WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Ufhrj-2h9PI

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: Ufhrj-2h9PI):
- 00:00:02: Consent Agenda: Approving Minutes, Agreements, and Permits
- 00:01:23: City of Pine Island Update: Growth, Housing, and Development
- 00:13:06: Public Comment: Pine Island Data Center Tax Abatement
- 00:19:19: Public Comment: Pine Island Affordable Housing, Transportation
- 00:23:22: City of Byron Update: Housing Shortage and Future Growth
- 00:34:54: Public Comment: Byron Fire Department and BESS
- 00:42:08: Board and Committee Reports: Earthfest and Healthy Aging
- 00:47:10: Board Report: Legislative Advocacy and Three Rivers Program


Part: 1

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agenda. Uh please indicate if you'd like to pull any one of these or uh uh if there's a motion to approve them and block. The first item is to approve the SPS County Board minutes of April 21st. Uh secondly, to enter into a detour

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agreement uh 1061 1987 with Mandot. Another detour agreement 1062530 with Mindot to approve the bingo gambling permit for the Viola Gopher account to approve the raffle gambling

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permit for the Viola Gopher count. And lastly to approve a labor contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 Homestead County Waste Energy Facility Plan Division. Uh they are the consent agenda items. Is there a motion to approve and block? any

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one of them >> or second. I'll move to approve. >> Okay. Motion to approve and we have a second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Senate agendum is approved. Moving on then. Uh

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>> there are no discussion items at least on our agenda. And so we'll move right into theformational uh portion of our agenda which consists of uh city updates. And uh welcome. We're going to start with Pine Island and uh I believe

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we have uh Miss Elizabeth Edwards or yes, Edwards, the uh Howard, I'm sorry, Howard. >> No worries, Commissioner. >> The uh the city administrator from Pine Island. Welcome and thank you so much for being here. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me,

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commissioners. Uh I look forward to this every year, being able to share and highlight the fun, exciting things that we have going on in Pine Island. And so again, Elizabeth Howard. Um, so just a brief update, just some slight demographics. Um, Pine Island is

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growing. I come before you each year giving you that, uh, information. I won't bore you with too many statistics. One thing I would like to highlight, um, so with our growing population, our median age is 33.9, so 34 years old. Uh, we are a very young community. Uh, we

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continue to grow. We have a lot of families. Uh, and that's highlighted on our next slide as well. So this is shows age demographics. As you can see, we're we're a triangle. A lot of communities don't have that. So, uh, our population increases as age decreases. >> Can I just ask any any sense of that

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3,900? How many of those are Homestead residents? >> Uh, so as far as residents go, we're about 25%. Okay. >> Um, when we're when we're speaking of residents and I would say the majority of our Mstead County residents are probably even on that lower end. So I would say the median age in Mstead

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County is even lower than that. Most of our Mstead County residents are uh single family homes uh young families. So >> thank you. >> Yeah. So then with that uh growth obviously the single family homes uh we have a lot of subdivisions going in, a lot of homes

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going in. Uh last year we had 31 new single family home uh building permits pulled. This year already we have nine so far in 2026. Uh we just approved a new subdivision that's going in out by the elementary school that will add approximately 40 lots uh to that

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subdivision. So uh houses are are definitely increasing. Uh I'll speak to the school district in a little bit. U multifamily uh housing. We have a few uh town home subdivisions going in. So that seems to be one of the most requested housing. We

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see a lot of uh people who are retiring. They want to downsize. they want that single um floor, the slab on grade uh twin homes. So, we we see that being pushed a lot in town um which then that opens up some single family housing. So, uh we have some builders that are

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working with us on creating those uh slab-on grade uh town homes. One thing we are lacking is apartments. Uh that is an highly requested uh I'll speak to it in a little bit, but I'm hoping maybe we can work out um some collaboration uh

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just for affordable housing. That's something that the city is really looking in into is uh some affordable housing or workforce housing when it when it comes to apartments. And then just our estimated growth. So, uh we do we do have a growth rate at about 4% a year. So, we do we are growing pretty

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significantly. Uh with that, our tax rate, uh we do have a higher tax rate. We're in the low 80s. Uh however, we are able to increase our levy and keep that tax rate the same just by keeping up with our growth. So, I do feel lucky in that regard. A lot of

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cities don't don't have that luck. Um, and so we're hoping to keep that tax rate the same, if not lower that as we continue to grow. So, school district, that's that's the heart and soul of Pine Island is our schools. And so, we're very proud of our schools. The city and the school has a

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fantastic working relationship. We work together on a lot of different projects. We plan levies around that. We look at future debt around that. we really um make sure that we're collaborating together so that we aren't overt taxing our residents and that we can uh ensure we are growing collectively uh together.

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And so with the school district, they they have the newer elementary school, they have the new early learning center. Uh as you know may know, they have purchased some property in Homestead County for a possibly future school down the road. Um so I don't want to speak on behalf of them, but I'm sure at some

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point they'll be looking to possibly add another school. And so I believe there uh our school uh population has kind of steadied off now. So that that helps as they can kind of formulate a plan. But the school really is the heart and soul

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of Pine Island. And then parks and wreck. Uh this is something that this the current city council is really uh investing into. And so I have two pictures here. Uh we have two of our main parks are being completely redone this summer. That's

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really exciting. So, the top picture uh that is going in right now as we speak. Hopefully, it'll be done by the end of next week, but that's like a ninja course, obstacle warrior uh uh uh ninja warrior course. And so, all of our playgrounds we are putting in the port

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in place rubber um surfacing and so that it can be more accessible. And then the bottom picture is we will be redoing trail head park which is our main park right when you drive into Pine Island. And that's actually um all accessible

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equipment. And so we really wanted to have kind of a destination accessible playground. And so most of that will be um accessible to all different um kinds of those in need. And so that park will be redone at the end of summer, early fall. With that, we have a large trail

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system. Uh we have two rivers that run through town um and kind of connect in town. And so we've really been working at keeping those rivers clear. We're looking at possibly doing some kayak rentals. Uh parks and wreck is something that we're we're really trying to invest in in Pine Island.

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Uh another exciting thing is we are actually putting in a big mural when you drive into town um kind of by Trail Head Park. And so that mural will be going in here in the next month. And so we've been working with a muralist. Uh we were able to get funds through various grants and donations through organizations. And

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so that will really add some um just some art and some culture to Pine Island. So our commercial and industrial business growth, uh the city purchased a few years ago, about three years ago, we purchased about 22 acres on the north side of town. Uh that's on the west side

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of Highway 52. There's a big field there. Uh so the EDA board is working with the city council. We want those to be kind of highway commercial lots. And so we're hopefully we'll be platting those and we'll get those um sold to businesses to help expand our commercial

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business district. We have the Pine Island Business Park which that is in Homestead County on the east side of 52. Currently there's a big red um barn garage structure and so that's on that uh property. They were larger lots and

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the developer actually just replplatted that to have smaller lots, one to two acre lots. And so we're hoping that we can get more development in that area. And then we have uh Pine Island industrial which is pre previously known as project skyway. Uh this is a 482 acre

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uh site. Uh I'm sure you have all heard of it uh with the data center um going in. And so I have a a drawing here. And so only one phase has been platted right now. And so only one data center has

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been approved for development. And so and that's on that lot one. And so the outlaw A and then everything north of that um currently is unplatted. Uh the developer has indicated they would like to pursue more data centers on that southside. They're unsure of what that

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north campus would look like, whether that would be some sort of industrial or if it would be more data centers. Um and so we're just kind of focusing on one phase at a time. And so, um, currently what's what they have applied

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for, um, is one data center that's just under 300,000 square ft and then an office building that's about 30,000 square ft. And so with this first phase, it will bring approximately 100 uh, full-time on-site permanent jobs. And then they're estimating about 500 to 600

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construction jobs um, just for this phase one. again. Uh so city approvals, those have all gone through the local level. Uh as I said, um it's been platted. Uh conditional use permit was issued. It

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has now gone to the state level. Uh there's a lot of controversy. Uh we've we've tried to listen to our residents. We've had a lot of public input. Um and now it's just moved on to that next phase. And so a lot of people are saying it's in the bag. Well, they have a lot of hoops to jump through. although it's

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not at the city level, um they do have to get permitting from MIDOT, MDH, DNR, MPCA, PUC, and then Department of Labor and Industry. So, they still have quite a few hoops to jump through even though that um there's no other local control

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taking place. I think this is the third time I've been in front of you talking about the sanitary district. And so, we we are on the home stretch for this. And so, uh, plans and engineering is approximately 90 95% done. And so, they have been

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submitted to the MPCA. We are going through the EAW process to get our permitting. So, that's really exciting. We are at the state legislature again asking for uh a bonding bill request. We'll see if a bonding bill happens or not. Uh, so we are really hoping to get

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some of those dollars. If we do, then we can start construction as early as next year. So really it's just down to securing funding for the bonding bill um for the start of the pro the pro project. So again these are kind of the issues

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with the existing facilities. We'd be taking four treatment plants bringing it down to one treatment plant. Uh the discharge point would be um downstream from uh Lake Sro rather than upstream. And so there there's a lot of benefits

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that would benefit Olmstead County by creating the sanitary district. And then Prairie Island Indian Community. Uh I know Nikki's here. I don't want to speak on behalf of Prairie Island, but we uh do really value our partnership with them and we look forward to continuing to collaborate

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with them. And it comes down to challenges and potential partnerships. I think a lot of governments, whether you're city or county, uh we face a lot of the same issues. Uh, one issue that we're looking at is connectivity. Uh, we have a lot of residents who live in Pine Island. Uh,

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they have a lot of appointments in Rochester and how how do we bridge that gap for uh, we really want our residents to be able to age in place, but how do we still connect them to the resources that they need? And so, um, the transportation piece is something that Pine Island is really interested in in

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addition to trails, kind of again pushing that park and wreck. Uh, and then affordable housing, which I brought up uh, earlier. We're always looking at ways of creating uh the new affordable housing isn't really affordable anymore uh in my eyes. And so we're trying to

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figure out how can we bring down more affordable housing and especially kind of that workforce housing as we continue to grow. And then the school access again um you know county road 5 the school does struggle with some access points. I know we we've been in communication with staff. We're trying

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to kind of get ahead of that before it becomes a bigger issue. And so staff has been great in Homestead County working with us, but I think that's going to continue to be an issue as Pine Island grows. So with that, I'll take any questions. I tried to keep it short and sweet.

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>> Well, thank you so much, Miss Howard. Any questions of uh our wonderful Pine Island City administrator? >> Yes. >> Uh do you for the for the project Skyway for the data center? Yep. use tax

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abatement, right? >> Yep. Correct. >> And that that's through good county then? >> Yep. So, so um the tax abatement was through the city. The the this is located in um Good Hugh County. And so, um the city did their own tax abatement.

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I think I believe they're having um some communications with Good Hugh County whether or not um they are providing tax abatement. I'm unsure of those those communications that are happening, >> but uh it is kind of separate deals per se and so how the abatement process

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works. And so the the and I I will touch on that. So the city did um the council did approve uh tax abatement and so I know everyone sees in the headlines $36 million given um to those who don't understand how taxes work, right? It it's a really

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complicated system. I don't I never expect the average person to understand how property taxes work. Uh so that was a kind of a pay as you go and so they would actually be paying taxes to the city if they meet all the requirements. Then we would be reimbursing them a portion. If the city were to obey $36

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million over 28 years, um the city would be receiving 131 million in additional taxes that we normally wouldn't get without this project. With that, it comes to job creation. Uh that's something we heard a lot in public input uh is it was not going to create jobs.

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All the jobs are going to be remote. So that was very important to the city council. And so we made sure that in the tax abatement agreement that it it stated that it had to be permanent on-site full-time uh positions. And so if with each phase um if there are future phases there are job creation

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goals that are tied to each phase of that development. In addition, we did um we reserved a certain amount of property taxes and so the abatement actually doesn't even kick in until the city has received $500,000 in property taxes on

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the south portion and $500,000 on the north portion and then the abatement kicks in. So, um so when the south portion is being built out, we're guaranteed an additional $500,000 in property taxes once the north then we would be guaranteed a million dollars in property taxes before the abatement even

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kicks in. So those are a lot of the the details that um the media has left out. So >> but that um that job creation is just on that first phase that said 90 you said 90 was it? >> Yeah. Uh the developer estimated about

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100 and so the requirement is um in the abatement is actually less um I believe it's 38 jobs um for the first phase. the developers indicated they will be hiring around a h 100red um just to satisfy um any future phases um at once and so

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they're looking at that 100 mark and so they're looking at about the high30s for each phase. So if there was a potential full buildout um there's a potential for nine phases whether those are data centers or light industrial we're not sure just warehouses um it would have the potential of 300 permanent full-time

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on-site jobs. >> That's great. Um and the abate the abatement is a it they're not going to come back for another abatement on the next phase. >> Correct. So the abatement covered the whole 482 acres and so they wouldn't be able to come back and request anything

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else. Uh there is uh I gave throughout the number of 28 years and so we did separate a north south a north and a south campus and so there's 20 years on each but we did put a sunset on that and so we said within 28 years everything has to be said and done. So they can't

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drag out the development and get a ban on any longer than 28 years. >> And and by that math, you're they're paying about twothirds of their of the property taxes and and getting a third back, right? I mean, does that seem about right? >> Yeah, it it's kind of a eb and flow. Um

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so abatement there there's a cap, right? A 10% cap of um >> your taxable value. >> Yep. And so we we are keeping a certain dollar amount and then at that point the abatement kicks in. What the abatement is is they would get 85% of the taxes abated. We would keep 15% but then we

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once we hit that cap which is 85% of the 10% state cap then we would get the overflow taxes as well. So >> yeah. Oh, one one last question. I'm sorry. Are are you just abating city taxes and you're not I hear you're not

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abating county taxes as of yet. How about school district taxes? Uh so the school did um they voted to not do any sort of abatement >> and so um with the state statute for abatement cities can do 15 years. If another government entity is approached

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and deny that then the abatement can go to 20 years. Um so we did approach the school ask if they wanted to participate in the abatement. They did not. Um so that's why we could up that to that 20-year timeline. So, so by this project moving forward, then everybody in the Pineel School District is going to get a

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little bit less of a hit because >> Correct. And I should add that in the abatement agreement, um, so as school district taxes work, uh, they have a certain dollar amount, right? And so adding to the tax base, that doesn't necessarily put more dollars in the school's budget. It just lowers

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everyone's property taxes for what they're paying for school taxes. And it was really important for the city council to see the school have a have a bump in some dollars. And so in the abatement agreement, there are uh yearly payments from the developer paid to the school district. Uh that would equate to

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about $23 million over the 28 years. And so we had that uh a little bit different unique situation that in a city abatement um that we had the payments to the school incorporated into that. So there's also a community betterment fund that the developer will be contributing

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into which are payments to the city that we can use for whatever um we would like as well. And so that equates to about $3 million over the 20 28 years. >> Anyone else? Yes. >> A quick question. Um to your comments on

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affordable housing, >> that single family development out by the school, I believe that's Bigalow. Y >> um what do you think some of the barriers are? Do you have developers coming to town looking for land and there isn't land or can you speak to at all what you think some of those discussions are and and why you haven't seen the apartments come in that you're

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saying citizens are asking for? Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. We do have developers who do have property. Um, and so I that's a hurdle with having other developers come in, but I I think that's doable. I think really what it comes to is infrastructure costs is is

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the cost of getting infrastructure to those locations. Um, right, as a small city, I I mean, we have a budget of $8 million. That's that's not a lot to work with when we're actually looking at bringing infrastructure to different locations. and then when we leave it up to the builder that it's cost

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prohibitive. So I think a lot of it is um really comes down to infrastructure costs. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Yes, Mr. Chair. >> Yes, Mr. M. >> Thank you for your presentation. So, what ideas have you kicked around about

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transportation? I think it's becoming more of an issue uh largely for some of the elderly population who might not be able to drive as well as for other people that just want to go back and forth to Rochester or Barney Island.

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>> Right. I think uh so I know a lot of smaller communities are working with um the Southeast Minnesota League of M municipalities um and that's what they're looking as they're actually studying of how can we keep all these cities connected. Is it some sort of bus system? Um something like that? Because

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that that's especially for us um being in two different counties and we have a lot of cities in the area that are in two two different counties, but it it's how can we get people to Redwing or to um Rochester, right? Because if they have to take care of city business, things like that. So, we're we're kind

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of looking at it from a multi-county. But a lot of it again comes down to funding. I think, you know, it would be really nice to expand services that we already have now, whether that's um, you know, public transportation in Rochester. How are we looking at moving that out? Um, you know, we have high

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wata transit. Are we looking at kind of multi-ity connectivity um through that? So, uh, I don't we don't have the answers, but I I think it's doable, but it really comes down to funding. >> Doesn't everything, >> right? Exactly. All of our problems

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would be solved. I I have I have one. Uh for a while, maybe two actually. Uh for a for a while, there was conversation about a bike trail from Zamroda to Redwing ultimately to connect the Douglas Trail

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and Pine Island. Is that does that discussion ever come up anymore? >> It does. Um I would say the discussion comes up as far as action items uh that that we haven't gotten that far, but we we have spoken about it. Uh it comes up

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a lot with the sanitary district because right we we need to pump all of our waste to ZRO because the uh treatment plant will be located in Zimroda and so that's when it's come up again it comes down to funding is we have a path that will be going because we need to put the infrastructure in from Pine Island to

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Zimrod but how how can we pay for that for for that path so I think we're building it in such a way that it would be great to run a path right over that all the way to Zimroda but >> had a bad idea Yep. And so so we we have kept that at the forefront and unfortunately again it it just comes

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down to funding. >> Sure. Sure. >> But that would be great because then yes we we could have connectivity all over um the southeast region. >> You getting ready for a cheese festival? >> We are. It's coming up. >> That was always the >> that was always the the the sign of

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spring is when you had the cheese festival. >> Yep. That that's correct. So we are very proud to hold the first festival of the summer. So any other questions >> in June? >> If not, thank you for a wonderful presentation. Thanks for coming down here today. >> Thank you.

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>> The next uh our good friends from uh Byron uh Mr. Rotor. >> Good morning. >> Familiar face. >> Uh thank you for having me. That's a tough presentation to follow and uh I'll

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do my best not to disappoint. Uh in Byron, uh last year we had 21 building permits, single family homes, uh totaling about $7 million. So far in 2026, we have 14 single family home permits, uh about $4.5 million worth of

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valuation. So, we continue to build, which seems uh uh interesting because currently we have less than 10 building lots available in the city. uh we we've run out of property to continue to build. We feel the pressure. We feel the

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uh the urgency. Now, of course, the lots available do not include the Somerbe lots. They have their own development uh on the north end of town and and so there is land available there, but we don't have as much control over the architectural design and the type of

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housing uh in that neighborhood. Uh so we are looking at land. We're looking at how do we encourage development in developers. Uh we've completed a uh general development plan on about 800 acres on the northeast side

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of town looking at uh here's the next logical place to grow. What would it look like? Where do our water manes and sewer mains go? Where would the arterial streets uh connect? And and so we're trying to encourage that by planting the seed of hey this is possible. We have

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opportunity. Uh but at this point the city has not gotten involved in actually acquiring land or developing the land. Uh which to this point we haven't had to. Uh the question becomes, you know, at what point does that change? And I don't know that we've gotten to that

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point, but that's the conversation that I think we all have to have is where is the housing coming from and how do we continue to encourage it? Our goal is 100 housing units uh annually for the next five years and with less than 10

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lots that looks like a big stretch. Uh so we haven't given up but but uh it is something that's on our forefront. Uh Pine Island talked about affordable housing. Uh affordable housing, workforce housing is is at the forefront for Byron as well. Uh in addition to

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that, we have a focus on senior housing. What would that look like? Is it independent living uh assisted living a continuum of independent to assisted living? Uh we're seeing a real demand in that uh in that arena right now. So uh

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we're pursuing that. Uh we'll continue to pursue that area. Uh our sports complex is opening in July. Uh we have a private developer that said, "Hey, the city has a community center sports complex on their

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strategic initiatives. It's something that uh he felt like he could do and wanted to do." So, uh we backed him and and supported the the private development and and it's coming along very nicely on uh Fourth Street uh

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Southeast. Uh we're just started yesterday our fire station expansion. uh it never goes as smooth as it's supposed to. They've already cut a fiber line. So, uh but we're two days in, right?

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Um but we're excited. We are expanding the fire station, adding uh four more bays, uh two wide, two deep um on the west side adjacent to the county's property. So, there's a lot of activity over there for the over the course of

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the summer. June, uh, we'll kick off the construction of a roundabout at 10th Avenue and 4th Street, right be between the, uh, intermediate school and Fairway Food. Uh, that intersection is been a

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challenge for us and we've decided that we have to address it sooner than later. And so, this summer is when we put the roundabout in, and that's significant because that is the primary detour when we redo 7th Street uh, in 2027 or 2028.

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Uh so we need that intersection to be functional uh to keep traffic moving through town. Uh we are Byron is one of three communities partnering on a grant uh through the University of Minnesota Extension studying data centers. Uh not

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saying they're good or bad. Uh we're taking the approach of what are the what are the facts? What are those things that we need to be aware of? What are the questions that we should be asking? and uh it's been a very interesting educational opportunity for all of our communities. Uh we do have a convening

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in Lewon, one of our partner communities on June 11th uh that will be open uh to to people to come in and and participate. Really studying again what are those questions? This is not about do we like them or do we not, but what

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are those things that we need to be aware of uh as we look at the pros and cons uh of of a data center. Uh the tax dollars that Pine Island is talking about, you know, as a city administrator, I was drooling. I don't know about the county board, but uh that sounds really good, but you know, are

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there negative uh aspects that we have to mitigate as we go through? And I think Pine Island has done a a very good job of addressing that. uh we just want to make sure that we provide a toolkit that that can be used in all communities uh in southeast Minnesota. So it isn't

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just for us, it's for everybody to utilize as they go through these types of processes. And there are other projects that are high energy, high uh uh resource users that are not data centers. This should be able to be

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replicated for anybody who's uh using a lot of utilities or using a lot of natural resources in whatever it is they're doing. We should be asking the same questions. Uh we did uh have a meeting yesterday discussing regional development

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organizations, regional hubs. Byron has been in the uh in the middle of that conversation because we are one uh well actually the only region left in the state of Minnesota without a regional development organization or an economic development uh organization and what are

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those resources or those funding opportunities that we're missing and and trying to understand that better and understand whether or not there's a place or a need in our region for that. Uh, and I bring that up very specifically because, you know, Olmstead County is uh, right in the middle of

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this 11count region and I think it's something that we have to be aware of. >> Byron completed our strategic initiatives uh, earlier this year. Uh, we do this about once every three years and it was encouraging because we found

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out that uh, we're on track. uh our strategic initiatives remain enhancing our recreation opportunities uh being intentional about our growth, knowing what we want and and and planning ahead for it and engaging our community as we go through all of these exercises. As a

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product of that, we're bringing on a recreation coordinator intern uh the middle of May to look at whether or not Byron is ready for a recreation program. And uh the purpose of the internship is to really define what this could look like. What are the programs that we're

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missing out on? What can we add to our our recreation and and parks enhancements, but not just sports. We're we're looking at community engagement, you know, things that that are happening aside from athletic events or athletic activities for our families. Uh

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community enhancements, uh community amenities are what drive people to a community. uh whoever you are, we want to make sure we maximize that for our current residents as well as future residents. Uh so we're excited to see where that goes. Uh Highway 14 funding, uh we're

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excited about where we've been. We appreciate our relationship with the county uh with the corridors of commerce funding and the uh congressionally directed spending to get us off the ground. We do have an application in for a bonding bill uh to try and finish that project for County Road 3 and County

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Road 5 interchanges and that will dramatically change where we're at as a as a community, our opportunities for continued economic growth south of the highway. And uh we appreciate that partnership with the county and all the support that uh your staff have given us

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u in the engineering department. Uh Mr. Johnson and his staff have been fantastic. Thank you for uh for their partnership. Uh we appreciate our relationship with the sheriff's department and I want to make sure the board is aware of how much

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we appreciate that relationship. It's been very beneficial for the city. Uh the work that they've done in partnering with us over the last couple of years as the school went through their challenges uh with the school resource officer. Uh, I can only say thank you. Uh, and I

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appreciate the work that the sheriff's department has put in to partnering with the city uh to keep that a reality and I'm pleased to announce that the school has uh taken positive steps to uh putting that back where it belongs and and creating that partnership or that

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formula the way it should be. uh but enable to our ability to keep that in place over the last two years has been uh very very important and I know it's because of your work. So thank you for that. Uh and I also want to address

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uh our relationship with the building inspector and and uh the work that we do there. It makes a lot of sense. Uh, and it's worked very well and I know it's a reflection of the county board, uh, the way that your staff partner with our our communities and and we appreciate it.

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I also want to end on the most important note. Uh, you talked about trails. Uh, we've got the, uh, the Douglas Trail that that is a a huge amenity for our entire county. Uh Byron has a trail system that is now built out within our

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community and and I know that uh Carllin and her staff uh get tired of me talking about why aren't we connecting Byron to Oxbow, one of our greatest assets in the county. Uh and if you're that far, you're almost to the Douglas Trail already. And our partnership with uh

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Rochester and Rochester growing toward Byron, uh the stage coach trail comes into play very very quickly. and and I know that there's work being done on a on a trails master plan. I commend you for that. I thank you for that because I think that's an important first step, but uh these are those types of

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amenities that I think are important to everybody in our community. We we talked about it with Pine Island and and we heard more about that. I I think that countywide these are important opportunities. Uh and I acknowledge that there are other communities that will

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talk about trails. This just happens to be the most important. >> That's all I have. I appreciate your support and the support that you give your staff to partner with us. >> Well, thank you, Mr. Rotor, for a wonderful presentation yourself and uh outstanding.

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>> Thank you. >> The these are always I think just really good and I think they tie the relationship. I mean, we're all working for the same people and uh trying to pull the wagon the same way and uh and we really appreciate both cities as well as others that do come before us, talk

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uh about what what's going on in in their town, so to speak. Any questions of uh Mr. Rotor? Yes. >> Is that Yeah, Commissioner. >> Mr. Rotor, um as far as your expansion with the fire department, so um is there

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realize it's a volunteer fire department. Is there any uh uh appetite for going to fulltime uh firefighters? >> No, >> there isn't. Okay. >> I I quite honestly we, you know, I've brought it up with our uh with our fire

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department saying, you know, are we at that point? Where are we at? Uh we don't see that need at this point. We've got a strong volunteer base. Uh we actually have um multiple uh public works staff that are also on the fire department which means that we have people in town

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during the day that can answer fire calls and that's always a challenge with volunteer fire departments. Uh so we're not at that place. Uh I don't know that we're immune to it at some point in time and there's different models of you know what that could look like but there

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really is no appetite at this point because it's working very well. >> Well that's good to hear. I've just uh some of the other rural fire departments with volunteers. I know they've really been struggling. So, just a question. So, thank you. >> No, I I appreciate it and it is a real a real concern for rural uh volunteer

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departments. >> Commissioner Rossman. >> Um so, curious to hear what uh your experience has been like with the battery energy storage system that is coming into Byron. Obviously, there's one west of town. There's also one close to Byron. Lots of energy transformation

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happening with the data center in Pine Island. and all the transmission lines happening, better energy storage systems are another part of it and you've been right in the middle of that. So, if you can share some comments on what that experience has been like. >> Absolutely. Um, we've had two experiences uh one east and one west and

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they've been very very different. Uh, but both have been uh open and and working with the city, keeping us informed of what's going on. Uh but because they're outside of city limits, we have less direct contact, I think, would be the

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way to approach it. The one on the northwest side of town, we did suggest that uh our concern is what about fire suppression? What what could that or should that look like? Because it's a little bit closer than the one on the east side of town. Uh we do have a

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formal agreement to extend a water mane uh to their site for the purpose of fire protection. Uh so we've entered into that agreement. Now that won't obviously take place until they start construction, but the city will build it and they are going to reimburse us uh

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for the construction of that water man. Now, what it what it looks like after that, I I don't have an answer, but uh we do know that we have the ability to do fire suppression uh when they get up and running. >> Appreciate you sharing those insights

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and obviously if there's anything, you know, they've been in and talked to us. We have some some insight into those projects, too. But, you know, how we can continually improve the process. I don't think these will be the last that we see in Homestead County, but to make sure that we are getting the pertinent information we need to support the

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communities there in and ensure that that long-term uh relationship and when that system is in place works the way it should and is a benefit to the community. >> I I appreciate that. It's it's something that we're we're tiptoeing around because again it it's within

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one in the west side is within our two-mile extr territorial jurisdiction but you know again outside of city limits. Um what are the pros and cons of that? What what are the impacts to our ability to grow? And those are conversations that

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we continue to have. I don't think we're done with them. I agree with you. Um so we want to be very sensitive to how big and how fast do we take that on. So >> other question

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I I have uh I have one uh what is your what is your uh sewage capacity right now in relative to what you think you need. It seems like for a while there was conversations about Byron even entering into the Pine Island

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Zambroa and so on initiative. Maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong on that, but uh are you pretty good shape from the standpoint of sewage capacity? >> We are in very good shape from a a uh sanitary sewer uh treatment facility. Uh yes, we're we're uh

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>> had that wrong. >> Not anywhere near capacity at this point. We've >> uh taken on some improvements. We've updated some of our uh equipment just recently, but that's more of a maintenance project that we've done. Uh we've done a couple of studies looking

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at uh uh climate resiliency primarily. You know, we had a flood that affected our uh some of our um treatment uh ultraviolet treatment facilities. And so that was resolved a number of years ago where they they brought them out of the

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pit and the lights out of the pit and what have you. But we're we're looking at well what happens if we have that 500year flood event again? You know, is it possible? Well, it happened once. Could it happen again? How do we protect against that? But uh those are all just

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uh planning uh efforts right now. Capacity wise, we're in in in good shape. >> Good shape. That's great. >> Uh we do have a bigger concern with water than what we do uh sanitary sewer. and and so we're working with the Department of Health and and I know that

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there's other communities in the Jordan aquifer that are are studying impacts on the aquifer and who's doing what with uh you know tapping into it and what are those impacts and so we're watching that pretty closely. But at some point we're going to have to talk about either a

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well or a tower or both and that will probably happen before we do anything significant with wastewater. >> Are the schools pretty full? the schools are >> there was a lot of open enrollment going that way for a while but I think >> yeah and we have capacity for more okay

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I think if you take a look at the trends uh we have actually growing capacity uh and we're seeing that in more school districts but but we do have additional capacity yet uh I I not sure I'm ready to give you a number I think I know what

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the number is but I'd let the school answer that but there is some capacity left there at the school currently. Um, but as they work through some of the hurdles or some of the challenges that they've had over the last couple of years, um, I think we're finding that

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there is more and more capacity in certain areas. >> Okay, last call. Any questions? Uh, >> well, thank you so much. Uh, pleasure. Really appreciate both of you coming today and offering those uh >> those insights into your community.

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Okay, moving on then. Uh board and committee reports. Where do we want to start? Mr. Hopkins. >> Nothing to report. >> Mr. Pardon me, Miss Laurel.

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>> I do have one report. Uh I attended Earthfest this past Saturday, uh at uh the Cascade Meadows Center there, um near the near the new Lord High School. And it was a fun, bustling

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day. I I read that 1,400 people attended was dozens of tables, lots of different groups uh represented, including um two uh two folks uh from the county. So

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Kathy Hall was there uh representing our solid waste and recycling um management systems, composting, um hazardous waste, all all kinds of information. She spent the whole day there. I saw she had lots of action. And so just a shout out to

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her as well as Anthony Whitmer and Journey um Malisina who uh were there at the Mstead County uh fix it clinic which had what what looked like 20 fixers there at sewing machines. There was a

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bike shop uh uh a people with the like with with the hoods that what what are those like when you can see better. >> Yes. >> Uh the microscope hoods so that they could see the little appliances that they were fixing. It was just it it just

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looked great and it was uh full. There was a line. Um, and it was the whole thing was just bustling, very well attended. Uh, a a great day of just really learning to be good stewards of

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our environment. And, uh, the day is focused on sustainability, climate resilience, and renewable energy. And it's it's just great to see an event like that so well attended and so infused with life and energy in our

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community. >> Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Rossman. >> Um I will give a brief report on um for those of you who aren't aware in the audience. Um, for the last several years, we've had the opportunity in Olmstead County to bring in summer

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interns from Germany who have an interest in environmental science and can bring some of their knowledge and technology from Germany here to Homemstead County and have really uh has really resulted in some um tremendous reports in putting metrics across our solid waste system that allow us to

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continue to evolve and and speak to that program. Um our current uh intern Molina Saul is here and her focus is the groundwater protection and soil health program. So um of great interest to me as a farmer who participates in the program and on Sunday she came out to

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the farm. Um she was able to see cover crops that are currently growing in the field that were seated this last fall. She wrote in the planter as we planted green which is one of the key practices that we um hope to simulate through the groundwater protection and soil health program. um her background is chemical

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engineering and she has um her educational experience as well as experience in the field and has a great interest in water quality. So, it's just a really neat fit. She's super excited about being here and learning more about the program. So, it was just a fun day to to get to know her and show her some practices in place um that are happening

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on our farm. >> Thank you for doing that. That's great. Mr. Tine, >> I don't have a report this week. >> Mr. Wright. >> Yeah. Thank you. uh uh you know over the years I've uh reported on the progress

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of a healthy aging program in Minnesota and last year in legislative session you know that they did set money aside for planning and that planning was put into MMB

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rather than the um uh health and human services division. It was it was set in MMB. So MMB has been working on this plan for Minnesota for healthy aging and I was able to participate in one of

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their um groups that uh are providing information for the planning process and uh it's in the beginning but they're supposed to have a report done by the end of the year. So, we'll see what comes out of MMB and what their plan is

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for the state of Minnesota. >> Great. Great. >> Mr. Mueller, anything? >> No report. >> Okay. I just want to I'm just going to hand out these uh give a little report on

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on the my three rivers committee assignment. Uh maybe before that just a note a week ago yesterday uh Jennifer and Brickham uh and I spent uh a day at the state capital talking mainly to legislative leadership about uh the uh

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the uh if you will shifts or uh transitions of funding uh particularly area of SNAP and disability waiverss uh onto county government and uh trying to convince uh state government officials that this may be a better obligation for them

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to uh pick up than than us or and frankly counties across Minnesota. So, you never know when you're going to, you know, touch the right ears, but uh but nonetheless, we were up there trying on behalf of Homemstead County. We're going to go up there again next Monday as well

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and uh and try to talk to some more people about this. Uh but maybe to the three districts report. Uh I just uh this is a I think I've commented before the department of the three district three rivers I'm sorry report uh it's a

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u it's it's an opportunity I've been on this board if you will for a couple years now. It's uh I do frankly enjoy it. They do great work. Uh they put this scorecard together which which I just think is really impressive and they do

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it every year. Uh but just to note formstead county in terms of demographics they served about 2900 households about 7200 individuals served withinstead county and we're talking about a medium income

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of uh of 27,000. So uh that's a pretty tough income to try to live uh on a day-to-day basis through life with and so they do help a lot of people. But just going down just briefly, housing, they they own uh operate 12 units in in

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Homestead County right now. They pay about $29,000 of property taxes. There's uh two developments yet to come. Uh well, one's already here, I guess. Uh the restoration Glenn and then the Troder Havens is again

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36 units. The previous one was 48 units. a homeless assistant helping 196 thou uh households for about half a million dollars of rental support helped 33 households uh into stable housing and so on and so forth and and on and on. I go

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across next uh energy assistance uh about 2600 uh households receiving about a million3 and so on and so forth. You just get an idea of what they do over the course of Homestead County. We don't talk about them a lot, but they're out there and they're working on behalf of our people.

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And I just thought I'd share this with you. So, if uh anything else, if not, uh I pulled out a uh a thought for the day. Uh uh Steve Jobs, the only way to do great work is to love what you do. And I

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think this board kind of loves what they do. That's what I sense at least. And uh we'll continue to love it and go forward and uh do good work. And so if there's a motion to adjurnn, we'll do that. >> Move to adjurnn. >> There's a motion to adjurnn. And there's a second that all in favor say I. I.

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>> And we are joured. Thank you.