Good morning everyone and welcome to the uh April 21st 2026 meeting of the Candy County Board of Commissioners. Please stand for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I want to thank everybody who's in the room today as well as uh everyone who's following us on the uh YouTube. Thank
you for your interest in uh local Candy County government. Uh I'm going to ask for approval of the agenda with uh we're going to make one small switch. We're going to flip-flop the 10:30 and 1040 items. Uh Mel needs just a little more
time to uh uh finish doing some tabulating. So uh with that, is there a motion to approve today's agenda? >> I'll make that motion, Mr. Chair. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda today. Discussion
hearing none. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Thank you. The next uh item for consideration is the consent agenda. These are typically the routine matters that come before us. and to today they approve uh
include the approval of the April 7th, 2026 county board legal minutes, approval of the auditor's warrants and claims. Approval of the human services warrants and claims cancellation of human services warrants. New London Fire
Department Relief Association exempt permit. approval of employee handbook updates and approval of rescue squad policies. Are there any of these items uh which any commissioners would wish to pull
from the consent agenda? Hearing none, then I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So move, Mr. Chair. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. discussion hearing. None. All in favor
say I. >> I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Thank you. Uh at this time we will uh recess the Candyo County Board of Commissioners meeting and we will reconvene as the drainage
ditch authority and we are going to hold a public hearing in the matter of the petition for the partial abandonment of Candyo High County ditch 62 branch 2 and 2A. Uh and so at this time I would like
to welcome everyone who's attending today's public hearing. Uh and the purpose of this hearing is to receive uh comments and testimony from all parties interested in the petition of HSP Farms
LP RDP Farms uh LP and Richard and Mary Shik uh Shik to abandon a part of County Ditch 62 branch 2 and 2A. That's much better. Please note that minutes and notes regarding this morning's
proceedings are being taken from our staff. And first, uh, Kale Vanugan, the drainage authorities attorney will provide a general overview of the purpose and procedures for the hearing. Uh, following Mr. Van Vanugan, Mr. Austin Hillbrands, the Candy County
Drainage Inspector will submit evidence for the record showing that notice was provided for today's hearing and will present information pertaining to the petition. Uh after Mr. Hillbrands, I will open the hearing for public comments and questions before the board deliberates. Do any board members have
any comments before we begin? >> Uh Mr. Van Bugen, then uh uh please proceed. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board. The petition for partial abandonment of county ditch 62
uh branch 2 and 2A requests to abandon a portion of branch 2 and all of branch 2A in order to replace that portion of public drainage tile with private tile. The Candyo High County drainage inspector Austin Hillbrands has verified
that the petitioners who signed on to this request represent the owners of property that are presently listed on the benefits role for county ditch 62 that are within the watershed of the portion of the ditch system proposed to be abandoned. The petition contains a
commitment for HSP Farms Limited Partnership and RDP Farms Limited Partnership to be responsible for the administrative and legal costs that are incurred by the drainage authority as costs of today's proceedings. The statute we're operating under is
Minnesota statute section 103E.806. The statute says that if the board finds that the part of the drainage system to be abandoned does not serve a substantial useful purpose as part of the drainage system to any property remaining in the system and is not of a
substantial public benefit and utility, then the board must make findings in an order abandoning the system. After partial abandonment is granted, a repair petition may not be accepted for that part of the system and the responsibility of the drainage authority
to inspect and maintain that part of the system formally ends as the rightway is released to the underlying land owner. So for today's hearing, the board is going to receive evidence from your drainage inspector showing that we complied with the notice requirements
for today's hearing. There'll be an opportunity for the petitioners if they would like to present any comments they have on the petition. The chair is going to open the floor for any public comments or questions. And then following the public comment portion of today's hearing, the board will
deliberate on the evidence it received and then take action. One of those actions can be that the board could continue the hearing today and request further investigation before it makes a decision. or the board could proceed to deliberate on the two questions in the
drainage code statute and then decide to either grant or deny the petition based on those deliberations. And again, those deliberations will be asking based on the record before you whether or not the portion of the drainage system to be abandoned serves a
substantial useful purpose as part of the drainage system to any property remaining in the system. That's question one. Then question two would be whether or not the portion of county 62 to be abandoned is of substantial public benefit in utility. If the answer to
both those questions is no, then the petition should be approved. If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then the petition should be denied. With that, Mr. Chair, do you or any commissioners have questions for me about the procedure or the standard
before the board today? >> Any questions for Attorney Van Bugen? hearing none. Then uh uh Mr. Hillbrands uh will you present evidence of compliance with the notice requirements and comments on the petition. >> Morning, Mr. Chair, board members,
Austin Hill branch drains manager. Um I have affidavit to submit for the record. So I have affidavit of mailing on the 24th day of March. I mailed the the hearing notice to all benefit land owners their last known tax address um giving notice to the benefit land owners the date time and place of this public
hearing. I have affidavit of posting. So on the 24th day of March I posted a hearing notice outside the Kandai County boardroom in the main bulletin board and also at the uh Candy County Courthouse on the main bulletin board giving um notice to the public the date, time and
place for this partial abandonment hearing. And then I also have an affidavit of publishing on the county website. I uh caused the link to be the link for the notice to be published on the Kandai County drains website. Um giving notice to public the date, time, and place of this petition for partial
abandonment. Um so that's the notice requirements. In your board deliberation guide, there is a map that shows where this abandonment is taking place. It's going to be an arc tander section 34. We're
going to abandon all of branch 2A. Um that's the branch going to the west and then a portion of branch two um up to the up to the county uh road right away. Um so that's approximately like station uh five plus 55 um for branch two. So
and then to the west Richard and Mary chic they have just surface water coming into to that low bottom um to the low ground on uh Pierce's farm there. So I it is your drainage manager's opinion that an easement isn't required for this
one for for private drainage. There's no private drainage coming no private tiles coming out of the neighbors anyway. So >> okay. >> All right. Uh board members, do you have any questions for Austin? >> Oh, I have one. >> Commissioner Anderson.
>> So was this already abandoned or was or is this are we doing house cleaning or are we uh or >> No, this this this portion hasn't been abandoned yet. >> Okay. Well, I'm glad that they came before us after the fact. >> This is this is the portion south of that county road. So,
>> okay, great. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Anyone else with questions for Mr. Hillbrand? All right. With that, then we are ready to hear from members of the public who wish to comment. If you would like to make a comment, please raise your hand
and when I recognize you, uh, come up to the microphone and please state your name and address for the record. Uh if you have property affected by the proposed project, it will also be helpful for you to identify the property. If you have a specific question concerning the project or
proceedings, we may ask Mr. Van Bugan, Mr. Hillbrand's uh if they uh uh are able to respond. If you have anything in writing you wish to submit, uh you can provide it to me during the public comment portion uh of the hearing. Uh is
there anyone who wishes to speak uh on this matter at this public hearing? Sir, my name is Howard Pierce. I represent HSP RDP. Um it's a shallow ditch right now. That's why we'd like to replace it
with the tile um and make much easier for us to farm and operate around all that stuff. I guess that's the biggest reason for us to do that and uh it would be our it's all our expense. So, and it does not affect the sheets at all and uh
yeah, I guess I don't know what else to tell you, but that's basically what'll help us make straight rounds. >> So, all right. Questions? >> Can I I have one question? >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Okay. So on this map there, because I'm
not familiar with it, so there's some they're either yellow or kind of lime green dashed. >> Yep. >> Uh is that tile now or is that open ditch? >> That's been tiled. A lot of that's been tiled before we actually owned it. So >> But is that >> That is a tile.
>> Oh, that's a tile. Okay. And then how big is that tile? >> Um I believe that's about a eight or 10 inch. Okay. >> Thank you. >> The one going to the west. >> Okay. All right. Anyone else?
Thank you very much. Anyone else who wishes to speak on this matter? Anyone else that wishes to appear uh before us on this matter? Is there uh anyone who has any written
materials that they wish to present? All right. Then there being no further testimony from the public, I hereby close the public comment portion of the hearing. Mr. Van Bugan, uh, will you please advise us of our options at this point? >> Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, at this point, if
the board feels it needs more information before it can deliberate on those two questions of standard in the drainage code, you could continue the hearing and direct further investigation uh directing the additional information that the board needs to make a decision.
Otherwise, if you're ready to deliberate based on the standard, I am prepared to walk the board through the two questions in your board deliberation guide for that purpose. How would the board like to proceed? Uh any any questions for Mr. Van Broen
on this? All right. Then uh uh take us through the uh two uh questions, please. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, the board will be acting on the record before it, which is the petition for partial abandonment as well as the testimony of HSP Farms. The first
question that the statute requires the board to answer is whether or not the part of the drainage system to be abandoned serves a substantial useful purpose as part of the system to any property remaining in the system. Again, if you answer no to this question, that
would be supporting approval of the petition for partial abandonment. Answering yes would be in support of denying the petition for partial abandonment. Commissioner Dale Anderson, how do you answer? No >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson.
>> No >> Commissioner Berg. >> No >> Commissioner Gardner. >> No. >> Commissioner MDEG. >> No. >> The second and final question, Mr. Chair, is whether or not the portion of County Ditch 62 to be abandoned is of
substantial public benefit and utility. Again, answering no to this question would be supporting the petition for partial abandonment. Answering yes would be supporting denial of the petition for partial abandonment. Commissioner Dale Anderson, how do you answer? >> No. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson,
>> no. >> Commissioner Berg, >> no. >> Commissioner Gardner, >> no. >> Commissioner Mike, >> no. >> So, with that, Mr. Chair, the board has unanimously uh answered no to both questions in statute. According to the
drainage code, that means the board should approve the petition by findings and order. There are draft findings and a proposed order in your board packet. The draft findings and proposed order that were made available to the board grants the petition uh makes clear that
this releases the right of way for the portion of the system to be abandoned and then uh assigns petitioner HSP and RDP farms the responsibility for all the costs incurred to conduct these proceedings. So with that, Mr. Chair,
we're recommending the uh example motion three to approve the draft findings and proposed order as prepared by your council for the hearing. And if that motion is made, it would be voted on by roll call vote. >> All right. Uh would anyone wish to um
move to approve the draft findings and proposed order? >> Mr. Chair, >> yes. >> I move to approve the draft findings and proposed order as prepared by our council for today's hearing. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it.
>> Thank you. Um, we have a motion stated by Commissioner Mdeck and sec seconded by uh Commissioner Dale Anderson. Is there any discussion? >> All right. Hearing no discussion, then we will vote on this motion by roll call.
Uh, Commissioner Dale Anderson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Dwayne Anderson, >> I. >> Commissioner Berg, >> yes. Chair votes I. Commissioner Imduct >> I. >> Five eyes, zero nays. That motion passes. Uh
Mr. Van Bugen, is there anything else that we uh need to do in terms of conducting the rest of this or are we finished? >> You are finished, Mr. Chair. >> All right. Very good. Thank you so much. I want to thank uh everybody who was
here to uh on this matter. Uh and at this time then we will adjourn as the uh uh drainage ditch authority and we will reconvene as the Candy County Board of Commissioners and go back into regular business.
Next item is uh another one of yours, Austin. Uh and this is uh resolution 2026-22 the 2026 noxious weeds appeal committee. Coming to you now is the egg inspector.
So yeah, I'm seeking a motion to uh approve resolution 2026 for the Noxious Wheel appeal Noxious Weed Appeals Committee. Um so under Minnesota statute 1 or 18-83, um we we we need to appoint members of a
noxious weed appeals committee. Um this is for land owners in Candy County to appeal um either either uh my noxious weed um enforcement or the local weed inspectors of the um townships um they
can appeal to this noxious weed appeal committee. So, >> all right. So, uh I see that we're listing Commissioner Dwayne Anderson on there again. And Dwayne, have you guys met in your time?
>> We we haven't a good thing. So, >> all right. Well, this this is a good thing then. >> Uh so, then um uh I will I will move resolution 2026. >> Mr. Chair, one more thing, too. I forgot. Um we did up the um pdium to $60
from 35. So um if if we if there anybody's ever called out to this, they would get a $60 pdeium. So >> that's that's the least we can do. >> Yes. Yep. >> All right. Very good. Well then I will move resolution 2026-22.
Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson seconds. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of the resolution say I. >> I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Austin, thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> All right. And ah there you are. >> You snuck in, Gary. Uh uh at this time uh we will consider a landfill contract. Uh and Gary Gear, our environmental services director, is here
to walk us through that. Gary, good morning. >> Good morning. Good morning, board. Uh yes, thank you. Gary Gear, Kenya County environmental services director here this morning to present the construction contract for uh the landfill for this
season and it is titled the LFD CAP 2026 and that's the final uh 4 acre cell in the demolition cell that's uh getting the final cover. So that is the the thrust of the project and again a 4 acre
uh cap and staff and both engineering have recommended awarding the contract to Swenson and Suns Excavating in the amount of 664,91.39 and uh that was I should have mentioned uh it is uh under the engineers estimate
which was 821,79601. So, uh, bids came in good and, uh, happy to present this bid to you, uh, to force Swinson and Suns. >> All right. Very good. Uh, are there, uh, any questions for Mr. Gear?
>> Um, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you briefly describe what's all involved? It's pretty complicated, but very very briefly. Yes, >> it it is. Uh but this isn't as complicated as our MSW cells of course, but this is the demolition cell. Uh
which of course at the end of last year, this is our we're no longer accepting demolition, but so this is the final cover o over the top. The demolition landfill cell has not been lined. So there wasn't a liner under it. So there's less work involved, but they
still require us to do a final cover. So there's a poly there's sand layer put over the top and then the poly cover uh welded together to the previous cells and then vegetatively covered over the top of that. So that's the the thrust of the involvement because we're not
wanting to have any extra percolation down through that so that only what is potentially generated through the the demolition waste that has been placed there would be seeping. So, uh, that's kind of in a nutshell, I guess, captures what the what the demolition cell final
cap would be considered. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions, Commissioner Dale Anderson? >> Being it's demolition, Gary, do is there still air vents going into it so it can decompose or does that seal it up?
>> Uh, there are not air vents. Uh, so this would, you know, it seals. Yes. So other than uh going down, we're we're capturing >> right >> simply within that. >> Okay. >> Yep.
>> Anyone else? >> All right. Then you've heard the recommendation of staff. Uh is there a motion to award the contract? >> Um Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to award the contract to Swinson and Suns Excavating, Inc. in the amount of
$664,91.39. Is there a second? >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Commissioner Berg second. Thank you. Any discussion? Commissioner Mck. >> Thank you. Um I might have misunderstood that. So as of January 1st, we're no longer taking uh demo.
>> Correct. >> From commercials, but private parties can still bring demo out or no? >> Um >> that's how I understood it. There's some demolition that does show and people choose to dispose of and we have accepted a small amount of demolition
into the MSW cell. >> We're not wanting to take an exorbitant amount of demolition uh because we have constructed and built the MSW cell for with a lot of dollars to accept MSW waste. So, we're not wanting to put, you
know, over the top amounts of demolition in there, but also people aren't necessarily wanting to. They they do one time because they're at the scale, but it's three times the price because we're we're at MSW rates in the MSW cell. So
while we've accepted some and continue to um most people are choosing to to find another uh solution >> and then to uh follow up on that uh for uh those uh folks or entities who uh uh
wish to get rid of uh demolition uh product then uh what is their option? Is there another landfill in the county taking that? >> There is. It's the DemCon demolition landfill aligned facility just off of Highway 23 and County Road 2. Uh just
before you get to Howick. Um so they accept the waste. Uh I know uh there's a demolition landfill close to Sedan which you know is is a waste for us but it's uh owned by Tom Kramer Incorporated who does some contracting through this uh
through our county as well and hauling. So those would be the two closest potential options for folks. >> All right. Very good. Any uh any other questions for Mr. Gear? >> Maybe one more. M >> Commissioner MDC. >> So will there be a time where we uh stop
accepting private uh demo in the MSW? Uh >> not in our foreseeable future. No. Um, so we do accept, but uh we've seen it to be a very limited amount because people are choosing to go somewhere else because they're not wanting to uh have
the ex extra fee. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> Well, just one more thing, Gary. Is there ever a time in the future where we would look at putting a line demo cell in or are we just limited on space and and not going to look at that avenue?
>> There would be potential. Um, we both engineering and staff Ryan and I looked at that possibility before we just closed the current cell. Uh, but when you go line facility, you know, you're it's the cost of construction that's so
significant that it just didn't pencil out for us. And we're in a tight spot space-wise. And I think it's in conjunction with or our decision was hedged or guarded against the LEA treatment uh system that we have. And
because as soon as we're cap building a line facility for demo 2, we're capturing that leech eight and having to treat it. So we're wanting to make sure we have a handle on that treatment system with MSW before we add potential uh lee.
>> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? >> All right. Then we have a motion and a second to uh approve the landfill uh contract with Swinson and Suns Escavating. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Gary,
thank you very much. >> Thank you all. >> All right. Um, at this time, we'll request uh Eric Van Dyken, our zoning administrator, to come forward. And uh we have some planning commission recommendations
uh for for our consideration. Eric, good morning. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Eric Van Dyken, Kenoi County Zoning Administrator here today with two requests from um the planning commission meeting of April 13. These are
recommendations on two conditional use permit hearings. The first is for Craig Hansen. This is in section 12 of New London Township, I would say. Um if you're familiar with that area up there, it be west of Shoemaker Lake. Um this is
for a um mining operation. This happens to be on Mr. Hansen's home property. This is where he lives. He um has found some aggregate resource out in the back um toward the west of of his house that
is a high quality aggregate. It does show up on our um aggregate mapping that the DNR has done for the county as a as a high potential resource area. Um the planning commission did spend significant
uh time working through this uh application. Um the public had some interest and uh the end result was a recommendation of approval from the planning commission with 14 attached conditions and uh the findings as you
see in the minutes. I'll just quick highlight maybe a couple things from the um um from the conditions. One of the the things maybe to note is that the hours of operation are reduced from what we might call a standard set of hours of operation. Um that was something that
the applicant had agreed to himself in light of some of the um the surroundings that he has with uh um some people in his neighborhood that expressed concern. So um he's pulling that back. You would also note then that it's it is a relatively short-lived permit
application. This is not um a largestish operation. Um it the permit is valid for 5 years. Probably from the applicant's perspective, one to two years would really be the operating period within that um would be sufficient to to get
the material out that he's looking to to get out. So not a necessarily a long live operation in the big picture. Um there was a fair amount of discussion about um dust control both on the township road and on site and um and um
well I guess with that I would stand for any questions um if you have any. >> All right, very good. Are there any uh questions? Uh Commissioner B. >> Uh thank you Mr. Chair. Actually I don't have a question. I just want to comment um reading through this. I just want to
commend you and the planning commission the excellent choice of questions you ask on this situation and it's very detailed and it's quite a long list of conditions and findings and it been well reviewed I feel
anyone else for Eric uh Eric just a quick question here I note that uh uh they need to provide some uh uh funds and either a bond or a letter credit uh uh for reclamation um
uh and and and the is 25,000. You said this is kind of a small project. I assume that is uh sufficient to u uh ensure that the u land is restored. Uh my question uh isn't necessarily about this particular project, but in general
uh if it's a larger mining operation, uh is that still the same standard uh uh dollar amount uh that is requested or does that depend upon the magnitude of the project? >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um it does depend upon the size of the project. The
ordinance uh stipulates $1,000 per acre or $25,000 minimum. So in this case um the amount the minable site is maybe around 17 acres. Um so we go with the minimum there 25,000. Those numbers have been around for a while. They may or may not you know
really accurately um reflect what it would take and and there's a fair amount of variability in what a site might look like. What we have seen is that the industry has has changed its perspective to a much more
actively um responsive I would say to the concerns around uh um reclamation. So thankfully we've not ever had to really say hey we're we're going to come in and do this because you haven't done it and we have seen sites become reclaimed. this particular contractor
has recently um mined a site and reclaimed it well. And so that's that's a pattern that we're beginning to see. Um but those numbers theoretically could could be looked at um at some point in ordinance to see if they're still a good reflection of today's economics.
>> Thank you for that. Appreciate that. Any other questions for >> Mr. Chair, I would move on the planning commission recommendation citing the uh findings and conditions. Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second it.
>> Thank you. And any discussion? Uh >> just a comment on what Eric just said. Um I think Mr. Hansen does did a great job of reclaiming the project that was up in my area and and did a really nice job and it's back to a field um and did
a nice job making it look good. So, >> all right. Very good. Anyone else? All right. We have a motion and a second to approve the conditional use permit as presented. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. You
have one more for us. Go ahead. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The second uh recommendation from the planning commission is on an application from Matthew Olsen. U Mr. Olsen proposes a home extended business u on his um
property north of um Cano High on County Road 8, east side of the road in um Green Lake Township. U Mr. Olsen proposes a welding shop there. He's had a pretty long career in welding. He tends to travel around quite a bit for
that and is looking to settle down more. his his uh operation would be pretty much a one-man operation. He would have a um a building up on the hill. He's said he's working already with the highway department on a um a new um entrance for that. So, he can have a
dedicated entrance. Um his uh focus would be, I would say, on minor work or some lower grade work in the um in the stainless food processing um market. You know, we have some larger contractors for that in our area. Um his would be a
smaller scale. He does some work I think locally for Geno and then he does some more some agricultural work um farm repair stuff. Um when the wind blows hard on Green Lake he gets docks and lifts and that sort of that that sort of thing. So um that would be essentially
the nature of his work for this application. We did not really have a lot of um broad interest from the public um due to its relatively isolated nature and the low low potential for impact from it. Um, planning commission did recommend approval with four conditions
as you see that are fairly standard conditions to try to just keep the site in a good-looking condition and not allow it to to degrade and the findings as you see in the draft minutes. >> Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Mde,
>> thank you. Um, Eric, I think there was a discussion about having to change the deed or the the parcels, combined parcels or something in order to put that on shop on there. >> Yeah, thank you, Commissioner MDC. Um,
originally his building site and and if you see on the map is separate from the rest of his property in order for him to place the shed and shop on there, our our um zoning regulations do require that it be on his homesteaded property for a home extended business. So, he has
made a request with the auditor treasures office to combine those parcels and that'll show up in the following tax year. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions for Eric? >> All right. Uh can we have a motion,
please, on the recommendation to approve the cup? >> So move, Mr. Chair, signing the uh findings and conditions. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none, then uh all
those in favor of approving the conditional use permit uh as recommended by the planning commission say I. >> I. I. >> All oppose. >> That motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh at this time we'll have uh County
Administrator Kelsey Baker u present to us uh in regards to the slow no wake ordinance. Uh, as members uh recall, we've already held the uh public hearing on that. And Kelsey, you
have some uh new information for us here in this regard. Yes, >> just a few. Yes, Kelsey Baker, Candyway County Administrator. Um, as the chair said, um, we have the slow no wakeake ordinance in front of the board today for decision.
Um the board held the public hearing at the April 7th, 2026 board meeting. Uh since then we did add um Calhoun Lake as a designated lake within the ordinance after um hearing the public comments. Um
within that staff reviewed all levels. Um I worked with Austin Hillenbrands, our drainage inspector on the levels after the public comment. Um, we did receive one comment after the public hearing regarding George Lake. Um, after further discussion with staff, we did
leave it at the level that we are recommending. Um, and then, uh, the other thing that was discussed was the notification. Um, and we'll look through, you know, we'll work off the ordinance. We'll work with lake associations. I think they have a lot of their meetings here in June, their um,
annual lake association meetings. So, we'll talk through that and, you know, looking at where uh the monitors are at. Um, we'll work with the sheriff's office if something needs to be sent out through social media and we'll work through that um to the best of our ability. So, with that said, I would
stand for any questions, allow the board for discussion, and the staff do recommend final approval on the ordinance. >> Thank you. And are there any questions for Administrator Baker? Um, >> I just want to say I'm glad to see that
you added Cong. >> Yep. >> I would uh I would say this seems pretty straightforward. The addition is appropriate. And uh to that end then uh is there a motion to
approve the ordinance as presented? >> Mr. Chair, I so move. >> Thank you. And >> I'll second it. We have a motion and a second to uh impose uh uh move on the uh uh ordinance imposing slow no wake watercraft restrictions on designated
lakes. Any comments, questions? All right, hearing none. All in favor of the motion to approve the ordinance say I. >> I. >> All opposed. That motion passes. Thank you very much.
Uh Mel, would you uh uh are you able to do just the one right now? >> Sure, we can. Or do you want to do them both later? I can. >> Do you are you ready with the other? >> No. >> No. >> No. Okay, let's do let's do the one and then we will uh recess for 10 minutes.
Uh and at that time then uh if you don't have that yet and I don't think you will. >> Um >> yeah. No, then we will move into the uh discussion on the uh uh firearms ordinance. >> Okay. after our recess. >> All right, Mr. Chair, members of the
board, Mel Odin's uh public works director, Kendo County. The first item and the only item I guess I'm going to present to you is we open bids on April 14 years, we call it our matuminous contract. It's maybe our paving contract
where this year we're doing 23 miles of road improvements and one parking lot for the county. Um we did get um a lot a lot of interest this year and with fuel prices it was a little bit of an interesting challenge on on where to um
kind of throw the dart on where fuel prices are because they in past years they would pre purchase their oil for the next year. This that that practice has kind of gone by the wayside. So, we
are subject to current environment. And so, um, when we're doing our plans, we're doing them the fall before and the spring. Uh, but when we let it, you know, there's a lot happened since we have our estimates. So, as you can see,
we were a little bit high um, pretty much all due to fuel price fluctuation. But with that being said, we are doing um, 23 miles of road. The main roads we're doing is in the Raymond area and south of Penock is is a lot of the work.
We're doing some stuff up in Sibly by Sibly State Park and in 127 in the vicinity of Canai Power Co-op. So, with that being said, Mr. Chair, um three bids were open on April 14.
Um the estimate was 7.2 million. the the apparent low bid of the three came in at 8.3 which is about 189,000 over our estimate which is 13.9% over but it's after reviewing the the abstracts um
it's our recommendation to award SAP 34601-45 at all which because there's 11 there's 11 roads within there to Central Specialties Incorporated of Alexandria Minnesota in the amount of 8 for
$8,35,683.81. >> Thank you. You've heard the recommendation of the county engineer. And uh is there a motion? >> Also move. >> Thank you. And a second. >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second
to award the bid as uh presented. uh this was kind of foreseeable uh with the uh uh uh fuel prices and such escalating. And so we're just a little over a million over uh what this was.
Prior to this, some of our other bids uh from your for your projects had been coming in uh >> fairly lower. So we're maybe nearing a wash on that one as of this point in time. >> No, not quite a wash, but that's right. different funding sources as well. So
that's where that's where, you know, it's important that the board does a five-year plan. You know, one one bad year is, you know, we can absorb that. We just adjust the program if as necessary. So that's the importance of having a five-year plan. Years one and
two are are pretty much locked in for financing, but if you do come in over, you can adjust year two. >> Does that make sense? >> Sure. You know, >> Sure. And are there portions of this that are being funded through the uh local sales tax? >> Um the one that you're going to be
getting coming in in the next hour is the sales tax project. So one of these >> So Commissioner B. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this uh since we're over a significant amount here, this will be an impact on your budget this year. Um well we yes there's an
impact to the budget but we absorb it through that bandwidth of reserves that we have so we adjust next year if needed. All right. Any other questions for Mel? And we have a motion and a second to
award the U bid to Central Specialties for the U u various projects in the amount of 8.3 plus million. >> All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. That motion passes and we
will recess for 10 minutes. The Candyo High County Board of Commissioners is back from recess. Uh at this time, we will uh undertake consideration of an ordinance for firearm limitations for deer hunting in
Candy Ohio County. A little bit of background very briefly here. Uh the legislature last year uh uh passed a law allowing uh uh for the use of uh all legal firearms across the state of
Minnesota for uh the taking of deer during firearm season. And uh in that legislation, it allowed counties to uh uh decide if they uh wanted to uh uh opt in or opt out. Uh and if uh to opt out
and remain as a shotgun only area, uh it would uh uh it would need to be done so by ordinance. We started hearing from constituents on this back as far back as last November. uh throughout the first
part of the year we did undertake a uh listening session and then last Tuesday evening uh we held the uh public hearing on this. Uh so the public hearing uh was to uh uh uh hear uh in in regards to
opinions on the ordinance and now that ordinance is uh up for consideration uh by the uh county board. So, at this time, I would ask if anyone would like to uh move on the resolution. >> Mr. Chair, I would move on the
resolution supporting the um uh use of shotguns in the county as as the resolution or not the resolution, the ordinance as drafted. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> The chair will Okay. >> Uh Commissioner Mck.
>> Thank you. I'm pretty sure that my colleagues here on the deis would agree that we have not looked forward to the decision we're about to make. Uh this is a decision that should not have been placed in our hands by the Minnesota legislature. Counties were not consulted. It was a
chicken move on their part. So here we are. We've heard from many, many folks on both sides of this debate. Arguments were presented to support the use of rifles during the firearm season as well as concern for safety. and to a person. The proponents from both sides
were very professional, considerate, and sympathetic to the position in which we were put. I sincerely thank all for their thoughtful and considerate input. I draw from my own experience in making this decision. I have four grandchildren, two daughters, son-in-laws, brothers, nephews that hunt
with me on family property that has been in our family since 1949. On opening morning of the firearm season, in a woods of approximately 450 acres, there will be plus or minus 40 hunters in that woods, or about 11.5
acres per hunter. The density of hunters and the density of homeowners gives me great concern for safety when considering a rifle slug can travel many times the distance of a shotgun slug. For me, my support of maintaining the shotgun zone is based strictly on
safety. Thank you. Uh, commissioners, anyone else uh wish to uh comment? U Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, I I respect everybody's decision here today, but for me, I'm opposed to this uh ordinance and
the reasons why. Uh I think we're kind of becoming more of a checkerboard for the state. Uh there's only I think seven so far that have uh passed this ordinance and they're kind of scattered around the area. Uh there's several along the southern tier of the uh
Minnesota Iowa border. Um the other reason it would be right now with this ordinance that you're already got kind of loopholes around this here. If you want to do if you do want to use some sort of a rifle, you can use black powder rifles. You can use AR pistols.
And when they're fitted out right with an arm brace, you cannot tell in my opinion the difference between an AR pistol and an AR rifle. So they're both basically using a rifle at that point. Um and then also you can use rifle
barrel shotguns. So there's so many ways around it and there's so many improvements on on uh firearms that uh I think in the future this this ordinance is just going to basically be moot. Um and then how do you enforce something like that? I mean, if if you hear
somebody shoot a gun or a firearm, you're going to go, "Well, I think that's a rifle." Well, then you got to call law enforcement or the DNR and then how do they enforce it? Do they just sit there and listen? And I think it's just going to be really difficult for them to enforce this here ordinance. Um and then
uh my last point would be uh owners of property uh you can deny people to hunt on your land or you can just tell them you can hunt but only use a shotgun. Uh so there there's ways around uh you know to enforce it on your own property if
you want. And so for those reasons I'm going to be opposed to this here ordinance. >> Thank you. Uh Commissioner Anderson. >> Yeah. Um, this has probably been the biggest thing that has been brought before this board in in many years, I
think. Um, and and it's really been an interesting thing to hear from many many many many people. Um, where this is important to some that it stays shotgun, important to others that it becomes rifle. Um, my biggest thing and and I I
think where I have taken my decision from is we had two hearing sessions. 90% of those people I would say at those two hearing sessions have said that they're in favor of rifle. Um, we've gotten a lot of emails, probably 5050 on that
both ways. Um, and and after the hearings, I just feel that our our people have spoke and said that they want it to be rifle. So, I am not in favor of the ordinance. Um, I know that I have friends and I know I have
neighbors that are probably not going to be happy with me saying that. Um, but other people will be happy that that I am saying it. Um, I guess the biggest thing to me is um, like Dwayne said, we do have an option as land owners to let
people hunt with whatever gun that they want um, to be hunted on. The place that I think we need to look at is call your legislative people. They did this. They have the the the rules and they made some really vague rules on this. And I
think there's really places that can be used and done um to improve that. Um and I think that's where people need to voice their concerns is is send it back to the legislature and let them adjust this and make some changes in it. Um, I
I think it can be very tolerable to most people if they would have just made some changes in in the way they put it, but to just throw it in as a oneline item in a bill that nobody really was paying attention to, I think was very irresponsible for them. And and I think
that um they they should be the ones that you should be upset with and not us five. We're going to do what we think is best for the whole county. Um, and we all maybe will have different opinions of what that that is, but we're just going with our guts and and our input
that we've gotten and and we need to all be respectful for everybody's decision. >> Thank you, Commissioner B. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I appreciate the opportunity. I part of me is a little uncomfortable, but I I think we're going to proceed since it's on the
agenda for 10:40 that some people might have been coming later to want to be in the audience, but again, we're not taking audience information. So, I'm assuming we're we're okay going a forward with this at this point to making a decision. I really like to echo
some of the concerns or comments rather made already that you know that it it was so professionally done this whole process. Uh I've in my eight years as a commissioner never had an item so thoroughly uh looked at as this and and
two different hearings with the public. You know, one was a formal one was a lingu listening session, but also the number of people that have contacted me in church in the grocery store and phone calls and the emails. And I really want
to apologize that if I did not respond to some of the emails, it's because I just I missed it and and I I try to respond to as many emails as possible going forward. I I looked at this really closely. We all got this information and I went through that. I actually used AI
to ask not for any advice or anything like that, but to verify some numbers and looking at that and it was very interesting looking at that. So I went through this quite thorough and when I first went into into this I thought there would be a big big gap between uh the the safety issue uh the number of
people and uh hurt or wounded uh by guns or rifles or shotguns and I was surprised to see the numbers and the statistics are going down and really kudos to the hunters out there that I think it's it's really about the hunter
the people who get hurt and all the training and and licensings and so forth and rules and regulations that they are doing a lot better job. I do still feel there is a concern. I I am still concerned about the velocities of some
of the uh uh uh rifle uh ammunition u and also I'm concerned about the distance and that does still make a difference. I wish the legislature and they can go back and correct that now anytime if and be happy if they would u
and that they would have just made this decision for us because this I don't feel should be in our wheelhouse but they also then they made this decision and my understanding my interpretation is they wanted the counties to to make a decision and that's why they gave us this option and they're trying trying to
work with us. We did not I did not know about this before it was passed. Um and nobody asked me my opinion on that. But um they did uh give us this option and I think they gave us the option because they thought the counties uh should be able to weigh in on that. So I think
it's up to us to make that decision and weighing in on that instead of just passing the buck back and saying that's what they wanted because I don't know what they wanted. And uh and I I think through thorough research I'm struggled with this, but I am uh I'm not only
leaning, but I am going to support that it be shotguns only. And but I'd also if it does pass in that way, I'd strongly encourage the board in three years to uh review this and see uh how it is working. And there's no reason we can't
resend a a res uh uh an ordinance uh and go through that process and make it rifled at that point if it is not working. But I feel that uh we can still make this work and hunters still have a lot of options to use uh to to get their
deer and also they have uh other areas if they wanted to cut hunt with a rifle closely they certainly could do that. So, uh, that's that's where I'm coming across this, but I am doing this not as
clear-cut, but I am leaning this way. I'm making the decision. I'm I'm leaning to support shotguns only. Thank you. So, we've heard from a lot of members of the public and a lot of folks who did
not come to the public sessions as well. uh and uh especially uh earlier on and in those uh email and telephone conversations uh we ran probably right in that 50/50
area uh when everything was all said and done as to uh the divergence of opinion on this from the uh members of the general public and uh by far and away uh the commenters were not from generally
speaking not from outside of the county. Uh but they were residents of Candy Ohio County. And so this was a decision and we've kind of joked about this a little bit uh previously uh is that we're guaranteed on this one to upset uh half
of the folks who care about this issue. Um and uh and and that's part of that's part of doing this job. sometimes you're going to take uh uh positions uh make decisions uh that you think are the best for your county at this particular time.
Um and and there there were several uh several comments uh made. First of all, I uh um I want to echo the um uh suggestions by my colleagues that the
legislature reook at this um to send us something like this uh something we didn't ask for uh with uh with basically no instructions whatsoever other than to uh uh either either approve it or not or
if you want to avoid the issue altogether, do nothing. Uh, which I suspect was the default position for uh for a lot of folks. Uh, I uh uh
Dale used a little more politically correct uh term, but I think I prefer uh Commissioner Index's use of that technical term that he used earlier on uh in describing the uh legislaturator's uh actions. Um, we've heard a lot about
the opportunity for folks to already use a num a variety of firearms uh under current uh under the old statute. Um, and I guess the question that kept coming up for me was if they have all of
these options already, then what do we need to shift to all rifle across the state for? Uh I have uh not recent experience but uh probably uh close to
20 years of hunting uh deer up north in rifle zones and um and there were times when I did not feel completely safe in those areas. Uh and I also did not uh uh
did not feel that uh uh there were shots worth taking at times. My concern is that uh it's one thing to hunt up in Cass County where you've got all of these widely dispersed farmsteads areas,
a lot of woods uh uh and uh and and you're not stepping on each other here. It's so especially in the northern part of the county, it's so tightly condensed. Uh and we've heard some concern about some of the uh uh uh
smaller wildlife management areas. Um but we've heard a lot from just plain folks who say, you know what, even as it stands right now, uh every deer season, uh we are highly concerned because of some of the actions of the folks in adjoining areas. I will
also stipulate that I would not have a problem hunting with anyone who came to any of our public hearings. That's not the point. The point is that we do also have some actors out there and they've always been out there uh who maybe come in for the
weekend and uh and and they want to shoot stuff up. Uh we heard the testimony here the other day. The old rule of thumb used to be uh one shot dead deer, two shots, maybe three shots, no way. Uh and now there are no real
limitations on uh to speak of uh on magazine capacity. Uh you get somebody who doesn't have the emotional maturity to be properly handling a firearm, let alone the training, uh and they're going
to uh fire off a 15 round clip at something that's moving. Pray to God that there's no nobody behind them. Uh it's uh uh I have I I have severe concerns uh over the u uh use of uh widespread
use of rifle uh firearms at this time. We heard at the public hearing and this was a position that I was already coming around to and Commissioner Burgers kind of alluded to this. This may end up being a not yet decision. Uh I think
it's right and proper that there be some counties uh that uh perhaps serve as a control for this essentially statewide experiment. Uh and and and I'm happy uh
to uh uh allow Candy Ohio County to be one of those uh controls. Uh so uh so with that, unless anyone else has uh anything else they wish to add, Commissioner Burke, >> I ju I just add on to your con concerns
that you do have about our local hunters and 99% maybe even higher than that of those people are very competent hunters, very safe hunters. But um as we know, there's tens of thousands of people
basically for two weeks in Minnesota that go out deer hunting. And if 1% of that tens of thousands, that's still many thousand people that are out there that just it's like open fishing fishing. You got, you know, 100 boats
all circled around one boat or whatever. You know, you got those people out there hunting that maybe haven't shot a gun all year long and or just got a rifle or whatever. And those are the ones that really kind of concern me that that that that's a danger there. But again, I
think uh you hit upon it that uh if we do pass a resolution, I really do feel it should be reviewed in in in three years, which is really two hunting seasons. And that would give us the board uh I'm kicking the I'm not kicking the down the road. We do have an ordinance I hope passes. I don't know if
it will. Um but to review that to see if it should continue to hold. Commissioner Anderson. Yeah, >> I have one comment about my emails and what I've been hearing from people. Um, my emails reflected what the comments
were or you know the same numbers of those for and against this uh shotgun ordinance as uh as what was at the hearing in the listening session. So for me it was overwhelming that people wanted to have a rifle and to be able to
use that. And as far as people shooting many rounds, it I'm not a hunter, but I do have a rifle and I do have a scope. How are you going to shoot many rounds looking through a scope at a at a moving target? That is very hard to do and most
people will not do it that way. >> Mr. Commissioner, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, one thing that I noticed in the paper this past week uh past week uh uh was uh the followup from last fall when a hunter up north and I
don't know if it was a shotgun or a rifle. Never said said that but he shot a moose because he thought it was a deer. And I think you know I don't know if he was using the scope or not but not everybody uses a scope either. >> Anyone else?
Uh with that uh uh we've we've come to the time to uh vote on this. Uh does anyone wish to have a roll call on this? >> I do. Yes. >> Thank you. We'll have a roll call then.
Uh Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. >> No. >> Commissioner Dale Anderson? >> No. >> Commissioner Berg, >> yes. Uh the uh yeah the I'm sorry I confused myself. Uh the chair votes I commissioner MDC
>> I >> three I's two nazs. The resol the ordinance uh is passed. I want to thank everybody for all of the input that they gave us both pro and con on this. Um uh I I don't want this to be
perceived as a slap in the face towards legitimate uh hunters who really care about their hobby and care about their craft. There is enough concern obviously on this board right now uh that uh uh that this
is the action uh that the preponderance of the board has chosen at this time and I'm sure this will not be the last time that uh that this comes before us. With that then uh we'll move on to the uh actually we'll revert back to the
10:30 item of business. Uh uh Mr. rodents. We have another bid award. >> Mr. Chair, members of the board, um in your packet is a um
a brief overview and um map of the action that we're going to consider. It's the it's the regrading of County Road 27 from one uh Westerly to County Road 7. Um, I'm I'm Mel Odin's, public works
director. I probably should have introduced myself again, but with that being said, uh, bids were open this morning. So, the the wording in your the summary in your packet was a little bit brief because we don't know who the, uh,
the biders were and we didn't know how many. But what we did know is that we're going to do a little over three miles of grading and one bridge. And so, um, we did open bids this morning at 9:00. Um, there was previously a hearing on
this project as well, um, because we do involve a county ditch. But with that being said, I handed out the the bid abstract in hard form during the break and uh, bids were received. In fact,
bids on this one were 24% under the estimate um primarily because it's a dirt project. So, we got really good bids on on um and that's really where the estimate was was um the money was
saved. This is 100% a local option sales tax project. So, with that being said, Mr. Chair, um the engineers estimate was 3.157 million. The bid, the low bid came in at two2,395,24752. And it's my recommendation to award this
contract to John Riley Construction of Morris, Minnesota for the previously stated amount of 2.395 million. >> Thank you. Are there any questions for rodents?
All right. Um, that's moving in the right direction. >> Yeah, it's moving in the right direction. It's it's it's Yeah, it's very good. It's sales tax money, so it's it's good money. It doesn't help us on the previous bid, though. >> No, no, it doesn't. But, uh, but maybe uh >> it helps it helps
>> it helps the local projects that we can potentially >> We're good. >> Do now and in the future. All right. Um uh we have a recommendation of staff to award the uh uh contract to Central Specialties of Alexandria. Excuse me. Am I No, I'm sorry.
>> Morris Minnesota. >> I'm looking at the old one. Uh John Riley Construction >> of Morris, Minnesota. >> All in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. >> We never made a motion. >> Oh, I'm a motion, please.
>> I Mr. Chair, I so moved. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'll second that, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you so much. Any discussion? >> It's not like anyone noticed. Just jump >> appropriately. So, um, any other
discussion? Now, all in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose. That motion carries. Uh, we will take a 10-minute recess. All right. The Candy County Board of Commissioners is back from recess. At
this time, uh uh we're going to request to have uh Matt Magnus, uh the current director of member and provider services for Prime West, uh before come before us. and Matt has a a presentation for us
today uh in regards to Prime West. And Matt, good morning. >> Good morning. Thank you for having me. Uh again, my name is Matt Magnuson. I'm the current director of member provider services, but also the incoming CEO at Prime West Health. So, June 1st, I'll take over that responsibility for the county owned health plan that you all
own. I have a presentation today. Um it's meant to be just kind of a guide. has some very general information, but this is open, so please feel free to ask questions as we go through this. Um, and I'll try to answer them as best I can. Um, first just want to talk a little bit
about the health plan that you own. So, what is Prime West Health? Um, it is a county joint powers organization. So, we're owned by 24 counties. We'll talk a little bit about that. And then we're a health insurance plan. So, think Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicica, Health
Partners. Um, we're we operate just like any other health insurance plan in the state of Minnesota. Our big difference is that we are county owned. Um, we're governed by that county board. Again, we're a joint powers board governed by the 24 counties you can see on the screen there. Um, we're owned and
governed by those 24 counties. And then we have two county commissioners from each county that sit on our board. There's a primary and an alternate. The board meets monthly. Um, and really the board sets the direction for the organization. Um, I we'll go through some history here about Prime
West, how we became 24 counties as we go through this. Um, again, so what is Prime West Health? Again, we're a health insurance plan. Um, and then in M in Minnesota and in the US, the health insurance market is unique. So, there's two different sections to it. There's a private health
insurance market. Think about that. the coverage you're buying for your employees of the county today or if you're a business owner, the coverage that they're getting through there. And then there is the public health insurance market, which is where Prime West is. We cover our most vulnerable
residents within our communities, people that qualify for Medicaid and Medicare. Our funds come directly from the state or the federal government to cover those people. And then there's two ways that you can do um that public insurance in the in
the state of Minnesota. Um you can do it the traditional way which is fee for service. That's where DHS, the Department of Human Services manages the care for members. Um basically what happens is DHS issues a card. Every provider just bills the state directly for that care. On the other side, you
can look and you can see that you can also do managed care. In Minnesota, about 83% of all members are now covered by managed care. The the highlight of this cockpit is to illustrate the difference between what DHS fee for service does as a health insurance plan versus what they
require of the managed care plan. So we have all kinds of additional requirements when the state contracts with a managed care plan. Think about all the stuff that's happening right now with fraud, waste, and abuse things like that. We have to credential providers. We have just a lot more checks and balances in place that they require of
managed care plans than they do of themselves when they're processing claims. Um again what this is just a slide that basically what is managed care. Um so what happens is we're responsible to take care of and pay all of the claims but we also have to credential
providers. We have to make sure utilization management is in order. We have to look at the quality of care that's being delivered out there. We work directly with our counties to supply services. And then there's Medicaid managed care and there's Medicare managed care. We do a little
bit of both. In the Medicare space, it's very small. Our Medicare members are only are all dual eligible members, which means they also have Medicaid. So any member that we cover for Medicare also has that Medicaid component. And again, for Medicaid, those are
incomebased programs. So they're working with your county, they're working with the state of Minnesota, they're becoming eligible based on their income, and then we're serving them as a part of the managed care plan. Um, in Minnesota, there's also two types of managed care organizations. So,
there's the traditional managed care organizations like we talked about earlier, the Blue Cross, Medicica's Health Partners of the world, where the state's contracting with an HMO, health maintenance organization, and then that health maintenance organization is going back out and deciding which local providers can I use, how am I serving
members, how do we work with the community? The second option on there is what we've decided to do here as counties and that's the state contracting back with the community. And now as a community, we get to decide how we cover care here locally. That was the
the whole crux of why counties wanted to get in this in the first place. They said, "Wait, we don't want managed care plans only coming out of the metro area trying to serve our members out here in rural Minnesota. We have a better understanding of what services they need, what our members look like. we can do a better job as a community. So,
counties came together to create county-based purchasing. Matt, uh uh would it be fair to say uh that another distinct the primary distinction between those two types of uh uh uh managed care uh uh
organizations uh is that in general the blues or whatever you want to call them uh uh they have CEOs for example that are getting seven, eight figure whatever contracts, options, all of those types
of things and that's not the type of thing that we have uh within a county based purchasing organization. Quite the uh opposite. We're not feeding that ecosystem uh on the backs of uh premiums from uh uh from clients. Correct. >> Correct. Yeah, that's a great point. So,
as a county based purchasing organization, we I work for Prime West Health. We're county employees. So, we work kind of in that same structure as a normal county employee would. our CEO does not make millions of dollars like those other CEOs make. We also aren't fe
feeding um any boards or stakeholders or stockholders. Um our in our anything we make and we'll talk about this a little bit. We get to decide as a board as counties how that money gets reinvested back into our community. We do things like we've built dental clinics. We've
added new mental health facilities. We try to reimburse our local providers more. We understand how important this the rural local providers are to the to our economic infrastructure here in rural Minnesota. How can we support those rural providers to keep them here so that we can continue to have our
healthy communities? >> And so in general those healthc care dollars are staying within within the communities within the region. Commissioner Bur. >> Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. We're probably getting you off track. I don't Is that okay, too? Yeah. And and you kind of answered my comment was just going to
make that too is that uh the revenue that is is produced from this it stays local where with other organizations in the past it would be leaving our area. So and these are and you're going to get into that I'll let you tell that where the dollars are coming from later. Yeah.
And uh so don't worry uh property tax people. >> Yeah. We'll get we'll get to a a slide here in a little bit where we'll we'll show the economic impact that one of the key things is and and we'll we can talk about it now. That's fine. Um is >> and what we do. Yes. >> No, no county dollars are used to
support our operations. >> Um that's an important distinction. Everything Prime West does is based off of the money that we collect from the state or the federal government. No local county tax dollars are used at all in our operations. Um and and that's what we do. And we'll talk a little bit
about how we reserve and how we protect that asset to make sure that we don't we aren't coming to the counties to get any county revenue. Next slide, please. Um, so Prime West, we're we're today we're 24 counties, but we've grown over
time. So in 1998, it started with 10 counties. Um, and in 2007, we added three northern counties, Bel, Tramy, Clearwater, and Humber. And in 2019, we added 11 additional counties, and that included Candy County. It was added in 2019 to make it 24 counties. Um, here's
the slide. We we're talking a little bit about revenue there. So where does our revenue come from? Again, I just said no county taxpayer dollars come from that. The big purple chunk there you can see is the state. That's DHS Medicaid dollars that are coming to us. Um, so a
big part of it is the federal and state government funding that Medicaid population and then we're responsible to manage that care within that dollar amount. The orange slice there is specifically related to our Medicare business. Um, and then there's a a little yellow chunk there. We do some
thirdparty administration. There's a couple other organizations that are very similar to Prime West in the state. Um, two other county based purchasing organizations. Um, and we are their claims administr administrator. Um, so out of the our shop in Alexandria,
Minnesota, we process their claims as well. And so that we collect some fees for that. And the last slice on there is just interest from investments. Um again, uh as a health insurance plan, we we have um five contracts that we work, three of them with the state of
Minnesota, two with CMS. So you can kind of see those contracts there. The biggest one by far is that first one, families and children. We'll talk a little bit about enrollment numbers here, and I'll show you the Candy Ohio County enrollment numbers, and you'll be able to see that. Um today, we serve 75,000 members. Um, and roughly 60,000
of them are in that families and children's bucket. So, when we talk about who do we serve in our communities, it's kids and it's families are the biggest chunk of that of the people that we serve. And then you're talking about seniors and people with disabilities is the next big are the
next two groups that make up the rest of that population. And I'll show you um some candy county specific numbers here at the end. Um, we talked a little bit about this the financing. So, we just looked at how we're financed. um we are risk we we serve under risk based contracts. So in counties that own Prime
West this is the risk that you take on. You're saying all right we want to have this program we want to manage it locally. We want to be a part of uh taking care of these members here but we get a flat fee dollar amount. So when we looked at that previous slide and it was capitation we call it capitation. Um
basically for every member we serve I'm just going to use easy numbers here. We may get, let's say, $500 per member per month, like a premium to any other insurance company. Then we're responsible to pay for all of the health care services for that person. So if that member costs us a million dollar
this year, we only got $500 for every me for that member every month. The rest of it has to come out of our reserves or just a balance of what how we're serving the members in total across there. So some members might cost us nothing. We still get $500 for. Some might cost us a
million. We're still only getting five $500 for them. >> May I Commissioner Berg and then Commissioner Anderson? >> Oh, and along that same line too, uh Prime West uh uh has risk insurance as well for a few of those cases that those
buyers that are really could >> make you go broke. >> We commissioner, we buy something that's called um uh reinsurance >> and that covers any member and it covers all their claims. Anything over $500,000, we actually work with a different insurance company to cover that. So, when we have those
million-doll claims, we have insurance to get some of that back. >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thanks, Mr. Chair. Um, so my question is, you said $500. Is that an example or is that what >> everybody it varies by the member? So,
age and all that, correct? So, just like any other >> age and risk and all that, it varies. I was just trying to use one number to give an example, but yes, that sounded pretty good to me. kind of an example for for a child we might get two or $200 or $300 a month. For a senior that's in an assisted living facility and has lots
of services, we we may be getting $4,000 a month. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. Um our core responsibilities here are just again to pay for the health care that we have that happens in our community. Um again, I talked a little bit about us being our own claims administrator. We did that
intentionally. Um there was a couple reasons there. We wanted to be able to serve our providers um in a way that we clearly understood what was happening with their claims. Um we turn around claims very quickly to our local providers. There's lots of small rural providers where cash flow can become a
pretty big issue. Um and so what we want to do is as soon as they get us a claim in saying they served one of our members and it's a good claim, we want to try and process that as quickly as we can and get that cash back out the door to those providers. So right now I think our average is about 7 days to turn
around a clean claim and get that back out there um so that the providers have that money to continue to serve members or to in increase their access. This slide just shows a an excerpt from our financials. This is something that the board reviews on a monthly basis.
This is actually our no from November of 2025 a screenshot of that. Um, so you can see on the top there you have expenses. On the bottom you have non-claims expenses. And really what we want to try and highlight here is about 92%
of every premium dollar we collect goes directly back out to pay for healthcare. um our operating uh budget is somewhere between six and 7% annually and then what's left over is what we actually put into our reserves or use as community
reinvestment in the future. Um so again it's it when you talk about the dollars here it's big healthc care dollars that we're collecting in premiums but the majority of it 92% of it is going directly back out to those local providers.
the next slide here and I won't read through all these but just kind of what what some of the reasons um you know some of the things that we do again on top of what you know that fee for service system would mean if you think back to that cockpit here's some of those other buttons that managed care plans have to do and have in place um
you know we need we need to make sure that we have g geographic and economic access we have to do utilization management we have care management we do that again we contract back with our counties that any county that wants to do care management. Try to keep those casea case managers local. Um people
that the members are used to working with. Um again supporting that county infrastructure for case management and care coordination. Um safeguarding member rights, preventing, detecting and addressing fraud, waste and abuse. That's a big topic right now. Um and the
interesting thing when we talk about fraud, waste and abuse, and I had a slide earlier that said 83% of all of the people in Minnesota are covered under managed care and Medicaid. and you've seen some of those Medicaid fraud numbers. Um, one of one of the things when they talk about the health plans being responsible for some of this
stuff, the health plans are at risk. So, if we're not working to prevent, detect fraud, that's going to come out of our reserves. That's not coming out of the state. We've already agreed to a state rate with them, a capitated rate that we're going to get per member per month. And if we're not working on our side to
get that fraud out of the system, we're going to end up spending through our reserves. So the managed care plans in general, not just county based purchasing, all managed care plans do a pretty good job of watching for fraud, waste, and abuse because they're at risk for those contracts. We can't go to the state later and say, "Hey, state, sorry,
we had $10 million in fraud. Pay us back for that." We're at risk for that. So we have robust programs in place, data analytics on a regular basis that we're working through to make sure we're identifying anything that's potentially fraud, waste, or abuse early and putting
a stop to it. And I think that's that's such an interesting and a necessary point to make uh especially in light of the uh uh uh governor's uh updated uh uh
budget uh and in uh sitting in on that uh uh information session uh online here uh probably a month, six weeks ago, uh uh DHS said flat out that uh what they wanted to do was in order to combat uh
uh abuse, waste, fraud, uh that they did not want to work with MCOs's uh going on in the future. Uh and and and I don't know of anything that could be any more counterproductive uh uh than that type of
short-sightedness when the issue really is with DHS in the first place. you you might want to avoid some of that landmine, but uh uh but uh that's that's kind of how that's kind of how I'm seeing it. >> Yeah. What I what I'll add to that is
the state identified 14 high-risisk services. Um I think they they brought down to 13 now because they've already canceled one of them. Um when we look across our book of business, many of those services were not even managed care isn't even the payer for. They were all fee for service programs. Um, and I
think what they're forgetting is in the managed care plans is that risk I just talked about. They've already shifted the risk over to the managed care plan. So, if there's fraud, waste, or abuse happening there, it's not the state that's at risk for that. It's the plans that have to find it and cover any any
shortfalls that they had. Um, so, so there's an interesting dynamic there. Um the other thing that's a little bit worrisome about that and the reason countybased purchasing exists is what happens in rural Minnesota is different than what happens in the metro area. And
anytime we've seen programs that come with that kind of metro centric design, they design programs that maybe can work there. Um we've seen examples of transportation systems that they put in place. It does not work the same out here in rural Minnesota. and and we're in Wilmer today and it's a little bit
bigger town, but there's a lot of smaller towns across that 24 counties that we serve. Um, and so I can give you a great example in transportation. So the state of Minnesota is under under their fee for service system today does not cover things for no load miles for transportation. So that means the time
it takes the driver to leave their garage to get to the member without a member in the car. They do they the DHS system does not reimburse for that. Our county board and commission a long time ago said in rural areas if we're not paying that garage to the member's
location, we're not going to have any drivers. Because here in a lot of our rural communities, you might have somebody that's that lives 10 minutes out of town. They're driving into town to pick somebody up to take them two miles to a clinic appointment and back. Well, if they're only getting four miles of reimbursement and not the 26 they did
that day, they're not going to pick up those rides. So that's one of the things we use our reserves for that as a county to to pay that extra amount for no load miles. Um just that's one example of how rural is different and we need to look at it differently.
>> Commissioner B. >> Uh thank you Mr. Chair. Going back to your previous slide the last bullet the uh the reporting and the compliance that you prime west has to go through is unbelievable. Yeah, I that's
>> I I think the last time I looked at the the report, it's about 700 reports a year that we have to produce to either a state or a federal regulator. Um it's a lot of reports that go through. Um and those are required reports, not even including the ones we look at to make sure that we're catching the things we
need to catch. >> A lot of checks and >> highly highly regulated industry we're in. Um we like to to tease a little bit because we are county owned too. We also have all the government regulatory requirements plus all the HMO regulatory requirements. So we kind of we feel like
we're double regulated. >> You're doing a good job of it. >> Um again, this is the a map of all of the county based purchasing in the state. So there's 32 counties today that do this out of the 87. So Prime West is the largest. We have 24. Um the next one
is kind of that southeast part of the state. There is South Country Health Alliance. They have seven counties. And then Itasca County up north has actually been they've been doing this since 1985 as a county. They were like an original pilot under how to do managed care in a
different way and Itaska County was one of the original counties that did that. So they've been around the longest. Um now we do their third party administrative work, their claims administration for them. >> Here's a list of some of the reasons why counties choose county based purchasing,
why counties got into it in the beginning. Um, again, the control of that state and federal resource. How do how do we make sure that that stays here? Um, we're going to show a slide here in a little bit. It's it's a big resource we're talking about. How do we make sure that we protect that, keep it here so it's used for for our rural
communities. Um, and I won't read through all those, but a lot of reasons. Um, when it first started, it was actually providers that were concerned in a lot of our rural communities. They were concerned that a a big plan might come and only contract with one of the chiropractors in town or one of the
pharmacies in town and not the other one and we'd lose some providers. And so one of the things Prime West does is we ensure that any provider that's located within one of our counties that's qualified and eligible to contract with us, we will contract with them.
what does countybased purchasing or why do prime west do some of the county based purchasing stuff and our community reinvestment. Um, so this slide here is an excerpt from a a little pamphlet that we put together. It really shows where do our excess dollars go? How do we
reinvest those back into the community? Um, so if you look at the very top up there on the top right, we've done over 230 grants, direct grants to providers, um, and about $26 million of direct grant funding to providers to either
expand access, improve access, um, count, you know, improve county uh, support services, a variety of things through there. Um, and then as you kind of go through that, there's a few different programs, but at the very bottom there, and actually the biggest
number is that purple um pro payments above the DHS fee for service system. So, our providers within our counties, we make sure that they part of the agreement was we make sure that they get paid more than what they would have gotten under the straight fee for
service managed care payment or sorry, straight fee for service payment. So we try to reimburse all of our providers higher than what they would have had under that. And so that's to to date has is about $200 million in an increased funding that's gone to our rural
communities, our providers that would not maybe not have gone there had they had we done under the fee for remained under the fee for service system or had other managed care plans. So who do we serve? I talked a little bit about the families and children's
program. Um the other program we have is for seniors age 65 and over. Um some some are both eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. We talked a little bit about that. There's two programs in there. Um one of them's called Mshow, Minnesota Senior Health Options. The other one's
called MSE Plus, Minnesota Senior Care Plus. The difference there is the Mshow program is the integrated plan. So a member that has Medicare and Medicaid can get all of their care through Prime West. they don't have to, you know, worry about which plan am I going to call depending on which service I'm
getting. And then the bottom program there is for people with disabilities. So members between 18 and 64 qualify for a program that's called special needs basic care. And we have the the same two programs we have with seniors. There is we have one that integrates their Medicare and Medicaid and one for
members that want to just remain Medicaid only or maybe haven't qualified for Medicare yet. Um how do individuals enroll in plans? Again, this is the unique thing about p the public program space is we don't have enrollment
people. We don't take applications. We don't get to say who's eligible for our programs or not. One, they either start with the county, the finance financial eligibility workers or income maintenance workers, or they can go through the state system, the menure
system because it is uh asset and income qualification for these programs. So, we don't determine who's eligible. What happens is a member goes through one of those two systems, either starts with the county or works through the mure system, gets qualified for a program, and what that happens is the state sends
us a file at the a few days before the beginning of every month saying, "Matt, here's your 75,000 members. You're now going to cover for May and then they'll pay us a capitation payment for those members." So, we don't actually we can't actually help a member enroll in our plans. >> Um, that that it's a unique thing. So we
don't have like a sales force out there that's trying to build enrollment because these members all have to qualify based off of their income or assets. So that's a little unique. >> Commissioner Bergen might be asking then the same follow question I was >> well just kind of pile on to the same question that you're you're answering or
just maybe repeating it to a degree is is that we don't decide what the income levels are or who can qualify for these. These are state and federal regulations that we have to follow. >> Correct. >> And so just going forward. So, we're not you, you know, you can't come to Candy County and get really a good deal or
whatever or or Prime West, you know, we are just following all those. >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thanks, Mr. Chair. Uh, some kind of my brain is still thinking about the waste, fraud, and abuse part. So, in order for
you guys to prevent that, are you you're asking basically for receipts then, right? So, we have lots of things, whether that's impromptu site visits, additional details when they're submitting a claim. We're also just tracking. One of the examples that our
uh compliance officer found was we had a new provider that wanted to register a company. Well, she pulled up the address for where that provider said their business was located and then pulled up the state file for all of the licensed providers in the state and there was 136
licensed providers in one address location. >> You know, things like that are a little So, we're like, we're probably not going to contract with that provider. That seems a little fishy to us. So, let's try and figure out what's going on here. >> So, it's not just an individual going, hey, I got, you know, a doctor visit. And you're saying, well, give me the
receipt. It's the provider themselves that aren't. Yeah. So, it's it can be both, right? Where we're trying to check every box where where they can potentially come in. We actually have some committees where we try to think through, all right, here's a new service or a new benefit that's being created. Is there any kind of weaknesses where we
can potentially see some fraud, waste, or abuse? How do we make sure we prevent those um from happening? >> All right. Well, thanks for keeping on top of it. So, yeah, >> it kind of helps our area then a lot. >> It's important. Yes. So, so, so if you don't have a sales force out there or anything like that,
then how do you how do you get get the numbers up? How do you get the word out that uh that that type of thing? >> So, right now the counties actually in state statute that allows county based purchasing, the counties have the right to choose how they want this Medicaid
business served locally. And that's where we actually ended up having to sue as a group of counties ended up having to sue the state a few years ago because they when Candy County joined us, they didn't allow you to say we want Prime West and only Prime West. They said you had to keep some of these other plans in
there, but that's not the way the state statute reads. And so we were successful in winning that lawsuit. And so this year in in January of this year, we had a pretty big increase in members that we serve in Candyo County because um the state had to follow through on the on
the way the statute is actually written. >> So So imagine that uh the uh we have to sue for our right to exist under statute. And now all of a sudden, uh,
the potential is there for DHS to once again find a way to bypass countybased purchasing. But I digress. Commissioner, thank you, Mr. Chair. And you mentioned a little bit earlier on one of the slides that Candy County joined along with several other counties in the
southwest here be to become one of the larger areas in this whole Prime West program. and and at that time uh inuh 2019 uh we had joined because that's when I first got on the board and I was on these committees to start then and
there's another healthcare uh program uh but it was not the same and that that was going uh going to be closed. It was doing okay but because of many other things was going to close but there was some revenue dollars there because of cash flow and so forth. So several
counties were able to take those dollars and join uh Prime West at that point because it's something a program we wanted to get into. But in all fairness, you they have a big business. We just kind of step in and also you know give us that share of it. And it came out to
be a very reasonable uh move for the counties that to buy into this program going then. going back to that time we everybody bought in thinking we would be able to be at the point we are right now and we are there and we're going forward and it's it's working out really well.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. A little bit about that initial investment and we we'll hit a slide here and that comes up but what the initial investment was is buying into the reserves that they had. So at that time it's 13 counties and we have let's say $60 million in reserve to protect that
that county asset. Well, that's what that initial buying and it and it's a a highly discounted rate. You're maybe paying onetenth of the potential risk that you are bringing to get into it. >> Uh the next slide is just a little history of countybased purchasing. Um
again, it started, you know, back in the 80s and early 90s. Um in 1998, that's when the 10 original counties formed that created Prime West. Um, in 2002 we actually got approved and in 2003 is when we began ser began serving members
and we started with 5,000 members. Um, and at the time it was one program and they kind of thought, all right, this is all the bigger this is really going to get. Um, well obviously we've grown quite a bit. Um, some additional growth there. You can see in 2028 in 20 the
early 2000s we were adding programs so serving additional populations. And then later 2000s, 2019, 2007 is when we were adding additional counties. And now as a result of winning that lawsuit, um January of this year, we're now over
75,000 members we serve across those 24 counties. Um and so in 26 we went from 50,000 members, 20 or sorry 25 50,000 members, 26 now 75,000 members. Just maybe go ahead make one other actually
to like to even give a shout out to some of the other uh healthcare insurers. Blue Cross Blue Shield. They did provide services for Candy County for many years. Good program uh great great staff and and still see them often and and
work with them in some other programs. But this prime time west makes sense for for the our region for Candy County and to serve our people the best and I think it's a good way we're going forward. >> Yeah. Hopefully it just gives you more control ultimately in the future is
where do we want to reinvest, you know, dollars in those years where we have surplus. How do we use that surplus? It has to go back. Our statute actually requires it goes back into the community for health care purposes. um it can't just disappear into some
other uh avenue. It has to be reinvested back into the communities for healthcare purposes. >> Mr. Chair, yes, that's uh hundreds of millions a year coming back into our region that gets several bumps that people that work on these healthc care
programs that uh that uh Prime West contracts with uh spend locally that way and it keeps coming right back and we get several bumps out of that. A quick question if I may too was you talked about credentiing and the providers. Do you have off the top of your head
approximately how many uh uh providers you're credentiing because I see the list and it's huge. >> Yeah, there's a slide coming up that talks about I'm sorry, >> but yes, every every day and and providers need to be recredential too. So we do an initial credentiing when
somebody comes on and you know we have to check that they're board certified that they're licensed that they went to the school they went to and then every few years you have to do that again. You have to make sure that they're still licensed have to make sure that no action has been taken against their license. So a lot of work in maintaining that provider network.
This is just a quick look at our organizational structure. Again we're a very flat organization. You have the CEO, we have some department directors and then managers below them. So we keep a really flat organization. Um, again, we we try to be really administratively efficient and the economies of scale we
got from just this latest increase of 25,000 members. I think we added maybe 15 to 20 new staff to cover 25,000 new members. So, I I showed that November slide, our administrative budget is running about 7% of our admin. This year
in 2026, the budget that was approved by the board, it should be hopefully come down somewhere between five and 6% um our admin expenses. So really try to run a very efficient organization as well. Um something I know the board takes a lot of pride in. We do at Prime West to be you know when we get compared against
other health plans. We want to look like we're a very efficiently run health plan doing things the right way. Um here's some of those numbers um again where we just can talk about what does Prime West vital statistics look like. Um 24 counties just under 75,000
members. um net worth today, this is what the counties own, is $125 million organization. Um again, that's jointly owned by 24 counties, but that's what you guys own. Um our projected uh revenue this year is over $750 million.
Um so you can see this is a big resource. Um how do we make sure that those dollars are protected, used for appropriate things, come right back into our communities as an economic development way. um over 17,000 contracted providers is that next slide
there. Um we process about 1.4 million claims a year. Um about 185 people in our offices. We have people located in our offices in Alexandria, the majority of them are. That's where our corporate office is, but also members in in the communities. Um trying to get a lot more
community health workers out in our communities. Um so that we have members of people across all of our counties. talked about 7% admin. Again, that was the 2025 number. Hopefully in 2026, that's somewhere between five and 6%. Um
over 26 million in grants. And then we do third party administration. And the last slide here is county specifics for your county. So today we have about 8,500 members that we serve in Candyoi County. I talked about the biggest group of those being those families and children.
That's 8,000 of that 8,400 members. um our families and children that you're serving. Again, these are your most vulnerable people. They're qualifying based on their income and assets. Um and so, you know, we're taking care of them. Then you also have Minnesota Care
members. Minnesota Care is a program that the state offers. They call it now the basic health plan, but it's for members that maybe work for a small employer. They make a little too much to qualify for public programs, the Minnesota healthcare program side of it, the medical assistance. um they can pay
a small premium and still get insurance um with us. Then there's Minnesota Senior Health Options. Those are those seniors that are dy eligible. Minnesota Senior Care Plus, seniors that have their Medicare somewhere else probably but only their Medicaid through us. And then the two special needs basic care
programs again members with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64. >> Before we go into Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Thank you. So it says you have 17,000 contracted providers. Now I don't know anything about all what you guys do. So
is that like you're counting like eye doctors and central care and >> Yep. All that everything chiropractor. >> Okay. Okay. Because at first that's a high number but I suppose when you consider all those >> Yep. And then you know it's not just within our counties either. So you know the St. Cloud area you have Centric Care
and place like that that we have to contract with. We still have to contract with all the we have metrobased providers too for some of the specialty care. So people we're not giving people a network that doesn't meet their needs either. That's an important part too. Some people think like oh you're this small rural health plan little plan on
the prairie. Um I'm not going to have access to any of the good providers in the state. >> If if they needed to go to Rochester then >> we have members every day that end up at Rochester because they have some special service. Now what we try to do is keep the care local though. It's important
that we try to protect our rural healthcare infrastructure. We don't need everything funneling out of town. We want to try and keep it here first. So, if it's available here and by a qualified provider, let's get it done here. If it's not, if it's some unique circumstance, just doesn't doesn't belong here locally, there's not a
provider that's willing to see that kind of member, then let's get them to the right kind of specialty care that they need. >> That's good you're making that clear because I I was thinking 17,000 in the 24 counties that are involved. So, it's more than that. So, thank you. Uh before we go into any uh uh other
questions, uh uh Carol Toliffson uh uh is uh one of our really smart people uh who helps work uh uh uh with this with this program. And if I could uh just ask you to come up here, Carol, because I
suspect there might be some questions about uh you know, how does this actually apply in the real world for for Candy Ohio County? Uh and we were talking during the break uh just briefly about some of the uh uh potential uh
pitfalls uh that uh happen legislatively, but uh what is the impact for Kandio High County uh from your perspective uh uh with Prime West as opposed to say all of the other different interactions that we have with
like DHS? So, I have to say we were worried at first uh because we knew we were going to be one of the biggest counties or >> number two. Okay. Okay. And we weren't sure if they'd be able to service us and how quickly our claims be processed and
it's been very good. Um he said seven days that they a clean claim gets processed. That is what we're seeing. Again, with the larger insurance companies, that isn't the case. we have to wait longer for our payment which also means other providers have to wait longer as well. So that has been good.
They've it's really has been very smooth transition. Um and they are an email away. I mean I know Matt from meetings. I've seen him in person. I can email him with my complaints and I do. >> She does. She says smooth. There were some bumps along the way.
>> A few. Yes. But yeah, they've been very good. Very responsive. Now, now I've I've I've got to admit to a little bit of a ulterior motive here on asking uh asking you up here because uh uh we just did receive uh a uh uh
letter from the commissioner of uh DHS uh and uh uh it says, "It's my pleasure to commend you and your staff for perfect performance in meeting the Department of Human Services DHS financial reporting requirements for calendar year 2025. Five, all key
quarterly fiscal reports were submitted in perfect order. I mean, there's the word perfect in here is uh uh uh quite a few times. Uh I know this accomplishment requires planning and efficient operation and teamwork within your
county human service department. The result is timely revenue for your county and compliance with federal reporting for us at the state. Please congratulate your management and staff on this uh superb effort. Uh, and I know that you and your team were uh, uh, a part of
that. Uh, and, uh, I just wanted to make sure that, uh, uh, you and your folks were recognized >> for that here today. So, >> I appreciate it. >> We know it's our job and we take it seriously, but it is very nice to be recognized. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Any questions for either Matt or Carol? >> Um, Commissioner B. >> Yeah. Yes. first off. Yes, that's very accurate. Uh what you said about the uh your services. That's great. Matt, can you comment a little bit on uh people if
they have a question or or your services when they call in? >> Sure. Um again, we talked a little bit about like why we took claims in house. It was to make sure we could turn around claims quickly for providers. But another reason was we wanted to provide a different way of doing customer service. So at Prime West, we never use
an IVR system. So, we're members call. So, no 1 2 3 4 tens. Um, what we do is our calls are always answered by a live person. Um, we make sure that that staffing is appropriate. In 2025, I believe it was about 16 seconds to reach a live agent there. So, when you're
calling, you're getting somebody that's qualified to answer your call. They're trying to help you through it. Um, we really think of them as an advocate for the member, not a not somebody to put up roadblocks. Our customer service is meant to be what how can I help you navigate this health care system? how can I make it easier on the member? Um,
again, I think we we've used it in kind of almost marketing campaigns before. Call us, call them, you'll really see the difference. >> I'd like to add, so healthcare changes every day, right? There's new procedures, new devices, new this, new that. So again, when we have something new, they don't tell us the new procedure code. They don't tell us the
new modifier. I mean, again, this is this healthcare billing is an art, I say, not a science. So again, they are our resource. You know, again, trying to call the bigger insurance companies again, you'll maybe five phone calls and you still won't get a person. Hey, we've got this new procedure we're building. What do we use? What new code? Yeah,
it's been a great partnership. Great resource. >> May follow up. I don't know how you do it. Pine West does it. Even though I'm on the board there, it's it's fabulous the ability to do that because I've called too and all of a sudden whoever answers the phone solves your problem
basically for you and they know enough or can get you to that. They don't hang up neither, but it's instantly almost to answer the phone. You're taken back because I'm so used to push this or push that to go forward. I also want to uh Matt just to uh give you a shout out
too. You got your hands full and you've been involved with Prime West for many years and many different levels and and you're a natural new CEO coming forward and now you're kind of doing both jobs. You're doing all this, but you got the
answers and we're lucky to have you. Can can I maybe just step back again to for the for the public's sake, you know, that this is a joint powers and really this is we're regionalizing services and so it's a separate governmental entity. So we say well the county you know we
have the you know this is the county it's not the county's million dollars that say hundred million or whatever. Um because this is a separate governmental agency. We can't take that out for our budget here. Correct. But we are part of this and that's really a good move that
we can be a regional center and what a better job we can do that. And I think we always stress it's so important that we work together with other counties and we try to be our boundaries gray and what's good for other counties is good for us and it's more local that way in our region.
>> Yeah, I try to I use this a lot. I grew up in rural Minnesota. I grew up in Carlos, Minnesota. Um a lot of our staff did too. It is different out here. We try to look at it through that way and what can we do to make sure that we're protecting rural Minnesota. Sometimes metro-based policies just are not going
to work out here. Um I really encourage people from the metro, sometimes we're dealing with DHS staff, come drive up here. What the policy you're talking about implementing right now does not work in this community. >> Um you can come see it. Um and getting them to come up here and actually pay attention. But that's what I think what makes us different is we're here. We're
we're rural based. Um the commissioners are our ears and eyes in the ground of what's happening locally. Um even a lot of our county workers, I'll get calls from county workers all the time to be like, "Hey, I pretty sure Carol's done this to me before, too. I'm getting I'm hearing word there's a new dentist can open up a clinic in town, you know, and
we'll try to find that dentist. All right, let's reach out and let's find a contract with them. See if they're willing to contract." That's that's kind of that rural responsiveness and local responsiveness that we can be different. >> Any other questions for Matt?
You know, I just I I just want to make the comment that uh you take a look at our agenda today and we had a lot of stuff on here that was a a a heavy lift. Uh but this is maybe the lead uh this discussion about what Prime West does.
Uh and what counties do well. Uh and I can think of uh no better way to kind of put a a cap on uh what uh uh did we call this? It was uh uh national counties month or was that
>> April? Thank you. Uh during uh during April and this is really a shining example uh of what communities uh counties and uh uh are are able to do really well with partners like uh Prime West Health. uh and it takes some
investment, but uh uh uh but clearly uh what we're doing is uh uh helping people uh uh impacting lives for the better uh uh through Prime West and uh Commissioner Berg is our uh uh primary
uh and uh and I'm the alternate and uh uh Commissioner Dale Anderson was alternate previously and so uh uh uh we couldn't be happier to be a part of this uh organization both as joint powers board members uh and uh and uh on behalf
of Candyo High County. So, thank you so much. Uh and again, thank you to our stellar staff for uh uh for working within this uh uh these interesting times as well. >> Thank you for having me, >> Matt. Thank you so much.
All right, we are getting towards the end. Uh any administrative uh updates? Um, >> administrator Baker, >> just what you have on your calendar or for the agenda. Um, just a reminder then for Tuesday, May 5th at 9:00 a.m., we'll have the Lake Andrew uh, Lake
Improvement District public hearing. And then Tuesday following the regular board meeting, we'll have the community corrections work session on May 19th. And then, um, also at the regular board meeting on the 19th at 9:00 a.m., we'll have the Calhoun Lake public hearing.
And uh uh you're already starting budget season. >> Yep. That that will be emailed out um to the department heads next week. We'll not include any payroll or anything like that. Um as we kind of move along with session, we'll kind of work through that
in May. Um and then um we have our scheduled work sessions uh throughout the summer. >> Okay. Any questions for the administrator? >> All right. Thank you. Uh any appointments that we need to take care
of? No. Uh then we are out to uh calendars and uh committee reports. Uh let's start with uh Commissioner Dale Anderson. >> All right. Um after the last meeting um I went to the fortress banquet um with
Tammy Joe and we have some corrections people that have went through that program and um really interesting to see the community support that they have for that organization at that banquet. It's really um really kind of amazing. Um that was that was fun to go to. Um, we
had a health and human services committee on the 13th, me and Dwayne, and um, looking at different things there that are that are coming down the pipe and and interesting stuff going on. Um, the rifle ordinance, um, we had at
5:30 on the 14th and then I had a library meeting with Dwayne on the 16th and a parks meeting at 3:00. So, that is what I had. Um nothing really out of the ordinary but good meetings.
>> All right. Thank you, Commissioner Berg. >> Okay. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, after the last board meeting, we had our joint JD ditch uh public hearing and which several of us were at and that took up the full day. Uh the next day I
had a uh pack four for families chief elected officials meeting in Gleno and that pretty well took up the whole day but really nothing much to report just really housekeeping went over made some changes to the budget adjusting the budget you know kind of mid mid-season
uh reviewing that and make some approvals at that time I had a joint ops with the economic EDC uh meeting on the 9th And uh it was a very good meeting as well as I had another meeting I had to
leave for. And then on Friday actually I met with Mr. Matt Magnuson again on open mic and with Caroline and we had a good conversation. Time went by really fast. I think we thought we had the whole program and we only had the first part.
So and and we didn't realize that until near the end. Um and also I did a zoom with 18 county mail house consortium in that met in Marshall uh and they're looking at some strategic planning and
I've got some zoom meetings coming up with some of the uh persons who are organizing that uh this week yet. I had the community corrections advisory board on Tuesday and uh a really a good over overview of of of uh some of their
programs there and I a couple of of our board was there myself and commissioner MDC and and administrator Baker was there as well. Um and we had our public hearing. We all know about our public hearing for uh rifles and shotguns. And
I've had many meetings connected with that that I I don't have written on my calendar at a Prairie Lakes youth program on the on Wednesday morning and uh reviewing uh our options, our lease on the current BU bu building. We are leasing uh for
our school uh uh program as well as administrative offices for the program and look and doing some sic planning and a time study and exploring other options for a secure unit if possible. And I had an AMC Zoom meeting yesterday morning
and uh I'm not sure you can probably comment on you were there on the Zoom too I noticed and I'm not sure we found out anything too uh progress or what do I want to say? I'll let you talk about that meeting and
that's my two weeks. >> All right, Commissioner Dwayne Anderson. >> Thanks, Mr. Chair. Um, so last couple weeks I had I think I got wrote down here eight meetings. Um, some some months you don't have much. February I
kept checking my calendar because I couldn't find any meetings and I'm like, what am I missing? But that was just how February worked out because I suppose a lot of those people on those committees, they were having vacation or something. I don't know. But anyway, so I I get more nervous when I don't have meetings than when I do. Uh so most of them were
basically just routine. Uh nothing special. I I would like to point out a couple things though. Uh my central Minnesota jobs and training services meeting, we had a great meeting. Our audit went really good. So, it's really nice to hear that we've got a kind of a
new team there that that is all over the last three years straightened out everything. And so, uh, we went from basically the bottom in the county for for that type of service to the top. And and that's really good to hear after you've had all those sleepless nights
and and things weren't going so well to get it turned around to where everything is working really good now. Um they're still under a little bit of uh watchful eye from the state and federal or whatever it was that they were dealing with. Um just I guess this next audit
will still have a couple dings in it just because of uh they were they were kind of working through things uh still. But uh otherwise uh everything is going to go good and going forward with that committee. Um then also Pioneer Land Library uh system. Uh we did hire a new
director. Uh her name is uh Rachel Gold. Uh hopefully everything works out good. You know, when when you have uh a good director and everything is going smoothly, it it's great. And then when they say they're going to retire, you kind of end up with some sleepless nights because you're going, "Okay, now
we got to find a new person and hopefully everything goes smoothly." I think it will, but uh you still kind of have a little anxiety there uh with the transition. Um other than that then I you know I did you know I went to the shotgun uh public hearing and uh so uh
it's just kind of fun to listen to people and and to hear their viewpoints and and I I really respect the people that went there. The meeting went really well. Um everybody was very respectful and I and I I was really encouraged by that. Sometimes you have meetings where
people get a little outspoken and and they kind of say things they maybe shouldn't have said, but uh it it was really a good meeting. So other than that, I guess that that's basically all I have to report. Thank you. Uh so for
myself uh since our last meeting uh sat in on the Huh board meeting uh they uh have worked out a program with uh KCED uh for some uh uh uh for the use of some
funds for u uh helping local businesses uh do things like improve their facades and that type of thing. Um on the 10th, several of us uh uh uh came out for the u uh student government day. Uh Kelsey
and her team had uh uh along with Melissa had done a lot of work to have about was it 50 students and staff out this year to uh uh this year take a look at uh uh different uh county uh uh jobs,
that type of thing. would you kind of like to characterize the rest of the day so I don't mischaracterize it? >> Uh we really focused on our panel uh the justice center. So we had our county attorney or county sheriff and then we had two social workers that were on that panel. Um prior to that we started out
with um Mel Odin's at our public works and they got to tour all of our equipment and that was really fun to see. Um, and then like I said, then we went to over to the rescue squad for our justice center panel and then we showed them all of our emergency services equipment. Um, I think it brought a
little bit of actual real life experience because prior to heading over to the rescue squad, um, there was a major accident out on 40 that our rescue squad was called out on. And so the vehicles were coming back and so the
students got to see that. And so I think it, you know, brought some of that to life on that this isn't just a show and tell that we actually do use the this equipment and um our volunteers are called out and we do really good work and help out where needed. And then of
course we toured um our law enforcement center which included the jail and the dispatch and our EOC. And then we ended with lunch um and some of the commissioners came. And so I think overall the kids were it was a really good experience. We had really positive feedback um from the adviserss this year
and so we're looking forward to doing it again next year and um kind of showcasing uh other departments within the county. And we did actually have a few students um want to job shadow and a couple departments that weren't necessarily highlighted on Friday, but it's just
getting that word out of um I think lots of times county government, we don't always pat ourselves on the back for the good work that we all do. And so um it it's good to showcase the work um that our staff all do.
>> Thank you for that. U I'm glad that we were able to highlight that. So, I I that was the one thing I missed when I gave him my report, but I want to thank Melissa and Kelsey for that. I mean, I just got there for lunch because I had things going on, but I think it is one of the best things that we can do to
show these young people what our county is all about and get them interested at a young age so that maybe we get them to come back and be employees or be part of of of our county. and and I I really did hear I sat by two of the adviserss and they were very impressed with what you
guys did. So just want to really give you guys a thank you for that. I think it was a great great day for them kids to learn a lot. So thanks. And uh let's see going on with the rest of my list here. U uh
uh we had a policy committee meeting last uh uh last Wednesday. There were a couple of items that made our consent agenda that came out of that. Um, uh, Thursday, uh, Administrator Baker and I, uh, went down to the, uh, uh,
Capitol, uh, and were able to, uh, uh, provide testimony, uh, in regards to our, uh, request, uh, of the legislature to authorize us to go to our voters uh, with the, uh, local
sales and use tax uh, uh, proposal for the justice center and uh HHS remodel. U as as the administrator said at the time, uh we were pretty good little students uh in that uh we were about
fifth on the list of 11 and we were seeing the uh uh reactions of the legislators uh to uh the various proposals. And so we uh uh we did a couple of quick edits and were able to
uh perhaps uh head off some of those uh questions. Uh in particular, one legislator uh uh uh kind of scolded, I'll use the word uh uh everybody else, but uh that
legislator did not uh uh say anything about what we had to say. Uh we felt pretty good about the uh uh presentation and now of course it'll be up to the legislature to uh see if they're going to advance any or all or none of those
uh particular uh proposals. They were hearing they're hearing another set of that uh probably as we speak. Uh a lot of different cities that were looking for different uh uh authorizations as well. So I think they're over 20 uh that
we're looking for these authorizations. Taxes committee is on a different different schedule than the rest of the legislature is. So we'll be looking to see what happens. This may end up in conference committee at some point in time. Uh, and so we'll be uh uh we'll be
looking for that and uh suspect that we might get called potentially get called down there on a moment's notice to uh provide uh more testimony. Uh then uh I drove back down uh the very next day on Friday down to the uh uh AMC board of
directors uh meeting. uh and uh uh much of what uh we heard in the webinar yesterday I'd already heard at the uh board meeting. Uh but the the big takeaway from that is that uh uh potentially we are looking at a uh uh
possible uh quasi end of session uh uh day at the capital again. Last year, uh, we made a lastm minute push on several of our, uh, different county, uh, initiatives, uh, things that were really
important to us legislatively. Uh, and we're potentially looking at having to, uh, do that again. Uh and so uh that's not going to be just uh open of course to AMC board members, but any uh uh any commissioner, any staff that feels that
uh uh they'd like to be part of that uh uh team uh will be uh uh we'll be letting folks know uh if and when that uh if and when that takes place. Um coming up uh tomorrow uh we are uh uh
I'm part of a uh uh committee that is interviewing finalists for the uh uh central community transit uh executive director position. Uh we had a great search uh that was uh led by uh South Central Service Cooperative uh and they
uh uh they brought us uh three uh I think uh on paper certainly uh exceptional candidates to uh to choose from uh and I want to say that we're probably around a dozen or so who uh who applied in the first place. So we're
very pleased about that. Uh and uh then tomorrow there is a uh uh KCED joint powers board meeting. And I want to put a shout out uh for uh uh the late afternoon of the 24th out at the civic
center uh starting around 55 5:30. Uh it is uh uh the international heritage uh event uh that is going to be held out there. So, we're going to celebrate uh all of the different uh uh places and
peoples uh that uh inhabit Candy Ohio County and uh and our surrounding area. Uh and if it's like the one they did last year, there will be a little parade where folks will be carrying uh the flags of their nation of origin. uh
probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or 50 flags uh that will be represented uh here in little old Candy, Ohio County. Uh and so I certainly encourage everyone to get out and uh uh there will be food involved. So, you
know, that'll that'll help draw a few people, but uh I certainly want to encourage everybody to go out and uh uh and take that event in. Uh that's uh essentially all I have at the moment. Are there any questions or anything else anyone wants to fill in with?
All right. Well, then we are done. I know Mel and Roger are going to be on open mic tomorrow. So, yeah, don't forget, >> and thank you for taking that. Uh, with nothing else, for the good of the order, uh, we are adjourned. Thank you.