Okay, it's 9:00 we call the meeting to order and stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. look for approval of the agenda. So I didn't see on here before we do that we want to have a closed session for negotiation. We talked about it. I don't Okay.
Now I'll make a move a motion to approve the agenda. Second motion on agenda. A motion and a second to approve the agenda. All in favor? I opposed. Any minute for Mr. Chair, I'll make the motion to
approve the minutes of July 15, 2021. Second do it. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion on any of the minutes? If not, all in favor signify by saying I opposed carried warrants
out. Make a motion to pay the words. Motion and a second. Any discussion on any of them? Not. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Heather is on the line. So,
okay. Hi, good morning. Thank you for having me here today. We have a procedural step for before the county board this morning. You might remember back on May 20th, Jamie and I presented to the board and the projects for the drainage ditch
number three and number 21 with maximum special assessment terms were approved by the board. And at this time, what we would like to do is ask the board to approve a resolution which approves the issuance of the general obligation drainage bonds. And in effect, what it
does is it allows us to solicit bids for the financing component. And then once we do that, we will come back to the board one more time and we will ask for a resolution to be approved that has all the terms of the financing. But there is a really short,
slightly over one-page resolution before you and I'm happy to answer any questions. Heather, excuse me, Mr. Chair, I got a question. So, the administrative cost and the term of the debt, the maximum years, that didn't change. That's still 15 years, right? It shows it here. Did
we talk about um less for less time frame for ditch three? We did. We spoke about 10 years for the the smaller project and then 15 for the longer. And what this does is it gives us the ability to seek bids within certain parameters. So, we had to
include a maximum dollar amount. We were a little uh we added a contingency and we made that $5 million. It also allows us to put in a maximum rate that would be on the financing. And again, we wanted to be a little conservative. So, we put in a 5% rate for that. We would
expect that both a par amount would be less than that 5 million. And we expect that the financing true interest cost, which is the rate on the bonds would be less than 5%, but we just wanted to allow for any u market
swings. there have been a lot of um volatility in the market this year with the how the tariffs have gone on and off and some of the other geopolitical things happening. So, we just wanted to make sure that we would be able to get this completed. Anybody got any other questions? I
My other question would be if Chad is on I'm I'm assuming we're good to go. not on but in prior discussions he said yes I might also just add one one other piece of information for you all so we we have um been very active in
soliciting u local banks so we've got a number of of the local banking institutions that will be getting the request for proposal so that you will hopefully be able to have local bank participation and I worked with with Chad on that list and I know he's he shared it with
somebody else internally um and I can't remember who that was and and they also thought it was a good list so happy to take any other questions anybody Anybody else got anything? No. If you have a resolution number, Dina, I will
move. Do you have one? This is This is Chad. Did you guys have a question for me? I just got logged in. I my question and Tina answered that you were good with every everything where we're at. Yeah.
Thank you. I'll second that resolution. All in favor of the resolution. What was the number? Tina. Oh, sorry. I I do think that you need a a roll call vote for these resolutions if I may.
Okay. Bill, yes. Delay, yes. Doyle, yes. Troy, yes. Motion or resolution passes. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you,
John. Dan Morning. Um, so we got notification from value for bureau now that the uh pickup truck to replace the one that Jen is currently
driving is now in. Um, so the question comes is what is the board's decision on what to do with the 2015 F-150 that we currently have? Um, when we first
started looking at trading value uh back in March, we're at 15,560 is what they would trade. Uh the trucks tilt currently holds its value roughly at about $15,000 because of the extended
mile or the additional miles on it. We are currently um at 99,846 miles. uh Ford would like that vehicle if if there was the board decided to
trade it in would like to keep it under the 99,000 and so as it sits right now I've instructed staff not to even uh drive it until further notice if we needed a pickup truck uh we have some other options. So, uh, and the other issue is
once Ford receives that pickup, uh, as did, uh, Zero, they have 10 days before they start seeing the interest, asking for interest to be paid on that, and we're right about that 10day time frame now. So, um, couple things. I know that
it was approved, uh, cost of the county was 48,319 without the trade. Um, I know that Ford would like to get paid, but then the other decision is what what does the board want to do um with that pickup
truck at this point? You have you have a polar one that you rotate or not or Yeah. So, what we've historically done with the trucks is um the sheriff and the chief deputy,
the county purchases those vehicles, right? So, we keep them for 5 years um as a patrol vehicle and then we roll them down into an extra backup uh vehicle unmarked uh and then keep it for an additional
five more years. So, it's a 10-y old vehicle when it comes time again for us to to uh purchase a new one and trade. So, Mr. Chair, could I I you have you have an invoice for this, right?
Okay. I would make the motion that we get this bill paid and we issue the check immediately because normally we would hold that so we don't get interest. We don't want to be paying interest. Mhm. We get get that to the auditor and get
that check issued. So, I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I oppose. Car. My thought on the old one is let's
let's not I don't know that we're going to get our value trading it in. Let's take that and re-evaluate everything else where we're at. Your water safety pickup is, you know, you're you are you rotating
into that? So you you just going to keep the same one you got? That's the one. That's good. So, the way this the way this works now is after we get the new one, her current truck moves into that roll. That roll. Okay.
Yeah, that's the thing to do. Yep. Agreed. So, what are we going to do with this one then? So, we're not going to trade this one in. That That's just my thought. We don't trade it in and we say we should. I know Environmental Services wants another
vehicle. I don't know what high where highway's at. I Let's evaluate. Maybe this one's better than something else we have. If we should We seem to sell stuff every year from highway. We sell something else. That's my thought on
that. Sounds like a plan to me. Very good. So on that though where we should have someone with vehicles now we kind of have them spread out who should be overall in charge of the county not sheriff's office obviously but vehicles
to see when we need more. Should we have one person that's in charge or we just keep each department I think it's a department thing and then they can budget for the repairs and tires and things like that. That's a word in our heads. Well, what if two departments want this
truck? Other than that, that four doors. We don't need an answer on it today, but if that comes up, we'll have to figure out how we can do that. Yeah. So, when we get to that point when we do the transfer, obviously, there's
equipment that needs to come out of uh that truck. Um and we'll make those arrangements through code for services to have that done. And then it'll be I guess it'll be the county's decision on what they want to do with it and where it goes.
Can't do nothing with it till it's cleaned out. I mean, till the stuff's out of it anyway. Well, you could, but yeah. Years back, John, if I can ask a question here. You had trouble with heater course and these Explorers and things like that. So, an extra vehicle or like that just in case you had to
back fill if you had two of them down or something was going on. Well, that's a quite a lengthy discussion in itself. I mean, we were we when we had the issue with all the heater quarters and the SUVs, we were also short two deputies, right? So, we have those extra squads that the other deputies were able to
use, but just so happened to be is that one or two of those extra squads ended up having a heater core issue as well, right? So, yeah, that pickup truck uh did get used quite a bit. Yep. As a backup squad car and and we need it for those purposes that Yeah.
water. Yeah. And then because of uh because of the leases with the SUVs and the couple of the pickup trucks, uh trying to watch the mileage on that, we encourage the staff more, you know, that when they're going
to trainings um to take that extra squat um put the miles on that instead of release the air. Save that for the patrol. Thank you. morning. So, I have received a application for a
candidate for my assistant county attorney position. Um, I would like to fill that. Um he's a 2021 grad from UND has been working in litigation in Duth. He's a commander in the US Navy
reserves. Um and although he is from Duth, he has connections. Um he's actually the Legion commander over in Evansville. Um so he makes frequent trips back. Uh the two things that I wanted to visit
with you about is based upon his experience, the difficulty that I've had trying to fill the position over the last 20 months um and his other public service. I would uh like to start him at uh step
five of the scale. And you know, I think it's you and I don't know if I've visited with you guys about this, but about two years ago, the the public defender system got a a substantial increase and we saw even elected county attorneys
moving from their role as the county attorney into the public defenders office and recruitment and retention has been a a difficulty um in our positions. Um the other item is uh he will not be
relocating. He'll be here about um 10 days a month. So it would be a hybrid position. Um of course the technology within my office is my responsibility and we have the phone system where it's internet
protocol. So he can plug that in, calls can get transferred to him. We have dual authentication so we can access um e charging and leg which has all of the reports and matters like that um from
anywhere we are at. So do you have any questions? As soon as he convinces his wife to move then So Justin, how many hours a week does he is he going to work? Um for the county it'd be 30 hours per
week is I have budgeted for um you know he has um health insurance benefits. Um otherwise during my budget committee meeting with the finance committee I indicated that that's an expense that um
the county is not going to have to foot. you know, he does have a family. So that is, you know, a significant savings over, you know, the years. So will he be uh going into court
most of the time then or? So my plan with like most of my assistants is that um he will you know initially be handling you know the misdemeanors some of the gross misdemeanors um I
would continue to handle the felonies until um you know I get a a sense of if there's issues. Um he's his practice now is litigation, so
he's not fearful of the courtroom. Um he knows that our contested hearings and of course our trials are all in person and that he's going to have to be here um for those. Um but that will be, you know, his primary, you know, workload.
he will um you know I'll have him review new cases that come to us for consideration of prosecution um just so that we get on the same page regarding our philosophy um and things
like that. Anything else? Are you looking for a motion to to approve both the hybrid and the step five? I'll make that motion.
I'll second it. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I oppose. Thank you, M. Very nice. I've seen that before. Yeah, that's not bad, but we'll take it.
So, I'm looking for approval for final acceptance of and it's the final payment on contract number 2406. It's the Stony Brook Culver replacement or that's the 1% that's left. Yeah,
I'll make that motion, Mr. Chair. Second motion and a second for the Sony Brook Culver. Any more discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Carried.
There's Y. Matt, before I forget, what's our timeline on 55? 55. Well, over there I think was it the top of my head was it September 12th that has to
Yeah. First week of September. Hey Jeff. Y. Well, good morning commissioners. Morning. Uh we're here today. I'm with Jeff with Seth. Uh, as you are aware, they've been working on our CASA 5 project down in
Hoffman that we got the LIP grant for, which I see Senator Rasmmanson is here, played a part in that as well. So, big thanks to him. Uh, we've worked through most of the design aspects of the project. Now, we're down pretty much to the last design issue that we wanted to
review with the board. It would be the intersection of Cass 5 and Trunk Highway 55 where it crosses the radial tracks there. Um, we got a couple options for you that we put into your packet for you guys to take a look at. And I'll just allow Jeff
to uh speak to both of them. Just a little high altitude overview of the issues with them and pros and cons, I guess. All right. Thank you. Um, as Matt said, uh, we have two options. Option A is the one that initially was submitted with
the LRIT application. Um, it's more of just a a a turning intersection. uh a little less traditional um uh with the township road uh just kind of teeing off on a curve just before the majority of
the curve. Um for CASA 5 um it involves possibly just a little bit more of a a rightaway aspect than the option B. Um but it is a little bit shorter in regards to the length of it. um uh total
cost of these two projects or these two options are fairly negligible negligible um as far as I would say you kind of pick the one that is preferred right now um uh from a safety standpoint that would be option B um and that's the one
the highway committee is recommending um it provides a little more traditional intersection if you would with the township road uh the rightway piece uh is a little bit more straightforward in my opinion. Um, and then it also does
allow for a future component there uh within a quiet zone within the city. Um, if in fact that's something that uh all parties want to move forward. So it it allows for some other safety features that option A does not. So
um with that I'll kind of open it up for questions or I don't have any questions other than Matt and I talked about this morning a little bit then they can actually leave the one crossing in place while they're installing another.
That's correct. That's that's probably the best case scenario in itself right there. Yeah. You can do the road work and get it all put together and still keep the the train traffic going because that's a critical element right there in that project.
Yep. And you can keep portions of the road open as well, right? To build a new road wall. Yeah. So, I guess what we'd be looking for is just a motion to uh go with option B, which I'll make that motion to go with option B. Mr. Chair,
and as a recommendation of movement to highway committee, I will second that motion. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Opposed?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys. Senator Rasperson. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Commissioners. Good morning. Thank you for having me here today. I appreciate the opportunity to um give a brief legislative update and I'm happy
to take any questions, complaints, concerns, feedback um that the board may have. Uh first off, just want to um start off with with gratitude for um the opportunity to to partner to uh help serve the people of Grant County. And I
think one good example of that has been on emergency medical services where um you know this board and other officials within the the county raised this as a key concern and uh we actually had the EMS task force meet here in this room uh
to get feedback from this community and were able to take action in both the 2024 session and this last session to make uh some improvements on funding for um rural EMS. And so that's just one point I would just want to thank Grant
County for their engagement on. I would say a couple key highlights that I wanted to um put in front of you from this legislative session. Um one is on uh something we were able to stop um with the help of uh county commissioners
from across the state and another thing is something that we were able to get done that I think will benefit Grant County and other communities in the area. Um, on the item that we were able to stop, uh, early on in the legislative session, Governor Walls proposed a $460
million cost shift to the counties, uh, within the human services budget. And so, this would have taken costs that have traditionally been paid for by the state and would have shifted it onto counties and, u eventually raised uh, property taxes. and appreciate Grant
County um running the numbers along with a bunch of other counties and the numbers we got back was that this $460 million cost shift would have increased property taxes anywhere from 5 to 9% uh depending on the area and especially for our more rural counties uh we saw a
bigger impact um and so thankfully we had um I held a press conference uh with a number of county commissioners we had um held a hearing on this issue where county officials were able to come and testify and talk about the impact this would have on property taxpayers. I'm
glad to say that we were able to eliminate that county cost shift uh that was proposed in the state human services budget. And something good that came out of this legislative session um that I was happy to uh work on as one of the lead
Republican negotiators was a $700 million capital investment bill that got passed during the June special session. One thing in particular that uh I think is a good feature of this bill and it's a first for my time in the legislature
uh it had no earmarks. It had no pet projects. It was all focused on uh the core infrastructure needs of the state. And I think that that type of bill will benefit um the communities within Grant County. Within that bill, we had $291
million going towards water projects, um, road projects, bridges, and, uh, flood hazard mitigation. And so, for example, um, we were able to replenish funds for the local road improvement program, which Grant County
has utilized before, uh, utilizing on the Hoffman project that was just talked about. Uh we also have one of the largest investments in wastewater and drinking water infrastructure that local communities will be able to apply for and I know the city of Elbow Lake is uh
considering making some improvements that they would be able to benefit from those funds. And then I would just say um you know as you're working with your communities um that in your commissioner districts, please feel free to reach out
to to me on um if you have any communities that are looking at doing road projects or water projects because now is a good time to consider that given the new money uh in this capital investment bill. And then the the last item I'll highlight in the uh the capital
investment bill was a $55 million investment we made in the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center, which is our state's largest psychiatric hospital. And one of the big concerns that we've heard about from county sheriffs and
county attorneys is that um we have a lot of individuals waiting for a state facility um that are civily committed. And we have sometimes these individuals waiting in our county jails for 100 plus days uh before a bed opens up at one of
our state hospital facilities. And so this $55 million investment will increase capacity by 50 beds, which um will mean that they'll be able to serve hundreds of more uh patients per year. Uh which should reduce that wait uh time
uh for individuals to get into that facility. And I appreciate the support from uh the county attorneys and and county sheriffs within the area I represent, including Grant County, to help um get that done and to make that improvement. So, I'll stop there.
There's a lot I could talk about um that happened during the legislative session and afterwards, but we'll be happy to take any any questions or feedback from the board, Mr. Chair. So, I got a question, Senator. Um, so
that was that a bonding, you know, or was that cash that went into some of the project that you're talking about, the infrastructure project? Was that tied to the bonding bill or what was that? Yes. Um, that that was the bonding bill. And so, uh, this year there's a a $700
million, uh, general obligation capital investment bill that, uh, will be funding roads, water infrastructure, flood hazard mitigation, um, the mental health expansion, our state facilities, and and some other priorities that we have. Right. Okay. So, another question here. So, did
they pick up some of the funding for the LRIP for towns of 5,000 and under or did that number plateau and they're not going to put any more into it according to the eligibility of the list? And you know, I mean, you got to stop somewhere, right?
Yeah. So, so on LI, um their counties are eligible. They have a large city, small city bucket, and then townships. and we set aside um I believe it's an basically an extra $5 million for townships uh to help them get projects
done. And so in the area I I represent, I've had um counties, large cities, small cities, and um townships all be successful in funding. I think sometimes it can be harder for townships just because of the uh engineering costs it
can take to get an application ready. Um, so I would I would say I've I've typically seen some of the higher population townships be more successful that are having larger, you know, million-doll plus road projects. Uh, but it can be smaller for those um, you know, smaller upgrades for that program
to be successful, right? And we're still the the fiscal piece for the LGU, correct? None of that changed, right? As a county, right? Yes. And so yeah, the you might be hearing from local communities that will need your county engineers signed off
um to apply for LI. And I would say District 4 for MINDOT, you know, works really closely with uh with me as well to kind of you know, talk through different um you know, projects that are coming up and so appreciate um any communication on those as as committees
are considering applying. Thank you. The wetland replacement credits are are desperately needed. And as counties, I think we'll always say we would like that put into Bowser's budget rather than bonding because it provides
stability. And then I know Hannipin, yes, we need more beds, but we also need that next tier down where counties, and I I don't know the the law enforcement world. What I know is counties really get hammered on the do not meet criteria days where
now we have someone stuck there because we can't get them into that next level down and it's thousands of dollars a day. I know we can't do everything all at once. Thank you. And on the and I appreciate the feedback on the um wetland
replacement program and in the bonding bill I um I believe it's around $5 million in funding that was included to replenish that. I know this area in particular is quite short. Um so hopefully that will help relieve some of the costs that counties and others face when doing those types of projects on
the the I totally agree that it's on mental health. It's um really about having that continuum and our state psychiatric hospitals, if you were to, you know, think about a scale from 1 to 10, they're they're the nine and 10,
right, where the the most acute um patients are sent. And I I you know, one um you know, thing that we've looked at and had some success with, but would welcome feedback on is on crisis stabilization units. um and when I was in the house passed a bill to increase
funding for those and that led to one being opened up in Hoffman and so trying to have you know that's more on the earlier stage voluntary you know not civily committed um but there is yeah more need to build out that continuum and so I I know Klay County has been
looking at doing a regional facility county has been you know early conversations about exploring adding capacity and I think um that that's an opportunity as all for counties to work together to see if there could be more of a regional solution to some of those
needs, too. And I'm happy to support those efforts. Anybody else have any plans for Oh, I suspect Senator will be hearing more from us after September when we meet and discuss platforms and priorities.
And I will say I have appreciated um you know getting to work with uh AMC and I think they've been a really you know effective um you know advocate on behalf of counties especially with the county cost shift. They were able to mobilize commissioners from across the state
rural metro um suburban uh to come out and talk about the impact that those going to have and so appreciate getting a chance to work with them on a on a host of issues. Wonderful. Thank you for coming to the puckest parade. A lot of fun. Appreciate it. Got all of them.
Lot of fun. Did you hear them all? I don't know. I I was to quite a few of them. Do quite a few. That's good. Grant County. Like that's your father in the car there, right? It is. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of fun. I uh I know him. I know who he is. He
sent me a text yesterday on something. Is he in LA for you? I mean, legislative assistant. Oh, we have lots of help there. I forward and I forwarded on people that I thought should read that thing. It was
it was good was tied to Medicare. I don't know if you've seen it. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, you see a lot of stuff go in front of you. I would guess I I'd say, you know, one of the big things and this impacts counties that we continue to see issues with is uh human services fraud. And so like the news
from last week is um the governor uh decided to shut down the housing stabilization program um just because of the ramp rampid fraud that uh was was discovered in that program. And to give you a sense, the initial cost estimate
uh for that program was $2.6 million per year and last year it cost taxpayers about $107 million. And so I I think that's something I'll put on your radar is I would anticipate because of how Minnesota is structured where we have a
a largely county administered human services um you know system that I think the the work that counties and the state um will be doing around program integrity is going to be increasing not decreasing over the coming years and
there'll be um you know work and costs associated with that as well but hopefully In the long run, you'll have savings uh because you're making sure the dollars are going where they're supposed to go and not to criminals. If I could
make a statement on that, it's I don't think anybody's against program integrity, just remember as layers of things are added, funding may be provided now that is removed the next time there's a crisis, right? So it is still my opinion
is still better provided through the counties. It's just let's not fund something now that five years from now the funding goes away and then we're scrambling again. So
and nobody here sitting here is against oversight. It's just how do we do that without having funding removed down the road? That's what seems to happen is here, do this. Here's money. Okay, now we need that money back.
So, that's that's what I would say because it it sounds to me like we're being set up for more unfunded mandates down the road. Cost shifts. That's what that is. The numbers start to decrease. There's not an inflator
goes the other way. And another thing, the senator here helped us uh do a or secure a grant thing for the the exhibit building at the fairgrounds a couple years ago also. So good fair. A lot of people there.
Yeah, it's a good one. I appreciate your availability. whenever we this whenever Bill and I decide to call you on the phone at 7:00 at night, he answers and gives us uh gives us the information. So, appreciate your work on
that EMS. We got some more to do though, you know. So, well, I'll touch on that a little bit. you know, some of the paperwork that come down the pipe before the the webinar, you know, we needed critical answers coming out of that because that
group wanted, you know, some things that we couldn't answer, you know what I mean? And the reflections of, you know, so and it was good that you did answer your phone and that was great. You know, they were amazed. Couple of them walked out of there and they went, "What?" You know, he answers your phone. I said, "Once in a while he does, but he said
he's a busy man. You're busy. I know you are." So I I appreciate the partnership and I think you know the relationship between the state and the county is very close and um and I think if uh a lot of opportunities for collaboration whether
it's on mental healthare access or EMS or road infrastructure other uh key items and so please let me know I how I can be helpful and um serving our shared constituents. Anybody else? No.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator. Take care. Thank you. Andy and Jerry spiritual. Good morning. Morning. Doing good.
Doing great. It was a good day. Well, thanks for having us join this morning. We are here with a memorandum of agreement for um having be delegated to support the cannabis business registration. Uh we've been working with
a committee around um some of those ordinance type um kind of guidelines that will be reviewed here in a little bit. But what this memorandum kind of talks about is um how we support the administration side. So um Horizon
supports currently grant county tobacco licensing. So this would be for those uh cannabis retail businesses and the low potency hemp edible businesses. Um and so essentially it mirrors what the tobacco licensing MOA looks like along
with um a little bit of a change. One of those changes is as we've done some of the tobacco business licenses, not all of the costs from the administration side is covered by our portion of the registration fees. Um, and so knowing
that we're looking to change the tobacco process a little bit, we wanted to kind of iron that out for this cannabis business registration process. So, one of the key differences in this one says that we are going to be keeping track of staff time. We'll be keeping track of, of course, the registration fees. Um,
and then anything that's not covered, um, Horizon would annually build the county and the county would cover those expenses. So, um, wondering if you have any questions on this MOA, Mr. Chair, I do actually. So, Grant County Shell, the number six, Grant
County Shell receive all cannabis sales and use taxes distributed to local governments for S with Okay. Well, did the governor not squash that for? They did. They did, but if it comes back, we just kept it in here. If you'd like, we could remove it. Um, but we're just there's a still a lot of changes
happening with what's happening with cannabis business that we just left it in there for now. Okay. So, regardless of you know what I mean the statute, we're we're still subject to state law, right? Or any kind of budgeting that goes on down state, right? Yep. Okay.
That was a question that I had out of all of this. Anybody else have anything? Looks good to me. I'll make that motion, Mr. Chair. Oh, we're we're discussing the draft right now. Yes. No.
The MOA. I'll make the motion for the memorandum of agreement. I'll second it, Mr. Chair. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? If not, all in favor of the motion signify by saying I.
I. Oppos. Thank you. Thank you guys for your work on this. Yes. Happy to help. the 5,000 it's a what they call IP plan and you know you know it didn't used to nobody applied for it so they didn't
rolled it into the rest of the state dollars okay well now everybody's kind of seeing those writing a law and Rasperson Senator Rasperson put together a it and there was a bunch of cities and some people was there and kind of made that
up because it it had got forgotten. Nobody knew what was going on. I don't know. I thought the mayor was there. They got to do something. Yeah, we are the, you know, just like what I mentioned too. So they didn't
change their language. We are the piece for the LG, you know, as the sponsor. That's how that works. They got an engineer. That's you gota have in 12 got to be tied to all
you just put the application I was cop I got reads here and he's on the agenda for after the public hearing since we have some time. So we could give his updates now if he wanted to. Yeah. Okay.
committee updates. No. Uh Reed could do environmental services. Okay. He's here if if you want. Sure, we can do that. And then figure versus sitting here in silence or semi silence for 10 more minutes till it starts. We could take a little bit off.
So the first uh deal on there is kind of how we talked a while ago is every quarter you kind of get an update of where solid waste like organics is at. So that is what this is. This first part is shows all those tables where each city's at and we're about on par with
the same as last year. It hasn't we don't really fluctuate, you know, we fluctuate with the time of the year. Winter we're slow, summer where tonnages go up, but we're making some progress in Barrett on the organic side. Marita's been really pushing that for some of her businesses. And then I have a city clerk's meeting today. So between her
and I, we're going to try and get some more of the city clerks to kind of help push a little bit on that. But other than that, the rest of the stuff is pretty pretty similar to what it's been in years past. Um, the recycling trailers have all now been switched out to those big dumpsters
with the traps tops there. So, that's all been switched. Um, they have started running some test loads to Pope Douglas now because their sorting floor for recyclables is open. So, we a while ago agreed to help pay for that optical sorder to help pluck stuff out of the
solid waste. Well, that's all now up and running and really they got their whole floor redone. So, we should get some feedback here in the next couple weeks on how that's going. But that's all I had for solid wastes on that. Okay. But I'll say if you have any
questions with that, I'm can go to the next slide too. Go ahead. Okay. The next deal is so uh during the last legislative session they approved a grant for only for county egg inspectors to go after. So it's basically money to
fund the position for first time ever. So typically it's just been county levy dollars that is paid for Greg's time or my time or Ruben's to go do egg inspector stuff with Nasha Sweet Law. Now, they appropriated 500 million to spread out across the
counties through the Department of Egg, but they did it in a grant process. So, you have to apply and there's a couple minimum criterias, but the MBA basically said any county that applies will basically get it. It's almost like a guarantee as much as they can give you
without, you know. So, what I'm asking is for the uh permission to go at this grant and apply to use some of the money for funding. it. The minimum is about five grand, but that's if every one of the 87 counties who has county egg inspectors goes after it. So it they
said anywhere between five and 10. They said once you apply, you just put so I'll put in my deal five grand and then after they have gotten all their applicants, they'll come back with a please revise your budget plan to show X dollars once they know how many it actually is. It was 5 million, not 500.
My bad. Yeah, 5 million. Sorry. Five. There's a comment there. My bad. Too many zeros when I was typing. But yeah. So, so what can you use those funds for? Reuben's time. My time when we're out and about looking at weeds or when we
publish in the paper that we're having our noxious weed law or when we come to the townships and talk with that. There is a fluffy area whether or not we can use it to pay for chemical for highway or pay for highway dice spray. Anytime. MDA is still trying to figure out whether those are allowable expenses
because it is directly listed in statute what you can pay with that money. So they're dancing around whether or not that's allowed. So we don't get it in house. We have to exhaust it and then we reim which right now you're exhausting the money anyways with no reimbursement
at all. So this is a chance to get some reimbursement. So, and it's not a ton of money, but it is enough to help offset some of the I mean, some money is better than no money. It it'll come again next year, and then next year we'll have even a better idea of what it can be used
for, and then after that, they'll have to go fight for at the legislative level again. So, and that was through AMC and a bunch of other counties going down to testify. That's a pretty big deal for first time. What are the reporting requirements? Matching contribution. Is this going to cost us $20,000 to get
zero? zero matching, no match at all. Uh the reporting is no different than all the reporting a guy does already. Um there is a training thing you're supposed to do, but whenever you become a county egg inspector, you take it
already, so we're already covered. Um the they ask that the board give you a thumbs up or a support that you can apply for this money is the other requirement. So that's what I'm here doing now. Plus, I also thought I should let you know before I would go apply for anything. So,
good question though, Treasants. That's why we're having the conversation here, right? That's the whole idea is free money usually in free. Yeah. This one is a year, right? You're spending somebody else's money. You got to follow their rules. Yep. And strings are pretty pretty minimal on this one.
They just couldn't pass it the way they wanted to directly allocate the money. So it had to go through a grant. The NBA keeps 3% of the money for admin. So not bad. Shows them more of a first come first serve.
No, it's during this time period. Whoever applies is basically going to get it and then they'll divvy out amongst those however many applicants. So they all 87 the minimum max is five. If you don't if you get 60 of them then they adjust. So,
not a not a bad gig. The min requirements are pretty pretty little. Not a lot of our So, you're just looking for a motion to apply at the city? Yeah. Motion to apply for the grant? Yes. Yep. That's what I need.
So, second motion second. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I pause here. Thank you. [Music]
Yeah, more minutes. Five more minutes we Okay. What was the first thing on I don't know the facility maintenance. Okay. So um with um our emergency manager director taking on the facility department. Um we
talked about compensation of what um we would do for that position being taken on a department. Um so we looked at the the duties um which would be oversee I think I sent you the document that shows all the duties that would be in this
position. And so what we talked about we've never you know done this before um instead of increasing steps because then he'd lose you know lose steps or not have much for growth. um we the personnel committee decided and
discussed um giving uh him $1,000 a month um on top of his current uh annual income uh for taking on the the duties and responsibilities of the facility department. So it would be about $5.77
an hour for those duties. Any questions on that? So would that 5,000 or that $1,000 for that? Is that just $1,000 a month for the next 10 years or as long as he does the I mean I guess it
could be negotiated but as far as right now that is what we will do. was proposed for taking over that. So added to the job description were not the duties of the facility manager. There was added to the emergency
manager's job description that he also did that job. So there's technically two job descriptions. There's not just one. And and with him now that's a handsoff position as far as snow removal. Yep. So, we um our building maintenance
worker, new building maintenance worker started on Monday, started yesterday. And so, that position is designed to be boots on the ground, doing the maintenance day-to-day, cleaning, mowing, things like that. He is more of the, you know, supervisor of the position and doing the budgets, the vendors, um higher level things.
He is the backup though. So, I mean, it's not like he would never be out. No, he can get in a snow plow. That's what I'm asking. He get in a snow plow and shovel a little bit. Yep. Okay. That's cuz I otherwise I don't I
think he's going to get jabbed up on some tough beers once in a while. Mhm. Out there. No, it would be So, you know, if you look at the the role of the facility maintenance manager, it's that full. I mean, that's the job description that he also has on top of the emergency manager
job description. So, I mean, it's to back up if individuals on vacation that week. That's his role. Mhm. Okay. Any sick leave, vacation, any of that, right? Yep.
Want a motion? Yes. I like a motion to approve that. Also a retro back. Yes. retro back to I believe when it was discussed. I believe it was June 17th.
Yeah. To to the day when the board assigned those groups. Yeah. I We have a motion. We have a second. I'll I'll second that with that information we just heard. Any more discussion? All in favor of the motion sign by
saying I opposed. Do I have time for my second line? Hearing. We'll do the hearing now. It's 10:00 and we're going to have a public hearing for proposed cannabis ordinance. uh
this hearing. Well, Dwight's going to talk a little bit and then uh Horizon Public Health, Angie and Jared are going to give an update and we can hold a question and answer session. Everyone will get three minutes or less
to speak or ask a question and one question at a time. So Dwight, do you want to Well, I uh I just wanna just say a few words on the
that I'm a as far as marijuana and stuff. I'm way conservative on that. But uh but we have to do something because that's the law that was passed. So um you know I uh
you know I come from a background where I seen what drugs and booze and excessive use of all that stuff done done to people. So I I probably could sit here and say that I wasn't really in favor of any law that
that we should uh be selling marijuana or whatever cannabis or whatever. But it's here and we got to deal with it. I realize that. So, you know, we've been working now for quite some time on a ordinance and uh the
county county's responsible for it says that we have to have one retailer or whatever for 12,500 people. But each town and each township can do what they want to as far as creating their own ordinance. And you can have as
many as you want out there. U but uh I I just feel that personally for me uh one is too many but one one one is enough. So but every every city and every township can make their decision on
that. You can you can ride along with the county's ordinance and be done with it or you can create your own and and uh you know do do what basically what you want to within the state law. So that's what I got to say.
Okay, Andrew Jerk. Um, private we at President Public Health have just been assisting our five counties um with some public health recommendations just to protect our youth in our communities
and just been really um trying to assist the counties in any way. Okay. Uh so now does anybody have any questions or So I talked to Kenny and I understand
that we aren't going to get any tax money back from this now. At one time they work. Yeah. As of now it's as of now it's not right. Okay. So there's going to be increased policing and increased jail time and increased attorney fees and we're going
to get nothing out of it. Is that right? Yeah, I'm sure we will. Yeah. So, is now they're going to have do you have liquor licenses? Is there a way to license the dispensary and then up the license fee to a point where it
would help offset some of that cost for these guys or not? I'm not sure what the the license fee is. I think that would be so the states the state issues licenses. Um the county and private public health
will issue registrations but unfortunately they're very strict on how much we can charge on that. Um so we can't really increase that much. Do you know how much a license how much they are? Um it's different for every um license
type. I think um for local amp edible 250 um and then um a lot of the other ones are around $500. That's not going to go very far. How long can they get dragged out? Oh, that's two questions. Somebody else
could ask them. Okay. How long can you drag it out so you don't have to put up with it? I don't know. How long can we
drag this out? I don't know. I guess there is a applicant in another one of our counties currently waiting and so there the licenses are starting to come the pre-approvals and the full licenses are starting to come from the office of cannabis management. Um so we anticipate
we're going to have businesses wanting to apply sooner rather than later. Um it's unclear of how long we can make them wait. That's that that would be a great question for our county attorney. But we're just trying to get ready with the processes in place so that when it does come, we have um some of those kind
of public health recommendations to prevent youth use, public safety, things like that. We were in place to be able to draw from the funds that was a sales tax that was collected. Okay. But we're low population out here and it's based on
per capita. So it was like 2500 bucks that we got that first round of funding. So it is going to be a boon for the county as a whole. It's going to cost to administer the programs and babysit it
if if it passes and you know what I mean and somebody comes out here. I don't know. It's traditionally you know the metros are kind of pushing this as you guys probably know, you know. So we're just we're stuck in in the same path
that they are. You know what I mean? We can't do anything that you know they kind of steer the state as a whole. The metros do. So just got to deal with it. Potential applicants. Y is there potential applicants in the county? I haven't heard of any.
Okay. But Angie, can you just tell tell the visitors that you know there's uh there's the retail store, right? Okay. That says we can you got to have at least one for every 12,500 people,
but the but a lot of these other stores, they can sell these gummies or edibles. And basically, if they apply for that license of Granite, any retailer could sell that stuff, right? Correct. For you can limit retail um
registrations that are above a.3 potency. Um and so that's uh what the county has elected as the one one business for the county. Um bot hemp edibles. We currently have some in Grant County right now. That's something that the state has done. That is going to
transfer to local where we're going to have to register those medically, but we can't put a cap on those. And so there could be as many as would fit within the ordinance. And correct me if I'm wrong, did they go from a 10 to 15% tax on this products
clear across the state? Yes. I have to believe they did. They picked that up a little bit because it was 10% to begin with. And the tribes up north, that's where this thing has all started, right? So it's again they're trying to generate revenue for the shortfalls that the
state is staring at. What was that question? There was a question. Yeah, I was just going to say there is a question from Mandy Westerm from Roseville Township and is how many licenses does the county expect to initially issue within the county once this process is complete?
And I think it's just to reiterate, so the low edible, low potency edible stuff that would be like the drinks at um the liquor store that have have it or gummies, things like that. So currently
we have how many of those in Grant County? Six. Six in Grant County that are currently selling those. So there could be others that that do in the future. we don't know how many that would be but they would also have to go through the process of
applying. So we would get you know the information about where they are. Um but the bigger one is the retail license and our ordinance is as strict as it can be and it's and the strictest it can be
is one um retail license per 12,500 people. So, the ordinance that Grant County is proposing says we would just approve one. So, that's the most, and correct me
if I misspeak, but that's the most we could ever have in Grant County for the retail. The most under Grand County's ordinance, a city could come in and say we're going to have 10, right? But the that low low potency that can be
more and that's already in Grant County when we look at the drinks or I I don't know if people sell gummies here or not, but I know there are some drinks at some of our establishments that already have it, but that could be more. But the retail for those that follow the county
ordinance um would just be one retail. Mandy, does that answer your question as well? Yes. So, the townships and the cities, there's a form there that you guys can sign dumping it all back on the county
and then it'll be one retailer. But if a city wants to do something different or township, they have to create their own ordinance and uh you know have their own set of items in there that they want to see. So
but uh well ling that's determined by the state of Minnesota. They apply through the state. Yep. And then they have to apply they have to register through local
work the local obligation is basically zero other than limiting and if someone applies for a license and we we're like they probably shouldn't have do we have any state
um not as much as we would like um there are a number of zoning setbacks here um that would maybe disqualify them from getting their registration um as well as a couple other things So the process and please again if I must be correct me the process right now
is somebody in the county has to sign up for it's called anella account and when you got your delegation letter by email it talks about that if you're a township or city that wants to have your own ordinance you would have to have somebody that would have an account and
that is where you would go to see if people have made an application with the state. So in Grant County as it sits right now, Reed Peterson with environmental services because they they deal with um
Sony and things like that already um and he's got very smart with technology. He is um the account holder for Excel in Grant County. So if somebody has an application in Grant County that they've applied with the state for it would be
in that in that account and Reed would see that and then if they meet all the requirements from the state then they have to go through the process to meet the requirements that are outlined by the county ordinance or if you had your
own ordinance as a township or city. Yep. And if a township or city doesn't delegate to the county, the township or city would have to have their own Excella account. And um if you don't, then OCM assumes that it's going to meet all your city and township zoning
requirements. You have 30 days to respond to OCM and then OCM would move forward with issuing them a license if they pass all the other background check qualification things. And so um that's kind of the big difference is if you delegated to the county, the county will take on all that. If you haven't then
the cities and townships are responsible for their own Excel account, their own ordinance as um was mentioned along with the annual compliance checks that are required including hours of operation and things like that. Correct. Now they can make an ordinance more stringent than the one
that we have and we can the townships do that and the cities. They can make their own ordinance. Yes. More stringent. More stringent. Yes. But then they would still have to allow one in every 12. Okay. So what happened if you have all 16
townships decide they're going to do their own. Now you have have to have 16 licenses available, right? So everybody has their own. So you have one for 12,500 people. And let's say if there's one city that
decides to do it on their own and the first applicant goes to the city and and has a business there, then that would still count for the counties one. So then the county technically wouldn't have to administer that one since there's one already within the city. Yeah. And we wouldn't issue another one.
Correct. Much selected liquor licenses that this town does. They have two, right? Am I correct on that? And that's all you issue and allow. Correct. Okay. You weren't going to sign up today,
Roger, were you? No. None of this licensing and applications and insurance, none of that is going to be cheap, right? the odds of Grant County having one. There's the odds, but we don't have the foot traffic in Alexandria or Fergus or Morris is going
to have because it's still it's still a bit you got to have the insurance. So, you got to have the foot traffic coming through. And I got one question for you. You've been working with other counties, you guys, right? So, what are the what are most of the are there any townships in
any other county that are doing this on their own the township? Um, we're still working through the process. Um, some townships get back to the county more efficiently than the others. Um, so I don't think
anything's official right now. Okay. We know there's some cities that are doing it on their own, but we're unsure about townships if they just haven't responded yet or if they're choosing to keep it. Okay. But there is some towns doing it. Yeah. Like Yeah. Like I City is doing their own
Morris is doing it maybe. I don't know. Yes. The city of Morris has it. Yeah. Is there a timeline or deadline by a certain date townships and cities have to delegate? I mean I know we are encouraging them to
do it because it will help us with the process but is there by the phys state is there a timeline or deadline that they have to some of that is unclear. I think if there's a city or township that doesn't have an Excel account and OCM is ready
to ask about zoning and they haven't delegated to the county. Um if there's no Excel account then they can't respond within 30 days and then OCM would assume it fit the zoning for that city and township and move forward. Um, so I would just recommend you want to do that sooner rather than later so you don't
have or you don't miss your window to say, "No, this does not fit by zoing. You can't have it right next to a school or something like that." So if you're not in favor of wanting things, it's to your benefit to get the delegation letter
taken care of is what I'm hearing. Okay. I got another question, Mr. Chair. So they got this thing is plugged in that section five is temporary cannabis events license and permit required by four temporary cannabis events. Now is that something that that the state is
going to allow because I've been reading up on you know that the tribes are going to have be able to sell off premises. So they would probably come like with an RV or a trailer or something like that and we would have to allow that like at
a farmers market or things like that. I mean, is that going to be a possibility? We have in the ordinance that there's no mobile sales and so that removes the vans and buses and things like that and that has to be brick and mortar. But what this t uh temporary cannabis event
is, it's an event that um specific that they would ask for that can't be longer than three days in length and the ordinance says it can't be on Grant County property. A variety of different things. So, um it would be maybe a private event, maybe a wedding venue
wants to have some sales or whatnot. Um, that's where this would happen or things like that. And you can't outright not allow license types, but if it doesn't fit within the
confines of your ordinance, then you cannot approve the event over. So, you still got some power. Correct. How how it's structured. Yeah. Sheriff, if you got any comments or I don't
fortunate, you know, it's it's something the state has has pushed forward and now we the responsibility to enforce it accordingly and manage it. the best that we can.
We don't have a choice. There is another question online um from Roseville Township. It's Mandy Westerm um says, "This ordinance also includes cultivation and growing as well. Is that correct? Could someone
expand on this as well? How would the county manage the actual growers in the county?" Disclaimer, Mark and Mandy are not interested or intending on growing cannabis, but this should be discussed. Right now, we have control over retail
and other forms uh like local edible sales, temporary cannabis businesses, but we don't have control over manufacturing or cultivation. um all those license types come directly from the state and if it fits within the zoning of the county then there's not a
lot of local control. We're still looking into some details on that, but that's what we understand right now. But there's a process, Angie, right? They got to apply with the state and there's a whole bunch of uh pretty rigent
rules, right? Yes. That they have to follow. So, so just a quick Google it. Yes. Office of Cannabis Management and Minnesota Department of Agriculture are the two if you were growing
watch dogs. That's what that is. That's micro and mezo. Correct. It says Minnesota the office of can cannabis management Minnesota department of egg. So department of egg handles a lot of the seeds and so outside of their gate part
cannabis management handles kind of all the registration and this this is not like a take your garage and add two vans and you can grow. This is a half million million2 million dollar setup get going to grow
well for production legally or production manufacturing I don't know the person that's not Anybody else have any questions or the feedback on the ordinance is what we
need. Otherwise, we're going to go forward with the ordinance. you know, then whether you delegate to the county or not up to each subdivision, right? But that's but I think too that if if you're going to delegate, then probably let us know
as quick as you can, I would say, so that we can know where we're at with our 16 townships and our seven town. Well, it's the benefit is is truly yours because otherwise if you get caught, somebody does apply and you don't have anything delegated now you're you can
wind up with a business without intending to have anymore and I mean So that there's a temporary committee and Dwight and Ken Johnson so that um as commissioners and John and Jen and Reed
and myself and in public health and I think the end goal is is um when I get a little bit further down the road to have like a step-by-step process of how it would work in Grant County um once an ordinance is approved and things like
that and maybe that's something we can then share with the Cities in the township. So you can see all the steps that are included once there becomes that application that's approved in the uh Asella state account. Then you can
see at the county what our steps are working with public health and you know making sure that it meets all the setbacks and things like that. just for your information if that helps you feel better about it or just in case you have
constituents in your jurisdiction that have questions, you would have an idea of what the process here locally is. Um, we could share that once that gets finalized. And in addition to delegating, you'll
want to um kind of formally submit that you're delegating on the Office of Cannabis Management website so that OCM would know who to go to with those zoning requests. So the email that you guys got, it has those instructions and the link in there with the letter. So then you would just
go on there and you would answer the question. It's it's not very it's not a long process. And then they know right away that if there's questions or an application, it comes to the county and they're not assuming it goes to you or sending anything your way.
I got one more question, Mr. Chair, and you maybe can answer this. If somebody does apply for a micro or mezo business out in the county or the townships rural setting, they have to reclassify that property is commercial
through that licensing process through the state. Correct. That would maybe be a Carl thing. I don't that part I do not know. I don't they classify land. I don't Well, I think he told me that at one time, but there have to be some sort of reclassifying because now the property
is not residential or not. Agriculture is being used for commercial use. Right. Okay. Maybe Carl maybe heard that. I think you would we would look at the use of the property. Um cannabis or growing of
cannabis is not considered an agricultural product. So therefore, it's not a and it's producing an income. We would classify it as commercial. Thank you, sir. Any more questions or comments or any more online?
No. I got one thing, Mr. Chair. Okay. I just like to thank public health for helping us with this. Uh Grant County is a part of a 5count public health and uh our local levy is about $46,000 a year to
have all the public health services. It's one of the best deals I've ever seen is sitting here anyway. So, I want to thank you guys for uh helping us out. I got one more question. Is any municipalities getting involved with it? Like the city of Alec, they're doing
their own much like uh so they're doing their own dispensary. Yep. Doesn't have any caps at the No, I think he's asking municipally. So, the city itself, right? Excuse me. Um, not yet. No, I think
everyone's a little hesitant on the insurance and and things like that. So, no, we're not aware of anybody. Okay. uh having municipalities do it. Well, there is a CBD store over there by the police for so they must have allowed something moving forward. So that would be considered a low
potency compatible right now. Yep. Correct. A lot of rumors running around and you know what's happening and stuff like that. So I touch base with some of the commissioners over there. We sit on the regional boards and we ask and talk and just see what's going on and whether the
city wants to you know city of Alec was I was told was going to have a separate building because they want didn't want the liquor with and have different employees and things like that. So I don't know what's happening since I don't know that's been a month and a half ago we talked about it.
Things are changing relatively quickly. Yeah. Um just because guidance from the state is also changing a bit. Um so I think we're going to just see new information coming out different decisions until I would say the process
is a little bit more finalized. Well, if there's nothing else, we'll adjourn the hearing and continue on with our rest of our county business. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming.
When we get to the committee, I'm going to bring up the public 16 boards. All right. So, I had sent you some information um
regarding uh PFMLA um paid family medical leave. I'm sure you've heard and addressed that maybe with Western Curry as well. I read through it three times. Did you? Great. Um so aid family medical leave act is um going to be a so going
to be starting January 26. It is going to allow employees to take 12 weeks for parental leave or 12 weeks for a medical leave with a 20we cap. So if someone,
you know, let's say someone has a baby, they can take medical leave for the six months or six weeks of, you know, until the doctor releases them and then they can take the remainder up to 20 weeks for um parental leave, but it's a cap at
20. Actually, I got a question on that. Mhm. So, you know, the parents, if if a father is a employee of Grant County, they they they qualify for that, too. That same parental leave, same length of time,
12 weeks, plus Well, they wouldn't get the medical because they didn't actually give birth for the medical part, but the parental. Okay. Just like FMLA qualifying medical event, if they Yep. If they had a qualifying medical event, yes, then they could take
the medical leave. um that they did cap it at 20 um for that paid time. So, and that it is on the calendar. It's not a calendar year. It's when you take it is when your year starts until you can take it again or you get your weeks back. Um
and so this is a state-run system. So, they are running it through just like unemployment. um they have come back at um the counties that they are going to do at 0.88% which is split between the employee and employer employer however
that is determined. Um and so however their waiting time they're saying 60 days before they could process any claims. Um, so Integrity is who we go through our supplemental supplemental benefits through. And so they had asked if we wanted to go out for bid um to see
if there was any carriers that were going to take this on. So they went out for bids. They got a few options. Um, insurance committee met and he kind of went through all the options. Metife seems to be the best one coming back. They're coming back at 79%.
So 10 about a 10% um decrease. Their turnaround time is a couple days, two to five days depending on if you get all the information to them in time. So the employee has to fill out the application. We don't fill that out, but there is an approval obviously. Are they
employed here, you know, to verify those kinds of questions. Um, but their turnaround time seems to be a lot quicker. They have worked with in other states with this, so they're familiar with it. Um, and so the insurance committee would recommend that we would go with MetLife. We have a 2-year
guarantee with MetLife. Um, we don't have any guarantees with the state. Uh, what we've been told is the state goes on midyear. They're not on calendar year. So, their increases could happen in July. So, we could get an increase in July. Um, and we haven't gone through a
full year of this yet. So, that's another uh example that he gave us as well. So, the insurance committee would recommend that we go with Metife for that two-year guarantee um and for the processing time. Um but to do that um we have to provide one benefit through
MetLife and currently we do not. And so we looked at all the benefits. They went out again for bid to find out what benefits we could offer if any. It was um vision, dental, or if we were to move our AFLAC to something else. So we looked at all the options. Um our vision
plan, the vision plan seems like the best option. uh it's a better benefit and it actually uh adds two more in network options in Alexandria and Fergus. So we would be the insurance committee uh recommends that we would
move um met our vision plan from IMED to Metife for 2026 and then that would give us the 2-year guarantee with Metife for the PFML and Integrity and Metife have a like Western Pur they've agreed they have a
team so that will help us do this transition. So it's not state doesn't I hate to surprise anyone but the state doesn't really know what they're doing. No, where we have integrity and Metife that will have a dedicated Minnesota team to help everyone and they'll help us through the process
where the state you're just kind of on your own. Well, the turnaround time was talked about as like up to 60 days. 60 days with the state because they've never done it before. They're guessing. They're guessing. Um and then um Metife is Yeah. two to five just depending on
they got a whole state. Yep. Was it Rhode Island or something? They got I mean they So I will make a motion to move vision and then do the PM PFML PFML
PFML with Metife and then um moving our vision from IMED to Metife for January 2026 as a recommendation from the insurance committee. I will second that motion. Any more discussion? I got a question for you like uh you
said the 60 days process that claim. So what happens to that employee then once he once he files that he can go right? Mhm. I mean he 60 days before they get any money before they get their money. So but the county doesn't have to the
payment from Metife company would go to the individual. Right. So the countyy's not gotten any checks there. Well they can get 70% they only get 70% of their income. So the rest of that they can use vacation and sick time
up to 70%. It's the more you make the less you get. Correct. So whatever is remaining they can use vacation and sick. So with the state plan they could go with little to no check until they get their payment. The real benefit with Metife is you know
so Western Prairie as an example is they have disability through them. So, they only have to file one claim. They don't have to file different claims. And again, the the premium increase, we got a two-year guarantee. Yep.
Which is huge in my opinion. Right. And we don't know what the state will do in their July. So, we could get six months at 088 and then we could get a huge hike. We don't know. I think it's a I think they're just trying it just to see how it would work. I don't know how many people participate. Do you know? Uh well, I
think a lot of counties are are looking into this option. I think there were there five to seven maybe that have agreed, but there were quite a few that were still talking to their boards and hadn't made the decision yet.
Any more questions or discussion or We have a motion in a second. All in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I opposed. I have Thank you. They didn't want to talk out there, but they didn't talk in here.
They got plans for you. They got plans for me. Good. Okay. Budget and Finance Committee. We transition from the introductory
meeting I think to the more budgeting. We kind of with every department one time and so I don't know I think Chad is going to be working with which department and then the committee will have to decide how you want to follow
second. Right. And yes, building committee building meets this afternoon, right? Yep. 1:00, right? Okay. Personnel, have we met recently? recently
highway. Well, I had map generate something that you know we'll touch on here and it's on the maintenance side finishing asphalt patching on Cassaw 14 and we'll
be going back to patch on Cass 5 and CASA 8. That's on the maintenance side of it. On the con construction side of it, County Road 43 in Wendell is ongoing. Construction to resume today with paving by the end of the month. On trunk
highway 55, the new culverts are installed and the old culverts have been removed. Now work to finish the dirt work and rip wrap. When culberts on 54 and county road 2 for the ditch three project have been completed, just seating and cleanup
left. And on County Road 34 by Pineridge Park, both box culverts have been installed and concrete and distribution pads have been poured paving in a couple of weeks. And that's all I got. Does the Did the sprayer still broke
down or what? I don't know. It was I don't know if it is anymore. Well, the mowers aren't broke, are they? No. Well, There's missiles out there 8 ft high. Okay.
Guess I'll pass that information. I mean, when they when they did the Todd Cutter or whatever they did, go right by the thistle patches, they could have mowed them off on the way by, but they didn't. So, I just brought it up because I had a discussion with Bill and I were
at the highway there with Pat. He said the sprayer, this was like two weeks ago, he said the sprayer was going to get fixed shortly. Well, it'll do no good now cuz they're all blossomed. They're all They got to be ground down. Yeah, the inslope and the back slope and the ditches and stuff like that. They But
you know, it's been raining and they've been doing they've been busy. Got a lot going on in the county here. So, they're trying public safety. So we I met with Chad and we came up with a
percentage to use for law enforcement contract for the city and that is we based it off of 24 expenses but we did estimate like squad leases. We were unable to get new squads. So we were
were we paying a reduced rate I think on the old ones. Anyway, we've gotten the new ones and we've got the rate has gone up slightly. So, we've done a few. We had to estimate like utilities for the law enforcement
building. We came up with 16.8% is what we're recommending go into that contract. So, I don't know how else to do it other than to go back to 24 and use those actual expenses where we estimated where
we had to, but we would be going back to the 24 rate for the cities because that's how you get there. So, I mean, is that is the board acceptable to get that ad to Justin and to get written into a new contract that we would use that 16.8%.
So that when we get into 26, we'll look at 25 actual expenses multiplied by that 16.8%. That's what their 27 rate will be. So they will have that. One of the things we agreed to if they want to have
that early on. So they would have that amount by April 1st. Yeah. End of the first quarter. Explain that, Troy. Explain that 16%. So take any year you want going forward and
it'll be everything other than a bond payment. So everything to run the the sheriff's office other than the bond payment and you take what the actual expenses are. So when we get into February of 26, we go and ask Chad what were the actual
expenses and he'll have that. You multiply that by 16.8%. So you have a dollar figure. You divide that back out by the total hours. So El Blake has eight a day, Barrett has two a day. And that's how you get your new rate per
hour. So that because when we met with the the mayor, they were more interested in rather than just continually 3%, they were more interested in paying an actual percentage of paying a percentage of the actual expenses. I got it now.
Did anybody have a problem? I mean, so realistically, we're going back two years in what we would be for police contracts, what we would be bringing in. But I don't know how else to do it. If you're going to go off of actual expenses, you have to go backwards to go forwards.
Yeah. You got to start someplace. So, are all our contracts one year now? They they all expire after this year. And what we talked about with the clerks and the mayor is and that's part of the getting it by April 1st. The amount is
the contracts are essentially perpetual. So, we'll get them the amount by April 1st and unless for their budgeting, but they can review it. So unless they have an issue with that, which they would need to raise, it would be put into everyone's budget and we would go forward.
So it's not really like a three-year contract. It's until there's an objection, it's ongoing, but yeah, currently everything expires at the end of this year. Would you ever take the 16.8
three like in two or three years look at that again. We can I mean so I suspect the first couple years we're going to be watching that percentage pretty close cuz we don't have hard numbers of what utilities cost and the squad leases. I
mean you could wind up having us the next round of squad leases just explode, right? So, I mean, if we don't if we don't watch it and review, we could wind up with everybody just
saying no because it just blew up, right? So, what was the price of the squad leases moving forward? Was there a change in that? You were talking about that in the beginning. Yeah. 20 20 cents a mile and now it's 25
cents a mile. I don't go back. It was just we never went down there. No, just our overall our overall cost for all. Oh, but just a whole package. Yes. Okay. I didn't know if you broke it out or what you did there.
Okay. Okay. Is there So, are we good to go with that plan? Sure. We don't have to do it. I mean till we have a contract in front of us we don't have to back up right
we are going to meet in weeks I think talk about city contracts like just so we can get the wording that we want for sure then we'll give it to Justin and Justin will make us a new 19th
I see it there now is Is there anything else that you guys want? Can you send to let the cities know budgeting wise? That's what we're looking at. So they know they they're going to have to get it into their budgets. And I know we're going to be late this year.
Well, right. The contract doesn't technically I mean if they know and are good with the amount for next year, we can we'll have a little more time. But yeah, we should have that to them before so they I would hope they're all happy to go
back to the 24 rates. Okay. Solid waste solid waste committee mess. Um and you know we're working on um a slow transition to some new changes. Um, and
there is going to be a meeting August 12th, I believe, and all the people that will be affected by the rate change have received letters, invite letters from U. Environmental Services for that meeting.
Um, so that will be coming up by next week, I guess. And so there will be more updates to come, I'm sure, after that. But things are are going forward and people are getting the information and there's been feedback. You know, some
people are glad to see it. Others, you know, want to understand it if they have to pay a little bit more. But I feel like once everything's explained, there seems to be a general consensus for the most part of understanding that it's to
make everything more equitable for for all. So, what I heard it wasn't a conversation with me with someone. Well, I understand it, but I'm not happy. Yeah. So, that meeting will be August 12th, and like I said, everybody that's affected by the changes has received a
letter for the meeting. So, they all know strategic planning. We met with the license bureau and treasurer was it last week and it was
mostly centered around ongoing or going forward personnel thing. So I don't want to get too far down personnel forward but that's what we've done in the last I don't think we met in July. Well, that was July and the only one recently
and the there was discussion about some leadership training for department heads and Ashley stayed to share the information she's collected on that. Yeah, it's a training through Mo um and
so that we are a member of um a membership for and so they offer a leadership academy. It's a 12week virtual training um that you know department head supervisors can pull really anybody but um the strategic planning county talked about maybe
offering it to department heads or supervisors commissioners um if you send they have four different cohorts uh that they have for 12 weeks throughout the year that they can go to and if you buy 10 seats it's
$1,500 a person. Yeah, that's what I've seen to go through it. Yep. And so, um, but if you buy 10, it can be anytime throughout the year. It doesn't have to be all at once. Um, and so that is a training that, um, I have them looking
into to possibly offer. Um, the one that I did see through AMC is just for coordinators, administrators, commissioners. So, that one is not for everybody. So, um, this one I've heard great things about. um when I've been to
my conferences that they've sent employees and they've had good results. Um and it has been they go through I mean it talks what I sent I think I've sent it I haven't I sent it to you I think and it just goes through all of the the topics that they discuss and it's for you it's you kind of designate four
to five hours a week for it um when you're in the 12week program. So and there is some potential grant funding to pay for it through probation. um if they can be included to to take the training as well. So Tony um I
connected Ashley with Tony as far as how we would go about applying for that, how much might be available for some training like this. So more to come on that too. So do we know anything about if we wait
and get into 26 if that NO is going to go up price? I think it's about the same price throughout the year and I can check on that. I haven't heard the information I'm getting is from another county actually sent 10 employees through and
I've been talking with her about it. Um and so I have tried to get a hold of anko. They have not responded to me. Um but I don't know that I mean our membership stays the same but the price of the membership
and that like 700 bucks or what is that number? I don't know what it is, but I think we should find out if we have interest to get 10 and then the question becomes, do we budget it and do it next year or just do it?
Well, I can ask probation how much they'd be willing to I could just say this is what the cost will be. What would you contribute? And then I can bring that information. Yeah. So, I think the to me I think the return is worth that investment.
So that the fourth group cohort that started in September. No. So well there is going to be one starting at August 11th. Yeah. And so through October. Yeah. Graduation is October. That so we
looking at then at the one after that. Yeah. So Yep. Let's find out what probation is willing to do and then for grant what's available through their grants.
Yeah. And then how much uh you said you had something left in your training budget. I not going to go far, but I have a little bit just depending on I guess who sends her. We don't know.
Well, so I mean that's the question is because if we don't have 10, the price is 2250 something like that. 2500. So I would say let's see who's interested because if we only we're not going to get we get we're in that tough spot,
right? And this is that high performance leadership academy. Is that what that is? Yeah, they just sent another email out yesterday that shows everything that's proven outcomes about the program, affordable investment. Yeah, I heard good things.
Have you public health? Uh, we we didn't discuss too much. Oh, there I guess. Yeah. So, we got another meeting on Monday.
Okay. Washington Pur, I have one other one, too. Okay. Um, West Central, uh, Juvenile Detention. We're I'm on that committee. We meet every three months. But uh the last meeting I was at uh couple weeks
ago, they were they went through the 26th budget and then uh so West Central is made up of uh member counties, others like Sandy and then they also publish
for non-member counties and the non-member counties are the revenue off of that is big time. was over a million dollars. And so what they do with that is they break that down and they give each member county a little credit.
We're we're saving like we were projected at 55,189 and they gave us a credit of 16,710. So our actual uh budgeted expense for
the detention center is 38,479. and they they got a hold of Chad and gave him that information. So, that's that's a good deal. Those outside revenues there. So, yeah. And then I'm also on this probation that Dina's talking about. We're going to meet on
Friday in Graceville, I think. I I I got it on my calendar here, but uh and yeah, we we uh that's a fivecount deal, too. And each county gets quite a little money from the state each year now. And so there's some money there for things
like this. So I'll talk to him again about that. Tony came to me and told me that they have funds available for training. Yeah. Uh they can be included with our our county staff for the training. They can
help fund it through their grants. So Well, that that was good. So they've kept that that spreadsheet that we got a couple years ago. They've kept that probation line item in place and backfilled it with grant dollars. Is that what's going on there?
We could ask Chad, but I think we just gave them all that money. Doesn't go through us to them anymore. I think it goes to them. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be a good question to ask. I know what's going on. Well, I it was my
uh thoughts that the county we didn't have to levy. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but we used to levy like 50,000 a year for that program. Well, and again, this is a Chad question, but I think you're right. We used to Yeah.
But then at some point, the state started giving money, right? And they gave us more than what we were being charged. Yes. So that wound up being the problem is now we're getting more in than we're paying. Right. So it all just we said, "No, we don't want to be involved in this accounting
nightmare. Just send it right to them." Yeah. Yeah. No, no, you're right on that because But what I what I'm saying is the counties we're not really levying anything for that program anymore. Now. Yep. But but it it's it's a conser I think each county
I might be but it's over 100,000 a year. It is. I think so. It's a good problem, but we were underfunded all those years. The state said they were supposed to give us so much. They were only giving us like half of what we were supposed to give. So,
the county was fronting. We were we were subsidizing that budget more than we should have been. But, uh, so it's a good problem. That's what Tony called it. But our I know uh on the library thing and our
we got to pay them that went up 1% this year. So it'll be $700 and something dollars I think it is but they're coming to the next board meeting with their request by library. Yeah, it went up 1%. So
then we do have another out of child placement that is on the direct county roll. Last year we were over on our budget and that individual that was September they figured that would be out
but it could be another I don't think we'll go over budget on this one but we're we're using that budget a month again. So it's like 40,000 is that well it was 30 last year and we paid 38. We went back to 40.
We won't use all of that. I don't anticipate maybe but if we have another one before the end of the year. Yeah. What was that line item called again? Child cost something like that. Yeah. Yeah. It used to go social services and sheriff. So there was a little bit of a
struggle. So end up we put it on the county budget. It wasn't social services but it needed to come out of there because nobody controlled the placement and then we restored off of the placement. So it got its own. Did the sheriff at that time said he didn't want it in his budget? No.
Okay, that's all. Yeah. Anybody got anything else? Are you sure? I'm done. I need to use the restroom. I do. I need to go home now and see if my
computer works at home. print off a bunch of hard copies. Maybe Troy would know. I couldn't get my RSA to work at home. I could log in with my password, then it would call for the and it would take it.
So, have you has it been more than that? Seven. Did you time out? 11:00. How long you since you've been in? Uh, like you were gone last week. Was it more than seven days since you logged in? No. You may have to come back tomorrow and
see and see uh it. I don't Yeah, I'll go home and try it again. But yeah, so because I I'm not a big computer guy, but I'm lost without my computer.