example, Olmsted County, I was able to go on there. I don't have to pretend I'm the Olmsted County resident because I could just simply use it regardless of where I'm living. Correct. And,
one of the things in looking at their how they haven't integrated with their county website and then reading this contract information, has IT had a chance to work with you on this at all? And the reason is, like on the first page, it talks about that hosting, operating, maintaining. And I'm just kinda curious to know, like, the cyber security you know, we don't know what their cybersecurity is. How does that work if they're a I mean, are they accessing our website that they are doing these things, hosting, operating, maintaining,
and collecting data? I just I don't know enough about computers. But I I think that would be a really important topic to talk to IT. Are there firewalls? Are there things that separate them even though it's gonna show up on our county website? And then I just even if this website is beneficial, I really, really worry about data mining and how that information is collected and then sold. And I know, through the another county, I don't believe it was in Minnesota. It was a different state where they had already published their report.
So they must have clearly been using it for well over a year. They had already published their report and there were a number of users that clearly had created accounts with this company. And so I know there's that clog buyer beware and so forth. But again, if we're if we're encouraging people, ask the county for encouraging people to use this website. And I do think it could be a powerful tool. But I I'd like to know more about what our liability is. What happens if somebody's young? And I actually, out of state,
I noticed that there was a disclaimer on there that nobody under the age of 13 is supposed to be allowed to use the website. But again, how do they know who the user is? And so I would just hesitate if if somebody if the county promoted this website, somebody was on it, and then there was something tragic. And I know you can't prevent everything. And again, maybe those are things that you can talk to me about and alleviate all my concerns. But, I I I would just wonder them what is our liability there as well. And are these opioid funds is it something that we can instead of another assessment
tool, because maybe there are ways that we can still want on our website. Encourage people to again, this company and it pulls resources. Right? They pull podcasts and articles, and but is there a way of doing that without necessarily entering into this type of a contract that keeps the county not liable. Also, is there another way of using those funds for actually access to care? And and as a side note, one of the things I do like though is and this also was part of, I think, as the that final assessment that I that I looked up on another stage was
people that would not normally go into deep care and but yet they were able to get on that website and use it. So I do understand the value in that. So I guess that's a lot of things to rattle off. But, I mean, over today, I hesitate, to vote yes. I but again, I think there's potential. So for me, it's not like a hard no forever. I I guess, you know, even though there's a workshop, sometimes these things take me a little bit. And it might be you might have a lot of that knowledge, and I just don't. So sometimes it just maybe takes me a little while to to get my questions
answered, feel a little bit more comfortable with with these types of things, for these types of programs. Well, let me try to answer some of your questions. Sure. Thank you. Yes. It was reviewed by David Walker, the comment. Sure. David, do you have any comments about it? I made the same comment about that renewal, about the 5% increase. There's nothing legally objectionable about that, of course. But it it's a point to evaluate whether or not it's, advantageous to the county. Whenever I review contracts, I don't attempt to determine for a department head whether or not the contract will
be advantageous to the county. What I'm looking for is legally objectionable provisions in the contract. I rely on the expertise of the department head to know what's best for their department and what this contract does. I do attempt to assist with any kind of legal language so that, a person entering into a contract understands what they're getting into. This also Public Health has the advantage of having had this one evaluated by their public health planner, Avi Supol. Yes, sir. And he made some comments here. I guess he he is here to address those, but I'm looking at them now.
He highlighted the termination terms. He indicates if you if you decide to exit the agreement early without cause, Fairborn County would still be financially responsible for six months. And then if they're if they purchase, we're stuck for one year basically. Service reliability, the contract doesn't include strong performance guarantees. They're liable for downtime unless it exceeds they aren't liable for downtime unless it exceeds forty days. So there would be limited recourse if the platform is occasionally unreliable. User terms, the residents would need to agree to Credible Minds' own,
terms of use since it's a third party platform. And dispute resolution would be, arbitration in California. And he notes correctly, I think that's low risk. It's unlikely that you're gonna need to go into arbitration, but it is a factor in the contract. It's it's that's fairly typical from my experience. A company will try to require you to have arbitration or mediation in yeah. In their own hometown. So, so that's pretty typical. But depending upon the amount of leverage the county has, you can always say, nah. We're not gonna do it unless you agree to arbitration here in Minnesota.
Possible, but I don't know how realistic it is to try to negotiate with a third party platform like this. Anything else? Any other discussion? Did you have more than that? So the opioid funds, we have, plenty of funds to be able to fund, more events or more projects in the future. So if if we have that available next year, I guess that's that I would like to be able to utilize that again for this. The if otherwise, I'm also planning on partnering, working with other agencies and organizations to be able to look further from both of
you to help support this program so that we can continue in the future. And and, no, I did not have IT. I did not speak with IT about this. To my knowledge and my understanding is it's just a link that goes into that into that website and the website is just completely so totally separate from our from our information. We maintain anything within the website. Not within not nothing is put into our into our They don't have access to our servers or to any of our data.
It's only data that is only given by participants when they sign up. And it's proven based and everything Yes. Also in my research from them being in California, through general data protection regulation with the European, law that they service over there, so they have to comply with that as well as the CCPA Any other discussion? No. I appreciate you answering those questions. So thank you. Is there anything else that I didn't answer for you? I'm sorry, honey. I'm not sure. No. I again, I guess, believe in the last the last concern I would have is just simply
does would the county have any liability at all, like, if there was some type of tragic results after always difficult to predict liability, of course. And I'm I'm not familiar enough with this area to even venture and pain in that. Thank you. Well, we did have a very robust conversation about this. Utilizing this platform during our workshop and after the workshop, I too spent some time kind of bouncing back and forth with, how we should move forward with this. I did come up with some concerns, many of them similar commissioner actions of not as extensive as was what she had,
but, there there's no other discussion. Yes? Share that. So I watched the 2023 presentation in Denver when they first rolled this out. Olmsted County got on board December 2023. What's their experience? What's the rate of people signing up? What's the rate? So the problem I have one of the problems I have with this is it offers self help. And so whose liability is that? We had the computer program in Sausalito, California or in the county that signed up with Sausalito,
California provides self help. As a primary care provider, I can treat back pain, but I can't tell you even to the effect of take Advil over the counter, let alone prescribe something. So I could tell you, you might feel happier playing guitar for half an hour because that's what the guy said that his son did. And he was quoted at that time that it was, at that time, better than medication. Two years later, does that still hold true? And who's liable if it doesn't?
So what's the experience? The other thing I'm concerned of is county government's role in Minnesota is best described by a Hubert company quote that moral test of government is how that government treats those in the sunrise of life, the sunset of life, and the shadows of life. We're talking about the shadows of life. And how many of those people that may or may not need help are gonna go on this computer website and sign up and then get self help
of, I think, seven at that time in 2023, it was 17 different things. Is it still 17? Have they added more? 17. There are 17 different things. There was Has there been any report from some of these other counties that have been using it for a year and a half? No. I know that Halsted County, that they're they're continuing to increase their their their participantship, I think, in in And I'm just trying to help the community to have another option to be able to have some resources, available. Mister Shea? Yes. Do you know when you would get some of the data usage?
Like, would it be prior to the renewal of the contract? Or like, if you were to try it for a year, do you know when you'll do they give you, like, a six month report? Or, like, is this the number of users? Or So if within the system, we can see the number of users. Okay. And we can see what they've accessed. We can see how long that they were in So you won't have direct contact with those who go on and use it, but you will be getting the data back. How would public our public health be utilizing that data,
and what kind of data do you expect? It's basically user count data. How many people have logged on or use certain resources? That's completely anonymous, so we would most likely just use it to say, hey. Look. Credible So we talked of it being for the first year pretty much a trial basis. Yeah. And it would be nice then throughout the year not waiting till the end of the year. If this does move forward, you get some sort of updates as we progress through this. The use of it. Yeah. And the community using it. And then also, as was said, the concern is the automatic increase.
And the 5% increases, that five percentage here starts to catch up with a person after a while. And, you know, opioid money we had stated we would use that this first year. It'll probably be available if it's decided to continue second year. But some at some point in time, that money won't be there anymore. And at that point in time, with those 5% yearly increases we're looking at, it's substantial along the line. So just wanted those to be said. And with that, it was decided we would be So any other discussion?
I will ask maybe, in regards to liability and, I guess, comfortability for us, if when it is on our website, if this does go forward, we could put a disclaimer. You know, that, hey, this is not a replacement Any other discussion? So I think it sounds like a wonderful program. I do understand you guys' concerns. But, just from all of the information and outreach that I've had with people and their access Yes. Point of clarification first. The OBO money is the OBO settlement money.
Correct? Correct. So that's not a yearly funded thing that would be going away and then taken away. Is the settlement in the court case? Correct. That's correct. But eventually that So it's not settlement money will be utilized or gone. It'll do anything? Yes. Yes. Elected. Three. More than likely. And then, you know, this is August 19. Is there any way to have some of these counties? Olmsted County seems to be the longest. Dakota County is listed. I didn't really delve into that one so much, but I really assume that they probably were around the same time.
Could we see what they've done with it and what their metrics are? I mean, is there a reason that we need to do this today and we do it next month or October? October. Anything. Okay. Sure. So two things. With, our attorney bringing up running through MCIT, and I do believe that we have a sixty day window. So if approved, my recommendation would be No. I just I I cringe a little bit at that thought that it's gonna be different. It's a federal settlement. There is a specific amount in the settlement. There's a specific legal formula for the division of the settlement money.
But I mean, as far as clawing back, I don't know that there's any guarantee there. But there is there is a guarantee that it's not permanent. It's not gonna go on forever. That that we guarantee. And we've also already been told that the amount we were told we were gonna get is not gonna be the actual amount because some pharmaceuticals are by the bankruptcy, some are appealing, More discussion? Alright. Hearing none, we will put please call the roll. Commissioner Stevenson? Yes. Commissioner Krasa? Yes. Commissioner Ekstrom? Yes. Commissioner Schott? Yes. Mister Edmund? Yes. The
resolution has passed. Second resolution I have today is to consider to accept a grant agreement with the Montgomery Family Services Employment Health Cladderton, for our community health So I'm gonna like to enter that resolution. Enter by commissioner Severson. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Shaw. Any discussion? Hearing none, we look forward to call the roll. Mister Stevenson? Yes. Mister Kaza? Yes. Mister Ekster? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Esherff? Yes. Mister Edwin? Someone wish to enter that resolution? Yes. Commissioner Yes. Commissioner Yes. Commissioner Yes. Commissioner Yes. That is that. You've heard about treasure today. Thank you. The last one's very easy. Thank you.
Report about your treasure. For a chair, can whether your treasurer is not available. The taxi cab user groups met with the m n triple t looking at, ratifying our coverage. As we move from the a s 400 to avenue, which would be updating our m and triple p agreement. So when we stand to that resolution? I'll let you resolution. Enter by commissioner Ekstrom. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Shaw. Any discussion? Yep. Mister chair, I mean, one of the things the contract was in the past in the packet.
So there's that and there's no call that's on there. So if you want to table this, Any other discussion? Make a resolution on the floor. First three seconds. Remove the table. Alright. Commissioner Eckstrom has moved to table. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Severson. That would be a motion. So any discussion on the tabling of? Hearing none, all those in favor of tabling the, ratification of the tax software, Evan, signified by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. That has been taken until our next board meeting in September,
which is 09/02/2025. Moving on. Report of environmental services. Good morning, mister chair. Good morning, commissioners. I have for your consideration a resolution adopting a moratorium on both data centers and energy storage systems under 10 megawatts. The planning commission held a public hearing on July 7 and voted unanimously for a recommendation of approval of the moratorium in accordance with Minnesota statute chapter three ninety four dot three four. And again, this moratorium affords the county a period of up to one year to research and
adopt official controls relating to these claims. Someone wished to enter I'll second. Second by commissioner Eckstrom. Any discussion? Mister chair, just I assume this is a public meeting. I just wanna reiterate that this is not to prevent development. It is simply so we can have responsible development, especially, the data centers and, the strain the potential strain on the environment and and so forth. So we just wanna have time to reach you. And if you would like mister Cherry, like to make the money. I mean, and then it's just proactive and so unreacted.
Thank you. Did you all have that, miss? Any other discussion? Mister chair. Yes. Couple questions to is there anybody interested in the data center, and is there anybody interested in 10 or less? In the last five years, I haven't had any requests or information pulling from our office as far as data centers go. Excuse me. I've talked with quite a few contractors that were searching for land in the Central To Southeast area for energy storage systems. And I think in the last year,
they've jumped significantly in size. Previously, there was four or five throughout the county that ranged from three to nine megawatts, and now most of the projects are upwards of a 100 to 200 megawatts. Yep. But with that threshold, I have not had any Yeah. They'll try to at least align progress with what we have intended existing drive. Any other discussion? We'll look forward to call it off. Mister Stevenson? Yes. Mister Castro? Yes. Mister Johnson? Yes. That is passed. K. Report of county attorney. Good morning,
mister chair, members of the board. I'm David Walker, county attorney. I am here to ask that the board approve a resolution that extends the software maintenance contract for MCAPS. That is the software that we rely upon in the county attorney's office for document assembly, for filing our, legal motions, and for case management. We first acquired that software in 1997. We've been using it continuously since 1997. It's changed massively since then. It used to be a DOS based program.
It's now a cloud based program and it's hosted online. It was owned by a by an individual originally, Mark Theobald. Now it's owned by STI and well, it's actually owned by the cooperative and it is maintained by STI as a separate company that, takes care of the upgrades and the maintenance and takes care of any problems that we have with the program when it when it comes up. The amount that I Our request in here is a budgeted amount of $18,000, $18,250
specifically. It is an annual amount that we pay for software maintenance. If the board were to decide not to approve this, we would continue to use the software that we currently have, but it would not be maintained. So if we had problems with it, we need upgrades, if we had to call STI to get some kind of maintenance, we have to contract with them separately and pay a different price for it or we have to get someone from IT. And then eventually we have to replace the program with some other alternative. I have looked at other alternatives. I spent quite a bit of time recently looking at this PBK, which is used by a number of other counties.
I think that this one is a better alternative for us. I like the fact that it is it is managed by the the Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative. Freeborn County has been very active in that organization. I was a member of their, enhancements committee to take care of this software. I've been involved in the development of development of this software now for for twenty five years. So I have confidence in the program and I and I would recommend that we keep this program. I intend to keep the program for as long as we can afford it. And it is a reasonably priced program. So I do ask for a resolution to approve the budget amount of $18,250
to extend the maintenance, contract for the software. Would someone like to enter that resolution? I'll answer that resolution. Enter by commissioner Eckstrom. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Shaw. Any further the Good morning, mister chair. Good morning, commissioners. I have three items for your consideration this morning. The first item is a resolution awarding a construction contract on County Project 025 Line 998. This project involves the cast in place lining of various culverts on roads that will be paved next year. There was one bid received for this work, and it was submitted by Subsurface Incorporated in the amount of a $176,670.
I request your approval. Would you like to enter that resolution? I'll be happy. Enter by commissioner Severson. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Eckstrom. Any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk's call to roll? Commissioner Sigerson? Yes. Commissioner Kassel? Yes. Commissioner Ekstrom? Yes. Commissioner Strauss? Yes. Commissioner Ekstrom? Yes. Mister Ekstrom? Yes. That is passed. The second item is a resolution supporting a grant application by the city of Albert Lea to the Minnesota Department of Transportation Highway Freight Program. If successful, this grant will help fund needed improvements at the interchanges of I 90 and East
Main Street on Interstate 35. This item has been discussed at several workshops, and this item does not include a commitment of any county funds towards the project. I'm embarrassed to admit there was a typo in the second whereas statement that I caught. I see Nikki smiling. She must have seen that one for me. And, that that that is directed in the and, a copy that will be signed. I'm like the end of that resolution. I like that. Enter by commissioner Schott. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Severson. Any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll. Mister Severson? Yes.
Mister Casa? Yes. Mister Exeter? Yes. Mister Yes. Mister Yes. That is passed. And the final item for your consideration, which is the added item to the agenda today, is approval of the service agreement for county project 025 C U L D 001. This project involves the replacement of the culvert that was unsuitable for lining, under the previous item that we just approved. The culvert integrated too far and needs to be replaced instead of lined. The there was two quotations received on this project.
Icon LLC submitted the low quotation in the amount of a $109,586.10. This would be completed using, budgeted maintenance money. However, with the amount being over 100,000, it requires your approval. I'm, again, embarrassed to say there was a small typo in the second resolved statement on the items that I sent out on Friday. That again will be corrected on the final. Enter that resolution. I'll have that. You're invited by commissioner Stevenson. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Neskrum. Any discussion? Yeah. So I mean,
I see it's $2,000 difference, but we sell a little over. Yeah. Mister chairman, would you like to ask that? So this was a quoted project, not a publicly bid project. So, our standard practice is we have a spot on our website where we advertise work that we are, either requesting bids or quotations for. I take liberty in in addition to posting that for the public, for any contractor to find. I also send it directly to local contacts that I know would be well suited to perform the work.
Anybody is willing is able to quote on it, but I make sure that our local you know, that it doesn't get missed. Okay? ICON is uniquely situated that they are placing a pipe right up the road. It'll use the same detour plan, and they've, completed a separate project for us in twenty ninety five five this summer. So they've they've been working in 3 Room County, and they've been doing great, and, we we are experiencing savings for that. So when I, get multiple quotations from two or three contractors that I know all can do the work and then I'll get a good project from,
I typically go with the low. If I if I'm not fair in that regard, then we'll get less quotations because they know that they won't be evaluated fairly. In the event that there was a strategic benefit or some other reason that I preferred one over the other, we would discuss that and and potentially award differently. My quotes are all all worded as such that, the county has the right to waive irregularities and informalities and to award the quote to the best interest of the county. I don't know if that would hold up or not. But in essence, because we are under,
the $175,000 threshold, which if you're above that, it's publicly bid. You gotta take the little bid. Under that, we do have some discretion. In this case, I will I will say, I think that our second, quotation that was received, I don't I think they were submitting the quotation. I don't think they were disappointed they didn't get the work. It all it's done is rain this year. Yeah. You know? Obviously, they're willing. Obviously, they they wanted to work and they wanna be a resource for our department, for the county, but there's no hard feelings here. Yeah. And and Freeborn Construction also was contacted
and, let me know that they were deciding not to supposed to work work because of their their workload. So Understood. Is that the address here? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. But to talk a little bit more on that, yes, we it is nice when we're able to keep, what we need to happen within tax dollars are coming from and not spend Yeah. In a way that, causes Mister Yes. Mister Yes. That is thank you. Report to the sheriff's office. Good morning, commissioners and administrator. Come to you again today with another request for declaration of local state of emergency
from a storm on August 9, Saturday, about 07:30AM. Western Freeborn County has said by the storm, which contains high winds, based off of my, damage assessments and working with the National Weather Service, they estimated between sixty and seventy mile per hour winds. That did cause significant damage, mainly to our electrical system, in the county. Some of that damage would be, with Dairyland, Electrical Cooperative. Right now, they're estimating right around $100,000 in damage to the main line. That main line extends from Twin Lakes to the three warning area.
That damage assessment is expected to actually double, if not more than double. City Of Conyers sustained damage, in the storm as well to their public infrastructure. The loss of around $6,000 gaining tree damage and debris removal. City Of Old Bend, very similar, but a much higher dollar amount of $40,000 for debris removal, tree damage, to city parks and roadways. Frieball County Highway, estimated right now, we're at around $7,500 for grid removal over time and equipment cost. And then, Freeborn powered electric. They're sitting right now right around $35,000
That number is expected to grow potentially up to $50,000 so these amounts are expected to go up as of right now. My initial damage assessments are sitting at $188,500 and they do expect that to reach greater up to 300,000 for this, last storm. Storm. So, this would make us eligible to request a property damage assessment in the state of Minnesota, and I would expect to facilitate that in the next two weeks. Before I can request that, though, I had requested a declaration of the state of emergency for our company. Someone wish to enter that resolution?
I understand. Under by commissioner Casa. Is there a second? Okay. Second by commissioner Ekstrom. Any further discussion? Yeah, mister chair. So, Adam, so if this resolution passes, then the state does the assessment in that one. So after the assessments, they'll give me the the official damage totals. And and normally at the they call it PDA, preliminary damage assessment. Normally, all these numbers grow, by the time they reach that meeting. After that meeting, I will be sending a letter. I'll probably be visiting you again in the next two weeks,
to the governor requesting that we participate in a 75%, recovery for these damages. You know, we we did cross over a FEMA threshold for our county. However, we are not eligible because because as a state, the state would need to have $10,750,000 for us to be eligible for that. We are the only, entity requesting, damage assessments for that particular event. So Variable County didn't have damage that was sustained enough to participate either than steel
or a lessee gun. So we're the only entity involved in that. So we would, hopefully after this preliminary damage assessment, be eligible for 75% reimbursement. Thank you. Any other discussion? We look forward to call the roll call. Mister Stevenson? Yes. Mister Castro? Yes. Mister Yes. That is passed. Moving on, report of human services. The same amount as we had in the past. $244,528. We're still waiting on some clarification to let us know the delineation between federal and state funds. There was a difference in the narrative of our of our grant of contract and then what was listed as the budget on that side.
But regardless, the total of the things just which is coming from which pot net. The the area in which the CDDP provides services So who wish to end that resolution? No. I did. Enter by commissioner Schrock. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Casa. Any discussion? Will it click? Please call the roll. Commissioner Seachem? Yes. Commissioner Krasoff? Yes. Mister Edstrom? Yes. Mister Trapp? Yes. Mister Edmond? Yes. That is passed. Thank you. Report of county administrator. This is a resolution to amend 25 dash two two one with the appointment of
Rich Heffner. The office of the state's auditor has asked that we change the date to July 2. We did have an interim in place at that time, but his or our our window when the state was July 4, I believe. And so they just felt moving as they Mister Yes. That is facts. Other other items as necessary but unknown at this time. And move on to county commissioner's items. I do not have the bill. Commissioner Bassett. Commissioner Eckstrom. I wanna thank Phil for,
he created a link that's under public works promoting the Songbird Trail. It just gives information on here so the public can find that in it with, the same information that we have lined down the whole looking towards regional status and applying for grants and so forth. So, increase in public outreach. And then, just, an item that I appreciate how much, our county administrator and our attorney have spent on multiple requests, whether it be from individual groups,
individuals, entities, when they are asking the county for our money. And, so I appreciate how much time that they have spent in articulating how, what our statutory authority is. And I did end up up responding, and I had a conversation with Melanie. At some point, enough is enough. I mean, our county attorney and our administrator have done their due diligence. They've advised the board on what we can what we are entitled or what we're able legally to send county taxpayer money on.
And for these groups, and again, whether it be the city of Albert Lea, whether it be individual groups, nonprofits, or even certain individuals, for them to continuously to ask our county staff because they don't agree with what our conclusions are. Simply what I said, enough is enough. And so we have a lot of pressing issues. We're in budget time. And just when you look at our agendas, we have a lot of other issues that they can be spending their time on. And that is also taxpayer money that they are,
you know, in good services of the county attorney and and Melanie. And they need to be able to get on and be doing other other work. And so, I just wanted you to know where I stood at this, you know, we don't have these conversations outside of public meetings. I wanted you to know that, I expressed that opinion to to Melanie and our county attorney. So Thank you. And I have nothing at this time. And we'll move on to commissioner Shaw. Do a few highlights here. Just to piggyback on that. Part of the problem is that you have these certain groups that do not engage
with the elected very end when they want something. And you don't like our program, you don't like us, whatever they come up with, they don't engage us at all during the process. They could have known this a long time ago. In fact, that book that I referenced about a month and a half ago talked about one of those very entities in this town that a bunch of people got together, not including elected officials, in their meetings. Oh, we're all gonna get together at this place, and Mike Lee's sitting in the back.
We finally got him to be able to be invited to the meeting, and they keep coming back to us over and over again. You should do this. You should do this. Oh, I read the state law, and I see it as this. And engage us before. If you're gonna spend a year talking about it, engage us a year ago rather than come up now, and we need it on the next agenda. While we're talking about it, when was the last time the shared resources community meeting met with the city of Albert Lea?
Now with that being said, we used to all meet together, and it was a scheduling nightmare to have seven people from the city, five people from the county as elected officials, let alone pertinent staff, all try to get together on a time. So they came up with two elected county, two elected city, and pertinent staff to solve problems. I was on it, and we solved such things as Bridge Avenue and Stables annexation that this community talked
about for sixty years. But that that committee should be meeting four times a year. And if it doesn't meet for years and years and years on end, while it sounds good when the cameras are rolling and the mics are on, to say, well, they don't participate in our ranger games, or they don't wanna go sledding with us in the winter. Sounds good. But in all reality, if that isn't taking place, then what? So the answer of the question is when was the last time the shared resources
committee met? Anybody? Mister Edstrom and I are on it. When Ryan Rafelson was our administrator. When we got there, it was their finance. Keypad was there for us. Tim Fulton was there for us because it was a discussion on IT services. Commissioner Edwin and where their board members were and they were excited and meeting. I just to kinda expand on that a little bit. Right? I think city of Elginville in the county of Fremont could become better at taking care of our community, which is countywide,
if we did meet on a at a minimum quarterly basis. And I have personally spoke to one of the council members who is also on the sheriff's research committee, and he feels the same way. And he doesn't know why at this point in time that it's not been happening. We have requested it, and we'll see how it moves forward. Hopefully, it does because I think a lot of the things that need to happen within our county, within our communities, could move forward in a more positive way if we did get together in some
way, shape, or form. So I'm looking forward to, that happening. I hope it happens, I guess, at this point in time. And, as far as what commissioner Eric Sherman said about, groups coming forward with with taxpayer's, money. We look at that spend a lot of time with that. We look at it very diligently. We we reach out to our county attorney to see if it's legally possible, and we move forward in that way because we, first and foremost, have to be very responsible with the money that we take from our local taxpayers.
So I'll move back to commissioner Schock. He was, in the I don't know if he was finished with his, commissioner items at this point in time. Yeah. I tried to do it. So I'll quote, Dean Johnson. He used to be a state senator for Minnesota, and then it was on with the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. But his daytime job is as an ELCA minister in Wilmer, Minnesota. I saw Trevor packing up his bag or whatever, and I've told Dean Johnson this himself that I once saw him speaking at a group in Saint Paul and people were leaving the room because they had to meet
with their escape rep or whatever. And the pastor came out with them and he said, when people are leaving the church, the sermon's over. But so my sermon isn't over. You know what I'm saying? Don't be left. I think part of it is the city council is getting beat up so much on the cannabis thing that, oh, yeah. Look at this. You know? And I think, commissioner Stevenson, you you sent a letter. Correct? Now what I would say is I would enter the resolution that the county board send a letter to city staff,
k, and to every sale city councilor and the mayor, the Tribune publishes their address. The system to dull send it to the city and dole it out so that they're aware of it, requesting quarterly meetings of the shared resources committee. So I'll enter that as a resolution. We have a commissioner Shaw has entered a resolution. We have a second. And commissioner Severson. Any further discussion? I have a quick question. So if we can invite her, I guess, what's what's Asking that this committee had already exist actually meet.
Doesn't matter Doesn't matter what is happening. We're able to come up with something, but have a meeting. I think a lot of these things could be worked through if we did meet on a regular business instead of trying to sidestep that as shared resources committee. Since June or July, there's a laundry list. Yes. And I think think if that committee has been meeting, there'd be less animosity back and forth, and some of that laundry list would be by the wayside.
Mister chair, may I make a comment? May I suggest that a standing time be offered so that it's not a scheduling nightmare for the staff that have to coordinate it? It may not be one of them. But just that it'd be a standing first Tuesday at 03:00 or, you know, some time so that it's on calendars. The community members can see if their calendars are typically open at that time and maybe streamline the process for signing the meeting. Do you have a suggestion? I know in the past it has been said because we're we would utilize both county staff and city staff that it would be some at some time during the
working day instead of outside Yes. Yes. Evening or something. Yeah. Any suggestions? I mean, I need to try to get to whatever. The the meeting that we had pertained to, how are we gonna move forward with IT and also, the sharing of law enforcement center. So So it was a specific topic that's why we're having. Yep. I I think I t possibly initiated it to begin with, but then it expanded both those items. And so it was probably it probably was initiated by the county
side. I I I don't know if the trail is kind of a sub Oh. So, item, and then we agreed that we were gonna meet with a separate committee for the trail guide. I think I was at that meeting. Yeah. So we could be more specific with the, like, a Thursday at 3PM or something. I was just gonna say Wednesday '9. I don't think economic development may be a different day. I think. Alita meets the first Wednesday of the month at 07:30, and those usually go until about nine,
09:30. So So, David, kind of, last part the second Wednesday. But I think Phil is on to something that take a time and It can be worked through once. We Yeah. Put it day and time off there and then Yeah. We're And then negotiate from there. But Yes. If I may, I did, have a request for me to meet one on one, and I did bring it back to our form of government. We should be meeting with the shared resources committee. And and his response was that that is problematic for them trying to get them
all to the table. That then he would be asking for us to meet at, like, seven or 08:00 at night. But then that puts more burden on the staff because I'm just gonna be asking them to take leave. So just as you're So with that, again, coordinate for semester to month, if that's the time, Pennyanna, I'm gonna have to get back in. Yeah. Let's start there. Yeah. And see what's gonna happen. Mhmm. Okay. So we have a resolution. We have a potential day and time. Any other discussion? Matt, do we have a second? Yep. Hearing no further discussion,
will the clerk please call the roll? Commissioner Stevenson? Yes. Mister Costa? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. Mister Ester? Yes. That is passed. We were on county commissioner items. Did you have anything else to add, commissioner Shaw? Just a little. Trevor packed up his briefcase like half an hour ago. So I have just a little time, and I said I have to go through the list and see what happens. So, jalapeno peppers, a lot of oh, wrong. I got it today. $19.80, this is what I did not know. Otto Frank died,
and that was the father of Anne Frank. I didn't realize that he had survived the war. Talking about flooding this day in history, 02/2007, over 15 inches of rain in Hoka, Minnesota. I had to look that up. It's over by the present. But that was, as I sit next to someone that's originally from Russia, that this Russia got all of this. They had a lot of damage, and I watched it from Lake Louise State Park, actually, in Buckley. Didn't have 15 inches of rain while living in the tent.
So just a couple things. 1955, The US raised import duty on bicycles by 50%. As things change, things remain the same, I guess. In 1966, the Beatles were pelted by rotten fruit, and firecrackers at Mid South Coliseum in Memphis, aka Cave, was outside demonstrating and burning the Beatles' records. And in the Careful What They Wish For, in 1967, the Beatles had the number one song called All You Need is Love.
In 1993, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 36, twelve, thirteen. And then we'll we have to do some of the Minnesota history. Gary Gaietti was born today. Dave Durenberger was born today. And then Kirk Cousins was born today. And then lastly, Bill Clinton was born today. My wife fired me from doing Bill Clinton impression last July, so I will just end it there. Alright. Thank you. Moving on to claims.
Is there anything to note? There there is a few. We did have a general revenue fund, Dodge County final payments for Matt and Matt. Those were the direct payments to Dodge County, so that'll be closed out. There was a purchase for a refrigerator, and that was over public health. That was a shipped mini grant directly for the elderly family line. And then credit card purchases, I did wanna point out that we, our probation, there's a purchase, for Raleigh's ACE hardware, and that was for a lawnmower. I wanted to follow-up on that because we do have lawnmower.
But, Lyndon pointed out that they're taking on tax for their properties. And so, they're running into conflict when they will and try to take care of those properties that our staff are already using our equipment. So they can buy one lawnmower so they can keep them busy and moving forward with that. Okay. Someone wish to enter a resolution for approval of claims? Enter vice commissioner Acosta. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by commissioner Shaw. Any further discussion on claims? Discussion on claims? Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll passed. We now move to the end.
And normally, boards do this with a motion in a second, but I'm gonna continue with what has always been done. We are adjourned.