Good morning everyone and welcome to the Candyo High County Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday, May 20th, 2025. Uh first item of business, uh please stand for the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Want to extend a welcome to everyone watching on YouTube this morning and uh also to uh all of the residents uh and
interested parties who are in attendance in the boardroom this morning. First item of business is to approve the agenda and accept a motion to do so. Mr. Chair, I'll make that motion. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson moves. Is
there a second? I'll second it. Commissioner Mckex seconds discussion. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Next item of business is approval uh consideration of the uh consent agenda uh which consists
today of the approval of the May 6, 2025 county board legal minutes. The uh approval of auditor's warrants and claims approval of human services warrants and claims. Cancellation of
human services warrants. approval of the April 6, 2025 County Ditch 10 hearing minutes and a permit application and insurance approval for Spicer Commercial Club for events held July 3 through 6, 2025 at Salsbury Beach. Are there any of
these items that any commissioners wish to pull from the consent agenda? Commissioner Mdeck. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. the uh item E, approval of the April 6 county ditch uh hearing minutes uh should probably be removed
that those minutes would be uh approved at a ditch at a ditch meeting. Shane Shane's nodding yes, I agree with that. All right. So then your motion is to uh remove item E remove item E from the consent agenda. Is there a second?
I'll second it. Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Then we would accept a motion to approve the balance of the consent agenda. Mr.
Chair, I'll move to pass the consent agenda. Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson moves. Is there a second? Mr. Chair, I'll second that. Commissioner Bergs. Thank you very much. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you very
much. Uh first item of business is uh consideration of resolution 2025-15 SSTS loan program applicationwork plan. Uh and Christrista, good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I am
just introduce yourself. I'm Christa Ka for the environmental specialist with the county. Um, I am here before you today with a resolution for the county um to apply for um a with the MPCA to
continue to offer lowinterest financing to land owners upgrading their um sewage treatment systems in an effort to improve water quality. Since 2001, we have been offering or the county has been offering lowinterest loans to land owners. Since then, we have given out or
we have loaned $7,565,000 worth of loans. We do have allocated um funds that of upcoming systems to be installed. That'll put us over 8 million. So, this has been a very very good program for the land owners.
So, I'm just here before you today to ask that we submit the application for more funding. Thank you very much. Uh, is are there any questions from the board for Christa? I move on on the uh is that a resolution? Yeah. Move on the
resolution. Um, I lost it. 2020 2025-15. There we are. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Uh just I'm in full agreement that's a a
tremendous program that uh really helps folks out and uh and helps us with our water quality which we know is so important here in Candyo High County. Anyone else? All right, hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Next item, uh, uh, Director Eric Van Dyken, zoning administrator for, uh, uh, planning commission recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Eric Van Dyken here, county
zoning administrator with two action item requests from the May 20th meeting of the or excuse me, May 12th meeting of the planning commission. Um there are two items uh recommended from the
planning commission. The first is an item that originally was heard by the planning commission in April and uh brought to the board and at that time the board uh sent that back to the planning commission for some further consideration. That is an application of
Justin Anderson for a beef feed lot in Kfax Township. um up upon the direction of the board, we did bring that matter back to the planning commission and they did have
further discussion. It was not um another full-on hearing. It was basically a discussion of the existing record and the findings in particular. And um if you've had a chance to look through, you will probably note that the
the findings that um have had some additional language added to them are findings number one and four. This is commensurate with the areas that the board focused on when we when we came in in April. Um finding number one in
particular relates to um property valuation and use and enjoyment of property in the area. And finding number four relates to um odors, fumes, dust, noise, and vibration. The type of impacts that can come from various
various operations. Um those two in particular have had their language added to to further clarify how the planning commission reached its conclusions. Um a couple things maybe to note about that. as a as a planning commission weighs and
balances any given proposal, there is there's kind of two sides to it. There's I would say the negative and the positive side. The the negative side first is an assessment of what is the actual potential risk. So low-risk type of proposals have fewer expectations of
them or fewer perhaps um actions that they would expect on behard of part of the applicant or fewer conditions necessary and higher risk proposals u would tend to have more conditions and or more expectations of an applicant um
in their proposal. And so planning commission considers that side and then they consider um what are the things that have been done and how do we analyze this um given our our regulatory structure our philosophy of agriculture.
You'll see in particular in um finding number four, we um go to some length there to quote our ordinance, which also references out to state statute, which helps kind of set um perhaps the picture
for how do we view agriculture in the county and and um animal agriculture included in that. So those um findings are amended to to add those those emphases. Um the planning commission had
a I would say a good healthy discussion on that again and did recommend approval with the same conditions as original and uh that there were four of those and with amended findings uh that was made
with uh one abstension. So with that recommendation, staff does recommend that the board approve this as per the recommendation of the planning commission. Thank you, Eric. Uh I'm going to ask the board if uh anyone has
any uh question before before I ask that uh Commissioner Anderson. Well, just for the record, I will not be commenting on this or voting on this because I have a conflict of interest. Thank you. Uh any of the other board members? Any
questions for Eric at this time? All right. You've heard the recommendation of staff. Uh, Commissioner Burke. Mr. Chair. Uh, thank you very much. I would like to make a motion that we approve and pass the recommendations of the Kui County
Planning Commission Board and listing the four conditions and findings. Thank you very much. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Dwayne Anderson moves or seconds. Any discussion,
Commissioner Ber. Mr. Chair, thank you again. I just also like to thank uh Mr. Van Dyken as well as the planning commission and board to uh going over this again and paying attention to the concerns that we put forward. It's very good to look things over and review them
and reading the minutes and talking to you briefly after the uh the other day after the meeting that it sound like you had a very good discussion. I feel very positive about this and uh uh it's helpful. Thank you. Anyone else?
Uh I'm just going to add that uh uh we cannot overstate the importance of agriculture in Candy Ohio County. Uh we are a nationwide leader in agriculture uh and we highly value our livestock
producers and uh uh I will be happy to support this approval as well. Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Uh you have another item for our consideration. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um the second uh recommendation from the planning commission is on the application of James Dika. Um Jim runs um Three Fingers Sawmill that has been a business in the in the county here for some time. He
used to be located up um north highway 71 um with some visibility from from the highway and he is proposing now a relocation to uh the business area
behind I would say the Candy Power Co-op. That's kind of the most prominent business that we tend to associate with that area. It's a commercial industrial district. Um Jim is does several things. He um operates a sawmill and he also
custom makes u furniture a lot of from a lot of the wood that he cuts. Um he has kind of changed some of his focus over the last number of years. He's had some problems with people perhaps coming and dropping logs off and maybe not picking up their stuff later. And so he's he's
um grown a little weary maybe of some of his overstock. And so he's been trying to reduce that. Um he proposes uh a a shop there with some retail frontage where he can sell um some of his finished goods and then a sawmill along
the side and then some of his kiln and lumber storage in uh toward the back of the property. And the planning commission considered this and recommended six conditions be attached. They're fairly short. they have to do basically with some hours of operation
for the sawmill signage, parking um and and a few other things that try to make sure it does not become kind of an eyes sore. Um so with those re conditions and the findings as you see in the draft minutes, staff recommends approval as per the planning commission action. Do
uh any of the uh commissioners have any questions at this time for Eric? Mr. Chair, I would move on the uh recommendation of the planning zoning planning and zoning on this application citing the findings and conditions. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Thank you. And
any discussion? That's maybe one of the I was just going to comment. That's the great business names in all of Candy, Ohio. B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, very well known and well. Uh any concerns or uh with the
people living next near there at all or that area since it's zone basically for that. It looks like a very good fit. Am I correct? We did not have any uh testimony at at the hearing with concerns.
Any other questions or comments? All right, we have a motion and a second to uh uh approve the matter. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you very
much. Thank you. And let's take a break. And we will take just a brief uh five minute recess. We are back from recess for the Kandak County Board of Commissioners. Our next item uh is anformational item pack for
families uh collaborative presentation cannabis substance use prevention services. Uh and today we have uh uh Sarah Vandar uh executive director and Rachel Clark prevention specialist uh and uh you have a presentation for us.
Welcome. Very good. Um well I had a couple of questions and if you just uh reintroduce yourself even though I just did. No problem. Um thank you for having us commissioners. Um I am Sarah Vanderhar, executive director at PAC for families. Um Rachel is here and is going to present the project to you, but I had
a couple questions about the um purchase of service agreement. And I didn't know if this was the place to address that or if I should address it with Carolyn. Okay. So, first then I just want to thank you all for giving us the opportunity to partner with you for this project and I'm going to turn it over to Rachel so that she can tell you a little
bit about what it is that we're going to be doing. Thank you, Rachel. Good morning. Morning. I'm Rachel Clark. I'm the prevention specialist with PACET for families and the coordinator of the Candyohigh County Drug-Free Communities Coalition. I'm
here to present the cannabis substance use prevention or CEUP grant work plan and what this will look like within Candyohigh County. First, PAC for families would like to thank our health and human services and public health for the opportunity to work together on utilizing these funds in a way that
would impact cannabis prevention in youth and safe storage activities across the county. Alongside the prevention work we do with our partnership for success grant, the CEUP funding will help us do more to increase community awareness of cannabis related risks and
safe storage practices. Our work plan focuses more on addressing adult use of cannabis. With the recent legalization of recreational cannabis, we want adults, especially in homes with children, to know how to safely store these products to keep them out of the hands of our youth. One of the
activities included in our work plan is conducting cannabis retail landscape assessments. Very similar to the ones done previously on tobacco. The purpose here is to collect data from retail establishments that have applied for cannabis licenses. This can vary from the low potency hemp to dispensary
licenses. We'll use a checklist like the ones used in tobacco audits asking about product visibility, placement near youth items, labeling, and promotions. With the CESUP funds, we're also planning on being present at events such as Rock and Robbins, the county fair, school open
houses, welcome weeks, and other community outreach events. We will be distributing lock boxes at these events. These are meant to provide adults a safe storage option for their cannabis products that is not accessible to kids. You may have seen the DFC billboards in
between Wilmer and Spicer on 23 that show the gummy bear image highlighting the appeal of some of these cannabis products to younger audiences. In all, we will be distributing two rounds of 360 lock boxes at these events, so 720 in total. Additionally, we will hand out
water bottles with messaging approved by the Minnesota Department of Health with two distributions of,440 bottles totaling in 2880 bottles. to promote our safe storage lock boxes. We will track engagement and use of the
boxes and materials handed out through a QR code survey on the water bottle. In addition to these larger events, we will also be creating social media campaigns, potentially designing some billboards and running radio advertisements. Social media metrics will document engagement
from Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. By using these CEUB funds strategically, we're empowering families, engaging adults, and building a safer future for Candy Ohio County youth. We appreciate your continued support in making this possible. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you.
And do any board members have any questions for uh either Rachel or Sarah at this time? Thank you. So then the next item is uh Pat for families collaborative cannabis substance use prevention services
contract and today we have Jodi Emerman with us. Jody, good morning. Good morning. Jod Ammerman and I'm the interim public health manager. And to let you know that public health received the cannabis and substance use prevention grant, CUP for short. It's a
mouthful so we call it the CEO. Um, and this is from the Minnesota Department of Health. And so we are excited for this opportunity to uh partner with pack for families to fulfill together the work that is outlined in the grant. And Rachel shared some of the work plan that
we will be doing. Um, we have a long timestanding partnership with PACE through our DFC coalition and the work that um, we do through the coalition to prevent drug use in our community. And this will not only continue but will
further that work especially with the legalization of um cannabis. Uh Rachel is a prevention specialist. She is housed already in in public health. So we just thought this was a great opportunity to partner um with
them. So $60,000 of the total grant award of 75169 will go towards this purchase of service. um with pact and this grant period is from April of this
year 2025 through June 30th of 2026. So this morning we are asking for your support and approval um for the contract. We do have some changes I guess. Well not not changes just clarifications. Um good
morning Caroline Khan Health and Human Services director for Candy Ohio County. Uh so just to clarify uh packed for families as you all know it's a joint powers. Um so our traditional purchase of service contract has some um coverages and uh limitation not limitations but just some coverage
claimings that we would typically do with a private entity that don't apply necessarily for a joint power. So um in the the clarifying questions would as a contractor must comply with requirements if it were a government entity. Well it is a government entity. So our
traditional purchase of service doesn't uh maybe fit exactly under um things because of the advanced partnership that we already have with this organization. So just clarifying some of those was the questions that Miss Bonderhar had brought forward um in reviewing her
concerns they they would fit. So just wanted to clarify that. And then just to add um it's an exciting opportunity to have a partner already engaged in this work to invest these funds with instead of reduplicating or um going down a different path. You know, in when we got
these funds, they weren't expected uh necessarily and and to say what should we do with those as Candy Ohio County Public Health. Um we thought it was the best investment to partner in work that's already happening and to leverage that even further and to reach and to amplify their reach. So we're excited
that packed for family was excited to also meet in this call and move forward um with that. So outstanding. Uh and just uh to clarify this is uh a portion of a total grant. Can I can I assume
that the remainder is uh uh being distributed in Renville County through our No. Renville County as our CHB partner received their own CEUP funding as our CHB. The remainder that's left after this investment will help cover staff time that's participating in
facilitating this contract so we can re capture some of our staff investment as well. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Any questions from the board for uh either Jod or Caroline? All right. Uh Commissioner Burke. So
move to approve this contract. All right. There's a motion to approve. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, just really proud of this continued
collaboration over all these years and it's still working great and uh and how we can serve our people and our community and our region as well. These government agencies have that close of a working relationship and so good. So very very well job well done by both
organizations. Thank you. Appreciate it. Very good. Any further questions? All right. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you so much. Thank you for the great work that you're all doing and uh uh this is these are
relatively uncharted waters, but I'm glad we have a partner that's already swimming in them. There you go. Thank you so much. We are a little running a little to do the CCT contract early.
I can't hear you coming. Oh, the CCT contract since that's just Oh, yes. Okay. We'll move up the 10:20 item and uh out of respect for director's time. Go ahead. Well, I just otherwise if you want another they're scheduled to come
in 15. So, um we're a little ahead of schedule. also our next presenters. And I So if you'd like, I can do the CCT contract early to keep your board meeting moving. Yes. Thank you. All right. So, good morning again. Still Caroline Khan, uh director of health and human services for Candy Ohio County.
And this morning, I'm bringing before you our central community transit contract. Um at CCT, as you guys know, is our regional transit partner for Candy Ohio County, Miker, and Renville County. Um, we've had a long-standing
relationship and um, over my two years here with Candy Ohio County, it's been a joy to get to know their new leadership and get to know how we can work uh, greater together to provide the uh, transportation needs for our county. Um, since Are we ready? Do you need me to
wait? Okay. No, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ahead of myself. Um the what you'll notice in this uh contract would be an adjustment to the admin fee of 10 cents per mile. Uh we've had some heavy conversations and worked uh in in tandem with the the new directors in Renville
County and Mer County as well as our fiscal team and the CCT leadership team to really evaluate what what is a a good portion to help encourage uh the sustainability of CCT over time um as well as minimize the cost to the counties and what are ways that we can
continue to grow transportation support and services um to make sure that we are maximizing the ability for our community members to to get to where they need to go. Uh so what this 10% 10 cent per mile admin fee would equate to based off of
last year's mileage would be about just shy of $7,000 levy impact. This is still a very good um I want to say bang for our buck, but that's not the best way to say it, but it's a good investment of our dollars to
to reach this over 68,000 miles that are driven by our our our transit partners and getting people to their medical appointments, their volunteer transit um services, and and getting to where they need to be for their the services that they need. So today, what I have before
you is the opportunity to to continue our contract with an increased admin fee um at at a minimal cost to the county as well as the other changes that you'll notice is we've operated this historically as a host county contract without our language referencing that.
So we just clarified that within the contract as well. Are there any uh questions for Caroline? Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. Thanks. Uh thanks Mr. Chair. So, uh, just for clarity here, I I believe I know the answer, but if we didn't do this
contract, it would be more expensive for the county because we'd have to find other ways. Correct. We would be we still have to help people get to where they need to be. Um, so it would be more expensive. Um, and this is the the minimal amount to to kind of offset and make sure that our transit provider
stays afloat and stays stays a a healthy, robust um organization to meet our transportation needs. Yeah, I think it's a good idea because I mean they're already set up to move people so it's a good fit. So, thank you. Any other questions for
Caroline? All right. Uh, thank you very much. And, uh, do we have a motion yet? I'll make a motion. I'll make the motion to, uh, I don't know, accept or sign a contract with Central Community Transit. I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Thank you very
much. We have a motion and a second to approve the uh uh contract with uh Central Community Transit. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you so much. All right. And and we're running just a little bit ahead, but uh uh if you guys are ready, we'll uh we'll have you come on up. Uh we're at the 9:45 uh uh item.
United Community Action Partnership Local Homeless Prevention Aid Presentation. Uh and you are Angela Larson. Yes. Yes, I am. All right. Would you please introduce yourself and title and organization? My name is Angela Larson. I'm the family services director
for United Community Action Partnership. Um, my main office is actually in Marshall, so I traveled in the brain um to be with you today and it was uh I'm glad to be here. Thank you. Um, today we'd like to talk about the local homeless prevention aid um and kind of explain what's happened in the last year
and then I think Caroline was going to talk about the upcoming contract. So, I think there's some slides. There we go. You can go to the next slide. You can actually go to the next slide. So, local homeless prevention aid is
dollars from the state that pass through the Minnesota Department of Revenue to counties and tribal governments, and counties have discretion over how those funds are used. Um, but basically, they're trying to prevent homelessness or to end homelessness for youth and
families with children. So, many of the counties that UKAP works with have contracted with us to provide that service because we've provided that type of service in other programs for many years. And this really dovetailes nicely with those services. Um so basically the
target population is those who are um people who are already homeless, who are facing eviction, maybe they're in overcrowded situations um and they are just in unstably housed. So they come to UKAP um to try to figure out a way for
ongoing housing stability. And so not only do we look at um you know their situation, we also look at moving forward. So, they have to have um less than 300% of federal poverty guidelines. This is a little bit higher than some of our other programs. And we did that
because we found that there were a lot of families that were just barely slipping through the cracks. So, they might didn't qualify for our larger program. This really helped with making sure those families didn't become homeless. And then for the program activities of this program, we do
provide some rental assistance. It's based on a person's income. and they pay a portion of their income towards their rent and then we help take care of um some others. And then we also can provide some utility assistance if they're in need of that. Um but what really features this program is the
ongoing support and case management services. So instead of just being a band-aid and paying the rent and um helping them on their way, we do help them look at all the different resources that are available to them, we help them look at plans um for increasing their income or reducing expenses. So then
their rents are avail or um affordable ongoing and then you know we always make sure that all the services at the county if they're eligible for those that they get connected to those and we actually help them with application assistance so then when they do submit those applications they're complete and easy to
process. So in 2023 or 2023 funds we really spent in 2024 we served 21 unduplicated households with those funds which was 81 unduplicated individuals. And this is just Candy Ohio County. You can go to the next
one. The main part by far the types of assistance that we provided was rent. You know, we tried to make it a little bit flexible in case there was some need that a person had like work boots to get to work or a car repair, um sometimes
gas cards, but really we found that most people really just needed a little help with their rent. So that was by far the most. And then when it came to direct assistance, we had um negotiated a 25% admin and supportive services rate. So
at most 25% of the funds were to be used for those case management services and administration of the funds and the remainder were supposed to be for direct assistance. But we actually um used far less than that. And so we allocated the rest of the funds that Candyo High
County provided to us to direct assistance and just help more families. So we do have limited funding for all of our programs and we're going to see that that um really that trend um increases over time this year. So these funds really did help bridge a gap in
Candy Ohio County. Um it is uh a unique resource because there are things that this program program can help with. You know, maybe they're a little bit above the income guidelines or some of those flexible resources that aren't able to be helped with other things. And then 100% of the people who were served by
this program did participate in case management. We made that a requirement because we felt that was the reason why this program would be most successful. And 100% of them exited the program in stable housing. So it was highly
successful. So a lot of the times when we were working with clients, we had situations where someone might have lost a job um or had a medical situation where maybe their child was ill and they missed a lot of work um because of that. And the these funds really helped get
them back on track and then helped them moving forward. So I think that was probably the biggest theme that was a temporary situation. this filled in the gap and then they were able to move forward. So for upcoming year's funding for 2024
um Kioa County is allocated $62,542 for 2024 that has to be spent by the end of this year and then 2025 have to be spent by the end of 2026 and there's a reduction there of 51,478. So that's what the state
provides candy county just for your reference. and then I'll let Caroline talk about um the contract, but if you have any questions before I step back, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you very much. And uh glad that you could make it through
the rain today. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so are there any questions for an Commissioner? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure. Um and then Commissioner, these are state funds, right? And where are you at on federal funds? Do you get any direct federal funds? And what's your impact of that?
Um Debbie probably could talk about that a little bit better than I can when we get to to the UK. Yeah. Yeah. Um but you know, just like any any other um federally funded nonprofit organization, we get state and federal funds. We're a little bit in limbo right now. So
there's uh a lot of questions. Yes, I've been following that. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other question? Commissioner Mbeck, um you made a comment. uh what does and I quote participating in case management unquote
mean? Okay, so when we meet with any family, we do an assessment on a variety of different levels, whether it's employment, whether it's income, whether it's their housing, um mental health services, health needs, all these different things. I think there are something like 18 different metrics we
look at and then through that we develop a plan for each family that's specific to that family. So maybe their goal is finding better employment or they're they maybe they need child care and that's the big hurdle. And so we work with them on whatever goals it is that they need to help them maintain that
housing stability. They meet with a case manager at least a couple of times a month if not weekly or even sometimes more often than that. And it kind of depends on the person's needs. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Any other quer Anderson? So basically, you're just
helping people that need a little boost to get started out in life and maybe get things organized. And then once they get that far, then you kind of help them meet requirements or goals and then after that they get off assistance. Correct. Eventually, right? This type of
assistance for sure. Most of most of the people are off within one to three months. Um so it kind of depends on the situation with the person. um if they need a longer term situation or I'm sorry, a long-term solution than that, then we're going to be looking for some
kind of voucher for them that could be help them long term or something like that. But part of the the the plan is oftentimes to get them connected with like Menure or SNAP, those county programs that can help them be a support all along the way. Okay. And then how do
people find out about this? Is it the county steers them towards you or how Okay. Yep. We work together with counties and other service providers for sure. And then we're also part of the Southwest Continuum of Care, which is a regional planning commission for um
housing and stability and homelessness um solutions. And they um do some marketing to try to direct people to specific organizations that can help with homelessness or homeless prevention. And we're one of those organizations. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Angela, can you characterize
for us what uh homelessness looks like in in the southwest region can your high county? I sure can. You know, I I think that especially in rural areas, a lot of people think that homelessness really doesn't exist
because you don't see very often at least people standing on a street corner asking for money or cla telling people that they're homeless and and looking for help. that's just not as visible as it is in some of those larger metro areas. So, in rural areas, people oftenimes try to hide their
homelessness. Um, you know, even in a town the size of Wilmer, a lot of people know other people and they don't want to have the stigma of of homelessness being associated with them. So, we see people living in their cars. We see people um hopping from, you know, couch to couch
of different friends and family and staying as long as they can with people. Um, we see people uh staying overnight in storage units, sometimes walking around 24-hour businesses, sometimes getting a trespassing charge because of it. Um, we also see people, you know,
camping and not camping weather. And we do see people living outside. I mean, in that in this area that does happen, whether they're camping out in the woods, not you not where they're supposed to be, um, um, and things like that. So they go at sometimes great lengths to hide their homelessness.
And would you say that this is something that is uh increasingly happening? I I would I I think that even since um CO 19 happened, we've seen a large increase in both our uses of our emergency shelter programs
and also the need for homelessness prevention. So we see, you know, sometimes, you know, $50, $60,000 worth of requests within our region in a particular week, not just Candy Ohio County, but in through our whole area, and we have to um, you know, review
those requests every week and try to help as many people as we can. Any other questions for Angela? commercial one and maybe this isn't even a good question but do you guys help like with the heating and and stuff for the winter too then or is that part of
your thing or is that part of I mean that's UKAP but I mean is it part of your area or not? It it's not my um department but our agency does uh operate the energy assistance program for this area and I think Debbiey's going to talk a little bit about that
more program when we get to that part. Um, but yeah, even this program could help. You know, in some times of the year, we don't have the energy assistance program running and but someone might be facing a utility shut off and they've got little kids or health concerns and we can sometimes help with that even with this
program and that was a good question. All right, any other questions? Angela, thank you so much. And I see Caroline waiting in the wings. Okay. So, we'll move to our next item, which is consideration of the contract itself. Go
on. Hello. Um, so as Angela mentioned, and it's always best to have our providers come and tell their stories because they can just do such a better job and have the direct opportunity. But as a as a reminder, um, these local homeless prevention aid dollars came to our
county through the Minnesota Department of Revenue. This was an unexpected thing last year of just like this random investment of dollars to address homelessness and housing insecurity in new ways. Um, I will admit we were a bit focused on making sure that we used
this investment to to the best of its ability and I appreciate the partnership that we had with UKAP to just ensure that this investment was the correct one. And after sitting down to see how they utilized these funds over the past year and the fact that the people that went through case management with UKAP
were able to remain h housed and and not come back for other assistance um was a really important factor for our team. Um, so I appreciate the their willingness to let us ask tough questions and and have difficult conversations to ensure that we're maximizing the use of these dollars. And
I'm very confident that they've done a wonderful job, which is why I'm bringing forward the ability to continue a contract for this year um to utilize our local homeless prevention aid like um with UKAP. Like Angela mentioned, um we will be allowing the up to 25% admin
fee. as they demonstrated they are able to utilize other streams to offset that admin fee as much as possible but also paying attention to that they are living through a turbulent world as we are and things are changing every day. Um so that was what we agreed to in the first year and they've demonstrated good
stewardship to us that we are willing to do that up to as again um within this contract. So uh not to exceed the $36,000. I can't promise you that as we get further down the road, I might not come back and ask for a consent to increase that dollar later. What we
found is a great marrying of being able to utilize some of these funds in house with people that are engaged in case management with us as well as the ability to refer a partner um over to UKAP as well. So, I've really appreciated the robust partnership that we've had with UKAP in addressing our
housing needs um and ensuring that our um children prek through uh senior are able to to maximize the use of these dollars to to remain housed. So, my request to you today uh commissioners is to approve the contract to to allow us to continue um this
partnership with UKAP for this year. Art, you've heard the recommendation of staff. Mr. Chair, I move to accept the contract. All right, we have a motion to approve the contract. Is there a second? Oh, go
ahead. You go ahead. I'll second that. Must mean it's good. Commissioner Bergs. Uh, any discussion? Commissioner Mck. Thank you. And I don't know if Caroline if you're the right person to ask this question of, but how many there how many counties
are part of UKP? I'll let Debbie defer to that one. I know we are. I'm going to guess 17, but 27 13 13 nine and 13. I'll explain. Okay. And then we're all getting ahead. And then if Caroline can't answer this question hiding back
there, um are each of the nine and 13 counties participating in a similar fashion for for uh these funds or y all almost. Okay. Just so we have you on the record.
Yep, almost all counties are participating. We have a few that are not in our regular service area that have opted to do their own um plan with the funds and which is fine and um but most of them are. I I feel like we have of the 139.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Caroline? All right. You've heard the recommendation to approve the uh local homeless prevention aid contract. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.
All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you so much. And now we'll continue with Debbie Brandt, executive director for uh UKAP here in Wilmer. Good morning, Deb Brandt. Um, United Community Action Agency, and Angela and I are going to tag team this. And we do have a handout
for you. So, we thought first of all, we want to thank you for the opportunity to partner with um Kenui County. Together, we can do things so much more efficiently and so much better. But we wanted to just give you a little brief update of what
things have happened that are pretty big in for our agency that have are happening right here in Candy County. So, Commissioner Imic, to get to your question, that second page is the landscape of UKAP's service area. We are
actually designated to serve nine counties. Those are the dark blue counties in West Central, Southwest Minnesota. And then also there we serve four extended counties. Debbie, uh maybe if you could just put that page, can we
get her get that on the overhead? I will get it. Thank you. or do you have it? Yes. Oh, outstanding. Okay, go ahead. Thank you, sir. Yep. So, the four light blue counties are our extended service area and we do emergency housing down there. Menure,
SNAP outreach, and also public transportation. So, we have nine designated community action counties that are solely UKAPS. And then the other four, we share those with another agency called the Southwest Opportunity Council.
The next page basically shows how many individuals last year we have served. Um, totally UKAP served 22,456 individuals. And what that means is if somebody comes in for emergency housing, maybe we help them with energy
assistance. We only count that person one time. And in Candy County, we served almost 5,200 individuals last year. that equated to um 1978 households. Candy County is our largest service area. So,
it's closely about 23 24% of our total population that we serve. Some of the great things that happened last year were after 5 years of waiting, as Commissioner Anderson knows, we were finally able to receive a federal grant to purchase our Bright
Lights Head Start facility. um that facility just down the road on the hill used to be the Kenuaya County um power co-op building and within that building right now we are licensed for 125 children we've got five preschool pla
classrooms two toddler and one infant and if you turn the page I just put a couple pictures in there this is what the inside looks like um that top right picture was what it looked like was they were kind of u making things just beautiful for our children. And that's a
picture of a toddler room. And I just always get so excited about the little sinks and the little potties that show up. So, and then the next page is kind of the layout of the facility. Within the grant, that highlighted area. We've got that dubbed as our future room. Nothing
was done with that area. So, it's just a large open area. But within the grant that we received, we are now able to add another toddler room there and a sensory room. we are seeing about 27% of the children from um three, four and 5 year olds who have got diagnosed mental
health um issues and so we just need that sensory room to have that available for those children. One of the neat things about this partnership is our children who need any special ed services, the Wilmer school district partners with us, comes directly to the facility, so kids don't have to be
busted back and forth, which is a great partnership. So hopefully this renovation will be done by the first part of September and we'll be able to um have additional children in that building. In order to be eligible for Head Start, a family has to be at 100%
of the poverty level. That's around $32,500 annually. We have over 200 children on the wait list to get in. On the other hand of the spectrum, 83% of our families are working that are in Head Start. So we are work we are
basically a child care for many of those individuals while Head Start is more than just child care because we actually have curriculums and we are finding with some of those outcomes with their little ones that they are just exceeding immensely from the baseline when they come in to when they exit our program
and services. Debbie, uh you mentioned that you received the grant to purchase the building. Has that closed? It has closed. We had a couple snafoos in the closure dates um with funding was our um federal regional office was closed um
very suddenly and so we the money was there but nobody was there to hit the approved button for us. So so um the co-op was just very gracious and flexible with us and we signed the papers and it is now ours. So yeah, outstanding. Good to hear. Yeah. Go ahead. Um, the other thing that I just
wanted to share with you, and we're also going to talk about our new emergency shelter, um, is our energy assistance program. The dollar amounts on the sheet in front of you are the dollar amounts that UKAP pays to local vendors within
Candy County. So, we get federal funds that go to the state, the state come to us, and then we're able to make payments um to local vendors. So, if somebody comes in and applies for energy assistance, they don't get a check from UKAP. Their check is mailed from the
state directly to their utility vendor. And um basically this past year we're seeing around $500, $550 average. And that's all based upon the family size, the family income, the heating source, and the energy consumption for that. So, we get a lot of that information from
the utility companies, but we're able to help families with um propane, uh fuel oil, natural gas, if they're wood burners, um corn, whatever type of fuel source they might use, they can be eligible for this program. This program
runs from October 1st to May 31st. Um you can see the amount of crisis dollars. Those are individuals who have received that first pot of money through primary heat, but then they got a shut off notice. So that's the amount of money again that went to utility vendors to help avoid that shut off. And then
the emergency repairs, sometimes furnaces just give families fits and giggles and we don't want anybody to be exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning. So we work with local contractors and to go out and do tests on these furnaces and we can either repair all the way up to
replace a furnace for nothing for a family if they income qualify for the energy assistance program. This unfortunately is one of the programs that has been eliminated on a federal level. So I am not sure where those dollars are going to come from, but we are going to see more families if that
program does not get funded going to be coming to the county requesting emergency services and funds and possibly then if they can't pay their heat bill, if they're part of an apartment type of a complex, they will also this will also um probably lead to
more homelessness. So, so hate to leave it with doom and gloom. So, turn the page and we just do our best to advocate and to educate about the need for this and frankly in rural Minnesota people can die if they don't have heat in their
homes or have um adequate heating um equipment. our emergency temporary shelter. Our current model here in Candy County to address homelessness is we lease motel rooms year round and we we pay pretty good for those motel rooms.
Um those motel rooms are always full and we always have a wait list. Um Angela and her team put together a capital grant. The city um the state had some funds available and we were just very very fortunate to be one of the recipients of approximately $4.4 4
million to create um um temporary emergency shelter and it is almost up and running. It has come up very fast. If you want to turn the page um you can see some of the progress. We contracted
with Marcus Construction who led us to Northstar which is Minnesota grown. It's right here in Redwood Falls. They do modular homes. These homes are actually built to HUD standards. And when we went out to visit with them prior to moving forward, we brought along the Wilmer
city inspectors to let them take a view and say, "Hey, what do you think? Are these going to meet standards um and city code and and things like that?" And they were just un they were very pleased and say yes. They said it meets all codes. So they basically brought these units, plopped them, dropped them,
racked them, and stacked them. And it didn't take very long. They started this in about October and there the units are already up. So much more efficient than um normal stick built just because it's built in a controlled environment, but
the cost was relatively the same from stick built to this. The other nice thing about this is the state inspectors were able to go right to Northstar and inspect the unit. So when they came out, the insides had the flooring in, they had the wiring, the HVAC, uh the plumbing, all of that. Then they just
had to um hook it up to the utilities that were based on the ground. The next page is like current as of yesterday. This is our eightplex. So we have 12 units. We have an eightplex. Then if you turn the page, we've got a
forplex. We've got four ADA accessible um units, but one of those units is also going to be an office. We want somebody on site as well as within that office. Um it's laid out just like the other ones where it's a two-bedroom. We'll be
able to have partners come in and they can meet with families there. Also, the next one is the picture of what they look like in the inside. They're not very big, but they are functional. So, we've got a little kitchen area, living room area. Um we're
looking at um probably two beds or bunk beds in one of the bedrooms so that if somebody's got children and then just some very more efficient and hopefully sturdy furnishings like tables and chairs and things like that. And then in our office area, we have a door in the
bedroom in aka the bedroom that can go out to the back so that we've got two um two ways of enter and and exit um for our staff. We've also got an area for computers so families can come and use um computers to do job search um anything like that and we'll also have
washerd dryer but that will be in our office. So that's going to be another way when families come to do their laundry they can get have be connected with our staff questions that you might have about anything that we discussed and Angie's kind of the expert in that
project. So Commissioner Mck. Uh thank you Mr. Chair. Um, these look like very nice units. I think I understood what you said that there will be a central laundry unit laundry area, not not in each unit. Correct. And you have a unit
of four and a unit of eight. Yes. When I drove by there, it seemed like there was room for more. Are there plans for more over there or did that take up the site available? Thank you. Great question. We wanted to plan for the future. So when the properties were available, we
grabbed both of the properties that that were available, hoping that maybe down the road there might be some more capital funding. We do have space for another forplex and another 8plex also. All right. Any followup? Yes, thank you.
Um and you call it emergency shelter, so nobody's going to be living there long term. It's going to be and um do do you have uh I know it's well it looks like it's about ready to move into but um do you have people lined up to
use that or is it how does that work when somebody comes to you you know how do you get them into a spot? So when somebody comes to us there's an assessment that take pla that takes place and based upon the continuum of care they sent set a priority scale. For
instance, somebody who's domestic violence, children with families, people with a disability, disability, youth, they will get top priority or top points and then they will be able to move in. We're looking at around and and it
depends on the complexity and the challenges of the families that are going to be moving in, but we're averaging around 35ish days um you know for families to find that job, find other housing because the stock for affordable housing
is just really difficult in our area. Uh maybe get the kiddos signed up for school, all of those things. So that's kind of what we're seeing right now with the model that we have now. We're kind of banking that with staff there, um, staff will be able to visit with those families almost a daily basis. We are
hoping that we can lessen that because we've always got people on the wait list. So, we want to make sure that we can um make sure that families got the supports they need, but also move them along um into their own housing. Thank you, Commissioner B. Thank you,
Mr. Chair. Um, how do you collaborate with some of the other programs for homeless in our community, Family Promise? And there's a need out there. I know definitely we actually through the continuum of care have a lot of discussions about who does what, who's
the expert in what area. We're not the expert in domestic violence and if they need extra rooms, we have actually housed some of their families, but yet they would be the primary service provider. Family Promise is basically for children and families. And so that's
kind of their little niche. We can take single men, but we can take anybody. Domestic violence, um, children with families also. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. So, Commissioner Mdeck kind of got the answer from you for a lot of it. You
said about 35 days and then it's not a place where people can just sit and watch cable all day. You have requirements. So, Can you kind of walk us a little bit through that? Um how you do that or how you know cuz because they can get kicked out if I understand you
correct. Right. That is correct. So it's not just easy for anybody. So if anybody's watching this going, "Hey, this is a pretty good deal for people. It it it has requirements so they we're trying to move them up and out so that they can kind of, you know, be on their own eventually." Absolutely. Um thank
you for asking. First of all, we don't have cable and um again, our staff will be meeting with families on an ongoing basis um encouraging, motivating. Um our goal is to not keep people there any longer than needed because we have so
many on the wait list. Thank you, Commissioner Dale Anderson. I have a question and a comment. So, I'll say the comment first. I just want to thank you for what you do for the, you know, for the preschool and and the stuff you did at the co-op building. I mean, I'm that was just an old beat up
building and you guys turned it into a very upstanding facility and that's been really cool to watch that process over the years and and and I'm really impressed with these these short-term housing. I mean, like you said, they came up and they were in and ready to go in no time. I mean, it's just kind of
amazing that it can be done that way. My question is, does this replace your hotel room stays or is this just added more space for people? Our hope is that it will replace that because the funds that we're paying for those rooms now will be used for operational funds for
the utilities and whatnot, but we also know that we are going to need the 1 to three day maybe because we can't get somebody in and it's 40 below out. So, we will need some funds for at least some of that very very short term. Sure. Thanks. And just to go back to Commissioner Anderson's comment, um we
are working with attorneys. We are setting up guidelines so that we will have um hopefully something that if if our rules, expectations, and responsibilities are not followed that we will be able to exit somebody without
um too much difficulty back into homelessness. But we also part of that want to offer volunteer opportunities on the site. So maybe somebody's got a gift for gardening. Maybe we'll have a raised bed garden or there's a community garden
across the street. So we just want to make sure that we can find what the family's skills, talents, and abilities are and maybe offer them a way to give back also. Okay. I have one more question, Mr. Commission. Yes, go ahead. Um, so when this is all done, is there like an open house or and when do you
expect it to be ready for people to, you know, go in there? Thank you. Um well, every Tuesday morning we have a meeting with Marcus to see where we're at. Uh this two inches of rain has not been favorable for laying concrete and we have no steps
going up to the second floor right now. So our plan is to move families in slowly, maybe a couple at a time so that we don't just we we want to make sure that we've got all the kinks worked out of the system and whatnot. We're we're looking at maybe July. So, um, it all
depends on when we order the furnishings how fast they can get them to us also. So, and then is there going to be kind of an open house? There will be an open house. There will be an open house. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you for that, Commissioner MDC. Thank you. Um, and thank you for all the answers that
you're giving us for for the questions we have. Um, you talked about getting people in and out of there as quickly as possible. Conversely, if they've make gone through all the efforts possible, uh, and they still have not, you know, found another option, can they extend
their stay? And I'll ask the second question right away. It's unrelated. Um, some of these, uh, clients I assume are, I think you said, um,
probably seeking shelter from some unsafe conditions. Um, how do we protect the safety of the people that are staying there uh from perhaps the conditions they came from? Sure, I I can answer those questions.
Um, first, you know, if families are working hard and they are just not having luck, maybe it's difficulty in finding housing that can be affordable for them or, you know, a wide variety of issues. If they're working hard, we're not just going to say, "Oh, there's a certain time limit you have to be gone."
on, you know, we've been had great success. If people are working with the program, we're able to make the program work for them. So, we we believe that we will have success with those families and and we're not worried about extending because they don't um you know, force us to have a maximum length
of stay. That being said, we we do think it's going to be maybe that 30 to 40 day um length of time for most families. Um, and then as far as safety, you know, we take safety very seriously. And one of the best uh things about this model is
that each unit is self-contained. So there's not shared kitchens. There's not shared uh restrooms or anything like that. So each family has their own secure safe unit um with their own locking doors and things like that. We also will have a camera system um in
place that will be able to monitor things. Um and then having that staff on site. We also are engaging um we will be engaging with the law enforcement to just uh try to make it as easy as possible for them to support us and then
um work on plans with that as well. Um you know we we want to make sure that everyone is um you know not fearful to live there. I mean that's one of the main reasons why we wanted this facility is because we can make sure the environment is something that's positive for everyone. Thank you. Thanks. You're
welcome. Uh, Commissioner Ber, going back to your question, emergency repair was eliminated from the federal budget. Any indication some other things might be impacted coming up because what I've been reading on the news and stuff that
there's more coming down especially for agencies like UK and just and just to clarify, I don't believe I I think I it's not just the emergency repair, but it's the uh assistance. Understood. Thank you. that yeah the entire program has been eliminated. Um
we have also recently um not been able to continue with our refugee resettlement program that was in Marshall Minnesota. So that funding has now gone. Um we also are concerned with our community services block grant. We
get probably about $300,000 annually. that is discretionary money to the agency that helps support many of our programs. Some of our federally funded um housing programs from HUD, we get 3% admin. It's
difficult to run a program on 3% admit and those funds help support that. Those funds help support our um helping people get their donation um car vehicle donation program. Um so we're a little concerned about that as well. And then
Head Start has only received funding for one year. We're not sure what will happen next year. We were very fortunate to have our grant start prior to that, this year's grant, but we know that next year it's kind of up in the air right
now. So, um, and I'm just Did do you have something else? Okay. uh and and and let's just ask the question about uh I think sometimes folks think that there's a uh u certain type of person who maybe
chooses to uh become homeless. Uh and that's that's by and large not what we're talking about here. And by the way, uh for anyone here or who is watching, uh if you're not seeing homelessness in this community, frankly,
you're not looking. Uh, I see it multiple times every week as I'm going through uh uh through the town. Uh, like you said, folks living in their cars, uh, folks living in storage units. Uh, you know, uh, it's just, you know, it's
it's it's becoming more and more, I won't say rampant, but, uh, but I can't find the, uh, find the proper word for that either. Go ahead. I I was just going to add that I think for many of us, we don't realize if we're living on the edge and just struggling to make
ends meet, it could be one transmission that doesn't work anymore. You can't get to work. It could be a medical condition. So, for many of us, sometimes they don't even know about our agency unless they need assistance. And none of us know when something like that's going
to happen. So, it it frankly could be any of us. Maybe there's families that are just one or two paychecks away from needing to come to our agency or the county to request services. Right. Uh, Commissioner. Well, I just want to say um as a reminder because we
just got done paying our taxes or at least we met the deadline for paying our taxes uh recently and I was at a uh Habitat fundraiser a week or so ago and one or two of your tax preparers were there and I was reminded of that great service that that you guys provide uh
for people who maybe don't know where to turn to in terms of getting their uh their tax taxes filed. Well, I don't know, but we're going to find out at our board of directors meeting this coming Thursday night. But last year, our amazing volunteers brought back over $6
million in tax refunds to low-income families. Um, and when low-income families get that refund, it's kind of like a financial reset for them. And they spend that money locally. So, it's a huge economic investment. And we couldn't do it without the volunteers
that we have who are IRS certified. All right. Any final questions for uh Debbie or Angela? All right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for all the work that uh you do on behalf of our communities, not just here, but all across the entire
region. Uh and safe travels back to Marshall. Thank you. Thank you. And we will take a 10-minute recess. Good. We'll bring back the Kandai County Board of Commissioners back from recess. And at this time, uh, we'll ask Mel Odens,
our public works director, to, uh, talk to us about a bid award. Mel, good morning. Good morning, chair, members of the board. Um, I've got a bid award for the Edwards Township Bridge. It's project SAP
34-599-043. You recall, um, in January of this year, we had to close three of our bridges in this county. Um, this is a township bridge and we closed it on January 17th and we immediately um begin the process of getting a
replacement bridge for this done. And so we worked with state aid and were able to uh secure dollars. And so we um got the the plans complete. Bids were received on May 13. We had four biders. Asheville Companies of Cooko, Minnesota
was the low bid of $381,513.71. Um, which is well below, it's almost 36% below the engineers estimate. Um, and the way we base our engineers estimate is based on all the
bids received in 2024 or last year and then they prorrate what it would be for this year. and box culverts as you remember were delayed substantially in the last few years. That has now the has
been sped up or recovered or I think revised their process. So, we were we're happy about that. And so, it's my recommendation to award the bid to Asheville Companies of Koko, Minnesota
in the amount of $381,513.71. You've heard the recommendation of staff. Is there a motion? Yeah, Mr. Chair, I'll make that motion. We have a motion from Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. Is there a second? I'll second that. Commissioner Mckex seconds. Any discussion?
Uh sounds pretty straightforward and from what you presented to us uh about the first one that was uh done uh it's going to be a great uh a great little repair beyond and and um with this we can get started but we have a completion
date of November of this year. So um willing you know it's a pretty standard 12x10 box double line so hopefully we can get it in and get it out. Outstanding Commissioner G. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a comment. I think you're setting a precedent that uh I'm
really excited that you are that the bids are coming in so low this year. So, we're expect that. But yeah, it is it is nice to see there for a while we were seeing eight nine% increases in bids and now it's it's gone
the other way. So, that's good. That's that's all right. Anyone else? All right. All those in favor of the bid awards signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Mel. Thank
you so much. Uh at this time we have a PACE application. I'll ask Mark Thompson, our county auditor, to come forward to present. Mark, good morning. Morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Mark Thompson, county auditor. Um we recently received a request from the
St. Paul Port Authority to place a PACE special assessment. PA stands for property assessed clean energy. Um, and this was to be placed on parcel 18-018-0080 owned by Dunik
Incorporated. Uh, Dunik applied for a loan through the St. Paul Port Authority Pace Program and again this is for Clean Energy. Um, and some of you weren't on the board back then, but back in January of 2016, the county entered a joint
powers agreement with the St. Paul Port Authority to collect assessments from participants of their PACE program. Um, so I've I've included the information uh in your packet. The
assessment amount is $268,115. It's to start January 1 of 2026. Uh it's for 10 years and 7% interest. I think I've included the application. Um and
um also a a picture of of I didn't see it in the application, but the picture shows solar panels on the building. So I would solar panels on the building. So, I would imagine that's what the loan is for. Um, again, I
didn't I didn't see it in the application unless I missed it. But I I also included the joint powers agreement if like I said, some of you probably weren't on the board. So, uh you could look at that, too. But, um so my ask today is to uh have the board approve
resolution 202516 and I'll be happy to take any questions you might have. All right. Uh, are there any uh are there any questions for Mr. Thompson? All right. I don't entertain a motion
on resolution. What was the number again? 2025-16. So move, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Mdeck moves. Is there a second? I'll second that. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Thank you. Uh so just to be clear when we're talking about
assessments, these are assessments to Dunuk uh that we will be collecting and where uh where are those monies going and they go back to the St. Paul Port Authority? Uh got it. Yeah. Okay. Could
I ask one question? Where where's where is this building? Is this uh this is our main building in Princeburg? Eagle Lake 18 Green Lake Township. So, okay. Yeah. Thank you. All
right. Any other questions? Just just remember just a comment. There was actually one commissioner that was the chair back then in 2016 that this so you remember it then. You remember the joint powers agreement commission. Mr. Mat, every detail of it. Every detail of
it. But I do kind of remember that because I was early involved in things that we've had a few, not too many. And that's one reason why I came today because uh we don't see that many of them. So thought I'd present it again so you the new people were aware of what's
going on. All right. Anything else for the auditor? All right. We have a motion and a second to approve resolution 2025-16 for the PACE application. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.
All opposed. Motion passes. Mark. Thank you so much. Thank you. At this time, um we would need a u motion to consider uh approving into going into close session for a real
property discussion pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.05 subdivision 3. uh as it relates to uh discussing the property for county options at 14998 Highway 71 Northeast,
New London, Minnesota. Mr. Chair, I would so move that on that and make a motion. And since you rattle off all the numbers, I don't have to say them again. Made it easy for me to go into the close session. To go into the close session, please. Yes. All right. There is a
motion. May we have a second? I'll second it. Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Uh all those in favor of going into the close session say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. So at this time uh we
will be moving into that close session. Uh, All right. The Candyo High County Board of Commissioners is back in regular session. Uh we had gone into a close session to uh uh have a real property
discussion as previously described in the motion to go into uh close session. uh a robust discussion was held between board and staff and staff is directed to continue discussions with the appropriate parties as
necessary. All right, we are down now to the uh administrative updates and appointments calendar and committee reports. I understand there is an appointment uh to the board of adjustment. Yes, I didn't know commissioner but I wanted to um this was his recommendation
for the board of uh adjustment. I did talk uh with Eric Van Diken and he uh was aware of this and is in um also in support of this and so the board would need to make a motion uh to appoint Jesse Gizllison uh to the board of adjustment for a three-year term.
Uh Commissioner Dick. Yeah. Uh the position has been open since January 1st as somebody had termed out and uh um that person didn't find his replacement before he turned out. took me a little while to find something. Uh, I feel your
pain. Been there. So, all right. So, we would need a motion to appoint Jesse Geston to the board of adjustment for a three-year term. So, moved. Moved by Commissioner MDC. Is there a second? The chairs. Okay. Uh, any discussion? All in favor signify by
saying I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, administrative updates. Uh, administrator Baker, anything for us? Yes, I would want to say uh at the May department head meeting, we had our work session with um
Mr. Unmach regarding um kind of the the working side of things. So, uh, the group was tasked with coming up with some examples for a mission statement, a vision statement, some goals, things like that that, um, at the June 24th,
uh, strategic planning session will be provided to the board. Um, and kind of with some feedback from the group on why this is why that is our recommendation. Just a reminder, the June 24th uh, date for the strategic planning session
should be on all of your calendars. We canled the June 11th due to the district meeting. Um June 2nd we have a building committee meeting with W architects and engineers. This is the final meeting. Um W should have sent out a meeting invite. Um this is the meeting that we will
review the recommendations um with the building committee and then come back with to the full board. Yep. So, at that June 2nd meeting, we'll kind of work with the building committee to look at some dates of when that will be a good time to present those um those
recommendations. And then just uh just kind of a plug with the parks. I did all of the park park tours last week, so I visited with all the managers, reviewed uh some of their budgets with them, and went over just miscellaneous items. Um but they're all gearing up for the 2025
camping season. We have really solid reservations so far for the year. Um, we're exceeding some numbers compared to 2024 season as of today. Um, and if you do get a chance to go down to Big Candy East, um, well, or any of our parks to
be honest, uh, but Big Candy East with the new camping cabins that were purchased through that DNR grant and then the fishing pier. And then we did need to do some work on the retaining wall at that swimming beach and our public works team did a phenomenal job.
Um we'll get some posted on our Facebook page, but Big Candy East Park also has some photos of what they did uh with the retaining wall. It looks just absolutely great and will serve the purpose for years to come. Um so just a heads up if you get out to the parks, just kind of
talk to the managers and they like I said, they're just gearing up for the 25 season. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Uh we are down to uh uh committee reports and uh uh if I may uh I'd like
to start with Commissioner Mdeck. Uh I have nothing to report. All right. Uh and I'll go to Commissioner Bur. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've had quite a few meetings, but I'm going to just really try and narrow in on some of those specific things. I did attend a
EDC uh operational board to get the update about the golf course. That was very interesting. But I think you all heard about it in the paper too as well since then. I won't report on it. We did have our 18 county meal consortium meeting on the 9th uh in Marshall and uh
the 18 county board of commissioners u uh voted to approve uh there's the money there's dollars we get from the state every year and there's so many dollars left right now. uh what to do with those dollars and and how we divide those up to provide good mental health services.
Uh and there was some different ideas about doing that. uh but it really came down to and I really pushed for as well is that uh to look at it uh by population and based on that then the board did approve it and there was a
formula that was uh that that was developed and uh there was a every county got at least $10,000 and then based on population the rest was divided up. So our total comes around to 26,000 and maybe we've already received those dollars. I I'm not sure if we have or
not, but that'll be going, you know, into the Health and Human Services Fund, I'm assuming. Um, and uh that's that's probably the biggest thing to come out come out of that uh situation is at this point, we also have had several Prairie
Lakes Youth Program meetings and talking about many things with Prairie Lakes Youth Program. Um the the the downside right now is we had hoped to uh have a we have a meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 and to tour the the
facility that uh we got remodeled. Well, it's going to be next month now. I think we've been hearing as you know construction uh goes that it's not quite done yet. So we're not going to really have a tour of that. We are also looking at some other needs for space and we're
exploring that and we probably report back to the board the next time uh what some options are and why we're needing that. Um I had a uh okay like truth program which is I think we've had three
meetings so far this month. Uh uh I attended the AMC Zoom update. I know several other commissioners were on that and and I think we all know that legislatively it's it's kind of a sad we still don't know where we're at where it appears. Um I had uh we had the Hawk
Creek project and the Hawk Creek one wershed plan meeting uh last week and I just uh one watershed plan is moving along and and we're spending the money as a as a group and it looks positive where we're going and there's no really
nothing controversial at this point with that. Um and uh we're moving forward uh we're trying to look at more structural type projects uh as we go forward. The Hawk Creek project though is brought up and this has been brought up to the
board uh as well as you remember uh we had an update last month from Hawk and the there's a joint powers and I'll I've been meaning to send you the copy of that joint powers that when it was developed back in 2012 I believe um that
uh the joint powers part of it was that it said it shall contribute funds as needed uh for administrative costs moving forward. And we have not have needed any any dollars for that right now because of of the funds and the changing
administrative costs. Uh there's not always enough dollars in there for administrative costs and some some grants. It's all ranoff grants and u they're requesting and I'm part of that board and I supported that that we look at the counties uh uh for
$25,000 contribution each. And this is going to be something that we're going to have to talk about down the road basically. So, do we uh want to do that or not? Or do the other two joint powers, do they even want to do that as well? Because I think everybody's going
to be looking at some financial issues with the counties the way it is. So, and also we put on hold any salary increases at this point for uh for the Hot Creek project as well. So just that's the current update and u uh
administrator Baker will be getting a the request if we haven't gotten it yet from them requesting that because they wanted to to get it in uh you know prior to budget time so you're aware of this issue too.
Um Woodland Centers had a meeting at Woodland Centers and um there's some really concerns with financials with Woodland Centers. I think we're doing better. There's a real concern though with going future, you know, all these nonprofits and and even joint powers, you know, operating off
state and federal funds and they're being cut. And there's a real concern too is as we look, you know, that we fund some of these programs. So, if we make a say 25% cut on their budget or whatever, that's going to be just overwhelming. You know, we have to be
careful as we move forward with all of our joint powers. I personally feel how we that uh uh giving more money to versus and or how much we cut because we can really do a lot of harm to these facil to these programs that we heard
the report today was taking place too. So they're going to be coming looking to us for dollars neverless trying to cut dollars to different programs. We got to be very good stewards of the dollars doing that and the needs for services. Uh the
Woodland Centers board had a tour. Uh they did remodel and it needed it badly and remember they uh uh stopped doing uh detox services there and that space and they're using that space as a crisis center for children and adults and they
remodeled that and I think it's going to be a good program and we had a tour of that in the building. It would made me think this morning when we heard the the discussions about say the uh with
UKAP and we did tour the the daycare center one time. Uh maybe the board might be interested in touring Woodland centers at the end of some board meeting sometime. So we know and firsthand you can see you know where those dollars are going that we uh that they get as well
for services and or the kind of services they provide and it's really interesting to see it's and tour the whole building. I know we all been there for maybe housing meetings but uh with some of the changes just to have a tour at the end of the meeting if that would work and the majority of the dollars do go to the
FTES. Yeah. Staffing. Yes. Yep. So, but then that's that's changed the budget. Yeah, it's all part of the the budget there. Of course. Yes. And I didn't mean those were dollars. Thank you for the clarification for people listening. Um I I talked enough. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner Berg. Uh Commissioner Dwayne Anderson, I just had uh two meetings. They're pretty much routine. Uh one was Central Minnesota Jobs and Training uh up in Monaceel. And now that I'm on the workforce development board, I got to be there at 8:15 for those meetings to start. Uh and
then uh that was pretty much routine, which is really nice to hear with with that committee because we they they've gone through a lot in the last couple years. They do have uh an audit that they're a little behind on, but that was because the prior audits um were behind
to begin with and they couldn't start that one. So, they're basically in one year now, they'll have done three basically major audits. And uh but after this, then they should be on time going forward, which is good to hear. And I think the only penalty is they pay a $50 penalty, which they've done in the past.
So, it's not too unusual, but uh they're they want to get on schedule going forward. And then the other meeting was on the 15th of May was a Pioneer Land Library meeting. Uh and that was basically a routine meeting as well. That's it. All right. Thank you very
much, Commissioner Dale Anderson. Um, just a few meetings. Um, on the 12th I had a historical society meeting. Um, nothing um, crazy or different there. Um, looking for a good summer. They're they're they do rent out the building
there for groups if they want to come in for birthday parties and stuff like that. And that has been down. So, they're kind of trying to look at different ways to try and let people know that that facility is available for that and to give people an opportunity to come in and see the the whole
building when they come in to use that room. So, um that was probably their biggest thing. Um on the 13th, I had community uh health board. Um we went down to Olivia, me and Steve, and um had that meeting down there. And then that
evening I went to the Middlefork watershed meeting. Um Andy is the new lead there now and he is doing a good job. Um they're looking at um getting a couple more summer interns in um to fill some staff space. Um there's a lot of
lakes and a lot of projects right now where they need to do a lot of monitoring of water. Um so they're using these interns to to do all this monitoring without having a lot of expense for staff people. So, um, that's kind of their big mission right now is
just trying to get information and data from these different watersheds to decide on how severe some of the pollution and some of the problems in these lakes are. Um, I went to drug court on the 14th. Um, I always find that very interesting. I haven't been to
that many, but to just see the process and see how the kids um from one that's only been there for three days sober to one that's been there for 500 and some days sober to see how they've changed and how their attitude is and and their patience in the process and everything.
I I find that more interesting than anything is just to watch the the kids and how they handle. Um, but I I really have to say the judge and the staff there deserve a big hand for what they do because they wouldn't have to do it and he wouldn't have to do it and he
could just say, "No, you're in trouble. You've missed your drug test. You're going to go back to jail and he doesn't do that." And I mean, especially the one that just had a problem this week, sitting right in front of us and and that kid knew he messed up and he realized he messed up and and he was
very humble about it. and and the one person sitting next to him said, "What happened?" And I didn't hear with a conversation, but he she just said, "You'll get there." And I thought, "Boy, that's kind of cool when you've got somebody that's been there, done it, and then somebody that's just fighting through it." So, I I think it's a really
neat process and a neat thing to see. Um, the other meeting was the library when I was with Dwayne and then last night we had Prairie Woods and they are working on their road right now up to their new uh preschool and um they're hoping to have that done by the end of
the month and I asked and there's 15 families right now that are utilizing that new preschool. Um there's a lot of other projects that they're working on. um their destination park. They are not going to do anything until next year um
with that and then try and go in for some grants for that next year. Um they're redoing um a bunch of the uh acorage into wild flowers. So this year it's going to look all brown because they're going to try and keep it dead for the summer, work it up this fall,
and then seed it. So hopefully next year it'll start growing back into new. So, if you go to Prairie Woods and it all looks dead, it's because they're trying to work on trying to kill off the grass and and get things ready for a new seating. So, um but that's about all I
have. Thank you very much. Um Commissioner Mdeck and I uh happened to attend the Moving On uh uh program graduation uh uh about a week before the drug court. And that was a uh uh that
was a nice uh uh event that's that's a program specifically for females uh and uh uh who it's it's similar to drug court and some of those folks are participants in the drug court as well.
So uh uh but it uh it I think the value there is in giving uh more assistance and and and more opportunity for empowerment uh of the women who are in uh these programs uh to be able to stand
up for themselves to uh uh build some more self-esteem and uh uh be able to take uh some more control over their life as opposed to being controlled. And I I really see that as an invaluable
uh uh program. And I was and I was happy to be there. And then I also attended the uh drug court with Commissioner Dale Anderson. Uh on less than 48 hours notice, uh uh the uh AMC called its uh uh put out an
all call to its board members and uh uh others to participate uh down at the cap last Thursday, putting on one last push for trying to uh advance our call for do no harm uh to counties. uh and uh uh
director Tammy Joe Leeberg from probation was uh was present there as well. And we we met with our legislators and uh visited with uh with several others and uh uh apparently they must have gone late
uh last night uh because uh we have an email in our inbox from AMC at 5:45 in the morning. They weren't in Chambers. They didn't go to Chambers yesterday. They they did nothing yesterday after. Yeah, it it took to slow. So, so
there'll be a special session. Yeah, there will there will be a special session, but uh we have uh like I say, we have that uh uh email from AMC data uh timestamped 5:45 this morning. Uh and just a reminder to all that uh uh if you
haven't already registered for the uh uh uh for the uh uh update uh from AMC tomorrow uh virtual update uh that happens tomorrow morning I believe at 9:00. Um there are some really really dire consequences for
counties and for our county taxpayers uh as a result of this uh these supposed budget cuts which are uh uh primarily shifts in costs from the state to counties. Uh and really there isn't
anything that uh we do uh right now that isn't going to be impacted in some way shape or form. Uh we are happy that the uh uh Minnesota Senate uh uh refused to uh accept uh uh measures that would
transfer cost to counties um or create new cost shares. Uh so we're uh we're hopeful to be able to carry that message. But, uh, I would say to everybody up here, uh, as well as everybody out there who's watching this, uh, if you're concerned about your
property taxes going up, uh, due due to the state shifting costs onto counties, uh, contact your legislators. Um, that's, uh, sometimes the only thing that works, quite frankly. Uh it's it's discouraging to see what we thought were
solid partnerships uh with the state especially uh uh especially the administration um uh that uh suddenly seemed to be disposable on their end. And so I hope that uh hope that we're able to get some
better news. Um, in the meantime, uh, the work here goes on and we'll, uh, we'll deal with ultimately whatever comes up, but, uh, hope that we can mitigate as much as possible the, uh, impacts to our county taxpayers. Commissioner, add on to that just a
little bit. Um, so we were, uh, stationed ourselves in front of the House chamber and the senate chamber to try to visit with uh, delegations. they were going in and out of their chamber. And uh we did visit with a lot of people
and the thing that the county's uh AMC had come up independently of Senator Abler and that we're promoting very strongly is to basically pause the whole cut thing and allow a task force to be
developed because AMC feels very very strongly that uh counties can help them find real cuts, not just transfers. Um like especially within human services, uh meaningful cuts and to do that task
force pretty much keep the lights on for now. We had really good reception from the people we visited, our own delegation and then others that we know of from around the state, you know, over the course of the year. So, we'll see where that goes. Yeah. And uh uh I want
to thank you for uh uh you know for your uh work uh to spotlight uh the uh uh impacts that these uh uh that these impact uh that these uh cost shifts and uh uh potential cuts to things like CPA
uh county program aid uh would uh would really fiscally harm counties and uh harm our ability to uh uh do the work that we're tasked by the state and federal governments to do by and large. Uh would also uh if if these happen uh
there are also uh areas that we perform in that are uh non-mandated services that uh could potentially be ser uh severely impacted uh and that could impact a lot of the folks who we serve as well. Yeah, Corki talked about some of those the discretionary things like
the libraries and the law library and um historical all of those things are discretionary expenditures that we have. Yeah. Yeah. So we know that uh we know that the status quo uh is not sustainable but
uh their proposed cure is uh uh potentially going to kill kill the patient. So, and I that's a little bit of hyperolying, but it's good. At the end of a long meeting, uh I'm entitled. So, with that, uh is there anything further to come before the board of
commissioners today? If not, then we will adjourn. Thank you so much everybody.