good morning everyone and welcome to the Candyo High County Board of Commissioners meeting for Tuesday April 1st 2025 Please stand for the pledge I pledge allegiance 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 Welcome everybody who's uh in the audience today as well as the folks uh uh picking us up on YouTube And uh uh
April is National County Government Month And I just want to uh uh thank all of our employees and uh uh my fellow commissioners uh department heads everybody who uh uh makes Candy High County a great place to uh uh live work
and play So with that uh the first item of uh business is the approval of the agenda Mr Chair I'll make a motion to approve the agenda Thank you And is there a second i'll second it Thank you Uh any
discussion questions hearing none All in favor say I I All opposed Motion passes And then the next item is the consent agenda These include uh the approval of the March 18th 2025 county board legal
minutes the approval of the auditor's warrants and claims paying the bills uh 2025 liquor license renewals approval of uh CD 46 drainage authority hearing for March 18th
uh 2025 minutes There we go And uh that read a little different Uh Wilmer Aerial Spray Inc permission to spray for tent uh uh tent worm caterpillars And then the last item Wilmer Y surplus property
This is an egg lease uh eggland lease agreement Uh and this is a renewal of an existing Uh are there any of these items that commissioners wish to pull for further discussion mr Chair I so move to approve the
consent agenda Thank you and a second I'll second it Mr Chair Thank you very much Discussion All in favor say I I All opposed Motion passes Thank you Uh first up on our agenda then this morning is uh
uh Woodland Cent's report Uh Dr Ashley Chos Chief Executive Officer Hi every good morning Thank you Thank you for having me here today Um did you all get this in your packet yes Okay If not I have copies So I just
wanted to make sure you all had it Um so uh I am Ashley Chos I'm the executive director at Woodland Centers We like to come and just give an update answer any questions you all have about mental health about Woodland Centers Um the first page in there is really just an overview of who we are Um for folks that
are not familiar with us we are a private nonprofit entity Um our mission statement we support all ages in finding hope and recovery Our our biggest reason why we're in our community is to help people form connections to transform their lives And for Woodland Centers those connections are really important
We know that 40% of recovery is about the connection you make with your provider Um so it's not about the type of therapy you get or the type of service you get It's about that connection and feeling like you're heard and understood And so it's a big part of what we do is connecting with our clients but it's also connecting with our community members It's our partners
We can't do everything in the community So how do we connect when people need housing supports when they need food supports when they need other types of supports in the community that maybe we don't provide and helping our clients connect to those things And so um a big part of what we do are those connections and helping bridge what people need in
our communities Um the bottom our commitments We really are in the business of saving lives That's what we do every single day Um it's really important to us to help bridge access and help people reduce those barriers to access Um finding ways to help people
have hope have meaning in their lives And that's really different for every individual that we serve So again if you're just not familiar with Woodland Centers I wanted to give an overview of just a little bit of who we are and and how we function in the community Uh the next page really talks about um the
services that we provided in 2024 Um so in 2024 you can see we serve 4,762 individuals It's down from 2023 23 was an anomaly We served over 5,300 people Um it just was a huge bump for the year I can't quite explain why that
number went up so high we're back kind of on that normal trajectory of increasing the number um comparative over the years but 23 was just a off year um in a good way We had a lot of people So um the next uh column down there says the percentage of clients by
county So you can see how many people were serving um by each county Are we having an issue sorry Oh no No you're good I just want to make sure if there was a problem I was addressing Okay you're fine All right Thank you Mr Chair I just had a question Yeah Uh
could you lay this out on the overhead camera that way uh it'll be on YouTube and people can see the grass I don't know how to do that Trying to get it up here Okay So that's better Then it'll still show up Okay I don't know how We're working on it Let me guess Okay
Perfect Perfect Um so yeah that next one just shows by county So you can see in Candyway County in 2024 of all the people we served 36.25% 25% of all people were from Candy Ohio County Um we did serve about 16% of our people were from non-catchment counties We do have
contracts with different counties to be able to do crisis services People come in for all types of services across our area So um so that they they come in all over the place We did serve Oh go ahead Did you have a I can interrupt Just to let you know just to let you know what's
up there Does that help that's perfect Perfect Um we serve 69 of Minnesota's counties last year Um and so we do serve people from all over the state that come in and receive services Some of those some of that happens too because maybe they're living in one of our catchment
counties but their county of financial responsibility is outside of this region Um and so we count them as being from a different county even though they might be living here like a group home scenario something like that Um we serve people of all ages so 3 to 87 last year
Um and 32% of all clients served were youth That number continues to grow Um in our mind that's a good thing because hopefully we're serving people earlier at a younger age doing more prevention early intervention efforts So the younger we can see people the sooner we can see people um we feel like that's
better um for everybody involved So it's a little bit about who we serve Uh the next page also talks about the ages that we served Um so just breaks it down by different age ranges So you can see those different categories Um we are seeing more of that 0 to5 population
Last year was 41 individuals but every year we're seeing more and more of that that really young population Um again it's a very specialized area So we only have certain staff that are able to actually serve those individuals hoping to get more trained but it's a very specialized population I also have
employment status of those that we've served on on here just so you can see the different range of people that we're serving Um 28% of all clients that we serve are employed Uh 21% are unemployed Um we do have a really great program working with WCI It's our IPS program
where we help people find um competitive employment in the community Um we're one of the highest in the state for placement um with that program Um so it's a really successful program that we have to help people find employment in our communities Um I also have on here
the race and ethnicity of clients served We know we have a very uh diverse community especially here in Candyoy County And so our goal is always to help people have access to services Um we know that our uh small a community does not always tend to access services like
uh we would hope And so how do we reduce those barriers increase access so we keep track of this to see are we having an impact are we are we seeing more people come in our doors from some of those diverse perspectives um you can see that black or African-American increased slightly not a significant
increase from year to year but we're hoping to continue to monitor that over time and and hopefully see that number grow Any questions on any of those so far i have a question Yeah Do you have any stats on like uh how many are here in here for like um mental health and how
many are like maybe for substance abuse do you have any kind of breakdown like that or I don't in here but we certainly can break it down by service category A lot of our clients are getting multiple services Okay So they might come in our door saying "I need I need therapy." And we're like "And you probably need
substance use and psychiatry and then we do those referrals." Um so a lot of our folks are getting more than one service from us Um or maybe in the community So we can partner too with other community members So if they're getting psychiatry somewhere and they get therapy from us um we can partner on that But I can
certainly get those numbers Do you think most of it is me mental health then or No not necessarily We get a lot There's so much substance use coming through our door as well Um we're seeing a big increase in that That's probably a mental health type of thing too Maybe
you know it's all in one book right so it's all kind of in one category And what I would say is when somebody has a substance use disorder the likelihood of them having a mental health condition alongside that is very very high I mean it's a small percentage that doesn't have a mental health condition alongside
their substance use condition Um somebody that has a mental health condition doesn't necessarily have a substance use condition So it doesn't always work the other way but when you have substance use most likely you have some sort of mental health condition occurring alongside it So it's really important to have that integration to treat both And if you have someone who
has those co-occurring Yeah uh uh diagnosis Uh they really need to clear up the uh uh substance use disorder aspect of it first before you can get to the underlying Maybe maybe sometimes it we we will we'll work with that person
Sometimes they're like you know what I I'm not ready to stop using Okay Well let's talk about your depression Let's talk about your anxiety and let's talk about how that's impacting your life Okay And then let's work you into you know how your substance use is impacting your life Sometimes they might say "I
know I need substance use health help but I don't have depression." We're like "Well you might but let's talk about that right?" And so we can kind of work with people on both sides Our substance use program has mental health professionals integrated right into it And so we can help monitor people and kind of help them along and and do a
really harm reduction model of how do we meet you where you are and move you to where you need to go whether it's your mental health your substance use both Um so really trying to help people wherever they're at But yeah sometimes it is treating one before the other Hopefully we're treating both at the same time
That's always our goal Um but not everybody's ready So well thank you for clarifying Yeah for sure Please continue Um some other stats Most of our clients are living in private residences Um 5% are in a treatment facility when we see
them So sometimes we're getting people as they're exiting out of a treatment facility So that could be like a intensive residential treatment facility a youth facility and then they transition to us as they're coming coming out of that The other stat to note is about
6.67% less than 1% are listed as homeless I think this is under reportported Um I really feel like we have a more of a homeless population in our seven community or seven counties that we serve than what is listed here I think people don't always report themselves as homeless even though
they're they don't have a home of their own they're living with a family member or a friend they're couch hopping they may not classify that as homeless where a lot of us may And so I think this is under reportported um data Um the other piece to note here commercial insurance was a primary payer
of 18% of all services Medicaid PAMAP was 61% And I want you to note this because typically our Medicare Medicaid PMAP percentage is at about 70% that number is significantly down for us Um and this
has had a pretty huge financial impact at Woodland Centers Um because we're a CCBHC our our Medicaid rate is higher Um and so when that percentage dips by 9% it's hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost revenue Um and a lot of people that
are on commercial insurance also hit our sliding fee So we're doing a lot more uncompensated care um because of that percentage dropping So just a note on that uh modality of service Did anybody have any questions and I pause for a minute
just to see if it works Just like to you follow up some more on this as well as you know we hear on the news all this talk about concerns about Medicaid and cuts and so forth and the feeling that's uh happening already Yeah How that impact it sound like it' be a huge
impact as you're saying it would be huge and also from the e economic point of view for the county as well because a lot of people are employed in this field Yeah Yeah it would it would be pretty devastating to us Medicaid is really our bread and butter That is that is our population that we serve Um if less
people are qualifying for Medicaid um we're likely just to see less people coming in our door They're not going to be able to afford the services They're not going to be able to access the services Um we're going to see our communities probably getting sicker um and accessing care in other ways likely the ER law enforcement which is not the
route we want them to go Um but if they don't have a way to access care any other way they're going to go that route Um so that's our worry Absolutely Yeah Okay Um modality of services I also like to put this in here so you can see how
are services being delivered at Woodland Centers Of course um before COVID very very little was happening via teleaalth and that shift happened But as time goes on we're seeing more and more services move back to in-person care which is that green that green bar So in 2024
about 70% of all services were happening face to face at Woodland Centers and only less than a half a percent were happening over the phone Um we do have some outliers which is below So adult day treatment outpatient which is our therapy services and then psychiatry the majority of those services are happening
over teleaalth So when we take those outliers out um about 91% of all services are happening face toface when you take those three programs out and we have about 26 services and programs at Woodland Center So those three are are large programs but it's not everything
we do So just just to show kind of some of those outliers can skew that data pretty heavily for some of the other services that we're doing Yes I'm sorry commissioner Thank you Mr Chair Um so this question might be a combination of some of the things you've
just talked about So teleaalth services does in that would include zoom right yes it does Yes Uh I was visiting with someone recently who was getting service uh via teleaalth and the person they
were getting the service from is no longer it was a contracted service Um and this person got the the client that talked to me said um they're no longer uh employed or
contracted anymore So they would have to find a different uh therapist So is that a result of less demand or funds being cut or contracts being changed like with us here at the county or can you explain
that a little bit absolutely Yeah So uh middle of the year in 2024 this kind of goes back to that payer mix issue that we had Um so in middle of 2024 we saw this reduction in Medicaid services So we started to see less revenue coming in We're doing more service than ever
before but less revenue coming in because people are either on commercial insurance or they're hitting 100% sliding fee So we're doing more services but less insurance is paying for it Um so in February we had to make the hard decision to say we have to reduce our staffing because we can't afford to
continue to offer this level of staffing and not have any compensation for it Essentially um where we went first was our contracts We had contracts with a company called Novatel Um they do teleaalth uh psychiatry and therapy Uh they do excellent work We loved our
providers with them but they're very costly um to have a contracted employee And so we cut uh five of those employees to help reduce our costs And then we had to do some of our internal staff Um the internal staff that we did were indirect staff um for the most part So some care
coordinators some nurses um the direct care staff were those contracted employees and it was really a financial piece due to the change in our payer mix It wasn't anything related to contracts Um the purchase of service contract really covers uh programs and services
that helps us to support those services when we don't have payment Um but it's just not enough when we have that payer mix change so drastically in a six-month period Yes So is the result that some people will either if they can find
another uh provider and a way to pay for it they go somewhere else or they just stop getting the services And so are people kind of falling through the cracks or just going without the service as a result so our hope was always that we would find those
prov those clients that are wanting to continue care and then get them to another provider We did have a small wait list Um but hopefully none of those folks fell through the cracks It is possible Um it's possible some people decided they didn't want to have care from us anymore Um it's possible they
decided to go somewhere else It is possible some of them fell through the cracks um because we were we had over 600 psychiatry clients we had to transfer pretty quickly and I don't even know the number of therapy clients but it was quite a few It was quite a few So that could have been some human error of
just missing some folks Absolutely Yeah But the hope was always to transfer them to another provider Thank you Commissioner B Thank you Mr Chair I just want to comment that you know the Kandui County Board of Commissioners is the mental health authority for the county
and each county operates that way and we are expected to provide services as much as possible and the services that uh Woodland Centers provides is crucial when you talk close to 5,000 people contacts uh a year and that that's just
5,000 contacts each individual probably involves many contacts and for the amount of staff and so forth that it would be impossible for the county to provide these services uh directly We do provide some services case management commitments and so forth and and do a good job of that We got good staff doing
that but the scope of it uh is crucial what you're doing And it's really uh takes me back when we hear that because of financial issues we can't provide the need out there And it's always been that way to some degree but right now it's so important that we try to keep this going
as much as possible And I appreciate Woodland Center It's a part of that whole process makes me think going way back to uh Kandandy County used to used to be and still is a regional center for healthcare and mental health and you go back to the state hospital and that
started back in the early 1900s and then that changed and people moved in the community and uh mental health centers have been crucial in the process of that transition and now providing those services So thank you Yes Yeah it it is definitely important to keep these
services going and I think the whole state is feeling the crunch Every service provider is feeling the crunch and how do we stay viable um and sustainable and help meet the need needs and the demands um while not um honestly
I don't know how to say bleeding to death trying to serve everybody um that maybe the uncompensated care is becoming pretty unmanageable So figuring out how to do that effectively is is really important for us right now So we're all strategizing and trying to figure out how to do it and partner and and I know
everybody's feeling it So it's not just us Yeah Mr Chair Yes Thank you Mr Chair Also from an economic point of view going back to that statement again u uh what Woodland Center is providing for
services uh is a big economic impact for employees in our community and how the different dollars come here from the federal and the state that we fund these programs Approximately how many staff do you have uh now we have aboutund or 225
staff across our sevenount region Yeah And that's all levels So we have people who are entry level maybe peer support have lived experience all the way up to doctors and APRN nurses and everything in between So we have a lot a wide variety of staff that are delivering the this care and services across our region
Yeah Okay Thank you Yes Um so when you're looking at these financial cuts and other things like that are you looking at the purchase of services with each contract i know our health and human services director we and our fiscal supervisor
within health and human services we we review those contracts I expect you know all seven county directors to review these contracts with case management management and how we provide these services Is there ways that um because I
know what the amount we give to woodland centers is pretty hefty and so we want to make sure that the dollars that we are giving are providing those services um because they're grants and taxpayer dollars So are there ways that we can be creative or have you had conversations
with directors in that sense not yet Um we started to have some of those conversations So um Woodland Centers meets with the seven county social service directors every other month and we have those conversations to figure out what are we doing what what's on the landscape for the counties what's on the landscape for Woodland Centers how can
we talk about the contracts and and where we're headed Um yeah I know there's some bleak bleak things ahead as far as the state budget and and the governor's potential budget and what that looks like for counties And so we started to have that conversation too of what are the resources and what is that
going to look like for our future Um nothing specific yet but I think that is the brainstorming and that partnership we all need to have together of how do we do this together because we we need to we're in it together Um and so how do we make sure we are stronger together and support each other and um yeah just
help build those bridges as much as we can Absolutely And be fiscally responsible That's a huge part of what we want to be We don't want to be that partner um that feels like it's fiscally irresponsible So how do we remain fiscally responsible and viable for our community it's a big
part of what we want to do We'll go ahead and we'll we'll let you finish the rest of this and then we'll if there's any questions we'll handle one or two Um so the next uh couple pages talk about urgent care So uh Woodland Centers has done mobile crisis
services for many years Um in 2020 2023 I believe it was we started urgent care We saw this as a need in our communities Um and so mobile crisis is a is a service where we go to you We come to your homes We provide services Um urgent care we saw as a need because not
everybody wants us to come to their homes and when we said come to crisis they're like don't want to stay thanks Um so they wouldn't come to us either So we said okay we'll come to urgent care This is a model where you come in you see somebody you go home And and this is really taken off in our community So as you can see the services continue to
grow every year Um last year we did 704 services in our urgent care um we just see more people coming through this door and so it's been a really great service um here in Candyohigh Um it's open 8 to 4 Monday through Friday We have law enforcement coming in touring this the
site dropping people off there saying hey this person just needs to talk to somebody Um so I think the more we get the word out the more people use this service uh the more it's going to grow So it's been a really great service for us And then mobile crisis is tied along with that But I just have that data in here too So you can see mobile crisis
continues to again grow and and just be a really valuable service in our community Um assessments just for your knowledge base assessments are when we go out initially meet with the person kind of determine what's going on determine any future services they might need and make some recommendations Stabilization is that service we do in
between So they might have the assessment they're referred for services it might take a week or two to get them into those services So we can provide some stabilization in between to just help keep them moving on a on a good path and keep that connection All right so that's mobile Um and then I just put
in some staff data Um again this is a little bit updated um based off of some recent events but um we were at about 250 staff We're down to about 225ish at this point Um most of our staff are full-time um that we work with And I did put in the retention rates Woodland
Centers We've worked really hard on improving our culture improving our community for our staff Um and so our retention rates went from 77% to 95% in 2024 Turnover rates from 23 to 16% So when people come work for us they stay and they enjoy their job with us It's
hard work Um but we work really hard to support our staff and and keep them in this field because we know there's a lot of turnover in this field Um some key accomplishments we are still working on our youth and adult crisis remodel The remodel is actually finished We're waiting on licensing So um when we do
get that finished we will have a few more beds for adults and and another bed for youth And we are seeing weight lists So we know there's a need in our communities We are just waiting on licensing to give us the blessing to open those beds Um and it's been a a long process unfortunately Um we did
roll out measurement based care This is a platform that we're using to automate assessments for our clients and then use that information in a meaningful way in session in with every provider at the agency to say how are you doing and and let's use this information in our meeting today to figure out what what
our goal should be today while we're working together Um so for example if somebody says yeah I'm not sleeping very well Well let's work on that Like what can we do to help you sleep better if that's a problem that you're facing because sleep impacts everything we do And so as providers we can work on that with that individual um when maybe they
wouldn't have reported that without this assessment tool So it's something that we're using in all of our sessions We also rolled out AI technology last year with Elios Um this sits in the background of our sessions and helps our clinicians and our staff with our documentation Nobody went into this work
to write notes Um but we have to write notes And so this um really automates a lot of that process and has our staff then review that and edit that so that we can write really nice notes um but also captures the information Our notes went from 15 minutes per session down to
three So we are saving a lot of time and energy from our staff um but still writing high quality notes Um we are doing uh substance use assessments in like seven or eight jails at this point This is really uh vital for us because we can then see those
individuals while they're still incarcerated and give them recommendations and help with treatment coordination to actually get them into the care they need as they're discharging out of jail services and into treatment services So most of the time we're our hope is to not have a
time where in their in the community that they actually transition from jail to the treatment um because that helps with the relapse rate for these individuals Um what else we started um a pilot project with the Canyu County Dispatch Uh we have our mobile team in
there eight hours a week Um we started this in December so it's still pretty new Um the hope for this was that we could take some calls off of dispatch's hands So when somebody calls 911 um our hope was that our our mobile team being in there with dispatch they could say
"This sounds like more like a mobile call than a 911 call than a than a police dispatch." or we could dispatch with law enforcement and hopefully intercede quicker with our mobile team because we know a lot of those calls coming into 911 don't necessarily need need law enforcement intervention but it's a number people call because it's
the number they know Um and so again this is pretty new Um we're still we work we meet with law enforcement and dispatch um pretty regularly to say how's this going what are the problems what are we running into um we had applied for a grant to hopefully expand this We did not get that grant So we're
working on what are some other ways that we can work with this model look at this model Um so just a starting point for us at this point And then of course Kids Connection here in Wilmer It's still going We have one today Um if you ever want to check it out it's a wonderful
wonderful event we have here in Wilmer Um again one of those community partnerships that we do to help give a great experience for our families in our community some outreach efforts Um so if you have any questions about it happy to answer that But I think you all are pretty familiar with Kids Connection So
and and that is at Uptown Wilmer again It is Yes it's at the mall Starts at 4 Starts at 4 Yes 4 o'clock I think 3:30 Four Yes I think it's four The time has changed a few times So this year I mean our focus really is on stabilization
with everything happening federally and statewide we are just buckling down the hatches and um trying to see how we can weather the storm as best as possible because we know a storm is brewing Um we just don't know exactly what it's going to bring So just really monitoring
everything that's happening and figuring out how we can work our way through it and partner as much as possible to work our way through it So that's what I have for you all today What other questions thoughts you guys have uh uh Commissioner and Dick could could you go back to what was just on the screen yes
please So I'm looking at the uh the retention rates That's a remarkable change uh from 2023 at 77% up to 95% Yeah Um can you share some of the steps you took
to to affect that change yeah absolutely Um our leadership team really focused on this We know there's high turnover in the mental health industry in the substance use industry People were leaving the industry We were short staffed all the time I mean we still
have open positions but um part of this was us working on how we communicate with our staff Um we rolled out a nectar which is a perform like a employees um uh a system for employees to recognize
each other a recognition platform um because what we were finding was people would recognize people within their program or maybe just their director would but there's a lot happening between units and programs So I think that was a big piece of it of just having more recognition Um as we became
a CCBHC I think a big part of this too was helping our staff work together as a team Um we would have very we still have some silos but we were very siloed If you had therapy you talked to your therapist And then you had psychiatry and that was your silo And you had arms and that was your silo Now we have team
meetings So every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 8 to nine those teams that meet with that individual So if somebody was seeing Corki his team would meet and say "How's Corki doing what's been happening with him what what are some updates that are going on?" And every provider from that team comes together And it could be a 10-minute meeting but
they're all getting to know each other and they're getting to know the different services that are happening And people have really appreciated that Um another thing we did was peer like a peer support group So every it's everybody that's a mental health practitioner you can come once a month
and it is your team There's no supervisors no directors Just come and talk about what's going on because this work is really really hard It's really stressful There are really bad days We lose people Um and so come to this meeting and and de-stress talk to your peers And we have uh people that lead
these meetings Um and it's really an opportunity for people to come and just have a space So I think that's helped as well Um trying to think what else we implemented Um we partnered with Aluma Mental Health Center who's um up in Krookton area and we have an EAP with
them So our staff can get up to eight sessions for free um not going through insurance um and their family members can as well So just building in a lot of self-care building in a lot of recognition um listening to them trying to get more input from staff That's been
all of it Uh any last questions or thoughts for Dr Chops uh the one thing that I just did want to say is that under your commitments I think the one that struck me the most was normalizing mental health and wellness
Um and and we can shout this to the rooftops but there's no shame in asking for help Uh this is a completely stressful world right now Uh and uh I was fortunate to be able to receive services as a young much younger
man Uh and uh and that helped me get to uh where I needed to be to be able to uh uh be productive and uh uh and be clearheaded about things So uh I'm always going to be appreciative to Woodland Centers for the help that they
gave me And uh uh anyone out there who needs uh needs help assistance uh uh even if it's even if it's tough just just ask Yeah You know there's there's there's no harm in asking And uh uh what if the miracle happens right and you get
uh you get the help that you need What's your life look like then so I appreciate you sharing your story Um I think it's valuable when when others can see other people reaching out and getting support and help that first call is the hardest call Uh we know from statistics people
wait 8 to 10 years from their first symptom to when they actually reach out for a treatment And we want to have an impact on that number I want that to be not feeling well It's been two weeks I need to make a call That would be my goal Like let's get it down to a month Let's get it down to three months from eight years That would be fantastic So
thank you for that Yeah Well thank you so very much for your report today and uh uh best of luck in navigating the choppy waters that are ahead of us all Yeah thank you all for your support I appreciate it Thank you so much Uh next up uh we have uh uh child
abuse prevention month Uh there is a proclamation and a children's services update and uh uh director Khan uh would you uh lead us off here please yes Good morning commissioners Uh my name is Caroline Khan I have the privilege of serving as a health and human services
director for Candy Ohio County This morning I am just going to do a brief uh proclamation read and and request that you guys uh join or uphold this proclamation for Candy Ohio County for the month of April and then I will turn it over to our supervisors who will give you an update um on our children's
services department here in Candy Ohio County Uh so if you all want to read along with me you certainly can Mr Chair said that I get to read it this morning So so a proclamation for Candy Ohio County Candy Ohio County Child Abuse
Prevention Month uh for April of 2025 Whereas it is critical that children are guaranteed their health well-being and protection And whereas thousands of children in Minnesota are affected by child abuse and neglect each year often causing lasting phys psychological
emotional and physical effects And whereas all families can benefit from strong support systems and resources in the face of challenges And whereas although intervening in the lives of children and their families is an important responsibility at all levels of government preventing abuse and
neglect is a shared obligation And whereas effective child abuse preventions activities succeed because of the partnerships created between child welfare professionals education health businesses community organizations law enforcement agencies
faith-based organizations and families And whereas Minnesota's endearing commitment to prevent child abuse and neglect demands that individuals and communities partner together to support parents in raising their children in a safe nurturing society Now therefore the
Kandandy High County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim this is where maybe you should have read it April as Kandandy County Child Abuse Prevention Month and urge all citizens to join in to promote the safety and well-being of all children and families
and to recognize the child welfare professionals and allies who work tirelessly to protect our children Let us also honor and the strength and resilience of survivors of child abuse So today I would ask that as the the board of Candy Ohio County that you guys
would lift up child abuse prevention month in Candyohigh County Uh you've heard the request of uh uh the director Uh would anybody like to make a motion mr Chair Mr Chair I so move to uh that the Kenya County Board of Commissioners
uh approve the proclamation for uh recognizing child abuse prevention month And I'll second that Mr Chair Thank you very much There's a motion and a second Any discussion Mr Chair thank you Thank you Mr Chair I think this would be a good time to also
mention about child protection work and and our staff and uh I think we all know what a challenge that is Probably one of the most challenging job as a social worker that our staff have to do and just to say thanks to them as well and
that's what we're doing as a board But that is fantastic what they're doing out there And I don't think the public has a clue when when you go see somebody and what takes place And unfortunately too how child protection's changed over the years and you end up having to do all
this paperwork and everything else and dotting all your eyes and crossing your tees uh without uh have and yet being out there with the people that are really hurting and and helping people out And as uh we were talking about woodland centers you know their their job is to save lives and so and so are
we Thank you You teed me right up So can I go into my introduction and tell you more about that we'll do that just as we'll do that just as soon as we vote Oh sorry So that's all right Uh anybody else anything else
all in favor of proclaiming uh April as uh uh child abuse prevention month in Candy County signify by saying I I All oppose Motion passes Thank you very much Please All right So as Commissioner Berg indicated it the the world of child
protection and child welfare is very complex and and tolling and um it's also very rewarding because you get to make a meaningful impact in the lives of families within Candy Ohio County So it is my privilege today to introduce our supervisors One is not able to be with us today Carly Cray is one of our uh
children's ongoing supervisors So in lie of her not being able to introduce herself I wanted to be sure to lift her up and recognize the work she does in leading her team Um and I'll let the rest of them introduce themselves Come right up and uh uh pull the
microphone towards you if you need to I'm Stacy Garis I joined Canyo High County uh this past June Um I supervise the intake unit and then child protection assessments and investigations My team is comprised of
12 workers Um eight of those are social workers and then three case that do the support work and then the intake worker Um she does do intake for the entire agency Um as far as child welfare reports go we screened well over a
thousand reports last year Um that's typically done twice a day in my unit We have standing appointments at nine and three That tells you how busy it is Um when we screen reports we base it on the statute Um we obviously while we can make a difference in famil family's
lives we don't like to get involved if we don't have to Um because we do realize the trauma that can cause also So when we screen reports we have two tracks we can take Well I guess we can screen it out but if we screen it in it could be a family assessment response or it could be a traditional investigation
Those investigations do have malreatment determinations that are made which is pretty significant So um a lot of thought goes into those Last year um we had done completed 169 family assessment
responses and 251 traditional investigations We also um for those reports that get screened out we do have the option also of if there's concerns but not enough that we need to screen it in we can
still offer the families um child welfare response that is completely voluntary service and just hey like we notice you have some concerns would you like some help and they can choose to accept that help or choose not to accept that help at this time Um and then we
also have POP So it's a parent support program We partner with UKAP for that That is also voluntary just to give family just to give them a little support with whatever they might be needing Um along with that child welfare response that like I said that's if
there's concerns but not enough for us to screen it in But that is also um where we might assist law enforcement with some forensic interviews in cases of sexual abuse um we are the first contact with families So we have 45 days to complete
our assessment or our investigation and then at the end of that in the investigations we would decide if there's any malreatment determinations um any additional services that would be needed beyond our involvement and if additional services are needed then that
would go to um Carly who Caroline had already introduced and then Nicole they supervise the ongoing child protection units Um it's kind of a brief overview Any questions regarding that piece
not at this time Thank you so much and thank you for the work that you do Hello Uh my name is Nicole Mson I have been with Kio High County just about four years um next month I've been a supervisor since September I am one of
the two ongoing child protection supervisors Um our two ongoing child protection units are made up of a total of 13 social workers and three case aids At the end of 2024 we ended the year with 106 open child protection
ongoing cases and 65 open child welfare cases for a total of 171 At the end of the of 2024 there were 69 children in out of home placement The most common reason for children
entering out of home care in 2024 was due to parental substance use with a percentage of 33% The second most common um was tied with both physical abuse and alleged neglect with percentages of 12% And then
the third most common reason um was psychological or emotional abuse And then that was also tied with child mental health issues with percentage percentages of 9% In 2024 we had nine adoptions that
were finalized and eight children who had permanent legal and physical custody transferred to a relative We um did serve 30 families including 50 children um that participated in the parent support outreach program which is a preventative
case management service We contract with United Community Action Partnership to provide and currently as of the end of February 2025 we have 58 children on a home placement with the highest percentage of the children being in
relative homes with 44.8% Any questions are there any questions for Nicole all right Thank you so much Good morning I'm Robin Striker and I um recently came to Kandu High County um
going on eight months now So I supervise um the child foster care licensing um truency program which is part of the child welfare and then also children's mental health So in total I have um 11
staff five which are children's mental health workers I have one child foster care licenser I have one family child care licenser And then um I have three truency workers and one case aid So
um like Nicole said most of the um kids placed in foster care is in relative care That is the biggest push from the state is to always look at relatives first you know it's important to keep families together If they have to be placed in out of home placement
it's important to keep them with relatives Um and so there was in 2024 there was a total of 62 open child foster care home licenses licenses Um 47 of those is was relative and 15 was
traditional So that's pretty good you know that um the the majority was the relative Um to so far in 2025 we have 35 open foster homes and 28 of those are relative and seven
traditional Um and so we also have um Candy High County kids placed in nine homes outside of the county that we don't license but the um that county license or would would license those homes um for truency Like I said that
was part of child welfare as well Um and so we have it's it's a little harder to to um gauge the truency since it's based on school years and and they have that summer break And so far in um the 23 24
school years um we sent out a total of 217 referrals for our TIM program And our TIM program is the truency intervention meeting that we um partner up with the county attorney's office and
the schools to excuse me to invite families who are on the cusp of being filed for truency a habitual truent Um this meeting takes place twice
a month on a Monday evening The families are invited It's not mandatory It's highly recommended that they attend Um the county attorney's office does um provide a PowerPoint presentation Um usually there's a representative from
the school there to meet with their student Um and then we have one of our truency workers there to also meet with the family talk about what are the barriers for kids not attending school What what are things that we can do to
help um once they attend this meeting then our workers try to do a little bit more preventative work up front before with the hopes of it not getting into court So our workers will reach out to the school monitor their attendance
after this team meeting contact the family if there's struggles um if they're doing well you know just contact the family saying way to go way to get your kid to school or what can we do to help you what you know is there is there inhome services we can put in home
beforehand is there do you need help getting the kid you know to school our workers have gone to the home at 7 o'clock in the morning to help get them up out of bed um and offer them a ride to school Um so we're trying you know to
be creative on what can we do to to help get our kids to school so that they get the proper education that they need Um so like I said in 23 to 24 school year we had a total of um 217 referrals um to
our TIM meeting Um so far this school year we have about 148 referrals Now we do see an uptick in the referrals coming in the last couple months of school Um but I would say we're probably close to
being on track with with the same amount um as the year before but 23 of those cases currently are in court So out of 148 referrals 23 cases are in court which I think is is pretty darn good for for our preventative work that we're
we're really trying to do and and you know to keep these families out of court I could I ask a question Commissioner Anderson how how many of those people that end up where you talk to them don't realize that their kids are supposed you know when they don't show up to school
that you should call it in or whatever cuz I never knew that with my kids until I became a county commissioner It was like "Oh okay I could have got in trouble We just didn't take it serious." And the school is always telling us "You got to call it in," you know and we're just "Yeah well he wasn't feeling good or we decided to go somewhere." Yeah Um
you know so the schools have to do some work upfront Um they send a letter they should be sending a letter um or reaching out to the families when when there's three absences unexcused Um they
do have you know like in their policy they can have so many excused absences but then once they hit that number um I'm I'm assuming they're contacting the family and say "Hey you know you've excused this many times already What's
going on?" or now they're going to be unexcused Um but the schools do reach out to the families upfront They will have a meeting with the family or request a meeting and and there are times when they will request um one of our workers to attend that meeting with
them before they even get a a letter sent to them to attend this TIM meeting So thank you Yeah Uh any other any other questions commissioner Burke I just want to let you know that I really appreciate hearing the numbers and I think so
important that uh this presentation that you just gave is really good for the taxpayers to know where their dollars are going that we provide important services here and this is an area they don't hear much about and it's Thank you Yeah absolutely And uh uh I just wanted
to piggyback on something you said earlier uh is transportation a really big hurdle for a lot of these families or what what do you primarily see you know um it it is it is a barrier
Transportation is a barrier and you know there are some kids that just won't walk to school you know their their siblings might um but um with busing not available within that
2 mile range that can be that that is a barrier Um and then you know we have some six or seven year olds that are expected to walk to school you know because they're within that two-mile range Um we we do have a couple cases where our worker you know especially on
those really cold days um had gone out just to give rides to these kids and their siblings um because maybe the parent you know couldn't or you know their car is broken down or you know for some reason but you know overall I would
say transportation is a barrier or they or they do shift work and they're at work Yep Correct Sure All right Uh well thank you for this Are there any final questions for the group here well thank you for what
you do And uh uh Caroline uh go ahead I just wanted to make a final comment and just again lift up the work that this team is doing I want to recognize and I apologize because I should have checked this number before but I believe my first report that I gave to you all related to our children's services indicated a drop from about 120 out of
home placements down to about 80 And I want you to recognize the work that this team has put in has brought that down even further um to I mean today 58 That's remarkable for Candy Ohio County That is in comparison to our smaller county neighbors and and the work that
this team is doing Um there was a season at Candy Ohio County uh went through years of turnover within our uh children's team specifically and and if I'm recalling correctly since July of last year and why I'm marked July I'm not sure um we've had about two
transitions and that's remarkable as you look at the work that this team does as mental health and substance use work as Dr Chos said earlier has high turnover this work is not easy either and does typically so I just I want to continue to lift that up I also want to lift up our partners at the county attorney's office and our law enforcement friends
because the work that we do um is successful because of the partnerships that we have with them as well So I just with the child abuse prevention month is you know primarily held within our responsibility but is not a siloed is not siloed work So I want to lift them
up as well in this um excitement Well as as do we commissioner Anderson when when you say 58 out of home placement does that mean that's how many are in foster care is that the same as foster care or is that different yes it's out of home They might not be in a foster care setting but they are not in their home
Okay And then maybe this isn't Germaine but how many are in foster care well all of those would be I mean some may be in like a a mental health placement some may be in a group home So I mean it is all out of home placement It's just a matter of what the the placement type is
Okay And if I can may if I can interject to this was one of the things that I have been um I've asked Caroline and her team to provide a report to the county board because out of home placements is so important because it's mostly levy dollars And so when we see those numbers
at you know that capacity it's the whole judicial system It's within the county attorneys law enforcement human services And so to see this number decrease is kudos to this team Kudos to this team I mean this is phenomenal numbers to see
in the county our size and the positive work that you all are doing and the actual the care that you have for the residents for your clients Um this is something to be really proud of I mean when I saw that number I I mean I like
did a double take because that's very unheard of And so and it's I don't want the commissioners or board to think oh are we not doing our work right because we are we're doing it a different way and we're doing it more of a proactive way Sometimes human services gets a bad rap because we're so react react um we
aren't proactive We're And so I I want to just really applaud this team because we we haven't seen these numbers in a long time within this county and it's just a lot of work and it's not easy work and I could never do it I always say that Um
but just good job Really good job on that Absolutely And we know that uh out of home co uh placements have been a huge cost driver on the levy for for some time now So uh the work that you're doing uh uh I think the taxpayers would
thank you as well It's also the right work to be doing So it's a win So well thank you so much for this presentation And Caroline you have one more item for us certainly do and we're going to kind of continue Take a break please Um yes we'll take a quick
five Thank you so much It's a big deal Well and you know The Canary County Board of Commissioners is back from recess Caroline Khan our HHS director uh is still at the podium and uh please uh take it away Yeah So
I'd like to continue our conversation about families that we were just having prior to the break because we have a unique opportunity in Candy Ohio County to really kind of continue to lean into this work um and start involving some of our community partners uh with the opportunity to um accept a family
resource center explore and assessment grant from the Sour Family Foundation Last week we were told that we were awarded the funds um funds that will be pivotable pivotal in helping us do some strategic work to see how a family resource center might impact our county
specifically Um it's a refreshing timeline because all of our neighbors are going through the similar process at the same time So you'll see some areas in which that will lean into each other because like we uh saw earlier this morning Woodland Centers is a prime example It's a it's a partner within our
communities that's engaged in all of our communities So it's very timely to be doing this work together So if we move on to our core vision and outcome we'd like to conduct a thorough assessment of our community needs and identify f future opportunities for a family resource
center Uh the following the completion of this grant our hope is to find a clear recommendation for our county's next steps and ensure sustainability of whatever that might look like Our guiding values will be community-led decision-making Um we were told that we
have a very bold goal but Candy Ohio County does bold Uh we'd like to get 10,000 voices throughout this initiative and we feel like 25% of our community is at a minimum of what we should have in guiding this work We'd like to see multis- sector collaboration do
culturally relevant services and s find sustainable funding strategies to move this work forward To do this we uh developed a design that was really kind of gleamed off of other counties work Specifically Olmstead County had a great platform for what
they called the co-design or also could be looked at as community design process for engagement This would be partnering with creating communities consulting which is also the same consultant that we'll be using for our uh community health board uh community health improvement planning tomorrow uh in the
NPR as well as the same consultant that we'll be working with all of our neighboring counties as well through their F FRC assessment We'll be looking to host monthly meetings at approximately two hours per month Um and then between those two-hour meetings asking our co-designers to engage in
about eight hours of work uh within their network So within the co-design is they'll come well I I'll get to that later our key stakeholders will be our our department within health and human services uh yourselves as commissioners we're hoping to gain the this uh support
and stakeholdership in uh our schools and our youth organizations our community foundations and healthcare organizations our faith groups and business leaders as well as residents with lived experience in candy Ohio county So as I mentioned with our partnership with creating communities
consulting uh would they'll support our leadership guidance for this co-design or community design process by facilitating our momentum meetings which is what we'll call our two-hour meetings During that meeting we'll have conversation about what is our our task and our objective over the next month
After we launch we'll have a conversation about what have we learned from our our our task such as reaching out to our networks um my network is not the same as Commissioner Gardner's network which is not the commission the same as Commissioner Dale Anderson's network and so forth So in in doing this
kind of spoken hub model we're hoping to reach more voices and community members to gauge their engage their feedback By working with a a consultant partnership that work will be moved forward in a strategic fashion that will lend again in that same model uh through regionally
We're hoping this will uh result in inclusive participation for our strategic recommendations and then they'll also provide some the training on family strengthening and support standards that is set forth by the family resource center national model Um also want to highlight that this was one
of the identified partners that the sour family foundation uh agrees to for uh recipients to to engage with So we've vetted some of the various partners as a region um at be to come down to this recommendation Our data collection uh
will focus on quantitative data such as the demographics and population trends economic mobility and employment health education child care housing and food security Our hope is to take all of this floating data information throughout our county and bring it to a succinct uh
summarized report um what we collect here through public health is different than what Centricare collects and different from what Woodland Centers and UKAP and all of our partners So we'd like to engage in this profile building in a succinct fashion to benefit our county We'd also like to do some
qualitative data gathering informational surveys um and asking our staff to participate in some micro conversations within the work that they're already engaging with at a ballpark estimate Our my department engages with about 15,000 uh members of our community on an annual
basis in different fashions and and we hope that we even just doing that will help leverage get us to get us to those 10,000 voices We'd also like to share in success stories and cultural considerations Like I mentioned our bold goal of gathering 10,000 voices will be done
through our co-design team of local residents uh cultural organizations school and healthc care providers businesses nonprofits faith leaders and government agencies Um and again monthly meetings surveys focus groups and outreach initiatives throughout that
process Um kind of bringing that further we'll use some survey distribution through staff online and paper surveys social media um and local media uh collaborations through um QR codes radio ads and local newspaper inserts and do a
targeted approach with some of our large employers and and see if we can get them to help share our data survey to collect that information Um our goal is to not just build something that benefits one segment of our population but our community as a whole regardless of
demographic Um our focus groups will focus on small discussions with our co-designers within their networks Um and then community conversations at a larger scale similar to what some of our partners at PAC recently did with um in bringing in community members or what we're doing through public health in
some of those community conversations We have a a rapid timeline and this timeline's important because it will help guide and engage our our decision- making and our thought process as we also move forward into the legislative changes that are coming in 2027 and how we work with families This
is a very timely project because it'll help us it provide an opportunity for us to leverage further information and data to help us do greater work in various fashions um uh within our scope of children's work within within our department as a whole Our nine-month timeline will launch in May and go
through February with our community assessment and stakeholder engagement Then moving into our data collection and analysis of our needs develop a resource a family resource model for recommendations and then finalize and implement a plan for next steps This
means that we will implementation plan will be we bring this forward throughout these targeted phases to uh to engage your involvement and community's involvement through these meetings um and just kind of bring forward recommendations for this board to consider of what this model could look
like or not the you know we could gather information and decide this isn't a model that would benefit Candyohai County but it's important information for us to have to make a decision such as that The next timeline just kind of gets a little deeper into activities of the
timeline um and launching and our momentum meetings our targeted focus groups um and then validating findings Our expected impact is to grow stronger families um impact our economic growth within our communities and
provide community resilience through a sustainable and adaptable model for long-term support Uh May of 2024 uh we did a tour where we re we went and checked out Scott County and a model that was different in Sterns County So we've been talking about this work as to
how it could uh potentially impact Candy Ohigh County and kind of kicking around the can but now we've developed a strategy to to move this work forward Our next steps would be to finalize our co-design team conduct a broad and targeted community engagement
synthesize our findings for our roadmap and ensure a communitydriven sustainable model for a family resource center in Candy Ohio County So I wanted to provide a space to start this conversation bring everybody on board for the work that we hope to do
strategically within the Health and Human Services Department to better understand our family's needs and our community needs Family doesn't necessarily mean um you have a unit Family can mean friends It can mean whatever It it's not the same So for our
for our community we're not necessarily looking at it as just a a parent child relationship It could be a sibling relationship It could be a a parent child But in the elder demographic um we really need community resource centers and community work and how we're going
to move things forward as well So I'd like to leave space for questions Um I believe the uh financial implications uh is is in kind from our county as well as we did receive about 96,000 from Sour Family Foundation to engage in this work
Um and the additional costs will be done um supported through that grant Caroline just a quick question What do you see the role uh here of uh of of our elected board here uh in working on this uh is
this something that uh you want us to have some involvement in or Yes Absolutely This at the end uh no I would like to have your involvement um providing your input on on key stakeholders I'll send I can send out a
recommended uh list uh or and work with administrator um Baker on that as to who we are going to target for our our code-design leader team about 10 to 12 individuals I'd like to bring this forward as conversations we can move it to a larger work session as uh we move
further into like gathering data and our our recommendations so you guys have some time to kind of feel through things Um but I'll lean on our health and human services committee members for that monthly approach of saying this is where we're at You are you wanting us to bring this forward every month are you wanting us to bring this forward every other
month um but really talking about that conversation and being a supporter and a champion Um helping spread the word um if we're sending out QR codes and surveys making sure that you have recommendations within your districts that we should be putting those information that information at because
really we want the voices of your constituents within your districts to be heard through this process Outstanding Thank you for that Commissioner Dwayne Anderson Yeah So tomorrow you have a meeting down in the multi-purpose room What is that called and what time is it the community health
improvement um plan through public health So every 5 years we go through our community health assessment and then we work through our community health improvement plan So these are again kind of timely pieces that we can take this information and infuse it into other projects as well But that project is uh
where we'll be talking our community health assessment leveraged uh substance use um mental well-being and the aging population really rose to the top So tomorrow during our community health improvement plan process with the community we'll talk about how do we want to address those issues and who is
going to come alongside public health to do that and how can public health come alongside other organizations to help carry that work Uh this work is not intended that work specifically is not intended to be done just by public health It's um intended to be done by
public health helping convene community partners to address um succinct issues within the community So yeah And that was the flyer you had me hand out to different areas in my district Prime example of how I would like Commissioner Berg got some of them too Um but but
what time was that tomorrow it starts at 1:00 to 4 Okay Uh registration is encouraged not necessary Um but we'll be working through what we call results-based accountability and how can we take and make that accountable action in that project and moving it forward So some of the information we will be
learning through our community health improvement plan process and our community health assessment is data and resources that could be again leveraged through this family resource centered um information gathering and data analysis So thank you for the opportunity to
highlight that again because that will be important work and I'd like to see um a very full room tomorrow Any other further questions for the director commissioner MDC Thank you very much um you mentioned and I think these
family resource centers uh have some great potential However I I do have some concerns about uh budgetary things So how many um how how much staff time do you anticipate uh and and where is this
staff going to come from to to this is a very aggressive uh 9-month uh project here to touch 10,000 people is extremely aggressive I think Um and where explain where the staff is involved here Yep Thank you for that Um I I I agree it is
very bold Um and if we don't hit it even if we're halfway there it's still a success Um uh so the staff time would be at your regular meeting taking five minutes out of that conversation at the end to say could we fill out this survey together So enga in in incorporating it
into the work that we're already doing or handing it out as we leave to say hey if you wouldn't mind leaving your voice u having your voice be heard through this work We'd like you to fill out this QR code or this survey Um so it's not taking out additional time The staff time that will help lead the project is
built within the grant um in in identifying a pro uh a public health coordinator to help lead this work And then the grant is helping cost or offset those wages um for the work that they will be doing on approximate um probably eight hours of actual staff time per
month for them to lead that work sit in those two-hour meetings and help lead that with our co-designers Our co-designers are voluntary for the most part um may look at providing some paid in interpretation we built into the grant as well to make sure that our
non-English-speaking neighbors are heard Um so really not an intensive so maybe about an hour and a half max of five minute increments throughout your monthly work So in putting a number for an inkind portion that was the average
that we came up with of if if you do every meeting you just have that brief conversation Um so this grant from the Sour family at 96,000 I think I've heard I heard you say Yeah I apologize I thought it was in the presentation and I don't um It is Yeah that's for the
planning process for the plan for the nine-month process of staff time the the consultant work any media coverage facilitation of surveys distribution all of those tangible costs um will be covered by that grant So and then
um the uh there I don't know if you saw the article in the Minneapolis Star Minnesota Star Tribune yesterday about family resource centers I didn't have an opportunity to I heard that there was coverage but I haven't had an opportunity to read the Star Tribune yet
Uh yeah in yesterday's paper there was a very nice article about the success Uh there's about nine of them uh across the state and I and they highlighted Scott County Yep Um and I know this is grant dollars not levy dollars but staff time is is levy
dollars Would we not be able to just maybe look at one of those nine uh already uh developed plans and say here's one that works uh might work best for for Canoe County And the other part of it and I'd like you to speak to this
a little bit is uh they talked about the success of the and the and the of course they're not there very they haven't been in existence very long but the perceived success of the family resource centers They covered far more than than the
youth They covered like somebody who needed resources Over the weekend I had somebody ask me about a family member who's living in a house that's being warmed by a space heater because they can't afford their um the rent on the building They had to let their apartment
go And so that that would include people like that So once you get to implementation uh in the article it talked about how there is nothing in the in the legis in the governor's budget or legislative
budget beyond 2027 which is just two years away to cover any of these costs That's fair I'm going to try to answer your question as to how I remember them So I'm going to start with uh learning from our neighbors and that's something that we've already started and will continue to do We call those a community
of practice What's very evident after we visited Scott County and visited Sterns County is what works in one c community might not work in Candy Ohio County Uh Scott County has found uh significant resources saved through their out of home placement costs and through some
other areas in which they've worked which their directors have said they've pivoted now from instead of spending it here in out of home placement or react or you know um for lack of a better term reactionary work that's moving to more preventative work and that's how so it's
it's not additional levy that they're seeing spent but they're seeing more strategic levy spend in how they're impacting their communities to speak to Scott County specifically um what might work in I think St Lewis County is another one that has that they rotate
between two areas because it's a large uh transportation So they work with their commu a library in one community and a community center in another um and are at different times of the month they're in different areas Could be a model that might work for Candy Ohio County Some other areas explore mobile
bus transportation where they have a family resource center bus moving around The important part about this opportunity is it helps us no um requirement that at the end of this nine-month period we say yes we're doing
this Uh to speak to the governor's budget yes there is nothing in legislation at this time um for anything new Um but there is money within the Sour Family Foundation for implementation grant So if we didn't get in here at this time or at the May
timeline for this explore and assess portion we would not have the opportunity to apply again for Sour Family Foundation's implementation grant So what this does is leverage us and have the opportunity to later apply again to the Sour Family Foundation for additional implementation funds um as
they sunset their family foundation I think it's really inspiring that the sour family has taken this initiative specifically to make their legacy and see how they can take um their resources and impact a broad scale throughout Minnesota to see how how other counties
so as I mentioned Mer County is they did an individual um application themselves and they will be moving forward with their explore and assess region 6W which is chip chipa yellow medicine swift county
lacar and Bigstone is also going through their explore and assess at the same time So when we were looking at partners it was important to us as leaders within these areas to say how could we also learn from each other through this But we'll also through this process be put in a community of practice through the
sour family foundation with existing F FRC's as well as exploring F FRC's um to learn from each other on an ongoing basis to see what's working well in your project what's working well in your implemented project that we could learn from and and explore as a potential for
us So it's really not the hope in the broad scheme is to not add additional levy just to pivot and pot hopefully decrease because we're creating opportunities for individuals to thrive without our engagement is the ultimate goal But the also the other benefit is
that conversation that you have with your constituent about their needs It's creating a a low barrier front door option for them to engage and know where to go for their needs Often people don't want to come to the front door of health and human services because they don't feel they qualify They don't feel it's
for them they feel it's it's services for other people but really what it is it's a door to create opport other doors to UKAP who you provides housing heat assistance um if the grants are available or plugging them into other
service and service coordination We might I don't believe that Candy County at this point has the desire to hold this project long term but if we can help move this project forward as a county partner maybe another entity could be the holder of it that will be your decision following the information
that we get I'm glad you brought that up because um they they actually use the word navigator in in the article but when you as you finish you talk about uh maybe another partner would be operating this rather than the county And I know
we're a long ways away from that but do you have an example of what that might be an example to me is is right now a lot of the work that our partners at United Community Action Partnership that they do really kind of emulate some F FRC work but then they have Woodland Centers operating in a different area
that also kind of emulate some of FRC work and how can we bring that as well as Safe Avenues So having those partners at the table as we move through this process will be important but it could possibly blossom something in a way that our community begins to work together differently Um because we all have our
areas of focus and our mission And so again as the conduit and the convenor which is where we come in we are hopeful to help bring these partners together um as we explore our community needs Thank you Uh Commissioner Dale Anderson Well Carol I think you answered a lot of my
questions in the last couple of seconds here but I guess I just wanted to reiterate what you've said You know I'm glad that you guys are being proactive and and doing the research part of this We aren't just going out and building some facility or doing some program without really knowing where it's coming from I I think it's great that you're
doing that initiative to find out what people are really looking for and see what our community is really needing before you just go out and do something you know without knowing what people are really thinking So I think that's kind of the cool part about it But I I definitely think there is a need for
something like this and and hopefully like you just said that all these agencies can kind of come together and become maybe one new group or something new So um I know I said it at our training but that we just were at for AMC but you know change sometimes is
really great and I think sometimes you have to embrace that change and and we come with a better product at the end So thank you Thank you Uh and Commissioner Burke Uh thank you Mr Chair Um this is pretty exciting I I I've been a little
bit involved with this already and I think it has really a lot of potential and I see some of the potential being that there's a preventive uh piece of this as well to let to get to people and help with navigation of problems early
on before uh they come out here and apply formerly for some services for example And so that's really exciting too And I think as you were saying what you're I hear you saying just I'm repeating this to be clear is that once it gets up and running uh we're not
going to be creating a much new staff or anything from that point of view other than there maybe has to be one key person who coordinates this and moves forward But there's so many different kind of plans out there for family resource centers I I kind of think of YMCA's used to have the saying
you seen one YMCA you just seen one YMCA And that'd be true with this We'll develop our own here as we go forward if if this works and fits Uh um going I'm really concerned though about that last part of the whole plan then and if it
does look like we move forward there's going to be a crunch time to look at some of the financial things because there are going to be costs in reference to where would it be that you know uh like Scott County had a place that this worked out really well a good place they
did uh to develop the program but uh we we need that and we maybe need a a coordinator uh that would schedule things for these things going through and that's pretty much what you said Am I understanding that yeah So I um yes I'm going to repeat back what I heard
just to be sure that I'm clear So at during this process of nine months we will have a staff dedicated as a coordinator and and task them with that and their wages will be covered through the grant Following that it's our responsibility to bring the best infor we can to this team to help make our
decisions and formalize our process After that I think we need to be open that it could not be brick and mortar It could be electronic It could be all sorts of different ways that it could look for Candy Ohio County Um so it could involve a coordinator could involve 10 coordinators I don't I don't
know My job is to bring the information Okay Um and and explore our community with our partners over the next nine months and bring that forward to to the five of you for further evaluation and um along that process engage you so you can provide some direction and pivots as
needed So very good I just follow question Go ahead and and then um going back is this similar to the grant then like Scott County got it's the same grant It is the same grand Oh it is the Oh okay Yep Same sour family
So that's that that helps and and they provide an infrastructure of support through through this process too because they want to see their grantees be successful Perfect Perfect Right Uh if we if we have any other further questions uh reach out to uh Caroline
and her staff moving forward but uh thank you for the presentation Appreciate that Uh knowing that uh we have a little bit of a time crunch and some folks have to get out on the road Uh uh going to move uh two items around real quick Uh Heidi Roundhurst uh with
uh Hot Creek Watershed Project Update Uh we'll have you on and then we'll move uh uh Administrator Baker's presentation to the end Uh is that all right with everybody could be too We approved the agenda kind
of as we did Could we uh do the Middlefork appointment i'm I'm looking at the weather outside and I know that you and uh Commissioner Dale Anderson have to get going So all right Uh Heidi welcome Yes Thank you
Thank you for your time today Um can we get the Yeah I have a presentation if we can get that up there Yes So uh thank you for your time today I just wanted to come and give you an update uh of the Hawk Creek wershed
project Um go Yeah So just um just a refresher of our background So Hawk Creek has been around for almost 30 years Um we are a joint powers agreement between Chipoa
Candy Ohio and Renville counties And so we have one county commissioner from each county that serves on our board Um so we have Commissioner Berg and we also have from Chipoa County we have Commissioner Curt Strandberg and then from Renville County we have Commissioner David Hamry Um in the Hawk
Creek water Can you hear me all right I feel like I'm a little quiet I just don't want to shout Um you know originally when Hawk Creek was created uh the purpose was to have a local voice um to have local control over water quality efforts and then also to work on that watershed scale because as we all
know water doesn't end at political or county lines So working on that watershed scale is important So uh historically our primary funding has come from federal dollars from the EPA Um there specifically their
section 319 funds Uh section 319 refers to the clean water act Uh so historically most of our funding has come from federal dollars that we've been able to bring in Um some of our funds have also come from clean water funds which are state funds Most of those funds we've used for um our
monitoring that we do and then some for projects and other things but most of that funding has gone towards monitoring And then uh miscellaneous contracts We have several miscellane miscellaneous contracts that we have currently We have one with the Minnesota Department of Egg uh one with Discovery Farms Minnesota
and then one with the Central Minnesota River Wershed Partnership So future funding Um as of right now um can we go back [Music] one where there's Am I missing one oh I missed one
That's on me Sorry Um history of funding Sorry about that Can you go thank you Um so we've brought in um close to $18 million um to date into our local economies About uh 10 million has been in in grant funds and close to 8 million has been in those lowinterest septic
loan funds So looking forward into the future we have about 1.5 million encumbered as of today Most of those funds encumbered are those federal 319 dollars And if you look at that map on the right hand side that's the grant work area So you can see a lot of those
319 funds will be spent in Candy Candy High County um over the next 10 plus years Um and we also have monitoring funds that are encumbered So we do have um 1.5 as of today I do expect more as more opportunities come You know I don't
know what's going to be available in a year or two You know you don't even have the opportunity at that point but as of today I can say at least 1.5 million So just a refresher of what the Hawk Creek boundaries are according to our joint powers agreement Um it's Chipua Candy Ohio and Renville So Chipua
County is about 27% Candy Ohio is 26% and Renville County is 47% And then if we flip that around and we look specifically just at Candyo High County um the Hawk Creek wershed makes up about 30% of Candy County So um the Hawk Creek
wershed is your largest watershed in the county Um but our work area actually expands beyond just the boundaries We work um actually in quite a a a large area We actually do work in four different watersheds and in six
different counties So when people ask me well what do you do what do you guys you know your hot creek what do you do um you know I could go on for hours talking about all the different projects and all the people we work with but to really simplify it you know three main components We do water
quality monitoring we do projects those on the ground projects we call them best management practices or BMPs and then education and outreach So I just wanted to touch base on those three things Um first is the water quality monitoring The main monitoring that we do is with
MPCA and that's with their pollutant load monitoring network Uh we have six sites with them doing that Um and the point of this type of monitoring is to get long-term data So a lot of these sites we've monitored for several years and the plan is to continue to monitor
them for several years uh moving forward Um we also with MPCA we are the Hawk Creek is the lead for their wraps uh which refers to watershed restoration and protection strategies and this is
part of MPCA's watershed approach and so what um happens in the watershed approach is every 10 years every wershed in the state gets assessed So the Hawk Creek wershed um the first year that they went through its wrap cycle was in 2010 and then we started the second
cycle in 2020 So every 10 years we do uh intensive monitoring We um have several more water quality monitoring sites We look at biological assessments Um so just a lot more um intensive assessment
of the wershed so we can get a lot more data So Hawk Creek is the lead for the the wraps Um so we collect like I said we collected data in 2010 and then in 2020 Um and the data from the wraps is really important because a lot of that data gets used in your county your one
wershed one plans your local county plans and then also to apply for grant funds So a lot of entities uh hot creek but also your SWCDs some of your county departments will use that data to then you know show that yes we do have some pollutant issues or some impairment
issues and then we can apply for grant funds and then get those funds to do work here uh locally So um we are doing some monitoring through the wraps but it's not in the Hawk Creek wershed right now It's in the middle Minnesota so in southern Renville County We have two
sites there So we monitored those two sites last year and then we'll monitor again uh this year But for the Hawk Creek wershed the wraps monitoring that we did here you can see all those red dots on the map That was just what we did in 2020 and
2021 Uh we had 22 sites so seven lakes and 15 streams And that's on top of all the other monitoring we do So that's additional monitoring Um in 2010 and 2011 which was that first wrap cycle we had 12 lakes and 65 streams So it can
get pretty intensive the the monitoring that we're doing in the data collection We do have a site with EPA So this site is um on Hawk Creek near Pryam And so it's a new site but it's also an old site So it's new because we are
going to start monitoring it here in 2025 Um using those federal 319 funds Um I was approved to do some monitoring using those funds But this is a site that we had monitored uh several years back and uh we stopped monitoring it in
2012 We were monitoring it through MPCA and then MPCA changed up their network and some of their locations and parameters So this was a site that got cut in 2012 And I've always thought that this was an important site because it's in the upper uh reaches of the watershed
Otherwise our most northern or upper uh reach that we monitor is Hot Creek near Maynard So that's already halfway through the wershed So we need to be looking at what's going on throughout the whole wershed and those upper reaches are important So um I asked if
we could get this Hawk Creek near Pryam site back Um and the plan is that we should be able to monitor this site for several years moving forward And then we also work with the Minnesota Department of Egg Um and that monitoring is specifically pesticide monitoring So we have four sites there
that we monitor And then we also uh work with Discovery Farms Minnesota Um that's a uh looking at field scale data collection So we collect uh water quality samples right off of a field whether it's subsurface tile or surface runoff Um we
have one site there now um but that fluctuates from year to year We have some years where we have 10 to 20 sites just depending on um if they have you know people land owners that want to work with them and what the situation is and what parameters they're looking at
So we have one site currently with Discovery Farms So here's a summary for 2025 So we have 12 sites that we'll be monitoring and those are spread out over four different watersheds in six different counties and working with four
different entities So it's a lot of moving parts with the monitoring Um so that's just for 2025 Um you know every year it fluctuates So some years we have double or triple that So just in summary I just really want to u make the point that we do have a long
history of monitoring of extensive monitoring not only in the hot creek wershed but uh several other wersheds as well And then that data that we collect is necessary uh for multiple entities to be able to then apply for grant funds
and get those funds to do work in our local area And then future water quality monitoring sites I'm there is another pot of those federal 319 dollars that I'm hoping that I can tap into Um there's a few lakes that I'd like to do some monitoring on So I'm working with
uh MPCA and EPA to see if we can get some of those dollars and do some uh long-term uh monitoring on some lakes So we've collected all this data Um I just want to give you a really quick summary of just a snapshot of what we see with all this data that we
collect Basically uh we do have um water quality issues throughout the entire watershed If we look at total suspended solids uh which is basically how much soil or debris is in our water and usually it's a good indicator of how much erosion is happening on the
landscape Um if we look at our three sites that we monitor in um the Hawk Creek wershed So Haw Creek near Maynard Hawk Creek near Granite Falls so right before it goes into the Minnesota River and then Beaver Creek near Beaver Falls So just north of Redwood Falls all three
of those uh locations or those subwaterheds are in that purple color so in that highest tier level So we do have some pretty high total um suspended solids in the wershed And we can say the same thing for total phosphorus It's
kind of a copy and paste on total phosphorus Uh we do have very high levels of total phosphorus you know in some cases for both the TSS and phosphorus we have one and a half to over two times higher than the criteria So um very high levels Nitrogen we have
high levels there as well We're in that uh highest tier to second highest tier So we do have definitely have some pollutant issues in the watershed Um and this leads us to we have lots of impairments because of those the data we collected and then from the pollutant uh
levels So every two years MPCA puts out an impaired waters list Uh the latest one came out in 2024 and so you can see the map on the right hand side that's the Hawk Creek wershed and everything in red is an impaired water bodies So we have several um impairments throughout
the entire watershed If we look at Minnesota we have uh over 6,000 impairments in over 2,000 water bodies If we look uh at the Hawk Creek wershed we have 119 impairments in 45 water bodies And then if we look specifically
at the Candyo High County portion of the Hawk Creek wershed we have 28 impairments in 19 water bodies So several impairments several water bodies that need some work Heidi if we can I just uh I know that uh and I apologize we're up against a
little bit of a time crunch here but can you uh uh maybe just pick out a couple of the uh for example a couple of the projects uh the MPs and uh and then go into the u uh uh kind of kind of wrap this up for us Yeah Yep I'll speed it up
Apologize Okay Uh Commissioner can you go back one slide so uh the impairments are th those those um heavy red areas up in the upper right Yes those are the lakes that are impaired Thank you Yep If you I I do have the
lakes if you want if the lakes at all but um yeah so we can go into some projects Um yeah we can keep scrolling Keep scrolling There we go Um yep we can keep scrolling There we I just want to highlight in Kandy County we've done 624
projects and that was working with 417 land owners Uh and land owners can be you know an individual candy county um nonprofit all sorts of groups like that I did want to highlight this project This was working with the Candy County Drainage Department This was a wash out
that was occurring um at the beginning of a drainage um or a county ditch Um so here's the wash out and the erosion that was happening So we were able to go in and um put a drop inlet in there vegetate it to help stabilize it and then put a
trash cart on there So um yeah we can just go through these pictures real quick Uh basically in a nutshell uh we've done a lot with um not only the eggland in Candy County but a lot with the lake shore residents a lot of the projects that I've shown you here on the
lakes but um eggland shoreline restorations lakes So um we don't we work with anybody who has an erosion issue So we'll skip past all that Um let's see Yeah And then we can go to our third
component which is just um education outreach Um we do all sorts of stuff Meetings We have annual meetings we've been doing for 23 years Um we've done meetings on all sorts of different topics Soil health aquatic invasive species egg waste all sorts of things
Field days we've been doing field days pretty much since we started Uh most recently we've been focusing field days on soil health Um so we've been demonstrating different reduced tillage practices uh cover crop test plots So it's great way for people to get out there and visually see um what a
difference the soil health can make Youth events uh we do youth events all the time This is a picture of Jordan who's our um water quality outreach uh technician He's using our stream table which is a great tool that we use It helps show kids how water moves and how
erosion happens and pollutants move throughout the system So um we're actually um set up to work on or to be a part of the healthy earth healthy kids event at the YMCA later this month Um so that'll be I think a really great um event Newsletters We do a newsletter
every year We send that out to about 15,000 watershed households So hopefully most people get a chance to get something you know in their hand to see what we do and what resources that we have available We do have a citizen monitoring network We have about 30 volunteers that collect uh some
precipitation and stream and lake clarity with us Um this slide I'll let you read through that but just I wanted to give some specifics in Candy County uh what we've done um and partners I wasn't going to go through this one anyway but just I just I just started typing out all the partners It was just
a highlight um that we work with a lot of different people all the way down from the individual land owner to counties county departments SWCDs state federal um lots of nonprofits local businesses all of that So just to really highlight that um you know our reach is really far We collaborate with a lot of
different groups and people and a lot of great partnerships to get a lot of great work on the ground So there Thank you Thank you so much And again I apologize No worries I'm looking out the window too So I'm a little nervous You probably
have to come short too Thank you And and Heidi I'd like to thank you Just a very interesting presentation different than what we see on the board Generally we know the details of this but uh a couple things I really quick try to make this as short as possible
is one question I had about the monitoring if you if project didn't do the monitoring who would be doing that monitoring and it's it's a lot more complicated than just say we monitor this there's a lot of details that go into this and also I just want to recognize the commissioners 28 years ago
that developed this joint powers to treat the watershed as one watershed plan in a sense there's large degree but these are important services And I also want to point out that I believe there's been very little county dollars involved other than maybe initially setting this
up and ba based basically all the grants that you've been able to obtain almost $18 million going forward Now we know the economy and everything else is starting to slow down There's a concern about that as we go forward But I just
wanted to bring bring those things up Uh Commissioner Dale Anderson Yeah thank you This is great I I did look at this quite a bit getting ready for the meeting but I think you know the big thing that we have to look at and and I'm on the Chipo Watershed board up
there I mean our water quality is really starting to get to be a serious issue So I think the more that these organizations can be involved and be part of this that that's very important I mean there's getting to be a lot of concern about our lake qualities and for
inter you know entertainment purposes and for everything else So I think that we have to really stay active in these different organizations to be doing our part to make sure our water quality is kept as good as we can because we do have a lot of impaired things like you
showed And I think that's got to be addressed and and maybe there's going to have to be some way to spend or to do something to try and help with these issues because it's going to get serious I think all right Uh anything else from the board for Heidi Commissioner i would
just say that it already is serious It's not going to get ser It already is serious Understood Uh again Heidi thank you so much And uh I promise the next time we have you back we'll we'll give you all the time that you need for this and
hopefully our friends in the media over there can uh uh help you out with getting your message out as well All right Thank you I appreciate that All right Thank you for your time And thank you for yours Thank you so much Uh we'll move on Uh Mel Odens public works
director you have two action items for us about the appointment of the wershed Uh I move that uh down to the end Uh would you prefer that we take that now yeah I think is that uh uh of concern for you in your district i I apologize and we'll we'll take care of that right
now Good morning Kelsey Baker Kyoi County Administrator Uh before you today we have uh the appointment for Middle Fork Crow River wershed um not uh board member not district manager position but they we did have to
post it um and the post was published the week of March 5th and the March 12th we received one letter which is attached in your board packet um for Ruth Schaefer as you can I'm not going to read the letter my recommendation because we see received this one I've
had convers conversations with Ruth Ruth She is currently the board chair Uh my recommendation would be to approve the appointment You've heard the recommendation I'd move on uh appointing uh Miss Schaefer Uh is there a second i'll second it
Thank you very much Any discussion i just would add that I I did have a conversation with uh Ruth on actually it was Sunday and again she reaffirmed her interest and she's been very very dedicated to the Middlefork watershed for she was there when I became a
commissioner 12 years ago over 12 years ago So um she she's an asset to that organization Outstanding Anybody else all right we have a motion and a second to approve the uh appointment of Ruth
Schaefer uh to for the uh Middle Fork Crow River Wershed District Manager position All in favor say I I All opposed Motion carries Thank you Uh well Mr Chair members of the excuse me
members of the board Mel Odin's county engineer Um I've got three items that I would like to bring before you The first one is a bid award for um project 34-090-005 It's a concrete trail in
Spicer Um it extends from County Road 8 um westerly to Beach Street It's going to be a concrete trail and then what we will do from Beach Street as you go into town all the way up to uh the Dairy
Queen corner if you will the Legion um we would do ADA improvements So they would have ADA all the way up to um the Dairy Queen Corner So we received bids on March 25 We had um I believe there
was four biders and Ashwell Companies of Koko was read low We've reviewed the bid and they they um meet all the requirements So they were well under the bid and this is funded through um transportation
alternatives grant to state aid and then a little bit of local levy for the match It is my recommendation to award the bid SP34-090-00005 to Asheville Companies of Koko Minnesota in the amount of 297,74489 You've heard the recommendation and move
Thank you Commissioner Mdeck The chair will second Uh any discussion uh good bid result here on this The engineer's estimate was considerably more Very good bid You know what we're seeing is and we've seen it in the other bids we've is
concrete has really come down um in the last year which is good but we didn't see that coming So understood All right Anybody else all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I All opposed Motion
carries Thank you And thank you Mr Chair One more action item Speaking of coming down um the bid prices for Batuminous um are at a low of seven years ago and even before that was 2013 but we received two
bids for this year's Batuminous project which is a which is the the large part of our we're doing 31 miles 130,000 ton Um this is considerably under our estimate but our estimate was based on
bid prices from last year and the year before and we do a 3% cost of consumer price index increase but it for us fortunately it went the other way So we received two bids Central Specialties and Donx Um incidentally those two
biders were very close And so um we feel good about the bids but the recommendation is to award the bid SP34-602-043 to Central Specialties of Alexandria Minnesota in the amount of 9,779,7226 You've heard the recommendation of staff
Is there a motion i'll move Um Commissioner Dale Anderson moves Is there a second i'll second that Mr Chair Commissioner Dwayne Anderson seconds Any discussion um almost 19% under Right Right And and that's represents $2.2
million So yeah this is good news Yeah And and some of the main parts ironically were on on one of the main ones on Conro 4 Um whatever Other than that was um so it's a state aid savings but it's a savings for all of us because
like the landfill got good prices along with some Thank you Mr Chair I think this is probably the some of the lowest bids that come in since I've been on the board and uh now you set a precedent so we expect no but good news we hope it keeps
going so easy to vote on the the good the good part of it might be um and this might be an over expectation but we have this is we're we have 130,000 ton this year and normally we run about 80,000
but when we're in this short staffed and we're doing this preventative maintenance preservation mode You could put a lot of batuminous on the road without having a lot of staff time And so yes um this is a big year but and
they can they can just get the plant running and get the trucks if they if they start every morning they can just keep hauling and we can just keep laying her down So but it does come with a lot of money and it does come with maybe some better prices because you have a
lot of volume that they can um but very good Commissioner I understand um our townships and cities have an opportunity to take part in this by two minutes bid Did we have any of that yeah we had um well let me let me think about let me
think about what if we had a Bumis We had um No we just had the landfill Um no we did not have a we did not have a township the the main projects with that being said is the tri
county road is is the one you know the the joint project to local option sales tax and then we're doing some city of Wilmer stuff college road 7th street that that's good because that helps all our entities there and then we're the the other big one is is the um
unofficial detours of County Road 31 going into New London and so we're going to in essence all the way up to Howard you know including County Road We're going to be milling and overlaying in some cases you know patching and doing some extensive work on both 31 and
two So outstanding All right We haven't voted yet Correct All right Uh are we ready to vote yes All right All those in favor of the uh the bid award uh uh signify by
saying I I All opposed Motion carries Thank you Uh you you have one last item for us Mel Uh this is anformational item on the NSF corridor Before you get to that I know that a couple of you have to go The weather is getting kind of crummy out Uh please feel free to excuse
yourself uh uh as needed Uh Mel go ahead I I can make this somewhat quick Um the administrator and I have been working a little bit with the city of Wilmer and in fact this almost started two years ago for me Um when the when the Wilmer Y
opened and they knew that they were doing less volume of train traffic in the downtown area um Burlington Northern approached both entities about should we do a corridor study through primarily back then was through the limits of
Wilmer And then I said well if the countyy's going to be involved we have a couple we have Lakeland Drive with the um e the um what do you want to call it rescue building rescue squad and then we have Conro 5 and then we have Seventh Street you know in the downtown area But
more importantly for the county you know we have a lot of crossings up and down 23 you know our county roads and then on 12 the whole way So I wanted to include some of those Um we had no idea what how we would go about it We just thought well maybe
since we're so active in your county we should just do an overall corridor study like it would help rank our projects And then this was all in the spirit of the federal funds you know the IGA funds about you know we were successful in
getting the rail crossing elimination grant 4.8 million We thought well maybe you know if we have some projects on the table that everybody agrees the county the city the railroad the public if there's a grant we can like we can
submit We don't have to go through like this development process So that was the original reason why we even talked and then we didn't talk for almost two years because of a variety of things and and then um here a month or two ago the
railroad reached out and said "Hey maybe we should reinitiate this discussion because we're kind of wrapping up now the Y and the Southwest Bridge." And so um I did have a meeting with the city
some city staff about like what would this look like if we did a corridor study And so then Burlington Northern took the initiative to do kind of a draft agreement Now the draft agreement does state some dollars in here if you happen
to see So it's not cheap And so what you know we decided to do is maybe roll this out to the board to say is this something that you'd want to entertain doing i think the city is
going to roll it out to the city council on because it it it would be a project that would involve the public It would involve open houses It would involve the benefit of it is is that you would have an idea You would be very intentional about your plan you you
would have it would not be a surprise if if they you know like the if you had come up with a project it would be something that both boards and the and the railroad and the public endorsed So that's was the reason
So my my bringing it to you is is maybe like a head nod of is this something that we should continue Um my recommendation to the board would be to continue it and it would be a two-year
planning and I would include it in my 5-year road and bridge plan And for me it would actually save me money because um Burnington Northern kind of just like our roads they have their
crossings they they spring it on you you know what I mean like hey we got to do Conro like Conro one next year or no this year And then they're we're doing um Raymond this year because Highway 23 is going to be closed you know because they're doing Conro One So you know
those are the Raymond one's 160,000 and and the Conro one one I think is 40 or 50,000 So the dollar amount for me it'd be better for me to know a plan like very intentional plan of like what are you thinking so I can include it in my
work So for me I think this is my recommendation to the board We we would continue to do this but we would continue to do it also for our interactions with the city of Wilmer Commissioner and Beck um I we all know that anymore today when grant
opportunities uh do become available um it's helpful to have a plan uh on the shelf even if it's a couple years old So um I know we're not taking action on this today but but um you're asking for a head nod I need to walk out the door I
know you do I'm going to give it my head nod on this one Thank you And I apologize for having to pull uh no no apology needed at all Uh Wayne uh any Well I I just think this is a good thing to do Uh I'm just going to say that uh
uh you know I know that Mandot is looking at upgrades to that Highway 12 bypass in downtown Wilmer And part of that involves the potential closure of one or both of those uh crossings at 7th and 10th Street Southwest Yep Uh and so
that's uh I think I think this is exceptionally timely and uh I would certainly lend my support to it I think I saw a couple of other head nods down here It's crucial I think is some of our districts that it supports We got to move forward with some good plans you
know and I think it's a little bit for me it's like the Wilmer Y It was a dramatic It was a dramatic step to take to endorse the Wilmer Y but look what it's done with the vision that the county board had
back then with Westerly bypass We got an interchange we got ramps I mean we got a opened up with a class one railroad to an industrial park Never would have happened had we not taken that back then large step which we probably didn't even
realize was a large step back then So this might help us with Lakeland It might help us with Seventh Street It might help with this County Road 5 and all the things within the city for sure And then you know for the county outside
the city as well So okay Uh I think uh I think you have the full consensus of the board to continue this work Looking forward to that And thank you so much Uh anything that I've missed prior to uh administrative
updates uh calendars committee reports good Uh so then uh uh I would just ask uh the administrator if she has any updates for us today Uh just a few Um so at the April 15th board meeting
we're going to just kind of try to wrap up that board operating guidelines and procedures And so um I've talked with the board chair and we're just going to have that at the end of the meeting Um not necessarily call it a work session but include it in the board meeting to have the the discussion and then
hopefully approve it at the following meeting Um I've moved and talked with the financial staff for the May 6th board meeting So we'll probably have a work session after that board meeting to go over um the first financial um the
first quarter financial report Um we'll hopefully do that 2024 recap and then we'll kind of look at where we're um where I'm envisioning kind of the 2026 budget And then just a reminder um for this Friday is student government
day I just want to do a little shout out for Melissa Kaiser She's done a lot of work with us with coordinating with the schools and the staff and all of you commissioners are invited for the lunch We'll have about 20 25 students that will be with us during the day and kudos to all the staff that have kind of
helped make this possible And um hopefully this is just our first year Um you want a commitment from us now or who's going to be doesn't matter If you want to if you show up you show up That's great Yep Um and then just on April 22nd um the strategic planning
session And the other thing I just wanted to say which I think is really exciting from my point of view it's not only just um what Mel Odin was talking about with this planning process with BNSF but it's also what Caroline Khan is doing with the family resource center and you know difference with dollar I
mean it's around the same dollar amounts grant levy but still it's the planning process and I think that's where sometimes counties um don't go after that initiative and are proactive in that and so um the work that each department is doing in planning to set
us up for the future is really cool to see and I um I'm proud to be a part of the team Outstanding Uh thank you for that and uh uh looking forward to uh Friday with the uh uh students coming in over here and
uh looking forward to taking part in the panel discussion as well So uh does anybody have any uh appointments uh pending yet no Okay Uh then we are down to uh uh committee reports Uh
Commissioner Dwayne Anderson Okay So since our last board meeting I had I think six I wrote down here meetings One was that road and bridge u meeting that we had with Mel with public works on the 18th and then uh we we were all there So
uh that's pretty much a routine one I don't need to report on that Uh then on the 20th I had Pioneer Land uh library system meeting basically a routine one that was with uh Commissioner Dale Anderson as well Uh then on the 26th I had the
Armors meeting that's emergency services board Uh they're still working on a lot of things uh one is uh uh getting ready for NG 911 to be prepared for that and to kind of get all the equipment and stuff uh statewide I guess would be but in in our
region especially um because that's who our the meeting was about uh it's to get it that way which is to go from analog devices to uh digital um and that's going to be quite a process because we
have a lot of uh different towers and equipment and ditch dispatch centers that need to be uh get on board and to get updated with their equipment So I think Can County is pretty well situated for that but uh there's some areas that
need to get a little push to get them moving along Um and uh on the 27th I met with uh some of the county employees with uh the employee employee wellness committee That was kind of interesting And it was basically just uh how to get
uh the county employees uh keep active and do a little different things with uh eating healthier and and keeping people moving so that uh we kind of can help with our uh I suppose would be our health insurance overall Yeah So uh that
was it was kind of interesting to go to I also had a UKAP meeting that was Zoom uh basically a routine meeting Uh they were talking about our uh that uh uh development on uh for like apartments or whatever for people that need a little
help uh that end up being maybe homeless for a little period and to get them back on their feet Uh that's that's moving along quite well here in Wilmer and and I'm kind of glad that they got that and they got a quite a big uh grant for that It paid for the whole thing basically So
uh and then uh uh we had our county township association meeting with the townships yesterday and basically all of us were there I think or maybe four of us So uh that was kind of interesting as well That's my report
Thank you Commissioner Dale Anders Sure I can go Um so it like Dwayne said we had a road and bridge meeting After that I went to the uh soil and water conservation meeting Um and that was the one thing I was going to bring up but I could have brought it up during the hot
creek thing is a lot of people around this area have had major shoreline destruction from all the ice heaves and everything And please go and talk to your soil and water conservation They've got a definitely good program that that
can help out restore some of them shoreland um destruction that was done from the ice So take time and and give them a call I actually brought that up to a couple people and I even got emails back thanking me because they didn't realize that was available So if you
have shoreland problems give them guys a call It's it's a big deal for this year Everybody seems like they've got their their shoreland has been heaved up So um that was one thing there I went to the library meeting with Dwayne like you said on the 20th Um and then I was at a
leadership training for AMC um from the 26th through the 28th and probably the best leadership training I think we've ever had Um very very interesting Um it was the thing that I took out of it that really makes me still kind of chuckle is
we all have our cell phones and we're all watching emails We all got our computers and a lot of times at these meetings you see people sitting with their iPads open or they're sitting on their phone and there was only one time where everybody kind of at the last day everybody was kind of going I've got to get checking some of these emails So and
he actually called everybody out on it and and it was instantly put away and everybody was so engaged It was almost funny to watch how people were not half sleeping and not half you know doing other business So it was really kind of an interesting um deal that I haven't
seen in a long time Normally you go to meetings everybody's always doing other work So um he was very good It was actually a guy from Albany that did the this the whole project and um yeah I felt it was probably one of the best one we've had So I I learned a lot and and
really appreciate that I was able to go and take part in that Um other than that I did not make it to the township meeting but I heard it was a good meeting So that's all I know Commissioner B Uh thank you Mr Chair Uh after the last board meeting we had I
had a meeting an intergovernmental uh agency meeting with the schools and and Commissioner Gardner there and of course Administrator Baker was there as well as a city of Wilmer staff and had a very good discussion We talked about how can we possibly collaborate more on
different projects and informing each other with what's taking place and happening uh and also talked about dollars and budgets so forth Um I had a Prairie Lakes youth program and u uh things are moving forward with that
Unfortunately the big plans we had that we'd be moved in by now into the new facility and there's more to it as we go along of course and we have to we're still waiting for licensing from the Department of Corrections as well since it's a new facility and uh other aspects
as well So but we hope to be in there in a couple months So and looking at other grants and and still trying to uh keep an eye on everything as we go through uh uh through this uh year Uh had a woodland centers meeting and you we've
had the update on that We did spend a lot of time talking about finances and budgeting and the services and the cost for the services and trying to look at as many options as possible to make everything work as and continue to provide as many services as possible to the hundreds or thousands of people that
they serve each year Uh I had uh Friday my uh myself uh Commissioner Gardner maybe you can talk more about that uh as as well as commissioner uh MDC uh an EDC meeting and that was took up the whole
day and and hiring the new staff person there Um I had attended the online the AMC legislative update on on last Monday or or on the 24th as well as I attended uh on this past Saturday the legislative
update from our local representatives for our state uh legislative uh group and it was very uh very good discussion we had there Very good It's tough This is going to be a financial tough thing going forward And everybody this is the
first time I've ever heard so much talk about hey we got to work together across party lines We got to you know make this work together And we're at this point now So I'm feeling really positive of of that And uh the township meeting and I'm done
All right Thank you Uh I'll try to be brief uh uh again attended the intergovernmental uh meeting with administrator Baker and uh Commissioner Berg as well Uh and uh I I think there's some potential opportunities there to uh
uh work together a little more closely And I think that's going to be something that's uh uh going to be highly important uh moving forward especially with the uh uh uh turmoil in Washington and St Paul as it relates to uh
opportunities for cities counties and school districts uh uh like the stock market uh these entities like stability Uh we crave stability in our operations and uh so there's some major concerns at
both levels uh that uh that we as counties will have and uh our cities and school districts as well So looking forward to those continued conversations and uh potential collaborations Uh the uh KCED Kander County Economic
Development uh which is a joint powers uh with Kandandy County and the city of Wilmer uh did hire a new executive uh director Uh she has accepted Barbara Carr uh will be uh on boarding beginning April 16th Uh and we're looking forward
to having her Uh uh Barbara is a native of Minnesota Uh has a former uh uh executive director position that she held uh in Aken County uh with uh Aken County Growth uh and has uh continued to
work within uh economic development field uh and we're uh uh we're looking forward to having her on board I want to also give a shout out to uh Michelle Moratsky who has been our interim uh director during this time and she also serves as our business development
manager Uh uh Michelle does phenomenal work for us uh and I just uh don't want that to go unrecognized and uh uh you know she's been uh uh uh she's been doing a lot of work uh now and she'll continue to uh uh bring that forward and
we're and we're looking forward to seeing what uh uh what KCD can do for us in the future Thanks for bringing that up I like to echo and uh I too attended the AMC leadership summit Uh Scott Wellie is the presenter
He's a native of Albany and uh uh does really really solid work What I enjoyed most about this uh were uh again the accountability that uh he demanded from us Uh uh but he uh he had a room full of
uh uh folks both uh commissioners and staff members from various counties uh and everything that he gave us were things that we could work on now uh that are going to be relatively easily uh
implemented and uh uh not just not just for ourselves as individuals but uh but for ourselves as uh as groups and uh uh I'm I'm I'm so highly impressed with that and that was like Dale said that was the most impactful leadership
training that uh uh that I'd been uh able to be a part of and So uh really looking forward to u uh uh continuing that uh uh that work as well and hopefully we can bring some of this to uh to our organizations here as well Uh
and uh uh two other items on Friday of course we have the student government day here and looking forward to uh uh participating in uh in that And uh Thursday morning uh is the uh uh local
chamber is holding their annual leadership banquet And uh uh Michelle Moratsky is uh is one of the uh award recipients as well as our administrator Kelsey Baker is an award recipient as
well and looking forward to uh uh attending that I know Commissioner Berg is uh uh doing that as well and uh just wanted to say to you congratulations Uh you received multiple nominations across that and uh uh we're look uh looking
forward to seeing you recognized on Thursday Thank you Uh that's all I have Does anyone else have anything for the good of the order um just a reminder I think uh Water and Soil is having her open house today Yeah And if everybody
wants to go in the bad weather they would love to have you come And uh if I remember correctly that is Wow I don't remember correctly Um that is from like uh well now until 4 something 10 to 4 10 to 4 Okay sounds good Well we'll we'll
try to make that uh try to make that work Uh everybody uh watch the weather drive safe and uh uh we've concluded our business And so the Kandai County Board of Commissioners is adjourned