--------- Yeah, that would have been nice. >> Uh, good afternoon and welcome to the Cander County Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday, December 2nd, uh, 2025. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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 welcome everybody uh who's watching us online as well as the folks
in the uh room today. Uh we have the approval of the agenda and before uh before I ask for that approval uh we do need to add one item and uh that would be uh a request uh to uh apply for a
grant uh by the Kand County Veterans Office. And then we are also removing the 5:05 p.m. uh action item. Um uh those are the two uh changes that we would make to uh this evening's agenda.
Um does anyone else have anything or is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? >> When are you going to add? >> Yeah. Where is that going to be? >> When are you going to add the when? >> Uh that'll be the very first thing after we dispose of the consent agenda. >> Okay.
>> U was that what you were asking, Dwayne? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. Do we have a motion? I also move acceptance. Thank you. Commissioner Berg moves. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Discussion. >> So, what we're taking off is the community corrections work service
grant. >> That's correct. >> If I may, >> uh, go ahead. >> Uh, we don't have the information quite ready. So, I spoke with the director this morning and she'll be bringing that back to the board on the December 16th meeting. >> We have a motion and a second. All in
favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh the next item is the consent agenda and those consist of the following action items. Approval of the November 18, 2025 county board legal minutes. Approval of the auditor's
warrants and claims. The C6 drug and gang task force grant agreement for 2627. Approval of the November 18, 2025 closed session minutes. Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
contract addendum to the 2025 MIPDWP uh employment and training program services 2026 Minnesota Family Investment Program diversionary work program joint powers agreement for 2026
uh and an amended version of the Laredo Anywhere uh agreement. Are there any of these consent agenda items that commissioners wish to pull for further discussion? >> In lie of pulling it, Mr. Chair, what's
the Laredo Anywhere agreement? >> Uh, I'll ask the uh administrator to uh explain why that's back here or I'm sorry >> if Julie wants to come up and explain. >> Oh, yeah. Julie, would you help us with that, please? Thank you. >> Sorry I didn't see you back there.
>> That's right. Thank you, Mr. Chair, commissioners, um Julie Mudson, Kenway County Recorder. So the Laredo Anywhere contract is or agreement is actually our software provider that we use for um our subscribers that go onto our system to
view public records. >> Yes. And that's a reoccurring. So this is a renewal, correct? >> Yes. This is an update. Um this is from our last meeting um board meeting on the 18th. I had noticed unfortunately after I got back to the office as it was
getting ready to send this out to customers that there were a few items that were missed on the original um um agreement that you viewed. Um so I just wanted to bring it back so you were aware of those few items that were missed so that um we can amend the
agreement. >> Yes. >> Yeah. This was approved by the county board at the November 18th meeting and so these are just minor uh adjustments and amended agreement. So that's where it was placed on the consent, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> Yes. I think it's really good to have this update though because we are
approving some rate changes. Yes. >> And so that we know exactly that we address that as a rate change and so forth. >> Correct. >> I'm satisfied with it at this point. >> And the last change that we actually had for um fees was in 2019. So we the rates
don't change that often. So >> all right. Uh with that then uh does anyone wish to actually pull this for action or can we dispense of it as part of the uh consent agenda?
>> All right. Hearing no objection, we'll include that as part of the agenda consent agenda and then ask for a motion and a second on the consent. >> I'll make a motion, Mr. Chair, to accept the consent agenda. >> Dwayne Anderson, >> Mr. Commissioner Index seconds.
Discussion hearing. None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. At this time, we'll ask Trish Appleorn. Uh uh our county uh CVSO and you have one item for us.
>> I do, Mr. Chair. Thank you for squeezing me into your agenda this evening. It was brought to our attention late last month um that there was another grant available through the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. Every year this grant comes up and I kind of
overlook it because it's more of a metro type of grant where they want for homeless veterans or type of programs like that, but this year they were focusing on transportation and our van is pretty old. So I put in um and wanted to squeeze in here to see
if we could put in for a grant to get a new vehicle purchased to transport our veterans to the VA medical centers as well as we go to St. cloud on even days and we do um temporarily right now I should say we
transport on odd days if they have local appointments. So we're we're on the road almost every day >> um to St. Cloud or transporting to local veterans. So this grant would be for $46,000 if they approve it to purchase a new vehicle for the Kandy County
veterans. >> And uh if I may uh so this is for a new Ford Explorer. Uh is there any requirement that uh there be like a wheelchair lift or anything like that in this vehicle or do you have other arrangements that are made if you need
to uh uh assist a veteran who needs that wheelchair transport? >> There is no requirement to have a wheelchair accessible van. Kandandy County has never had one for the veterans for many reasons. Two of the main ones are you need a special driver's license. U so and we've never
had anyone that had a special driver's license. We work with the um CCT transportation to find volunteer drivers for those types of trips. >> Outstanding. All right. Any uh any other questions from the board?
>> Uh Commissioner Berg and then Commissioner Mck. >> Well, that's really sounds like a good plan. >> It sounds like a wonderful plan. >> Are there any uh matching funds or any funds from the county at all? we we wouldn't need any from the county that I had a bid from atwater Ford that
>> we had okay >> previously. So I just was like let's I have the bid let's do it. So >> So the request then is to uh uh authorize uh you to apply for this grant
and have the uh >> it looks like the chair sign on behalf of uh the applicant. >> Yes, sir. Uh, Commissioner Anderson. >> Yep. So, I'll just make a motion then to approve the CVSO uh competitive grant
and that it get signed by the chairman for the county board. >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second discussion. Roger, did you have something to add? >> So, this is an explorer, not a van, correct? >> It's an explorer. T um typically on an average day, we have only have two
veterans going. Uh, and we just figured that I went through the last two years at the most we've had four veterans that have used the transportation at one time. It would be safer to have all-wheel drive. The vans do not have that. And um, with the Explorer, there
are three rows. If there were a circumstance where there was more, we do have the community service van as well that we could use. >> Better gas mileage, too, to be honest. >> Yep. All right. Any other questions? We have a motion and a second to approve
the request of the uh veteran service office. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> You guys have a great evening. >> Do you need a signature on that? Uh uh now? >> No, you can sign it after the meeting
and I'll get it from Kelsey tomorrow. All right. Have a great evening. >> Just wanted to check check with you on that. Thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> All right. Next item of business. uh two items from Katie Zeamer, our human human resources director. Uh and these uh are
in regards to a memorandum of understanding. Katie, good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Katie Zemer, human resources director. I have a few differentus. Um three are related to PFML and it just is going into effect one of 26. We've
been working on various items for this are one of our final steps. So this breaks down the premium contribution split between the employer and the employee and then that we are allowing supplementation of leave uh to make up the difference in someone's wages if
they out are out on PFML. And then the other is rest and lunch breaks for human services and public health. Right now their language in their contracts differ from the language that we have in our employee handbook. So thisou would
change the language to match our employee handbook where they have two different break options for rest breaks along with two different lunch break duration options. >> All right. Um uh any questions from the uh board on the first item?
>> Is there a motion? >> I would move on uh LLC and health and human services paid family medical leave. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> All right, motion and a second. Uh, any
discussion, questions? >> All right, hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. And then you have anotherou. >> Yes. So, the second one was the rest and lunch breaks. So to match the language
in the employee handbook for human services and public health where they have two different v uh durations for their rest and lunch breaks depending upon which one they choose. So if you take a 15 minute lunch break you are given or sorry a 15inut rest break twice
a day you get an hour lunch break otherwise if you take a 20 minute rest break you get a 45m minute lunch break. >> All right Mr. chair. I so moved. >> Uh I think do we already have a motion in a second? >> Not on this one. >> Now we do. We have a motion. Is that
>> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> All right. Uh any discussion? >> I was still on the other item. Uh hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. >> Motion passes. Katie, thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right. And at this time, we receive a annual update from uh Dr. Chose. uh here tonight for Woodland Centers. >> Hi everybody. >> Good morning or good afternoon. >> Good. Good evening. >> It's been a long day. >> It's been a day. Um so I appreciate the
time. Usually I spend quite a bit of time talking, but I know you have a long agenda today. So I have about 10 minutes. Um so some of the information I gave you um is really talking through our purchase of service contract and some of the history that we have had on that. I'm not going to go into all that
detail, but if any of you look at that in the future and you have any questions, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Um, in addition, I want to be a resource for all of you. So, if at any point you are having questions about mental health, substance use, woodland centers, anything that's going on in for us,
please feel free to reach out to me anytime. So, I'm going to jump over the first couple. Oh, go ahead, Corki. Yes, >> Mr. Chair. >> Just a comment along the same line. If anybody's really interested, Dr. Schulz has a book on the history of Woodland Mental Health Center. Yes.
>> Which is also involves Kandui County Human Services greatly over the years, how it's changed and work together. It's it's very interesting. >> Yeah. It was from our original founder who wrote the book. So if you are very interested in learning about the whole history, it is there. I took some of
that one. I I learned a lot reading through some of those books. >> Good history of relationships and collaboration. >> Absolutely. So, um, our contract has evolved over the years and in 2026, well, 2025, we have spent a lot of time working with our social service directors, um, just figuring out where
is this contract going, where do we want it to be as we move into the future. Um, and so this year was really taking a deep dive into it and really coming up with what is going to work best for everybody, um, how are we being transparent with where this money, where the monies are going, uh, what services
we're offering. And so everything that's in this contract is um not almost everything is covered under your mental health authority. Um and so ensuring that the services you're receiving are helping you to meet those requirements as the mental health authority at the county level. Um and so looking at a few
of the changes. So, previously in these contracts, um, community outreach and education both had a pretty significant line item. And that was back from 2022 when the counties requested that 10% of the overall purchase of service was allocated into those areas. At that
time, we let everybody know we don't track those things. It's just something we do. Um, you know, we don't track every time we do an educational thing. We or go to a, you know, a conference or do any of those things. And so this year it was it was really looked at of like, okay, what are we doing in those line items and what makes sense for every
county? Um, and so where we landed with this was to have community education and prevention really ratcheted down to about $1,400 per county. And in those um in that would be Woodland Centers would provide five hours of education per county for the contract purposes. Now,
we're probably going to do more education across all of our counties than that, but to hit the contract, we will make sure that we hit at least five hours in every county, which could include transportation if we have to drive somewhere, maybe not if it's virtual. So, um that would hit the education line item. And then for
outreach, um every county in this line item is a little bit different because we do different things in every county. And so, what we did this year is we actually looked at we created a spreadsheet because we really didn't know either. Um and said, okay, what are all the things we're doing? what are all the educational things, what are all the outreach things, what's happening in
every county, and then looking working with the county social services to say, okay, what makes sense to put into the purchase of service and what is just Woodland Cent's business? And so the line items in here in the contract are really the line items that we said this makes sense um based off of the purchase of service contract that would be
beneficial to the county and meeting the mental health authority standards. And so in the outreach area is, you know, participation in meetings, um, participation in certain outreach things that are happening, um, partner meetings, suicide prevention meetings, things like that. And so we really break
that down in there. So any dollars that were extra above and beyond that were in those line items previously got shifted into direct services. So things like therapy, med management, pieces like that. That's a lot. Any questions on those two? Those were some of the big shifts
that happened. >> Any questions for Dr. Chose? >> Okay. >> No, please continue. >> All right. So, um, essentially mobile crisis, that allocation has been there for years. That really has not shifted. Outpatient therapy, um, and day treatment services, those did increase
slightly. And again, that's because we took some of those dollars from outreach and education and they shifted into those line items. And then let's talk about youth crisis. So, youth crisis um Woodland Centers has operated Youth Crisis for decades. We are one of two youth crisis centers in the entire
state. We were the only youth crisis center up until about three years ago when Olmstead County, backed by the Mayo Clinic, was able to open a youth crisis center and nobody else has been able to do it because they don't have the support like we have with our counties. There is no other funding source for
youth crisis. We are working on that with the state. However, um that's probably going to take a minute with all the financial things happening at the state right now to build a a a service code for that or a billable code. Um so with that being said, um we have operated our youth crisis center for
years in the red. So since I've been in this position, um youth crisis has operated between4 to $500,000 in the red every year. And we've just absorbed that cost. We're getting to a place where we can't continue to absorb that. And so again, working very closely with the
social service directors kind of laid out here, you know, here's what it costs to operate this. Um, here's how many admissions we get. Here's how this how it works. Here's, you know, most of the admissions are coming from our 7ount region, about 85%. Another 15% come from other contract counties. Um, but the
majority are are from our county area. And so looking at the rate, it was pretty low. We haven't increased it for for many many years. Um and so we did say we have to increase this rate to keep these services in place. So for the 25 or the 26 contract, the um day rate
is going to go from $345 to $890 per day, which I know sounds like a lot, and it it is. It's significant. Um but that gives us a margin on our youth crisis center of about $1,000. So we're not making money on this. We're really just trying to break even to keep that
program sustainable and open in our community. And when you think about $880 a day or $8.90 a day, that's significantly cheaper than an ER visit. Significantly cheaper than even going to like a hospital level of care. So considering that, um I'm hope hopeful
that you know this is a rate that can be sustainable for you all. Questions on that? I know that's a big one. >> Commissioner B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, yeah. If the service wasn't provided, what's what's the alternative? >> Yeah. ER. >> I mean, really, it's the ER. There's
really no other services in place for youth. It's it's hard. And, um, one of the things that we're working on as well is um, our capacity level. So, prior to this year, we had six beds in our youth crisis center, but they were double rooms. So, sometimes we would be full at
three kids because they couldn't have roommates for clinical reasons. um you know, they had trauma issues. They are transgender youth. We're not going to put a roommate in with with another transgender youth. And so that affects our ability to take other kids. And so
sometimes although we could take six, technically we were full at three. And so that makes our capacity look much smaller. So over the years we have ran between like 27 to 20% of full capacity. This year we added another bed so we can take seven kids and that's a single
room. And so now we have the ability to move kids around and that has increased significantly our ability to take more kids. I'm on call this week so I can tell you right now in our youth well what last night when I got off call um we had six beds full out of seven and
we've been running at a much higher capacity this year. So that's looking better. Um and that should help some of our kind of this this rate disparity as well. So and and help the kids that are in need. We don't have to turn them away. >> Commissioner Rim. >> Thank you. When you say youth, what age
bracket is that? >> Yeah, we can take all the way down to age eight. Um, and then all the way up to to 18, well, 17, and then at 18, they'd go to our adult unit. Um, but at the ages of like eight and nine, they often need a one-on-one staff. So, those are a little challenging for us if we
don't have enough staff. So, it it is those ages. Yep. >> I have a followup. >> Yes. Go ahead. Um, and so you you described a situation a couple nights ago, maybe last night it was, where you had six or seven beds. Are they all fairly close by? So if somebody's in
western Minnesota and Laaparo County or Yellow Medicine, do they come in to the >> They do. They do. Yep. So we get referrals from law enforcement, ERS, um, social services, family members. Often times it's our mobile team. We might start with a mobile and we'll go out to
a home or they'll come to us and we recommend residential services. Um so we do we get folks from all over. We have contracts um quite a ways away. Yep. >> Any other uh Commissioner? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um how are the
children uh brought in? Let's put it that way. Yeah. >> The parents bring them in the social worker to >> always always um so it can be the parents. We do need a guardian to sign them in. Um, so even if it's not the parent transporting them, the parent has to follow. So sometimes if they're
coming from the ER, we might get them through a medical transport and the parents are following, but most of the time it's going to be parents, guardians, social workers with parents. Um, that's typically the way. Yep. And I do have data on um like admissions if
you guys are interested in just knowing that. So for Candyway County, sorry, I should have made this bigger. Um, in 2024 you had I'm sorry, this is bed days which is different than admissions because it's the number of bed days that you guys utilized. So in 2024 utilized
192 days, 23 was 196, 22 was 169. Um 2021 was 249. So it, you know, it can vary slightly, but um Kenway County is definitely the highest utilizer because it's right here. And I think that, you know, that's one of and it's the highest populated area that we have in our seven
counties. So, >> and I know we're not at year end yet, but >> you're not I don't have 25 data yet, so sorry. >> Well, that'll be interesting when that does come along. Please continue. >> Yes, absolutely. Happy to share it. So,
that's the biggest changes um in our 2025 contract. The other um item I think to be aware of is um we did take out the clinical consultation out of our our purchase of service contract this year. that has been allocated in there for years. Um, and essentially that is the
clinical supervision that we provide to targeted case managers. After a lot of discussion with um the social service directors, it just makes sense to pull that out and we're creating separate contracts for that for counties that want to that want to take advantage of that service. Um, and so counties can
choose to contract with us and then we bill on a monthly rate for any services. What happens in the purchase of service contract is we annualize about six months of what we have done for those services and then you're kind of locked in as a county, right? So this is your this is what you're getting for
supervision. So if we create the separate contract, it allows counties to ramp up or ramp down or change providers midyear if they would choose to do so. Um or we can add more service mid year and it's not locked into this kind of you know one-sizefits-all rate. And so
having that separate contract is really beneficial. So for Candyway County, that will um equate to a reduction in your contract of $51,520 for 2026. >> All right, any last questions for Dr.
Troes? >> Well, as always, sorry we have short time for you tonight, but uh thank you so much and uh keep up the good work. >> Thank you. Thank you for all your support. I appreciate it. >> And you're welcome. And then uh to follow up with that then Caroline
Connor, Health and Human Services director is here to uh present the purchase of services agreement with Woodland Centers. Caroline. >> All right. As you've already said, Caroline Khan, health and human services director for Candy Ohio County. Uh here to present the Woodland Cent's purchase
of service um agreement. I want to echo um the my appreciation or well state my appreciation for the work that Dr. chose and her team have put in uh with us social service directors over this past year. It has not been an easy process. Um but we appreciate the partnership and
and working through and and really um working alongside and and working together to making sure that we're presenting a contract uh to our boards that's right sizing for their organization and and providing um you guys with the most information possible and and looking forward to what we're
going to continue to do over the next year. Um, so I just want to uh state my appreciation um for the work that she's put in as well as her team. Um, so I before you today, I would put the recommendation for the board's approval of the Woodland Center's 26 purchase of
service contract as proposed. >> You've heard the recommendation of staff. Uh, any questions? >> Mr. Chair, I will move the for the approval and make a motion for the purchase of service agreements with Woodland Centers as presented.
Thank you. Is there a second? >> I would second that, Mr. Chair. >> Commissioner Mckens. Any discussion, questions for the director? >> It's pretty straightforward and uh it's it's in line with uh financially with
last year's essentially. So, Commissioner B. >> Oh, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, I know a little bit about this now. had some several meetings, I understand, and I'm sure glad it worked out and we're at this point with having a good an agreement moving forward. So, thank you.
>> All right. Anyone else? We have a motion and second uh to uh approve the purchase of services agreement with Woodland Centers. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. And Caroline, you have two more items for us here. Yes,
>> I do. >> Dr. Jones, thank you so much. >> Yes. Thank you. All right. Before you uh this evening, I have two um of our my next two items kind of go hand in hand. There are Prairie Lakes youth program contracts
for 2026. Uh so before you first is our Prairie Lakes youth program contract. Uh the only adjustment in the pro um program um for 2026 would be the pdium rate which is set by the joint powers for Prairie Lakes youth program but as
the fiscal host for that contract on behalf of the state it is our responsibility to bring that forward to this board to approve those um within the contract. So uh before you today I have the pdeium adjustment for 2026 as stated in the con the attachment which
would adjust from the previous non-member rate of 450 to 550 and the previous member pdeium of um 410 to to 510. I understand that that again is a pdeium jump as we are seeing with many of our providers. I trust that the joint
powers team and I and my conversations with the executive director, but that these are reasonable requests um and the cost of doing business moving forward. I look forward to working with the new director in the 2026 year um in in partnership with some of their goals as
well. uh we had a great meeting talking about some of their goals with mental health um programming and the opportunity to lean into some of her director re resources same as we're read leaning in with our woodland cent's partnerships and how we can come alongside um and be partners in that area as well as their member counties.
So before you I would make the recommendation of the approval of the 2026 Prairie Lakes youth program contract as stated. >> Thank you. You've heard the recommendation of staff. Is there a motion? Also move. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson moves. Is there a second?
>> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? As you said, it is a uh FD increase, but uh I really don't think we should be very surprised right now that with all the stressors on uh uh on
organizations like this and we just saw it with Woodland Centers as well. Commissioner B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. I didn't make the motion because it's probably a slight conflict of interest and in a sense I also serve on that board since we have a joint powers but also like to add it this program
serves the whole state. >> It does >> and and this does bring revenue. So we're lucky in two two ways that we get a discount as membership counties on it as well. So we're saving money that way and we don't have to haul our kiddos.
Where would they have to go? Fargo Twin Cities. Well, actually, the Twin Cities are bringing kids out here, too. So, it'd be really complicated if we didn't have this program, and it's a tough one to fund, and we've had a lot of changes with that, as you all know, uh, over the few last few years. So, it's a good
move, and the rates fairly competitive with all the other ones. So, said So, thank you for bringing that forward and and working that out. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, anyone else? >> All right. Uh we have a motion and a
second on this. Yes. Okay. We have a motion and a second to approve the uh uh Prairie Lakes Youth Programs uh contract for services uh with the changes uh to the pdium rates. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I.
>> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. And do you have one more for Prairie Lakes youth programs? >> Correct. That would be the um renewal of our 2026 Prairie Lakes Youth Program contract for nursing services that we provide uh to Prairie Lakes through our public health program. Uh this would be
aligning our services within their contract with us to align with our public health fees that were approved at the November 4th uh board meeting. Again, through our conversation with the new director, we will look forward to uh partnering um with them as some of their nursing goals in 2026 and and coming up
with some uh recommendations um with for them to achieve some of their nursing um strategic plan goals moving forward as as our expertise is in the nursing field and helping be a partner in that way as well. Um, so that will possibly be an
update later on in the year, but right now we're moving forward with the recommendation uh to approve the 2026 that would align our our fees in the contract to align with the approved public health fees um in that were approved by the Candyo High County Board.
>> All right, we've heard the uh recommendation of staff. Is there a motion? >> Uh the chair will move on the request. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. Thank you, uh, Commissioner Dwan Anderson. Um,
>> and I I I think I just heard you say that we've we've already approved the rates. This is just, uh, for public health >> to this is just this is just reflecting uh, those updated rates. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Commissioner
Mimck. >> Uh, thank you. Um, so to your point, Chair Gardner, you said we've approved the rates, but this applies them that those approved rates to use contract program. >> Correct. >> Commissioner Burke. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. I've used this program a couple times in the past about how out of taxpayers dollars, we get some extra bumps out of it sometimes. Let's say we levy a dollar to to our uh uh to the county levy on our houses. We get the
dollar uh we put it in the budget. Let's say either uh the sheriff's department or community corrections department. They end up having to place a kid there. So that dollar then and then so then uh that dollar goes there to pay pay that uh group and then they are using public
health services and so the dollar comes back to the county again and then public health then it's in our county budget and then all a sudden uh human services has to place a kid there and the dollar goes back there again. So we do circulate our dollars and make them the
most of them as we go forward. >> That's a busy dollar. >> It is. I'm just tired of talking about it. I wish I got that far with my own dollars. >> There you are. >> Yeah. >> Caroline, anything else to add for >> before we uh vote on this? >> Any other questions from the board?
>> All right. Hearing none, all in favor of approving the uh contract uh for nursing services for Prairie Lakes youth programs signify by saying I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Caroline, thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Uh, and David is it? >> Okay. Uh, yep. We're 505 is uh not here. Uh, not going to present. So, uh, you're up. >> Um, and Mel. Yeah. Uh, and Mel, do you want to kind of lead this off? Make the introduction.
>> Mr. Chair. Yeah, I I would. Um, while he's connecting to the cords, I thought I'd do a little filler here. Um this is a quarters of commerce project that um we applied for as the county and it was
to fulfill a deficiency in the New London interchange or intersection of of trunk highway 9 and and trunk highway 23. And what we want to do is number one, what you're going to hear tonight is how this project addresses the
deficiencies. And then also they're getting I think the plans are at 75%. >> The plans are at 75%. Uh, no, we're getting into 16. >> Um, but we want to like lock in our
agreements of our understanding from the county side, from the state side, so they can finalize the plans because believe it or not, it's December and it might be let in a year. So, I'll turn it over to David Nland and you can introduce yourself. Okay. >> Thank you.
>> David, just for the record, uh, just introduce yourself and who you're representing tonight. >> Uh, yeah. Uh my name is Dave Nyl. I am a project manager for district 8 uh mindat. Um okay. So uh this is as Mel mentioned um I'm
here to discuss the new London interchange kind of an update to to where we're at with it and to uh provide some of the benefits that the interchange will uh provide. Um we'll kind of jump back in history a little bit. Um in 2017 there was a
corridor study done on the uh on the intersect or on trunk highway 23. Uh this intersection was included in that. Um and at the time uh J turn was recommended for uh to solve any uh safety issues that were there. In 2020
the JT design started um and in 2021 the uh uh public u came to mind and said hey you know we not a big fan of this this idea here. So, we put the project on hold and um then we uh developed a uh in
2022 we developed an advisory committee uh to look at the intersection and to see if there's a a better way to handle it. Um and then in 2023 um Candy was awarded corridors commerce funding to uh
to fund the project that um has now become the uh new London interchange. So the interchange in a nutshell, it provides a bridge over 25 uh over
Highway 23 um connecting Highway 9 and um the new realigned uh County Road 40. Um we've added a roundabout to the north. Uh this will um provide mobility
benefits. Um, we will be closing a couple of accesses to 23. Uh, we'll be closing uh the Chapen Drive access. We will also be closing the old uh County Road 40 access and the median uh the the
median crossover. Um, and then the uh the access to the country stop and to the uh block plant, those accesses will not change. We're going to be stopping our project short. That'll be part of the project but we will be change keeping the accesses as
is project benefits. Uh the first one is vehicle safety. Um the interchange is going to remove the atri crossing um by adding the bridge. Uh this will reduce um right angle crashes. Right angle
crashes or t-bone crashes are the most severe crashes. uh they are the most common type of fatal and serious injury crashes and they are the most common at high-speed intera intersections like the highway 9 and 23. Also with the closures of Chapen Drive
and that Cassav 40 access uh will be reducing the number of conflict points in that area. [Applause] All right, come on. There we go. mobility. A second benefit, uh the quadrant ramp will reduce or eliminate
the number of vehicles that might back up onto Highway 23 that are crossing from eastbound 23 to Highway 9 during school hours or peak hours. Um it has been noted several times that uh during school days that traffic going to school
backs up significantly on Highway 23. This will help to eliminate that. Um, this design also provides longer acceleration lanes that will allow vehicles to get up to highway speed before entering the highway. And the bridge will allow uh vehicles traveling
on 23 to maintain highway speeds through the intersection. Future expansion. The addition um of the interchange will provide a better connection between the east and west sides of New London. And this uh connection will be conducive to future development on the south side or
southeast side of 23. Uh pedestrian safety. A trail is being put on the bridge um to provide safe pedestrian crossing of Highway 23. This uh trail will also connect Glacier Lakes
Trail um to the east and uh it'll tie it to the County Road 40 designated bike shoulders. Um I'm going to provide an additional handout. >> I can help. So you can continue.
>> As you can see in the handout, it um I highlighted the the bike paths and the boulevard in between the road and the bike path, which is going to create a safe uh safe pedestrian passage along Highway 9 and down along County Road 40.
So, the roundabout that I mentioned earlier is going to provide uh a number of benefits at its at its location. Um, it's going to create traffic coming from vehicles that are coming from the east over the bridge. So, if they're coming to school, they can't just kind of
barrel through the uh over the bridge and right into town. This will slow down traffic, but it will also provide safe passage through there. So, it'll slow them down, but it'll keep them moving. Um, it's going to provide a safe uh uh also a safe crossing of the the 23
westbound traffic access road. Um, it's going to keep the traffic moving through the through the intersection, especially during peak traffic hours. Um, it'll help prevent any right angle crashes at that particular intersection. And it
will um maintain the access the existing access to the country stop. And it's also going to create a uh safe passage for pedestrians through that intersection. Additional benefits. So while we're
closing 40, uh we will be keeping the right in right out access on the north side of 23. So people will still be able to coming from St. Cloud will still be able to get on to existing County Road 40 at that location. Uh we will be adding a frontage road to the northwest side of the interchange with a
culde-sac. This was going to help uh this is going to better accommodate the local traffic to those businesses. Um it'll take the traffic that buzzes by those businesses. It'll take them off of there, but they'll each business will still have their own access.
Um and it will also again it'll it's designed to help accommodate the future development of the of the former block plant. Um, I'm going to play a short little video here that's going to show the navigation of the interchange and to
kind of show how how fluid it is and easy to navigate. Um, it's a few minutes long, but so if you direct your attention, I took the the the uh navigation out because this kind of
speaks for itself. So this is coming from Wilmer and Spicer >> going to New London. >> Did you just run a stop sign? >> Well, [Laughter] this is going this is from New London to
Wilmer and Spicer. >> As you can see, the the seamless flow around the roundabout and then this is going to St. And this is going from St. Cloud to New London. And then this is demonstrating the culde-sac that is designed for large
trucks do turn to turn around in there. There. That one stopped. Corky. Yeah. Make his mind up wherever he wants to go. >> Yeah. It's tricky. There's a lot of options here. And then this also will show the uh uh
pedestrian benefits here. >> So as you can see, it takes the the pedestrians down off of the circle and then uh roundabouts are known to be um much safer for pedestrian passage. And then the dedicated bike, the dedicated
pedestrian. Okay. And then on to the bridge aesthetics. Um we worked with the with the city of New London um to come up with a design. Um this design is uh features a uh stonefaced form liner and that matches a
lot of the retaining walls on the corridor already. Uh the lights and the railing match the Mil Pond bridge in New London and it's also uh similar to ones on the corridor as well. And then lastly, it will have uh the city of New
London etched on both sides of the bridge. Uh we did come up with three options. One that was, you know, just basic, the other one was just a little different in color scheme. And this is the one that they approved at uh with New London.
plan progress. Uh currently we are in the process of developing the 60% plan set. Um we are scheduled to deliver that um mid this month. So mid no mid December. Um we have started the rightway process which means we started contacting land owners. Um we haven't
made any offers on any of it. We're just kind of talking with them now and getting started getting uh parcels uh sketched out to let them know what's going to be purchased or what we're planning on purchasing. We currently have a leting of March 24th of 2027.
So, um then we anticipate two years of construction. So, we will start full construction in 2027 and then we plan to let the pro or we plan to complete the project in 2028. uh we will start some minor uh tree removal uh earlier. So roughly in about
a year we're going to start looking at doing some tree removals. And I believe any questions? Uh any questions for David? Commissioner. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Dave,
has the uh detour route been determined yet? Um, highway nine or highway 9 and 23 will not have a detour. Um, we do have some minor detail uh detours that are going to take people that would access 40 a little bit further to the
west or I'm sorry to the east. So, we'll have a detour route along there. Um, I'm going to be meeting with the city of New London and the township of New London because they have a couple of roads that could be mildly impacted there. Um, to
talk to them about their their options. >> Yep. Go ahead. >> I'm not sure if if I understood. So, there will be detour. Just hasn't been determined where yet. Correct. >> Uh, the it actually has been deterred. Oh, >> okay. Um, I actually don't have that slide in here, but
>> probably 40 in Birch Street. Um, let's see. I actually can probably even pull it up here. Um, let's see. Just get out of this. Fortunately, it it it it has my um
it connects right to my my office, so I don't have to do any special connections. All right. So, I've got >> Let me know when you pull it up. >> Right here.
All right. So, this will be the detour. Um, as you can see, so all all we're really going to be detouring is County Road 40. Um, >> hold up. >> Oh, not up yet. Sorry,
>> she's not connected to her stuff. >> I got it right here. >> Can you >> It should switch over to port switch. >> Is it plugged in all the way? >> You got it?
>> Of course. Cool. And meanwhile, >> yes. >> Yeah. >> Is this available on Midot's website? >> Uh, we just we just got it cleaned up. We're um we're working through some comments, but I will be placing this all on the website. >> The animation you showed us earlier,
too. That's not quite ready to go. >> Is on the website. >> It is ready. >> Yep. All that information is on the website. The uh the layout, the project layout is on the website. Um the the background is on the website. The uh the
the animation is on the website. So, all that information is on the website. Perfect. >> And this will be uh in short order, too. Probably by the end of the week. >> Okay. >> But knowing the uh knowing the landscape
there, I don't know where else it would go other than 40 and Burke Street. Uh because as the roundabout is being built, obviously, you're not getting into town on >> Oh, yeah. We're still we're still coming in. So the frontage road that we're building, we're actually building that
first. Then people will access through that frontage road. We'll have a slip road that will go around the the roundabout. So uh the new London side won't have any detours. It'll just be on the >> east side of 23. >> Thank you for that.
>> Any other questions? >> Being finicky >> cuz that's the number one question we get. Oh, where are we gonna go? >> Oh, yeah. No, if you're on the New London side, you the you're going right back into town. >> Commissioner B. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Excellent
presentation and I like some of the pictures and even the graphics of the v video as well. Um, this is a major project. I I'm thinking one of the most major ones we had like that, you know, not counting the why and all the things going on there, but this is
>> Yes, this is a it's a substantial project. It's going to It's a great safety project, a great pedestrian safety project, and a great mobility project. >> I'm just amazed as you, Mr. I may follow up. >> You may time's gone by so fast that we're at this stage on this. I mean,
this is it works. Yeah. All the planning pays off. >> We could try the other side, too. I've got another port on the other side. It's not the same port. >> Oh, it's not. >> I'm not the IT guy at work. So,
>> I'm not either. It just told me to unplug it. So, >> sorry about that. >> No, it's fine. You know, you can tip. You want to just tip it up on the screen. >> Oh, there it goes. >> Magic. So, as you can see, um it's all being
detoured to the to the eastbound side. We're going to be putting up signs early enough to uh to in uh to have people turn sooner. We're also u I've directed um our our staging plan is to start the
signage early so that people are aware that it's coming up and it doesn't surprise people. It will still obviously, but um we're going to put the signage up early. And then where you see the local traffic only, we're going to put put barricades on that road um to
really deter so that people can't mistake and say, "Well, we didn't know." Uh will they still get by? They will. Will they still avoid it? Will Google tell them to take out a different way? That's why I plan on talking with the township and the uh city to let them know that there are are options in case
people do overuse their roads. >> All right. Uh Commissioner Mck. >> Um so Highway 23 that grade doesn't change at all. >> Uh Highway 23 will lower. >> It will get lower. >> Yep. It'll be So we're splitting the difference.
>> Okay. to otherwise that bridge would be way up in the air and we would end up with a whole lot of additional rightway impacts and fairly unsightful. >> And so the 23 will be the first part of it. >> Uh no, the first part is they'll we're going to be working on that French road,
get that um to get that connection to uh to get that connection to nine and then during that same time they're going to start building the county road 40 realignment. So that's kind of the first stage of the project and then they'll start working on uh nine and then
eventually they'll go uh they'll have all the all the traffic on one side then they'll shift to the other side and that's how we'll end up is the uh on the east side that that will be the last one to be redone or that'll be the first to
be redone and then the last open. >> All right. So, anyone else with any questions for Dave? All right, then. Uh, uh, Mel, there's aou attached to this. Yes. That we need uh action on.
>> So, yeah, Mr. Chair. So, basically what we wanted to do this update so that number one, we we know our commitment. They know our commitment. And I think the bigger story here is is that in the local option sales tax, we had committed $2.5 million to this project. In the
earlier stages on his very first slide, when we were trying to get the five areas that we wanted that were important to the county would be safety, mobility of pedestrians and and uh future expansion. Um this reduces it all and it keeps our commitment at 2 and a.5
million. Now, if you in and plus the quarters of commerce money that we applied and got 33 million for um a few years ago, but if you look in the in the estimate, the eligible costs are considerably more than that. But I think it's good to know that our commitment
remains at 2 and a half million. So that and I think what we need to do is quote unquote like lock it in so that everybody just knows that our commitment you know what the project is because it's been a while since we've maybe talked about it and that way there's
like no guessing. So it's been reduced to anou a memorandum of understanding. It's a non-binding agreement but it does give a lot of direction. So that's my recommendation to have the the uh the board chair sign on behalf of the county. >> Mr. Mr. Chair, I would move on theou.
>> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion in regards to theou with mind? >> Just commissioner, >> just a clarifying qu uh question. So you said the JTurn plan was released in 2017.
>> Uh it was selected in 2017. >> So that's after almost two years of of meetings with >> the local jurisdictions. So 20 10 years. We've been doing this for 10 years. Sounds about right. Yeah. Wow. From the time the study was started to
today, >> I think for me the timing is good. Um, uh, public works director Odin and I are going to be on a, uh, panel at AMC this week talking about the, um, importance
of being engaged with your, uh, legislature or the federal government. We would not have gotten this thing had we not been at the table. Um and so uh it's a it's going to be an exciting project. >> It's also I think a testament to um how
Mindot does listen to people even though people say you know you don't care what we have to say we actually do and this this project is a direct result of it. >> Any other uh questions
on the motion to approve the uhou with uh uh between Kandandy County and Mandot? All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. David, thank you. And uh a great presentation and looking forward to seeing this uh up
and running here in >> couple years. Yeah. >> He he's done a great job. It's been a um worked well. He's bird dog dug this in pretty pretty tight. So good presentation. Thank you. >> Outstanding. Thank you. >> And we'll we'll get you theou.
>> Yep. I'll get you a fresh. >> All right. And Melvin, you have you have a resolution for us? >> I do. Um, this is on a rightaway vacation on Lake Avenue. Um, is there could we get the screen up by chance? I didn't
>> Or is it in here if I I forgot to talk to you about that? >> The dock camera or >> just I I'd be good at the dock camera just for or whatever the overhead thing. I'm not sure what's the best way here. So, we've had two applications. I'm just
going to go through this relatively quickly. Um, when we rebuilt Lake Avenue South in 2001, we vacated or we moved the roads southerntherly in the area. This is the Bible camp. Here's the the the chapel, I
think, is right here. Here's Archon Road 93. We're heading easterly out of Spicer. Um, but this whole Crescent Beach area was the road right here. And all this where my pen is is all been
vacated in the past 25 years. Um, we don't do it unless we have an application. So, in this case, we've had two applicants in this area and the applicants are in your packet. Um, apply to have another piece of this road
vacated. So, what we do it it doesn't interfere with our sewer and water for the glacial lakes. Um, we've we've cleared that. And so, um, the process that we that we go through is is we take
it to the board. um the applications, we do a resolution to vacate the rightway and then we post it for 10 days down to the auditor's office. So, it's my recommendation, Mr. Chair, to um authorize the passing of the resolution
uh for your consideration. >> So, move, Mr. Chair, >> uh Commissioner Mck moves resolution 2025-46. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion, Mel? I see it looks from that map that
there's still a few there is a couple vacated, but that's not going to happen without an application from the land. >> That's correct. Yep. >> All right. Very good. Any other questions? All right. Uh on the motion to approve resolution 2025-46.
All in favor say I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. And then uh Oh, you're not done yet. No, I got I got two more. Um, so >> please continue. >> Uh, we the local road improvement program, there's been enough
solicitation. There was there was money put in again at this year. And so we've had we we've got one our Conor Road 137 which is a levy road. So it's doesn't have a funding source. So that's why we go after LRIP money. And then New London Township also has put in which is the
next agenda item, but we can maybe I'll talk about ours first. Um, so we have put in for this in the past. We have not gotten it. There's, as a reminder, there's three funding sources. One matches trunk highway projects. One is a township, more of a local entity,
township one, and then one is a project for um roads like this, which would be without a funding source and have some regional significance to them. And so that is the the the pot of money that we go after for this. And um the project
has five rating factors. Um one of those is um funds committed to it and and there is no pointed match to this. It's a grant money. We we're going to go after the maximum of 1.5 million which would grade the road and grade out the
trail and then we would look for other dollars to do to pave the trail. So with that, Mr. Chair, it's my recommendation to um pass resolution 2025-47 to apply for the LRIP money for our County Road 137.
>> Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to pass resolution 2025-47. >> Thank you. I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Commissioner Bergs. Any uh any discussion? >> Just question. Is that for that whole what is it? three and a half or whatever
miles or is it just part of it or >> um No, it's I think it's two and a half miles. Okay. Um I don't see the length on here. It's it's it's um it's from the road just south of Nimon Lake up to
road 28. I think it's a short two miles >> like 38th Avenue or >> um what's it called? >> There's a 38th >> West View Lane. It's the first mile. >> Okay, I see it. I see it there. South of Right. Right on the almost on the lake.
Okay. >> Yep. Yep. That covers most. >> I think I think it's a good idea. >> And then the road, the project would actually go down to the next intersection, but the LREP would start at that West View lane, which is where that bridge is. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Now, is there anything uh particularly
uh challenging about this uh project? I remember that there was >> there's a lot of things challenging about it because you got water water on one side of the road and water on the other side of the road or wetland. I mean, so yes, it is very challenging and then it's getting to be a very developed lake.
>> It's very very similar to Games Lake and Middle Lake. It's per almost verbatim now. Um the way people are developing and turning cabins into full-time homes and so there's an element of getting out ahead of it before all that happens.
Now, the the good or the bad is when you get out ahead of it, then people know that and then they buy up property and then they develop. So, it's it's it's a catch 22. It's it's good, but then we also have a lot of pedestrians. So, it's it's really games like 2.0 is really
really what it is. And that honestly is the main driver of this thing. And and the road is getting older every year. It got another year older. And so will this just replace the uh same the road with the same width or are there going to be
enhancements? >> We would we would enhance that and and then plus we got two bridges on this thing that we're going to go after system money on >> that are very narrow. I mean you can meet somebody on it but they're like 22 feet wide so it's it's a little bit like Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> pull your mirrors and um >> it's it's time. >> So yep. >> Commissioner MDC. >> Thank you. And uh you know the LRIP is a very competitive process. Um so we'll keep I think we keep pursuing all uh
options but when you mentioned this is games lake 20 it really is and I I remember when we uh proved the off-road trail on on along five >> at Games Lake Park. It was it was really
a matter of um a belief at least and it thankfully it didn't happen but the belief was that you know we're going to kill somebody along there it's just a matter of when and the weep by we meaning society and the the traffic and so this is really
shaping up just as you say like games lake and I think we don't get the lrip we have to keep turning over rocks and see if we can find uh funds underneath some other rocks to get this project done. >> Yep. >> All right. Any other questions for the
director? We have a motion and a second to move on resolution 2025-47. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> And then the next item is um New London Township. It wants to apply for El local
road improvement program as well. Um, and what that requires is that the county needs to sponsor him, number one, and then also, um, do a letter of support. Um, they would need a letter of support for from all entities impacted either on the property or on the
rightway. And so, they would continue to do that. But, um, they're looking at, uh, calendar year 2027. And so this is um the I think it's 85th Street which is
the first gravel road. How do you want to say it? That goes north up to our Conro 40 just east of New London. >> And it looks like this uh the northern part of that is up in that same area as the project area for uh for the
interchange as well. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah, it is. And so, ironically, um, good, better, or otherwise, this would be a 2027 project and so would the New London interchange be a 2027 project. So, they would both be going on at the same time, which is a probably a
good thing, but it would keep more of the other people away from um that area. But anyway, it's my recommendation. We I've driven it. I've driven it this afternoon. It's my recommendation to pass resolution 2025-48
supporting New London's Township and authorize the >> Mr. Chair and administrator. >> I move on resolution 2025-48. >> Thank you. We have a motion to move on the resolution. Is there a second? >> I'll second it.
>> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any discussion? >> Quick question. >> Go ahead. >> Do these are these competing? >> Uh, no. This is the township. >> Okay. >> This would be the township section. No. >> And the reason I asked that is there's
money set aside in the reprep townships. >> Yep. >> And four counties and four cities. >> In fact, we had a real arm wrestling match over that one last summer uh >> because there was a few dollars left over >> uh because tribes weren't involved last year, right? They had to bring them back
in and >> the cities and the townships arm wrestled over that. >> Might not be done. >> Any other questions for director? >> All right. Hearing none, then we have a motion and a second on resolution
2025-48. All in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. All opposed. >> Motion passes. Thank you. >> Uh, yes. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Uh I thought you said something.
>> Yeah. Oh, no. >> Uh so at this time then we're a little bit ahead, but let's go ahead recycling contract bids and uh I'll ask Gary Gear to come up and present. Gary. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gary Gear, environmental services director here
this evening and presenting to you uh at your request from the November 18th uh county board meeting requesting that staff works with the contractor to uh propose a two-year contract for recycling services. And that is what you
will see in your packet in addition to a five-year extension uh of the current contract. Both of those uh are providing for the same current level of service that we are offering two weeks service in the cities and every four-week
service in the rural areas. Uh with uh those numbers submitted, as you can see before you, uh staff is recommending that uh the board move forward with the extension of the uh current contract for a five-year term.
Uh and uh before we get into this a little bit, uh I think you're aware uh that there's uh been some uh uh question uh brought up uh earlier today about uh uh competitive bidding on this and my understanding is that there's a uh state
statute that covers this. >> That is that is correct. Um it is Minnesota statute 400.04 subdivision 4. uh that states that a county may enter into contracts for solid waste management services uh
without advertisement for bids and that's what uh with this office or my office has worked with with uh landfill contracts as well is working under this authority. So uh and that has been uh discussed in in my tenure in this position with county attorney Baker as
well and uh so that is what is before you this evening. >> Okay. And uh uh so in your mind, and I I won't don't know if I want to put Shane on the spot, but uh uh but uh but this
is something that the county is able to proceed with. Yes, >> that would be my understanding. Correct. >> Yeah. Uh other important parts of the statute say that if a county contract is led by negotiation without advertising
for the county shall conduct negotiations and award the contract using an open procedure in full compliance with chapter 13 that's open. So just outlining the process and the
procedure probably why this entity was chosen. >> All right. Uh so you have the uh uh recommendations of staff and uh how would the uh board wish to proceed? >> Mr. Chair, I so move that we go with bid
number two. Right. Yes. All right. There is a motion on uh bid number two uh which is to extend the current contract for a fiveyear term.
Is there a second? The chair will second discussion. >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> Um so the other options that we looked at previously were are not being forwarded or not being recommended or
>> not being recommended from my position. Correct. Um just that's my understanding from the board at the last meeting. Now certainly there's they're able to be discussed. Um the board's uh mo motions with lack of
seconds and discussion from last meeting led me to present the request or the proposal tonight for the two bids. >> So in other words, you got the message that we were only interested in those two.
>> Yes. while at the same time recognizing that the board can choose to look at those but >> and but but at the same time I think we I think we had a couple of options that were presented to us and uh uh I want to say that uh wasn't there a couple of
them that uh uh were not a motion was made but not seconded do I remember that correctly >> and so in in in lack of support for a couple of those different options I can see where you uh took the instructions
to uh rework this and bring this back uh in this form that we have in front of us uh today. So that seems reasonable to me. >> Were you Yes. Yes. Sure. >> Commissioner B. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. We just have a motion in a second and for
discussion and and depend on if it's voted down. I we don't have to go by an an option. You know, we can look at the other ones as well if we wanted to. We kind of been there and done that. We spent a lot of time working this together and I I noticed that uh option
two actually the the bid was lowered as part of part of this process. So uh they're trying to work with us very uh well let's put that way. >> Well just as a point of order Mr. Chair at the last meeting the motion was to to
postpone this tonight's meeting. It wasn't to postpone it and eliminate other choices. >> I understood that too. And uh and I would agree, but I would also agree that uh uh Director Gear uh
took uh what he did out of the meeting and uh uh was certainly directed to come back with these other options. So, uh Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, I guess I've gotten a lot of emails about this since we had our last meeting, and some
good, some bad. I mean, some people want it one way, some people want it another way. I guess what's going through my head and has gone through my head all day today after we had our budget meeting this morning is maybe we should do the two-year thing and then maybe at that point in time if
we are really suffering with a levy increase that that possibly could happen, maybe then it needs to be eliminated completely or really cut back. It's not a mandated service. Um, I've had a few people that have told me
get rid of the whole thing and I've had other people that say that you can't get rid of it. So, I mean, maybe maybe that's an option to just give us a chance to keep going with how it is, but yet give us that that option if things are really bad and the levy gets to be
out of control that it's a it's a service we could cut. >> Mr. Commissioner B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do like the idea of a two-year contract and I I actually suggested that. But there is a a a big
spread in in the cost of it, right? And looking at that, I think the fiveyear I wish it was even three years, but it's still the way to go. We're still saving some money as well. Uh I know that statute allows uh for
that negotiation but uh and I know we can't encumber a future board but uh but it would be my hope that uh uh at the end of this uh next contract whatever that term ends up being uh that we would look at uh a competitive bid process uh
just to be uh completely uh transparent uh on behalf of the uh on behalf of the county. Uh no, no reflection on our current vendor, of course, or anything like that, but uh uh you know, everybody says that you should check on pricing
out your car insurance every year, and I don't have time for that. But but you know, uh I think in this in this instance, and given the size of the contract that uh that'd be a a more than fair thing to do next time
around. Uh, Commissioner Dale Landers, >> I I definitely agree with what Steve just said. I mean, I got a phone call at 7:30 this morning from from the other from this person, and I guess I was really disappointed that we hadn't put it out for bid. It's a million-dollar
bid. It we don't know what that outcome is going to be. And, you know, we've had good luck with with who we have, and I'm not saying anything bad about them either, but if it would have been a substantial savings, we don't know that now. and and this is a huge amount of
money and and I think that I don't know I I really think that it should have been looked at as as a bid process and and I hope we don't if we have the opportunity on different things. Please please take the time and and do the bid
because these aren't little numbers. We were looking at cutting $20,000 out of a budget this morning and this is a million dollars. So, I think it's it's a big chunk of money that we have to look at and and we better look at it from all sides and take everybody's opportunity
to to put in their bid. >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner, >> so to the point of Commissioner Dale Anderson and yourself, Mr. Chair, about five years is a long time to pass this
and then we got a month left yet. We could entertain we could entertain those bids. We because we have two more meetings left before the end of this year. And it would only be fair in my opinion then to to have them close and give the the uh incumbent a chance to uh
relook at it if we would go that route. >> Kelsey, did you want to be recognized or you have one meeting after this one? We have one more meeting till the end of the year. >> Oh, it's right. We're in December. >> We do have two weeks. >> Yes, that's right. >> So, so it's
>> Yeah, we don't have time >> essentially, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> Oh, just to add, we didn't discuss this at all at our budget meeting this morning, but I think we hit upon length of contracts with all the things going forward. And I I I I support this five
years at this point. Uh, but I'm hoping this our last contract we're dealing with across the board. And we kind of talked about being sure that we try to keep our but all our contracts with three years or less if possible. And again, it depends upon what we're
contracting too. There's, you know, you just can't have us automatically say that. But going forward, I think we'll keep that in mind. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> All right. Last last call for comments.
>> Yes. One more comment. And we have to be sure that we contact as many people as possible and make sure they get the information that we are bidding. That's what we need. And >> need we need a Yeah, >> I'm pretty sure five years from now several of us won't be here to
>> probably. Yeah, I think so, too. >> I'm going to request a roll call vote, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. uh uh to the uh uh question on the u offered contract uh with the
incumbent vendor. Just a moment. Is that for you or for me? >> Oh, I see what you're doing. Okay. So, on a roll call uh to the motion to accept the bid number two. Um uh
Commissioner Dale Anderson, >> no. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson, >> no. >> Uh Commissioner Mck, >> no. >> Uh Commissioner Bird, >> A I Yes.
>> Commissioner Gardner votes I. Uh two eyes, three nazs. The motion fails. Mr. Chair, I I'm not so sure that we can't get bids in two weeks and represent this in two weeks. Um
>> I I I I don't I don't know how that's >> how that's going to play. I mean, very obviously the current vendor uh their numbers are out there already. U it's as as a matter of fairness there as well. Uh I'm going to uh offer a motion
on uh bid number one uh for a two-year contract and then uh the future board at that time will uh have the have the ability to work with that. Mr. >> Cherry, I'll second that. Have a motion
and a second on bid number uh one uh for the two-year contract. Discussion. Good hearing. Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, I guess I'm still just a little disappointed because it's 80. Uh,
hold on. It's almost 80 81 and half,000 difference. And I don't know, and I don't want to be rude to the person that put the bids together, but nothing's
changing other than than time. the cost of doing the service and the and everything else is staying the same. I don't see anything that's changing. So, I'm a little disappointed that we're going to charge us $81,000 more just
because we don't want to go for five years. And I get it that it in their mind probably that it there's a cost to not having that long-term commitment, but that's a lot of money. So, I guess I'm just wanted to say I'm just a little
disappointed, but Understood. Anybody else? Uh, and, uh, we'll do a roll call on this one again as well. >> Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson, >> hi. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson,
>> no. >> Commissioner Berg, >> I. >> Uh, Commissioner Mdeck, >> present. >> The chair votes I. Uh, three eyes, one nay, one present. Uh the motion uh for bid on bid number one is agreed to.
All right. I had that count right. Yes. Okay. Uh and then uh last item on our regular agenda and we I think we can sneak you in Val. Um assessor corrections. Uh and
this will be an action item as well. My name is Val Savor, county assessor. Good evening, Mr. Chair and commissioners. I am here required to stop once a year regarding the any corrections that we've made to our assessment from the date that our
original sub assessment was submitted to the state and after local and county boards have been had occurred. There is a few corrections on here that um the state of Minnesota forfeitures
and the from taxable to exempt aren't really corrections, but they're changes that were made to the abstract and they are on here as well. But the if you go down the list the third one down is a fourth actually the first two are a
house value was incorrect on the parcels that it was replatted and there was their houses were on two parcels. So that is a correction that we made and we removed that $184,000 twice after the parcel was split. It hung in there and he did not take it
off. The third one, the Weberink parcel was we made an assessor error that the correction was made for 2024 and it should have been made in both years and so that was an adjustment of $144,000. And then the Paul Hansen
um no the Paul Hansen was a forfeited property that was turned back onto the tax roles and the rest of them are taxable to exempt um state forfeitures and that is about it.
>> All right. Uh and so the uh uh you just need a motion to approve the uh >> correction >> uh changes in valuation. >> All right. Is there a motion? >> I'll make that motion, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> A motion and a second to approve the
assessor corrections as presented. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. All right. Thank you. And uh we have just a couple of minutes uh left before we need to open up our uh uh truth and taxation
meeting. So I encourage everyone to uh make their trip down the hall and hurry back here. Uh uh and uh we will then adjourn the u uh Kandria County Board of Commissioners and we will momentarily open up the uh truth and taxation
hearing. Is that announcements? Part: 2
Oh, now we're presenting. >> All right. Uh, thank you everybody and uh, welcome. Uh, this is the this is the 2026 uh, truth and taxation uh, hearing. uh each year u uh taxpayers
receive the proposed tax notice uh in November and that notice indicates the anticipated property tax that you'll pay the following year if your local jurisdictions approve the budget amounts they are considering. Those are maximum amounts and uh uh of course each
jurisdiction uh uh cannot increase after that point in time. and they can only uh reduce uh the amounts that they're going to levy. Uh and so uh of course you're invited to attend uh uh meetings like these to express your uh opinion on
local budgets. At this time uh we will start with a presentation from uh Candi County Administrator Kelsey Baker. Kelsey, >> good evening. As the board chair, this was the truth and taxation um proposed budget for tonight um for the 2026 truth
and taxation. This is a time for public comment on the proposed budget and the operating budget for Kyway County for 2026. This is not a time to dispute your valuation of property. Um, and if there are any questions on estimated market value, I think most of you have been um,
stopped by our county assessor staff to ask and answer any questions you have regarding your valuations. Uh to preface this a little bit too, this is the truth and taxation is for the proposed the preliminary 2026 budget. And so we've been in discussion
with some budget information, but I'll kind of play off a little bit of both. Um for the 2026 preliminary approved budget, um the gross levy was at 47,624,678. We get county program aid just roughly
above 3 million, 3.2 million, and our levy was coming in at a 7.1. Some of our key drivers, payroll and wages, the county board approved a a wage adjustment at the beginning of January 1, 2024.
Um, however, in considerations and conversations with the county board, the county still continues to maintain a competitive be a competitive employer to retain and attract talented individuals to work for county government and public service.
Um, there have been changes to local government property tax needs. Uh, new taxes have been introduced, referendums within the school district, not within school districts that not necessarily have local control within lo county government. Uh, changes in market values
with legislation, classification rate, state aid formulas. Um, I'll touch a little bit upon the capital improvement, equipment purchases, building maintenance, and then we continue to look at evaluating existing programs, services, and partnerships. Um,
opportunities to fully recoup costs, specifically within our human services budget. um embrace opportunities to minimize um new mandates and look at efficiencies within technology and to pursue legislative advoc advocacy to
ensure thoughtful imple implementation of new processes and policies. This is a breakdown of the proposed 2026 capital equip improvement budget. Um the board had a budget work session this
morning that this was talked about. This has been reduced. A county our size typically budgets around 1.5 million within capital improvement. We are budgeting for 2026 1.29 and so that was reduced from 2025 to
2026. This is the quasi government request that we do receive from all of our county partners. Um so it includes and the list is up there the um central community transit the historical society the humane society soil water community
um conservation district sorry SWCD I was looping the UKAP and their United Community Action Partnership Vision 2040 you can read through that list yourselves but the um request for 2026
came in at 1.6 6 million. Just in conversations this afternoon, this is a revised quasi government at coming in at 1.5 million for the taxable market value. This is I'm really going to simplify this as
much as I can to make it solely focused on county government, our levy, the county government levy. And so when we look at the proposed 7.16% this example assumes no changes in your
valuation in the taxable market value on a residential homestead property. The net the net tax capacity for the state of Minnesota remains consistent from payable 25 to 26 at 1% of a taxable
market value for the residential property. And this illustrates the county tax rate only, which is based on the levy the board has set. And so if you can see for a residential home at $300,000, if you go across the row
to the very end, that difference is a $9 difference in your taxes on the the county levy. And so there are other um organizations that attribute to the tax uh the taxes increase which is the
school districts if you're in city limits uh sometimes it can be a township uh water and watersheds and then the state classification state taxes as well um playing into effect with that. So I think to get down to the
dirty is the proposed levy for 2026. The board approved the preliminary levy at the 7.1% and that is the a net levy of 44,416287. Um after board discussions this morning um staff went back and looked at the
budget and came back with other options. Um, I have presented options at the November 18th meeting that looked at true ongoing operating expenses, which was one of them was the recycling contract. This morning at the budget work session,
we looked at other areas of reducing public works budget, reducing the health and human services budget, and reducing some quasi government. Based off those discussions, the quasi government will remain the same as 2025.
And so those numbers were updated in the presentation as I said and we reduced the human services budget, public works and then there were some other ancillary costs that we were able to reduce. So option two is to the right of the 7.1.
It's that 6.23. This option is coming in um without the additional use of reserves and that's utilizing um correcting the quasi governments utilizing the 200,000
from we upped from 180 to 200,000 within human services and 60,000 from the miscellaneous fund and then 50,000 with the public works. This includes that 1.15 use of reserves as those one-time
expenditures within the landfill and our general fund reserves. Then option three for the board to review would be the 5.38. This includes the same dollars dollar amounts of reductions. Additionally, $350,000
of general fund reserves, which would use 1.5 million of reserves. These are different options that were discussed this morning based off um the board's direction. And so these are two options the board can review um at the December 16th meeting as for
tonight will be the public comment. Um just to remind uh the board to the 2026 budget goals um specifically focused on the strategy one progressive leadership to provide optimal value and premier customer service. When we I
always say there's an there's an equal sign between staff and services. When we cut staff, we reduce services. The board has maintained to provide adequate and exceptional services and a forward-thinking, fiscally responsible, transparent county
government. I feel that since um for the year of 2025, we've held uh budget work sessions. We've had budget discussions during regular board meetings. Um the information that has been presented is more in-depth information that is more
transparent for the public to view on our on our meeting portal. Um and some of those key areas pulling out from the strategic plan were to complete the space study and review next steps. There's no dis no decision has been made on that. uh professional development and
training opportunities for our employees, best practices and efficiencies for delivering services to the public. At the August 19th board work session, the our IT director spoke on the use of technology and once you get behind the cost of getting up to
date on that is far greater than staying up to date on it. county board strategic planning and then changes in in interest rates that we have been seeing already for 2025. So for uh taxpayer information uh like I said before we have board work sessions
throughout the year. Our uh budget information is on our meeting portal with which is all public um record. We have an appeal and equalization meeting the second meeting in June. The budget's always available on the county website
or by contacting myself. Uh the 2026 levy and budget will be adopted at the regular county board meeting which begins at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 16th of this year. And then as always, if you have any questions on the budget, feel free to reach out to your commissioner within the district you live in or myself.
I will stand for questions and you could open up the public hearing. >> Thank you. And uh uh just to kind of elaborate on the point uh uh in regards to uh uh providing services, it uh a vast majority of the services that
counties provide in the state of Minnesota uh are uh uh at the direction of either the state or the federal government. And so uh those mandates uh are just simply not optional. Uh but for
us, our main cost drivers, as you said, are our uh uh wages and uh what else are we figuring in there? Uh wages are the primary thing here. >> Our biggest drivers then would be the landfill.
>> Um our uh our county jail is a big driver as well. And then road projects. >> Okay. >> Um one thing too, you brought up a good point, Mr. Chair. If I may just say the mandated services being that we are in
Wilmer as a regional hub. Um one of the mandated services that we do have within human services with along with those mandated services we do receive federal reimbursements through that or state reimbursements. However, those haven't
increased and in fact they've either stayed the same or decreased within our human services department. Um, and if we don't stay in line with those mandates, we get then put on a performance improvement plan just like you would do with an employee with the state, we um,
to provide an example, we were put on a PIP for within our income maintenance regarding our unwinding um, going through the applications. That was a three-year process. When you get put on a PIP after and after, it's not like a termination with an employee. They just
reduce your funding. the state reduces that funding. And so in order to keep up on those mandates and not be placed on a performance improvement plan with the state, you have to somewhat increase staff in order to get the work done. That's not a choice that we necessarily
have. Um unless you want to reduce your funding and not make those ends meet, then so I will stand for any questions as well. Um I'm going to remove this if that's okay. I can always pull it back up and then I will let you open the public hearing. Go go go go go right
ahead. Uh any anyone else with any up here at the uh podium? >> Yes, >> Commissioner B. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I just really like to add too for the public uh for your information. uh a lot of the stuff and and they were saying this already in different ways or in different areas
about mandatory uh services we have to provide including u the levy and the levy basically covers our uh legal contracts we have with employees union contracts and so forth and that comes to
7% uh this year and we're we're stuck with that no matter what we do so we're looking at reserves and trying to get below that at this point I'm going to be trying to work for work work on that more going forward. Any other commissioners with any
comments? Uh just uh just one uh just uh so everybody uh in the audience uh and out there uh knows uh our involvement uh within the uh as a county board with the association of Minnesota counties uh as
well as other uh organizations uh in human services, corrections, so uh public works so on and so forth uh is at a pretty high level. Uh when we first started talking budgets during the legislative session, uh there were fears
that we were going to be looking at 20 uh uh at double-digit uh uh increases because of increased uh cost shift from the state and federal government. uh and through a lot of that advocacy work uh that was done by the association and uh
uh members sitting up here uh tonight uh that we uh uh we were able to assist in beating back the worst of those uh uh cost shifts. We could have we could have been looking at a uh uh we'd have needed a different room for this meeting tonight uh if uh if those cost shifts
would have happened. So, um, uh, and since then, uh, it's been a slow and steady slog to try to get down to, uh, uh, something that is more manageable. We were at an 8% uh, levy last year, which the highest in recent memory. Uh,
and, uh, uh, it's I I don't believe it's anybody's intent up here to keep us at the 7.16 uh, that we authorized as a preliminary le uh, levy. So, uh, last call for anyone else with any comments.
>> Um, M. Commissioner B. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair. I do like to talk as you can probably notice, but I want to just talk about um this has been such a challenge for myself and I think for the board as well, and as we all know, we read the news, the state and
the federal government, all the changes they're they're making and they're passing along a lot more expenses to us. And unfortunately, we have to put this on a levy. And normally, I personally feel, I can only speak for myself, but the levy I always thought was for, you
know, uh, uh, sheriff protection, uh, good roads and bridges and elections and, you know, those things. We're having to put a lot of other things on that and that's really difficult. And so, as you were saying, uh, Mr. Chair, that this has been a real challenge. And
uh I I'm thinking working hard this year, next year or the year after in the way it sounds there could be more new challenges. So we'll hang on and see what happens. >> All right. Uh last call.
>> Thank you, Mr. Shar. I would concur with what both of my colleagues have said up here in that um we've really worked hard. I I'm in my 13th year. This is my 13th budget. I don't think we've ever
worked as hard as we did this year to it's not as low as it's been in the past, but we've worked really hard to get it to where we where I hope it might end up. Um, a lot of that is, as my colleagues have said, out of our control
because of uh mandates that have been handed down to us. Um, I don't think we're at the end of those mandates yet. um you know they're going to be phased in over the next couple of years and I don't think it's fair to the property owners for that shift to take place.
This should really be the funding for example uh from the federal government um the the SNAP and Medicaid uh mandates are to basically we have to do uh eligibility checks more often. Well, we don't mind doing additional eligibility
checks, but provide us with the resources to be able to do that instead of saying we're going to make your homeowners and your business owners and your farm owners pay pay for that cost. Um, it's unfair to the taxpayers. We're
working as hard as we can both uh at the state level and at the federal level to as Commissioner Gardner says, you know, beat back uh some of these um shifts that are coming forward. Remains to be
seen how successful we will be at it, but we're working hard at it. >> Okay. All right. Anyone Anyone else up here? >> All right. Then at this time uh we will open up the uh uh meeting for uh public input. And I just kind of want to go
over a couple of ground rules real quick. Uh when you do uh come up, please come up to the podium uh speak into the microphone, give us your name and address uh for the record. And this uh session is to talk about the budget.
It's uh as uh as one of the first slides mentioned, we uh uh we aren't here to talk about valuations, although we have folks out in the corridor that can certainly help you with that. This is a conversation about the budget uh that we're the preliminary levy that we uh
put out. Uh and uh we just ask that you keep to the topic of the budget. Uh and uh of course uh we know that everybody is uh uh going to do their utmost to be uh uh respectful of uh uh of their audience and everyone's time. So with
that uh is there anyone who wishes to address the board? Um Joe's 506 Noah Drive Northwest. Uh my wife and I moved here five years ago and um tooken a few different things to account when we moved here. Um and one of them
is what most people probably do is you look up what the taxes are per year. And five years ago it was um I know we're not here to talk about uh the home evaluations, but correct me if I'm wrong. does not the levy and uh a lot of
the other money that the county gets comes from property taxes. >> The short the short answer to that is yes. >> Yep. >> But it's a but it's a longer answer than you might think because there are state formulas uh that speak to valuations
that our assessors must follow. Uh and so, you know, it's not like uh we've got folks coming around uh uh every uh couple of years saying, "Oo, that looks nice. We'd better we better value that at a at a higher rate." There are formulas and uh uh all sorts of
different uh things that we must follow by state statute. Uh I I know that's not of a lot of comfort, but those are again some of the constraints that counties have to work under. Uh and to uh Commissioner Index's point, it's simply not fair to put uh ongoing costs for
state programming on the backs of our property taxpayer. Certainly. >> Mhm. So when we moved to Wilmer, it was $2,500 a year for our property tax and the house was built in 1966.
So in 60 years or 55 years, it went from 0 to 2500. and now in the last five years has gone from 2500 to 5,000. So what brings me here tonight and probably a lot of other people is
the horrible feeling of being stuck. That's not how we felt when we've uh when we first moved here and how we've felt in the last um five years up until probably last year and then this year was the why I'm standing here tonight.
When you live in a community or a county and you are happy here and everything is going really good, you don't feel stuck. And then when all of a sudden in a short fiveyear span, your property taxes double what took, you know, from 0 to 55
and then from 55 to 60. um you we don't want to move and we don't want to leave, but that's the horrible stuck feeling is we're it's getting to the point where we almost have to. And I just wanted to
voice my opinion and let you all know I I think you're in a um very precarious position and you know appreciate the city council of Musl or of Wilmer and what you guys do for the county. It's it's um virtually probably
volunteering your time and it is a lot of time. But I wanted to just give you from um couple of people that moved here 5 years ago how it how it was and then how we feel tonight. Thank you.
>> Thank you. And I do want to thank you for your choice to move to Candy Ohio County. I'm I'm I'm reasonably certain that uh uh that same sentiment is shared in the other 86 counties as well uh
because of uh the formulas that uh everybody and and this is part of this is is due to that overheated real estate market uh that caused valuations to really shoot up uh through the roof. That's that's the number one driver of
of those costs. our our levy has not doubled in 5 years. So, it's as you recognized, it's a it's a tough precarious situation for us to be in. So, um yes, please.
Name and address and welcome. >> Jerry Dames from Candy, Ohio, city of um I'm at 208 Atlantic Avenue, right by the post office. I echo what he has to say, but I also am wondering how many of you are businessmen.
>> Are what? >> Businessmen. >> And what? >> Businessmen. >> Businessmen. Or are you just a professional commissioner? >> No, I'm retired, but uh but I worked uh worked out in professional sales for 20
years. >> Well, as a business person, you understand that you have a budget. This is a business. This county is a business and when the business isn't functioning right, you find ways of making things
better, not just increasing um your profits. That's kind of how I feel is that you're increasing your profits instead of benefiting your people here. Um, I'd like to know, um, I've been to the city
landfill many times this summer and I know they charge to leave things there, you know, depending on what you have. Where does that money go? >> And, and I apologize, I don't hear very well. So, so I didn't catch all of that.
>> The money that is collected at the sanitary landfill when you drop things off, where does that money go? Mr. Chair, can I >> You may. Yes. >> So, tonight is really for public comment. It's not for uh debate and back
and forth. It's for just hearing from the public. >> I'm wanting to know where our money is going. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Because I also know our taxes for our license tabs and our cars have gone up immensely. I mean, I have a 2017 car. >> Mhm.
>> I mean, it should be going down and it's going up. So, my question is, if we have decreased a lot of our things, we're not increasing our wages, we're not doing this and
that. What is it that you guys are doing other than your mandates from the federal government? Um, what are you doing to be able to keep things lower than they need to be? I mean, I don't understand why we need to keep going up.
7%'s a lot of money. >> Mhm. >> For all of us. You know, my taxes are going up 60% this coming year. Yeah. I'm upset about it. >> I don't know how I'm going to stay here,
>> but what are you doing with my money? Can I just say something? >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Thanks, Mr. Chair. >> We spent a lot of time down in the legislature last winter. Um, and we were telling them, you cannot be passing a lot of these things that are passing on
mandates on to us. and and one of their solutions was, well, we're going to we're going to to help balance the state budget, they were going to shift costs over down to the local governments. And it was it was about a 3.6 or 3.7 billion.
>> We had a surplus last year, though, and that disappeared. >> Not last, we didn't have Well, we had maybe a little bit of a surplus, but yeah, a couple years ago, we had $18 billion and they blew it. >> And they blew it. That's right. What happened to we the people? So then when they did that, they had a smorgus board
and they passed a lot of mandates, okay? And they push it off on to us, but then when it comes time to pay for it, they don't have money, but they still have the mandate and we have to follow the law. So we spend a lot of time down the
legislature arguing for ourselves as a county and indirectly for for our constituents that, hey, you can't keep doing this to us. and and so they hurt us towards the end, but but there's still a lot of mandates.
>> So >> my point my point to them was if you're going to pass these mandates, you got to give us the money to enforce them or to to implement them. >> You can't just pass mandates on to us and then walk away with no money. So
between now and the time that you raise my taxes, are you still fighting for me? We the people. >> We will be going back down there this winter. Yes, we do. Every year we go down there and we argue and try to get our point >> because like like this gentleman says, I'm deciding whether or not I'm going to
stay here or not because I can't afford to live in my home anymore. >> All right. Anything else for us this evening? Okay. Thank Thank you for your comments. Appreciate that. Yes, sir. >> Um Mark Ruplinger, 9877
37th Avenue Southeast Candy High. Congratulations or thing, you know, on your deal. I opened my statement up on a Friday night after I got the mail and we were up till 2:00 a.m. deciding whether we should move to
um South Dakota or North Dakota. But back to our budget here in Candyh High County. Maybe what we should do is outsource some of the services like our snow plowing or grading things like that instead of
retaining because all we're doing is keep paying higher wages, more money, more insurance. Let's outsource it. Horell does a job like that with their live hall. They don't have their own drivers. They outsourced it. Somebody's
smart enough to figure that out. Why don't we do that at our county level? be the first one in Minnesota. Be a leader. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else that wishes to uh
comment uh uh to the board? >> 634. >> I didn't hear that. >> Put my hand on it. >> Food shelf. Did Uh, anyone else? Okay, last and uh final call for uh
other public comment. All right, then uh uh we will close that portion of the uh again uh I suspect that uh several of us will be hanging around here for a little bit. So, if you want to come up and visit with us uh
privately, uh we'll certainly be happy to uh uh happy to do that. There are no easy answers. Uh uh and uh and so tonight, we're here to listen and uh uh we empathize greatly
with you. We're uh I'm in the same boat. Mine mine have doubled on our little twin home. Uh I think everybody up here is in in a similar situation. So so we feel it too. Uh and you know we have a
long history of uh uh working on behalf of our constituents and we'll continue that as well. Uh what else is there that we need to accomplish here tonight? And uh does uh statute mandate a specific uh
time that we uh uh need to keep this hearing open? >> You don't. >> Go ahead. >> When you're done, can I make a quick comment? >> We can close the public hearing. We should be available till 7 p.m. >> All right. Thank you for that clarification, Commissioner Mck and then
Commissioner or Commissioner Bur and then Commissioner. First off, again, you you've been thanked by the chair already about coming today, and I really appreciate that. And I, you know, when I've campaigned, I in in the district I work in, I knocked on every door three
times. And I would say them practically the entire time I heard pretty much the same things you were saying. But that was, you know, a couple years ago for the I won re-election or three years ago and and then four years before that. So, this feeling's been around there and uh
it's even getting getting more and I I appreciate hearing you from you and this way I appreciate the whole board because it keeps us grounded that this isn't our money we're spending, we're spending your money and I've heard that so many times and and and I really appreciate you coming. So, as we go
forward with this budget again and next year and that that we keep remembering that and keep letting us know that that hold our feet to the fire on this. this is this hurts us all and uh we'll keep working to for you and I really would like to answer some of your questions
that there's a lot of good services happening in our community great community to live in and a lot of things that people don't see this happening behind the scenes with your money you know far as the parks and and the safety and the police force and the rescue squad and there's quite a list of you
know fair elections and all these things that take a lot of dollars and and want to Thank you for your dollars and I want to thank you for paying your taxes, but we do have to keep in mind that they're going up and I've been reading the, you know, I read the news a lot and local
news and Minnesota news and this is not new to uh this not just here neither. But that's no excuse that we can sit and say yes, we hear you. We feel your pain. We don't feel your pain, you know, and no more than you probably feel my pain either. And but we got to take it really
serious and I really appreciate and thanks thank you for this input and I would appreciate hearing from others too because our job as here tonight is to listen and to hear from you and and let us sink in and somebody brought up what was your job before whatever we can still figure out what to do whatever our
job was before. I'm not a professional commissioner. I I ran for commissioner because I want to create this place to be a good place to live but we also want to be a place where you can afford to live and that's really important. And so, thank you for holding our feet to the fire. I appreciate it. And just to
piggyback on that uh a little bit, uh this is the first time, I think, in my five years that we've had anybody >> Yeah. >> come to the uh uh TNT hearing. So, thank you for that. Commissioner MD. >> Uh thank you. I just while they were
speaking I I looked up the average in the state of Minnesota for 87 counties average preliminary budget increase is 8.1%. Um our initial one and I I don't think we're going to end there but I I'm can't
speak for everybody up here was 7.1 and so we're working at it. Um you know some counties are are really really struggling. They're they're at double digit. Um, and we're we're not going to be the lowest one, but we're going to be
we're below average right now. So, there's probably no consolation to when we pay our property taxes this spring. Um, but the whole state is facing that. >> Uh, Commissioner Dale Anders.
>> Yeah, I I just want to echo what everybody else said. I was, you know, we we were sitting here in our meeting and I was watching people stand out there and I was just thinking, what a great deal that you guys took time out of your evening. It's cold out to come and tell us your concerns. Um, I'm I'm a farmer
from the northern part of the county. I I um I have a lot of acres of of land that that I'm paying tax on and it's it's going to be ugly. Um, but the biggest thing I think that we have to look at is what Roger just brought up. this is this is statewide and I think
that's why we have to really struggle to try and talk to our legislative people and try and figure out a way to to help the whole state because it's not only just one area or one part of the the area that gets affected. The one thing I had a conversation with a guy yesterday on the phone on his property taxes and
concern that he had and and I think the one thing that we have to really try it to look at in this county and and I don't have the answer for it but I think it's a big reason why our taxes are higher and why we pay higher fees for services throughout the county whether
that's electricity or whatever it is. We need to get big business into Kenway County. And I think it's our job as as people and constituents of this county to try and find the businesses to get into this county and and help um get us some revenue and get us some jobs and
and bring more people into this county as far as a bigger business. It helps a lot. You look at St. Cloud, they've got a few big businesses and that really helps them out with their their cost of their taxes and everything, even though they still have increases this year, too. But I think that's really something
that affects us because we are so residential in Kenui County and it really makes it hard for for that money to be spread out like it is without having a business to help support it. Um so I I hope that we can maybe find some business to come into this area and help
out and get things going. Um but it it is great to see as many people come out as as as I see here in the audience. Not that it's a fun reason you're here, but it it's good to hear from people. And I think the biggest thing is if you have
neighbors that are frustrated, everybody is talking about this, send us an email, give us a call. We we appreciate that. My I'd much rather have a phone call with a constituent than sit in this room because I feel that that's the importantest thing that we can do is
help out the people that are from our area or from the county. So, don't be afraid to call or or be frustrated and tell us what you're thinking because that's what it's all about. We have to hear it. We have to hear our problems in the county and in our districts and then we can't guarantee we're going to fix
it, but we at least need to know about it and know everybody's feelings so we can do our best to to try and help with that. So, thank you guys very much for taking time to come out. >> Mr. Chair, I just add one more thing. Okay. Thank you. I guess don't give me
the mic. Um, but I just want to add this is your room and this is our room and you're welcome here anytime and and actually you know when we have our meeting there's a lot of times there's not people here and and we're on video you can watch us but um it you're
welcome here anytime. This is we want to be transparent. This is a public meeting. Anytime we get together and uh not that we would probably take anything from the audience at during these meetings. It depends on what kind of meeting it is, but you can sure then catch us before or after or whatever and
let let us know too. But yeah, keep holding our feet to the fire and thank you. And this is your room and and uh I I want to thank you for paying your taxes so that we can do the things that that we should be doing that you think we should be doing. So, thank you.
>> All right. I I think we've we've exhausted our words. One person >> I'm sorry. >> One person had one comment. I got a quick question >> for Kenny. >> Yeah, but come up to the mic, please. >> Just so we just so we have it recorded and on the record.
>> If the commissioners could tell who they represent or what area they represent, that would be fantastic. >> Mhm. >> Because district one doesn't mean nothing to me. >> Yeah. >> You know. >> Okay. >> Yep. Understood. All right. >> Do you want me to help start, Steve? >> What's that?
>> You want me to start? >> Sure. Yes. So I I cover from 71 from basically a little bit north of Penock um to 71 in to the northwest and then I have a little sliver of the southeast
corner of Wilmer. >> Okay. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh my name is George Corkyberg and I go by Corki, but you can call me George, too, if you really get mad at me. My mother used to, but call me George at those times. Um, but in district one, it's
kind of hard to explain. I often say it's most or mostly the western half of Wilmer and the north side of Wilmer. Uh, but I don't know, I can't say it's gerrymandering or whatever, but the southern part starts by Menards and it
kind of works its way up all the way to 10th Street. And so everything uh west of that is uh the area I represent as well as Vas Park and out by the college and the road going around the lake there as well in the north side of Wilmer
except not to all the north side of Wilmer right along Seventh Street on the lakeside that is yours right. Yep. So he just ends up all over sometimes. But um that pretty much uh let you know. But this information is online if you're
into computers and and uh on our website it does show a good map. Exactly. You can pinpoint that or you can call us or contact the administrator's office as well to find out. But that's a really a good comment because a lot of times you knock on doors and and so forth. People
are busy with their lives. they kind of forget who you were even, you know, from year year to year to year because we don't we're not there and some we try to be out in the public as much as possible to identify ourselves. But we our community has really grown since I grew
up here. Let's put it that way and really changed and but enough said. Thank you. Uh, and I'm Steve Steve Gardner and mine is uh, uh, district 2, which is the rest of Wilmer. Uh, so essentially the uh, uh, east part of
Wilmer, the central business district uh, over to about 28th Avenue uh, uh, southwest and then over to Lakeland Drive uh, and then uh, to the east of that are the two
Wilmer precincts that uh, that Dale has. Uh, and I've been uh, uh, I'm just, uh, this is my first year of, my second term. >> Okay. I'm Dwayne Anderson. I'm, uh, district five, and that would be there's 24 townships in Candy County. I have 13
of them. So, I represent the south uh, portion of the county. Uh, so it would be uh, on the east side, it would be Harrison Township, which is around Diamond Lake, and then it drops down to Jese, which would include the city of Batwater. Then you go west, it would be
Candy Ohio Township. And then there's Wilmer Township. So I don't get much of Wilmer. I I maybe get a few constituents out out of Wilmer on the edges. Um and then Edwards Township and then everything south. So like uh towns of uh
Princeburg, uh Raymond, Bloomiss, uh Lake would be the the towns also that I represent. So, and I am Roger Imdik. And Mark, to your point, I don't even know what my district number is most of the time, but
I represent the northeast essentially the northeast corner of the county, uh, Burbank Township, Roseville Township, Irving Township, New London Township, and uh, Green Lake, as well as the cities of New London, Spicer, and Regal.
And we do own a business and I spent most of my life farming and we own a business, Three Sisters Furnishings, just outside of New London. >> All right. Uh any uh any last uh comments from the
uh from the board? Otherwise, we'll uh we'll make ourselves available for uh discussion out here. Uh uh and with that uh we will close uh the uh comment portion of the uh uh of the truth and
taxation uh uh meeting and uh uh can we adjourn this? Okay. Then then we will adjourn the meeting. This is the third of three meetings that we've held in this room today. So thank you for your patience.