I'll call the meeting to order and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. 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
andice. >> Our next next on the agenda is disclosures of interest. Are there any uh disclosures of interest? Hearing none, we'll move on to reviewing the previous board minutes from
>> approval. I won't vote because I was not >> all right. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next is reviewing the agenda. And I
think there's a couple of additions. >> There are two additions. The first one is the Ask Me Union contract for 2026 through 28 and the second one is the cannabis retail registration for Nilson's Foods. >> And I believe those are both on the consent agenda.
>> That's correct. >> Okay. With those additions, is there a motion to uh uh approve the agenda? >> So move. >> Sorry. >> Second with note that we amended the agenda. >> Any further discussion?
Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I oppose. >> Nay. Or excuse me, none. Next is the uh consent items. There's five uh uh items. >> Approval as presented. Anderson.
>> Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Uh next uh uh reports from departments and officials. First is finance and taxpayer services.
Good morning, commissioners. Um before you this morning I have the 2026 Goodyu County financial policies. Um the finance department reviews these policies and submits them to the board for review and approval on an annual
basis. There are currently nine policies included in the attached financial policy manual. Um changes that you will note for 2026. The capitalization amount was updated to
$10,000 in the scope section of the fixed asset policy. The capitalization amount was increased from 5,000 to align the policy with changing costs. There was also a change to the improvement expenditure amount that was
updated to 5,000 in the capital budget section of the capital planning policy. The amount was increased from $2,500 to align with changing costs. Periodically having the board review and approve the financial policies. It
serves three purposes. To allow new commissioners the opportunity to review and understand the policies. It serves as a refresher to longstanding commissioners and shows the county's independent auditor and other financial consultants and rating agencies that the
county board reviews its financial policies on a regular basis and takes financial stewardship very seriously. At this point, um, the finance department recommends the Goodyu County
Board approve the 2026 financial policies. Were there any questions? >> Anybody have any questions? >> Second. Any further discussion? the next.
>> Okay. Do you want to do that under new and old business? >> I can do it there. >> All right. Any other discussion? All those in favor of approving the uh draft financial policy say I. I.
Opposed. Motion carries. And next we get the sheriff. Okay. Good morning, Madam Chair, county board. Um, this is a this is a fun one for me. Um, I want to introduce you if you don't know him already. This is Matt
uh Sergeant Matt Hayne. He is our administrative sergeant and training coordinator. I'm going to go a little reverse. I want I want to read an email that I received uh last week and you have it in your packets, but I'm going to read it out loud. Uh it's dated 114
of 2026. Sheriff Kelly, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank you and your training sergeant. If POST, which is the peace officer standard of training board, they they um license all of the police officers. If Post gave a gold medal star stars to hand out, you guys
would receive one. I am currently sending a standardized renewal outreach email to all departments. And at this time, yours is the only department I have identified where all officers eligible to renew have completed every required course. The attention to compliance and training
requirements is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your diligence and cooperation. Jesse Nolles, continuing education coordinator. Now, I I I have a letter, but I I also want to preface it with
this is the second time in just as many years that we've been recognized by postboard. And when I say we, I mean Sergeant Han. Last year, we were recognized for um the most uh organized audit that he's ever seen. Um, I should
have brought that to you then, but um, I think I see a trend here with Sergeant Han and it's exceptional. So, we are grateful for him and I'm just going to read the letter as well. Sergeant Han, I want to personally thank you and recognize the outstanding work
you continue to do as our training sergeant. I recent release I re recently received the below message from the Minnesota Post Board and it speaks volume volumes about your diligence, organization and commitment to excellence. Out of 396 law enforcement agencies in
the state of Minnesota, Goody County is the only agency where every officer eligible to renew has completed every required course. That accomplishment does not happen by accident, does it? >> That's pretty impressive. So, your attention to detail, proactive approach,
and consistent follow-through ensure that our staff remain compliant, well trained, and positioned at the forefront of professional standards. This level of performance reflects extremely well on our office and reinforces the high expectations we set for ourselves. Thank
you for the pride you take in this role, where the impact your work is across the entire organization is noticed, it is appreciated, and it makes a difference. Thank you. I also okay in a second I'll also want to say
yes this is awesome for Matt it is also the responsibility of our staff to to get those trainings done so we as a staff also contributed to this as well right but um but God bless you Matt
>> well Um, >> uh, no, I mean, for me it's, uh, I appreciate it very much. To me, it's pretty simple. I'm just, uh, doing my job. So, I appreciate being recognized for it. Um, like he had said as well, it's uh, hats off to the staff. You know, I send out a lot of reminder
emails, but it's up to them to be able to complete the training as well. So, I they also make my job easier. So, >> and it's it's a delight for the board to hear this and uh we want to thank you and I think you help set an example for the entire department and uh we're lucky
to have you. So, thank you very much. >> Appreciate it. >> Oh, I just wanted to add that well I realized that according to you, you were just doing your job, but there were 86 other counties in Minnesota that were also just doing their job, but you did
it in a apparently a far more detailed and proactive way. So, thank you very very much and congratulations. I hope you are very proud of yourself for what you have accomplished with Marty's staff
um for yes be getting a letter like this from post. Thank you very much. You're >> welcome. Thank you. >> Just to echo on that, there's lots of ways to do your job. obviously you figured out a really good way to do your job. So, thank you for
that. And um it's probably a time when training and and everything is really important and we're glad our officers are up to date and are trained. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you.
>> And thank you for bringing it forward, Marty. Uh, next we have for your information and project status report. Are there any questions or comments or uh anything you guys want to talk about with those items?
All right. So, Brad, I think you had something under new and old business. Well, and it's it's really about being proactive and thinking forward and and as I talked to Andrea the other day and I've got the 27 agenda. It's not on the
website. The projected 27 agenda is not on the website. So, I budget Yeah. budget. So, I reached out and got a copy of it because I wanted to start working on it. And and it's apparent to me that interest income
is a big piece of our budget. It's 3 and a half% of our budget as a revenue side. And it's and we know there's challenges with trying to predict where interest is going to go. But um there's two pieces
to it that I want as we start working on budget that we're cognizant of. One is um what we think interest is going to do and the projections in your 27 budget which was done a year before we even
think about starting it. You reduced a million dollars out of interest and I I wholeheartedly support that because I really don't know where it's going to go. and down is probably the only direction it's going to go. The other piece of it is as we look at 27's budget
and we know it's going to be really really difficult and we're going to be thinking about spending down reserves. I want to I want to be able to project when we spend down reserves what that also does to that revenue side of
interest and how you how we can know that going into it. And so I'm just prefacing that for you to think about that as we get towards budget that there are going to be pressures to do things
but there may be unintended consequences to those things. So we h we have to know both sides of it and I just wanted to comment on that the policies around finance really you know they weren't that explicit when
I got on this board. they've been developed and really refined to really guide us well. Um, and and I think those pieces of it fall into how we manage budget going
forward. So, I just wanted to comment about that so we all kind of think about unintended consequences of some actions to some other revenue streams that may change.
And I I think that the budget will be a big topic of conversation at our board uh retreat on February 10th. >> Yeah, it may. I mean, >> well, I think so. >> There's there's a you know, the reason I got it now is cuz I wanted to start
working on stuff and and so I've identified some questions I got to get answered by um certain staff. So, yeah, it's it is it's going to be a big it's going to be a big lift. We all know that. Um,
and we don't and quite frankly, we don't know what's going to happen federally or statewide. And we may not know that till December. We really might. It It changes daily. So, I think we have to um just be
cognizant. But there was one piece that I just was rolling around in my head and I I wanted to get it into the finance departments cuz that's who's going to bring those numbers forward for us. So, thank you. Anything else under new or and old
business and committee reports? >> Okay. So the Selco Selco is a southeast Minnesota um libraries of several counties. They
are going to be um working on their budget for next year as well. And they also wanted um Selco invested in um have you ever wondered when you put a book in the
little depository what happens to it? Well, it goes down a chute. It goes on a conveyor belt now. And because the books have printed on the front of them where they come from, the machine just sorts them and gets them to the trucks they or
the place they need to go to get back to the library. So, it has saved hours of um staff and volunteer work. The other thing was the uh housing committee subcommittee that I'm on.
So there were a few things. One is uh Katie Hardman gave a presentation from um Minnesota College Southeast and they have about 1,500 students that come to Redwing from all over literally all over the country. Um much of that is
because of the music um program that they have. So they from August through May those students are looking for places to live and I think we all know that housing in Redwing is
bit tough. Um they can afford anywhere from $7 to $900 but the rents in Redwing are more like a,000 to$1,300 and it's probably pretty tough to get a 9 to 10 month lease but they are looking
at that. Um, they also have land and they're hoping to work with zoning in Redwing to be able to reszone it so that they could actually interest a developer in developing it for student housing
primarily, but open it up to others in Redwing. The central research building out on 61 is going to be demolished and then hopefully the land will be sold. the Moltry building down across from the YMCA that is also scheduled to be
demolished. And the Bay View Nursing Home up on Fourth Street that is right now under HUD control. So there's no answer really at the moment as to what's going to happen with that.
>> Did they Did they talk about how that got into HUD's control? It get it get forfeited? I I know it gets taken over by the state when it goes when a nursing home goes under. It can't be rellicensed for a
nursing home. It's my understanding. But no, nobody mentioned how it ended up under HUD control. Do you remember? >> No. That would be a great question though >> because it was privately owned. >> Yeah. >> So, it would had to go through tax forfeiture. It hadn't been closed long
enough to go through tax forfeiture unless it went through bank forefeer. Hopefully we have an answer. >> Um yeah, my understanding it did not go tax forfeit. It was um it was a foreclosure situation where I believe they had a loan through the federal government through one of those agencies. >> So they had a loan through HUD.
>> I believe went back that makes sense that I was trying to >> Lucas trying to figure that out. But um and quite frankly it can get put back as a nursing home but it actually takes state legislation. >> Oh, all right. the state legislature has
to say yes it can be put back as a nursing home. So there yeah just there is a possibility >> there is a way right but okay but it has to be >> not very likely but there is a way but no >> and that I know somebody who just broke
a hip and just and there's no place in good county for them to go for rehab. Yes, virtually we're very short on that. >> Hastings or Northfield or Farbo or >> Lake City? I think it's >> unfortunate that haven't we lost lives here
>> five nursing homes in Good Hugh County. >> I've been here. >> I know of three recently. Uh oh, if you count seminary, that's four. Um, we lost Cannon Falls, Kenyon, Bay View
Seminary. was the one on Pine Island. >> There's another one that >> Okay. >> We lost dinner. >> But considering we live in a older demographic county, that is very unfortunate. >> That's it.
>> All right. So, I I think um at the next meeting there'll be quite a few more committee reports because uh the data center meeting will happen again and I think some other meetings, but uh it hasn't happened between >> not over Christmas. No, >> no. So, so that'll be coming. Anything
on your end, Jason? >> I got I got three things I want to talk about. >> Oh, all right. >> One, I was at the Waves of Hope suicide prevention meeting or um event in Lake City on Saturday. Excellent event. Our
staff was somewhat involved from human services, Josh Smith, and others um setting that up. Uh they had 32 different tables of providers, support network people at that event. It was
awesome. Um they had three people in the panel. One was the past SRO officer from Redwing, Mr. Officer Sullivan. Um Emily who works with the extension service
helping farmers who are suicidal or in um need of mental health. And then the third person was a Jen was a mother of a
suicide victim. and Jen actually is heading up that waves of hope um suicide prevention uh group. And it was awesome. And it was awesome to hear
how each of those people had been at very different places, especially the two that were um not Jen, she she experienced it. The other two were near suicidal, which was very
heart-wrenching and very insightful into the pressures that people who wear the badge go through every day. Uh people who work with people who are um suicidal and the
pressure that they bring to themselves because of that. It is. It was an awesome event to go to and if it I'm sure they'll have another one next year. It is worth listening and hearing. So, just that. The other thing is SEMR's
been going through hiring a new um executive director. We're getting close. Hopefully within a couple weeks we can announce something. Um that's been um very interesting and and we've had some really good candidates for that. And
then the third thing is just a shout out to Megan Smith from Land Use. I had a a township that came up to me that are working through um a
permitting for cannabis in their township and they were very complimentary of the work Megan has done helping them through that process. So, just a kind of a shout out to Megan and they they said they were impressed with
the work she's doing. So, just so I am too. >> Good job, Megan. >> All right, that's all I had. >> All right. And I'll just remind everybody it's the township officers meeting on Saturday in Zroa. I think it's probably 8:30 start. Uh does that
sound right? >> 8:30, 9:00, something like that. Yeah. >> Yeah. All right. And next uh the claims >> move approval. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Is there a
motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. A motion carries. We're adjourned.