we're ready all right welcome everyone we'd like to call a December board meeting to order and we'll start with a pledge of allegiance IED Al to the FL of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one
na indivisible Li Justice all right um any disclosures of interest from the board hearing none uh previous board meeting minutes move approval second have a motion and a second we will be
doing roll call voting on this Jason hi Brad hi Susan hi hi and chair both I um review the agenda any changes to the agenda very
much there are no changes chair just one comment uh Todd on item four under the uh appointment to the belri Watershed uh as many of you know at the last meeting we appointed Adam to start
the first of the year and consequently the person serving in that position passed away they have one more meeting before the end of the year um it would be advantageous for them to have a full board at that meeting so they can get re organized for the coming
year um so the appointment is really to fill the end of Jim Haden's position till the end of the year and then the appointment we made at the last meeting for a full three-year term would start then so it's really just these couple of
weeks so they can be full board during that I just wanted to make that comment with that I'd approve the uh agenda as presented we have a motion in a second uh Brad hi
Susan hi Linda I chair I Jason I motion carries uh consent agenda quite a large one we have 15 items on there with that explanation on item number four do I have a motion move to approve the
consent agenda as presented second motion motion and a second uh Susan hi Linda hi I Jason hi Brad I motion
carries uh human resources good morning good morning morning make sure that mic is on all right so we have three items before you this morning the first is um a Personnel committee um agenda
and two of the two of the items will go to the Health and Human Services Board and so we're talking to you today um in this first item about the updated report we've received from DDA our company ation consultant and so the committee reviewed that report and had a couple of
recommendations based on the information therein those recommendations included um there were a number of positions that were identified to watch and specifically one position the PST Sergeant um there was a recommendation to consider a grade change for that but
the committee is recommending that that um be evaluated further as part of the 2025 ongoing maintenance um for concerns of of internal Equity the committee also recommendation um recommended implementation of the pay
grade changes that were identified in the previous Report with the effective date of December 21st 2024 um and gave consensus on um implementing M us with the applicable unions the committee also looked at the
reclassification of three positions um based on appeals and so those three positions were the County surveyor the land use management director and the Civil specialist Deputy all of those positions were appealed and DDA is recommending grade changes for those and the committee affirmed those um changes
as well there was also discussion in there um the report identified a number of topics for discussion in the 2025 ongoing maintenance um process and so um looking for direction from the board on
on when to proceed with those in in 2025 and further discussion think also we in the committee we talked about um bringing this up at our Workshop in either December or January or February
whenever we choose to get our meeting put together and and uh you know try to get this moved ahead a little bit earlier and put a lot of pressure on our um manag here so are there any questions for chair right I Comm
Anderson um I would move that we make those adjustments to those three positions with the grade changes as recommended and keeping all the others on watch go ahead yeah I just want to make sure that that also includes the any applicable use and then
implementation December 2 correct yep I'm I'm dealing with that part first then I want to I want to talk about the rest of it after that okay but those those changes in Theus I move that we do those I'll second that we have a
motion in a second any discussion Linda hi I Jason hi Brad hi Susan hi motion carries okay Brad your discussion on the other and then on the other stuff I I
think you know the the other position that was put on the watch there for um the safety technician safety I don't have it up because I'm I got too many things going on here but I think you know earlier like Todd said get at it
earlier rather than later that doesn't mean that that change couldn't happen um that it has to happen at the end of the year it could happen if we determin it should happen earlier so I think getting those discussions and getting the board's feel for all those other items
down below early in the year and it might take some time to get through that um is is better than waiting so I just that's the comments I wanted to make and and Todd I agree with you I think uh having it be part of the
budget Workshop is a great idea or excuse me the board Workshop so the remaining 1 2 3 4 five six spots will be put on hold and re-evaluated in 2025 and do we not need a motion on that do we do
need no we don't need any action on that so okay all right thank you moving on here there was a second Personnel committee um yesterday the 16th to consider 2025 compensation request for
the county attorney and sheriff and after careful review of their responsibilities and duties as well as experience qualifications and performance the committee agreed the pay adjustments requested are well deserved in recognition of their hard work and dedication over the past year County
attorney O'Keefe and Sheriff Kelly have overseen and managed several significant cases that have had a lasting impact on the well-being of our County the leadership strategic decision-making and commitment to Justice have upheld the County's mission to promote the health safety and well-being of our
residents in addition to their individual efforts both officials have led highly competent and dedicated teams who achieve positive outcomes for our community given the complexity of the cases handled and growing demands of their respective offices the committee believes the proposed pay increases are
appropriate the adjustments provide a 3% General wage adjustment as well as Merit increases in recognition of their past performance and the committee recommend mended approving the pay increases for County attorney O'Keefe and Sheriff Kelly in recognition of their continued
service and the positive impacts they've made are there any questions from the board do you want to take them both separately or together I think we can take them together objection to that anyone I I just think it keeps you know and I know they're not on our pay grade
but it definitely keeps them where they their jobs describe them a move approval both the sheriff and County attorneys requested pay second Motion in a second any other discussion the only comment I want to
make this is commissioner Anderson is um this process well though probably gave the sheriff and and the attorney some heartburn really demonstrates as I said yesterday they got to take a look back
at the things they've done and the processes they've put in place and the work that they've done over the last year but not just the last year over several times and I think this process really justifies what what the statute says we
should look at to justify a pay increase um and in talking with uh Dr Melvin from DDA about this process at the AMC conference she said I wish more counties would do a process like this because it
really is what the statute's asking you to do is to really evaluate and and look at what they're doing in their individual roles and um they did a really good job of putting it together and they should feel really proud of and
I'm really proud of the work our departments are doing both at the attorney and at the sheriff's office so thank you all right I'll do roll call I vote I Jason I Brad I
Susan hi Linda I motion carries thank you very much Mr chair I make a quick comment yes I just wanted to thank the board uh for your consideration on this particular issue but more importantly I want to thank the board for the support that you have all shown for the work
that we do on a regular basis it is uh it's meaningful to the people that work in my office and the work that we do and it's not unnoticed we appreciate it thank you thank you right next item I lost the third item for human resources is uh setting the commissioner wages uh per statute
the County Board has to set a resolution setting their salary wages wages um the 2025 budget has proposed a 3% increase equal to the cost of living adjustment for everyone else in the county and so we would just need a motion or
discussion on that item I'll move to approve a 3% increase we have a motion I'll second motion and a second any other discussion I guess I would like to discuss a little bit um I I I want to
bring this up at our at our Workshop um the last four out of five elections have gone unopposed and you know I hope it's because we're doing an okay job but maybe that has the wage has something to do with that and I know
we've done um research before and we are definitely on the low low end of our um for our populations so I would like to review it at our board meeting but I will uh you know support this 3% so uh Jason sorry go ahead Susan I'll
make one comment too you know I think for the pay grid um we were of the 11 counties we were um actually second to third but I would think for the County Board maybe being third to Fourth would be fine and I think it is important that we be in the right spot because
otherwise at some point there's a big jump as opposed to a little bit at a time and I I think Todd's right we want to make sure that the salary is such that uh people are willing to do the job so I think we should discuss it at the board meeting I have no issue with the 3% but I think we should know where we
stand compared to our L County group I just have one comment and that is that um yes the commissioner pay does and with it being of all the count I mean of
all the counties on the lower end it does preclude younger people from coming in um either have to have a second job or you have to have somebody also supporting you um so it's just again
something to consider because we do want the younger generation to start getting involved in local government so I think having it come up at the workshop would be a very good idea right any other discussions comments
Jason hi Brad hi Susan hi Linda I and I vote I motion carries thank you thank you Sheriff's Office figured I'd just wait till I come up
here to to thank the board again for working with us I like the dialogue we have um it's a in my opinion the last six years have been really worth it for me and I think we do have a great working relationship with all the
Commissioners so I appreciate your time and efforts you put in I appreciate the committee or uh Personnel committee meeting separately yesterday that was quite beneficial and time time saving actually for today for sure so I'm here today just to present some
uh well we have a lot of Partners in the in our office we have people that donate and that's I guess why we're here we're going to approve the donations for this year but one in particular um the Freemasons Lodge eight out of out of
redwing here has been a partner with us all last year uh where they donated some fire suppression units to our squads now just recently as you see I think I don't have my letter but um they donated 14
more and they're planning on doing it some more so what I'm going to do is quickly invite uh and one of our own Ethan from uh from Public Works is is instrumental in this obviously so only one of you well yes all these gentlemen
are here to uh not only to support the County's efforts but particularly ours and our squad cars so you go for it I'll I'll pull this out well uh thank you uh thank you to the board uh for the time today and uh on behalf of redwing Lodge Number Eight many of whom are are here
uh I'm here to thank uh not only the County board but also uh Sheriff Kelly to allow us uh to this as you saw in your packet those fire suppression tools uh are meant for Well here here's one right here they are really meant for deputies in rural Minnesota uh the idea
is that that little device uh gets tossed into a fire in the time when you know in our case uh the goodu volunteers take a minute to get from goodu to a spot so often the deputy is there first and that device can be thrown in and suppress uh an entire room fire it's
amazing how quickly that that happen um so as on behalf of our partners at Minnesota Masonic Charities uh the money that we've donated and hope to continue to donate to put all those um a unit in every Squad uh is critical uh and these have been uh distributed around the
state from International Falls to Worthington to Winona and we hope as Freemasons to continue to do this this kind of work so we our goal is is every every Squad in the fleet and so we'll look forward to doing that I should also uh say on behalf of those guys that are here uh we should it would be wonderful
if we could get a picture at some point um especially with with the sheriff and John handsome Devils that they are it would be nice to get a photo there too so thank you to the board we really appreciate being able to be a part of this thanks to you too thank you Ethan that
concludes what I had to say as a uh firefighter for 35 years we I know personally we're pretty quick in wanam Mingo I think we got a reputation but the the deputies are there 95% of the time first so it uh thank you very much
that was uh they're very important pieces of equipment thank you thank you thank you to all of you for that donation finance and taxpayer Services did we need approval of that those donations
okay all right could I get a motion for the approval of those donations don't Mo Anderson second have a motion and a second uh Susan hi
Brad I Linda I I vote I Jason I motion carries thank you again good morning Commissioners good morning morning we've got three items of morning uh the first one of which is related to uh a transfer request for approval of a transfer of some money
from the general fund to the capital fund um and this is related to arpa transactions so um as the County Board knows uh the County Board previously approved specific arpa budgeted items and the related expenditures uh arpa money was recorded in the general fund as revenue and
certain items have been paid for out of the capital plan uh or other funds in which the arpa money did not not reside this causes a situation in which those funds need supplemental transfers to replenish the balances um so this request is specific to two projects
which have been uh funded with arpa uh money um that was paid for out of the capital fund for consistency and tracking purposes the first of which here that we're going to discuss is the government center master plan phase one implementation that came in with a total
cost of $287,700 and then also the admin HR in room 308 upgrade project for 27,7 12 of arpa funding um as I stated the capital plan was not initially budgeted to pay for this
funding um therefore we are requesting authorization to transfer a total of $55,500 from the general fund to the capital fund funding approval uh utilizing arpa fun uh money was approved
at the County board meeting on June 20th 2023 for the master plan phase one implementation and for the admin hr38 project that was approved on May 21st 2024 additionally on the following two
pages I did provide for an informational purposes an update on where the arpa fund balance is still currently sitting um just as an FYI um but with that we're recommending the board of approve a transfer of
$55,500 from the general fund to the capital fund um to replenish those cash balances related to the arpa program expenditures any questions we have a motion second motion
and a second any other discussion I'll call the vote Linda hi I vote I Jason hi Brad hi Susan hi motion carries thank you next
item good morning Commissioners morning the next item we have is the fund balance designations as of December 31st of 24 um and attached you'll find the schedule of projected fund balance commitments as of December 31st for all
funds all 24 expenditures were made in accordance with the board approved commitments in place as December 31 of 23 um for discussion there's there's two changes that I would like to discuss the first is the use of the 27th
payroll fund as a result of New Year's Day falling on Wednesday and the timing of the first payroll of 2025 the 27th payroll payroll will be paid at the end of 2024 um and the second change is the
removal of the billsby Park and trail balance all funds currently set aside that have been used with the completion of the Richard Samson Pavilion and expenditures will be budgeted going forward um once the approvals are obtained the funds must be spent for
their stated purpose until such times that all funds are used or a majority of the board makes a decision to alter the commitment the county is required to record fund balances in each of the following categories nonspendable equal to inventory and prepaid expense
balances restricted established by external restrictions including St statutes and grants committed and assigned which are determined by internal restrictions the committed is determined by the County Board and assigned is determined by County staff
any changes to committed fund balances must be approved by the board on or before December 31 of 24 at this time staff recommends the board approve the 24 fund balance commitments as outlined for December 31
of 24 any questions any questions from the board I'll move to approve we have a motion I'll second motion and a
second I vote I Jason I Brad I Susan hi Linda hi motion carries thank you then the next item on here um really it's just I wanted to uh present and
come up with some kind of a way to quantify all the work that went into the various elections that um that we had administered during 2024 so that's really what this this memo is about to um try and explain all the work that went into it as well as kind of give
some appreciation for all of our staff's hard work that we had done so so as you're aware goodu County played a key role in administering four elections during 2024 this was the presidential nomination primary on March 5th the March Township elections on March 12th
the state primary on August 13th and the state general election on November 5th the purpose of this memos as I said to enhance your understanding the effort that goes into running these elections I want to recognize the hard work and dedication of our elections Department staff during this past year on a combined basis including both non-exempt
and exempt employees these staff members have worked 759 hours of overtime specifically related to performing their election duties I also want to recognize the non-election department individuals that volunteered and directly participated by taking on additional election tasks we
had 19 County employees from various departments that stepped up to help throughout the course of 2024 these individuals worked 52 hours of overtime we also had 20 individuals from the public that were temporarily hired to help with the elections these individuals include members of our
ballot board the two elections temp employees and students that helped with election Supply pickup as well as election night equipment drop off I also want to recognize those individuals that indirectly participated by helping with the influx of additional members of the public within the building additionally
I want to acknowledge the fact that the Sheriff's Office facilities maintenance as well as the IT department all remained on standby as needed to ensure the elections were both safe and successful election staff LED several in-person training sessions throughout the year we also utilized online
training for certain sessions for recur returning judges goodu County election staff trained a total of 377 election judges to serve during the 2024 elections further details regarding inperson training sessions can be found on the table below I'm not going to read through the that table but you can see
there's a significant number of training sessions different types of training sessions and the number of which those training sessions were uh they varied in length from 1 hour to two hours um staff also experienced tightened levels of interaction with the public via phone calls and emails included these
interactions were generic questions related to election process data requests for specific information and regular communication with the League of Women Voters who mounted a campaign to provide additional factual information to the voters of goodu County during the 2024 election staff completed over
10,000 voter roll transactions these transactions included but were not limited to registering new voters updating for name changes updating for address changes removing de voters as well as removing voters who moved away from the county staff also processed 8,800 absentee ballot applications
during 2024 with over three quarters of this work occurring during September October and the first week of November the absentee voting period begins 46 days prior to each election and we saw a strong absentee turnout during the general election with a total of
6,660 absentee votes the 2024 general election had the second highest absentee voting turnout on record at 23% of the total votes cast the highest absentee turnout year was in 2020 with 39% and the next highest was in 2018 at 17% direct balloting voting now begins
18 days prior to election day during the general election we experienced a strong direct balloting ter voter turnout with a total count of 2753 ballots 292 of these votes occurred during the enhanced voting hours to include the second Saturday before the
election as well as the Saturday and Sunday immediately uh before the election as now mandated by the state highest single uh day direct balloting turnout was Friday November 1st with 304 votes and the daily average was
172 overall the general election voter turnout in goodu County was high at 90% which was up from 22 2022 at 73% but also down uh from 2020 at 94% I would like to personally thank all election staff for the hard work and
dedication over the last year this thank you also also extends to our ballot board members the other County staff who helped and other community members who stepped up to deliver safe and successful presidential nomination primary State primary and state general elections during 2024 uh I've invited some of our staff
up here as well to um to listen in not everybody was able to attend as they're obviously um doing their normal jobs at this time and attending webinars um for some of the tax process but I you know I just said uh I wanted to thank everybody
for all their hard work um we Del delivered four successful elections this year and um and thanks thanks everyone for your help well from the board I want to thank everyone too it's very much appreciated sometimes we don't we just assume we show up and it all happens but there's a
lot of work that goes behind the scenes and so thank you very much Linda well I also wanted to thank everybody again I had spoken to a couple of election judges after the ction hearing their experience on the other
side um and it was this was quite an intense year so thank you to you to your office and to everyone who worked the election this year right thank you very much Administration 2025 budget and Levy
thank you sure I think before we uh get into my report and and bore some bore people I think it'd be appropriate to get a picture with the Masons and the County Board and the sheriff and Chief Deputy um I know they would like a picture in this room yep very good do you want to toall come down just come
right in front of there okay we'll let Stacy take the picture room for everybody down there should we stand in the back to get some hyp offet we here another level of get some more back
here too [Music] you you might need to Still Still Still I don't think it's going to work you might need to be in front Linda you're either going to have to stand in the you're have to get
behind Ethan so I'm not in here that's what I was think I'll just get out of here sure [Music] thank yeah who need who needs one of those
[Music] [Music] Brad and Susan I know you were here in spirit thank you we'll Photoshop you in Photoshop you in there okay thank you uh for doing that um first of all in the county uh
final budget and Levy for 2025 I'd like to thank the County Board and their leadership through this process I'd also like to thank the management team for all their hard work on the budget uh we also have a number of accountants and financial professionals within various departments I'd like to thank them and
then specifically I'd like to thank uh Lucas ding Teresa rorer and Andrea bank for their their a lot of work on the 2025 budget as you know we uh uh approved the preliminary budget in 2025 back in September and that uh the levy
was set at 44 5,725 455 from that standpoint we can go down we cannot increase from that number um staff has worked with the County Board and management team over the last three months um and the budget is now reduced
uh down to 93,6 2016,2017 of 4,359 75 that's a reduction of $ 49,4 180 uh bringing the proposed Levy uh down to
3.49% um and it's an actual decrease in the tax rate of 1.23% uh in the packet uh you have your uh draft preliminary Levy the preliminary budget and also the proposed budget uh staff has provided uh resolution ions to pass the budget and
Levy um and at this point staff would stand for questions uh and recommend approval of the 2025 budget what are your wishes any comments this commissioner Anderson and again I'd like to thank the staff and
administration and especially Andrea B who does the heavy lifting on this time and time again um it's a struggle to make budgets uh
that are at this level um I met with a lot of uh Commissioners from around the state at the AMC convention and um there's not a lot of them that are down here with this kind of a levy this year
so I I just thank everybody for all the work on this um budgets don't start in September quite frankly Andrea probably knows I asked her questions probably back March uh about going forward with this budget so um we'll get done with
this one and and I'm sure it won't be July before we talk about it again so I would move approval to uh adopt the resolution with the levy as set as
recommended we have have a motion do we have a second I'll second motion and a second any other discussion I'll call the role I vote I Jason no Brad I Susan I Linda I motion carries
four to one okay and the second report uh Buffy banck the executive director from semra will present good morning Commissioners good morning I too am here with a levy budget request um it is identical to the preliminary
Levy that you approved in September it is a decrease from last year um the two key portions that are um a decrease is one to the Housing Trust Fund we um put additional dollars in in 20124 in 2025 we did not approve as part of the
preliminary Levy to put the additional 200,000 in and then we are also not levying for the Kenyan Tiff District um we did request those funds to be put into the Housing Trust Fund and that was denied as well so the levy um is the same if I was to request my preliminary
Levy again it would be higher um there's a few things going on at the federal level that will affect um operations so um the request is um for all the identical things that were presented earlier um our general fund community
devel vment Housing Development our existing housing developments um that's to help with the um support of the good Hue projects that have the go backed Bond behind them and then the 100,000 for the Housing Trust
Fund the total Levy request is move approval beter second Anderson we have a motion in a second any discussion I'll do roll Jason I Brad I
Susan hi Linda I and I vote I motion carried thank you thank you Bel for all your work okay Mr chair the uh the last item is to set the first board meeting for uh 2025 Minnesota statute requires the
board to uh set the date time and location of the first meeting and statute also says it has to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January and that date is January 7th of 2025 um and uh so staff recommends uh
setting this the first board meeting of 2025 is January 7th 2025 at 9:00 a.m. uh in the county boardroom the government center in Redwing Minnesota I have a motion I have a
motion second and a second uh Brad hi Susan hi Linda I I vote I Jason I motion carries next is for your
information are there any questions on any of those a lot of information put in this month yes new and old business anyone committee reports chair I do have
one if that's right I just wanted to report back on some of the very positive things that happened at the association of Minnesota County's conference I announced at the last meeting that the county would be receiving the uh Board of Water and Soil resources County Conservation award and I just wanted to hold that up and show that and
it's for the mighty mighty Mississippi cleanup Challenge and I want to thank all everybody that had work in involved in that both from the city of redwing standpoint in the county good Hue County and then also the number of counties and cities around the state and also a special thanks to and Prairie Island and
uh also a special thanks to Linda with her great idea and how it's been fun to watch it grow and develop I also wanted to note that the County also received Minnesota County's intergovernmental trust certificate of e Excellence for an outstanding loss ratio of under 50% for
The Last 5 Years so uh it was nice to receive that as well so that's all I had chair all right excellent thank you thank you uh claims move approval to pay the bills second motion and a
second um Susan hi Linda I I vote I Jason I Brad I motion carries I think that's our last item motion to adjourn still moved
Anderson second motion made in seconded we are adjourned