Good morning everyone and welcome to the Candio High County Board of Commissioners meeting for St. Patrick's Day, Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. Uh please stand for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I want to thank everybody in the room today for your interest in Candy Ohio County government as well as those folks
uh joining us on YouTube. Uh at this time, I would request uh a motion for approval of today's agenda. >> Mr. Chair, I also move. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson moves. Is there a second? >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Thank you. Discussion hearing none. All
in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Uh the next item is the consideration of the consent agenda. This consists of the approval of the March 3rd, 2026 county board legal minutes, approval of the
auditor's warrants and claims, approval of the human services warrants and claims, cancellation of human services warrants, and 2026 liquor license renewals. Are there any items from the consent agenda that uh a commissioner or
commissioners would wish to pull? Hearing none, I'd uh request a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Uh >> Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to uh approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second that. >> We have a motion, a second from uh uh commissioners uh Dwayne Anderson and
Commissioner. Discussion hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. That motion passes. All right. At this time, uh, we have a consideration of resolution 2026-17,
uh, supporting a grant application for Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center. Uh, Jennifer Swinsson is the executive director. And Jennifer, you're going to present, uh, for us today. Yes. >> Yes. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Um, I'm here today to
request a letter, a resolution of support for a state grant application for Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center. Um, last month you approved a resolution supporting the environmental and archaeological grant application um through Greater Minnesota Regional Parks
and Trails Commission and we did successfully submit that application for $50,000 and expect to hear back later this month. Uh today I'm here with a second funding opportunity. This one is through the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund or ENRTF
and this is administered by the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, LCCCMR. The ENRTF program uh distributes dollars statewide each year for projects that protect and enhance Minnesota's natural
resources. This year they have funding of $121 million available. The funding comes from Minnesota lottery proceeds and supports conservation and outdoor access projects across the state. Uh Prairie Woods has already
successfully um been awarded ENRTF grant funds in the past for environmental education programs. So we're very familiar with the grant and the reporting requirements. Um, but this current grant request will be approximately $1 million dollars to
support several of our phase one improvements in our approved master plan. Um, so some of those several improvements in this grant include uh new natural surface hiking trails and accessible routes
and a wetland boardwalk. um an accessible ADA access canoe and kayak dock and launch and then improvements to the existing yurt area as well as drinking water station at the pavilion.
Besides these identified projects, phase one of our master plan includes um improvements that help visitors to arrive and orient themselves at the site. So vehicle circulation and even an addition on the front of our education building. U that's more accessible. Um
but those elements would be funded through a separate grant. Um back to the projects identified for this ENRTF grant. Um I'll highlight two of those projects um and talk about um why we'd like to improve them. The first is of
course the canoe and kayak dock and it serves the site well and has for many years but it is not ADA accessible and it can be difficult for visitors. um it's a floating dock at the end and so especially for larger groups and people
with mobility limitations or even water levels will impact that. So we're looking for something more durable um there. But even with the current limitations of the dock, it's very heavily used at Prairie Woods. Uh last year we had about 1,400 visitors uh who
use the canoe and kayak launch. Um, some of them were groups, uh, fourth and fifth graders heading out to paddle for the first time in their lives on a canoe or kayak and others were going out with their nets to collect and study the pond
pond life. Um, the second project is our yurt. We have one yurt at Prairie Woods, which is a round canvas sided structure like a more permanent or durable tent uh, with hard floor. And this space is
used for outdoor groups and even an overnight space at Prairie Woods. It's used year round. In the wintertime, we use it as a warming house um for the programming. It's right along Kettle Lake. So again, it provides water access. And during the winter, we do
groom ski trails on Kettle Lake. And so groups will warm up in the yurt and then do a few rounds of cross-country skiing on Kettle Lake. Um, it's also used, as I mentioned, for overnight stays for people who travel to Prairie Woods for programs or trainings,
such as Minnesota natural master naturalists, um, or other educators who come for workshops at Prairie Woods. Um, so we're proposing replacing the current yurt and adding an additional ADA accessible yurt and then making 50% of
that facility accessible. Um, so again, these improvements to these outdoor areas will help make those experiences safer and more accessible. Prairiewoods, as you know, currently serves more than 20,000 visitors every year, including school groups from
across the state, and many of those travel from up to 75 miles um annually to visit Prairie Woods and bring their students. Uh, it's also a very unique natural landscape, which makes it a great fit for ENRTF. Um so the property
includes native prairie wetlands, woods, um and one of the last undeveloped shoreline stretches on Florida Lake and then also includes a glacial ridge um and a narrow land bridge between Florida Lake and the Florida Lake Slooh. So
these are rare places where visitors can come and actually experience all those different variety um in one contained landscape. And um Prairie Woods is of course open to the public year round for hiking,
paddling, skiing, and environmental ed and community use of facilities as well for special event rentals. So the resolution before you today is to indicate that Candy High County supports the grant application for improvements at Prairie Woods, which is located on
county owned land, and Prairie Woods operates and maintains the site and operates programming through our partnership with the county. Um, we are not requesting any county funding as part of the application and um, if awarded, the work would
likely begin in 2028 after design and permitting. Thank you for your time, >> Jennifer. Thank you. And you already anticipated my question, so I'm going to open it up to the rest of the uh, board to see if anyone has any questions. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so you said that you're not asking the company for anything. Is there any matching funds that this grant requires from anybody or is it just >> Yes. Um, this grant because it's capital improvements requires a 25% match. >> Okay. And where do you where you
planning on getting that from? >> Um, Prairie Woods has some funds that we are dedicating towards a match plus other grants that are pending. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Uh with any questions for
Jennifer? >> Just just a comment. >> Commissioner B. >> Um please keep coming back with more grants. We just appreciate hearing these opportunities that people taking advantage of them and especially when there's no uh funding from the county as well. So it's good to see you forward
and see you here. Thanks for the update. Very thorough. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh would anyone like to move on the resolution? >> Mr. Chair, I would move on resolution 20
whatever it is 2026-17. >> Thank you. Commissioner Mck moves. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. Mr. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? So those internal funds that you're going to use for a match have come probably from programming and that sort of thing
>> from donations and um our we have set aside a agency fund with Wilmer Area Community Foundation. >> Okay. And so lots of donations that we've received over the years and have been putting together for opportunities like this
>> and and and and I know this an agency fund uh allows people who are thinking about leaving legacy gifts to do so relatively easily. So so I understand that one. >> All right. We have a motion and a second to move on resolution 2026-17.
All in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. That motion passes. Jennifer, thank you so much. All right. Do we have uh someone here for the next item? >> He's on his way. So, if we want to just move past him.
>> Let's Yep. Let's do that. And then let's uh uh uh Val, let's uh let's have you come up at this time. We're going to have uh Val Seore, our county assessor, uh give us a department updates. Val, good morning.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners. I am Val Savore, county assessor. I am here with just anformational update kind of uh kind of a broad coverage of all the things that our office does and some data regarding our current and upcoming
assessment that you will be getting valuation notices and tax statements in the mail in the next probably seven eight days. So um starting at the basics is is we have 29,559 parcels in the county and the market
value is 9 bill586,15,900 and I get asked this question a lot so I did the calculation. Um seasonal property is about 10.4% of that value. Residential is 44% of that value. commercial, industrial, apartments,
seasonal commercial is about 8.67% of it. Agricultural is 36.91% of that. And personal property and others that aren't in those specific categories is just about 0.02%. So very
small amount. Of those 29 parcels that are in the county, our office is required to visit those over a 5-year period of time. and we have to visit 20% per year. So if you do the math on that, it's I have seven assessors that do residential. They're
required to do each of them are assigned about 3856 parcels and they do about 771 of them every year, which would be the 20% required by the state. The commercial, there's 2567 commercial parcels. Um Jen is our
assessment coordinator and um commercial assessor. She does about uh 513 of of those a year. Um building permits, there's out county about 315 in 2025. City of Wilmer, there was 332. Uh
all building permits are viewed by the staff every year. So those are site visits that are required um on an annual basis, whatever permits that are pulled, we're required to visit and value them. New construction this year there was a 100,715,900 in new construction. Those new
construction main structures house about 53 million of it and other buildings including agricultural was about 46,900 and exempt was about 8,700,000. So some really good additions to the
county's value was from new construction. Um sales verification is a big part of our jobs. We are required to all sales we have to process our office data enters them into our county system which is a sales ratio system and we
also enter them into the state ECB system. There was about 966 total sales that were processed from our office which also means the recorder's office and the auditor's office takes their pieces of it. We do the value portions. Some of it is the recording part of it
and some of its value or the name change part of it. So each of us get a little piece of that. When we look at the sales, we look at the sales as to our assessed value compared to how they sold. And we do a math, divide the
assessed value by the sale price, which creates a ratio. And that ratio is what drives how we change values every year. And so of those 966 sales, 59 were good for the study. So 385 of them
were offwater, 76 were onwater, 34 were egg, 13 were commercial, and there was one apartment. 380 of them were rejected for they could have been relative sales. Um legal splits, we don't consider them
part of the sales study. um estate sales, um minimum down sales if there wasn't a standardized sales process in place or if it was a limited warranty deed or foreclosure. There's a lot of reasons and these are all statemandated
rejects and they all I don't get the option just to reject them. They have to go through the state rep who I send them to her. She tells me yes, we can reject it. No, we can't. So, um, 77 good sales that aren't in the residential, commercial, agricultural categories. So,
like a bare land sale, it's still considered a good sale, but it's not something that the state tracks. I use it for determining how I raise or change values, but those are sales that are not in a category that is classified by the state that they track and mandate that I
adjust. I have to use it as a basis for my adjustments. The other things that we are responsible for all homesteads exempt applications, blind disabled um applications, disabled veterans applications. We do a lot of with land,
greenacre programs, rural preserve program, uh managed forest, native prairie, rim, fish and wildlife. All of those applications come through our office. We manage the data requests for if anybody wants a parcel listing of you
know the lakes on or the parcels on Green Lake or say or all parcels in Dovely Township something like that. We manage those kind of requests for data requests. Special agricultural applications they are applications for if you don't
live on your farm and you still claiming a homestead on it. So you can within four townships um you can claim an agricultural homestead and not live on your agricultural land. We have about 234 of those a year. We have crosscount
applications or data requests I should say. There's about 230 of them that for eight surrounding counties. So if your homestead starts in Candy County, but you own land into Rentville County, your homestead carries on through those, but we have to supply the data from our
county or to their county so that they get their homestead um tier limits. And so we do about 230 of those a year. Legal splits, about 84 splits, 15 are um new plats that were um they come into
our office as new plats. And so we create auditor's office creates a parcel number and then we split the data split the value of the land into these new plats. 15 of them 33 delete and combines and then just 84. If you had 10 acre parcel and you split it into 5 acre parcels
that's would be considered a legal split. We process all deed ownership changes with linking coding and classifying the parcels. fire abatements, short-term seasonal rentals, and then the data enter of the ECRVS and the sales ratio in the ECRV system.
That's kind of a very fast rundown of what our office does work with um this year. As far as value changes, um lakes are seeing several lakes that are going to go up again and we'll get you a copies of this. Um most districts four to 6% was a pretty
typical change as to the value this year. There was a couple districts that, you know, were seven and one was 12%. Agricultural kind of a little bit of a mix there this year. Agricultural kind of 12 and north kind of
probably two townships north of Highway 12, they saw increases and actually the southern tier went down one to 3%. which is kind of odd, but we it's the typically it's the south is going up um down bordering Renville, but we were
seeing 105 107% ratios coming in there. So, I just lowered it just a little bit to keep my egg ratio within a a limit that I have to be between 90 and 105% with agricultural as well. So there was a little bit of decrease south and then
some of the townships just north of 12 um saw a little bit of an increase but the stuff far north did not. So that's just a section in there. >> And Val, uh when you say values this year, you're talking about the values that were uh uh established for uh
payable in 2025 for 2024. Correct. No, it would be the values that I set um for right now is for the value for 2026. >> You'll get it in your valuation notice in this next 7 to 8 days and it's for taxes payable in 2027.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you for clarifying that. I wanted to make sure. >> And then so the lakes were all still strong. Um we've we did have um one, two, three, four, about 10 lakes that did go up. Not a lot. um you know $25 to $150 a front
foot. So they weren't anything excessive. Some years it's $350 a front foot depending on where it's at and what market has changed, but they're still strong, but not as strong as they have been in the past. So, but that's kind of
a quick summary as to we are expecting values to increase. There really was no areas that didn't see some increase. Um, so we when the value notices come out, if you have questions from taxpayers, by all means to route them to our office and we can go over the details with them.
>> Sure. Uh, Val, I'm going to ask a question and open it up uh to the rest of the board. Uh, most of the process that you uh have to do is specifically mandated by the state. Um, uh, you're you have to use their guidelines and
processes. And really, you're not making valuations up out of thin air. >> Oh, no. You're going where the data takes you. >> Yes, we we are very state driven. The state actually takes the sales data after they've approved what sales I can keep in the studies, what sales have to
be taken out. They take all the data and then they send the data back to me and say, "These are your ratios. What are you going to do to correct them?" And so once I've made value adjustments to keep my ratio between 90 and 105%,
that is my part of the job. If I do not meet the 90 to 105%, they'll come and give to a state order and they'll raise them for me, which don't want that happen. I want to be able to do my job and raise the values necessary in the
areas that is appropriate. I don't want to do just a blanket change. It's like if we're seeing a particular neighborhood that is selling strong, I want to be able to adjust that neighborhood rather than adjust the entire township or an entire city based on, you know, specific areas that are
stronger than others. So, if the state gets a hold of it, they will they do a mandatory 5% increase and the whole entire district would get the 5% of, you know, whether it be a township or a city or whatever. >> Okay. Um, questions for Val.
Commissioner Dwayne Henderson. >> So you you said estate sales aren't included in your studies. Why is that? I I thought is that not an armslength transaction or >> not? According to the state's data, if it's a it's a a personal representative
deed, they automatically get taken out. If it's an estate sale that's not a personal representative deed, then they stay in. Sometimes they'll say the estate of but it's still a warranty deed. Then they can stay in the study. >> Okay. And then I had another question
with uh do you do assessments then in the like say the city Wilmer like the bigger cities or is that taken care of or do the cities like have their own assessors or is that the county that does that? >> In 2016 the city assessor's office
um no longer existed and all of the assessment came over to the county. >> Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Index. >> Thank you. Actually, uh, don't we do all of it now? The entire county? >> Yes. >> Last year or this year? >> We went through county two years ago.
And so that puts our assessment staff does all the assessing for the entire county. >> That was not my question, but uh, and my question is a bit unrelated, but still related to your job. We have board of equalization coming up here in two months, roughly, a little less. Um,
we're required to have at least two of us or is it only one of us needs to be trained uh for that? >> We need one trained member present. >> What do we have right now? I think I'm still valid, but I don't >> I'd have to get back to you. I believe there's a couple of you that have the
training. So, I you would have received a notice that if you were not compliant, >> I I know I last year, so >> you're good for four years then. I think I I think there's one or two of us that are still current. >> And that would be, you know, we do the
same scenario. We get reports back from the state that says who has trained members and who does not. And if there's not a trained member, then we contact them and say you have till February 1st to get a trained member on staff or you lose your board. So for local boards if
and not just county board >> and again if I may the uh uh you you touch on this a little bit but if someone when they get those evaluations uh next week or whenever it is their first step is contact you and then they
must go to their local board before they can come to the county. So if you live in New London Township you need to go to New London's board first and then if you're still not satisfied then come to us. Correct. >> Yes. The local board of appeal is the first step, but one thing that I um
everybody needs to have the property viewed prior to your ability to make changes. So, the first step would be to contact our office, set up an appointment to have the property viewed, and then come to the local board and present their concerns to the board of the local
district. And then if they're not satisfied, they have county board for a second appeal. They have one more choice after that and that's >> Yes, they do. Tax court, which is expensive, but it is an option.
>> Thank you. Anything else? All right. Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, I'm just glad that you came in because I I watched this on TV last night or the night before that down in the cities, this is a big deal that the evaluations are going up. And I mean, I think that's the big thing that people
need to understand is it's not our fault or your fault. It's just the way the state is set up that we have these evaluations are going up. But I I think that's it's really good to to know and and to have an avenue to send people to your office so that we can answer their
questions without them getting all frustrated about it and and and get mad about it. I mean, I think you guys do a great job of of helping all people understand how your process is. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else, >> Commissioner Burger?
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh just one question then a then a comment too. Um the building uh permits have they been increasing at all? Was that is there any trend that you're aware of? >> You know I sure >> honestly I um don't know for sure but I
know that um the environmental services office could answer that question very very quickly. I just pulled a number because I honestly I didn't know how many that my staff actually reviewed every year. Sure. >> And so I pulled the data. >> Okay. I just thought maybe you might know. And my other question too, uh,
last year or year before something, you gave us a one-page sheet of of the increases and so forth. Can you do that again? >> Yes, we will send you my annual commissioner letter. >> That'll be part of that. Okay. >> Yes. And that should be coming out by the end of the week. >> Fantastic. Thank you.
>> Outstanding. Anyone else? Val, anything to add or >> No, I'm I appreciate the opportunity to share and this is like I say to the taxpayers out there that by all means call our office. We are available. Um we are happy to answer any questions even
if it seems somewhat small or insignificant. Call and ask cuz you know there's nothing more frustrating than not knowing why this happened or what data is out there that you know influenced what we had to do to make your values change.
>> Yeah. And and to the folks out there, if you do get this uh notice and you're going, "This is nuts, uh or whatever your comment might be, um uh bring it to Val's office first and uh have a
conversation. That's uh that's the best place to start because then you'll also be able to be told what your options are going forward for all of the different steps uh to walk this through if you do want to uh uh appeal any decisions. So,
you don't want to miss deadlines and >> and then be frustrated because you didn't know. So, I've been there. >> Bel, thank you so much. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> All right. and we will oops refresh our
screen. Uh do we have the person yet from >> uh the gentleman? You're you're going to speak on Lake Calhoun? >> Yes. >> Okay, very good. And I'm sorry. Uh I'm going to ask you to introduce yourself here because otherwise I would, but I don't have it up on my screen yet. Sorry.
>> Good morning. I'm Tim Gabrielson. I'm president of the Calhoun Lake Association and I apologize for my appearance. I thought this meeting was at seven, so I I just wrapped up chores and got a text message and came right here and I had I had everything all laid out for you guys and pamphlets and
evidence, but uh it's on my kitchen table. So, uh long story short, about a year ago, I called the DNR and I said, "Hey, what's the name of our lake? Is it Lake Calhoun or is it Calhoun Lake?" And she she's like, "You know what? That's a really good question." Half of the agencies listed as Lake Calhoun Lake and
the other half listed as Lake Calhoun. state of Minnesota on the state highway map for Minnesota as as Calhoun Lake Calhoun. Okay. And I wanted to get this clarified because uh they're doing a very beautiful uh
upgrade on the access at Calhoun Lake. Okay. And the rock work is done. They'll be starting the bridge this fall. And so my long-term goal is to put a historical marker there at the entrance that says Calhoun Lake Axis and then tell the story about Reverend Paul Calhoun and
and Roger was at our meeting last summer the annual meeting and got a little bit of of the taste of the presentation. Uh but this Reverend Thomas Calhoun as far as K can Kohha goes he drove a herd of 150 head of cattle from Tennessee all the way up to the east side of lake of
the lake and that's where he farmed and he put up over a 100 tons of hay the first year and what's really interesting is on the east side of Calhoun and I live on the east side of Calhoun Lake uh there was a large Indian encampment there and the Calhoun family and the
Lowry family were known for ministering to the Native Americans and to the settlers in our area between here and St. Cloud. And so uh uh he died tragically in a buggy accident. Uh he was he had just finished doing the sacraments market. He was a Presbyterian
minister. Okay. But he had just finished doing the sacraments at the Methodist church and was on his way to the Baptist meeting when there was a bridge in St. Cloud and the horse stumbled in the wintertime and went off the bridge. but he had been thrown out of the carriage and was safe. He went back into the
carriage to get his wife out and then that he got her out and then that's when he went over the edge died risking her saving her life. Uh as you go through the Cathol family, it's been really interesting because uh uh the Reverend son David was a prominent attorney in
St. Cloud, mayor of St. Cloud, uh really well known. And then David's son uh was a professor at Yale for 50 years. And that's how I found the family by getting a hold of the librarian at Yale. And she read me an obituary while I finally had gone reached out to his great great
grandson Paul and him and I have been talking back and forth. And so I'm hoping to get the uh historical marker made, you know, and then have him here to honor that family because long pastors, very interesting family, a lot of history in our area. And the first
step is just simply getting our map straight that say so it says Calhoun Lake and the 1886 plat book has it as Calhoun Lake. The county records has it have it as Calhoun Lake but the first screw up came in 1915 on a map for the
county that said Lake Calhoun. And so the other side the question equation is if you Google Google it now you get the Lake Calhoun the city the native name for that. Uh and that goes back to John C. Calhoun, the vice president, secretary of defense. Uh, and
these two families, uh, even though they're just a cousins, had very, uh, opposing views of issues at the time where they would not talk to each other. And so I want to make sure that we're on the right side of things. So, so what I'm asking for is just for you guys to
make a resolution uh, honoring that the original name is Calhoun Lake. and then we can get the process started with the DNR to have them go through all the steps that need to be taken. >> All right. Uh Tim, thank you. And any
questions for >> uh Commissioner Mex? >> So, you've done a lot of work on this, Tim. I assume that the resolution is the next step. >> A petition is the next step. >> The petition. Okay. >> Has to be by 15 legal voters filed with
the county auditor. >> Okay. >> And so, I have that on my kitchen table. It's all signed and I was going to bring it today. >> I I was at your meeting last spring and I recall it was pretty goodized crowd there and there was maybe one person in opposition otherwise the entire group was that was that was that cousin or
what brother that didn't get along with each other here. >> So that was that was Julie Nelson and she she grew up in New London. Okay. and uh always grew up call calling it uh Lake Calhoun. And it was so funny because she signed the petition and and
when I walked down the the street to give it to her, she said, "You you know I'm the only one that vote no, don't you?" I said, "Yeah, I know. I do know you vote no, but we go to church together and I would really like your signature." So, she's she's on there. But, uh, Commissioner Berg,
>> uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, this is very delightful to hear this to have hear the history of KUI County and what's been taking place and some of the changes and um as a county commissioner this is first time I've got the chance to even have a discussion like this and
you never know what we have to deal with. I'm wondering if there's some other lakes out there that would be uh having to do this down the road too. >> Well, we've done it in the past for Wakanda. They changed that one like a sea or whatever. Uh, and I would be
remiss to not say a big thank you to the uh, Kenny County Historical Society because they uh, the only way we found this was uh, Jane Swiss had read a book and she was first first editor in Minnesota female editor and on one page in that
book she mentioned his name. This is uh, 20 some years after the reverend had passed away. they had had a little bit of a feud and he had wrote her a letter and uh but the people at the at the historical society they knew how to do the word search and they got into it and they got me on the right path to go up to St. Cloud and where they had a whole
bunch more files on the families but >> I really appreciate the work that they did help me to get this thing going but anyone else so we are taking this for informationational uh uh I'm going to ask the administrator to weigh in.
>> Yes. So the Thank you Mr. Chair. So, for the next steps, as the county attorney said, they um we need to have a petition filed with the county county auditor and then the auditor sends the notice to the DNR and then the county needs to hold the publish or county needs to publish a
notice and hold a public hearing and then the county board needs to approve the resolution. Then we need to send back to DNR for approval. Um and then we can record the name change and all of the maps and things like that. So, there is still some steps to be
done. Um, but this was uh the presentation was for uh for the board to get up to speed on why we want the name change. >> Outstanding. Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right. Well, we'll take that for
information. And Tim, thank you for bringing us up to date on that. >> Thank you. Next time I'll dress much better. >> It's okay. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. We'll let you get We'll let you get back to your regular day. >> Okay. >> See you at >> Thank you. Uh at this time, I'm going to
ask for Ace Bonama, our emergency management uh director. Uh Ace is going to speak to resolution 2026-9, request authorization to apply for a grant uh from the LCCMR. Ace, good morning. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ace Bono, your
emergency management director, back again concerning weather radar gaps and trying to find solutions for those gaps. You may recall I was uh here seeking your authority to apply for a grant from the LCCMR um back in November. Unfortunately, we
weren't given the opportunity to present why this is an important project. Um, and uh, one thing that we did hear was that we've always had weather, so they didn't feel it was an emergent issue and we should follow the regular funding requests. So, that's why I'm here today.
Um, seeking your authorization to apply for funding from the LCCMR. Um, if approved, we'd be looking for a three-year pilot project, hopefully leading to long-term solution, not only benefiting our county, but uh, majority of, if not all the state. Um, not going
to bore you with all the details. You've heard it several times. We're just asking to uh apply for for another grant and hopefully somebody will get sick of me and eventually give us some money for this. So, >> that was succinct. Uh, any questions for
Mr. Chair? >> Uh, Commissioner. >> Okay. If I make a motion, please do. >> Okay. I I make a motion to uh >> pass or adopt resolution 2026-9. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any
discussion? >> Uh Commissioner, >> if we get the grant, any matching funds? >> No matching funds, of course. >> All right. Uh and uh and you're right, we do know how important this is and uh uh hopefully we can make some headway
with the legislature between uh now and adjournment. So uh all those in favor of moving on resolution 2026-9 say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> That motion passes. Ace, thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. At this time, we'll have public works director Mel Odin's. Uh Mel has about five items for us today. And Mel, there's some good news in here. Good morning. >> Yeah, there is good news. Uh Mr. Chair, members of the board, once again, Mel
Odin's public works director for Kenuai County. So, yeah, I've got five things. um relatively uh small in terms of dollar amounts. But the first one is our annual seal coat project um that we do
every year um weather permitting. And what I mean by weather permitting is because if we have a I just want to remind the board if we have a bad winter, the seal coat is the first one that we um discard, we don't award. then it goes
to crack filling. We just don't award um and they're about in the terms of about 300,000 a piece. And so we were feeling pretty good about awarding this a week ago, but we still feel pretty good about awarding it because I did get a summary
of where we are in the snow removal budget and we are still in the black. So we're still ahead of schedule. So my recommendation is going to be to award this this seal coat project. So, we did take bids on March 10th. Um, the estimate for the project was 284,000. We
had four biders and the bids came in considerably less than what our estimate was at $210,20. And um and so my recommendation is to uh award the bid to Pearson Brothers Incorporated of Handover in the amount of $210,2059.
You've heard the recommendation uh of the director. Is there a motion? >> So move, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Commissioner Mck moves. >> I'll second that. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. All opposed. >> That motion passes. Thank you. And next is chloride. So the next one is our our annual chloride um dust control. I guess in terms of maybe lay terms, we do about 35 miles of road work and we do about a
total of 52 miles when we do all we do 35 miles of straight road and then we also do um in front of residents on gravel roads within 250 ft of the gravel road. So, it does amount to a little bit more than the the 35 mi, but the
estimate for this work was $248,400. And once again, we had four biders and we got good bids. We had a $20,000 under our estimate. And the low bidder was Knife River Corporation of Sock Rapids.
And my recommendation is to award the annual chloride dust control bid to Knife River out of um Sock Rapids, Minnesota in the amount of $228,1 $15. >> Thank you. Is there a motion?
>> Mr. Chair, I so move to approve the chloride 26 bid as stated. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Berg moves and Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I
>> I. All opposed. That motion passes. And on to crack filling. >> So crack filling we we're only doing eight miles this year. So what we had done for the last probably four or five years is we were doing an accelerated amount because we had not done crack filling for some amount of time. Um, and
so we're it's being more reduced to um the overlay projects and projects that we that we uh haven't got to in the past, but for the most part it's it's the overlay projects from like seven, eight years ago is what we're hitting now. Now, we we've do more than eight
miles, but what we did this year is we did reduce it because of um some budgetary issues, but because this this what we're trying to get down to is funding the crack filling with the the gravel tax money. And this year we had
72,000 in gravel tax and and um we're doing about 140,000 in crack filling, but we're trying to use that as the revenue stream to offset the the maintenance because it's it's money we get for the gravel tax and we put it back on the road if that makes sense. So
we we did we did up it with some maintenance funds, but um once again bids were received on March 10. um eight we had uh five biders for this Aztec out of St. Cloud was the low bidder in the amount of $141,38047.
Um once again this was considerably under budget about 93,000 under budget. So it's my recommendation to award it to Asphalt Surface Technology Corp or Aztec um for the previously stated amount. >> Thank you. Is there a motion?
>> So moved. Commissioner Enbeck moves the chair will second and discussion hearing none. All in favor? >> I >> I all opposed. That motion passes. Uh next item is a bid aid award for
reflectorized pavement markings. >> Right. This is uh we're this year we're doing the south half of the county. So basically from Highway 12 south uh we divide the county up into three quadrants. Um, and so what we do is we
do all the state aid roads plus all the urbanized areas. So we do this this year is it's everything south of Highway 12 plus we do all of the we have 16 incorporated areas. The only one we don't do is is Wilmer but we do all the
other towns Spicer New London etc. Um, so we had two biders sirines a lot of Edina was the parent low bidder. Um it's my recommendation to award the this year's striping to sir lines a lot out of Edina in the amount of $154,500
and once again this is 20,000 under our engineers estimate. >> Very good. Is there a motion? >> Mr. Chair, I'll make the motion toward the CA the Casey striping contract to Sir Lines a lot LLC of Edina. >> I'll second that. We have a motion and a
second to approve the u uh award. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. And Mel, you have one other item for us here. >> So yeah, this is the um final payment
and acceptance of a project that we did for Candy Township. This is the uh removal of what we refer to as the wagon wheel bridge or the wooden bridge just east of town on uh Canui Township um 18th Avenue. Well,
they we built a a new road on 18th Avenue, but it's the old wagon wheel bridge on 49th Street um northeast. So, what this this project um took a lot of coordination with the railroad, with the state of Minnesota and the township
because um to replace the bridge, which we pursued the first time, was going to cost in excess of $3 million to get over the railroad tracks. It was considered more of a back in the day an excess. That's why they just did a wooden structure. I think it was probably
intended to not be there forever, but the railroad was willing to work with the township and the state and the county. We administer all of these projects for the township. And so um we were able to get what they call a road in lie of um funding. And so what that
means is that you build a new road in lie of the bridge provided the road costs are less than the in this case the three million bridge cost. And so we were able to work with the township and the land owners and build um a new
section of 18th Avenue Northeast, which is about 3/4 of a mile north of the tracks um an east west piece over to our Conro 127. So we we opened bids last year on April 8. We got R eight biders RNG Construction on Marshall, Minnesota
was the was the the contractor. We completed the work last fall and uh this is now we are um doing the final payment which releases the retainage, accepts the project and it pays for some minor
um construction items that we did um last fall. So it's my recommendation to accept the project and make final payment to RNG construction in the amount of $17,77722. Thank you. Is there a motion?
>> Uh, Mr. Chair, I'll make the motion to accept the project and make final payment to RNG Construction Company. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Gail Anderson seconds. Any discussion? >> Oh, I have one question.
>> Go ahead. >> It was so wet last year. Um, how did that go? I wasn't over there because I didn't want to get in their way. So what we did is we when when we had the June rains, we just put a suspension on the on the work until later in the fall.
Okay? >> Because it's it's uh RNG construction is a grading contractor and they were building it on the north edge of a corn field with no traffic. So they said we can knock this out in a couple weeks if
we just don't mess in the mud. And so we weren't there's no detours or you know other than the prolonged effect of people having to go a long ways around >> because of the bridge being gone. It wasn't impacting any resident along the
new route. So we just basically stalled the project until it dried up and then Yeah, it was wet though. >> Yeah. Thank you. And I think I was I've been told over the years that there's a little more informal name for that former bridge
that uh uh that I would imagine there's some area youth that will remember that uh fondly or not so fondly depending upon their >> Yep. >> experience. >> And we didn't even keep a piece of wood from it. >> Maybe. So all right. Uh we uh we have a
motion and a second. Yes. Thank you. Uh any final discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. I. >> I. All opposed. That motion passes. We'll take a 10-minute recess. The Candyo High County Board of Commissioners is back in session. At
this time, we'll uh have a uh a presentation uh from uh County Administrator Kelsey Baker in relation to resolution 2026-16, outdoor recreation grant application. >> Good morning, Kelsey Baker, KUA County
Administrator. Um before you today is the resolution requesting to approve a DNR resolution for the outdoor tourism grant. This is the same grant that the county has submitted in the past. Um we are focusing on Diamond Lake County Park
this year would this would include a construction of a new pickle ball court um a new fishing pier, playground equipment and camping cabins. Um, these improvements do align with the county's goals of enhancing public amenities, increasing accessibility, and maximizing
the use of park assets. Uh, the total estimated project is $291,950, which does require a 50/50 match, which would be 14. The 50/50 match would be 145,975.
In 2025, the park net income totaled $193,949 and the projected income for 2026 is 199,800. The consistent revenue performance demonstrates the park systems ability to support reinvestment into its
facilities. the um I did not budget for this 50/50 match in the 2026 budget but this but I am proposing that we would utilize the 145 and the park funds which would be that net income the park
earnings that would require that local match levering leveraging external funding to complete the full scope for the improvements. Therefore, um I would request the board approve the resolution today. Um the the grant is due March 31st. We're not
guaranteed um approval of this. They they could come back and say, "Can you fine-tune this? Can you tweak it a little bit?" And we maybe would have to do that. I've been working with the assistant county engineer and the maintenance supervisor on this grant um that have typically uh
submitted this in the past. >> Thank you. Uh any questions for the administrator? So to um to reiterate then uh uh we would uh we would be taking these from uh from the park fund as part of our
match if it's uh >> No, technically we don't have a park fund. It was it would be in the general fund. So these earnings automatically just go into the general fund. any overages or anything, any of the earnings go right back into the general
fund. Where we have that allocated, that 193 is our net income that we have on our budget. And this would this would be pulled from the 26 budget, not affecting the 27 budget. >> Got it. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Mdeck,
>> thank you. So, when you say 191,000 or whatever that number was, that's net income, >> correct? >> Of just that park or all of the parks? >> All of the parks. Okay. That's after all the expenses are paid for upgrades, something like
>> correct. Yep. >> Commissioner Berg, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, a couple of questions. The cabins construction are uh is are we going to use the sentence to serve people as part of that or are we contracting that out to a different group or?
>> Um, it's it's somewhat of a mixture. Um, it's sentenced to serve and then it's our highway department staff that construct the cabinets. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. >> Mr. Chair, I'd make a motion to uh
approve resolution 2026-16 for the outdoor recreation grant application. >> Thank you. Commissioner Anderson moves. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Discussion. Uh, Commission uh, Commissioner Dale
Anderson. >> Well, I'm on the park committee, so I I I just think this is a necessary thing that we're going to have to do and we're going to have to keep rotating around. I know the games lake park is in need of things in the future and we've already done some cabins on games lake and and and every park needs to have upgrades
and this is a simple way and and I know it doesn't pay for all of it but it sure does help by if we could happen to get this grant to help make these improvements and make it a better place for people that are here enjoying our county. So I I appreciate you taking the time to put this together.
>> Uh Commissioner and thank you. What is the grant? Is it the ENRTF again? >> No, it is uh the it's through the DNR. It's the outdoor tourism and recreation grant. >> And the timeline is I mean construction
would really start 26 possibly. Um that's what we are working towards. Um, and so, you know, like I explained when I came to Candyway County in 23, we were doing the Big Candy East grant,
uh, that bath house project. We had budgeted for that grant in 21 and paid for it in 24 actually. And so, um, these grants take a few years to come to fruition. I think the first review is in
June of this year. if we're approved or not, we submit in March and then we we have that first review in June that we would find out if we even received the grant or not of this year and so construction then would play the following year. >> Commissioner B.
>> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. I we just discussed this before, too. I I still feel uncomfortable right now, you know, as we go forward. It's not good timing. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even question this at all. Uh but I am questioning this and but I think we do
have to go forward with this at this point. Uh but uh I just don't not too excited about these 50-50 match grants knowing that we have all these cost shifting taking place and the unknown with the future. And so this does it that's a big chunk of money when it
comes right down to it. That's almost a staff position. But I just want to make a known going forward I'm going to scrutinize these a lot more just from my own point of view. Thank you, Commissioner MDC. >> Thank you. Yeah, I I share the same
concerns and we um we budget for a reason and this one was not in the budget. Um and I I just I don't think I'm going to be able to support it for that reason. I do support the work, but I think it should be in next year's bud. It should be put into the budget for
next year and part of the consideration. Um I'm very uncomfortable. There's a lot of stress on those reserves. We there's a legislature legislator from Blaine that's proposing a law that's going to limit our ability to raise levies uh to
the level of inflation. If that should happen and we should pay attention to that. If that should happen, how are we going to pay for cost shifts and how are we going to maintain our our budget just internally much less with the shifts? So, uh I for now I'm not going to be
able to support this. I support the concept. I just don't support it in this year's uh budget. >> Thank you, Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, my only concern is if we're not going to do it for this, then we're not going to do any cost shares for anything that we're going to do. We've done it
for transportation. We've done it for Health and Human Services. So, if we're not going to do it, then we're not going to do it for any of So, that's my concern is this is just as legitimate of a of a need as all them other things. So that's my only reason that I I think
that this is a very important part of what we do and a part of what our public sees. And I think that's why we really have to keep these grounds up. We don't want to get sued over somebody getting hurt on these on these grounds that aren't being kept up either. So that
that's my reason for supporting it. Uh, Commissioner, I'm >> Commissioner Anderson makes a good point that we do cost shares all the time, but they're in the budget when we do it. This one was not in the budget, and I didn't see anything in there regarding
um safety issues. Um, so, uh, I again, I supported a I support the improvements, just not in this budget until we know more about next year's budget. And I I support uh the uh the the uh cost
sharing, but not in this year's budget because we didn't budget it. You know, there we do a budget for a reason, and we do too many of these, suddenly we're way off budget. All right. Anybody else? All right. Uh then we have a motion and
a second to move on resolution 2026-16. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> I. >> That motion passes. Uh you are an I. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Uh motion passes
41. Uh and the resolution is adopted. Uh next item. Oops. I don't have a paper copy in front of me this morning. Um ah we are at our
shotgun rifle discussion and direction. Uh so as uh uh folks may or may not know, the state of Minnesota last year uh passed a law that did away with the
uh shotgun zone uh for hunting in the southern half of the state. Uh it was attached to the larger uh omnibus uh bill for environment and natural resources. Uh and it gives the counties uh in that
former zone uh the option of retaining shotgun only. uh or it uh can also uh simply uh say yes we will uh we will let the state's decision override uh this. Uh so you
have before you some information uh uh that has been uh received uh my in my uh understanding is that everyone should have uh received the uh letter from the DNR. uh says everyone on the board was
CCD to that uh telling us what our options are. It had also provided a uh uh model uh firearms uh uh deer hunting uh ordinance if the board decides to go
down that road uh and retain the shotgun only. Uh, and then there's a couple of uh there's a copy of the statute uh as passed and there's an item from the uh uh DNR uh uh off of uh off of their
website. Uh it notes that the DNR did not um uh take a position on this, but it did say that it did support the right of counties to uh uh make the best decision uh for their counties. We held
a uh public listening session a week ago Monday evening in this building. It was uh very well attended and we have been receiving emails, phone calls, texts uh since uh late last year uh on this subject. I think it's fair to say that
uh of uh of all of the items that uh have come before us in my uh starting uh five and a half years now almost on the uh on the board. This is the one that uh uh has generated the most interest uh among the uh uh among the members of the
public. Uh and so this is our first opportunity as a board to discuss this amongst ourselves. And so with that, I will uh I will open the discussion to uh uh whoever wants to uh uh start it off.
Commissioner, Mr. chair. >> Yes, >> I'll start it off. >> Thank you. >> This is a very hard one to decide and I I thank the legislature for putting us in this position. Um and and I know for sure that uh no matter how I vote or
maybe no matter how we vote, uh there's going to be a lot of people upset. So it it's very difficult decision. But um for me, I'm leaning towards uh letting it allowing it to go to rifle zone. Um, one of the re or couple of the reasons would
be in my area it it's wide open and you can see pretty much anywhere where uh uh you know what what your back stop would be. Uh the other reason that I I would be in favor of allowing it to go to
rifle zone would be um for kids. Uh they they can get around it by uh you can have a AR pistol and then you can kind of modify it somewhat. Uh the concern that I have with that is if they
modify it wrong, they they get in violation of federal law and they can get in trouble. So, if we just go to rifle zone, in my opinion, uh then they can buy a a smaller rifle that's oriented more towards children and then they can go hunting with their parents
if they want to. So, >> thank you, Commissioner MDC. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, for the exact same reasons you gave for supporting rifles, I'm going to give the same reason for being cautious about going to rifles. And not saying I, you
know, I've made up my mind yet, but um the three townships that I have that I serve, uh, Roseville is one of the least populated. And we got data last week at that listening session from a Roseville Township um
citizen who very graphically mapped out the number of resident number of dwellings that are uh in Roseville Township. And when you consider Roseville Township with compared to Dove Township and Lake Andrew Township and
New London Township and Green Lake Township, it always gets more dense by quite a bit. And uh the listening session while it was valuable uh was primarily uh sports sportsmen and women. They were hunters. We haven't heard from
uh a high degree of u uh the the land owners who whose homes and yards are potentially at risk with the longer direction that or longer distance that a rifle is capable of. I I think whether
we pass an ordinance or not, I think we need to draft it so that we have the public hearing and let the let the public uh chime in on this. >> Thank you, Commissioner Burton. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. I also agree that might be a good idea to draft this
and have a public discussion further on this going forward. Um this has been quite a learning curve going through all this. I sounded like it was pretty simple to decide, but we've gotten so much information and really want to thank the the public and the uh
different points of view on this. It's it's very detailed. There's a big impact in many different ways. One of the things I did learn was that uh the concerns about the safety aspect was not quite as big as I thought it was. when you start looking at the numbers, you know, across the state and other states
and comparing that the safety issue, but I still think on the bottom line, there's some major safety issues because Kendu County is a county with quite a large population in our area and uh as has been mentioned already that this
will this changes quite a bit when you got a two week hunting time when thousands of people come out hunting and I'm talking about thousands and most of hunters as we noticed and as I know I'm a hunter myself um are very responsible
but you take 1% of tens of thousands of hunters out there you're talking about thousands of hunters that are just kind of go out for a lot of that are not uh even though they have to have a license and approved uh training and so forth uh
that the danger there we have so many uh families living around lakes and out in the areas right in in the rural areas we you know, a lot of people that could be impacted by this and have a lot of concerns. So, I'm really cautious about
going forward and just letting it go by and I think we should have more discussion and and more input as we make a decision on this. It's it's very unfortunate the legislation apparently was not thought through through when we end up with
possibility of one county has it and the county boundary is uh they can have a rifle and that woods goes into the other county. How do you manage all that? And it was not uh thought through some legislation and that would be put on the
county's lap. I do appreciate the legislators and the and and the governor thinking, well, they we should have input from the county and they should have some say in this. And I do appreciate that and I will uh take advantage of that say when it's given to us, but it's uh this is not the kind of
legislation I want to really make that uh decision on. Thank you. >> Uh Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, I'm with Dwayne. think I think I want to thank them for making it miserable for us as as county officials because it really is I mean I really
this like Steve said this is probably the biggest thing that I've gotten emails about and phone calls about. The one thing that that really I've I've mentioned it to everybody that's called and and I think it's probably the thing that maybe I'm hoping for in the future
that will get done is when I mentioned that if if they would have made the law a three shell limit with a boltaction rifle. Even the people that are very concerned about safety safety say, you know, I could live with that. if that
would have been part of the the law, I could live with that because everybody would have to to think and look and and before they took that next shot and and I think and hope that that would be maybe something that our legislative people would look at um is a change to
that to that law. Um, but I think it also goes back to if we do, and I'm not saying I'm where I'm at yet, because I am really torn about this, which way I should I should go with this. But if we did go to rifle in in our area up where
I am at least or in the whole county, I think the biggest thing that we have to do is go and talk to our neighbors and and have the conversation about where houses are and where deer stands are and where people are going to be sitting and and and really have that conversation
about about where things are that we have to be careful for because it is a safety thing. totally agree with what has been said here, but yet we as hunters are are obligated to do that safety thing. And yeah, there's always going to be that chance somebody's not
going to think. And that's that's the same thing with no matter what we do. But I think if we take that effort of of talking to our neighbors, the biggest thing that scares me, and I said this to Steve when we came in this morning, the biggest thing that scares me is this
this open public land because you have no idea who's going to be out there in that public land. And if your land butts up against that, that that does scare me. Um, and I think that's where you're going to need to put signage up and you're going to need to be very visual
about where you're where you're placing your deer stand if you're if it does become ra season. Um, but I I have not made a decision on this. I am I'm listening to people and I'm talking to people and I really do appreciate, like
everybody has said, the input we've gotten from the public. Um, it's really a hard decision for us because I think if we do one, we're wrong and if we do the other, we're wrong. And I and I really don't know where it is. And I mean, I'll be honest, my own family
wants it to be rifle. And I I probably get in arguments with my own kids about this more than anything else. Um, just to see how to how to frame it and how it all works up in our area. Like Roger said, we've got population. There's there's houses in areas that people hunt
that are that are mighty close. Um, but I think I think we need input from the public and we need to keep hearing what people are thinking and um yeah, it's going to be a tough vote. That that's that's where I'm at. >> Uh, Commissioner Mck. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And and
Commissioner Dale Anderson makes a good point too about the legislature gave us legislature gave us the responsibility but they didn't give us a lot of tools to work with. Another I'm not a ballistics person, but I understand that the straight um
straight jacketed um rifled rifled slugs travel much further than the ones that have a taper as you get to the top. And that that would have made a big difference. I hunt in family woods. Uh it's a 450 acre woods um northeast of
Belgrade in the Spring Hill area. I've hunted there since I'm 15 years old. And um my family has about 180 acres of that. And we have we have um on opening morning there will be 40 hunters in that woods. So that's one hunter per every
11.5 acres. And uh when I was 15 years old and hunting the first time there was two farm sites on the county road on the east side of that woods. Now there's two farm sites and 12 homes. So you have to think about, you know, the safety to to
and what might happen with a straight bullet that travels a lot further than what a shotgun slug would travel. So yeah, we have to I I think we have to hear from everybody. And I'm going to make a motion that we do draft this uh
move this draft uh ordinance forward and uh set up a public hearing. >> Mr. Chair, I will second that motion. We have a motion and a second to uh move uh the u
uh draft ordinance uh uh to a public hearing uh and uh further discussion. I'm going to uh take my couple of minutes here and talk about this a little bit. I have not
hunted in years, but it is a tradition that I grew up with. And the reason that I see this issue almost solely as a public safety issue is a personal experience that I had as probably a
20-year-old. We're hunting up north in the rifle zone and uh we have uh two deer coming across our field of vision and they're probably
40 50 yards away broadside to us and I take the shot, take the deer and then I realize that about 800 yards down range I fired right directly in the line
of sight of a uh farmstead. dead and my dad was next to me and the shame that I felt for taking that shot, regardless of whether or not it was successful, lives with me to this day.
So, when we're talking about public safety, we also need to take into account not just the fact that there are hunters in the field and that uh we don't want any hunters getting shot, but there are people going
about their lives that are not hunters out and about in our community. And some of them are scared have told us they are scared to go out during deer season. They don't want anybody out in their uh fields. They don't like letting
livestock out uh because they don't know who's out there. It was one thing when you had you knew all the hunters around you and most folks don't know that today. Um I will never ever be
anti-hunting. Uh but we've got to take everybody into account on this. And so for me it's a public safety issue. uh and I will uh I will support the uh motion to uh move forward with the uh uh
public hearing. I would uh uh request then uh of the administrator uh as to what uh what that is going to look like. Would we be scheduling that? Would we have time to schedule that for our next meeting or I know that we have
to let the DNR know by May 1st. uh >> fifth >> fifth by May 5th uh uh of our decision so that they can uh have it in their regulations and so forth. >> Mr. Chair, which is by the way I think our first meeting in May. I think >> it is the next three meetings between
now and then are the 7th of April, the 21st of April, and the 5th of May. >> So those are your kind of options for the hearing. >> And Mr. Sure. I I don't um judging based on what we saw at the listening session,
I don't think we can attach it to a board meeting because we're going to probably need a larger venue and more time. >> So, I I would suggest >> that would be a >> Yeah, we all right. >> Uh do we need a vote on this? Well, maybe we should just vote on this and
get that process moving or not and then >> set up the uh the uh schedule from there. >> That's fine. >> That sounds that sounds fair enough. I see I see the administrator nodding at me and uh uh that's something that we
can uh that we can work with in terms of the scheduling. >> My Mr. Mr. Chair, my only question would be the board would have to vote on that special meeting and so it would be nice to schedule that meeting. Um maybe we can get through this meeting and during
appointments and committee updates we can look at dates for that scheduled public hearing because we would also have to draft the ordinance and publish that ordinance prior to the public hearing. Um, and I don't think we'd meet the paper deadlines this week and so we'd have to
get that posted next week. Um, and so I would think the week of April 13th would be probably the week that we could um that we would meet all of the qualifications and requirements for the posting um and then to have that public
hearing. >> All right. Is the board comfortable with that uh process? Anybody else uh have anything to say? >> Was Was there a second to that? >> Yes, it was. Yeah, there was. Okay. I just remember Thank you. Yeah, I know
that was a long time ago, >> says the guy who's been up since 4. All right. Uh any other comments? All in favor of the motion to uh uh engage in a public hearing process on
this issue say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> I >> four eyes one nay. The motion is agreed to and uh thank you everybody. Uh this is uh like I say this been our first
opportunity to find out where all of us are at on this and uh I appreciate the discussion, >> Mr. Chair. Yes, if I may. >> You may. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And then this is going to go to a public hearing. So, actually at this point, you know, this because you vote a certain way maybe in
where you're leaning, but I do want to hear from the public again as we're to make a final decision. >> That sounds fair enough. >> All right. At this time, we will recess the regular meeting of the Candy High County Board of Commissioners
uh in order so that we might reconvene as the drainage ditch authority because uh Austin Hillbrands, our public drainage manager, has a bunch of stuff for us. At this time, we will recess the regular meeting of the board of commissioners and we will reconvene as
the drainage ditch authority. Austin, the floor is yours. >> Morning, Mr. Chair, board members. Austin Hillbrand drains manager. Um so in your packets we received a petition for partial abandonment from Howard and Ron Pierce Farms for a portion of county
ditch 62 open ditch and tile in Arcter Township section 34 on property they own. Um and it meets the requirements of Minnesota statute 103 806. So the next steps would be to schedule a public hearing for that um partial abandonment
um tenative date scheduled with our attorney and um with Kelsey is April 21st, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. at the beginning of the that board county board meeting.
>> Thank you. Uh any questions for Mr. Hillbrand? Is there a motion then to uh schedule the public hearing? >> So move, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. We have a second and a second. >> Bill, did you? >> Yep.
>> Oh, okay. >> I'm sorry I turned my head late. So, >> uh, any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of the motion to schedule the public hearing say I. >> I. All opposed. >> That motion passes. Thank you.
Uh, please continue. >> Next on the agenda would be the meeting minutes from January 15th. I would seek a motion to approve them. Meeting minutes from January 15th. >> So, uh, could remind us uh, I think there was just three of us on this board that were part of that. Correct.
>> Correct. Yes. That should have been the county ditch um seven. Ditch seven and then joint ditch three and ditch seven. Okay. Yes. Yep. That would be the the final
final hearing for the consolidation of county 7 with JD7 and JD3 laterals. >> So there were so there were three of us there, but uh of course the entire board can take action on this. Yes, >> chair. I move to approve the minutes.
>> Thank you. >> I'll second that. I'll second. >> Thank you. Commissioner Bird and Comm moves and Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Thank
you. >> Perfect. The next item on the agenda would be the meeting minutes from January 20th, 2026. And that was the um the annual drainage levy. >> Uh thank you. And I will uh I will move
the u uh approval of the minutes for that meeting. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I........................................ All. Oppox. That motion passes.
>> Perfect. Next on the agenda, we have resolution 2026-18. Um this is to reconfirm and ratify the MER Kandandy County Joint Drainage Authority for Mer Candy County Joint Ditch 17. Um this confir this confirms
selection of the joint board. um determine selection of members of vacancy to fill um fill uh fill vacancies and uh designate a majority county. So this board was originally set in the 1990s. U Mer County reconstructed their districts and there was a little
bit of discrepancy. So Kale would like us to our drainage attorney would like us to reconstitute this board. So um so there's a sister resolution being passed by Miker County today. Um, and this would appoint Kandandy County District
5, which is what has been for JD17. >> Thank you. And so you've heard the recommendation of staff. Is there a motion? >> I'll move, uh, Mr. Chair, uh, resolution 2026-18. >> Second. And is there a second?
>> Second. >> Uh, Commissioner Deck seconds. Discussion. Commissioner B. >> Just a question, Mr. Chair. Do we have to do roll call votes on these? >> I don't think so. No, everybody's here in person for this one. So, >> okay. Thank you.
>> And this is uh this is appointing Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. >> Yep. Commissioner Dwayne Anderson and District 5 for for future vacancies. So, >> right. >> All right. Very good. Anybody else? All in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. That motion passes.
Thank you. >> Perfect. Um the next thing on the agenda would be a discussion on redetermination of benefits that we have left. >> So if we could pull up on my computer here.
>> Sorry. So, if you take a look at this map that should be in front of you, um we have roughly 14 systems that haven't been redetermined yet. Um they're all highlighted in blue there.
Um excluding county district 27 and 29, we we recently appointed Ron Rinquist viewers um for these two systems. So, we have these two systems. They're, like I said, they're currently being redetermined. Now, I would look to probably um appoint that viewing team to
do county ditch 62 right here and county ditch um 15. Let's see. Um the next question I have or I I seek proposals from H2O overviewers to get
prices just to see um what their prices are for for for basically this whole watershed. Um that comes through New London Green Lake and then goes out to be the middle fork of the Crow River and that would include Diamond Lake as well. Um and all the ditches that that go into
that. Um, let's just go to the next map here. >> That's better already. >> So, we we're zoomed in here into the northeast part of the county. So, here's Atwater, here's Spicer, here's New
London. So, this would be the this this area here would be the um estimated watershed for these systems. So the county systems I highlighted in red for you and the blue systems would be joint systems that we could add on
later. So I did get proposals from H2 overviewers. Um they did come in higher than I was hoping for the So this wershed's about 100,000 acres. Um H2 overviewers um is a viewing team that
I've used. I don't think Kand County has ever used but other counties have used it in the past. Um they do they do they do charge by the uh watershed acre and not by the hour. So the viewing teams we've been using have been charging by the hour. These guys charge by the
wershed acre. So we're at for this black um watershed line we're at 100,000 acres. Um so their price they did give me for this estimate would be at $3.99 per acre. Um, so for a total of 425,000
to do this redetermination for these, I think there's six systems in there. Um, if we add on the blue systems later on, these are joint systems where where Kandui County is not the majority. Um, they've they would drop the price down to $3.89.
Um, so I did pull up the prices that we got for for when we did the western part of the county. Um, like I said, those viewers charge per hour, but if we run the run the run the rates back, it does come out to be a $169 per watershed acre. So, there is a significant
difference there. So, my question for you guys is this something that the board would entertain for the county systems highlighted in red here. Um, that that difference I guess is just having a discussion on that. So, so not
being a ditch guy, I'm going to I'm going to probably ask the uh uh dumbest question of the of the morning here. Um I mean, is this is is is this anything
that is out of the ordinary? I mean, to me, this is maybe one of the most important watersheds in the entire county. If we're talking about the combined uh impact on egg and tourism, >> correct? Yep. Yep. So, this this I would
I would argue that this this area probably doesn't rely as heavy on on egg drainage because of, you know, this is there's there's farmland and hunting land combined in this area. You have the lakes. Um this would include the outlet
to Green Lake. Um, so that that is where I'm where I'm on the fence with this higher number is that there isn't a lot of egg a benefits in there. So it' be more so that cost would
I don't know if that cost would necessarily hurt more, you know, for non-ag land. >> And then where do the funds come from? I guess that's the ignorant part of my >> So each each drainage system would pay for their portion of the redetermination
of benefits just to you know just to get an estimate I had to give them the you know the a group of them in in that wershed. So this it'd be good to do all these at one time um because they're all in the same watershed. So >> Okay. >> Yep.
>> Thank you commissioner. >> Thank you. Um, just from your experience and your knowledge of the area, would there be much of a change with the redetermination of benefits? In other words, is there a lot of drainage going into these systems now that has never been and and either way it's going to
get >> it'll get rectified. >> Yeah. So, it would increase the wershed sizes for these including including everybody on Green Lake and Nest Lake through New London. those people or those land owners are not paying any benefits to County Ditch 20 which drains
Green Lake. Um >> could I can I stop you there for a second? And so what would a typical uh lakes shore owner pay? Is it based on their property value or based on their uh >> So for lakes it depends on the viewers but generally yes it's going to be based
on footage of Lakeshore actually I believe. >> Yeah. Not on the actual value just the footage. Yep. >> And do you know about how much that would be? >> I I don't have I don't It would all depend on It's going to vary between viewers as well. So
um the other part of your question, the the wersheds of the ditch systems probably wouldn't change a lot for um as far as like the amount of egg land that's going to be coming into them, I guess. But it would expand the
watershed. It would expand the wershed by Diamond Lake as well. So, yes. >> So, um the equation changes a little bit with all the additional um lakes that are in there, property owners, including where
I live near the golf course because our water runs into the Crow River by the golf course. >> Correct. >> Um but, uh it for me it would be helpful. I'd really like to get um you know for us to do experience H2O overviewers and the
work that they do but man this is a big big difference and right >> and if you've got a small number of people paying paying the bill I mean it's not a small number of people that's why I'm curious what what a typical lake own homeowner on Green Lake would pay for um I still think the ditch people
the people on the ditch are going to pay the far away the biggest amount >> yes the people on the drainage system pay the most for sure. >> Commissioner Wayne Anderson. >> So, what does H2 overviewers uh offer that justifies that higher expense? I
mean, if if they were close, it'd be I'd be willing to try them, but I I wonder what what are we getting when we hire them? >> Yep. So, they I mean, they do the physical viewing just like the other viewers. Um the same tabular report. The only thing is that the land owners
get an individual parcel map um sent to them directly. So it it it it show it has the whole wershed and then it has an individual partial map and then it also makes it a little bit easier for us to do splits on the back end um as a as as
in my department I guess. Um, and also included in this price would be the mailing of the property owners report, but we still have the county still has to mail the notice, which is just another piece of paper than the property owner report. So that technically they
mail the map then too as well. >> Would there be a savings that way or >> uh a little bit? Yes. Yep. >> So it's kind of a little bit of a cost shift. >> Yep. >> Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson first and then back to Commissioner. I I personally think it's too much of a
difference. Um I mean, if we can get it done the other way for a third of that, why would we spend that kind of money? Um I know it's a lot of work for whoever's going to do it. So maybe that's where you were going with it, Austin, but I I just think that's
too much of a difference. I mean, >> it just gets to be a lot of money for the people that are right on that them ditch systems to have to to pay >> because it's going to affect it. It's going to it's going to be expensive for whoever's in them areas. So, >> correct,
>> Commissioner Mde. >> Thank you. Um, is there any issue of timing and availability here between the two uh um firms? So, >> and what is the what is the timeline for wanting to get this done? >> Correct. The as of right now, the only
ditch in this map that you're looking at that has a an issue that I would like to get done is county ditch 37. So, we could appoint the other viewers to do county dish 37 only. That's this one right here. There's a clean out pending
on that one. Um, and then it would probably be, you know, pushing another year before we could appoint point them to do the rest of these in the, you know, in that Diamond Lake east of Green Lake area. So, >> and how many acres would would that take
out of the uh total number of acres? >> I would say about a quarter. Um, so it would go down to about 75,000 acres. So >> would it would it make any sense for us to go ahead and do the with the uh
Renquist crew on that ditch 37 now and give us a chance to think about this other part for a while? >> Sure. Yep. Yep. That would be an option too. The the only thing is this is the price they gave me for that whole 100,000 acres. Um so if we start
shortening I don't you know I think their prices do go up from there. So once we take away acres. So but but yes that would I mean that is an option. So >> and you you're looking for action today? >> No this was just a discussion. Um before I before I had Kale draft us and spend
money drafting us uh to point viewers. I wanted to have a discussion with you guys and see kind of a consensus on where we wanted to go. So, >> so, so perhaps you could get that information for us if what it would cost us uh >> per hour if if it's not the entire
project from >> Sure. >> Yep. So, yeah, the the other viewing team, they don't I mean, they could probably give us an estimate, but they don't give us, you know, it's it all it varies on what they've what they have to deal with when they when they're doing the viewing process, but but just based
on what we had previously this year, that's the number that it came back to. But but yes, I can definitely ask for an estimate. So >> Commissioner Dwayne, >> right, my my question then is uh
who who is able to do it? I mean, are there any are any of them backed up enough where they can't get at it right away or is it uh something that I mean, can they both do it right away or? >> Yeah. Yep. H2 overviewers gave me they said they could have this done in about
a year. Everything highlighted here. Um Ron Rinquist, like I said, is doing county dish 27 and 29. And I plan to appoint them for county dish 15 and 62, which are over in um west of Norway Lake there. Um but I'm assuming they would
have no issue doing county 37 either. So, and then we would the the systems east of Green Lake would would have to be pushed back at least another year then. And then after that there is a few systems with Mer County, Sterns County
and then a few in the southwest that we have to do but those are all small systems which have decent decent amount of benefits already. So price difference seems pretty high. I mean sure >> Commissioner B. >> Oh thank you Mr. Chair. Really just a
comment. Uh the three commissioners that represent those that district uh I'm really lying and I'm looking forward to hear you know as much from you going forward on this and making decisions and uh wanting to support since this is your
district that's going to be impacted financially quite large. So I appreciate this conversation. >> Commissioner MD. >> Yeah. Just just to be clear to Commissioner Dwayne Anderson's question about so Ringris crew is doing 27 26
>> 27 and 29 >> 29 and another one you mentioned >> 62 and 15. Yes. Y >> so that they could work 37 in in a reasonable amount of time with the other ones. >> Correct. They they will be right right in this area, you know, on the western side of this this map. Yep.
>> All right. >> So, >> all right. Anyone else? You have a good sense of the board's direction? >> Yes. Yep. Appreciate it. >> All right. Very good. Do you have anything else for us today?
>> That's that's all I have. >> All right. Uh with that then I would entertain a motion to adjourn the u uh meeting of the drainage ditch authority. >> I'll make I'll second it. Okay. I made the motion.
>> Thank you. Motion by Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. Second by Commissioner Mdeck. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. And we are still in recess uh from the uh uh regular board meeting. Does anybody need
a break before we uh go into report outs? All right. Then let's reconvene as the Candy County Board of Commissioners and we will uh I believe we are at uh report outs at this time. Uh,
Commissioner, >> should we uh tackle the uh schedule for the public hearing first? >> Yeah, that's that's fair. That's fair enough. Um, Kelsey, what again are our options here?
What was the timeline you were laying out? >> So, I'm thinking if we can get it posted next, I'll draft the ordinance this week. We can get it posted next week. Um, it'd be the week of the 13th. Be one, two, three.
>> I'm wide open that week. >> And so, are you thinking like an evening meeting or um so you could do like the 13th or 14th or 16th? >> Holy week. >> Yeah. Yep. So far that's looking
>> it's an off week for board. >> 16th there's a library meeting. >> Okay. >> It's after Easter. >> You're talking about >> after >> you're talking about evening meeting again. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Do the 14th. >> Tuesday night.
>> I that that seems that seems pretty good to me. I'm just >> What time are you thinking? >> Uh 6 >> I30 again. No, >> they don't have to be there at the beginning. If we make it long enough for everybody.
>> Last one went from hour and a half, didn't it? >> Yep. >> So 5:30. >> Yeah, I'm I'm fine with that. I'm just I'm just bringing up my uh personal phone to see if I got Whoops.
>> See if I got anything there as well. So, let me give that a quick peek. >> 5:30 or six? >> I guess I can go with either one of them. I'm just wondering I'm guessing it's going to be kind of long and >> start at 5:30.
>> I think that's going to be >> we start at 5:30 and >> yeah, >> we can't put an end time on it because everybody has to have the ability to >> Yep. >> on the 14th. >> Yep. Yep. Because I need to post that in the ordinance of when the public hearing will be
>> and that'll be in the multi. >> Yes, we'll book that. >> You need to just still double check. Oh, cuz you guys always trump the room. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that's going to work for me.
>> So, April 14 at 5:30 and uh we want to have this uh downstairs again or >> Yep. Like I just said to Commissioner, the county board does always trump if someone else is in there. But we'll work out those details, but we can plan on
being in the multi-purpose room. All right. Very good. Um, so then, uh, do you have anything else for us, uh, uh, of note, uh, upcoming, uh, meeting, other meetings or anything
like that? >> No, just at the road and bridge work sessions next Tuesday at 8 a.m. over at public works. >> Okay. >> What day? March 24th at 8 a.m.
>> How in the world is that not on my calendar? >> There were two invites sent out. >> Really? >> Um, yep. >> And then April 7th, we have the public hearing at 9:00 a.m. for the no wake zone ordinance. Excuse me. Um,
>> might have been the migration of our stuff. >> It could have been. >> What day was that again? March >> 24th. >> 24th 4th. Yeah. And then the next board meeting, April 7th, we have the no zone ordinance public hearing at 9:00 a.m.
Then I'll get this scheduled for the 14th. >> All right, >> hang on just a second. I'm >> I'm I'm like you. I don't have that on Wasn't that at 9 a.m.
>> And the other public hearing on the no zone? That's in conjunction with their next board meeting. >> Yep. at 9:00 a.m. >> So, we don't need to put >> And I haven't heard I have not received anything written. >> All right. >> So,
>> so March 24th for road. >> Got it. >> Did you get it on your calendar? >> What's the next one? >> I didn't get two of them. >> Really? >> Well, I'll have to do the >> It's on there. I'm sure I got at least
one >> and I thought and I thought I had >> put it on here, but >> I don't want to blame it on the migration. I'll blame it on >> operator error.
>> So, uh, Commissioner Burke, uh, Mr. Chair, thank you. M, ad Ministrator Baker, anything new update about the meeting with the city, >> the intergovernmental meeting you mean? Uh well, no, the joint uh county.
>> Oh, sorry. Yes, I spoke with Leslie last week. Um and we we I spoke with Representative Baker last week as well. I believe he did introduce the bill. There's been no movement on it, but as of right now, she would like to wait a
little bit to see what session happens or what's they do. Um and so we're going to postpone that. >> Oh, okay. So yeah, because I there's like four days we save dates open, so I can >> Yep. >> take those out. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I was going to mention that. Thank you
for reminding me. >> And then one that I do have on the uh calendar would be uh next uh Monday uh at the uh Wilmer Conference Center and that's the township association annual me or meeting >> uh that we've been invited to.
>> So >> we have quite a few staff that are doing presentations. I've also asked Caroline uh Khan and myself to do do a presentation on the human services legislative updates and specifically um to the SNAP benefits. So we'll do a
short presentation as well. >> Okay, very good. Um any uh anybody else have anything uh that is coming up? Uh I know we do have the uh those of us who are attending the AMC leadership
conference that'll be the uh 25th, 6th and 7th. So all right. Well then, uh if everybody's okay. Uh Roger, are you still punching stuff in? >> Well, I just discovered I lost No, I
just discovered I lost my calendar that has already taken place. I was going to >> I got to go back downstairs and hopefully restore that. But I think I can remember what's happened since uh as I do report outs. But >> if you can, you're a better man than
>> I'll hit the highlights. >> So uh Roger, would you be able to lead us off into report outs? >> Thanks for that uh pressure. Um, so yeah, I can't I can't really go be uh
the two weeks prior to the last meeting which I missed because I was in uh Washington DC. So we'll start with Washington DC. I thought we had a very very productive um uh experience out there. First of all, no
is very much like NATO legislative conference is very much like uh our AMC legislative conference o you know the um platform is determined country nationwide uh but I think the highlights for us
were um the visits to the there's two things in transportation that's the policy committee same thing there you have a policy committee that you can attend and for there it's the surface the reauthorization of the surface transportation bill, which is basically
the old IIGJ uh which everybody is really pushing hard for. And um so I attended that policy meeting and then on our appointments um Mel Odin's joined joined us on Monday. I
think he arrived on Monday because of a snowstorm. Um we had very very good receptions with Senator Clolobashar, Senator Smith, um Congresswoman Fishbach. We spent almost a half hour uh in in her office and uh and then also um
sort of as a preparation we spent some time in uh Congresswoman Craig's um a meeting with her preparing if she becomes um sen a senator then we have
a relationship established there. So I thought it was really productive. Then I came home. I was home one day um and had an EDC meeting that uh two of you were also there. From there I I went back on vacation and that's why I missed the
last board meeting. Um then I attended township meetings uh like a lot of you did um last week and um that was productive. I was able to make three of them
on um now I've got it back on Thursday of last week. I am I am on the local road improvement program MDOT advisory board and so uh
they will reveal be revealed on the 30th of March but to the committee it was revealed who uh would receive a LRIP grant. As you recall, Dover Township got one a few years ago and the county administers the application and handles
that. But, uh, so there was like 47 41 million or 47 40 and then they added a couple million because some from a previous round didn't get used, but there was probably three times that in applications and some of it's designated
to counties, some to cities, some to townships. Um so we'll find out on I think Ken had two um applications. Um and then um last night I'll let Dale talk about last night with the basically
we got the report from Jennifer Swanson on the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center project. So I'll think of something afterwards that I forgot to mention because it's not >> just just just uh uh add it on tack it on at the end. So, uh, Commissioner
Dwayne Anderson. >> Okay. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Um, so March 9th, we had our rifle shotgun listening session. Um, it was very, very interesting. I I kind of liked hearing a lot of the input that we got. Um, very
passionate people on both sides of the issue. And like I said, thank you for the legislature for putting this on our shoulders. I guess that's what we're elected to do in a way, but uh I, you know, I wish we didn't have to go through it. So, um, but yeah, I learned
a lot more than I ever thought I would need to know about guns. So, March 10th was an township annual meeting. That's just kind of an on my own type of thing, but uh it was fun to go uh listening to a couple townships and uh hear what they
have for questions and concerns. Uh and on March uh 13th, they had a central Minnesota jobs and training uh meeting. Uh we were supposed to have a big work session that day, but we canled it because we were supposed to have bad weather and um the weather when we
walked out of the meeting, it was sunny. So it was windy, but it was sunny. Uh so it was basically just a regular board meeting. But one thing that I got out of there was um they're still struggling with deed. uh even though they got clean audits, um they got a couple things that
are still bookkeeping that that they'll get dinged on on the next audit, but uh DED understands it, knows it, but at the same time, they are threatening to just reimburse us as we hand them uh receipts
instead of giving us uh uh any cash advances. even though uh other uh types of uh around the state that are similar to what we are um they're they're giving them cash advances. So we feel like we're being treated a little bit
unfairly even though we've talked with deed several times uh about that issue. Um so it's kind of an ongoing thing. We'll we'll work through it, but uh it does make it hard when when you have to pay a bill when you don't have very much money and then try to get reimbursed,
which can take six weeks. So, um let's see. On the 16th, I had or that was yesterday, I met with uh Health and Human Services and they just kind of gave me some updates about different issues. I think uh there's a couple that are coming up and we'll hear about them
maybe next meeting or the one after. And then uh I had I met with u a zoom meeting. I did uh uh Pioneer Land Library. We're we're uh entering into a director search and uh we had to narrow down uh down to about four candidates.
Uh and we we've got a pretty good selection and which was kind of nice to see. And then now we just got to come up with a date and time when we're going to do interviews on that. And then um let's see. I guess that's that's basically it with my reports.
>> Thank you very much. Uh uh I can go next here. Uh start off with basically with the uh AMC legislative conference back on the fourth and 5th. Uh and that was a uh uh also I think uh a pretty
reasonable use of our time uh going up there and having our conversations with our legislators. Uh I do want to uh uh highlight uh uh that uh the AMC uh general government committee uh which I
chair we kind of called an audible at the last minute because uh AMC and uh Micah uh were the only presenters uh scheduled for the uh House Taxes Committee meeting. Uh and so we took
that as a genuine opportunity to bring our entire committee uh as many as could make it uh to that committee hearing. Uh and I think it uh uh it spoke well to the legislators that we were there talking about systems modernization
within health and human services. Uh and there was also a brief demonstration to the uh committee uh of the uh uh green screens, Oregon Trail type systems that our uh workers are still having to use.
And uh I mean we're we're barely in the 20th century there, let alone the 21st. Uh and uh there was bipartisan agreement uh that uh uh that these systems are dismal and need to be replaced. uh and
uh uh and it was nice to be able to have some conversations about that uh uh with legislators uh briefly as they were exiting uh the meeting as well. So uh I thought that went uh that went quite well. uh was able to sit in on a uh uh
on a meeting with some uh folks from uh adjoining counties uh and carrying a similar message to Representative Fishbach uh at her offices on uh on Friday the 6th and uh very much
appreciate the representatives uh uh time uh and willingness to uh uh willingness to uh listen there as well. Um, I want to u I want to just take note uh
uh we lost a uh a friend and a relative on uh uh uh late uh late last month, Francis Wetston uh from Lake Lillian was my wife's uncle and he was the last of uh uh uh last of my in-laws from that
family. Francis had served on the uh uh Lake Lillian City Council for quite a number of years. Uh ran the old Ford garage. Uh used to work for Plowman's back in the day. Uh and especially miss him on St. Patrick's Day. Uh because of
course that's uh that's a pretty Irish family. And uh uh and he always had that uh twinkle in his eye and uh uh uh just a just a great sense of humor and uh very
you know take it as it comes sort of sort of fellow and uh uh we had a nice little uh send off for him. actually his uh um celebration of life was uh uh the
Saturday previous uh at the horseshoe. And so that was uh uh that was a nice time to be able to uh visit with uh uh uh Tim and his family and uh uh and he will certainly be missed. Uh the rest of
last week was uh thankfully a little bit of a break in the way of uh meetings for me. Although I know I uh again uh I don't want to blame it on on IT issues but operator error but I missed the uh H
meeting. So uh and then let's see this week uh we will have a uh uh CVB meeting after this and then at the end of the week uh uh central community transit uh joint powers board will meet and uh uh
we did receive I want to say it was uh 10 applications uh for the executive director uh position there and uh uh there's a lot of highly qualified candidates uh within that candidate a
pool and uh uh the uh organization South Central Service Cooperate Co-op that is uh uh doing the search for us um will be doing their uh vetting and so on and so forth. And we'll be having some uh going
through that process uh here fairly uh fairly shortly and we hope to have somebody offered uh sometime in in May. Uh and uh and beyond that uh that is uh that is all I have. Uh Commissioner B.
>> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh by the time it's getting to the end of the row here, we've all kind of uh had a lot of meetings together and been reported on. You know, this time went by really fast since the last meeting since we were in uh St. Paul for the legislative
conference together. On uh Friday the 6th, I had a a JD ditch one uh board meeting, but it was mainly to set a a date and commissioner uh Dwayne Anderson was also present on that and it was uh
by a Zoom meeting doing that. Um, also that morning I met with Caroline, director of uh, KY County Health and Human Services and uh, and myself with JP Colola and we did a taping for some information about legislative updates.
And it was a very good meeting and I appreciate the chance to uh, to let the public know what's happening and and what our concerns are going forward. We had the rifle meeting. I've set up my new uh computer with 365 like everybody
else did probably last week way it sounds. I haven't lost anything yet. So crossing my fingers except there's going to be a little learning curve with it. I had a pack for for family uh annual meeting on the 11th and that was a fairly took up a big chunk of the day.
It was a great meeting. We had two outstanding speakers and also there were some awards and recognition and I just want to give a shout out to uh Mary Jod Cathol from community corrections got a special recognition from the board for years of service and
the services on the the board uh for the uh this uh uh on the board there as well. So that was a very good meeting and I had a Zoom meeting on Friday for the 18 county mental health consortium
uh partly because of the weather and my other scheduling but it worked out just fine and we're just spent some time talking of course the budgets as usual uh we talk about budgets with every committee I guess we all experience that but also our strategic planning that
we're moving forward on and back to today. So, thank you. >> Thank you, uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> All right. Um, I'm kind of like Roger a little bit. I was out of town for another meeting and a little bit of
vacation, um, last week. So, my only meeting that I would really have to talk about is our Prairie Woods one. Um, there's a lot of things that are changing and happening there. I mean, they're really trying to do some improvements um and trying to make things uh accessible for um people with
disabilities. That's that's really a hard thing when you have a a facility like that where it's all out in nature to be able to do that. But that's really what they're trying to to do with the different things that they're looking at doing um out at Prairie Woods. Um yeah,
just a lot of things you'll see coming. I'm guessing we're going to hear from them numerous times in in the next few years of different things happening. Um, the one thing that I I did grab and and um and I'll be putting a thing up and I want to make a little shout out is Earth
Day is on um coming up on um April 18th at Prairie Woods from 12 to 4 and they are having a zoo out there the um to let people see the different animals and there'll be a lot of events,
climbing wall, environmental classes, food trucks, uh guided hike uh project wet games, natural crafts, seed bomb making, um and a bunch of other stuff. So, um it's a great day to take and come out and experience Prairie Woods a
little bit and also um take advantage of the Earth Day. There's a lot of different organizations that help um put that on and it's a really good event. Um but that's the only meeting I have. Um, on a little personal note, like Corkis said last year, last meeting, um, I
would like to announce that I am rerunning for the board. Um, I've really enjoyed and appreciated my opportunity to serve on this board, um, for the last three years. Um, it's been a huge learning curve, but yet I have felt that
I have grown immensely in becoming a better person by being on this board. And um my biggest thing is that I'm here to listen to what people's concerns are and try and address them or send them in the right direction to help with that.
And you know, there's there's always things that people have concerns over. And I think that's what our job is is to try and help out the people of our area and the whole county to do the the right thing and to find answers for their questions and what their concerns are.
Um, and there's still things that I guess I want to get done. So, that's why I would appreciate to be able to do this for another four years and and try and make Kenya County a great place to live. Um, I think we have a great county. Um, there's been a lot of big issues that
we've handled in the last three years and I think we'll have a lot of big issues coming in the future. Um, so I would appreciate um my district's support um for district three um in running for another four years. So thanks.
>> Thank you. Uh Commissioner Mck, did you have anything else? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Thank you for coming back. Two things we should be paying attention to. I already mentioned one of them earlier is uh Representative Kruan's bill that would that would limit our ability to raise a
level to the level of inflation would be I don't know how the hell you'd run a uh local unit of government if you were restricted that way. Inflation rate of inflation is 3% next year. That's the limit of your the uh impending SNAP and
Medicaid uh challenges alone could could reach about 7%. So boy I that's a scary one. The other one is, and I know Senator Lang is sort of on board with this, but so every every time we
automobiles come out, they get better mileage than the previous models. And so there's less gas tax that are being collected every year for the highway user tax distribution formula. Uh so two last or two years ago I think they um
they adjusted the tab fees so that when you buy a car it doesn't depreciate quite as fast so your tab fees stay up a little higher for the first few years of ownership and uh Senator Jazinski is trying to uh resend that and bring them
back down and tab fees have become increasingly more important source of funding for the high highway user tax distribution formula which counties and townships and cities uh get a fair amount of money from. So, um
it's one to watch or two to watch, I should say. >> Thank you. And uh uh thank you for bringing up the levy limits. Uh uh because uh when I when I heard that, I I I might have said something unprintable
um to myself or whoever else was around me, but Uh to me uh that is an entirely uh unserious uh uh proposal. It uh it completely excludes uh the idea that the
state and federal governments are putting more and more on individual counties to solve their problems for them. Uh and uh that's not leadership. That's uh that's uh uh headline grabbing at uh I think I think its absolute
worst. Uh I did want to add one other thing that I'd forgotten that I'd written down here. Uh we're doing a little bit of uh exchange uh uh visits. Uh uh county comm Ramsey County Commissioner Garrison McMerry and I are
going to be visiting each other's uh districts. Uh Garrison is coming out uh uh here on April 20th. Uh and we'll uh uh we'll show we'll show him around a little bit. Obviously, uh, Candy County is a little different than Ramsey County
and vice versa. And, uh, uh, looking forward to, uh, reciprocating, uh, uh, that visit later in the spring as well. So, looking forward to that. Uh, you know, give them a little give them a little tour and, uh, uh, you know, meet
some folks and, uh, uh, show them what we've got going on out here. uh but also to talk about the uh things that we have in common uh as commissioners all across the state. It doesn't matter where whether you're from Ramsey County or
Candy Ohio County. Our our people all want the same things. you know, they want uh to be able to uh have a safe place for their kids to uh grow up, go to school, find a good jobs, make their way in life, and uh uh uh and so I'm
hopeful that this uh uh little exchange uh will be uh uh will be the start of something. Uh at least I hope that there are conversations about commonalities rather than differences that uh that come out of that. So, Commissioner B.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. You bring up a interesting topic about the legislation about levy limits and maybe we keep our eye on that to see if that gets any traction. If it does, maybe we should have a board discussion of how we're going to deal with that or how we
advocate uh for our stance on that. I've personally had experience with the county of even the board setting levy levy limits too and uh very strict ones in the past and also you know the state has done that in the past and it was a little complicated you know what's
exempt from the limits or not and we need some input if it ever takes any traction no matter what we'll get through this and and but I uh if they ever put levy limits I would think it'd be pretty hard to put any other additional transferred of expenses to
the county if they have that on us. Uh but I'm not advocating for leviness, don't get me wrong. >> No, I we we we knew you wouldn't be. >> Yes. >> But uh but there was a a school of thought even during the last legislative session that counties were the problem
and so much of what we do is mandated at the state and federal levels. Uh so to me talk like that is just completely unserious and not not not serious governance. So that's my opinion. >> A glimmer of hope from Senator Clolobashar um was that the uh SNAP and
the >> air rates could become a negotiated item in the farm bill. So there's some hope there that we from that. See >> very good. Uh, anybody else have
anything for the good of the order? Otherwise, the Canary County Board of Commissioners are adjourned. Thank you everybody.