Almost ready. Somebody Somebody doesn't. Yeah. will. There it is. There it is. There we are. All right, let's go. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to
the Kandy County Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday, July 1st, 2025. Uh, first item, please stand for the pledge. Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it
stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you everyone for being here today and also to the folks who are uh watching us uh catching us on YouTube.
First item is uh approval of the agenda. We do have one thing that we would like to add very briefly and that's a uh uh update from uh our emergency services director uh Ace Bonama in regards to the uh recent flooding here in Candio
County. Uh with that is there a with that addition is there a motion to approve the agenda? Mr. Chair, I'll make Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson moves. Is there a second? I'll second
it, but I do have a question. Uh, where is that going to be placed on the agenda? Uh, as soon as we're done with the consent agenda. Got it. All right, we have a second by Commissioner Mdeck. Discussion hearing
none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. And then we have the consent agenda uh which includes the approval of the June 17th uh 2025 county board legal minutes,
approval of the auditor's warrants and claims. Uh approval of an update to the Candy County fee schedule and approval of the June 17, 2025 closed session minutes. Uh do any commissioners wish to pull any of these four items off of the
uh consent agenda? Hearing none, then I would entertain a motion for approval. Also move. Commissioner Dale Anderson moves. Mr. Chair, I'll second that motion. Commissioner Bergens. Thank hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All
opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh at this time we will have our emergency management director, Ace Bonama, come up and give us an update. Uh uh Ace, good morning. I imagine you've been busy. It has been busy and good morning. Thanks
for the opportunity to be here. I'm Ace Bottom, the emergency management director. Um June 13 seems like a long time ago, but our county is still dealing with the impacts of the flooding. Um and speaking with Chad down at Big Candy Park West, water still rising. Um and we're seeing
impacts in other places as well. Several county departments, cities, and townships met yesterday with the Homeland Security Emergency Management to look at our disaster assistance request that we'll be submitting to the state. Um, as I reported to you back at the June 17th board meeting, our
threshold for qualifying for state assistance is a little more than 103,000. Um, our estimates from yesterday's meeting for public infrastructure around 1.4 million. Um, we're hoping the state will reimburse up to 75%. Um, which would be over a million dollars for us. So, we've
started the paperwork. It's a process, but I think you with those numbers, you can see that it's worth our effort. Um, there are also time parameters with the uh duration of the storm. So, we may be looking at additional damages from the continued rain that we've re started
receiving again on June 25th. As far as help for individuals, we initially set up our emergency management hotline trying to deal with uh needs where we could. This has now transitioned to something called the crisis cleanup line. Crisis cleanup is a volunteer organization that works with Minnesota
volunteer active Minnesota volunteers active in disaster. Um here organizations such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army um can claim jobs basically uh based on on needs and people needing uh assistance can call
that crisis cleanup number. The number is 320-270-3766. You can also call emergency management at 320-235-5133. The county has placed sandbags and sand at the Wilmer Community Center and at Big County Park West. Um we ran out of
sandbags that we had stockpiled in the county, but with some help from some local businesses and neighboring counties, um they got us some more and we're sitting okay. Uh we've activated our long-term recovery team. This consists of folks like Sarah Carlson with the Wilmer Community Foundation,
Deb Brandt with the UKAP, James Miller with the chamber. We're planning on a MARK and a MARK is a multi- agency resource center. This is a um this is where agencies can come together, talk to the people, people can come in, tell them their needs, um what they need help
with, and we can try and and match them with an organization that can help them. Unfortunately, a lot of times the response is just that sometimes it stinks being a homeowner. in my case too, water in the basement, you know, um and we aren't able to help everybody rip
out their carpet and and refernish, but uh we are trying to meet those with the greatest need in the community. So, um some folks had been forced out of their homes, uh especially in the Raymond area. We got the them set up with some
hotels again through Salvation Army and Red Cross. Um, still dealing with rising water and we'll get through the disaster and it's a process. Um, there are a lot of people to thank other than those mentioned, the emergency management staff, Mel, Todd and Austin and the crew
at public works, Gary Gear and his staff at the landfill, Chad at Big Candy West. List goes on and on. But at this point, I'll I'll just uh stand by for questions. Ace uh I'm told that these uh uh that this event is uh and these water
levels are approaching uh the term was used historic levels for Kanye County. Uh can you uh can you give us some sense of uh totals or anything like that? And uh uh yeah, I mean I'm sure you haven't seen this before, right? Yeah, I haven't
seen it before. I've heard uh I think Melis said he's has probably more data on the lakes that it's the worst that that he's seen. Um and to be honest, some of those things we're still in in disaster mode and haven't gotten to to laying everything out on the map yet.
So, if I may, um Ace Mel and I kind of are prepping for a July 17th board presentation. We're getting some drone footage of the lakes. We're going to get some water levels. Mel's team is working on that. will verify with DNR and kind of collaborate with any resources that we have. Um because we are seeing some
historic water levels throughout the county. Um maybe some that we experienced 30 40 years ago down in the southern part of the county. Um but maybe some historic levels on the northern part for those lakes. And so we're kind of gathering some of that information and we'll have more of a board presentation with some final
numbers um at the July 17th meeting. Commissioner B. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. How long can uh is like say we got it's not slowing down at all the rain way it looks like. How long can this go on? Can this be part of that emergency that we
can get funding for because it impacts the same area and creates more damage? There's certain dates that a storm can only last so many days and then if there's a couple days of sunshine in between then basically it's another event. So, if we can show the damages
like um for that next event, any culverts that may have been damaged afterwards, otherwise they would tie to that initial event. Um so, it's kind of a a paperwork thing with the with the state taking making sure you have the
proof that you need, pictures, um all the documentation. Um it's not just as easy as saying, "Hey, give me some money." So, we got to work for it. Mr. Chair, may I just follow up? We'll have to make one more comment. As I mentioned uh to you earlier that you're doing an
excellent job. Thank you. Uh emergency management. This is one of those emergencies that go on and on and so much paperwork and so many little details to keep track of, but such an important job you're doing. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Dwayne Anderson.
Yep. I just want to say thank you to you and all the whole team that was all helping this weekend cuz I was getting a lot of calls and whenever I'd text you guys. I didn't want to call on the weekend, but I'd send a text and that way you could respond whenever you had time. And uh pretty much everybody said,
"Yep, we're on that or we're looking into that or we will look into that." And so everything was being taken care of. Even though I was getting a lot of calls, you guys were on top of it. So thanks to everybody that was helping out this weekend. Emergency management is a department of three and and we
appreciate um the county supporting emergency management, but there's a lot of people that I'm picking up the phone, I'm calling Mel and so it's a lot of just coordinating. So, we appreciate all the help. Any other questions for Ace?
All right. Well, thank you so much for the update and we'll look forward to the presentation on the 17th. Thank you so much. At this time, we will uh move to a proclamation. Uh Tammy Joe Leeberg, uh community corrections director. Uh Dr.
Leeberg, good morning. Good morning. Um Tammy Joe Leeberg, community corrections director for Candy Ohio County here this morning. Um I'm going to give a brief um presentation about an overview of our community corrections department and then talk about the proclamation for
July 20th and 26th for probation and parole officer week. Um for July is pro probation and parole officer week. So I'll start with the presentation and then we'll talk about that um the proclamation after that. So, if I can
get up on the board for There we go. Thank you. So, um, Candy Ohio Community Corrections. Um, our primary goals are to promote public safety, adhere to evidence-based practices, and strive for impartial accountability and respect individual potential and reduce recidivism. When we
talk about community corrections, um really what we're talking about is public safety across um Candy Ohio County. Um community corrections touches almost every aspect of public safety from the start of an arrest all the way to through the prison system and when
somebody comes back out on the other side. This map shows the map of the three delivery systems of cor community of corrections in the state of Minnesota. I have to say it's a little outdated. We haven't updated it lately because as our county board knows, but
many other people don't, there's been a lot of shifting in the state of Minnesota as many, many counties are changing to community corrections and moving mostly away from CPO and DOC. So, right now, this map shows it's partially, you know, kind of balanced, a little green, blue, and orange. It's
actually switching more over towards systems like ours CCA. Actually, in the next year, um, seven more counties are switching to CCA. So, they've decided not to update the count the map until we get a little more stable because everybody's switching right at the
moment. Actually, we have two counties switching in July and three in October and then a two three more in January. So, it's kind of a big shift right now because of the way of the climate and what people are. The the purpose of having three delivery systems though is so that every county can have that
personal choice, right? so that we have that option. Um, whatever is best for that county is what that county can choose. And Candy, Ohio has always chose to be a community corrections county, which means as community corrections, we supervise all cases in our county from
the juveniles all the way up to supervised release or what most people call parole coming into our counties. Um this is just an org chart um showing um the different units in our office from um high and medium supervision,
specialized supervision. Um we have um mental health and drug court, we have sex offender supervision, we have a pre-trial unit, um group supervision, we have a pre-sentence un um unit um pre pre-trial unit and community work
service programs. We also have our community support and le um law enforcement liaison. So I'm going to talk like I said in general a lot of times I come before you and bring specific units so that we have an idea that we can talk a little bit
more in depth about the different types of services that we provide to the county. Um today we're going to talk more in general and talk about all of the services across the board that we have. And part of that is just showing how like I said we we touch almost every
case from beginning to end and kind of just to show that continuum of how that works. Um as that we talk about that we talk about pre-trial supervision is where we kind of start. The minute somebody's arrested in our county, we start with that pre-trial supervision or
we start with a bail study. Um, in my office, typically some some mornings, we have um our our pre-trial supervision unit can start as early as 6:00 a.m. depending on how many people were arrested the night before. To start with a bail study um to determine what types of risk factors we're going to look at
to deter to provide to the court and the judges to see if they should be released, what types of conditions might be the court should give them um as part of that risk assessment because they want we want to get those individuals to
court as fast as possible. We start early because those reports have to be to court preferably by 9 or 10:00 a.m. in the morning. And if there's a large amount of arrests the night before, that's why we have to start early. We have to look at their criminal history, where they've lived, those types of things. And that takes a lot of effort
sometimes, even if it's across, you know, a national level of where that criminal history is looked at, um, to collect that information. Um, pre-trial supervision. Then if they're released from the jail, we're looking at looking at their conditions
of pre-trial supervision. That means um looking at where they live, trying to make sure that they show back up at court, make sure that they follow any conditions of the court, which might be not using drugs or alcohol, not having contact with victims, um other types of
conditions that might be. In 2024, you can see that we had um we supervised 746 pre-trial cases. That's not individuals, that's cases. That actually ended up being about 400 individuals,
but 746 felony pre-trial cases of supervision, 341 gross misdemeanors, and 193 um misdemeanors. Um looking at different things. Sometimes that might be that individual might be on electronical monitoring. Sometimes it's
looking at UAS, sometimes they're checking into our office. But what we're really looking at is how do we make sure that we they don't commit new crimes during the period of time between they're released from jail and when they go to trial. Um but we always have to remember in these cases during pre-trial
we're innocent until proven guilty. Um so that those are the cases that you know we have to also make sure that we're managing the fact that their rights are you know they're considering those rights. Then after we at at that time once they
either are found guilty or they've pled guilty, we we look at probation supervision. Probation supervision is different. That's when we're looking at look monitoring their compliance with court and accountability. But we also need to look at their risk and needs assessment and assessing responsivity
factors, mental health, um dealing with crisis and looking at evidence-based programs to reduce recidivism. That's the majority of where our focus is at looking at long-term community safety. How do we impact public safety through reducing recidivism, changing criminal
behavior, helping people change the behavior so they do not commit new offenses in the future. And so that's where a lot of our focus is when you look at um the programs that we have in our office. A next part of our supervision is supervised release and what a lot of
people consider parole. That's if somebody actually goes to prison. Um when they come back out, we have supervised release or parole. Um and a lot of times when somebody's coming back out, depending on how long that parole sentence or that prison sentence was, we're looking at a release
investigation. We can do end of sentence reviews. That's when, especially in a longer prison sentence, if somebody has a murder charge or significant prison sentence, sometimes 15, 20 years, we may have to complete a full report that goes
to a parole board um to determine um what the impact on a victim might be if they're released. Um what the impact to the community is. And you can imagine after a 20 25 year sentence, sometimes it's quite difficult to find victims. Sometimes it's difficult to find even officers that may have worked with the
case because at that time people have moved on. Um but we at the same time are also addressing community safety. Um looking at evidence-based programs and again looking at those transitions into the community in those cases of how do we best protect the public, holding
people accountable and addressing those changes as they come back into the community. Um here you can see um we during um our total clients on sup adult clients on supervision over the years in 2024 on
supervised probation we supervised 1,133 people in 2024. So, um there's quite a significant number of people under some type of level of probation supervision um each year, but it's been remained fairly
stable over the last couple years. We also have our community work service program. This is where we um individuals are allowed to work off fines um and fees through our community work service program. We do a variety of different
work um through um oil changes for county vehicles. We can do constructions pro projects. We have gardens a garden where we donate the food to the food shelf. Um we have a variety of projects that either provide um work at no cost
to the county. Nonprofit agencies. We've built um fences um decks for um different projects in the county. um fish houses, um the c camper cabins,
a variety of projects. It allows for the individuals to earn valuable work skills, provide give back to the community, and at the same time gives us work that we can have being done in the community.
Some of the other things that our office does um is investigations and reports. We have many many reports. This is what our probation officers probably hate like least about their jobs like everybody else is the reports we got to write. But pre-sentence investigations,
predispositional reports, those are the juvenile version. Um parole investigations, adjustment reports, um probation violations. We um transfer investigations in in state from county to county or interstate. If somebody is
moving out of state, we have to or into our state from another county, we have to do those investigations, victim impact statements, restitution determinations, invest other investigations, extended juvenile jurisdiction certifications, domestic abuse
assessments. As part of those, we do interviews with the offender. We collect information from law enforcement, corrections agencies, victim services, mental health and treatment courts. We collect collateral information from family members um and other areas. So
it's they can be quite extensive work trying to collect that information. We do lots of reports you can see for bail evaluations um present investigations, domestic assessments and violations each year um for a variety of you know that are submitted to the
courts. Uh Dr. Liber just I was looking at this chart and I see that the number of bail evaluations has drastically decreased over that 5-year uh term. Yes. And part of that is due to statutory changes that they've reduced what types of offenses we need to do bail
evaluations on at this time. Well, you'll take a win like that more paperwork. It is. Okay. Go ahead. Um, but you can also see that we've increased the pres-sence investigations and I would tell you that pres-sentence investigations actually take more time
and an enormous and pre-sentence investigations um can range from 5 to 20 pages depending on the presence investigation and can range usually around six to 10 hours worth of work. um addressing public safety. You can see we do several different things when
we're looking at evidence-based practices. We're assessing the drivers of criminality. We supervise the court orders and holding people accountable. We develop individuals um with individuals to manage their risk levels and assist mental health and
crisis situations. And we use restorative justice to assist victims in the community. We're using those evidence-based practices to try and address how to change their behaviors going forward in the community. We're using those evidence-based practices. We've used it several times
talking to you in the past. We kind of delve into them more in depth, but this is just a quick review of um we use professional alliance, motivational interviewing, risk assessment, case planning, and our cognitive behavioral programs. Um, and our cognitive behavioral programs that we talk about,
you know, they reduce recidivism and they've shown through research to reduce recidivism, es especially if we use a variety of um interpersonal skills and behavioral interventions. Um, many of you have had the opportunity to go to our graduations and see different examples of some of the activities that
we're able to do. By addressing those criminogenic needs, we have the ability to reduce recidivism, change criminal behavior, and protect the public by reducing victims. And so that's the primary focus of our long-term public
safety. Commissioner Burke, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a follow up on your comment about assisting individuals with mental health concerns. Uh is that a significant number and c can you comment a little bit more on
that? I sure can. Um so we have a mental health unit in the probation office. Um we have actually two separate types of mental health units in the probation office. One dealing with more of our pre-trial unit and one dealing with um our cases on supervision. Um, but almost
everybody we have on probation has some type of mental illness or type of issues that they're dealing with with mental illness. Most people who are um commit crimes, they don't want to be in trouble. I mean, that's one of the things that we got to remember. It's it has to do with people who have had bad
they've made a bad choice. There have been um issues going on in their lives. Um there's something's occurred. Um but chemical dependency and mental illness are are a lot of the drivers that start with re responsivity issues that kind of
come about. And then other things like we talk about antisocial behaviors, antisocial peers, antisocial thinking. Um those are some things that also contribute in a high level to what causes crime. And so we're trying to use
those things as a way to address that and through the mental addressing the mental illness at the same time we're providing um assistance for them. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh two questions. One's a little unrelated.
You mentioned the the drivers of causing people to do u commit crimes and violate law. What about adverse childhood experiences? Adverse childhood experiences are a cause, but the they that's where we start, right? We when
we're talking about ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, those are things like when we start talking about static actually even on you you have perfect timing. When we talk about static and dynamic risk factors, we're talking about static are things we can't change. Okay. Um static risk factors are things
like um antisocial history which might be aces um adverse childhood experiences. I can't go back and change what happened in their childhood. What we can change to address public safety are their dynamic risk factors. Things like their attitudes and thinking
behaviors right now. And so th those might be their static risk factors that we can identify as a risk factor but we can't change that. So in probation, we really really try and concentrate on what those dynamic factors are right today because we're looking forward how
do we reduce their risk factors in the future so that they don't hurt people in the future. Thank you. Um, were you done with the presentation because this question isn't really related to I am almost I'm just gonna
just before I answer my question or ask I'll just tell you real quickly we talk about our different cognitive skills programs um and the ones that you like we talked about you guys can we have graduation programs and different things you can attend but we have our introduction to CO COG which we have at
the jail um we have thinking for a change we have our domestic violence treatment program, our decision points, social skills, sex offender treatment, and women's moving on program. We also have our community engagement programs that provide different types of pro-social skills in the community that
even like right now we're scheduling things like helping people learn how to take care of their cars because of ACEs and many other things. They've never had those opportunities. they haven't had somebody to help them figure out how to take care of their car car and do things
like changing windshield wipers. Um, we're looking at how do we engage them in community support systems and have pro-social activities outside of going out and drinking and getting in trouble. And so, how do we engage them in
behaviors and things that are positive influences in their lives or a large part of how and making positive choices? So, and here is my staff. So, my presentation is over. I am happy to stand for questions and then I have my
proclamation after that. Commissioner, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, early in your presentation, you said there are seven, I believe, counties that are moving over to the community corrections. Uh, that is correct. System. Uh, when they move
over to the system, does the funding move with them? Um, and what is causing that move? Okay. I know, uh, I've been part of going to CCA, uh, MAC Act for several years, and they always talk about, okay, maybe next
year we're going to get somebody else. Now, all of a sudden, there's a pretty big move. So, several years ago, we passed as part of our leg macak and AMC. We worked very, very hard on increasing funding for um, corrections. We were not
successful in getting full funding as we worked even this year to try and get our funding up to the full funding formula. Um we were not successful because of the funding um deficits that we're still facing. But we were able to get a single funding formula three years ago which increased our funding in Kio High County
significantly. um still not to the weight level the state is still meet not meeting its needs or not meeting its obligations but we were able to increase the funding significantly from where it was and what has happened because the state has
increased where it was um many counties have made the determination with that increase in funding that they feel that they are better suited to meet the needs of their counties than the state was. Um, in some counties they're still feel that their
state um areas are still being able to provide the services, but many areas feel that their county community corrections agencies provide better services. Um, they meet the needs of their counties at a local level um with the funding that's available
and that funding does that funding does transfer. Yes. So, it's based the funding is now based on the work that's provided, not um in the past it was kind of based on a pass through dollars of what the Department of Corrections determined was appropriate and now it's
based on what the work is provided. And every county is funded exactly the same regardless of what the Department of Corrections determines. Not the same amount, the same formula. Same formula. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions?
Commissioner Ber. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just really a comment. Uh, Commissioner Mdeck and myself serve on your advisory committee for the public's information. But, uh, these big changes, I think, is has a lot to do with the legislative changes that took place and just really a shout out to your department and
especially you for those changes and being instrumental in helping make that all happen. It's good. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? I'll just I just want to say thanks for what you guys do. It It's not always
easy doing your job, I'm sure. So, thank you. All right. With that, uhclation I'll read my proclamation then and we'll get on. Okay. So, the county of County of Candy Ohio pre-trial probation and supervised release supervision week.
Heroes behind the mission July 20th through 26, 2025. Whereas community corrections is an essential part of the justice system. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals uphold the law with dignity while recognizing the right of
the public to be safeguarded from criminal activity. And whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals are responsible for supervising adult and juvenile offenders in the community. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals are trained professionals
who provide services and referrals for offenders. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals work in partnership with community corrections agencies and groups. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals promote prevention, intervention, and advocacy.
Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals provide services, support, and protection for victims. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals advocate community and restorative justice. Whereas probation officers and community corrections professionals are
a true force for positive change in their communities. Now therefore, be it resolved that Candy Ohio County Board does there hereby proclaim July 20th through the 26th, 2025 as pre-trial probation and parole supervision week
and encourage all citizens to honor these probation officers and community corrections professionals and to recognize their achievements. signed this first day of July 2025. All right. Uh would someone like to move
the proclamation? So move, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Mck moves. Is there a second? Mr. Chair, I'll second that. Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion passes.
Thank you so much. Go ahead. I do have a few of my probation officers in the back room. if if they would stand up and introduce themselves. Mike, Jav. So, that's what I got. Everybody else is in meetings or court.
Outstanding. Well, thank you for being here today and thank you so much and uh uh we're more than happy to uh provide. Do you need this or you need No, you keep that for now. All right, we have that and thank you so much again and uh release you to go on
with the rest of your day. At this time, we'll have uh car Caroline Khan presenting to us uh in relation to the family resource center initiative. Director Khan, good morning. Good morning. You just introduced me, but I'll introduce myself. So, Caroline
Khan, Kyoai County Health and Human Services Director. This morning, I wanted to provide um uh an update briefly on our F FRC project that we brought forth a a few months ago related to a grant that we received from the Sour Family Foundation and also bring forward a contract to continue the
partner that we've identified in that early on in our in our grant process um to get the approval to continue forward with that project. So, as a reminder, F FRC's are a family resource center model and the Candy Ohio County has begun its process of the explore and assess phase
through the um Sauer Family Foundation grant. These are F FRC's are a community-based hub of support and services and opportunities for families based on nationally recognized um family resource model by the family support network. These models use a multi-generational strength-based and
family- centered approach reflecting on being responsive to community needs and interests and providing a low or no cost to participants um to engage with services and supports. FRC's are a community-led model uh and they reduce the footprint of government by serving communities while fostering collaboration between local
organizations, community, and government. There are over 3,000 F FRC's throughout the country in 40 states and the District of Columbia with the oldest serving families for 30 years in some locations. I also wanted to just again provide a brief overview view of the
potential impact of FRC's. Um based on studies in multiple jurisdictions, FRC's have demonstrated um a $4.93 social return on investment for every dollar invested, a $3.65 65 cent savings for the child welfare system for every
dollar invested and significant gains in economic self-sufficiency, health and social supports for family functioning and resiliency, child nurturing and healthy attachment. So moving forward with our F FRC project um as I brought forward in our original
grant acceptance proposal is partnering with commu creating communities consulting. This is a consultant that we've worked with with public health in the past and is a a a partner that our regional um counties are also engaging with. Uh specifically Miker County is a
county of similarity to Candy Ohigh County and that we've identified the ability to partner and leverage both of our grant experiences at the same time um in in selecting the same partner. This is the same partner that also uh our 6W client or counties are also
participating in. So, we're hoping to continue to leverage regional impact. So, our contract uh to move forward with creating communities would allow them to help continue the supports within the grant um project as our results-based accountability and community positive
positive community norms project. continuing our community mapping and engagement workshops, um standards of quality assessment, the ongoing coaching once our our hub and spoke model is put together and then our community of practice
and partner engagement sessions. So as outlined in our grant project originally um moving forward with the ability to finalize that contract and continue the work. We are currently in our data collection uh creating communities is involved in going over an assessment and
at the end of July they'll present to a a group related to what we found as a community assessment uh for Candy Ohio County. What questions do we know and what questions do we have le left to answer as we continue on in our explore and assess phase project. So this this
morning I have before you the um creating communities consultant uh contract for approval. All right. Are there any questions for the director? Commissioner MDC. Thank you Mr. Chair. Um so there are several counties. It
almost looks like with the exception Mloud Mer it's almost district six the way it looks. Um and we are the fiscal agent. No everybody they have a Miker County has done their own contract. So they have their own grant um award that they've received and then 6W has chosen
to work collectively as their as those counties um and they have their own grant. So everybody has independent grants um and then independent contracts with the same partners. So we we did strategically try to select the same partner to leverage each other because we do have shared resources such as
woodlands uh packed for families uh UKAP in certain areas. So we are trying to to work as as collectively as possible and find cost efficiencies. Thank you. I I understood as I was reading it was probably Candy Ohio was going to be fiscal agent for all of the counties
there. So if I may ask a followup question you may. Um so similarly each county can withdraw from the contract if it they see that it doesn't it's not if one doesn't sign up the rest can't sign
up either. Yep. They all have their own independent contracts. Yep. Commissioner B. Mr. Chair, thank you. U first off, I want to commend you that keeps us moving forward. I know it's been a couple years now or couple months. Couple months. No, since we
visited Scott Countyy's family, sorry. Yes. And I think we were all pretty excited at that time. And I I know there's been a lot be going on behind the scenes and thank you for your leadership on that and heading in that direction. Um, it's probably too early
to tell because it takes so much time. There's so many details to put together to make this happen. Like for example, with this contract, is our model going to be still looking at similar to that one at all or is that too early to It's too early to tell. Yep. And that's the the partnership with creating
communities will help us come up to that um recommendation at the end of this grant project. So, just a reminder, um, a few months ago, we received the Sour Family Foundation grant to completely, um, fund this, um, exploration process
to help build family resiliency. And hopefully with by the end of the next year, we'll be able to bring forward a recommendation of what would fit Candy Ohigh County best and the unique needs within our county to build family resiliency. Anyone else?
All right. Uh the chair will move the uh approval of the purchase of service contract with Creative Community Consulting LLC. Is there a second? I'll second it. Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Is there any further discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. And Caroline, you're going to stay up there and uh uh you see what I did there? You did. You're going to talk about the stay program. I am. So uh again thank you uh for the opportunity to bring forth
another uh contract. Um last year we brought forward Angela Matesky uh to talk about the state programming that we partner with uh Lutheran Social Services. This one is a fiscal host contract in which the Candy Ohio County does act on behalf of the other counties as partnership uh for these funds that
we receive from the state to then be dispensed to Lutheran Social Services to um use utilize to to run their stay program and help build um independent living skills for youth and out of home placement. Uh I'm going to just as a
foster parent myself uh commend the the group. I've had a kiddo go to the state program in the past year since the last time and it's been a transformational experience to to see a young youth in out of home placement have the experience and opportunity to learn about um car maintenance and car insurance and how do you balance a
checkbook and they make a fun experience out of that. Recently, I've also had the opportunity to visit the new uh Lutheran Social Services Youth Resource Center downtown, and watching this new space that they have um and the ability that they're able to do the programming in
this new space for for the stay project is quite uh transformational and impactful and inspiring. Um so, I look forward to the ways in which they will continue to elevate services and programs for youth experiencing out of home placement. Um, so as you can see,
the contract, excuse me, I got my papers turned around, is a continuation of pass through funds that we receive, uh, with our award letter, uh, be staying the same as last year of the $111,600. Um, and looking to again continue that
partnership with Lutheran Social Services for the the stay program. Are there any questions for the director? All right, then I would entertain a motion for approval of the purchase of service agreement with LSS. Mr. Chair, I so move. Thank you. Commissioner Berg
moves. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Discussion. All right. Hearing none. All in favor say I. All opposed. Motion passes. Uh Caroline, thank you so much. Thank you.
Next item of business is uh we're going to have Katie Zeamer, our human resource director, come to the podium uh and has a resolution. So Katie, good morning. Good morning. Hi, I'm Katie Zeamer. I'm the human resources director with Candyo High County. I am here regarding
resolution 202523. Robbie Branis was recently promoted to the jail administrator position and per statute he is eligible to retain his membership in the police and fire PAR plan under the transfer provision which states that employees that move from one
position to another within the sh same sheriff's department and that governmental unit passes a resolution supporting this would be able to maintain their police and fire membership. Robbie is a licensed peace officer and he's been employed by the sheriff's office for the past 17 years.
So, a new hire coming into this position would be under the correctional plan. And the reason for this resolution is because of the differences between the two plans which include contribution rates, benefit formula, cola adjustments, and social security participation.
All right. And so we uh uh have resolution 2025-23. Uh is there anyone who would like to move that uh forward? I would move resolution 2025-23. Thank you. And is there a second? I'll
second that, Mr. Chair. Thank you. And any discussion, questions? It'll be easy hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Katie, thank you so much. Thank you. Uh we will take an 8m minute recess. Okay.
at, are you ready? That's what they say at ours, too. Yeah. The Candy County Board of Commissioners uh is are back in session. At this time, we will take up the item uh landfill potential property
presentation and purchase agreement. uh with us today, Ryan Batton, our landfill supervisor. Uh Ryan, approach the podium. And good morning. You have a presentation for us. Yes. Yep. It should be up on the screens there.
Uh good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. I'm Ryan Batton. I'm the landfill superintendent for Candy, Ohio County. and we'll just go through this presentation here that'll kind of outline the uh reasons that we want to purchase the property potentially and then kind of the benefit that it gives
to the county. Chief among those would be to extend our groundwater compliance boundary which we'll get into a little bit later as we go through the presentation. I'm going to I'm going to ask you to yeah speak up just a little bit more. Yep. Thank you so much. that extending our groundwater compliance
boundary um limits our liability in numerous different things and has the potential to save us quite a bit of money even though there is a significant capital outlay to purchase the property. So we'll get into it here. Um uh we'll just start off with the hydrogeeology of
the site. Uh we've extensively researched the hydrogeeology of the whole site and to the northwest where we have an existing contamination plume. our our research has indicated that there's two distinct plumes um from two contamination sources. The one that we're most familiar with is the
Northwest plume that that emanates from pre- sububtitle dwaste pre-regulatory waste that was disposed of between 1970 and 1992. Um that's predominantly a VOCC contaminant plume vinyl chloride tric tricloroethylene and we'll get into some of those chemical constituents as we
move through. Uh the CND plume which moves uh souths southwest is one that originated in 2009 due to PAS firefighting foam that was used to extinguish a large CND fire at that time. So the site itself sits on a
geological divide and there's lenses of clay that affect the groundwater flow which is why we see that distinct divide between the two different plume directions. Go to the next page here. We've seen exceedences um at DMW3, which
is our southernmost groundwater monitoring point. Currently, we've seen exceedences of POS and boron, both of which were constituents in that firefighting foam that I spoke of in that well, exceeding our groundwater intervention limits since 2018. That
well is approximately 500 foot south of where the material was disposed of or was injected into the waste. And the well itself sits about 250 feet north of the property boundary, which gives us confidence that contamination is migrated off site. I mean, we're not
dealing with something that is currently on site. We have a duty to take corrective action because we know that these contaminants have migrated offsite. Commissioner MD, thank you. Um Ryan, as I'm looking at this map, I'm
trying to understand. So you show the headarters of the Shakipi Creek and then below that it says Nest Lake, Middlefork Crow River. I believe those are watershed boundaries if I'm not mistaken. Oh, it's not the creek itself. It's not the creek itself. Nope. Okay,
got it. And then uh did I hear you uh say and did I read that there's a significant clay area um between Plume and the um Northston Lake? Yes, we
believe in that this whole site that the county owns is divided geologically between two what what are called geological units. So the northwest unit is different than what's in the the southeast. And along that divide is a
massive clay till a glacial clay till. And that kind of creates this barrier which in geological terms we refer to it as an aquatard. Prevents the flow of groundwater the migration of groundwater. So groundwater finds a different path just like surface water does you know. Um so it is that clay and
we've actually used that clay to our advantage for construction projects. We mine clay in the parcels to the west. Um, so we know there's a significant amount of clay in that area. So there's, you know, these clay hummocks, mounds that are, you know, we've we've not found the bottom of them when we've been
digging. So they're inconsistent, but it's consistent enough geologically that we know that there's the barrier between surficial aquifers and deeper aquifers. We've done enough studying to know that, and we're familiar with that geology. So yes, there's there's a significant amount of clay in that area of the site
and southwest of the plume and to the west, you know, to the westerly direction. Um and and the watershed um boundaries kind of illustrate that to some degree too. It maybe doesn't correlate exactly with the geolog
subsurface geology, but it does uh the surficial geology usually follows the subsurface geology to some degree. Yep. You bet. So if we go to the next page, we'll see a good idea of what corrective action looks like in a traditional sense from
what we've done with the Northwest plume. Uh we have a pretty good idea about that. We've been dealing with it for 30 plus years and the timeline here just kind of delineates uh years since the waste was open and and step by step kind of what steps were
taken. at that 25 year mark um is when a lot of the uh contamination modeling started and we're kind of at that point or getting close to that point now with our uh our CND waste. So, we're entering into that same type of timeline, but
what purchasing the property does for us is it kind of extends that timeline, gives us the opportunity to uh do more research into natural attenuation, into treatment technologies if it's necessary, those types of things. So, um
hopefully we don't have to get into as intensive of a search as we did with that Northwest plume. And the main impetus for that search was the fact that it was offsite. it was affecting uh property owners. It crosses multiple property boundaries. There's a whole host of different uh people that are
involved and impacted by it. So, next page, please. Um corrective action groundwater monitoring requires a more intensive and more stringent monitoring of known contaminants. So, for phase one plume
right now, we have uh 23 corrective action wells. Nine of them are offsite. We monitor those two times annually. Um looking for a whole host of of contaminants from VOCC's, SVOCC's, metals, POS, all of those things. We
monitor for two times annually. Uh for our CND plume right now, we don't have anything in corrective action. And that's what we're trying to avoid. Uh right now, we just have our standard monitoring walls on the southern boundary of the site. We know we're
going to have to do something with those in the very near future here. It's just a matter of how extensive we need to get. Uh Commissioner Berg and then Commissioner, can you expound a little bit expound a little bit more on corrective action? Uh sound like a lot
of the corrective action is monitoring and putting wells in to monitor. Yes. Is that a corrective action then? That's a portion of corrective action. The first part of correction So what are the correction action? Sure. The first part of any corrective action is going to be
doing a study, a full scale study or a limited study, which is what we're proposing here. And I'll I I will talk about that a little bit later, too. If uh if you want to hold off until that point, we'll get into that a little bit more in depth. So, uh you want to ask
your question now or please go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um you and I bring it up now because you talked about the monitoring wells and probably have to put at least a couple more in because things have moved. Has Norsted Lake ever been tested? Yes. Yes, we have. And what
are the result of that? Uh no POS was present in the sampling. We intend to continue testing that. Um regardless of what we do, we're going to learn a significant about amount about what the uh groundwater migration looks like in
that area. So we can kind of target a couple of areas where it looks like groundwater may potentially interface with surface water and those would be prime areas for monitoring um surface water points along Northstead Lake. So we do the same thing in the northwest plume. We have certain areas that we
monitor where we think groundwater and surface water interfacing. So uh we can go to the next one here. This is just a list of the contaminants that we've seen for each plume.
Currently, um vinyl chloride, which is a a degradation product of the tricloroethylene, which was the original contaminant in the phase one plume, is is the primary one of the Northwest plume. Uh as you can see, boron and POS
compounds, which of which there are several are the primary contaminants of the CND landfill. Okay, we can go to the next one and this is kind of where we come down to brass tax. So, what do we stand to
avoid by acquiring the property in question? Source remediation, which is the only tried and trueue remedial action that we know would work, which would be digging up the existing waste and disposing of it on top of lion
space. is really the only tested remedial action that we know of at the time. Um, and that would cost us approximately $7 million and loss of line space. So, I mean, that's that's a pretty significant expense as well. Um, $650,000 cubic
yards of line space lost. That's uh that's basically a cell's worth of development. So, that would be a significant amount of lost revenue as well. Um, that's the only thing we know of right now that would stop the plume from migrating. It would stop the
contamination at the source. Uh, a fullscale off-site hydro geo study, which is what we would end up doing if we do not purchase the property and extend our groundwater compliance boundary. Um, it involves doing rotoic boring sampling groundwater at 5 foot
intervals. Um, it take probably a couple years and we've estimated the cost at about $4.4 million. And then on top of that, we would be looking at installing likely 10 corrective action wells. Each one of those wells costs about $35,000 to
install. And then we're also on the hook for about $3,000 per well per year in monitoring costs. So, I mean, we'd be looking at $30,000 per year for the life of the facility that we would be on the hook for for monitoring costs.
Next slide, please. So, how can we reduce our liability? Um, and what benefit does it give the county to to outlay this significant amount of capital? Time to enforcement is the big one. Longer timeline before we're forced into
remedial action. Uh, the MPC is going to require us to do something since we're confident that the plume is offsite. So the more time we have, the more time we have to let technology improve and and decide if it behooves us to do any sort
of remedial action to allow time to study sequestration of the POS compounds in the soil, which we've noted in the northwest plume that the POS does get sequestered to some point. The transport modeling is uh shows that it's not as
transportable as VOCC's and the like. So there is there is some manner of sequestration going on there. The other thing it does is limit uh the potential for problematic property owner interactions. So there's a lot of uncertainty that comes when you have a new property owner. Uh the properties
could get subdivided and developed, especially a nice prime piece of property like that. That would be a worst case scenario. And generally speaking, it's it's industry standard practice for solid waste facilities to buy out as much of your neighbors as you
can just because uh a lot of MPCA enforcement action is complaint driven. So you have neighbors, it's unpredictability, it's the potential for complaints and the MPCA if they dictate you need to do something, you have to do it. There's there's no way around it. So
they mandate, they don't ask. Commissioner Burke, can you go back to the previous slide? Sure, if you could. At the very bottom then, if I'm understanding you, just would be clear on this. The cost to buy this property, is that the cost estimate? That's
1.8 to 2.6 million. Is that what that is? That's just the uh groundwater monitoring cost. That's bas Yeah, that's based off of the northwest plume, which we probably wouldn't have to have quite as intensive of a groundwater monitoring
network to the south. We'd anticipate like somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 corrective action wells, whereas right now there's 23 for the northwest plume. But, you know, the total total cost aggregated over a 20-year span for a southern plume, just groundwater
install, well install, and monitoring would be somewhere in the neighborhood of a million dollars. And that's on top of the uh the research portion of it. That's the actual corrective action portion of it. So, corrective action is really monitoring
at this point. Yes. But it can be remediation as well. I mean, it sounds like you correct the problem and we still have the problem. We're just there's still a problem. We're just watching it move. There's there's some threshold where you move from monitoring to remediation. We've not crossed that
point yet. So, and and I suppose it's just a crystal ball if or when. Correct. Yeah. And we've been fortunate so far that the Northwest Plume hasn't required us to do any remediation. Um, we believe
that most the VOCC contaminants in that northwest plume are interfacing with Shakape Creek Slooh and volatilizing. So, we don't believe there's a great risk to human health. But if if our groundwater monitoring network shows uh
different contaminants migrating in that direction, that could change as well. So, it's something that we're actively monitoring two times a year as I stated before and we're always on the lookout for any changes that might push us over that threshold. And all this stuff gets submitted to the MPCA hydrogeeologist
and solid waste program too. So, they're their eyes are on it every every time we do a monitoring activity so that they are seeing it too and they're on the lookout for the same things that we are. Commissioner Embeck. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. Um so we know that it's moving in the in the coarse material i.e. the way groundwater moves. Uh we know relatively close the amount of or the speed at which it's traveling. Do we know the depth that it's at? We believe right now
that it's in the surface aquifer. So it would probably be shallower than 40 ft below ground surface. Um and I think Mr. uses the words attenuation, which I think is a fix or
or it goes away or whatever, but um is there any work being done right now other than just to move the boundaries? And cuz it feels like all we'd be doing is kicking the can down the road, for lack of a better term than that, a overused term. That sooner or later,
we're going to still be facing some sort of uh what was the other word you used? Uh remediation. Remediation. And it could be the big one that you're talking about. It could be. Yeah. uh if we or someone doesn't find an alternative.
Those of us who farm understand ear uh drainage tile drainage and it's difficult for me not to think that we couldn't daylight that through tile drainage tile just and collect it just like uh you
might uh put water in a county ditch. I could I can see that it's just a matter of the millions and millions of gallons that you would be treating on an annual basis. I mean, you got to think along the lines of underground river, you
know, it's it's a untold amount quantity of water that you would have to treat. Um, which is why we like the extended timeline to compliance because it gives time for technology to improve. And then as we talked about, attenuation probably
isn't the 100% correct term. Attenuation would infer that the contaminants would dissipate in some regard. Sequestration is what I prefer to use because that would be basically immobilizing the contaminants in the soil so that they're no longer migrating so that the leading
edge of your plume tapers off to a non-detect on PAS and boron compounds. So basically, you know, you still have contamination in the groundwater. it's just not moving anymore because those particles have become entrained in the the subsurface material. And I might
have missed it, but uh the question regarding is there anyone working on these kind of things? Yes. Yeah. I mean, we've uh we budgeted next year for NMR study, which is basically like an MRI of the ground. We're going to do a whole uh
plume modeling on that. So that's the first phase. Uh from that we'll gain some understanding of exactly which direction it's going. Um kind of the uh the speed at which the groundwater and the contaminants are migrating and if
there's any impact potential impact to surface waters. If there is a potential impact to surface waters that could accelerate our remedial action plan um to something like putting pond skimmers on. This is all just hypothetical right now. you know, if if you if you would
see an impact to surface waters, generally PAS would create a phase on top of the water, so it wouldn't so you'd be able to potentially skim it off. Um, groundwater remediation is a lot more difficult because right now the only standard practice is pump and
treat. And I I have to think that with the how prolific this type of contamination is right now, there's there's people working on technologies to remediate, but right now we're just kind of at that pump and treat. Maybe at some point in the future, we could put
in some sort of filtration or sequestration media in a lens intercepting the the contamination plume, but that's all hypothetical and it would require years and years of engineering studies before anything would be permitted by the MPCA.
it and years and years. So, uh, um, and and thank you for answering because it sounds like somebody and and I tend to agree with you because of the prevalence of PAS not just here but all over uh that somebody ought to be working it. The irony is that we have a system
ourselves. Uh we probably can't run that much uh water through the system and and even if we did and separated the PAS from uh the water, could we put it back in the face of the of the landfill? That would be one I mean the landfill is a perfect place to sequester POS. Um you
know, basically once it's in the landfill, it's not going anywhere. Especially when you treat your leech aid on site as we do. Um you're treating it, you're putting the POS back in the landfill where it gets caught up in the garbage and and absorbed by the garbage and then it basically sits there forever more. It's a it's a containment unit.
Probably the best and and we've talked about this on the solid waste level too as we're we're a repository for the the material. We're not necessarily a point source so to speak, but we're probably the best place for the POS material. So, we've had these arguments
in, oh, should POS be a hazardous waste? Well, it is hazardous to to health and the environment, but at the same time, if you're if you're making it harder to dispose of you, the likelihood of disposal, correct proper disposal is going to go down. So, maybe maybe the
landfill is the best place for that type of material. Promise I'm not asking. Uh again to clarify, is there clay between Norst Lake and the plume? We believe there's a lens of clay that
runs generally speaking in that direction. That's why we see the perched water of Norstead Lake. We believe it's springfed, but we also believe there is uh some clay in that general area, which is what's holding because we see it in a lot of different little pothole lakes. We've got other ones on the property or
near the property, too. We believe that's all the result of water being perched on the clay. But the fact that there are springs brings out the potential for a groundwater surface water interface. I kind of lied. Last question. How long
would it take at the rate of movement that we have right now to reach North Lake? I'm wondering how many years we have to figure out a solution to this. It's a hard question to answer. I mean, it could potentially be
10. It could potentially be 30. It could potentially never reach there. We we just don't have the data yet. And that's what we're going to work on acquiring regardless of what happens with the property acquisition. The problem is with the property acquisition, if the county doesn't acquire it, then
we have to get in negotiations with land owner or land owners, and it just complicates the process that much more. So, this is the next step. I mean, we're we're not there yet to have all of that information. We know it's offsite, but we need to gather that information and
we're going to do that regardless of what happens. Commissioner B. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. So, go going back and you're saying, you know, the best thing was keep it in the landfill, but it's out of the landfill. It's moving on now. And as
as the longer we watch it move out, I'm assuming the costs are going to keep going up to really mitigate this problem. And we're we're monitoring the problem and I think we're not really mitigating the problem. It sounds is there what is and I hate to even ask
this question to really mitigate that problem to put it back. What would the we are going estimate be? So the the only mitigation that we know would be that $7 million source relocation. And along with that 7 million, you'd probably be looking at another 7 to10
million in lost revenue. So that right now is the only thing that we could do is dig it up and put it on line space to actually curb it at at the source. Um treatment technology isn't there. You could put in a pump and treat system. You might just be shooting yourself in
the foot. You know, you don't know. You could pump millions and millions and millions of gallons and never never really achieve the outcome that you're looking for. But we are doing things to mitigate on top of just research. We're going to put final cover over the entirety of the CND cell next year,
which will at least help stop the the surface water migration, you know, the rainwater migration into the waste mass, which is what generates your CN leate and propagates your plume. So, we're going to be doing that. Obviously, there's still going to be some amount of
surface water flowing in there, but this this will highly limit it. It's the same thing we do with the MSW cells. We're going to put a 40 mil LLDP cover over top of it and grow grass on top of it. So, there'll be a basically a big plastic tarp over the whole thing. So, that's one thing that we're going to do
to help mitigate it. Um, anything else? Unfortunately, we just need time. That's the point we're at. So, follow up, Mr. chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, in following up on this and looking at going forward, it's it's a big guess.
Um, which way to go on this whole thing, but you're talking about six, seven, eight million plus maybe another 8 million. Uh but we're also looking at you know loss of tax property or tax base you know buying this $2.5 million
property as well as u putting in the wells and the cost connected with that that's a big first step in just really mitigating the problem and this can't be just unique to Candy County neither that you know what kind of funds and grants
are there out there for uh for these kind of things that we and really just do it instead of just guessing. I would say that it is not a unique problem to Candy Ohio County. What is unique is the fact that the parcel's coming up for sale and that's what prompted this whole
discussion. And in a lot of cases, if you would have a property owner fight you on corrective action, you would take the property by imminent domain. Nobody wants to do that. You guys don't want to do that. Property owners of the county don't want to see that happening. But if the MPCA says you must, they mean you must, not you must if the property owner
agrees. It means that you have to do it. So as far as grants are concerned, there are POS grants available. They have been making them available annually. They're smaller amounts. I noticed the city of Wilmer got one recently on their wastewater side.
That would be a potential option for us after we get through this initial phase. I, you know, I think we're going to be on the hook for this $2.5 million purchase and then we're going to be on the hook for about $100,000 in non-invasive study. Um, and that would include the the engineering associated
with that. And after that, we're going to have a whole lot more information about what we're looking at. And my opinion right now is this purchase is worth it. Even if you completely discount the whole plume thing, it's
worth it. the potential for uh neighbors, potentially multiple neighbors. That's not something that I'm interested in. That's not something that you guys should be interested in either. I like to run a landfill that's quiet, that
people enjoy coming to. As much as they possibly can enjoy going to a landfill, uh I don't like complaints. I don't like any of that. So, with neighbors come, unfortunately, comes complaints and comes problems. So, Commissioner Dwayne Anderson and
Commissioner Dale Anderson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I'm on the Environmental Natural Resources uh committee uh for AMC. Uh and you know, I represent the county, I guess, on there. Uh and, uh there's other counties that are dealing
with that right now. And MPCA just says, "You got to drill some wells to monitor the situation." And they're going, "Well, can you help us?" And they're like, "No, no." So they're on the hook and and they've tried to you know pass it through AMC but the rest of the counties have just said that isn't our
priority. Um that you know that if if some if a county has to do that sort of situation the drill monitoring wells uh right now there's no money but uh the rest of the counties just kind of said well that's not our high priority right now. Well now it is our high priority if
if we don't purchase this land. Um, I I think from from the meetings that I've had or discussions I've had in that committee regarding this sort of situation, this is the best way to go about it if we were to purchase it in my opinion because uh
it it looks like we're kicking the can down the road, but we're also uh saving a lot of headache uh dealing with neighboring properties. um you can get a neighbor that that won't cooperate and then we have to go through eminent domain and and all kinds of lot of
paperwork and a lot of expense. So I I just think it's a good idea. I don't like spending money, but uh this year I think we're saving in the long term and then we can kind of get ahead of the situation and see what is going on with the groundwater and hopefully it comes
to the surface and it uh gets digested by the plants or evaporates out. Commissioner Dale Anderson. Well, I just want to thank you guys for the work that you've done putting this all together. It it's interesting. I talked to a couple counties um just through
different avenues that I have and I know of two different counties that are fighting this PAS thing and they're just in their bleach aid. So I mean we've we've already accomplished trying to get that part handled ourselves. So I think that's a great thing. But I mean they're bringing it and having to haul it all
the way to the cities and then it just gets diluted down enough so they can dump it in the Mississippi. And I mean, at least we're putting an effort into trying to find a way to keep that leech under control and handle it ourselves. So, I I totally agree with Dwayne. I
think, you know, if we can see that this isn't moving or it actually at some point stops or we figure out how to get it out, we can always sell that land off at that time. But in any situation, if you want to control your destiny, you
control your neighborhood. So, um I think that's where we have to look at this right now is just to have this buffer to to handle this to keep things simple for right now and and hopefully at some point in time it's there's another option.
Commissioner B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also would like to see us have that property to be able to move forward with this and knowing that we really have to have some really concrete plans to really mitigate this instead of
monitoring this basically going forward. One of my concerns is though is the property itself and uh $2 and a half million dollars is so first off I want to really thank Administrator Baker and
and uh Commissioner Gardner and and yourself and individuals involved as well as the sellers uh working together trying to negotiate a price on this and I know a lot of time and energy went into this and it gets complicated for people trying to sell something into
government and I appreciate their willingness to take the time and go through these hoops with us as we go forward. But I am concerned uh looking at the cost of it and there uh there is a big discrepancy uh from the tax base that we would lose
uh versus what they're asking price and we have not had an independent appraisal of the property and I expect that we want this property really bad and uh on the other hand I think we have to be cautious of the taxpayers's dollars uh
going forward and uh we're trying to find a balance with that and I really would like to work with that to see if we can possibly uh find out one way or go back and renegotiate it uh or start to continue the negotiations to see if
we can find some middle ground. I think if we both parties work together, we can still come to some kind of a deal. We can move forward. And I would le like to see this come uh go back and uh talk to the sellers about this to see if they
could uh we could negotiate a lower price. Commissioner, I thank you, Mr. Chair. Um you mentioned eminent domain and in in the case of eminent domain obviously and Commissioner Bird me brought up the
appraisal but appraisals would be required there. Um but my questions are more related to um what do we do with the property once we own it and especially if there's portions of the property i.e. a house that um
you know what are we going to do with a house that pretty valuable house it's sitting on that property uh perhaps there's some land on the west side of uh Norston Lake that is not going to be needed you know because of Norston Lake so we could mitigate some costs there uh
I'm going to take a position because I have some talk to attorney Baker that I'm going to kind of a gray area in terms of conflict of interest because of family members that do business with property owners. So, I'm trying to ask questions that are
very neutral and not um advocating one way or the other when it comes to the vote. I won't won't be taking part. But, uh we're just trying to do our due diligence here. Uh that's that's our job. Um and I think we're probably all in agreement that expanding our
boundaries is the right thing to do. Uh it's just there's a lot of questions that are unanswered. Once we make the decision um we probably aren't going to be able to um have the opportunity to ask those questions in a forum like this
to and get the answers. So we're just trying to be uh diligent and transparent about the actions that the board has taken. So I again thank you and the rest of the staff. Uh but again would we to Mr. 's comment about appraisal and um
and then what are we going to do with the property that perhaps is not needed? And I don't know if it's fair to ask you that question. It's above my pay grade. Would be I can answer that question if I may. On
um the tax base, I think that has been brought up a few different times. I did reach out to our assistant assessor um and the total tax for the town township only portion would be estimated around 1,500 yearly. Um the township
supervisor had reached out and so I had our staff call them back and he was pretty satisfied. he thought the tax would be a lot higher, but it would be about 1,500 that it would they would that township would lose annually and that wouldn't go into effect until
payable 2027. And so I think we have this picture that um and that's how the valuations when we talked with department of revenue and our assessing staff on how we get to that number. Even though the tax value is around a million, the payment of
taxes is around 10,000. really when you would mesh that all of all together amongst the township and the valuations they would lose about 1,500 yearly. And the school district I would assume she lumped all of that
in. I would have to clarify that, Mr. Chair. And and the county would you're talking about the township would lose that money. The township. Yeah. What about What about the county though, right? That would affect it. Um but probably not as much as we would we
would think. Mr. Chair, Commissioner B. Um again, I guess I like to kind of restate my concerns and my suggestion would be is that uh uh that I feel uncomfortable supporting this and I would really would
like to see the negotiations uh possibly try to continue. not knowing the other party if the seller would even be willing to do that. But I'm I'm willing to look at that. I know we're going to have to pay uh premium price for this property, but I think we can negotiate
this better and give it another shot. Uh anyone else? Uh Ryan, let me go back a little bit to the idea of uh controlling the property. Uh and one of
the things that you've uh uh listed in here is then we would be essentially eliminating any possibility of irrigation wells and other drinking wells, that type of thing, improperly installed and potentially uh
contaminating uh the deeper aquifer that lies underneath. Can you speak to that? Yes. Um so we don't have control over how wells are installed. The Minnesota Department of Health puts out guidelines for situations like this where you're
going through a contaminated aquifer into an uncontaminated aquifer, but that doesn't really restrict people's activities. The major well drillers in the area know of the contamination plume problems. But somebody could punch into that deeper
aquifer through the top aquafer and spread the contamination down there just of their own accord or with the well driller, a family member that does it from somewhere else in the state that isn't aware and that would not be we would not be privy to that knowledge. So there is that potential. They have to be
installed with the correct BMP's best management practices in order to prevent that contamination from spreading from the upper to the lower aquifer. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. Um, so I'll I'll just ask
this. I know what the answer is already, but uh I I believe we could take the uh to pay for this, we'd take it out of landfill reserves, so it wouldn't impact uh property taxes. That is correct. Yep. Okay.
I just I just think it's a All right. I think it's something we should Yeah. Not not that we like it, but it it wouldn't impact our property taxes. Yeah. Uh I think I'm going to uh be able to weigh in on this uh as well. I think
everyone else has uh very well fairly well stated their position. And I I think that we don't want to be uh and and it's almost hateful to say this when you're talking about $2.5 million, but compared to the future potential liabilities, uh we'd be tripping over
dollars, picking up pennies, uh if we were to uh uh not acquire this property. Uh and I will be uh uh I will certainly be in favor of moving forward with the transaction. Does anyone else have any questions for Ryan?
All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. You bet. All right. Does uh anyone else have anything that they wish to say on this matter before we uh uh before we
consider any motions? Uh if I could have a few comments. Um, in speaking with the realators, there was some comparables that they went off and to figure this asking price. Um, and I did clarify if the comparables were
within Candy County and they, um, their answer was yes. So, the asking price was the comparables and what they came up with with the realators. And so that's where um you know those conversations started to answer Commissioner Index's
questions on the long you know what would be the purpose of this house with the property. Uh big question really big question and that's something I think we I have been talking with Gary we are coming up with possible solutions but
but the biggest why that we would we are asking for you know consideration of this acquisition is because of the land and I think Ryan made that very clear today. It's in a sense kicking the can down the road. I would agree. uh kicking
the can down the road in the sense that we need to find out more about the contamination and the plume and that's the scientist I believe in Ryan that we need to gather that information. So to a degree yeah we're kicking that can down the road road to bias time to find out
more of that information. uh when we look at the parcels, we would find out that information and then provide a report to the board in sense of to the degree of do we need all of this property anymore? I think there's a lot
of what if what if then what if why? Uh and so I I this is a big decision of the board today. I don't discredit that at all. Um, but I do give a lot of credit to Gary and Ryan, um, specifically Ryan
to to speak to this level today. Um, and to feel confident in bringing this forth to the county board for a decision. Uh, so I respect all of your questions. We appreciate all of them. Uh, keep them coming. But, um, we do feel that we have
answered those questions today um, in hopes that there is a sense of comfort to make a board decision. um based off this purchase agreement. Commissioner Dale Anderson. Well, I guess I the one thing that just keeps
popping in my mind and and and this discussion was brought up way back when when there was another project that was a little contentuous in the area, but I we already know that what happened with the Northwest plume that that's moving
and we know that there's problems out there. So, I mean, my thought is why not try and have some control over what you're doing on the south when it before that gets to be a huge problem. Um, my concern is and and Corki, I understand what you're saying, but there w there
hasn't been the concern about the Northwest one, and I'm more concerned about that one than this one. Um, so I I think that we we have to look at this Northwest one a little bit better, too, if we're going to wor worry about what's going on. um that that's where I kind of
get a little bit more nervous, but I think this is a great opportunity to give us a few a few years or whatever it takes to try and work on this and figure it out. Um and and then if if we don't need that land or if there's parts that we can sell off or or whatever we can do
at that point in time, we have options. But if we don't do something today, we don't have options. Commissioner B. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I just want to just go back as you know if we can go back into negotiations if we can save uh 100,000 here or 100,000
there. I think that's significant and uh I think it's worth worth an effort to uh send it back and continue the negotiations and see what you can come up with but I would like to I'm not done Mr. Chair if you would please. Um, but also I think it's important that we do
something with this and no doubt about it and there a lot of work and thought from everybody and I I would like to see us get this property as well. I do I I am getting the impression am I I'd like some correction if I'm wrong that the cons there's a bigger concern about this
area right now than the other area from the point of view that's a little bit closer to some of the lakes and so forth uh than Hawk Creek but they're both important and I think my emphasis as I stated is we look at mitigating the
problem as quickly as and that could be and I know quickly with government is not going to be overnight. Uh but that we head that direction and but this property will help give us a little bit of time to to get there. But I still
think there's uh it's a good idea to taxpayers dollars that we uh continue negotiations for possibly a lower price or to get a independent appraisal. And I I think if we can negotiate uh with the
sellers and if they're willing to do this, sit down with us, we can come up with something that the board would be happy with. Um I'm going to ask the u uh administrator uh there uh there was a negotiation uh uh that did take place.
There was a the property was listed at what previously 2.8 2.8 million. So, this is a $300,000 reduction uh reflected in this uh purchase agreement. Yes. Correct. Okay.
Thank you. All right. Does anyone need any more time information? Is there a motion? I'll make a motion, Mr. chair that we purchase this property at the negotiated
price. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second it. Discussion. Well, I've stated my situation where I'm coming from that that I can't support that at this point that I'd like to see us say no and we'd uh go back and uh
talk to the seller about this and see if we can come down with a lower price and report back to us. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson, I'll just say what I said before is other counties have been dealing with this and when the MPCA says to drill 32 wells, you will drill 32
wells. If they say you drill 40, they'll you'll drill 40. And uh it this year it buys us time and I think we will regret it if we do not purchase it. Just followup question. If they say that, how much would that cost us then?
A lot. Would it you think it'd be wells aren't cheap? Well, we're going to do the monitoring, but we're going to do the wells anyway. We're going to be doing the wells. Not not as many as 32. Not not even close. Well, but that at that point then it's the problem gotten
worse. Yes. That that's because it went off site. Yeah. And then they have to negotiate with uh adjoining properties. It gets very expensive very quick. More than two and a half million. Oh yeah. Yep. Do I recall that uh uh in the
presentation uh and Ryan, I'm going to ask you to come back up again. I apologize. Do I do I recall that you had uh that uh you guys had pegged uh just known numbers
uh potential liability in the neighborhood of uh 11.4 million. uh what was uh uh remind me where where that figure came from. Let's just start with what exactly we know. We know the purchase price is 2 a.5 million. We know
that if we don't acquire the property, we're going to be on the hook for 4.4 million in investigation. Um that would be doing the rotoic boring on a grid, groundwater sampling at 5 foot intervals. And as I stated before, it would take probably two years to
complete. So that right there completely negates the cost to your property purchase. In lie of this rotoic um testing that we would do like we did on the northwest plume. We're proposing to do what's called NMR which is a nuclear magnetic resonance. It's
basically like an MRI for the ground. It'll give us groundwater information down to 400 ft below ground surface. It's not as accurate. It's not as precise. It doesn't give us all the information we need as far as how the contaminants move within the groundwater, but it tells us where the
groundwater is going, which is an important piece for our initial investigations. So, that's only $100,000 to do that study. So, right now, what we're planning on would be the 2.5 plus $100,000 study as opposed to the 4.4
million if we did not acquire the property. So, that right there offsets your cost. And then these the well question that came up. Each well is about $35,000 to install. Uh and it costs us $3,000 a year in monitoring for every well that we put in. So that's
what we would be on the hook for. Right. What we're proposing is to abandon two wells that are on the south portion of the current property and move two new wells further south on the proposed property acquisition. So it would be trading two for two. Our annual
monitoring costs would not increase. All we'd be on the hook for is the install cost for these two new wells and we would locate those wells based on the information that we gathered from that NMR survey. Um so basically you're on the hook for $70,000 in well install
there. Commissioner B. Yeah. Sound like we're on the hook on many different ways on this. Yeah. That's why it's such a tough decision. Uh but by seen on on the hook then if it continued to go forward we would have potential for additional
expenses which we are looking at we would have anyway in mitigating the problem. Mitigation costs we we haven't even considered that we're simply talking about exploration costs right now and the depth of exploration that we would need to do if the plume is offsite. If it's outside of our
groundwater compliance boundary, we need to get much more granular because of the potential for impact to human health in the environment. Think of uh if if think of our groundwater compliance boundary as a big umbrella that covers the site, that protects us. So, if we can extend
that boundary, if we can make that umbrella bigger, that shields us from that liability once it goes off site and like it did with the Northwest plume. And that's where all these numbers come from. These are just inflation adjusted from the actual work that went into that Northwest plume. That's been 30 years in
the making since we started delineating that plume. We put 30 years and $4.4 million adjusted into the research that we've done. And that doesn't even account for the monitoring costs, the ongoing monitoring costs. Thank you. Um, any other any other
questions for Ryan before we send him back to a seat? Okay. Thank you. Thanks. All right. We have a motion and a second to approve the uh purchase as presented. Any
further discussion? All right. Is everybody ready to vote on this? All right, then. All in favor of the motion as presented signify by saying I. I. All opposed. I
let the record reflect that I'm going to abstain from voting or have abstained from voting. We have three eyes, one nay, one abstension. The motion passes. Okay. Thank you.
All right. And let's uh let's take a 5m minute recess. What are Hey T, are you ready? The Candy County Board of Commissioners is back in session. At this time, we are at administrative updates, appointments, calendars, and committee reports. One
item we do have is a uh request for a letter of support uh for the glacial lakes uh trail extension. Uh and this is a funding application that's going into the uh legislative citizen commission on
Minnesota resources. And uh Commissioner Im, you've been uh involved in this. Uh do you have a few words that you'd like to say in regard to this topic? Uh thank you, Mr. Chair, and appreciate the board um considering this letter of support. We uh we've talked to and the trail that
we're talking about is from Sibly State Park into New London to complete what they call the extension about four years ago. They completed the trail through Sibly State Park. They stopped at Highway 71. Uh in 2026, the DNR will have enough funding to go from Sibly
State Park to about the Crow River and then they'll have to stop. The remaining portion uh of the trail will take about $4 million uh to complete. And uh the DNR has put in a um request, as you
said, the Legislative Citizens Committee on Minnesota Resources, many of you know it as LCCMR, uh to um to get a grant for the funding. So they made the first cut uh last week was the
presentations by anybody who applied for funds through LCCMR to present their basically to defend their thesis if you will if you were in college doing a master's degree. And then um July 18th they will be making the decision. So,
these letters of support, I talked to uh Senator Andrew Lang and um he's been kind of guiding us through um you know, making sure that we get the right letters from all the right parties. So, appreciate the county doing that. All
right. Very considering it. We haven't done it yet. Thank you. So, uh, uh, I'll just, uh, uh, from, uh, from the letter itself, it says, uh, tourism is the second largest economic driver in Canoi County, accounting for over 154 million
in visitor spending and supporting nearly,300 jobs follow uh, following uh, the egg sector. Uh, and the extension would strengthen our regional economy by enhancing recreational opportunities. And it would provide residents and
visitors with expanded access to safe, healthy, and friendly, uh, environmentally friendly transportation and recreation options. So, uh, would you care to move the U? Yes, I would like to move that. Thank you. Uh, very
good. And, uh, is there a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Any discussion? I in reviewing the letter, um I would just recommend that we don't need to all sign it, but it be a a letter from the board of commissioners uh of Candy
County. Okay, that sounds fine. And uh any other questions? All right, hearing none. All in favor of uh forwarding this letter signify by saying I. I. All opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. uh calendars uh uh updates
from the administrator. Um other than just how really the next two weeks I'll be working and focusing on the budget for 2026. All right. Uh and as uh everybody can read here, but we'll note the July 15th
board meeting is moved to July 17th at 9:00 a.m. to accommodate uh some travel plans. uh July 17th that uh uh previously scheduled Health and Human Services work session uh has been cancelled and we will uh put it on our
calendars for August 19th to have a budget work session uh following the board meeting uh at that time. Uh do any of the commissioners have anything that they absolutely must report out uh in uh in regards to the last meetings the last
couple of weeks? All right. I think everybody's schedules have been kind of in that summer mode. Uh, and I'm sure we'll be getting a little more. Uh, Commissioner MDC, thank you, Mr. Chair. I would want to report
that um as as you and I both attended the Association of Minnesota Counties board meeting week ago, Friday, last Friday, that AMC is working uh diligently um probably um
I mean they're probably going to lose this one, but they Julie Ring and two commissioners went to Washington DC to argue our plight regarding the federal tax bill, which is going to have significant impacts on on counties
levies and then um so they're working on our behalf as they did at the state level and uh and then from the Mid Minnesota Development Commission which I sit on they too are negotiate or navigating all the federal cuts like
many of us are and so waiting to see how all of this is going to take place. All right, thank you. Anyone else? I I'll just say one thing with all the rains and stuff uh people that are on the lakes enjoy the lakes for the upcoming Fourth of July, but also
remember that uh with the high water levels that uh boats will create a little bit of a wake and you'll have wave action. I know there's wind that does that naturally, but uh you don't need to add to it. So, just be considerate of people on shore and the
shoreline that uh you kind of slow down so that you don't cause big wakes when you're closer to shore. I would I would just add from before I started talking, I just saw a news break that this the Senate did pass the tax bill, but now
I'll have to go back to the House for reconciliation between the two versions uh that they have. Thank you for that. And uh I'll just add on to Dwayne's. Please uh if you're out on the water uh wear your life jackets
and uh don't drink and operate a boat. I know that's tough over the Fourth of July, but we'll see what happens. All right. Does anybody have anything else? All right. Then we will uh adjourn the regular meeting of the Kandu High County
Board of Commissioners. uh and we will go immediately into a work session uh and this is to receive the results of the uh space study analysis by WL architects and engineers. Uh with that
the regular board meeting is adjourned.