e e e e e e e e good morning everyone and welcome to the candyi County Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday February February
4th 2025 uh if you're able please stand for the pl to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy
and justice for all all right our first item of business is the approval of the agenda and uh uh do we uh we could we get a motion to uh approve the agenda today I'll make a motion Mr chair to approve the agenda
commissioner Dwayne Anderson moves is there a second oh second commissioner Dale Anderson seconds thank you questions discussion car none all those in favor say I I all opposed motion carries the
next item then is the consent agenda these are the uh uh standard items that we typically see they include the approval of the January 21 2025 County Board legal minutes approval of the Auditors warrants and claims and
approval of the January 21st 2025 closed session minutes are there any consent agenda items any commissioner wishes to pull hearing none then I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda Mr
chair is so move commissioner Berg moves is there a second I'll second commissioner mdec seconds thank you discussion all those in favor say I I all opposed motion carries thank you uh we are at uh our first item then of
General business discussion United Community Action Partnership update and I'd like to invite Heather jeseritz to uh uh to the podium and of course as always Heather just introduce yourself and uh who you're with absolutely Heather jeseritz
uh the director of community services at United Community Action Partnership good morning um chillier than I thought it was going to be this morning I didn't even bring a coat so there's good Minnesota Planning but anyways um I am here uh to talk about the family Based
andap Services but I'm going to start with um our emergency shelter unit briefly because I heard there was some interest from the board about getting a little update about what is happening over on Wilmer Avenue and how exciting right so I'm going to give just a little bit of nibbles on that and then you guys
can ask me questions but we are going to come back and do kind of a full picture um utilization and program update on that probably in May right around there unless you want something sooner but so about a year ago we received funding for emergency shelter as you know
homelessness is not decreasing we know that housing shortages housing affordability is on the rise which means our homelessness numbers are going up as well um and so we really as a Community Action Agency look at Mission Focus Services which ties directly into
housing and how do we stabilize families here in candy High County so about a year ago we wrote a grant um thinking not a chance are we going to get it because we asked for a lot of money but we did and it was just amazing and out of that we um did a lot of research we
worked with Marcus construction and think what do we do do we stick build do we do modular um and uh at the end of the day we came up with modular are great we've been working with Northstar in Redwood Falls uh to build these these basically like Lego blocks and pods that
get stacked and stacked if you've been over by Cashwise real Middle School you've seen them I mean like one day it was dirt and the next day there's buildings right so um that's just been a wonderful process we've been meeting weekly uh the city of Wilmer has been
fantastic um again Marcus construction and um uh others here have just been amazing to work with so right now we have uh an eight plx and a four plx over on our lot and we do have room to expand if funding were ever to allow that um
and so we will at the end of it all have um 11 units that we can use for families in transition um families who are you know maybe uh just needing a little bit of help and support to get from their homeless status to sta housed um and
then we'll have one of those we're turning into an office so we'll have staff right on site to provide case management whatever that looks like will depend on the needs of the families um or individuals that are staying there but uh they'll work on things like employment and uh just any any other
barriers Transportation uh education whatever that might look like so and then we'll assist in hoping to get them into affordable safe stable housing after that we currently are working on buttoning everything up we meaning not me but I do tour it sometimes so I am
contributing um but uh you know electrical and plumbing and all that has to get connected all of the units and we're hoping for maybe an occupant see of at least a few of the units by uh late spring for shooting for you know how that works with construction but um we're going to go slow We want to make
sure we're doing it right this is a brand new model um for us within our area and many around the state uh it's it's kind of a New Concept and so we want to do it right we want to get all the pieces together um so we'll probably start by filling a few of the units and then progress and addon from there
questions any questions further yeah so I I'm on the ukap board and I've been watching this or seeing how this is going and I would just say this if if I ever wanted to build I'd hire them to do it for me because they're doing a great job with
it and it's been fun to watch I stopped by there one day took a couple photos and I really wanted to pick up a hammer and start putting in Nails there it looks kind of fun so but uh it really was a it's really kind of a neat project going on there and it's kind of impressive to watch So yeah thank you I
mean I'm I know there's a need but do you have like a waiting list or how are you guys going about filling those units or is it to first come first serve or how how is that working good question so currently when we have families who are literally homeless um and again we Define homelessness I should just say
this like sometimes it's their on the street Street Homeless are living in their car also it could be doubled up you know in conditions where they shouldn't be there because it maybe the person who holds the lease is going to face eviction if they have too many people there things like that right or um facing eviction from their current
dwelling but and and do not have a place identified to go within seven days so we look at homelessness as kind of a broad spectrum um of need so there definitely is a need currently when we have people that are literally homeless Street Homeless living their cars plac is not meant for habitation we use shelter
vouchers motel vouchers and things like that so and they're always full so yes we have a weight list currently whenever we're looking at people needing housing needs whether it's shelter first one rent damaged deposit stabilization doesn't matter there's a weight list we do prioritize certain populations so
disabled people with children seniors so we do prioritize based on the population and the needs um and but for this specific project we would utilize that same weight lless structure um so we don't necessarily have a weight list for
those specific units because of course we don't have an open date and if somebody's in crisis they really want to know like when how things like that but we do keep a wait list I'd love to not have one whether that's cuz we have enough shelter or because the need goes away preferably I want to retire someday
and I would love to eliminate poverty to be the reason I'm out of a job so we'll keep working towards that Mr chair so so I have another comment um one thing I've learned about this situation is uh people don't just get to sit and eat popcorn and watch TV all day once
they're in those places they get maybe a few days to kind of get their feet under them and then they got to start meeting certain criteria am I correct on that yeah no that's absolutely correct so we give a couple days right when you're living in crisis I don't know where I'm sleeping tonight I don't know how I'm
feeding my kids tonight I mean to be a parent not know where my kids are going to lay their head at night is it safe is it warm are they fed it it's just crushes a soul right and so right we give them those couple days to say I'm safe I'm here they can kind of relax and um get a shower a hot meal whatever that
might look like for them but then it is it's kind of like now let's let's put some action behind this what are the goals what are the barriers that you're seeing how can we help support you is at landlord connections we also see a lot of uh uh barriers just with language right so how do I find housing how do I
access different things if I have a limited English skill or literacy concerns it's not just about Spanish Kore Somali sometimes it's a literacy concern in general so we got to look at that a little bit bigger so our staff can come in and provide whatever supports are needed based on the goals
identified by the family and the barriers yeah but it definitely is an action plan for sure Roger thank you um I don't know if it's still the case but it wasn't very long ago that one of the biggest barriers uh for people to um
hold jobs have jobs and hold them was uh reliable transportation is that still an issue or is that pretty much been resolved with um action that you've taken I'm not going to say that it's the number one reason why because I don't have that data in front of me but it definitely is a is a factor in
retainability or obtaining of of employment um and so yes we're making strides we've been here and talked about our helping people get their car donation program we now have some um car repair dollars through deed um and so we are definitely making a
dent in that process of um of Transportation we'll also help with bus tokens and bus passes and things like that but um it is still a a barrier we have a lot of families that can only afford one vehicle but very few families can afford to only have one worker right
we also have a lot of shift work here and so we have parents having to share vehicles and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't um I will tell you not to go on a tangent the biggest issue right now as far as job retention and obtaining employment is the lack of child care yeah a whole another
conversation we could have for days right child care and the lack thereof is a huge barrier to the employment issue yeah one more thing St um I'm going to okay all right first okay okay uh thank you Mr chair just a quick question uh I know the needs out there there's a big
need out there uh how how do you coordinate with Family Promise and and how are you different if you are absolutely so we coordinate with Family Promise we coordinate and partner with Salvation Army who also does vouchers we you know the the domestic violence safe
Avenues and when we look at the prioritization and we assess families we really are looking at yes of course we have to look at where where there is availability right first and foremost who has an option and then if we have multiple options what's the best fit what are their needs are they flee
domestic violence we want to connect them with the domestic violence experts which is not us that would be safe Avenues we have some where if it's a single male um safe AV or sorry Family Promise isn't necessarily the fifth that's not necessarily aligning with all of their criteria but we can so then it's us and so we work really well
together and say not just meeting the need but what's the best possible solution of what we have available thank you go ahead sorry when you talked about uh daycare could you mention a little bit about bright lights and good news that we had about uh you know getting it
yeah gosh D you know I'll talk for days up here y'all you know I just told her I have an hour and half it'll help me with my report on and I don't have to report yeah yeah yeah no that's great so with with child care shortage of course we're looking at slots across the board right we know we're hundreds of slots short
within candy High County alone and at ukap we have our head and Start program which we provide Early Childhood uh services from birth actually expectant mothers all the way up to kindergarten ready age five and so for the past I want to say don't don't quote me but
well you're going to quote but 78 years or so because I can't really say that here again I seven eight years or so we've been um in a a wonderful partnership with kigh County lights and power and we have 125 kiddos that we um support every single day out at bright
lights and we've spent the last four plus years writing grants to try to be able to purchase that um facility and um we finally got the money so now we get to purchase uh that building and we will have a permanent forever home for those
125 kiddos and their families who also receive great services and of course by owning it it's an asset and so we will be able to save rental dollars that we were paying on rent and put that back into programming so it's really really exciting is that good tne that's very
good thank you all right everybody asked all the questions I would have asked so so so so you're up here to talk to us uh today about uh uh uh the just a general partnership update and then I know that you have an item after this so
absolutely so the real reason I'm here I'm just kidding is um Family base and peace up which PE up is our parent support outreach program so each year we come and we give a program and a partnership update of not just what UK Cap's doing but some of the needs that
we're seeing some of the impact um and then again just why the partnership has been so pivotal and instrumental in the lives of famili so if you're new which uh if you're new but if you're not new too family Bas and PE off is where
um ukab gets referrals from County Social Services for family Based Services those referrals are based around Child Protection report or child protection cases they've been identified as needing um guidance in the home to
either uh reunify families or retain the family unit as a whole in a safe environment that's where the family base comes in with the parent support outreach program it's a voluntary program that families can um commit to um some of those referrals from come from the county some come from other
Community Partners but at the end it always ties back into the county so the county always gets loop back through with these dollars um and what happens that with that is ukap Staff go into the homes of individuals uh or families could be a dual parent household could
be singles could be moms could be dads it doesn't matter what the Dynamics look like but they're kiddos that are in need and parents that are in need of supports and so some of the things that um we can work on is um nutrition and organization parenting um
truancy um neglect just different things that they're needing help with saying I need to be able to parent better and more confidently and what does that look like County social workers are heavily involved in these cases they let the ukap staff know what what's the county
expectations what does the county expect to see for reunification or again keeping that family unit together um and then we also because we believe and I think all of us think that and know that if we have some buy into the plan we're more apt to support it and really work
that plan and so we also want to hear from the families what are you feeling that you're needing help with what would you identify as goals and so uh ukap staff work on both the county expectations and also some buying from the parent at that same time we've been doing this for well we were just talking
records go back to 1999 but I'm thinking it's more 1996 is 97 because we have a staff Shelley singer she's been doing this with ukap for 28 years under contract Leanne staner has been doing
this for 19 years as well and then um one thing that we've really learned in the past few years and I guess we've known it longer than that but really been intentional is services in first language and um we know that regardless of how good anybody is things get lost
in translation words for words don't necessarily always translate and also the cultural Dynamics and understanding changes the trust and the relationship that you can build with families especially when we're talking about such real sensitive sensitive information and
so um ukab has been really fortunate to hire staff in multiple languages we have staff that speak Somali and Karin and Spanish that all Provide support um for families needing these services in their first language which is just a real blessing and kind of unheard of um a lot
of the times we did just hire a new full-time staff person who's Spanish English speaking she comes with um over 20 years of Client Services domestic violence Services trauma training and of course being Spanish so we're really really happy she's just starting her
third week so kind of drinking from a fire hose but I think she's just going to be a fantastic addition and the knowledge that she'll bring and I think that's the other thing I want to touch on is with Staffing is that the training that they have again in the trauma and the Aces and the children's mental health and chemical dependency and just
the WAP wrong coordination that it takes in their training to say we aren't the sole people that can do all of this well we need to tap into other other places right the schools and pack four and Woodland centers and who else needs to be a part of the success of this family so staff do a really great job in that
as well currently staff have uh case loads of anywhere from um 12 to 18 which is a very heavy load 8 18 with this is is very heavy um and so we want to look at case loads and making sure that we can impact at the same level and if we
need to uh increase in higher Staffing then we then we do so and so we'll look at that as well lastly I'll talk about how we connect uh monthly uh in person with all the social workers at are referring and staff and the social workers connect literally on a daily
weekly basis to make sure that they're following plan okay good and questions U and and I think we will just segue then right into um uh what Caroline is here for today to yeah have question yes go ahead and stay
up there in questions all right good morning I'm Caroline KH I have the opportunity to serve as the Health and Human Services director for candy ohigh County uh thank you for the great overview um Heather about why we choose to partner with ukap in so many different ways so everything
she shared prior to talking about the program that we're discussing today are other ways that they impact the families within the programming so at the end of 2024 or during the last quarter we had some really intentional conversations with ukap Partners in relation to our family support service and how we would
like to continue to to move that relationship forward what we needed uh from our staff and from our supervisors to best support our families as well as to how do we start equipping ourselves for the future there's this little thing called Matha that's been going around in the conversation so we've been having intentional conversations with our
partners and really pushing that cultural appropriate care forward and asked um so you may notice that this um conversation is coming to go effective January 1st through this year and I'm here on February 4 talking about this because we needed some time to see could
we hire somebody first language and then if we can can we grow that so we can start to provide more of that culturally appropriate care now because it is the right thing to do so that's why I come before you today requesting the ability to move our um contract forward with
United Community Action Partnership for our family based and peace up services this is an increase in the services as before but not an increase to our overall family based programming within our AG um so we will be looking to kind of grow
that ability to allow for increased support with our families um as well as growing that first language service so my request to you today is to approve our our contract um allowing for the the growth of this
program all right and uh at this time uh are there any questions for either Caroline or for Heather cor well I'll have questions after the motion and I Mr chair IO move that we accept this contract for uh with him for
2025 there's a motion to approve the contract is there a second I'll second that Mr chair thank you uh any discussion questions you mentioned there was an increase like how much was the increase and so forth yep so we we looked at our overall inhome support dollars and how we're supporting families at home and this would just
kind of reallocate to allow for a greater expansion of amilies in an economical fashion so the increase would go from about and can I just use round numbers for conversation about that 1255 to a 1925 so about a
$67,000 increase but overall the budget that we typically spend on our inhome services last year in 2024 was about uh 376,000 and this year um once our contracts are moved forward we'll be looking at about 309 or 18 so we are
actually finding an economical uh adjustment with this uh reallocation of how we're we're looking at structuring our inhome services not only for the best use of our staff today and our clients today but how are we going to continue to grow and leverage um as we move forward with the legislation uh
requirements in front of us very good if I understand you correctly then our budget does cover this yes yes this is within our budget and actually a a cost savings um even so yep thank you all right any other questions for either
Caroline or Heather Roger thank you um I don't quite understand if we're increasing the budget where where do the savings come from do we taking some work from our staff no we're so within our contracts we're just kind of reallocating our our
contracts moving forward as to how we're um we we sat with our staff and said okay how are we serving our families best and and can we consolidate our contracts to to do that moving forward Ward so we'll be looking at now that we are knowing that that we can move forward with this looking at our next
contract to say okay and we've had discussions with our other partners um in relation to the to the work and that we may have a change in our contracted relationships for this year so we had funds that weren't being used is that what they were just being
used elsewhere so it's the same same amount of dollars um it's just with our various Partnerships and how we serve families in their home we typically have partnered with two agents genes um and ukap in allowing us to again moving forward with that first language how can
we continue to to leverage our ability to serve families um now that we know that we're able to move forward with this growth then we'll look at changing the other contract to to a more streamlined approach so these have always been budgeted dollars always been budgeted
dollars y you're just taking from one other place and adding it over here and subtracting it from there yep and and and very full conver ation with all of our partners at at the table with these conversations and and really staff driven like we went back to the staff and said you know where are we utilizing
how are we best um serving our our families and how can we best do that moving forward and taking their input as we make decisions moving into this next year Mr chair yes yeah thank you Mr chair just so I'm clearing this again so then uh these other agencies will be
cutting their budget their contracts will adjust in reflection so our families are still going to get the same if not more support um with this adjustment so I'm talking about the dollars yeah the dollar they'll get less dollars versus and it goes to here
gotcha they're aware of it just in full yep full transparency on how that works and and and full discussion so all partners are aware of these um conversations all right does everybody have the information they need or is
there anything else that you have uh questions if not then we have a motion and a second on the floor to approve the uh uh 2025 uh family Based Services contract with ukap all those in favor
say I I I'll oppos motion carries thank you so much and by the way it has been just an amazing thing to see that uh shelter facility uh come up and uh uh just really excited for that I remember
when that conversation first started happening so so that was fun Heather thank you so much yeah thanks guys Caroline you have the next uh order of business as well yes I do and I am going to invite uh our two economic assistant
supervisors to join me and share a little bit more about this story um do you need me to reintroduce myself and this is the uh eligibility worker early higher presentation correct correct so just if I could have one moment to re organized my papers here um this morning
I'm going to allow them to introduce themselves before we get going so I'm Carrie sharp I am one of the economic supervisors Dana wenes a financial assistant supervisor all right as you guys had
previously met them at our work session uh in 2024 related to this issue uh this morning we come before you to really talk about the ways that we as a community need to address these critical Workforce needs within our eligibility team and specifically discussing an
early secession um project so I'd like to discuss sorry I think that we have do you happen to have that it doesn't look like it's on the screen here are you able to pull it up to open I mean I could really go through this
without that too but okay and we have we have this you have it too so you we're just going to talk a little bit about our current landscape again we gave you a full picture of where we were at in 2024 but I wanted to provide a little bit more of a landscape snapshot today so as of today as we
talked about at our work session we continue to see a rising application volume um we've SE a significant increase in applications that has simply outpaced our staff capacity I asked the team to pull together some some numbers uh so high level in Staffing numbers uh
in 2019 and really to try to show you pre-co after covid a lens on that we had a combined eligibility team of 22 staff and today we have a combined eligibility team of 25 um in our menure at our Mets on an
average in 2019 our monthly documents that we facilitated with that team of 22 was 322 documents in that area in 2024 our average monthly menure and Mets documents that we receive is
1,236 so that's a 30% increase in just simply documents that we we facilitate on a daily basis our medical assistance and other financial support documents in 2019 from our ma medical assistant and our Maxis documents that
we created and worked was ,19 and today that averages um 6,018 per month so that's a 35% increase of documents simply facilitated it's really difficult to just give you an application snapshot because each
application requires a various amounts of documents and facilitation and processing within that I want to talk about our backlog a little bit and the persistent delays in the critical coverage um for our community and our constituents I'm going to tell you
something that's going to feel very transparent and very alarming because it is to me but we're we're we're simply at a time where we may Eclipse ourselves in our application to Renewal timeline um right now we're still facilitating and getting through a few applications from
March of 2024 and that's not unique to Candy ohigh County that's very much happening throughout our community um but I want to allow Dana and Carrie to provide you a little bit of context because when I see that I'm like why are we not done but I need you to understand what's coming in on a daily basis and
and the lives that we're touching that keep things fluid so I'm going Caroline before they come up this is in relation to the um uh greenle green screen SL organ Trail type software systems that
uh the state has not updated in literally decades y that is that is a factor and I wish that was our sole answer but it's simply not at this time um there are it's a very complex scenario if that if we had a perfect
programming system I still don't feel that we would be able to meet the simple like the capacity that is coming into the door today um so I would just like an opportunity to just have them put a few stories behind the impacts that this delay is having on our community again I
don't want this to be viewed as our staff aren't doing their job because they are doing everything and then some and and and crying on a daily basis with outcries of how do we do this differently how do we do this better what could we do to try to facilitate this um and I'm really proud of the work
and the efforts that they put in to address this issue but it's much larger than what we're able to do just in candy ohigh County so now we need to step back and say what can we do so I'm just going to let them um share a few stories if that's okay as we continue
to yeah yeah yeah yeah if I could just kind of a follow up on that question this is also part of the the co thing and the unwind unwinding we we call it and and we're still in the process of that as much as we'd like to be Unwound we're still a
little you know and and so what you're a little ahead of me in my financial piece so we'll talk about thator this is just a really complex complicated web that the state um of our County and the state in general have
found themselves in um so if it's okay as we talk about our Brad implications I do think it's important that we actually put some stories and we're just going to do some general um weaving of probably some different things so it's not related to one individual so um I'll
allow them a space Roger thank you Mr chair um Chine yes um similar question to uh what Mr Berg asked about the unwinding process how long will this unwinding process uh take
and um if it's an unwinding suggests that it's um somewhat temporary is because once you get the get it on Unwound we should return to normal applications is that am I understanding that correctly commissioner in in theory
yes I I think that is the best hope and that's how I would look at this too unfortunately I don't think that the systems and structures and and processes and changes that are in play at this point are allowing us to be successful in that in that endeavor not necessarily
candy oh high County but as a as a um State as a whole as All Counties um every County wants to be completely done with this but every county is still working towards this unfortunately um if you if you go to our counterparts and
our partners at the state they feel that we've we've passed this yet but there are still implications behind that are not done um and and we're living them every day as to how do we as as we talked at the work session believe at that time we had the iteration of the 42nd update to one of the policy manuals
so when they're changing it on a weekly basis and our staff are trying to implement these new changes with little to no guidance that delays our process to unwind and un become fully successful in this our best hope is that this will be a strategy to help us get to the point where we're not eclipsing
ourselves and coming and what I mean by that is this application is was March and we're almost in March so that becomes a renewal then so it's a process of an applic and a renewal and that's a scary place to be for me because that's not what we should we want to be doing
and that's not again at default to to the the work and effort and passion put in by the team every day it's simply the structure and infrastructure we've afforded them so that's why seeing what's also on our Horizon um as we as we cut to the chase of this is is an
early secession plan we've had conversations with our team and we understand that some individuals are looking at retirement over the next 2 years or shorter um and knowing that and knowing it takes two years to get competent and confident in this work
again when you're changing it on a weekly basis or a bi-weekly basis at a minimum um we need to be ready and proactive and see okay if we can early hire an early secession plan for these individuals that we understand will be that have indicated to us do we have it
in writing no but we've had some you know good conversations with our team members um regarding this um how can we control what we can control and start to equip ourselves and in the meantime maximize our opportunity
to address this critical need and Roger you have a follow yes thank you Mr chair um in this unwinding process um does any of it have to do with federal dollars that have come through to the state and then to the
county yes there is federal dollars intertwined so I recognize that and I even asked Kelsey and I I'm going to administrator Baker I said is this the right time and and quite honestly I'm grateful for her response of the work still needs to get done and we still
need to put our best effort forward so what I can tell you is that these the funds that I'm asking and discussing today are funds that we've already received so they're not funds that we that we are at a at an in um a vulnerability of saying that bills not going to get paid because they're bills
that they're funds that we already have and waiting to be deployed so that we received some additional funds from the state um to address this unwinding and prior to my um coming to Candy ohigh County there was a plan in place and today I'm just my my proposal is to
adjust that pivot or pivot that plan to meet this need differently I have Cory first okay thank you Mr chair I'm kind of my comments and questions are kind of a followup of that we're kind of overlapping commissioner MD's questions too is looking down the
road I think we're all well aware on the federal level that there's a good possibility there be even more cuts and and these Cuts will trickle down to the state and the state's going to have to make some decisions coming to us and that's what you're saying so the unwinding we're unwinding from the stuff
of Co but we may continue to have even a major unwind if we do any of these major cuts on the federal level so uh this one more reason that I think we need to support this at this point even though I do not support hiring new staff at this
point in time with all the chaos I say on the other legislative levels uh that we know about yeah and and I hear you and I appreciate that Viewpoint um it's simply by not addressing this we will address it in a different way with other
critical needs um going back to the the federal funds uh have the been promised or delivered my understanding is delivered that's why I have my FIS back up delivered in our in our account today um
there's a difference there's a difference there is a difference Y and I recognize that if I may I think one of the concerns too and why I said that comment to Caroline is because we're already a little bit on the fence with the state where we're at with our renewals I mean we are behind we're a
large County you can we you can pull the list of counties uh these two staff no more they just educate me on it they we are at a percentage where we what where we're at that could be hindering possible future funding from the state
and so why I say the work still has to get done is because we have the federal money now we have the state money reimbursement because we haven't tipped under that line yet but if we don't do something now we will tip under that line which will affect our future
funding from the state we can't predict what the federal government is going to do on that part of funding but we need to do our part and make sure we can stay above that line so that we can get the same amount of funding that we're currently getting from the state if we tip below that line they're going to say
okay you're not getting your work done here's another slap on the wrist you know they put us on performance Improvement plan uh different things like that we're on one I mean I think that's really the name of the game we have to stay above this line so that we can get the funding and we're not the
only County absolutely we are not the only County and but why I say because of our size is because we're this Regional Hub and we have a lot of the individuals that take these services and so we I want to make sure that we are not falling below that
line to provide adequate services to the residents of Cana County and not only provide um the resources and tools for the staff to be able to get that work done well to that end Let's uh let's let's hear from staff now and then if there are any other questions we'll
handle those at the end yeah so um am I allowed to address the one question about when the unwind is undone that there will be less work just for the for the record just introduce yourself sorry Dana wenes Financial assistant supervisor um we're
seeing an increase of application so we may be in an unwind process but those primarily will be renewals and documents changes from past cases we are still receiving um an a large increase of applications which tells me going
forward I don't I really don't see that that's going to decline as well as insurance cost through employers is going up quite a bit you guys know this you you do our contracts um and one of the things that we get applications for
is clients that can get reimbursed for their premiums so instead of just being on Ma they can go onto their employers plan and we help pay that premium for them depending on income number of kids there's a lot of factors um but as those insurance cost through employers rise I
do anticipate that we will not be losing any kind of work so that is just my comment on that sorry as I was thinking it through um in the last couple of weeks we have had to make some very very difficult decisions down in our area um
excuse me I just want to let you know some of the ones that we've had to decide that I really don't think it hurts my heart and it hurts our workers Hearts um we have multiple clients on a priority list right now we have 75 applications
currently marked as a priority our oldest priority application is from September 5th of 2024 so multiple clients with transplant needs we're getting calls weekly you know can you rush this through can you rush this through they're on a donor list we really need you know his ma
approved um then the the same day you're getting a phone call but we have somebody that's an ICU at Rice because they've been insulin rationing um we need them to have their ma open so that we can get them treated and get them their supplies so they can
go home um a call from a distra mother with a child that has high behavioral needs um because we haven't been able to process that application they're not getting medications or treatment so this child can stay in school um and and move forward with improving high-risk
pregnancies needing care uh we had one recently that was ectopic pregnancy it was not caught because we couldn't get the ma open fast enough for them to catch that requiring emergency surgery um and one last thing is a client needing cancer screenings but centricare
won't see them until their ma is open that is probably one of the newest ones so it's going to be a while before we get to their application even on our priority list um so just to stress these are decisions that they're their life and death decisions that without staff
and properly processing these timely those are the kinds of decisions that we're having to make down there every single day so again I'm Carrie sharp I am the other financial assistance supervisor um kind of to reiterate what Caroline had said about our applications we also have
51 non priority applications that we're struggling to get through as well the oldest one from that is March 1st of of 24 that actually does create a double uh application process when we do it because they are automatically entering
those applications letting it interface into the Billing System closing it to do a renewal because those are way past the 90-day window for the state to generate the renewal so all of the applications were processing right now that are old
are actually done at least twice sometimes three times depending on different circumstances um on average the same workers are receiving up to 60 or more phone calls a day regarding applications or changes that we've received pregnancy um
notifications things like that and they're seeing 40 or more walk-ins you know so those workers aren't working in the system actually entering these applications they're the ones that are client facing and we usually have two people doing each of those you know one
doing walk-ins one doing phones every single day um Caroline went over the numbers and I think it's important to just really understand the difference the preo numbers and the current numbers are we basically essentially have the
same amount of people working and during this whole last year we weren't fully staffed at all times there was about a 4month period we only had three people working on the menure system because we were down staff you know so even though
those numbers and those those documents we getting received we're nowhere near touching those we have thousands of documents waiting for us to be processed and that affects our clients lives every single day thank you did you any specific question for that oh yeah on yours
answer questions oh y did you have questions I'm sorry are there are there any questions all right then we're gonna move commissioner uh thank you Mr chair just want to make a comment that uh this is a very good presentation and uh excellent conversation discussion that
we're having I think we covered a lot of ground on this and understanding was taking place thank you I think it's important as as much as it's hard to hear these stories it's important to honor the fact that these are the this is literally the conversations that our team has on a daily basis and they're so
influential in the way that just our community is able to thrive and in the lives of our constituents here in candy ohigh County so again I'd like to reiterate we got a little ahead of ourselves earlier in our conversation but our proposed solution is to to re early secession plan for the three that
were plan where um have indicated a retirement um I can't promise you at that time I won't come and say hey could we have a little more time but for today that is my request is to plan for an early retirement strategy uh secession planning to to allow for seamless
onboarding and further training and and maximize our opportunity to have more hands and hearts touching these programs in that in that dual um time frame again I think we've talked a lot about how our constituent health and our this will this strategy will impact our
community and help us have a greater shovel moving forward so when we get down to numbers uh currently within those unwind dollars in the bank um we have about 20 well not about
$233,600 exact on an average Levy cost so this will help offset that Levy cost each time each hour that we're working there is a portion of state and federal that come into that that we receive reimbursement for um but so I'm going to talk to you just about the levy impact
and how we're going to utilize these dollars on the levy portion um on average it's about $15 15,45 per month to have so our original strategy excuse me I got ahead of myself was to have an over hire of one so it's important that as we as I prop a strategy that we don't lose sight of
that one and just say hey we're going to slide that onto the levy and not discuss that so the numbers I'm talking to you about will include four because one already exists so the average Levy cost is about 15,500 if we're going to do round numbers um so that means that we have
approximately 15 months of the four that would will be completely covered by the dollars we already have in reserves at the bank to do this project what happens after that 15 will natural changes happen throughout 15 months of working
um within any Workforce especially High um high demand jobs and quite frankly it is a high demand job with a lot of moral complications to it that add to that so I don't want to lose sight of the work that our team does on a daily basis so I
feel confident that proposing this to you is is an economical a strategic decision um and also best honors the staff and the community as as it works so the request would be to early hire um
three FTE um at this time in planning for the three that we have been told um are looking at a 2-year or less um likely 18 months or less until their retirement Mr chair thank you Mr chair just to I'm a little confused you were
you're requesting the uh for three slots or four slots well one exists you guys had approved prior to me coming to Candy High the utilization of one and then that would have just covered it longer right so those dollars have already yeah okay thank you so this is for three
additional three additional Y and and and by the way than thank you for framing this in terms of the impacts on real people uh in uh in all of this this isn't a theoretical exercise by any spre
of the imagination Roger thank you Mr chair so um you described the uh impact on the levy um with the money that we have in the bank and then what we need to is is that does that carry through into year
two and year three or don't we know that yet so at that point we we would look at either not rehiring or coming back to say can we can we rehire this as that retirement happen so if that if they come if I go downstairs today and have a retirement notice on my desk we'll have
to have a conversation um but right now it would be that ability to have those three FTE for that 15 months and then have those discussions as we move forward um so it would be 15 months until any of this would have a touch to the levy okay thank you and and that
would be the 15 months would be the decision that we would discuss and bring to board if it goes into the budget for how many FTE they're they're asking for so this doesn't go into year three year four going to relook at that to see if
those fdes are still enough or we don't need them anymore if we're caught up so that will be relooked at re-evaluated probably throughout this process to be honest and I will say just to interject on one comment when I started here in February of 23 I
remember the previous director coming to the board talking to about an unwinding um and then this has always been a discussion Within These units um and we have tried everything I will say everything we have tried every option
that we possibly can without having to increase the staff that has been my number one thing that I kept telling them even when Caroline was brand new like I'm not adding staff figure this out come with another option they'd come with another option I'd approve it it
wasn't we were having issues and so this is something I will say kudos to the staff they've they've held this out Dana and Carrie have put up with my nose for a while um and they've been very strategic and thoughtful on this this isn't something that we just thought of
in the last month this has been something the three of them and I have been talking about for a few months if this is something that we could do and how would we ask and how would we present the board with it it was talked about that at the health and human services committee meetings and so it's
it's been really vetted and I hope that this is the final answer and that we can get over this Iceberg a little bit but um I think the staff are really holding in there and trying every other option Dale well I I just want to say I
from the work session and from conversation that I hear you know I think you guys have like Kelsey said have worked very hard at trying to make this work um and for that reason I I would move that we uh hire the three FTE
on staff's request we have a motion to approve the request of staff for the uh new hires is there a second I'll second that Mr chair thank you join um
discussion Roger thank you thank you Mr chair um and thank you guys for the presentation because I came here today um maybe a little prepared to uh Challenge and push back a little bit on
new positions we we really uh um face some potential challenging times here that we have to uh we can't have our head in the sand when it comes to this I I have a uh note in front of me from at one of our futures meetings we um had a
presentation from David Huff who was the administrator of henpen County um in the Twin Cities of course and he gave a very good report which is part of an annual report about the number of positions that that our County has the number of
new positions the estimated retirements in a couple of years um it it's just a the amount of turnover uh in different voluntary retirements uh the number of postings and all of that information would be really really helpful to us as
a board as we look forward as to how how do we face potential new positions necessary or perceived necessary um then you add on top top of that uh the threat to Federal funding I know we got a
resending order about a week ago from a general cutof of federal funds uh but KY is still in the crosshairs as a result of being arbitrarily and inaccurately labeled as the sanctuary County so we are still in the crosshairs on that one
regarding Federal funding um which is a threat and some of the funds a lot of the funds that we have if that if that Federal fund is cut off there simply shouldn't be any work to do because those programs are no longer funded so we're going to have to
have a hard no on on some of the places so that's a challenge and then probably as big a challenge as anything to our our Levy and our taxpayers is the um the governor's proposed budget and even if half of that proposed budget comes
through we could be looking at a 4 to 5% Levy increase just on cost shifts from the state of Minnesota hopefully if the legislature ever doeses convene um they will push back on that proposed budget because um it's going to
be a a direct shift to counties uh some counties estimate if it all goes through as high as uh 9 and a. half% and that isn't even counting MAA so yeah it's an amazing uh caution that we should have
regarding uh what we as Commissioners uh think case going forward in terms of our Levy and our and our taxpayers uh dollars I'm trying to I'm not asking for no no but but I want to say I hear you and those are conversations that we have
on a daily basis um I had a conversation with uh our fiscal supervisor Carol yesterday because I said I need to tease out exactly what is our dependency on federal funding so Federal funding decided tomorrow that it is not paying for an additional way of they support any of our staff I now am feeling fairly
confident in it's not as big as I thought it was it's approximately she hates my hit math somewhere between 20 and 25% for a year which is but again I was thinking prepared for it to be a much larger number than that and when I look at our budget and I look at the way that we are stewarding the dollars and
the way that we um came out last year and had a we didn't even we came out much better than expected and I'm really proud of the staff and the team and for the work that they do to Shepherd these dollars that we receive from our our neighbors to do work on behalf of of our
neighbors I will tell you that if we don't do this work we're going to be adding to that Levy increase in very different ways at a much more expensive way because if we don't meet the critical Health needs or the mental health needs of our neighbors because they're not able to get their ma processed and I hear that if if Ma isn't
funded at all um that that doesn't exist but there will just be some other way in which we're required statutorily to meet that need um so we're going to need these hands on deck and if we don't start to get out of this hole we're going to find ourselves deeper um so we're we're we're balancing these
strategic decisions and I I what if we about six months that since that work session like the work session their Hope was that we'd come out with more staff from that and we we went back to the drawing board and we tried a new strategy and we tried a
pivot in a different way and we tried all these other Solutions so we didn't have to do this but we simply cannot not put our best effort forward and make this request on the on behalf of the staff and I hear you I have those same concerns and and go through that
frequently because with the governor's proposed budget and with other things we are looking at so how do I keep you all informed um and and looking at what are we scheduling in for work sessions that we maybe weren't planning to schedule in because you need to have all the information available so I I I guess my
response is I hear you and I have those same concerns but I also have to weigh the needs of the the neighbors same as you are too and we're just coming at it together thank you Mr chair and I I uh you don't need to convince me again because I said push
back I'm not going to push back I'm going to support this I appreciate that as our taxpayers and as my colleagues sit up here on the dayas it's something and and you as staff and the administrator something that we uh may
clearly have to face in the up coming um months and years I hear you and and I appreciate being a part of a county that can have these robust conversations um and really look at it from all all lenses so I appreciate I appreciate that
cor I just want to pile on this conversation as well because this is maybe a good time to have this discussion this is really good discussion and commissioner endc your statements are just really right on I feel I hear from citizens in our community about the dollars and and everything and all a sudden we hear
what's happening on the federal level too we have to be really really careful and watching every penny not that we don't we're I mean I'm not saying we're blowing money here at all just that we're going to have to just double check everything even more so now as we go forward and and people are concerned you
know what we spend their taxes on and we see on a federal level people want to eliminate government you know and that's not a lie you know this is where we're at and uh we going to be prepared for that I remember years years ago when one commissioner was concerned in the board
uh this person uh was a real commissioner and the price of eggs went up 25 cents yes and they uh they made some decisions about increases because of that you know we have to be the buck stops really with the board so uh we we
are going to watch things even more so and be more conscious thank you anyone else all right anything further for us on this then we will uh move the question all those in favor of the uh
staff recommendation signify by saying I I all oppos motion carries thank you I just want to extend my appreciation on behalf of all the staff downstairs watching and and and and our appreciation to you and all of that all of those staff uh it is uh it is
incredible work that you do under a lot of really severe constraints uh and uh thank you all for for that work uh do we need a break or anything um before we take a break Mr chair uh I'm I would ask for a little Indulgence on something I
was going to report in report on on of the report outs but I see that Carol tson is here so uh if I could do it now instead of then yeah uh sure so I received uh a letter from uh commissioner harpstead uh you might as well come up
recently yeah please come on up um on the 202 three audit so was it was really late and I'm thinking why am I receiving this and it's oh I saw the date and I saw that and I'm going to read the letter it says Dear commissioner imic he said uh she said it's my pleasure to
commend you and your staff for perfect performance in meeting the department of human services financial reporting requirements for calendar year 2023 all key quarterly fiscal reports for programs and your count uh programs your county participates in were
submitted to our F Financial Cal Operations Division honored before the report deadlines in perfect order this effort required submission of 32 major reports covering the four calendar quarters of 2023 these reports are and they go on to list them if your county
participates in a local collaborative uh submission of this report may require the collection of multiple local partner reports for consolidation to submission to DHS I know this accomplishment requires planning and efficient operation and teamwork within your County Human
Services Department the result is timely for your county and the compliance with federal reporting for us at the state please congratulate your management and staff on the subp effort sincerely jod harpstead commissioner so congratulations consider this the congratulations thank you I appreciate
it you so all right uh does anyone need a break or can we bring Corey up first and then uh and then take the break let's do Cory let's do Cory first all right let's do that
um oops and I am on the wrong page hang on just a second uh Corey Smith uh go ahead good morning Mr chair members of the board Corey Smith the director out of glacial Lake sanitary sewer and water district I'm here before you today for the New London water tower restoration
project the project acceptance and the final payment for this project we received seven bids on March 12th slack pain in LLC of Brandon min inota was a low bid at $436,000 the project consisted of complete sand blast and reconditioning
of the Interior wet and the uh entire exterior partial removal and spot repair of the Interior dry full curtain containment updated skate equipment and installation of a mixer uh the work itself began on May
27th and was substantially completed on August 25th um during the project we had to take the tower itself offline and it was offline from June 14th to July 26th and during this time we had to rely on our high service pumps
to provide um drinking water and pressure to the residents of New London the project itself came in at $2,866 under the original contract price which brought the cost down to $44,988
um on January 27th the commission recommended forward forwarding this to the county board for consideration and with that it is commission's recommendation to accept the project and make final payment to slack payon
LLC Mr chair I move on would move on staff recommendation we have a motion to uh uh approve the uh Pro uh accept the project and make the final payment is there a second I'll second that Mr chair thank
you motion of the second discussion hearing none all those in go just a comment this was a major project very major and a lot of pieces put together on this and did an excellent job thank you and and if I may add to
that um just just a reminder that we are looking at some or looking at going at a federal CDs grant for our other two water towers that we have um I believe we'll be submitting that application next month and and hopefully looking for funding and completing the other two
towers in 2026 so very good any other questions all those in favor say I I all opposed motion carries Cory thank you so much we will take a 10-minute recess like those pictures that they had
that is e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e it are you ready ready all right the candy oh high County Board of Commissioners are back from Recess at this time we'll ask Mel Odin
our Public Works director uh he to come up and introduce three separate items to us Mr chair members of the board this is I'm Mel Odin KY White County Public Works director um the first item I do have three items consecutive the first one I had is our maintenance striping
that we do we do about 150 to 160 miles every year and it's a latex paint and then the other thing we do is all the Incorporated um cities except the state a city which be the city of Walmart but we do all of our maintenance typing on a
third of the county and then all are Incorporated small cities so with that being said we bids were open in March of last year they completed the project last summer um what you have before you
is the 5% final retainage of $673 6.39 so it's my recommendation to accept the project issue the payment for the final retainment and make final payment to Camco Incorporated out of um dael
Minnesota all right you've heard the requested staff is there a motion to approve the accept the project to make final payment um Mr chair I will make a motion to accept the project and make final payment to Camco Inc out of dle
second a motion at a second and is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I all opposed motion carries next item Mr chair the next item is a detour
agreement or wait a minute that's the next one I here the next one actually is is a final payment for the the walking trail on the North Northshore Drive North Side of Green Lake a little over a Four Mile Trail that projects were uh
the bid were open on July 18 of actually 2023 I wonder if that's not a miss Miss misspelling but whatever um the project was built last year and what it was is it was an overlay of the project
and all the Ada improvements um the bids were it was completed in October of last year and and maybe you recall if you've been if you ever drove the project we when when the project was
put in originally we did have some um we we run into somewhere when we're Milling we what we do is we Mill off the top and then we overlay it with a 2in mill we actually were Milling through so we run into a few areas that were a little unexpected but with all being
said um we think the project turned out good it's um over Four Mile of a trail Improvement for us and it all meets 88 now so it's my recommendation to accept the project and authorized final payment of the of the retainage plus some minor
concrete items in the amount of $2,931 15 and accept a project and make final payment to dck Incorporated out of pburg Mr chair I would move on staff recommendations regarding fining payment and accepting the project we have a
motion to approve is there a second go ahead I'll second uh discussion M just a quick question you I I think I'm hearing you say that there were some areas of that initial project that were not built
spec is that essentially so what what yeah what we found was we actually when we were Milling we actually milled through into the gravel in a couple areas so we had to Beef It Up So you you do see if you look through all the the details in there we had to beef up a few
areas but honestly um the good part of it was is it wasn't failure you know prior we did an overlay so and an overlay is just to give you back your ride and get rid of some cracks and and we were actually we were surprised
because the path held up very well but that whole area is gravel anyway so the subgrade up there is all gravel anyway so um so we feel good about it okay and uh Roger just on a side note even though there's a really nice Trail there a lot of people think they have to drive out
on the street yep even though the trail is 20 ft away from you know but um that's good and bad because the there's kind of an written um maximum speed on Trails you know 15 18
miles hour and the people that ride road bikes we would prefer them to stay on the road because on the trail you have people walking and actually enjoying themselves versus sweating and um they
sometimes get a little bit frustrated when somebody whips right by them and and um that is something that actually I think might become more prevalent with ebikes because people now the Casual
people have ebikes and they ride the trail because it is casual they're not out there just trying to do their 12mile lap on the lake they they ride on the trail and I do know that is something that I do get some complaints on any other questions or
comments right we have a motion in a second to accept accept the project and make the final payment done at G all those in favor say I I all opposed motion carries thank you and uh your final item the final item is a detour
agreement um with mot for using 10 miles of our County Road three and seven this is the third dour agreement we're having with mot this year um two of them are in this location and I don't know if we could we pop this
up on theen screen quick so maybe could we zoom in a little bit more all right that's pretty good so here's wmer up here and the DeTour for this is going to be on this p pie of work right here they're going to be do
some concrete Paving some guard R work some miscellaneous work along here but you might and and they're going to be doing that from August through November I get the door you're okay um August of November through this
year that's when this work's going to be done but you might remember that when we did an detour agreement earlier this year they're going to be doing a turn lane on one and 23 and a turn turn Lan over here on three and um 71 by
demographics that work's going to be done in April through July of this year so we're going to have detours going on the DeTour for this one is here over to Raymond the detours for these two which we did at the last meeting is going to
go down five down to seven for the heavy commercial and the car traffic would go over to Raymond so the point of all this is is that we've got basically three D2 agreements in this area uh this one is
for this one only and so what what the what the state does is is they enter into a D2 agreement for maintenance and Road life consumed so for the 10 miles of road that they have um earmarked for this work the state will be paying us
about $56,950 um and that was for a 90-day project so it's my recommendation to pass resolution 2025-the the county to enter into this DJ agreement with mot um for this project this summer thank you you've
heard the recommendation of staff is there a motion toh move on the resolution Mr chair I will move to pass resolution 2025-the hearing none all in favor say I I I all opposed thank
you all right and we are back to perfect timing uh at this time we have uh eth Judicial District treatment Court presentation uh Tammy Joe leeberg and uh John Patron that wasn't working earlier but I
will will Melissa will be able to still pull it up on the streams okay we'll see if it comes up but if it doesn't we have it here if it doesn't come up so okay that work yeah that works just
fine for us okay good morning Tammy Jo liberg director Community Corrections and I have with me John Patron um from Community Corrections as well we are going to give the uh presentation on the
E Judicial District treatment Court um John is our drug Court um probation officer and he's going to discuss it with you today and then I'll be available for any questions so all right morning and just introduce yourself for
the record John La Petron I'm Ye Ye yes I am from treatment Court um I need I'm not even going to use that
um treat court or like is an intensive su su supervision of high risk and high needs drug clients um currently we have 16
people um with four pending from our County um [Music] we we also partner
with like like merer County and they currently have five and I think they've got like four pen pending also all of our referrals go through Shane
Baker and then they come to the treat treatment Court team the uh team is made or like is made up of like or like uh judge
wiel me uh Laura Garvey there's a lawyer for the clients and we have [Music] two social workers um the uh clients are usually in this
about at least a year if not more um they they they work through stages um on stage one they are all in
treatment um and they and then I contact them at least three times a week um and then once they get through that stage then they go to stage two
where I don't have to have to contact them as much it you usually goes down to at least once a week um and then there's stage three four and five
um we have court three times a month uh twice here and once in like and once in Meer County um stages one two and three
have to be at all Court hearings stage four and five have to come at least one once a month um we test them three times a week I
do weekly home checks with them sometimes at night and on the weekends um I sometimes call them on the weekend nights to see if they're home cuz they do have
curfews um the success rate I don't have those kind of stat that's um but the clients once they graduate then they go back to regular
suit su su supervision and that's a step down and they're usually on for at least another year and so John uh if I may then uh uh this is uh as you say really uh an
intensive program and the clientele are really deep into this addiction and and and and this is why they need that type of supervision if we don't have this program uh then what
happens so drug court is a specific program designed for specific types of people placed on um probation we have multiple types of intensive supervision right and so for drug court um they are identified as high-risk High needs
individuals with this type of need right so some there's other programs for some people with different types of needs um that we might have on a different type of intensive supervision so it's it's it depends on if how they're identified as
what type of needs they have um so but this is one specific program for individuals with this type of need thank you uh any other uh do do you is there anything you want to add first before we go to questions or we can go to questions and we can see where we're
at unless um so okay yes y Tammy uh John presented on this at the Community Corrections advisory council meeting and I thought it was interesting information because it's changed a little bit maybe you want to talk a little bit about that how it's changed
from Doc how how our County staff are now taking this on because yep um I think that's important for the board to know yeah um so um cany County Community Corrections just in the last 6 months have taken drug court back from the
Department of Corrections um for the last couple years the Department of Corrections had run um the drug court or the probation office um for Department of Corrections had been having assigned a probation officer due to funding cuts to the Department of Corrections they
have withdrawn in the past year out of um the drug court and had no were no longer providing that service so as a county we um step back in and are now providing the probation officer as part of that now part of the drug court is
providing some of the funding for that so we are receiving some of the drug court funds um for John's salary so the county is able to um recoup some of those dollars back and some of the funds back for that is is part of some of the things that we're doing but it the drug
court is not funding it entirely is is how it kind of works back um there was a time years ago the kenyo high was part of the drug court then Department of Corrections became part of it and now we're back involved so that's one of the reasons we were're not able to give you real solid statistics right now but we
will be able to give you statistics as we go forward is because now that we're back involved we are going to track some of the statistics and how things um are working through the program and the the evidence-based practices that we're using and think how they track through
not only just drug court but back into our supervision level and where we're going with our probation thank you are there any uh are there any questions cor thank you Mr CH so um several of us have been the drug court graduations for example what
you're saying though is going to continue kind of like what it was except we are going to uh be a bigger part of that that's correct we we are still involved with it we are collaborating with the drug court team with Shane with judge wiel um it's
just now it's our probation officers with candy oh high Community Corrections that are involved instead of Department of Corrections that was good good good collaborative effort thank you any other questions and and just to be clear like we talked about in the
last couple years um in the last couple years even though our probation officers weren't supervising the individuals we had open our doors for our cognitive programs and different things we were always involved to a point with drug court because they didn't have the capacity to have the cognitive programs
that we were using and so we had always been involved to a point in the drug court and and I suspect that that's an important uh component to all of this because uh when uh when a when a client
is just starting this they've still got those old old ways of thinking those old patterns uh that type of thing and so it's the cognitive uh uh piece piece to this uh that assists with them kind of getting their hands around their and
their mind around the idea that hey things can be different is that a fair care yeah not only is it a critical component it's actually a required component as far as evidence-based practices as part of the way drug court is supposed to be run
is to include the cognitive behavioral programming and then to my earlier question if we didn't have this program what would what would happen to folks they're just in uh in in in their standard in the standard probation without the supports
uh uh um we might see a higher level of recidivism and um people more in the jail and higher costs um we know that um higher levels of recidivism higher cost are in jail more people um more
kids in out of home placements um more um just general costs in the community more victims in the community um some of these programs really really it's hard to put a dollar amount because not only are we looking at the cost the tangible
costs of the cost in the jail and the costs of the you know what we spend as um Community dollars but also the cost to our community in terms of families um what happens when your um children brothers sisters neighbors and people
are addicted and they the what happens to them sure um cor go ahead oh thank you Mr Cher you were waving at me right yep I didn't want to interrupt you though um I just want to comment you have really a great team you have put
together there and it's been operating quite well and I want to give a shout out to judge wsel too does an excellent job M John can you can you speak to the transformative piece of this for the
folks who get uh through the program uh because we're really at the end of the day we're looking at outcomes right uh for uh for these individuals and their families and their loved ones right um once they graduate
um most of them have have have have I've been sober for months or like if not years um the average person
that we've been graduating has at least 900 900 days sober so at that point a lot of them are really at the point where
they've changed so much and they've changed their friends they changed what they do where they hang out that they don't even want to go back to that um we do have the ones that re relapse again
and we try to catch those as quick as we can so so that we we can get them back on track again and you bring something up with that then uh if if there is a relapse or something like that that doesn't
necessarily mean the end of the program for them there's a reset period yes there is and we try to use jail as the last possible thing and if we do have
have have them in jail judge W's thought on it is we want them out as quick as possible into treatment again to keep them going any other
questions comments I think I think this is one of The Unsung unsung programs uh within our County uh and the difference that it makes in the lives of people like uh commissioner BR said I I to have
been into a couple of these uh uh graduations and and it's really uh amazing to see uh you you're looking at people who have literally been transformed uh through this program and
uh uh the community is better for it uh our society is better for it and uh uh and certainly the individuals and their families are all the better for this as well so any any last comments
questions John Dr leeberg thank you very much for being uh being here today and giving us a brief overview and uh uh hope to make uh some more of these uh uh graduations as we're invited thank Youk you thank you so
much all right I'm just we're decent on time so we are at the uh administrative updates uh appointments calendar and committee reports are there any administrative updates uh that we need to right
now uh any appointments no all right uh please go ahead uh two calendar changes
um one is for uh February 25th it's a Tuesday yesterday we had our space study meeting with our building committee and we've added some staff to represent each committee or I'm sorry each building and
yesterday at the committee uh we uh W Architects and Engineers was proposing a board work session and so we are looking at everybody's calendars and um we would like to propose February 25th it's a Tuesday morning that afternoon you would
leave for the legislative conference um but we are proposing 9:00 a.m. we're figuring about an hour and a half 2 hours tops so if that works in in person yep
um so w would come here yep W would come here and do the bring the board up to speed on where we are at with our findings and different things like that so I would if that works for everybody I will schedule that in full board the full board yep February 25th at 9
everybody is good anyone anyone have a conflict with that no good okay uh the other one uh Caroline um I think just was so entranced by eligibility uh forgot to
mention that March 4th uh doesn't work for the work session anymore we're going to have we would have a supervisor out and we would like to present on uh HCBS waivers Home and Community Based waivers and how that that process works it's kind of a Hot Topic in uh the government
state and federal government right now and so March 4th doesn't work for them uh but March 11th does that's an off week that would work for her and the staff would that work for you all I'm
open that's uh Township Association uh oh that's right election day for County Township or town ship their annual meetings what's that their annual
meetings at 31st yeah but their their election yeah their annual meeting is you know each Township meets I mean starts at like 3:00 so would we be done by then or yeah I would propose like 9:00 a.m. oh
okay I'm good you know work yep I'm good I am an on vacation that week but I and fine because it's a Health and Human Services work session and she will lead her and her team will lead that okay but if it works for everybody we'll schedule that in as
well that'd be about a 9:00 a.m. yep what do we call that one the Health and Human Services work session I'll get these on your calendars yeah can you send a reminders but um I will say to sit tight
on the March 4th date don't fill that in too quickly um okay uh Mr anmu would like to he's going to be here presenting on the Strategic plan he's going to kind of give the lay of the land on what his process will be uh more coming from his
point of view regarding what was in The Proposal uh he might need to meet with you individually following that meeting but I will I'm connecting with him this afternoon so I'll keep you all posted on that um and I think those were the calendars that I and then just a reminder on the next Tuesday for the
board operating guidelines procedures work session that's at 10:00 a.m. and then um so we'll change that work session for Human Services on March 4th and then Road and Bridge work session for March 18th that is planned
uh Austin had sent sent out a ditch hearing that'll be at 1:00 but we might be able to start Road and Bridge prior to that it'll just depend on what's on the agenda so I can kind of hopefully keep you guys moving and uh I did have that question for you uh regarding rod and Bridge uh
how how much uh time that's going to be because we do have a two hours two hours perfect we have intergovermental 3:30 and that's here too right yeah all right is he
scheduled yeah we're we're jammed up here the first three months of the year especially actually so all right um any other uh calendar items um I can mention a little
bit so this has kind of been I feel like I'm really going to geek out on this now but this has been I've been in County government since 2017 and I've always wanted to do something like this um but I opposed it to the department head group and they were really excited I mean they were excited you got this it's
kind of a fun thing when if I was High School I would like be like really geeking over this um April 4th it's a Friday we're going to have a stu Student Government day I don't request all of you to be in attendance because I know you guys all have busy schedules but it would be nice
to have at least two of you so if you want to let me know which two of you if you want more to come um we're really mirroring this from another County they've had really success in this um we're starting with the Wilmer and New London Spicer school districts so we'll
have a group of kids come from both schools and we'll highlight we'll do a Q&A with the department head group we'll maybe tour a Dispatch Center will um County attorney Shane will help do maybe a mock trial we're still working on the schedule there but I'm I'm really
excited that we're going to be able to do something like like this and hopefully it will continue to grow and kind of flourish and we'll continue to make it our own but that was the other thing I just wanted to touch on if here here yep so the Q&A would be nice to
have a commiss commissioner um on the panel for questions and you know just talk with students about what County government does what time is it um in the morning yeah I'll send you guys the draft schedule that we have but I think
it's starting around 8:30 yeah 8:30 or 9 yeah it's a very tentative schedule now um but the school districts were very excited to promote this within um both schools so we sent them tentative flyer and a schedule so you'll be more
uh included when we finalize everything all right very good thank you for that and uh oh I'll mention it now before I don't uh before I forget uh tomorrow morning I'm going to be sending you out uh
evaluation forms it is that time of year where uh uh administrator baker has her uh annual performance review I'll be sending those out to you tomorrow and uh uh there will be instructions for uh uh for completing that form and we'll want
that back uh uh within about a week uh and then after that I've haven't told you this yet Dwayne you and I are going to uh review these and uh and and uh compile a uh uh uh compile the results
and uh we'll bring that back then there will be a uh uh session uh at our next board board meeting following that at our next board meeting yeah okay so wanted to mention that now before I uh
before I forget uh we are now at U uh committee reports um uh commissioner m Are you able to uh yes yes I will i' be happy to start um just uh actually with a fifth week I did not have as many meetings and it's very nice to have some
extra time even though I ended up being on the phone a lot and doing some other things but I didn't have a lot of things scheduled I did have some uh things happening though and I just want to share with you and one very important thing uh tened open mike uh with administrator Baker and we had a very
good conversation that went really well I uh had an ADC board meeting and I think other people be reporting on that so uh things are moving right along there far as replacement for Mr bman and
uh we got water report on that down the road uh the big thing I really would want to share is that uh at the end of the day on Friday I received notice that uh Prairie Lakes director Dr Holly Booth uh submitted her resignation and I have
to say I I very sad to see that happen uh she's had such a great working relationship and went both ways uh with the board and and had met many challenges that were uh outside of the scope that could be prevented for
example Co when she started working and and the budget issues because of Co and and the placements and the financial issues of the problems of the board because of all that that she had to take on and then we had the fire the deal with so she's been through a lot and she
got us through a lot and we have a great team that we have uh she submitted resonation and on on at the end of the day on Friday and uh she gave us a month to find a replace and so she'll be with us still until the
31st and uh we plan uh we have a very good team uh and she's uh working with put together and helped a very good team managing the pre leges uh program and I'm assuming going forward we'll be meeting as a board um and to deal with
do we look at uh doing this full uh major search or not uh again and we will be meeting to uh finalize how we're going to move forward but in the past we uh there's three different uh departments or there's several different
department and department heads underneath there with the group homes in the secure unit and we have excellent directors in each one of those and uh in the past somebody stepped up and and would be the acting director until we
got a replacement I think we're going to as a board I can't speak on behalf of the board at this point but I'm sure we'll be looking at internal candidates as well as external candidates so uh we are planning to move forward with everything planned uh uh Dr boo had laid things out really well uh with the board
going forward so we're in really good position for something like this we just hate to lose her uh but we were lucky to have her this long she did an excellent job all right thank you uh I had a Soil and Water Conservation District meeting
right after our last meeting um kind of interesting that was the first one I've attended um just kind of interesting to see what they're all up to and what uh in their new building um that was their first meeting in their new building so they were pretty excited to show it off and and it's uh it's actually kind of
amazing you walk in it looks like a pole barn from the outside but you walk in it's a pretty really nice uh meeting and office facility that they added on so kind of impressive um the next night I met with a group of um concerned um Township uh
people and planning and Zoning just to hear some of their concerns and they're going to present something to Kelsey and and see where that ends up um and the other thing that I had which like corki said it's kind of an off week was um
just the um tourism meeting yesterday um and they uh have a lot of stuff going on in the county like always um the interesting thing I was talking to Ralph a little bit on the break it we're still seeing almost 50% of the money spent in
K County coming from out state so it's kind of amazing that there's still that much people coming into this area to see this area and I'm guessing the Spicer Fest had a lot to do with that that people came in to to see the castle and to you know be part of that event but
it's it's fun to see from month to month I thought maybe it was just Christmas that we had that stuff but sou Falls and Fargo are kind of our big people play places that people are coming from so it's interesting but that's all I
have thank you Dwayne yeah so I had uh six meetings in the last couple weeks uh C6 drug task force met uh drug free Coalition um I sat in for Steve Gardner who is the delegate I'm the alternate uh because he had another commitment he had
to go to um I had a as task force meeting armors uh that was last week and then had Broadband committee meeting yesterday and then Vision 24 or 2040 uh meeting yesterday as well and then to keep things short I just I basically
left my minutes in my mailbox so if anybody wants to look at it they can but I do want to mention Vision 2040 um we bumped up the uh the budget for uh to set aside for the 2030 census and then
also for housing uh uh yeah housing study think um so uh the census is going to you know it seems like a long ways away for 2030 but it it all of a sudden you know ends up being right on your lap and so part of
the plan is to set aside money so that we're more prepared this next time for uh for when it comes up and the 20 the census is very important for a lot of different factors and I'll just leave it at that but uh hopefully we'll be prepared this time a lot better than last time
maybe thank you Roger thank you Mr chair so um since our last meeting on uh we had a PR Woods environmental Learning Center meeting it was the third of three um strategic planning sessions and
so um we had that it was actually not the strategic planning it's part of it but it was the master plan that is being developed by srf uh Consulting and so we had the presentation on that uh I had an EMC
Board of director meeting on Friday the 24th on Monday the 27th I had a CPT meeting in Morris and I put that information uh in your I sent it to you like Dwayne did uh because I would likely forget some of the stuff that was discussed at that meeting then we had
the um uh leg sanitary store and water district meeting um then uh space study uh board uh yesterday or was itday indry yeah M and
then also uh broadband and the at Broadband uh Dwayne and administrator Baker were there um we got some disconcerting news for me in in that the bead program federal dollars coming to the state of Minnesota about $652
million um largely kenui County will not be eligible for uh those funds because of supposed designation that we have areas that uh especially in southern kenyo County that are considered served uh because they have fixed based
Wireless uh options and U so that really uh creates a challenge for us how we go forward uh to fund the final buildout of uh Broadband in cany County that's all I have thank you uh
since our last uh uh board meeting and first of all I want to thank Dwayne for for uh uh stepping in on the DFC meeting and also Kelsey and corki for taking care of Mike I was at uh in St Paul for
the AMC leadership Essentials uh uh uh board uh board chair training and uh nice session it was the uh uh it was the their first crack at this and uh uh and I'm sure that there will be some suggestions that come down from this uh
and and and something that uh I'm sure that they'll continue in the future I found it uh uh I found it helpful uh and then the second day we sat in on some of the uh training that we've all done for U uh at the same time they were concurrently holding the commissioner
101 uh training uh for the new Commissioners and so got some Refreshers on things like uh uh open meeting law and other cating topics like that so uh was able toh take that in
the uh EDC joint Powers board uh you know primarily that was a u uh you know business as usual sort of meeting and as uh commissioner Berg indicated we have uh the process moving along uh in terms
of our executive director's search uh we've been informed uh was it just yesterday that uh uh we had was it 6 applicants for the uh position and there are 10 uh individuals that have been
invited as semi finalists to continue uh with the additional vetting and uh we have a uh special joint Powers board meeting scheduled for the 24th uh uh at which we will select uh
our finalists uh for that uh position we're scheduled to do that anyway and between now and then uh we'll have some uh uh uh video interviews and some uh assessment uh worksheets that will have
to be uh uh taken in uh in our and I say this in partial gests in our spare time uh so we'll have uh uh the three of us on that uh board and our city counterparts we'll have we'll have plenty of work to do in that uh uh in
that regard Roger and I had AMC board of directors and also on on the 24th um the uh legislative update that AMC put on basically gave us the uh state of
disarray uh that uh state government appears to be operating in at the moment and that's uh that continues to be unfortunate uh West Central Industries uh meeting I need open this one up because I don't
oops no just open up date please no it's not doing that for me either um oh there we go um yeah that's that wasn't necessary to report on uh AMC leadership Essentials concluded with a
uh uh with a virtual meeting then on the uh last Thursday uh several of us attended a uh uh presentation by uh Spectrum uh on Friday uh over at the Wilmer Community Center uh they uh presented a
uh check for uh uh uh to the community center for a uh mobile computer lab essentially uh project that uh that they're doing and they had a nice little uh presentation on on
splicing uh uh the fiber cables uh the little thin little cables that I couldn't even see so I'll just I'll take it for their I'll take their word for it that they were uh that they were actually splicing cables
uh but an interesting process there and then yesterday I was down in uh meeting got moved to Marshall because of uh uh Township meetings happening in Renville County over in Olivia but the supporting hands nurse family uh partnership uh
joint Powers board uh met down there yesterday and uh uh our uh executive director will be going out on a uh uh on a leave and so uh uh Sarah Benson uh the uh uh Human Services director down in U
uh Renville County will be stepping in uh Contracting on a part-time basis to uh help us with that over the next several months while our uh director is is out on leave um
I'm thinking that I had one more thing but I can't uh but it's but it's gone I can't think of it so uh is there anything else uh D well I just opened my an email here um Soil and Water Conservation District is having an open
house on April 1st from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and that's open to everybody so I just seen that so I thought I would mention that so all right thank you for that and uh is there anything else if not then uh we will adjourn this
meeting of the candy High County Board of Commissioners thank you everybody and thanks out there everybody for watching e e