United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, we begin with a public hearing. Um, hold public hearing approved changes
to chapter 3100 of the county's code of ordinances, the environmental public health services ordinance. Mr. Chair, commissioners, thank you for having me. Uh my name is Sher Chowy. I'm an associate director um with county
public health. Um ordinance 3100 as in regards to environmental public health services. Um it really covers a plethora of the licenses that environmental health holds from food and lodge food and beverage lodging pools. Um, and
we're looking to include kind of uh our new license type cannabis as well. Um, it also includes tobacco in there. So, we just had a few things to clean up and add um in the ordinance. So, there's three kind of primary changes. It's
allowing variances for tobacco licenses. So it allows us to again consider situational basises and grant variances from the ordinance um a as needed if there's like an un unforeseen circumstance or something along those
along those lines. Um the second one is to be able to have that same authority for cannabis and also to include cannabis licensing within this ordinance. Um and then the third change is really around revocations. um uh it kind of prevents a license that might be
revoked or taken away due to violations of the ordinance from that owner or operator from immediately reapplying and um obtaining a license again. So, it creates a two-year buffer from from that occurring. um which helps uh helps
prevent uh kind of resource intense use from county staff as well as um just the cost for public hearings and things like that as well. >> So, >> okay. All right. So, we're ready to open the public hearing about this. Would
anybody like to speak about this? >> I have a question, please. >> Sure. Uh, Shagg, I'm not sure that I understand the variances that you're talking about. Could you give me a more concrete example of a possible variance?
>> Yeah. So, um, I can give like just a a general example. Um, I'll use lodging as an example. Um, so the lodging code is quite um quite old in nature. Um it's a
state rule and they have certain spacing requirements that were based off of um kind of the thought that 3 feet of distance between beds is a way to prevent transmissible disease. In reality, when you're working with the fire officials and you're working with
building officials, working with their codes kind of makes sense. So, we're able to grant a variance from the lodging code to allow a more flexible spacing. Um, this has come in handy for places like Dorothy Day and things like that. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yep. >> I have one too as well. >> Sure. Stay up here. >> Yep. >> Uh, actually a couple. Uh, I couldn't find it, but does does our proposed ordinance uh reference the
state statute? I think I I think it was 342, but I may not have that number right. And and I I asked that question because I I look at the term uh you know edible uh edible products uh and I think about
is edible and is edible product different than a drinkable product uh or are they by definition all of the same? And we don't define edible product within our ordinance. So I I'm I'm sitting here wondering well maybe with maybe there's a reference to the state
statute but but I can't find that. And I can ask Tom, but I think it references our cannabis ordinance um where the definitions are all laid out within it and those or those definitions are pulled from statute. So it's kind of like a
>> So there So there somewhere in here there's a reference to a different >> that has a definition in it. >> Yep, you got it. >> I didn't find it. Okay, I'll trust you. Uh the other thing just this curiosity question not even on cannabis but once you open up the ordinance you open up
the ordinance uh all parts of it. Sure. >> Uh I was I I found interesting uh that that the uh the the public health officer didn't have any kind of emergency power. Uh if for instance
there was a public health emergency like in the next five minutes uh uh I don't know who's got the emergency power uh whether whether public health becomes a law enforcement matter or or whether or not it's truly a public health and it's
just for another conversation another day. But I I found it interesting. I don't know who's got public health authority in Olstead County if if that authority needs to be exercised in the next five minutes. >> Yeah. So I mean we would utilize statute and then you as our health board to
declare uh >> well we would have to gather up but there's >> I I could give you an example of that actually at the start of the pandemic the state county board met essentially as the state county board of health >> okay >> declared that a public health emergency existed and then imposed certain
measures related to how we were going to prevent transmission at the start of the p pandemic. So it has happened in rare occasions in the past. Uh and then my my other one had to do with the consequences following re revocation. Uh and that's a new that's a new part and I
think it has to do with u closing restaurants or something like this. Uh it it talks about uh substantial control over the new B the business if let's see the the license
the license uh can no one no one has uh that's currently involved can can be involved except for two years hence uh but then it talks about I think the uh they can't they can't transfer the the
the the business to another person or or group that wherein one person still has substantial control. And the whole thing is what is you know substantial control is fairly subjective that you know what is substantial control is it is it of
ownership or operation is it >> it's wide open I mean I guess it's for the judge to decide but is that the way is that is that kind of they left it and not try to define it any further. Well, we had a specific situation that arose and we just wanted to make sure that it
isn't a situation because this has happened on other restaurant um license revocations in the past that where uh restaurant's license has been revoked and then the owner who had the revoked license essentially says, "Okay, I'm
going to open ABC restaurant." It's effectively a it's got a new name on it, but it's effectively the same restaurant and controls the new restaurant just like he or she controlled the old restaurant. And that's sets us up for multiple revocations of the license when
they fail for the same issues that had occurred the first time. And so we wanted to simply if it's if it's a true situation where the restaurant owner basically is throwing in the towel and says, "Okay, I guess I I'm not doing a good job here. I want to sell the
business to somebody else and doesn't actually maintain ownership or a financial stake in the new restaurant, then that shouldn't be precluded by what's in here. But we don't want a situation where the same person who owned the old restaurant that had the revoked license, for example, puts a new
slaps a new name on it and says, "Okay, I've got a new restaurant. You need to treat me like a brand new restaurant, even though it's at the same location and has the same kind of issues that the old restaurant had." Just not not to get too into this, but do you do you think 50% ownership is substantial control or
49% for instance? >> I would say 50% ownership would be substantial control. We didn't really delve into below 50%. We haven't had that situation come up, but that's Mr. Chair. That's fine.
>> Any more questions? Okay. Thank you. All right. Any from the Anybody from the public want to speak about this? Second time. Anybody from the public want to speak about this? Third and final time. Anybody from the
public want to speak about this? >> I move to close the public hearing. >> Motion. Can I get a second? >> Okay, we have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed? Okay. Discussion motions. I move to approve the changes to chapter
310 0. >> Okay. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Passes. Thank you. All right. We'll move the cassette agenda. A. Approve minutes for the July
15th county board meeting. B. Approve amended parks commission bylaws. C. Approve the recording of rightaway plants for CASA 18 reconstruction project. D. Approve new planning advisory commission and zoning board of adjustment bylaws. E. Approve local road
improvement program grant agreement 106647. F. Approve property assess clean energy program special assessments. G. Approve entry of eligible cannabis micro business lottery applicants into the
October or August 7th, 2025 micro business registration lottery. H appoint Brady Strickland, Paige Collins, Dean Hillsman, and Anthony Joseph to the county board of county zoning board of adjustment.
I approve Vitali Hiraisovich and Wade Dougstead to the county board advisory commission J 2025 forfeiture properties. I get a motion. >> Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Second.
>> Mr. Chair, I want to I would like to pull a AB and D. >> A what? A B >> A B and D. >> Is there anybody else want to second that? Well, that's fine. Uh, I can change my motion to approve the consent
agenda except for A, B, and D. >> Yes. >> Okay. Can I get a second for that? >> Second. Okay. All right. We got a motion, a second to approve the the item wise consent agenda. All in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. >> Opposed? Carries. All right. Dave, what do you got, >> Mr. Chair? Uh 4A is simply if you will the minutes of the last meeting and uh I was just
curious in terms of the the format or at least how the way they reported. Uh I for instance was not there. There's no there's no attendance on there. I don't know if that's typical or not. I I don't remember. But uh it seems to be at least my my records of absences probably
should be on the on the meeting minutes. there are people that kind of watch this stuff and uh so I don't know if that's that's a a one-time thing or if that's just the way we normally write them. But uh and then the other thing is you know
we got we have we have motions here but the the votes aren't recorded and uh and more specifically the one on the exhibition center where it says we awarded the contract there's no like six to nothing vote or anything like that.
It's just maybe we should just look at how we do these minutes. It seems to me the attendance should at least be on the minutes. I'm not not going to disagree. I don't know why we why we had to pull this to talk about it because we could have talked about it at any time.
>> Well, we could, but yeah, it's Well, it's it's our chance, you know, it's off the agenda. Yeah. >> Uh, so that's just Mr. Chair, I would move to approve 4A with those comments. >> Okay. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Hey, all in favor say I. >> I oppose.
>> All right. B. >> And then, uh, B has to do with the new bylaws for the park. uh uh commission and uh I uh I I've just I've got just I I I'll just at this point call them concerns. I I
don't I don't believe that we should subject members to uh an exparte communications and and by the way as you read this one there was an attempt to fix it. Uh it reads expparte commun communication between members of the
commission and of the public who have business pending before the commission are discouraged and then it goes on at the bottom under under new language expart communications means having contacts with members of the commission uh suggesting it's okay to have members
of the public. Uh so I I I just find that confusing the way it's written. Uh and then beyond that uh I do think just that any member should have the ability to state their position at any time on any issue before
the body uh whether they have a meeting or not. If uh uh I mean I can think of certain things if I was interviewed before the uh before a particular meeting and you know commissioner Sandra what do you think of this? uh if I if I
had had established a firmly held belief I think I think I would say it and and not and not be criticizing but as it is if I do say it then I'm I'm disqualified according to the writing from participating in the in the proceedings
of the meeting and I I don't know if that's good government or not but uh Mr. Sure. I I with that there's a couple more in here, but I I I just want to vote no on this. And so somebody wants to, you know, if
if if somebody wants to move and approve it, that's we'll just vote. But I I I I just don't like that kind of language in a in the recipe of a of a of a commission. >> Okay. Any thoughts? Anybody want to make a
motion? Um I just want to ask a question of Tom. >> Is is your interpretation is that the interpretation uh according to what Commissioner Senum is saying is
he accurate? >> I can give you a little bit of background on this. Again, back in 2019, the board at that time uh asked me to work on preparing some kind of model changes to the bylaws to more standardize all of the counties
volunteer boards and commissions. The exparte contact language was one of those sections that the board in 2019 approved. Um it applies probably more commonly in a situation like planning advisory
commission or zoning board of adjustment where having exparte contact outside the presence of the public can be a problem because frankly um we don't know what is said by an applicant uh concerning representations about the business that
they have pending in front of that board. And the goal of the open meeting law is to make sure that there aren't any off thereord conversations going on so that anything that's said between the applicant and the body that has business that they're asking being asked to
consider happens in an open forum where all the members of the public can be present and hear things that are said about that. It's less common because of boards like the parks commission for example uh generally don't you know they're more of an advisory board. They
make more recommendations to the county board on matters of policy and less so on, you know, binding matters of business that actually directly impact individuals or their properties. But it was decided at the time that it made sense simply to apply it across the
board to all the volunteer boards and commissions. I I think there's a place for it. Um, but my my request was that, you know, if you have concerns about it because it's in all of them, don't hold up the approval of the parks commission
and the zoning board of adjustment and and the PAC commission because the planning department and parks department have good reasons why they need to move forward with those. And if we need to revisit these sections down the road, then let's revisit these sections with a, you know, commitment that if they
need to be modified, um, we'll modify them. But um I just feel like there's there's a lot of work that's been done by the park staff and by the planning staff to try to get these teed up and ready to go. And those are really larger concerns than just the other
uh changes that have been made to those two sets of bylaws. So I hope that's enough of an explanation. There have been examples. I can think of one involving a certain Rochester city council member and a prominent development that happened around 2018 where there was an allegation that that
city council member had engaged in in appropriate contact with a developer that was seeking to have the city council approve a development. I'll leave it at that. But um so it does happen and I did provide county administration with at a request some
court cases showing where when that's happened in the past. Um courts have found that that's inappropriate contact. And in some cases the the request that um was being made by the applicant was actually overturned by the courts because they said there was
inappropriate contact here. the public wasn't allowed to know what was going on and what was said in a open meeting law setting and actually reverse the approval that the public body had given. So I can certainly provide that you know additional legal um support if you need it but there there is a good reason for
the exparte rule is what I'm saying. >> Okay where um point of order where are we right now? Do we have a motion on this? >> We're waiting for a motion on B. My motion would be to approve um uh letter B with the caveat that we
will revisit the concern that u uh Commissioner Sanjum has brought up and maybe review that uh for a future meeting. >> Okay. Can I get a second on that motion? >> Okay. We have >> Mr. Chair, there there's there's more. I mean,
for instance, number F, if if if if any member of the commission alleges another member has a conflict of interest, just an allegation the way it's written, uh I allege that you have a conflict of interest, the chair then can no longer uh allow that member to participate in
the meeting. There's no process identified. It's not uh it's the the person that the allegations presented has no ability within the recipe, the bylaws to to defend themselves, to explain themselves. And there's no vote
by the commission to accept whether or not whether or not the uh the uh the allegation is decided by the membership to be valid. And so, there's just little things like this that I I I don't think I don't think are
right. And and I mean we could put a process into this that basically says that you know when an allegation is made by a the conversation consume or proceeds and and a votes taken on the allegation as to and then honestly the
last one as I read it uh once we give this bylaw back to the commission as I read it uh the board itself has given away the authority to ever change these bylaws. Uh, and that's on uh
what's on page 40, the last 100 amendments of the section. But there's little things like that. And >> you know, somebody the former city attorney taught me the words are the words. And whatever the words say, the words say,
and intent is not part of these kind of things. Uh, but so we have a motion on the table. I I I'm going to vote no because I think there's more to work on this, but >> uh we can proceed if you'd like. >> Well, >> I think the motion is to to work on it. >> Yeah, I think my motion would be that
would include those things. But if Commissioner Sanjum is correct that if this is passed that we can't go back and change it then, but that's not the way I read it. But >> it's not the way I read it either.
Uh, >> proposed changes must be approved by a majority vote by the commission. However, the proposed amendments shall not become final and binding until they have been approved by a majority vote of the Mstead County Board of Commissioners. >> Well, not saying we can't. >> Well, right,
>> Mr. Chair, it says any proposed changes must be approved by a majority vote of the commission. Yes. Uh, but once done, and that's the commission, that's not us.
Uh so that either the board or or the body itself can propose an amendment and then it says the changes must be approved by the commission. In other words, the the park commissions, but once done,
you can't cycle back and say we're, you know, county board's going to change that. That's the way I read it. >> I think Travis wants to speak to this. Thank you, Chairman Tine. Um, yeah, >> being a nuisance, I understand. >> Well, and I might read it differently. I
mean, the the first sentence there says, "Amendments to these bylaws may be either proposed by the county board." Um, and then it goes on to say, "Or commission members." And then it goes on to say everything that you had just
read. But I mean, um, I'm I'm taking the motion that Commissioner Wright made here to mean that there's a suggestion that, um, and a proposal by the county board that we revisit a section or two in here. And so I I I guess I read it a
little different. >> Well, Mr. Chair, if that if that's the motion, if we can just take another more, you know, this is not the right time to work on bylaws. If we can do that, then I'm I'm uh then then I I would be in favor of his motion. >> Okay. So, we got a motion to approve
this and with a with a suggestion that we revisit it down the road and sharpen it up. >> So, all in favor say I. >> I oppose. Carries. All right. D. >> Mr. Chair, this is this is one that I
mean I've got this I've got some some of the other concerns and I I I will just start I I believe just looking at the statutes that uh and uh that that the state of Minnesota when they uh
allowed counties to form planning commissions and by this it's by the way it's a may we don't have to we don't have to have a planning commission. uh it's a may but if you do and if that planning commission then creates controls then as
the board of adjustment statute reads uh uh you pardon me if you do that you must have a planet you must have a board of adjustments I mean there's there's the language within the statute suggests to me that if you're going to do if you're
going to exercise controls and planning and zoning and and so on would be the big ones that then you need a board of adjustment >> I mean and having a board of adjustment or having two boards with the same members. >> It's it's to me the
if I come before the planning commission and and and I'm denied and I want to appeal, I'm going to appeal right back to the same people that already >> I don't I don't think it goes that direction, Dave. >> Yeah. >> You want to speak to it? >> That's correct. Planning Commission matters generally get go to the county
board if there's any kind of an appeal. zoning board of adjustment generally goes through district court or the court system for any kind of an appeal. So there shouldn't be cross cross appeals that this issue will become a concern. >> Uh it's it's it's it's too laborious to
work on here. But let me go ahead and vote. I I'll just vote no. >> Okay. All right. And looking for a motion to approve. >> Move to approve U >> D. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Nate. Okay, passes. All right, so that's
done with the consent agenda. Now we'll move toformational items. First up, Senator Carla Nelson to provide a legislative update. Thank you, Carla, for coming. >> Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Oh, I'm sure you're all waiting uh with baited breath for this. No, I'll be very brief, but uh
one, I just want you to know uh what a pleasure and what a joy it is uh to work for Mstead County and our joint uh constituents. I would be remiss if I didn't start by mentioning the um most
unusual and I would say lifealtering and lifealtering changing uh dynamics at the legislature. It was uh I think we're all still grieving over the loss of our fellow colleagues in such a uh
horrendous manner. I I do want you to know this isn't exactly part of your of your update, but uh there are um motions in place at the capital looking at uh security and I think uh all of us including all elected all elected
officials are certainly more aware now and um I know certainly I am. Um on a brighter note, um I was part of an uh majority in the middle uh civic pledge
ceremony uh early earlier uh actually last week at the end of last week up in the cities. Uh there were about six maybe eight of us uh elected legislators that uh signed a pledge. We think more will. I I anticipate quite frankly I I
hope all 201 do. uh just talking about what what we need to do and I know there are things that you do as well which is uh you you debate ideas you don't dehumanize people you don't get into character assassinations and we and we debate ideas and and that's something
that uh this pledge called for and of course absolutely no violence but uh to the to the to the legislative update. Well, it was a challenging session there as well too. Um, as you know, uh, the two-year bienium started with a$18
billion dollar surplus. Uh, and, uh, and then, uh, there was a 40% increase in spending, state spending, uh, that year. And I'm hoping some of that was helpful for the counties. Uh, but as we came into the legislative session this year was that there was that $6 billion
projected hole. And that's challenging. I know you have to work through deficits, projected deficits, too, and that's always incredibly challenging. the things that I I thought you might be most interested in. And I know you have a Cracker Jackack staff that's probably already informed you of all of these
things. But, you know, um quite frankly, it was kind of hard to find what I would call wins that people are going to be excited about at the end of this legislative session. But sometimes, you know, that's defined by things that didn't happen. And I will say that
counties were on the chopping block. You probably know that as those early budgets came out that county program aid was going to be cut dramatically and I'm very thankful that we were able to uh push back on that and there were um
other ways uh maybe not uh pal palatable to everyone. But what I would say is I think it was important that we not cut county program aid. And uh I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge which I know you guys are feeling every day is um how do you pay for those unfunded
mandates that were passed in 23 and 24. Uh earn safe and sick time is already um on the books. uh paid family medical leave starts uh January 1 of the upcoming year and uh I could not find any exact numbers about what that cost
would be toolstead county particularly um you do know that this year the premium was increased from 7% of payroll to 88% of payroll now that might be a hard pill to swallow as you're paying that increase that you weren't counting
on but I would say it was necessary. Uh there was not an actuarial study when this uh piece of legislation was passed and so the benefits continued to grow without the costs and all of you know that benefits without paying for them are a recipe for disaster for everyone.
So uh that cost will be increasing. I don't have the exact amount uh for uh Olmstead County, but I can tell you that um um it uh looks like Oh, I lost the
number here. I think I wrote it down. Um at the 7%. So, the new increase in premium has not been figured in to these numbers yet. Um it looks like all local governments, that would include counties, cities, and school districts
and townships, uh it would increase um local government pay by 217.1 million uh dollars to pay for that uh paid family medical leave. You can figure out, I'm sure your folks know exactly what that would mean to Mstead County. So I think
that is something to watch. Uh it looks like it was um for counties alone 11.3 million uh in 2026 and 11.7 million costs in 2027 for the premiums uh that
you would pay. Um however that would be increased because of the increase in premium of point up to 088%. So that's just I know a couple things that you're dealing with. Um, also, uh, I was interesting to to be part of the
cannabis, uh, discussion today. Uh, that was one thing that I thought was a little bit hidden, uh, till the end of session. In fact, I'm not sure if there was actually a bill on it or if it just showed up, but you know, that cannabis aid um that originally there was a 10%
tax on cannabis aid. Uh, the state was going to take 80% of it, counties 10% to pay for your co costs, and uh, cities 10%. Well, you might be thinking, or I'm sure you guys aren't because I can tell you already know this, but uh you might think, okay, well, they increased the
tax to 15%. Now, we're actually going to have a little bit more to actually implement uh what we've been required to implement on this. But don't get your hopes up. Uh the entire 15% now goes to the state. So, unfortunately, that is a purely unfunded mandate for you. And I
appreciate you taking the diligent time to work on that. I think that is very important. Um I will say there were some missed opportunities. Um particularly personally I was very concerned that uh
county uh 14 or US14 at county 3 and five I want to thank you for coming up and testifying. You know we had planning money for those in previous years and yet they did not make it in the bonding bill. That was shocking to me especially
when you look at some of the things that were there. We are hoping I'm hoping there will be a bonding bill uh coming up this year as well. Um while the bonding bill that passed uh had some very good things in it, it was pretty
disappointing. I've never seen anything like this. There was not a single priority from Olmstead County, Dodge County, or the city of Rochester in that bonding bill. So that just tells us there's a lot more work to do. Um so with that, I I could go on and on. I do
I do know you're suffering with um unfunded mandates. I know that uh we we all know those should be words that are not allowed in state in any government. Unfunded mandates. It's one thing to mandate, but to do it unfunded is just a well pure property tax increase. So
anyway, with that, I'll let you get back to all the work you have in front of you. And uh thank you. I hope you uh reach out to me with any questions along the way. I know all of you have and it really helps me, I think, do a better job and be informed with the things that are important to you and our
constituents. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Carla. I appreciate your work on our behalf. >> Yes. >> Okay. Next up, city of Oronoko update from administrator Jason Baker. >> Thank you, commissioners. appreciate your time today. That's my first time
coming to speak before you all. So, I've met a few of you at events. It's very nice to see you. Um I am Jason Baker. I'm the newer city administrator for Oronokco. I've been there about a year and a half now. Wow. Time is flying by. Um we've got a lot of great things that we're working on in our city. And so, I just coming to give a little update and
kind of a just let you know where we're at with our city here. Um this next page kind of talks about our population is still around 1,800 people. We've got approximately just under 600 housing units in town. Um we are looking to grow that in the coming years. We do have
some housing which we'll touch into in later slides here. Um we are looking at some growth that's going to be happening and we're very excited about that. Um with that there'll be some more support services we'll hopefully be able to gain as a city as well as pull from the county. I know we'll probably be working
with the Mstead County Sheriff's Office to maybe increase some more of their time there um as we we get the population going up and the businesses coming in. Uh right now our median household income is sitting about 150,000. It's fairly high. Or no's
always kind of been one of those areas where we have large lots, large land, smaller population, um and just seems to be a rather expensive area to live in. And that's one of the struggles that we're having right now, especially as we have an aging population in town.
They're finding that that balance of wanting to still live there and not being able to afford it um because of the way that the cities put themselves in the position they put themselves in. So, we're trying to take some corrective action with our our new housing coming in. Some of our primary goals is basically just positive community
growth. We want to make sure that we're meeting the demands of future residents as well as those who are still living in town um and want to continue to live there. So, like I said, housing is kind of one of our big topics that uh we're going through right now. You can kind of see I
pulled some statistics of from the last 3 to 5 years where it talks about our our housing value. Majority of our houses sit 500,000 or more. Um, which to me is very expensive. Um, so looking at that, you know, I can see our our where
our aging population, older population, you know, coming to struggle to get in. And as we're seeing the growth in Rochester and the surrounding area, a lot of these smaller communities, Ornokco included, um we're going to be seeing the need for housing to help support the business and growth coming
in here, especially with Mayo. Um we do, like I said, we have larger houses. Majority of our houses are four bedrooms or more. Um throw in the rental price, I think that's a little skewed. We really don't have that many rentals in town. We don't have apartments. Um, we've got a few rental houses, but those are very
far and in between. Um, so it's one of those things where I think the town has been predominantly just family homes. Um, they're the city has stayed away from from rentals and I think they're looking to keep it that way, but we want to bring make sure we're bringing in
those those single family and multif family homes in the R1 and R2 district. Um, with that kind of our big one right now, Pine Southwest. This is a housing development. It's a common interest community development that's coming this year. They're in the the process right
now of getting their final plat review. Um, and they're going to be in the southeast part of town. Kind of gave you a map of what they put up, what the community is going to look like. There are 14 housing units that house four single family singlestory um residential
units if you will kind of like condos uh put together in this. It's an exciting development. Uh we're looking to you know that that 54 units is going to be a big deal for us. We just kind of segue off this. We just completed our wastewater treatment facility this year.
we went or last year we went live in uh April and so we've had about a year under our belt now of this brand new treatment facility and so this is something where we are in debt with that and we've got a lot to pay and so having these housing and commercial um developments is going to be key for us
but this is one that we're excited about the developer is also building in Rochester I believe or just finished a project in Rochester so uh they've been very great to work with for the community they've shown a lot of support been out there been active they've listened into the residents and they've
redesigned their um area a couple different times and they've worked with local residents and the surrounding neighborhoods to help ease some of their burdens and concerns. So, it's been a a breath of fresh air to have them come in and do this and we're excited for their project.
Um, with that, we do have some other upcoming projects. Uh last year we had our Hamilton development um which ultimately did not succeed in in moving forward. Um that was a project that was designed with a lot of R1 and R2 component housings. Bring in about 110
units is what they were looking at. Uh I've been meeting with them recently. They're still looking to um do this project. Uh we are currently finishing up a entire redo of our planning and
zoning ordinances for the city and we have a public hearing this month for that. We're hoping to have those go live September time frame, September, October. And so with that, I think that this development, this uh firm, they're looking at using those codes to redesign
and reimagine their land that they have right now and and make it fit within that uh so that they can move forward in 2026, 2027 because there's going to be a multi-phase development as well. We have Gold Rush Crossings. Uh they're just
south of town. We've been talking with them. Um the biggest thing right now is they are in land that abuts the city. So they have to be annexed in. But this is all commercial development. Um so I believe it's 100th Street and Minnesota
Avenue uh just to the north there. There's two parcels of land on either side of Minnesota Avenue and they're looking to bring in a lot of commercial development. So again, we're excited for that. Uh there's a lot of potential there and we're continuing to work with that group as as we go through that to try and make that happen. And then
finally, we've got some smaller ones around town. One of the bigger, smaller ones, Oronoko Crossings is on the west side of 52 there by the Casey's Gas Station. Again, just north of 100 Street. There's a few parcels of land for commercial development coming in as
well as some potential for some residential R2 development, which could bring 30 to 50 housing units depending on how they put them in there. So, we're working with different groups as well, communicating with them to try and, you know, start getting the ball rolling and get the public informed with with those.
So, with this, we're kind of taking it, you know, we understand that, see this, you know, businesses are are opportunities are like buses. There's always another one coming. We know there's there's more potential. There's more things coming for this town. And, uh, we are really excited for that. Um,
outside of that, we've got a few things going on. Small town stuff here. Pickle ball courts been a big deal for Oronokco. And so, uh, that's something we actually just the picture there you see was taken a couple days ago. We actually got new pickleball courts put in on our basketball court by city hall.
Um, so there's been a lot of hubbub around town with that. And we're working on with the parks committee upgrading our parks. We've got a lot of outdated playground equipment um that needs tended to as well as our Memorial Park is our baseball field. There's the fencing there needs to be replaced. And
we're really hoping to work with some of these developers as they come in instead of doing a parkland dedication looking at getting funding from them to be able to help because we have a lot of parks. I think we have about 11 parks for the city of Ornoko, which is a lot for our small town and we don't need more parks.
We need money to help pay for the parks. Um, the other thing we doing, uh, I started as I came in here, like I said, I've been here a short time. There's a lot of things we're I'm seeing that they're lacking or behind in. When I started, the city separated from Gold Rush. They became their own entity,
their own LLC. And so everything we're about is Gold Rush and every that's our logo and that's on everything we have. Um, so what we did is we started a branding campaign with our EDA and we got some grant funding. We got $10,000 grant and then we had $5,000 from
council where they found it in the budget to help donate. And then um our developer that's doing the community one there, the CIC one, um he actually donated $5,000 as well to give us 20,000 total for our branding project. So we are in the process of going through and
rebranding our entire city. We're going to find out what we're about and uh all that fun stuff. And that's really going to help with our future as we move forward. Uh with that, uh the other thing that I'm working with some of our newer council members on is really finding a vision for them. I found came when I
came in here that that was something that was lacking. Um you know, we were working on putting together a vision, mission statements, and goals for the council members. And I think that that will help give them direction because right now it's just each month what's coming before them and what do they kind of think and there's no forward
thinking, if you will. So, we're really excited about that. the newer council members especially to kind of help give that vision for the city and the city's future. With that, we're working on a CIP plan. The last CIP plan was done over 20 years ago. And so, we are outdated with that. And we've been
working closely with our city engineers as well as our committees and commissions to put together CIP for the next 1, three, five, and 10 years. um to really again when it comes time as we're going through budget to help with that. Streets and roads are the big one, we've
been kind of falling behind in that and so we're working on improving those budgets. We actually have our engineer went out and put together is in the process of putting together a street maintenance plan for us. So we'll be able to start catching up with some of that stuff. Like I said, we finished our wastewater plant. We had phase 1 A. With
that, the next phase is phase 1B. And that's 5 years out, but we're starting now. We're getting things going, getting ready to start bringing in the second phase of residents onto city sewer. And so we're getting the ball rolling with that. And then again, we're working out
of older facilities. City Hall is city hall community center. Uh we've got a fire station that's out the the fire department and EMS. They've outgrowing that. Um our city shop was put in 10 years ago and they're pretty much out growing that. So, I've met with some uh
different companies to do a facility assessment. So, we're going to work on getting facility assessment for the city and take into account and get everything graded and utilize that for the coming years to hopefully get some new buildings. I know those are
always hard to to try to pass, but I think we have a lot of support from our community um to help revitalize that and give us space that we need for the next 20, 30 years. um because we are in desperate need of that. And then kind of one of the last big things right now, we're currently working with multiple
communities and counties for the Zumbro Re Zumbro River Regional Water Trail Project. Um like I said, you can see up there, it's something that connects multiple communities along the river. We were able to secure $170,000 in grant funding for this project. And um I know
we've been working on like a joint powers board with different counties and cities along there and that's something that's still moving forward. We're excited about that. Uh looking at putting uh we went around and I think they identified about 50
different locations. We kind of have to dwindle down to about a dozen or so uh as to where we want to put these places for people to come in and out of the the river. Uh really the the key for this is to make sure that with that, you
know, it's something where it allows people to come into the community and be able to explore each community, each area, and give them a little bit more. Uh that's something with the the Zumba River, it's it's very much utilized. And so we're hoping to to use that potential
to help all the surrounding communities with this project. So, just again kind of a summary here. Uh, you know, we're continuing to focus on positive community growth and expanding our housing options, working with multiple developers across the way. Um, with this, one of the big things I
know we've done in the past and we'd really like to see, especially for some of our smaller communities, we've talked about this tax abatements and other tax incentives are key for us, you know, to be able to help incentivize these, especially commercial companies to come in here. Um, we have one right now. Now,
I think we're getting ready to finish up. That was our um oh my gosh, I forget what it's called. The data center that we have in town. They were on a a a tax abatement for 10 years. And so, I think that's something that we might see and be able to
utilize, especially with our commercial properties as as they start to come in. Um, again, enhancing community amenities, uh, collaborating with city council to make sure that we have a shared vision, mission, and goals for the city, preparing our future capital
improvement plan, which again lays the foundation for the future of the city, and then really strengthening our partnerships with other surrounding communities through this project and any other project that we work on. You know, I spend a lot of time working with surrounding cities from Steuartville,
St. Charles, and even north into a good hugh. Pine Island and Zambroa and all these um Kenyon. There's a lot of good um teamwork that's done amongst the administrators in this region and it's been an awesome awesome area to come
into especially for my first year being here and really have that support. So that's something we'll continue to work on strengthening our regional partnerships with that. So that's all I have. I don't know if I take questions or not but >> I have questions. So that at Pine
Southwest, is that going to where Hamilton was going to be or? >> No. So that's actually going to be south of Hamilton there. So Pine Southwest is going to be across from Two Sisters Restaurant. >> Across? >> Yeah. So if you know where Two Sisters is and Two Sisters and then Glenn Coach
Motor Coach was kind of like a C-shaped property that was the I think the third section. It was called Cedar Woods Development Third that got sold off and that's what that Pine Southwest is. >> Okay. and the community seems to be embracing this. >> Yeah, we've had a lot of good support. Like I said, they've hosted a couple
community outreaches, town hall meetings. Um there's been people that have come in and talked and a lot of support. Um even at the last one, there was there's a few people have concerns for things. And if you look at go back here real quick, you know, simple simple little things. So, if you
look at this map and you look at the the southern drive there on the right side of the picture, um that leads out directly into So, if you're stopped there facing the main road that arches around, your high beams or your car
lights are facing the house. Well, that neighbor had concerns about, hey, I'm gonna have all these cars coming in and out of here and shining their lights and my windows and I'm trying to sleep. And so, they're actually working with that individual. They're going to be putting up their own money to build a treeine burn and a fence burn to help prevent
that. You know, they're they're finding innovation and finding different solutions to help their residents because they really want this to be successful and they want the community support from it and so they see how important it is for both sides. So, they're they're doing a really great job of working with our residents.
>> Who who is that developer? >> Uh, Dragon is his name. I can't pronounce his last name. >> Okay. But he's >> starts with a K. He's done some similar stuff in Rochester. >> Yeah, he's done he's done at least one project I know of in Rochester kind of in the south southeast area. So, as of
recent >> Well, 54 units is a nice development for Orco. >> It is. And it'll be done in phases. The first phase is starting with the west side there on the left. We'll have I think two or four of those um housing units and then they have like a community center there kind of as you
come in that's got a pool and stuff. That's going to be kind of their phase one. And then they're not sure if they're going to do just two phases. It really depends on how quickly they're selling them. Sure. >> So, they're trying to do affordable housing, not, you know, low income, not high. They're trying to make it
affordable. Um, but what affordable looks like is kind of anybody's guess right now. So, that's fair. >> Um, I still think they're coming in under 500,000, but yeah. So, >> um, on your on your sewer treatment plant, is Orno Estates hooked up to that?
>> Yes. So we do have they are the only ones who are not within the city limits that are hooked up. So we supply sewer to Oroco Estates which is I think right now they're sitting at about 190 um units that come out of there. So >> that's great.
>> Um they've been they've been good to work with. They've they've had their hiccups over the last year um with payments and things and I'll be honest with that, but they've made up everything. They've gotten caught up. um they've they're straightening themselves out and kind of figuring out their internal stuff and it's it's working a
lot better. So, we've been pretty happy with them. >> That's great. >> It's been a good partnership for that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Go ahead, Dave. >> Uh thank you. Uh thanks for your good work, uh Mr. Baker. I mean it's it's really it's to be
honest it's it's just really kind of refreshing because you know the town sort of stood still I I say that respectfully for kind of a long time. >> Yeah. >> And so the f the two questions is the uh is the town generally all hooked up to
the treatment system or is it is it just moving in per you know systematically? generally they did a majority of it in the phase 1A. Um I'd say there's about a hundred units and something 100 to 150 units that still have housing units that
still need to get connected in phase 1b. But we've got well we actually probably have over because this those are old numbers. We have over 600 housing units now but we've got over just over 400 connected to the uh water sewer. >> Are those left on the west side of 52?
Yeah, a lot of them are on the west side of 52. And we've, like I said, we've we've started that project and our city engineers kind of working on putting that together as well. And >> sure, >> kind of figuring out what community, what sections of the community and how they're going to do that. They had initially planned for it, but you know,
obviously we got to figure out with funding from the state >> and all that kind of stuff to help, but should be significantly less than the initial one now that we've got the plant done. The other one is kind of curiosity because when the dam went out up there, I you're left with the bottom of Lake Shady and uh for I made I remember a
sketch at one point for sort of a park there. Is is is there any vision for that? >> Yeah, actually there is we're still in the process of of that. Um we've we've had our city engineer pretty busy. Um we had him go through and look at uh cuz it
it's there's going to be some connection from Oro Park which is kind of to the north northeast of there. >> Um to be able to put in pathways to to get down to that area. Um and then those pathways will connect to a bridge that will go over the river, a little foot bridge,
>> and then come into pathways that are already kind of in existence. They need to be cleaned up a little bit more just because we haven't had, you know, so much use for it in recent years. Um, but that very much is still a plan. >> Kind of some nature trails. >> Yep. >> And so right now there is still some
access from the west frontage road off of 52 there >> that we took from the I believe from the county years ago. And so but with the last year's flood in June that kind of washed out the trail. So we're we're waiting we played the played with the federal money and didn't get that. So
we're now we're playing with the state trying to get some reimbursement funds to kind of help fix that up a little bit. people can still access it and they do regularly and go down there and and walk around. Um but yeah, there's there's very much still a plan. We do have that at city hall. Uh we also are working
with I believe it's the state with work with MDOT. They're supposed to put up the fence along 52 kind of bordering that on the west side of the Lake Shady area and the east side of 52. putting up a fence. That was part of the
>> right >> sale of it and all that was they had to put up a fence to, you know, create a a safe space blockage from people just wandering down or wandering up on 52. >> So that should hopefully be done this fall. That's the plan. >> Thank Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Anything else for Jason? >> Thank you, Jason. Appreciate you stopping by. >> Appreciate it. >> All right. Next up, receive summary results of the 2025 resident survey. >> Hello. >> Thank you for your time. Um, Mr. Chair,
members of the board, my name is Fina Spinosza. I'm a management analyst with the policy analysis communications department, and I'll be sharing with you the resident survey results for 2025. So many of you uh were not here last time we did the survey in 2022. So I'm going to give a little bit of background
about the survey as well as some information about the implementation process uh as well as information on the response rates and how the survey results were analyzed just so we have a little bit of an idea of what we're looking at as we go into the highlights. Then some of those highlights will also be aligned with our strategic plan
priorities and then we'll end with summary and next steps. So what is the resident survey? It's a community survey that we've conducted about every three years since 2008, so almost 20 years now. Uh, and the main purpose has been as an opportunity to
give uh the residents a voice in providing input on overall quality of life issues as well as rating various um u county services that we provide or overall government performance. It's been a collaboration uh uh effort
that we've worked with four other Minnesota counties on. Uh so Dakota, Washington, Scott, and St. Louis County. Um together we work with uh the same vendor who then helps us with each of our surveys within our communities. Um and so we've been using the same vendor
uh for most of the iterations. The national uh national research center was the vendor name, but then it got bought out by PCO or uh policy confluence in 2022. Uh but essentially they provide this type of service throughout the nation with various cities and counties throughout the country. Um and so last
September we met with them and uh had did a completed a joint powers agreement with them uh with the other counties and then started the planning process through the end of last year. And so earlier this year at the end of January 6,000 surveys were sent out in
Homestead County um evenly distributed between the seven districts and the survey was active from end of January through early March. So, some new things that happened this year with this survey. Um, so given that we've used the same vendor all these
years, uh, and they do this kind of work for many years with many cities and counties throughout the country, um, they've developed over time a large question bank of most commonly asked questions, uh, from local uh, local governments. And so uh because they have
this large question bank, they have this uh template survey tool that combines all their most asked questions um nationally nationally. So it's called the national community survey. So we decided to uh try their their template out this year um versus in prior years
it was it was more of a custom survey with some borrowed questions from the vendor from their question bank. So with those with that change there are some differences whereas of those borrowed questions that we would take from them over the years which is about 35 of those questions those 35 questions previously had national benchmarks
compared to and so for so kind of coming back to this because they have this large question bank of commonly asked questions whenever there's five or more communities that ask a similar question they create a benchmark for for that question that then we can compare to. So not just to ourselves but also how we
compare to the national average. It just provides additional richness to the data and additional context for how we might be doing. So now all our questions from this template this year uh have those national benchmark comparison data. Uh and then there were some there was some room in that template for some custom questions. So we had we included seven
custom questions in addition. And then finally another difference this year was that uh most of our surve most of our surveys in years prior were paper based. And then in 2022, we we uh tested out a hybrid approach where 65% of households got paper uh only and then 35% got
online only through a postcard with the online link. This time, everybody got both options so they could choose. Um so that also I think improved our participation. So what stayed the same was that uh in addition to that mailed survey that happens every iteration with that online
option just like in 2022 uh it allows us the option to also offer the survey in more than one language. So that that stayed the same this time around as well where the additional language was Spanish for this year. Um and then of those questions that uh we borrowed over
the years uh that many came from their question bank of the vendor u so many of those were retained in the template. So we have about 30 questions where we have historical trend data uh going back many years uh from when we first started the surveys. And then of those custom questions that we have the seven the seven custom questions three of the
seven were from the previous custom survey. So we were able to keep um historical data on those three as well. And a big part of why also we wanted to switch over to trying the template. Um so not only do we get those additional u national benchmarks compared to and add
kind of richness and context to the data but because it's a template with pre-established questions there's just less time spent in make in building out the survey and also they have a template report that feeds the results into. So it's less time for them to also prepare the survey uh results. So with that less
time and planning um there's also uh they can also offer this tool with at less cost. So less less time, save time, save cost. We have more national benchmarks compared to. So I think it was a good uh try out for for this year with a template.
So going into the response rates and how survey results are analyzed. So of those 6,000 surveys that were sent out, we got about 18% uh response response rates back. So that was a little over a thousand surveys. Um, and here at the bottom I have a table that shows what our response rates were for 2022 as well as the other counties that we worked
with who had that response rates reported out. So you can see there's a decline for all of us. Um, and having worked with the same vendor with various iterations, we, you know, we we've been told by the vendor that that with many of these types of community surveys done over long periods of time, there does
tend to be a trend of downward uh response rates over time. So this wasn't completely unexpected. Um, but I think that's also another reason why a benefit of using the template this year was that so because we were able to implement it at a reduced cost, we were actually able to send more surveys this time than last
time. Uh, whereas in 2022 we sent out a little bit over 4,000 surveys, this time we sent 6,000. So even though we have a lower response rate overall, we actually heard from more residents this year. Whereas last time was a little over 800, this time was a little bit over a thousand. So just another way to kind of
um address this whole reduce response rates over time situation. As I mentioned earlier, there's a there's a a template of the of of our vendor that uses for the reporting the results. Um in their report, they they
report all the results of the questions into these 10 different areas or they call community livability facets. So that's there on the left, the circle with the 10 different livability facets. And for each of those facets um in the report there's a dedicated section for each of those facets um that then kind
of outlines all the different questions that fall under that facet. So one example here that's shown on the right is a quality of life facet. And so in the red square on the top right um is one of the questions on overall quality of life instead county. And so many many of these questions in the survey uh ask
for ratings u based on a four-point scale. So in this case excellent, good, fair, and poor. And you can see the percentages of how the results came in for that question. And so uh of that four-point scale, excellent and good are seen as the more positive results. And those two more positive results um are
combined. Uh so there at the bottom in the long rectangle square is the combined percentage for excellent and good. So at 76% for that same question. That com that combined percent that's what's com that's what's compared to the national benchmark averages. In this case it says similar. So it was similar
to the average benchmarks of other communities who asked this question. One thing to also know with these national benchmarks is that um again it has to be at least five five or more other communities that ask this question. But for each of these our questions in the survey you know for each question it could you could be
comparing to five or 10 communities or 30 or 40 communities. It varies from question to question. Um so just to be mindful of that as well. And then another way that survey results are analyzed and this is kind of coming over as a legacy from how we reported these results in prior in prior
iterations when it was custom survey. So of those four point liyker scale there on the left and as an example. So you have your excellent, good, fair and poor. Um they get an they try to calculate an overall average of the result. So by giving a score for each of those four options between zero and 100,
they times it by the percentage percentage breakout that we get for each of those for each question. And it's it's just to get an overall average number. So by giving an an average number, you know, you're not going to get like a zero or 100 for any of your results. It's always going to be somewhere in the middle. So usually
anywhere between a 60 to 80 average rating is pretty good. It's within that uh good to excellent range. And so as an example here on the right is the box of some safety questions that we've asked since 2008. And you can kind of see a trend line. So having that average rating as a number, you can quickly get
a sense of what the trends have been for each of these questions. Um and so uh that's that's a useful way of of converting it to an average rating. Another another useful reason why they do this is um for so with the counties that we work with, if we ask a similar
question, but say Dakota County asks these similar questions but in a five-point scale and we use a four-point scale by both of us converting into an average rating score number, we can then quickly or easily compare to across each other. So, and that's the same for any other way of spicing and dicing the data
by demographics or any other way uh we may look at it. Uh and then just one thing I want to point out here too is that uh these letters under each of the numbers uh these are just calling out an additional way of looking at the data that this that the vendor does they they do a statistical analysis on all the results. And um and so here they're
calling out u differences between years in this example where there might be a statistical significance between various years. And basically it's just a it's just a way for them to add additional um confidence or pro high probability that the differences between these years are actual differences versus just the
random differences that may happen from year to year. So um just wanted to just call out that detail. >> Could I just ask? >> Yeah. So, is that telling me that the people of county feel
more safe today than they did in 2008? >> Yes, that that result. Yep. Yeah. So, slightly higher. Yeah. And there's a statistical significance because it's calling out Yeah. between
those two years um 2008 is A and 2025 is F. So, um A is under is under the the latest score. So yeah, it's a like a true difference between those two years. So there's other there's other characteristics as I mentioned earlier on how to splice and dice the data. Um
we have the county comparison if we ask similar questions across the other four counties. We also have the district comparisons for each of the questions because our vendor tracks how uh the results they get per district. But in the survey itself, we also ask information about age, gender, income,
how long they've been in the county, housing situation. Um, so there again many many ways to look at the data and and compare cross compare. Since we have limited time today, any kind of comparison differences, I we'll only focus on county and district for today. And here I just want to include a
reference slide for the map of the county shaded by the various districts. um in case anybody in the public decides to review, they can kind of see when we look at those comparisons and the highlights what those districts um are covering. And then one last thing before we go into the highlights is here uh is a logo
on the left of our strategic plan that was implemented last year. So our new our new mission, vision, values, and priorities. Uh so of those five priorities, four of them are community facing, one is internal facing. Because the resident survey is a community facing tool, we're gonna when we look at the highlights, we're only going to
focus on the community facing priorities. So, jumping into the highlights here. First, I want to just call out some of the key findings from Pocal's report. Not all the findings, but but some of them I think are have a positive uh thing to to share here. So, eight out of eight out of 10 residents in county rate
the county as either excellent or a good place to live. Eight out of 10 feel very or somewhat safe in their neighborhood during the day from violent crime and from property crime. And in all these three areas, we saw increases from 2022 survey results. When it comes to national benchmarks, uh
some of the some of them not this is not a exhaustive list, but some that um rated highly above uh higher than national benchmarks were availability of affordable quality healthcare, availability of affordable quality mental health care and public health services. And then now going into highlights based
on our priorities. First starting with the priority of community safety and well-being mainly because that one also covers a lot of our quality of life questions. So for each of these priorities we asked a custom question this year uh related to that priority. So for this one we asked residents to rate how well county keeps our community
safe and ensures access to programs and services that that improve quality of life. And it was a four-point leaguet scale again between excellent, good, fair, and poor where when scoring it to get an overall average score over overall average score for this question was 60. So again within that excellent
to good range uh just below good. And then there you can see the average ratings per district for this question. And then we have a question here that asks about overall quality of life instead county. And this question we've been asking since we started the survey since 2008. Uh and it's also a
four-point ly scale between excellent and poor. And here in the top middle uh is a line chart that shows what the overall average rating has been for this question uh since 2008 where you see a steady kind of um in the 70s. Uh and then most recently there was a drop um
for down to 65. And even though it was a drop, it's still relatively high within that good to excellent range. uh but it is the first time that we have seen a drop for this question. And then you can see the uh average rating by district on the bottom left for this question. And
then as we compare uh to the other four Minnesota counties that also asked this question there on the bottom right where uh Orals counties the red bar and then the other counties are to the right of that. Now there were about 20 other quality of life type questions with the template.
Um since we won't be able to have time to go through all of them, I decided to go with an approach of uh top three rating, bottom three rated for this themed these themed group of themed questions. I also wanted to focus on questions that we've tended to also ask in previous surveys as well. So for our top three quality of life questions, we
have S County as a place to work, M County has a place to raise a family and county as a place to live. Then for our bottom three issue, availability of affordable childare and availability of affordable housing. Um, and so even for these uh bottom three
here, these are probably going to be our areas for opportunities for improvement. Um, I know availability, affordable housing, one that we've asked over the years, that one tends to be one that we kind of struggle uh with having on the lower rating for quality of life. Uh, but to the right is a legend there that shows what the comparisons are for
national benchmarks that are colorcoded. So, if any of them are are a black bar, it basically means it's similar to the national benchmark averages. So even for the ones that are uh bottom three other communities that ask these questions get similar ratings and at the very top is is shaded in green. So county is a place
to work that one's higher than national benchmark averages and to be higher you have to be 10 to 20 points above the average of the grouping. Then for our uh questions around safety, again sticking with that top three, bottom three approach, our top three uh questions around safety are feeling safe
in our neighborhood during the day, feeling safe from fire, flood, and natural disaster and from violent crime. And then our bottom three are safe from drunk or impaired drivers on county roads, overall feelings of safety ins county, and from distracted drivers on county roads. So for the bottom three,
the ones that are white bars, those are are custom questions that we retained. And so those ones don't have national benchmarks to compare to. Uh but for the others, the other ones mostly similar to national benchmarks except for safe from fire, flood, and natural disaster which came in higher than national benchmarks.
Then looking at county county services that we provide that align with this priority around safety and well-being. U again sticking with the top three bottom three average ratings. So, our our top three average county service ratings were sheriff's office, law enforcement services, safe drinking water, and public health services. And then our
bottom three were emergency preparedness, sheriff's office, crime prevention services, and traffic enforcement. Now, even though we have their bottom three and top three, for the most part, if you look at the average rating, they're all within their 60s in in the 60s range. So, they're all relatively high still. They're in that
good to excellent range when it comes to that four-point scale. And they all rate similar to the national benchmark averages. Just something to add context. to the to the data. Uh and then you can see from public health services shaded green, it comes in higher than national benchmark averages. Looking at the next priority around
community trust and engagement, we asked a custom question for this one that asks residents to rate how well county earns community trust through engagement, collaboration, and public reliable service. And here the overall average rating on that four-point scale is uh 54. So right in the middle between fair
and good, closer to good. And then the average rating there by district for this question. Here we also ask uh questions about overall government performance questions that align with this priority. Uh and sticking to that top three bottom three formats. Our top three average ratings
were treating residents with respect, being honest, and treating all residents fairly. Our bottom three were overall confidence in Mstead County government, informing residents about issues facing the community, and being open and transparent to the public. And even though these are kind of top three, bottom three, you can see that the
average rating is all they're all within their 50s. So they're all right in the middle on that four-point scale average. So between fair and good. Um, so this is probably the the group of of theme questions that we probably have we can say is our area where we have opportunities for improvement if if we can going forward. So but when compared
to national benchmark averages, they all rate similar. So other community, other local governments that access other residents also get similar results. When it comes to county services that align with this priority, we had three. Uh so to the left there is elections and that was one of our custom questions
that we retained and that one had a high rating. In the survey, we specifically call out the uh absentee ballot voting and um voter registration process. And then the other two are overall customer service by Elms County employees and public information services which also relatively had higher ratings and
compared similar to national benchmarks. For the public information services in the survey we'd call it specifically the county website uh social media accounts and the news service I think is what it was. Moving on to the next priority is environmental sustainability. So we
asked custom a question that asked u residents to rate how well county leads in sustainable practices and the overall average there was 54. So again between fair and good closer to good and then you have the average ratings there of the various districts for that custom question
for county services that align with this priority. Uh we had four so yard waste drop off and compost pickup, storm water management, recycling and drop off services and preservation of natural areas. All of them had relatively high rate ratings. And of course as you can see in the various colors uh we had some
that were uh for example yardways drop off had much higher um comparisons to the national benchmark. So to be much higher is to be 20 points plus above the average with the grouping and then the two in the middle being higher. So 10 to 20 about 10 to 20 points above the average. And then the last one to the
right there is similar. So positive highlights there. Then finally with the last priority around responsible growth and development. So our custom question for this one was rating uh asking residents to rate how well county anticipates and adapts the needs of a growing community.
And the average rating there was 52. So again right in the middle again between fair and good. And then the average rating there by district for that question. And then here also we had some additional government performance questions related to this priority. So there was three of them. So generally
acting in the best interest of the community. The overall direction that SA County is taking and the values of services for the taxes paid to county. So these were similar to the other government performance questions most of them in the 50s some in the 40s. Uh again another group of questions that we probably see as opportunities for
improvement. But they also rate similar to national benchmark averages as well. So, and then county services that align with this priority, we had three of them. So, county parks and in this area we call out each of the county parks uh and then recreation centers or facilities and we
call it specifically Grand Park on the survey and then uh land use planning and zoning and as you can see here they all rated compared to national benchmarks higher than national benchmark averages. Then finally, um, so we we all we looked to try to expand diversity, equity, inclusion questions back in 2022 because
we had only asked about we only we had only asked one DEI type question over the years and this is about the community in general, not just about the government. Um, so uh the one question that we had always asked from the beginning and I think we had borrowed it from the vendor um was the one right in the middle uh with an average rating of
57, openness and acceptance of the community towards people diver of diverse backgrounds. Uh that's the one we've asked since 2008 and it has remained steady in that similar rating since then. Um so and then also has it compares uh similar to national benchmarks for the others. Uh so again I
forgot to mention in 2022 we had tried to expand it from one to five but then the template asked seven. So we have six new ones that that are DEI related. So of those six new ones, uh the two top ones were attracting people from diverse backgrounds, endowing respecting residents from diverse backgrounds,
which uh ranked higher than national benchmark averages. And then below those two, we had making all residents feel welcome, that openness and acceptance one that we've asked since 2008. And then below that, overall sense of community in OMS County, and then the last two, taking care of vulnerable
residents and residents connection and engagement with their community. So all all the rest of them um rate similar to national benchmarks. Um and so there at the bottom I say those are areas we can always try to work towards improving as well. So in summary overall residents report
high quality of life and that's remained relatively high uh similar to other national benchmarks but we did see a drop um slight drop this time around for the overall quality of life question. uh compared to national benchmarks uh residents feel overall um county is a
good place to uh work and raise a family but there are do do remain some stubborn areas around affordable housing and childare and then when it came to uh questions around pri our pri strategic plan priorities uh especially the ones that asked specifically about the priorities community safety and wellbeing rated the
highest at 60 and then when it came to county services that align with either environmental sustainability or responsible growth and development so like parks, uh, yard waste, drop off, recycling, um, Grand Park question. So, many of those questions rated higher or much higher than national benchmarks.
And then where we have some areas for improvement, so there's opportunities to exist in in enhancing the community trust and engagement uh, priority, especially as it relates to those questions that are government performance uh, related. So for next steps, we we now hope to uh continue reviewing these results with
the various divisions uh looking at their uh questions that that are relative to their programs and services within their divisions. Uh so working with them as well as within our department, continuing to align our work with the priorities established in the strategic plan. And we do hope to uh offer in the future uh this opportunity
for future residents, provide that input, that voice through this resident survey just so we can continue to track these quality of life questions and overall ratings around county services and government performance. Any questions can also contact our our
department director Deborah Mill. >> Any questions? >> I have a quick question. Um you did connect or collect demographic data. Can you just speak at a high level on those demographics of these thousand residents?
>> Yeah. Um shoot I forgot to quickly reference I can um get back to you exactly what the percentage breakouts were on the main report but yes we did we did collect demographic information race ethnicity uh age and gender uh and that is in the main report for from
Poco. Um we we do te we do tend to stubbornly hear from mostly older u older uh white adults who are homeowners on this survey. So um one thing I didn't mention just because it didn't it didn't it
didn't u we we this this year and last year we did try to offer an additional uh what's called an open participation survey. It comes at no cost, but so the first survey is a randomly selected households, but then we also offer later on an open survey that just has ask the same questions and then we try to work
with community partners to try to hear from more voices that we tend not to hear. So, younger non-white residents. Uh, but unfortunately last time as well as this time, we just didn't hear from many different people that wasn't already similar to our demographic, typical demographic residents that respond to this.
>> Um, Mr. Was that the end of your questions, Michelle? Mr. Espinosa, thank you for um this presentation. Is there any way for you to track um if you're tending to survey the same people year after year or if if that pool u is
becoming more diverse? >> Thank you, Commissioner. Um I can't Yeah, I can't recall because because we we we uh through a third party vendor have them track and and so so has to keep it anonymous. We I can probably
follow up with with the vendor to see if they might have um that comparison information maybe by address or something, but um that is a good question. I don't I'm not can't recall if we if we know do do you mean like if we're sending the same survey to the same residence? Yeah,
>> I can probably ask the the vendor to see if maybe they might have information about that follow back up. >> I would be interested in that if if you find it. >> Yeah. So, >> another quick question. >> Um, in reading the supplemental report and the main report, uh, there were some
questions asked about how often they interact or visit county facilities, etc. I'm aware that many of our departments do ongoing customer service reports, etc. So, um, can you just talk a little bit about how you digest that? Obviously, that's they're interacting
with county services. So, you know, we we have a little more information on on how they're working with us and they've actually experienced services. So, um how how that's used continually to look at our services and improve services in combination with surveys like this.
>> So, you're asking about the question more about if whether they came to the um to the office, right, to the office. >> Yeah, you may not. Maybe maybe Deborah as far as you know, departments are constantly collecting data. This is just one tool really that we look at to
understand how citizens look at customer service etc across our many services. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um good morning Mr. Chair, commissioners. Thank you for the question. Commissioner Rossman. Um as the the end slide noted um Ferine does
meet with each of the departments and divisions after um the results and so we do go through those talk about possible areas for improvement. I know then departments take that into consideration as they're making their own plans whether that's related to specific services as you're saying customer
service um you know outreach things of that nature. So there is aside from this overall lots of information to digest there is all of the parts and pieces that really have to be addressed more at the department level or even program and service level. Um there was one overall
question that was reported in there about um our overall customer service and that has tended to be very high and in the past we have had additional breakdowns which you might have seen in the very last page I think of the supplemental report. It talks about courteousness how how courteous how
knowledgeable and so forth. We actually had to cut that this time because we were absolutely out of space and would have had to add another page. So that is something I would like to add back in in the future so that we can keep getting that little bit more granular information about our customer service.
But we've all the years that we've done it, we've rated quite high on that particular question. >> Just really appreciate the commitment to continuous improvement and understanding how we do a better job in delivering services. >> Absolutely. Thank you.
>> Anybody else? Thank you, Ferman. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're are on to board and committee reports. Uh started Bob, your end. >> Nothing to report. >> Okay, Brian reports. >> Michelle,
>> um just one uh briefly at the at the last board meeting, I let you all know that I had the opportunity would soon have the opportunity to go to the cities and tour a couple waste management um facilities. That was really eye opening for me. Um, the biggest thing was in going through a MURF there, being able
to visualize what they have in place and what's going to appear in our MURF and what that's going to look like as well as them speaking to current challenges. Um, you know, what kind of waste they're seeing come through the stream. So, I've I mentioned that to Tony and and um he's going to work to um get us a tour at one
of those facilities. anyone who wants to go. I just think the opportunity to see some of that in action um as we put forth plans to build the MURF here in Homestead County just give us a a better vision of of what we're working towards. >> That's great.
>> Uh nothing today or >> nothing to report. >> Greg, >> okay. Well, I'll report that we had a retreat and we had our ceremonial dig for our ex breaking ground for our exhibition center 80,000 square foot
facility that >> haven't been out there. Is the big equipment out there yet? >> I don't know. >> I don't know either. >> Anybody? >> Hopefully soon if they if they're not already. So, that's a big deal for Homestead County. Um and all all seven
commissioners were there. Um, and I'll end with today's quote from the Daly Lama. He says, "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." [Laughter]
>> Entertain a motion to adjourn.