I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we start with the consent agenda.
First up is approve the board minutes from June 17th. Approve a gambling permit for Steuartville Sportsman's Club. Approve a gambling permit for a raffle event for Steuartville Sportsman's Club. Approve a gambling permit for Rochester area builders. Accept community living infrastructure
grant award. Approve amended DNR agreement. Approve and adopt amendments to the joint powers agreement for the region 1 southeast Minnesota homeland security and emergency management joint powers entity. Award a contract for C25-02 C25-22
county state aid highway 2 and 22. Adoption of recent fee changes to state well core function fees as directed by Minnesota Department of Health. Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. All right, we have a motion second. All in favor say I. I. Passes.
Discussion decision items. First up is award contracts for construction of the exhibition center. Good evening, Commissioner Miller, director of facilities and building operations. packet was pretty self-explanatory, but in front of you tonight is consideration of three prime contract bids for the
exhibition center. So, we used a best value process for this solicitation. And what that allows us to do is evaluate contractors or vendors on more than just price. So, in a normal bid process, you have to take the lowest responsible bid. So, this is a process we've used on other projects and we find that it
actually gives us the better product in the end. So price is a component of the evaluation, but it's not the entire number of points that can be earned. Um, so if you award it tonight, you know, we're hoping to do a groundbreaking in the next couple weeks. And then just a reminder on the construction schedule is
once we start construction in a couple weeks, we plan to be done by January 1st or around the 1st of 2027. And what we've done is we've created some interim milestones into the project so that uh places like the activity pad program support plaza can be ready for the 2026
fair. Unfortunately, the exhibition center won't be ready before the 2026 fair. So, it's going to create some challenges for planning next year's fair, but we're trying to be as thoughtful as possible to give them as much area as they can um without having the exhibition center obviously. So, be
happy to answer any questions that you do have. No questions. Okay. Right. So then we're looking for a motion if there's no questions. Is it? Yeah. Just a point of order. Is a motion to approve all three contracts as
outlined in our board packet. Exactly. Yep. So it's three separate contracts. Uh 1 A is for general contract uh construction, 2 A is for mechanical and 3A is for electrical. I would move to approve 1 A 2 A and
2 A and 3A contracts. All right, in second. All right, we got a motion second. Any discussion? Okay, all in favor say I. I opposed carries. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're moving right along.
Informational item. City of Rochester update from administrator Allison Zelms. Welcome, Allison. Right. We save time for a long presentation. Uh, thank you for having me. Uh, Chair Tai and commissioners, I am having a little bit of déja vu
because I'm pretty sure the last time I was here providing city updates, Director Miller had an item before me and I was up and Commissioner Sanjum also wasn't here. So, uh, it I picked the right meeting again, I guess. um or we've like just planned it that way. So,
I'm glad to be here. Um what is in your packet is longer than what you're you know you're hoping for. Uh I did get a little update from administrator Grancy. He said five minutes of standup comedy, five minutes of city, 20 minutes of questions. Um so
we're going to go for that. Um but with that, I'm glad to be here. There's a lot going on in the city of Rochester, all of which is in Mstead County. So, uh thank you for your support in advance. Um but we do have a new compliment. Um really not that new anymore. We're in the second half of the
first year of this cohort of elected officials. So um have uh made some progress on some different items that predated them joining the city council much like your previous uh item that you just had. Ours take a little bit longer sometimes than that. Um but this is uh
the group of people who I work with in order to u make sure that we're advancing um as a community. So obviously elected by ward um throughout the city and um continue to um do good work together as a city council um with Mayor Norton serving in her role as
well. So just a couple of things we completed our 2024 community survey um similarly to Olmstead County um came out um similar results that we did in the prior community survey. so grateful that folks generally appreciate living here
um plan to remain and um feel a good sense of security in the city of Rochester. Obviously, we'd love to have it be 100%. Very rare on a community survey that you get 100% but um we always hope to be in those higher categories and um making sure that
people feel supported in the city. Um you might remember also that we had set some strategic priorities but with the um newly elected or I guess well grizzled uh se you know seven months in elected officials for the city of Rochester um one of the first things
that they took on was updating their strategic priorities. And so we went from having these three highle strategic priorities of affordable living, economic vibrancy and growth management and quality services um and updated those and the graphic uh to be able to
update our community vision which is at the top what we're trying to accomplish with the strategic priorities. And you can see those um really kind of came into five different areas of strategic priorities that are not dissimilar from the other three um but are a little bit more focused than um what had been
adopted prior. Um and then we did update the foundational principles and uh moved quality services into a foundational principle and added inclusive decisionmaking into our foundational principles. So, those were some of the tweaks that were made um uh by the city
council and they approved that uh two meetings ago, I believe. And then this just gives you a little bit more um clarity on on what do those five sets of words mean. Um, so we're trying to foster a dynamic economy, making sure we're promoting policies that support
access to a range of types of housing, um, growth, uh, that is responsible, balancing economic development and infrastructure planning, and then obviously wanting to protect our natural resources and making sure that the community is also aware of the role that they can play in that. Um, and a lot of
what I'm going to focus on is the transformational capital pro projects. We're in the delivery uh stage of a lot of planning that has gone on um since before my time as city administrator and um we'll have a bit of time ahead of us before they are fully uh complete. So um
since you all uh live and travel through this area, I had quite a commute here down the hall um free of all construction if you just walk down the hall between the two areas. Um and so that was wonderful. Um but we are trying to also support that uh private and
public development. So I'm sure that you were following when the update happened to the unified uh development code from the former land development code that had been in place for about 20 years. So we think about that housing um what we have tried to do is make as many options
available to folks that are having housing production as part of their uh private goals of their business. Um we have the smallest lot size available. um in our city cohorts um the lot width is um one of the lowest um the front and side setbacks as well as the back
setbacks. So trying to provide opportunities for a different type of housing product um and of course we had a lot of other updates that happened with the unified development code with how approvals happen within the development community and have had a lot of positive feedback. um continuing to
have those discussions with the city council about um parking minimums and things of that nature, especially in the more urban core of the city. And you can see that with some of the changes that we made um to the uh land development manual, we've seen an increase in the number of neighborhood information
meetings. So those first sets of meetings that happen between the developer when they're still vetting their idea, um and a decrease in the number of times they have to come to the elected body for approvals. So, less red tape to get to the end of their um
project. There's still public hearings required for um key changes that are um you critical for zoning or annexation or things of that nature. Um but if as long as the builder is building in accordance with everything that's laid out in the very large uniform um development code
and they've met those um key public hearing milestones, they don't have to keep coming back um to the elected body for those approvals. Um so you can see it's it's marketkedly down in the number of of approvals that are just happening at a staff level in accordance with meeting um the requirements of the
unified development code. So we're hopeful that will mean um a larger number of um housing starts particularly obviously that's not the only thing that's covered in the unified development code um but it aligns with our strategic priorities. And you can also see that the um value of permits
has continued to increase and we had our record year in 2024 almost reaching $700 million of new construction. Um and that requires a significant amount of work for us to keep delivering those in the twoe time frame for residential and um a
3 to four week time frame for some of the more complex commercial projects. surprise. We're still in the midst of having Mayo Bowl forward unbound uh in the city of Rochester and Olmstead County. And um I still come across folks
that I talk to about this and it's I think for a place like Mstead County and Rochester, we don't realize how big this is. Um the city for it proper is about 125,000 people and all of those other projects are happening in cities that are u much larger than the city of
Rochester except for the far left of that slide which was the 2023 year of building permit fees which was smaller than 2024. Um so we still have all of those building permits coming in from across both Mayo Clinic and other private development. Plus, we have this
very large mega project that we're working through um that covers 22 blocks of downtown. Um so, we appreciate everybody's patience uh as we work together with our partners through that. Um we have been working really hard to try to make sure that uh there's
communication available for folks. So, if you're interested in what's happening, we update this website all the time, downtown rochesterconstruction.org. It tries to bring together the Mayo projects, DMC projects, and City of Rochester projects that are all happening downtown. And we're hopeful
that um we can prototype this and then build it out potentially for like our six-year capital improvement plan, so we can be coordinating better with our partners. Um we are not doing the mill and overlay on Highway 14. Um thank you to our partners at MEDOT for doing that.
Um, but we are not the only people that are causing construction delays in uh the city of Rochester and Olmstead County. But we do have these guiding principles and they align I think fairly well with the strategic priorities that the council established. So we want to have the best experience possible um throughout construction. Make sure we
keep connectivity going um as much as possible even when we have different ways that people are connecting. Um obviously that communication engagement not just with the commuting public but with the business and other entities that are impacted. um making sure that we do elevate the experience around construction. So, while it might be
construction, um hopefully folks are able to see what they're supporting by maybe waiting a little bit longer um in in what will be um in that place in the future. Um and then maximizing our opportunities to make sure that we're digging once and um looking to, you know, the next 20 years, not the next
five years, which means there's going to be a lot of a lot happening and a lot of it's underground. Um, so if you were to visit that website, you can see that there's a two-eek forecast that's there on the bottom if you're wanting to kind of look ahead. Um, and we we are trying obviously weather is not always our
friend in the twoe forecast or the twoe recap, excuse me, um, of what has happened so people can understand um, what has occurred and then you can um, in there um, understand like what is has been um, behind us. So just to get a
sense of what's what's happening on the project and then you can also every Friday um see there's this one pager um that tries to give you the road impacts and um different impacts that are coming uh for the next week. Um so it also highlights um different collaboration
and successes that we've made and milestones and the projects that are impacting mostly downtown. Um and then there's also a set of um sections where you can go into a virtual map. So, if that's not everyone's into a virtual map, some people like to get the PDF,
and that's great. Um, but looking at street maps, pedestrian maps, and bicycle maps. So, depending on how you commute downtown um or how your family or friends do um you will be able to see the near-term um impacts uh to those different uh parts of the downtown area.
So, just recommend that if you're um interested in following that to um to head to that website. Um, we update those printable maps every Friday and the virtual map is updated anytime there's needs to be a change to the virtual map. Thank you to our friends at geographic information systems. Um, and
then again, we have a splash page so it's going to tell you u major things that are coming forward. So when you land there, if there's something big forthcoming, you're not going to have to click to find it. It is um just right there on uh the splash page to tell you what's forthcoming. We don't just do uh construction downtown. We still have
events and other things that are also um hoping to bring people downtown. Thursdays has been pretty busy um and we're grateful to have that. So we also have these in-person engagement activities and those are also listed on the website for folks to be able to um understand different phases of
construction and what it might mean to them. Um and that is something that we do closely work with our partners at the Rochester Downtown Association, um Mayo Clinic obviously, uh Destination Medical Center, City of Rochester and others. So that's all to try to bring many
transformational investments. Um and our investments are not just in the projects that are underway now. So you can see some of these are I would say Soldiers Field is done except now we have a duct bank project happening and being finalized in front of it. So the construction that's happening in front of Soldiers Field right now on Sixth
Street is actually the finalization of the Marion Road duck bank to be able to um increase electric service that is Rochester Public Utilities. Um and so we're getting very close um to be done there, but Solders Field is open for business. Um just have to get there a
little bit differently. Uh we also have obviously Link Rapid Transit that just started mid June. Um that will be ongoing um connecting to West Transit Village which started moving dirt for the parking and the first phases of that um about a month before. Um we have the fourth street southeast southeast and
ninth 18th Avenue southeast roundabout in front of Mstead medical um forthcoming and the contract award for that is on the agenda for this coming Monday for the city council. Um that is a partially federally funded project and we are confirmed that we will be awarded
those funds. Um Sixth Street Riverfront um that is going to be starting um to get underway here over the next 18 months. Um we're working through exactly how that will come out of the ground that is also primarily federally funded. And so um between the bridge and what
most of this project is are the road improvements um down Sixth Street um that will be forthcoming. We're active on the Mcquillan splash pad project and um you can see Silver Lake Park um underway and there's also public meeting coming up that will um include not just that but also um the changes that have
been continuing for um Silver Lake uh the lake. Uh we have an award that we are working through with uh Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park um to make enhancements to that park um as well. And then um obviously a number of
different things on the riverfront that are uh taking place at a little bit different pace than we had anticipated in the past. Um and we will have Willow Creek uh trail um coming to fruition here over the next 18 months. So a lot happening all around the city of Rochester. And this isn't all of the
projects, but it's some of the projects. Um so we are trying to make sure that we're investing not just in the downtown, but across the entire community um for folks who are interested in different things. um what this looks like when you think about all of these projects layered on top of each
other and the amazing work that's happening for the Rochester City team um is that we have all of these different construction timelines. So we're this is what we're trying to coordinate when we're talking about that community engagement, the maps, all of those things. So, this is just sort of those
downtown DMC district um area projects um including a little bit up North Broadway. Um and it continues on um these you need a long scroll in order to look at them all at once. Um some of the private investment with the Mayo Clinic um Bold Forward Unbound project. Uh so
there are private facilities that are going in and impacting some of those areas. um some strategic redevelopment that's happening. Again, private investment that will um be forthcoming and um the South Broadway planning. We would be in planning of that in hopes to
be in um construction for South Broadway um in the future there in about two to three years. Um and then of course we move forward to 6th Avenue. Um we're installing a civic center marquee. Um and you move forward to this will be the really this is the really logistical
masterpiece that is happening. So if you look at unbound infrastructure, that's the 22 uh square blocks of water, sewer, um electric, storm water, and other things that will happen underground um but impact above ground for a significant period of time um that are
also continuing to um work through to try to get that done as um quickly as possible with coordination uh with the private sector. And then this is all the other projects longer list than I could put in pictures on the prior slide. That's across the rest of the city of Rochester that are of a transformational
size um for the size of project, the dollar amount or the impact that it would have to uh the operation that it's supporting. So we're basically under construction. Um again, this continues here and this is a repeat so we can slip skip this slide. Um, but all of this is
really to try to we we talk about these projects in government often in at the city like project by project um or you know line by line on the Gant chart. But if you think about how they spread across the community and what how
different that can be rather than having vacant parking lots for example, this is the Ampy site. Um and some of the great work that happened with the small area plan and that was five six years ago. Um but as we've continued to work through the sixth street design, you see a very
2D bridge there, the sixth street bridge. Um on the upper left photograph that's intended to support additional development in that area. As we've gone through the community design pro process, this is the artist's rendering of what a bridge would
actually potentially look like as what we've got designed for um that street project uh right now. So, it separated the people from um the traffic. It provides overlook. It has opportunities for um shade and u being able to be
seated um and take a break. And you can see the phase two that if we're able to move forward with more of the grading and different aspects that approach the river and the the river walk um to the sides um that isn't currently scoped out to to be as significant of um an
artist's rendering result um as is in this um scope of work here today. So the phase one really is primarily focusing on um some smaller connections to um the trail system and improving those at the um edges of uh the roadway and bridge. But I guess I would just say like we
have been designing this project for four to five years and it changes sometimes significantly in how people will experience it when we move through that um stage of the process. So we talk about it as Six Street Bridge, but what we've been moving through with community
engagement is really changing the feel of that so that it's not just for vehicular traffic, but is trying to connect people who often are walking in this general area in a different way um to the core of the city through to um the neighborhood on the other side in Sunnyside. And so this is sort of like
15 years from now what we hope to be able to be bringing to folks between those public investments that are going to bridge the river river literally and provide different public amenities and inspire private investment to be able to
connect those um between um having a different experience of city streets, sidewalks, trails, etc. and the different private development that can happen there. One of those things is Link Rapid Transit, which is going to be a very different type of service um
between West Transit Village and um its terminus on the east side um and in between. So, it will operate for far more hours of the day than the traditional bus service would. So, 5:00 a.m. to midnight on weekdays, which is a large extension in hours um and then 8
a.m. to midnight on the weekends. Fearfree every five minutes. So, it's it's really getting you around that area once you either can walk in if you are downtown liver or if you are getting downtown and wanting to go to your meetings and not have to hop in a car, but be um maybe not walk the whole maybe
walk one way and take the transit back. Um that would be an opportunity for for folks. So, that's what's happening along uh Second Avenue right now and um well underway. Uh so that is a different experience for people to connect across from West Transit Village down to um the
waterfront area there and and back um and be able to experience those those businesses and the different types of living opportunities that um are at least underway and planned for through some of their planning processes. You may uh see yourselves in this photo.
There is the government center. Um this is a future idea for use of the sites that are um owned uh by the city. Thank you for your partnership on the the Mr. Muffler. Um still there, so we're not building this yet. Uh but but but again,
all of those different improvements provide a different opportunity to to have um a private partner see how they might be able to use that space differently for additional housing opportunities that that isn't just housing, but housing that's connected to all of the different amenities that are available um in a walkable distance or a
quick hop onto um Link Rapid Transit and then to the broader transit system. Here's an example of um probably you've seen this too many times, Commissioner Tine, but of the Gerard project partially funded with some funding from Destination Medical Center. But again,
not just thinking about okay, how can we support private investment to gain housing, but in doing so, is there a way to make sure that there is additional connectivity um in an area that's quite a mega block and having green space that didn't exist before in that area? And in
this case, it would be um supported by uh some public funding, but in perpetuity be maintained um for the public by that um housing the management of that housing project. So it won't look exactly like this. Artists love to put fun artwork. It will probably be some other different type of artwork,
but artwork nonetheless. Um so just again another example along that corridor of what can get inspired by um different private investment when they see um investment happening from the public sector. And then of course um sales tax, continuing to work on those
projects. We've had a fair amount of investment in economic vitality um to try to get not just housing starts but really compress the amount of time and and shorten the amount of time that that some of these developers have to produce the single family housing to try to influence the market more swiftly. Um
street reconstruction, we have our first projects um planned for in our capital improvement plan that'll be coming forward for adoption later this year. um flood flood control and water quality. We just received an update from our storm water folks yesterday about the needs to think about how much of our
storm water system that we're changing some of our requirements are might benefit and and have um sort of a symbiosis with um the flood control system for holding water back and two funding sources there for things that really are flood control and maybe also impact the um storm water system and
vice versa if we're going farther upstream or out um into the watershed. and then the regional sports and recreation complex. Um so again economic vitality fund really focused on the housing creation um and the fee waiver tax abatement and infrastructure
investment um which has been some of the constraint is that if infrastructure is not available um that can be a costly um expense for the developer and can really free up um available green space for um future development in the near term. Um
and then looking at the preservation of existing um naturally occur occurring affordable housing with those um tax payment fee waiverss um and supporting um housing rehabilitation in that space. Um this is a slide you've probably seen before. Um but last uh week we looked at
the most current schematic design and the city council advanced that uh sports complex that's focused on the outdoor um tournament level um but with community features um that are will be accessible. You can see the Willow Creek Trail connecting um down from um the middle of
the city down to southeast um around the complex to the east of the site. Um and some additional um supportive features. You would be surprised how expensive these things are, although you just approved the exhibition center, so maybe that won't surprise you. Um but um
that's what we've been working towards over the last um nine months in order to be able to um adjust things and move around some of the opportunities. The play area is designed to be a turf play area. So um it'll be able to be used um after uh inclement weather very quickly
by families and then you can see in the sort of like north center area um the tournament level pickle ball court area. So uh we are still on our timeline. It has been a lot of work to say in this timeline um to be able to u move forward and hopefully get to construction um
starting later this year uh with the complex and I think I might have done it. It's not that long of a presentation but I could make it longer was action-packed. I give you that. There you go. And that was just a one little thing. But I'm happy to answer any questions. really appreciate um the
support that and the conversations we have with administration and others and um the county team and um yeah, questions, comments. Bob, I I have a lot. Okay, I'm ready. We saved time for
questions. That was the suggestion. Um one is um notifications about traffic patterns. Um it's It's helpful the signage that you've been putting up because a lot of that
traffic is diverted into my district um off of Second um and so uh uh the a lot of people and it and it's and it's commendable um that you're utilizing the website and so on to uh
communicate some of those those changes. a lot of people, particularly foreign, you know, foreign, you know, visitors coming into the city, probably aren't going to get to that website. Um, but it would be helpful on top of the the
signage that's already there. I mean what I've what I've seen is when you come off second and you turn up to sixth and you see signs to Damon and Gandh and Baldwin and you know all these other buildings it's very very helpful.
What I haven't seen is some kind of um you know messaging like you see on highways that would say what's coming up be aware next week closures here here. So like the vertical message boards that like gives you a little more space to
um and even as you're coming into town off you know 52 on civic center or you know on sixth or whatever there are very common exit points um to get to Mayo Clinic um that maybe aren't as pleasant right now
that maybe you wouldn't pick if you knew that there was construction on Well, not necessarily. I'm saying, you know, since they are popular, I mean, that's where people are going to see the signage, right, on a regular basis. So, all I'm saying is that give people a heads up, right? Yeah. I can give that feedback to the
team. Um, and I I don't know if that's Mayo that would need to hear that or if it's the city that's doing that or you would be shocked at how many meetings happen each week. So, they will hear all of it if I share with one. Right. Right. Right. And so then it
would be also coordinating with MDOT if it's on that 52 corridor and making sure that we might be able to um see if we could utilize some of their signage more in advance. I don't think it's a huge ask because I mean it's common standard transportation practice to give people a heads up as to what closures might be coming and
where backups may occur. Right. So the wayinding is really helpful but that next step is anticipating further out. Further out. Yep. So that people can can know. Hopeful. Thank you. Okay. So the the other thing is um one
of the strategic priorities was inclusive development, right? Does that inclusiveness include um you know working with the county? I I don't remember what it actually says, so I have to go back. Still new to
me. Apologies. Kind of a big one. Inclusive growth management. Gotcha. Yes. Uh yeah, I mean it's intended to be thinking about where is our infrastructure now, where is it headed and understanding how to balance those
things recognizing that we tend to plan far ahead for some of those significant primarily utility investments. um and understanding how to balance like do we really want to spend $40 million to extend something to a certain area or
you know which areas are we focusing on because we can't spend a billion dollars and focus in all directions. Um so but we've just developed this and we're still working on the um detailed um tactics and action plan that would um be within there.
Okay. I guess my my point is that um I mean the sports complex is one good example. I don't know to what extent the the county was consulted, involved, whatever, but I mean it's a huge investment for the city. Um it has
implications for the county. Um and uh you know there there may be opportunities for resource sharing or you know um working together on certain projects if we're informed and my understanding is that there isn't a lot of communication going back and forth
and I could be wrong. Please feel free to correct me. Um, but it seems to me since we're operating in the similar environment and we're trying to accomplish in many cases the same things that there may be opportunities for communication that are not being um
taken. Thank you. All right. Just just a heads up. Um, another thing is homelessness. um you know to what extent um would
homelessness was not listed in here as an as an issue or you know part of your strategic priorities. Um and I've gotten the message and and maybe this is unfair that
homelessness is not a city issue. I would say the city engages with the homeless in perhaps a different way than um county services has has its engagement. So between the library, parks and recreation um so our park
system, the uh fire department, the police department and how they're they're managing the use of public space and making sure that that's happening in a way that um is what the broad community intends. There's a significant amount of interaction in the city's
purview and and cost associated with making sure that we are addressing city services in a way that honors that there are uh people experiencing homelessness that also live in our city and we have public spaces that people have certain
expectations for in how those are going to be utilized. These were directly created by our city council. So that would probably be a question for the elected leaders. Okay. But we do not have services and have never had services that directly related
to providing services or housing to the homeless. We have a significant amount of resource between our public safety department and our library and park system that works to manage the systems in a way that tries to honor the challenges that our people experiencing
homelessness experience, but also the rest of the community reaching out to us, wanting to be able to use public spaces within the city in a way um that they feel is appropriate and behaviors that are appropriate in public spaces. So there's a significant amount of
interaction that happens um between mostly in the public safety side. I wouldn't say just public safety, it spans parks and recreation, our neighborhood services programming in the community development department. We provide community development brought block grant funding to different
services that provide support to homelessness. But that hasn't been a direct city charge to provide homeless services and and human resource ser and human services generally or specifically to the homeless population and the city council has not provided any direction
for the city to engage in that space in a way where we would directly be providing services. Okay. So, in other words, the statement that I've heard is correct that it's not city business to be dealing with the homeless population.
I would say it slightly differently. The city is very engaged with the homeless population in the way that we provide specific services for the health, safety, and welfare of the community. Um, okay. But again, that's probably an elected
conversation that needs to continue. I know there was some conversation about a year and a half. I have no sense of time anymore. A while ago. Yeah, it's been a while. Um Yeah. So, but but these strategic priorities happened through the course
of four or five different um meetings with the city council and they they actually went through and adjusted some of the wording in this specific slide. So, this was this came from the elected body. Very good. Well, thank you very much.
Sure. Thank you. One question. Um, spec spec specific to economic vitality. Um, one thing you spoke to were investments to reduce the time for developers to get approval. Was that staff? Was that process changes? What did you do? That's something I've heard
a lot about over the years. So, curious curious what you did there. It predates me, but part of that was even bringing our building services, our um building safety, community development all together and public works. And we're not all the way there yet. Um because if you
think about the different uh services that have to be provided, especially if you don't have even if you do have a pretty close connection to utility services, you need to be going through a process with Rochester Public Utilities for electric and water through uh public works for grading and storm water.
grading is probably our one of our continued largest challenges um is getting through the grading permit process because there's a lot of back and forth that needs to happen and it's directly related to drainage and storm water runoff. Um we also so we're bringing those different groups together
and you have to kind of move way up the food chain in order to get those relationships and those approvals happening in a more symbiotic way. Um some of those groups have seen themselves as very separate, but if one of those permitting processes slows down or they say, "Well, you're going to have to pay this large fee." Um that is can
be a surprise to a developer. Um but I would say the unified development code made pretty significant changes. So that was about a seven-year planning process to change the land development manual, which I read when I was trying to pick a house here to understand what might be
able to be near me. Um and had to ask a lot of questions. Does this mean it can be three stories? Um, but now it's very sort of form- based. So, it's we've heard from developers that are newer to the market. This was such an easy process because I I could see this is what your expectation was for this area.
I could design my building to that expectation. We've moved a lot of the um process before they're ever going through the regulatory piece. So, pre-development meetings um where you just have an idea and a location and we're talking through what some of the
site challenges might be like you don't have water, you don't have sewer, you don't have electric or you do but you need to work with this neighboring land owner because you're going to have to come through based on you know we don't just add something from a random part of town because we're all gravity um almost
all gravity. Um so those different types of things. um some of that staffing. Uh when we're talking about this huge period of investment that we're in from the private sector, um we have added 15 staff members that are intended to be
for now and they're all in that space of review. Um our most recent addition was an additional uh wastewater engineer um to be able to understand the implications of having that much change in the 22 blocks of the downtown area and and the implications for the system.
the capacity of the system, those different types of implications, but just to be able to review it and get get those things back and forth because it's the developer, their engineer, their architect, sometimes they have a subengineer, our folks. So, getting it back and forth um can be a challenge.
Most of that is out on our website for people to be able to see and we report on that monthly um where we are in um the number of plan reviews, where they are in review, and how quickly we're turning them around. Um we also have um geographic information systems investments because obviously if we can
kind of know where things physically are going um and help that out then it reduces the amount of time that folks need. Um but a lot of it really is in the engineering building permit review um fire um fire systems uh the fire
marshals office for those inspections. So, it's the reviewing and the inspecting and trying to make sure that we're getting those um all of the projects that are still happening around Rochester. All of the, you know, if you want to do a tenant improvement on West Circle Drive, you still need to make sure that you're going through the
process. And in the midst of that, we're reviewing all of those projects that are coming in um from Mayo Clinic and some of those other downtown investments. So, we're trying to kind of have critical mass to be able to make sure that all of the other projects come through in the same way while we're also delivering on
this big $5 billion investment. Does everything well? Yeah. Thank you very much. Did I understand that you're we're planning a pedestrian subway all the way down Second Street to
St. Mary's? Oh, I knew you were going to ask a detailed question. I don't think it's all the way down. There are different connections that are going to be in place, but the main thing with the um rapid transit project
visual always helps me reenter into the project that we're talking about. So, sorry if this is making anyone queasy. Um, so what you're going to see is different connections. So, there will be a subway across from St. Mary's, but it doesn't exist now.
A subway under Second Street. Oh, okay. So, yes, that's a major connection that would be happening. So, you can go underneath the street there. So, you're catching there. It's different catch points along um the the transport the new link rapid transit
system. there will be um some new connections. But then with the U Mayo Clinic and their expansion across I don't really have a good map that would show that uh maybe the downtown map. Um but where where they're going to be expanding their I'm going the wrong
direction. Sorry, my clicker is different at the city. If you apologies, sorry. So if if you look at sort of that very central point where they're extending um west from the
ganda, there will be some different through points. There will be some different subway system and there also will be some different skyway system. Um but there will be a through point there um in the neighborhood of the church um where those two um the two pair streets are basically becoming a turnaround
point around the church. Um so there will be some different connections. I would say the most significant one um will be across from St. Mary's um to that um transportation center there. Yeah, I just misunderstood the picture, but I see what you're saying. Yeah, I just under the street,
not necessarily from like Fifth Street all the way down. Yeah, it doesn't go all the way down, but so your connection, you'll have different connection points um out and then to that link transit system. Yep. Someone else probably had that question.
You just asked it for them. I have a I have a question. So we you know we think you got about a five maybe sevenyear timeline there of major projects and and bold forwards five billion. What's the valuation of the other projects that are going to be
taking place that you presented? Well I mean we just continue to increase. So we were at 600 million and we almost reached 700 million and that was over the span of one year. Okay. So, the trajectory of that appears that it would continue to be, if you think
about CityWalk. So, some of this depends on when they actually finalize. We have Encore, the um I don't remember what it's actually called. Flats, the bank, the one near Soldersfield. I just drove past it and saw the sign.
Okay. Um but there's a significant um market no tiff uh required uh apartment complex that's finalizing and leasing up now across from People's Co-op. Okay. Um so that for example would be leasing up and then we have CityWalk, the Gerard project. So just things that are in the
pipeline. Citywalk, Gerard project. We've had some interest in um some different sites downtown. Um some of them I can't talk about. Um but I would say it would continue on the a similar trajectory. I can't guarantee you it's going to go up $und00 million a year,
but um most of the um permanent revenue that's come in from Mayo Clinic wasn't in that 2024 number. Um so Mayo Clinic is also still intending to make it's usually got about a hundred million maybe more um almost a billion dollars
of investment. That's not all um going to show up as like the property value. Um but they intend they every year have hundreds of millions of dollars of investments that they make. So that will continue and that is the bold forward project is on top of that. Sure. Um plus then you have the different
investments that are happening with some of the economic vitality trying to um get like 700 homes done in the course of three years instead of having like 70 to 80 a year. Um so up in the northwest. And so I would have to get that. I bet we have a prediction from our uh our
community development department that we could probably work on and provide. I don't want to ask. Yeah, it's gonna be significant. The question is when does it come online? When do the CFOs come online? And when does all the financing come together for some of these, especially for that multif family, it's more
challenging for them to pull together their capital stack. Is are there are there uh semi-firm plans for the two high-reses you have shown at Mr. Muffler's site? Um, there's semi-firm plans that we would like to see too high. It's unlikely because of all the other investment in construction
that that that happens within that seven-year window. It just seems challenging to try to think the market's going to be able to absorb something like that. Just we're at the very beginning of um what might happen with some of construction contracts and availability um for vertical
construction. So, um I don't know that it would be we also need to continue to work with the legislature for some of the continued planning on that. And the question then is also is it more marketable to do both sites, so both sides at once or separate those? Um and
so we just haven't we're still we still have planning that's going on for that. But it's it's unlikely that's going to be happening in the like near term. The question is 5 to 7, 7 to 10, 10 to 15. I I don't how many jobs after five or seven years too, right?
How many how many uh quote unquote construction workers do you expect will be coming into Rochester over the next five years to work on these various projects? I think it'll be fairly significant and I've gotten this question and we're actively underway and it's working. So,
I feel like it because it's staggered, the type of construction that's happening. Like the type of contractor that you're working with when you're doing underground work isn't necessarily the same type of contractor that you're doing when you're building out of the ground. So, I think they're going to stagger a bit. I think any given day
there's 2,000 construction workers working or maybe it's 700 and they think it'll be closer to 2,000. Um, so it could be about double. Now, that's for downtown. I if you add in some of the other projects that are um across town, I think it it depends on
how um different firms do work that we know that um I believe that LAR Homes that um had a approval on last Monday um is planning to um be able to do that with workers that they work with out of the city. So, some of it will also
depend on what does the developer or the individual that's um building the project have available to them in order to be able to not just rely on the local market but also be able to expand the market to bring some regional or statewide. I guess we have to go to
multiple states here. We can go to Wisconsin or Iowa. Sure. Um but you know that that that near type of um opportunity so far we've been able to many of our bids have been under one was very high um and it'll be
on next Monday. Uh so but mo a lot of the you know basic construction things that we've been seeing across the city of Rochester over time haven't changed significantly. So, I don't know if people were waiting for this, if other contraction um across um different markets is bringing up people who
thought they were going to be doing other projects. Um so, I can't answer exactly how many people because I think it I've continued to hear 2,00 and so far it doesn't seem like there's I mean, yes, there's a lot of construction activity, but I'm not seeing like
construction workers camping at Soldiers Fields or something like that. So, well, that kind of brings me because there's going to be temporary housing needs for those construction workers. And then I got to believe that a lot of those construction workers will like being in Homestead County and will want to stay in Homestead County after the their work
is done. And and so that's going to be a good problem to have too that that uh they're going to be contributing to our economy. And we've heard a little bit of both that some people are going to like they would they're used to driving in um to their work sites. So, it sort of depends on I guess people's lifestyle.
Sure. Um, I don't know if I got this. The Sherman project, is that is that the one north of Mayo Civic Center? Is that going forward or not? The Civic Center North, they just closed on the bonds that were approved last Friday. And so that provides them a window of opportunity to pull everything together, and I think they have until
April, maybe. Well, they got that long. Well, again, they have to keep hitting milestones um for that to continue to move forward. But to that, that was a big milestone that they closed on those um bonds that were approved. The Good.
Can't guarantee anything, but most of the other projects that came through approved planning also aren't done yet. So, good. All right. Any further questions? I do. Yes. Um to just to bring it down to a really micro level and to a big what what I see
as a is um a big success in community engagement for the city. Uh so, the the neighborhood association meetings that I attend Hatsky Park, which is really uh heavily impacted by
uh by construction as well as historic southwest and Slatterly Park. Um I see that the city really shows up and they show up at all the meetings and they keep the um the constituents and the the
residents very well informed. They answer difficult, sometimes impossible questions and um uh just do do a an excellent job being um a liaison between the neighborhood
and the city and aware of how these changes really directly affect the lives of of neighborhoods and the residents who live there. um a and they they weather like quite a range of very intense nosellatry,
right? Very strong feelings about a lot of these changes and and so I' I've been um just continuously pleased and impressed with the city representatives um at neighborhood association meetings. It's really helped me uh stay
directly informed about what's happening week to week, sometimes daytoday in um various projects, not just construction, but um plans for a greenway connection
or um or other um specialty developments where the where the downtown and the neighborhoods will interface in a really intent intentional way. Um I' I've just seen it as a success and I I wanted to throw that in the mix.
I will share that immediately with the team because I sometimes get that after the meeting and they're like we'll debrief you tomorrow. So they do work Thank you though because they do work really hard to try to take it's very hard to please everyone. It's impossible really. Um, but to try to
make sure people are aware of like what is the intention, what what are we capable of influencing at this point? And even if it's not something that we can influence at this point, honoring that it it's a concern. Um, so I really appreciate that feedback because that's part of also what we staffed up for was
being able to um not just have I mean a lot of the same staff that's in all of those meetings I mentioned that if I share the idea of extending outward where the construction is coming um I think there's 12 meetings a week that happen different versions of those meetings that occur between um all of
the different partners and stakeholders so that we can be as informed as possible when we go and have those conversations with community. So, thank you. Well, thank you all. That was very informative. All right. Thank you very much. I will leave it to whoever gets to go next. Is
it Jennifer? Yeah, you. All right. Next up, uh, receive information and updates summarized in 2025 state legislative session and outcomes for Homestake County priorities.
Jennifer Uh, good evening, commissioners. My name is Jennifer Burrwam, legislative and policy analyst for Mstead County, and thank you for the opportunity um to present to you tonight. Um, my plan is to share an overview of the outcomes of
the 2025 legislative session. Um, I'm going to really kind of dial it into um, Olmstead County's priorities. several things passed that will impact counties and um we work closely with our associations like AMC and Micah and
they'll there will be information forthcoming from them that is more of a comprehensive view on counties. But with that said, if you have questions or want to meet one to oneonone with me, um we can definitely dig into other issues as
well. Um, and before I begin, I just want to, um, thank our local legislative delegation. Um, they are really great to work with. Um, we can always count on them to champion our projects, carry
bills, help advocate. I want to thank the whole legislature. um they had a hard job this year with a really evenly divided um legislature between the Democrats and Republicans and um they were they went to a special
session, but it it didn't take too long and they were able to um achieve a two-year budget, which was a really hard job. Um and then unfortunately uh the act of violence that happened, you know, just within a few days after the end of session that just really um
put kind of a sad note to the end of something that really um should have been celebrated, I feel. Um and I just want to extend my condolences to all those involved. And I'm I just feel terrible about all of that. and um but
we're going to move forward and um and keep doing good work. Um, I also want to thank the county board, all of our county staff, directors, administrators, um, all of you support me in this work up at the capital and, um, you're the
ones testifying, you're the ones meeting with legislators, and, um, and our our staff are the ones who provide me the the details of the information to help advocate. So, I just wanted to s um say a few words of thanks before getting
started, but why don't we go ahead with um kind of a highlevel summary. Um the legislature did accomplish passing a $66 billion two-year budget. This is an approximate 8% decrease from the previous bianium. Um so, it took a
lot of work to get to that point. um they were many of you I'm sure have seen the the budget forecast was not good for this year and even worse in the outgoing or the upcoming bianium. So they wanted to work to address that looming deficit and
that's kind of why they started making those um those decreases for the budget. Uh they were successful in passing a $700 million capital investment bill. Um, and one thing that we were watching really closely and doing a lot of
advocacy on were county cost shifts or cost shares and cuts. They were not as severe as um, initially proposed. So, we were thankful for that. We can go to the next slide. Thank you. Um,
this is kind of a overarching slide of all of our nine county priorities. I'm a little bit of an optimist and there's some gray area, but I would say we were successful on four of the nine. Um, almost all of them had some kind of
activity, but what ended up actually passing was about um, four of them. And so I'll go into detail on each one of these in the next few slides. We'll start with the MURF which is one of which is our top bonding priority and
will be again in 2026. Um we had a 19.375 million request um and this was to uh construct and equip the materials recovery facility. This combined with
the 10 million previously um appropriated to the county in 2023 would be about 50% of the cost. And um with some inflation, that number is going to be a little bit different this year going into 2026.
Uh we did have a hearing in the House Capital Investment Committee um and that went well and was positive and we met with the Senate chair and ranking um Republican member and that meeting also went well. I mean, I felt like we were making good progress. They just did not
include local projects in the bonding bill this year. Uh so we we came up short on that one. And then um on the integrated resource recovery system, another solid waste project. Um our main
goal of this project was to kind of lay out the vision for what Olmstead County wants to do with our integrated um circular economy around solid waste. So our main focus was on the MURF and we focused less on this um a good
opportunity to kind of get the project into the queue for future future years and future investments. And then we can go on to the next project. This is um design and engineering work for CASA 3 and CASA 5 proposed interchanges. Um we
were seeking $8 million from the state, 2.4 in trunk highway bonds and 5.6 six and general obligation bonds. Um we had a hearing in both the House and the Senate, Senate Transportation and House Capital Investment. Um but
again, it didn't make it across the finish line, but we were we received positive feedback on that project as well. Um and then we had another local regional project. We're advocating for the Southeast Regional Groundwater
Protection and Soil Health Initiative. I counted this as a success, but more work is needed. Um, we, you know, the plan is to expand the Homestead County program to 10 other counties in the region and we estimated
that cost to be around 9 million, which is a very rough estimate and and this the program is scalable. Um, so we did get a hearing in the House Agriculture Bill or the House Agriculture Committee. It was the last hearing possible before
um they closed up the committee and started putting their omnibus bills together. And we were thankful on the House side that we had at that time I think it was $100,000 in the bill for a study of the program. And while it
wasn't funding to actually implement the program in 10 10 other counties, I think it was a positive step that they like the program. They want to learn more about it. Um, as mentioned earlier, it was a difficult budget year. Uh, so a committee didn't have a didn't have a
huge budget. It would be very difficult to fund a $9 million project, but I think the plan is to learn more about it and hopefully start laying the groundwork for future funding opportunities. And ultimately what ended up passing was $75,000
to MDA to do that to do that study. In the meantime, Skip has been working hard um and we've been working together to try to find other um funding opportunities. So we pres skip Skip presented to the Clean Water Council in
April to start sharing with them what we'd like to do. They are the ones who make recommendations for how to spend um clean water funded dollars out of the legacy fund. And then um Skip also presented to the uh Legislative Citizen
Commission on Minnesota Resources known as LCCMR um that and that went well that they um make recommendations on spending like the lottery money or the environmental trust fund dollars. So, kind of another
special revenue source for environmental purposes. Um, so we're waiting to hear more final details on that. Um, but hope we're just going to keep working and keep trying to find ways to fund that program.
Uh, we can go on to the next item, the Graham Park Exhibition Center construction materials and equipment sales tax exemption. Um, again, we had hearings in both the House and the Senate. Um they had I don't know how many individual projects they heard
relating to these hundreds probably. Um the tax bill didn't have the funding available to be funding projects like this. So I don't believe there were any um local sales tax exemption uh projects in the tax bill. And it
would be an approximate $1 million savings to the county on the exhibition center. Um, and then I talked about the LCCMR, the Environmental Trust Fund. Um, Carlen
Ziggler had applied the previous year for funding um to improve Lake Zumbro Park, and she was successful in in getting that funding recommended, but then it still had to pass the legislature to actually um make it official. And that did pass this
session. So, that was good news. and I think um they're moving forward to get started on that project. And then um mental health was another priority of the county. The one the previous ones I mentioned priorities
were kind of specific just to county or the region. These are more statewide priorities that are coming up next. Um so um regarding mental health, we mainly aligned with the Association of Minnesota Counties and Micah um
on most of these specific things, but but a few of them we we were leading on. So I also counted this as a success because the first bullet is just probably the most important part of the priority and that relates to increased
access to state operated mental health beds. And there was a $75 million um appropriation for a 50 bed expansion at the Ina Metro Regional Treatment. I guess it should be center, not facility. It's AMRTC if you've seen that acronym.
Um it was I believe it was 55 million in the bonding bill and 20 million in the human services bill plus an additional 34 million in fiscal year 29 to operate that facility. And given we were in a
really tough budget year, I think that was a really it showed that there was strong um prioritization of that issue. Um the issue relating to eliminating the county cost share when an individual may
not require hospitalization uh but is awaiting bed for treatment at another state operated facility. Uh that did not that did not continue. So there was it was in place in law for two years and it was supposed to sunset and they
they let it sunset. So that's not going to continue. Basically, I think the main um cost drivers are like if someone is at the AMRTC facility and they don't need to be there anymore, but there isn't an appropriate bed for them, counties are
responsible for paying those costs. Um the next issue relates to um establishing and funding a children's mental health initiative modeled after the adult mental health initiative. And
this didn't get as much traction this session as I think we were hoping to just given the tight budget year and a lot of other issues coming up in human services. Uh the fourth bullet is establishing and funding a Medicaid benefit for
children's crisis stabilization services. We put this on the list just to kind of keep it top of mind with our local legislators. Um we had worked on it really hard in the previous session and the legislature did pass um some
language last session that requires a study back to the legislature in 2025 and that is supposed to inform the legislature like what would this Medicaid benefit look like um potentially how much would it cost those kind of things and that that relates to
the services that we provide for youth and children at the CIRC. Um, so it's something that county was really leading on, but now other counties are interested in that as well because they're looking at some some youth facilities.
And then the final um issue relates to supporting initiatives that are recommended by the regional county youth placement work working group. This is something that Henipin County has um pulled together a working group of other counties mainly in the
metro area, but Olstead County is participating as well and looking at um youth placements and um trying to find ways to better serve our youth. Um and so those bills had hearings, but it cost
a lot of money. So those did not get funded this session. But the group, it sounds like the group just met recently. They're looking at some policy changes potentially to move forward in the upcoming session. And I think if there are opportunities for funding,
um, you know, we'll we'll keep working together and keep um keep seeing what we may be able to accomplish together on that. And then, uh, human services technology improvements, we call it modernization. This has been an Mstead County priority
and a county priority for many, many years. Um, SSIS, the social service information system improvements have kind of been getting traction the last few years. And so, uh, they made a pretty big investment in that this session at $35
million. That added to the 10 million pre appropriated last session and a federal match. Um the the belief is that that'll be enough money to like overhaul the SSIS system. So we're hopeful that
that will will turn out well, but there's still a lot of needs in the human service system modernization area. Um language also passed. It was in the language of the bill last year too, but ensuring that uh the state is working
with counties as they develop these systems so that we can try to make them work, you know, for both sides as best as possible. Uh and then our final legislative priority for this year related to a
statewide funding source for tax cleaning up tax forfeite properties. And the photo there is of our um Hill Township site, which is those are probably gone by now. Um which is great news. We had success last session in
getting a direct appropriation for that, but we felt that there's need statewide and potentially more need in our own county even. Um again, I feel like a broken record, but it wasn't a good year to be asking
for new um new spending. And so it just There was a bill introduced, but it really didn't get much traction as far as a hearing and and having a a good chance of passing this year. But I think it's something that is important to a lot of counties and we'll keep working
on it. All right. So, uh, the next couple slides are issues that weren't necessarily on our priority list, but still things that we spent significant time on, and that was relating to the cost shifts, shares, and cuts that you
may recall were introduced in the governor's budget early in session. And then um and then even like House and Senate human services proposals or bills also had some pretty big cuts or cost shifts
to counties when they first came out. So the good news is that the most concerning cost shares did not pass. Um and those were the waiver rate exceptions in the House bill and a 5% waiver residential services cost share which I think was in the governor's
proposal. Um, and in place of these larger dollar amount shifts, they established a long-term services and supports advisory council. And their job is to identify $177.542
million in savings through future reforms. And if they're not if the reforms or savings are not realized by December 2026, there will be a cost county cost share for counties. um to pay for the
residential services of about $90 million. Um so important to keep that in mind as we go forward. And I believe that counties will have representation on this um advisory council. I don't know
how many or who, but I think AMC will be coordinating that. Um and then there were additional shifts and shares that we were watching that did not pass. the Minnesota sex offender program, county cost of care increase, the behavioral health fund, county cost
share increase, a new withdrawal management of county financial responsibility obligation. Um there were some other uh cost shifts that did pass. So that would be
where counties are going to be taking on more costs. So those include eliminating the county allocation for administering the behavioral health fund. Um the state is taking on responsibility for eligibility appeals um for these funds.
And then um there's also going to be a new county competency attainment cost of care for individuals treated at AMRTC. And there's a new requirement that replaces the min choices time study
reimbursement with a flat rate reimbursement. And the state booked $9 million for this last bullet point. So we think that it could potentially be counties that end up making up that 9 million.
All right, next slide, please. These are the county cost shifts that we were watching in the taxes area. So, initially the Senate bill had some pretty deep cuts to county program aid and local government aids and and those types of programs, PILT, buffer aid,
statewide affordable housing aid, homeless prevention aid was even included toward the end. Um, thankfully none of those passed. Uh, they made up the amounts that they had to through an increased cannabis gross receipts sales
tax. So, it increased from 10 to 15% And then they also repealed a portion of a sales tax for um exemption for data centers. Um there was a 50% reduction in AIS aid
aquatic invasive species and a 10% reduction to the sustainable forest initiative act um which are both effective in fiscal year 28. I don't believe we have too much significant funding in either of those programs. And
then you may recall that they repealed the local cannabis aid account that they started the year the cannabis bill passed. So we won't be getting that. Um okay, next slide please. Another issue that we
spent a lot of time on is the shotgun use area. Um we've been working on this for a few years or involved in it. Uh the repeal did pass this session. You'll see on the map. It's kind of small and hard to see, but that yellow line that
north of that, all firearms I, you know, for the most part, all firearms are legal during the deer hunting season. South of that, it's shotgun only during the deer hunt. Um, so that line is going to go away. Um
they did or they passed language with that repeal that allows counties currently south of that line or in the shotgun use area. We can adopt our own ordinance to limit the type of firearms that may be used to
hunt deer within the county. And it'll be effective January 1st of 2026. Um that's when the law goes into place. So, it would be for like the 2026 deer hunting season. And I should say, feel free to stop me
at any point if you have questions or we can hold them till the end, too. Uh the next slide, um just a quick overview of the bonding bill. Again, it was $700 million, few to no local projects. Uh, one area that we tend to
watch a lot that's important to us in district six is 42 million for the local road improvement program, 20 million for the local bridge replacement program, and 5 million for the local road wetland replacement program. I already mentioned the 55 million for the Miller building
expansion at AMRTC. And then there was over 30 million for local housing programs in the bonding bill. Um, you can kind of see how they're broken out there. And I would also mention that the omnibus housing bill also had significant funding for housing infrastructure bonds.
All right, other issues. Um, one thing I you may already all be aware, but one thing um for local boards, uh, restrictions were lifted on remote participation. So now, um,
elected officials will be able to attend meetings remotely without disclosing your location or opening that location to the public. You don't need a doctor's note required to attend remotely. And it removes the caps on the frequency a member attends remotely.
Now, um I think local government units of government can still kind of set your own policies and things like that, but these restrictions and the state law have been relaxed or lifted. Um another issue I want to mention is simplifications to the min choices um
assessments. That's one issue that we weighed on weighed in on both at the state and federal level. Um they those changes were included in the human services bill. So it allows for verbal addestation rather than a new assessment when there is an agreement that an
individual's condition hasn't changed from the previous year. So you don't have to do a min choices every single year if their condition hasn't changed as long as the individual um agrees with that.
So um I think we can move on to the next slide. Um I wrote these slides for the last board meeting which was before the uh reconciliation bill had passed. So I don't really have anything on that here
but I'll just say that we're look we're analyzing the bill for impacts and you know working with our county associations and looking to see what how that bill will impact county. Um some other things that we've been working on
throughout the spring, um we submitted two projects for the congressionally directed spending, uh process. We submitted, um a $5 million project for CASA 3 and five um to the federal or to
our members of Congress, Finstead, Clolobashar, and Smith. And um I believe and then we also submitted the regional mater materials recovery facility part of that project in the amount of 4897
million to the two senators and I believe we've heard from all from all three of them that both projects are moving forward in the process and we're hopeful to learn soon if if they do make it into appropriation bills.
So, we'll keep watching that over the summer. Um, and then in the interim, we are continuing to refine our bonding projects and looking for other funding opportunities. We're beginning to work on the 2026 legislative priorities. Uh,
we're preparing for the fall AMC policy conference. That's in early September. Um, and then after that, I'm anticipating we'll probably do some kind of a legislative work session with the full board to bring everybody up to speed on kind of what we're looking at
for priorities in 2026 with adoption of the priorities most likely late November or early December. So, I think that's all I have for you tonight, but I want to thank you again for your time and I'm happy to answer
any questions. Great. I no I don't have a question but I want to thank uh Jennifer for watching all this stuff. She's very knowledgeable. She's one of the better ones in the state that know uh about the
legislative process and she knows everybody in the legislature. I'm always impressed every time we go to a meeting that uh she has wonderful contacts that she uses which is very helpful for Homestead County. So thank you very much for your service. We appreciate it.
Thank you, Commissioner Wright. I appreciate your kind words. Any other questions or comments? Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I would just echo those sentiments. I don't need to repeat it, but um absolutely. I've had the opportunity to prepare for testimony a couple times and you always give me lots
of great information so that we're fully prepared. And um yeah, as you walk through the the buildings in St. Paul, the relationship that you have obviously bring tremendous value to us instead county. So, I appreciate your professionalism and um
the way you're representing us in St. Paul. Thank you very much. Commissioner Rasman, just a a a quick question um regarding and this is not on your agenda necessarily. I'm more curious than anything else and that is the Family and
Medical Leave Act I believe goes into effect on January 1st in 2026. Um, were there any provisions that or changes that were made that might affect small businesses? Um, looking at Julian, um, I know that
they were talking about them, but I don't believe anything too significant passed. There might have been like a Was there a 1% reduction to the these? I'll I'll have to look into that and get back to you. I I didn't expect you to know it off.
Well, I had hoped. But anyway, um and then and then one other thing is um Councilman Palmer had put forward a bonding proposal for um a mental health facility in Olmstead County and uh
and essentially placed it on county property, which you may be aware of. Um, is that something that will be a priority moving forward or something that you've been working with the city on? I should have asked Miss Elms while she was here as well.
Um, I I have not had a conversation with the city on that, but I did hear that he mentioned it. Um, I guess I've talked to my counterpart at the city and so she did mention it too. Um, I think Commissioner Senum might have some ideas on that and
he certainly does. um it might come up at a at the next retreat. Is that right? Or I think he was planning to bring something forward. So more discussion on that. I don't think we're ready to um make commit to anything at this point, but I think it
is a topic that's being discussed. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer. Yeah. Thanks, everybody. Okay. I think we're on the board and committee reports.
Let's start with them. Bob, you have anything? Oh, no. Nothing to report. Okay, Brian. So, I do um two things from extension committee, which uh Commissioner Ruler and I represent the board on, uh the first one being that with the federal
reconciliation bill that was passed, um the supplemental nutrition and assistance education program will be no more. Um, we do have educators employed by extension here in Homestead County that provide education to SNAP participants, but as of late August,
they will be receiving termination notices and those positions will no longer exist across the state. So, if you talk to anybody, anyone who interacts with SNAP participants, know that that those education programs will be gone. Um, on a much brighter note,
uh, starting on, uh, Tuesday the 22nd, Homestead County Fair, um, the hundreds of 4Hers in Homestead County who work um, really 9 to 12 months a year in putting projects together, etc. That is their chance to showcase them. So, I
would invite all of you to attend the fair, pet a goat, watch the pig show. There's all kinds of incredible exhibits. all of the um beyond the animal exhibits which are I'm very fond of but um you know tremendous talent and um is showcased during that uh time at
the county fair and 4ers love to talk to people about their exhibits and what they've learned in developing those projects. So I hope that you all have a chance to get out to the fair and experience that um in two weeks. And then um one other quick note, I represent the board um on AMC's solid
waste work group. We've met met three times over the last couple of months. Um Tony Hill also represents us from a staff perspective and we've had a lot of presentations as we as you can imagine across all of the counties represented on that work group. We have very diverse
um solid waste systems in place. We're meeting next week in the metro area doing a couple tours of facilities, but then also meeting and are going to try to align along an action plan and bring all of those diverse perspectives around
a couple of topics that AMC can really guide us through as a group in addressing um over the next we haven't really set a timeline, but I think that that group will probably be in in place for about a year. But as we continue those discussions, if there's anything that um I need to bring back to you all
to discuss that we need to take to the to the group etc. and Tony will continue to participate. But it's been eye opening to just see all the different perspectives around solid waste around the state and figure out how AMC helps to align us all to make an impact in
that space um as we as we move forward. Thank you, Greg. Well, uh, Homemstead County, um, Chesterwood Park celebrated a anniversary. Was it 30 years? 30
years. And, uh, the tremendous changes that Chesterwood has taken, uh, we have a very good park and trail system. We've always had very good park superintendents and managers, but uh it's really been expanded and it's used
by people in the Homestead County as well as outside of Homestead County. And this last weekend when I was out there, I think all the campsites were filled. And so, uh, congratulations to the people that managers our park really good. And to the staff that put on a
very nice anniversary. Thank you. Laurel, no reports. Okay. All right. Um, today instead of share a quote, I'm going to share one of my friends standard responses to being asked how he is doing. And he would say,
"Thankful and blessed." The friend I'm referring to is Bob Bardwell. In 1973, Bob, a former college wrestler from Steuartville, Minnesota, was injured in a heavy equipment construction accident. It was a hot day in July, much like today. His family's
construction business was finishing building the high school track in plain view. And while Bob was replacing a snap cable on an excavator, a co-orker accidentally pushed the lever in the wrong direction and the bucket fell on Bob, crushing his ribs, collapsing his lungs, and severing his spinal c cord.
He's been a parapolgic ever since. For several years, Bob did allow this tragedy to define him. He became despondent and depressed and eventually broke up his marriage. One day he decided he had enough. And as Bob would say, the greatest destroyer of a bright
future is dwelling on the past. He decided he would live his life serving others. So in 1976, he started Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch in High Forest Township. Ironwood Springs has grown to become our nation's largest wheelchair sports camp. Annually over 16,000 people
benefit benefit from being at his 120 acre ranch. In addition, through the miracle lodge that he constructed on site, he has offered free retreats for military couples, camps for those who have autism, and camps for military families. Bob's generosity and
positivity has provided healing to hundreds of thousands of people over the 49 years it's been in existence. Bob and Bob has also proven to be a very competitive athlete, competing in over 100 wheelchair marathons, winning the Chicago Marathon once, Grandma's
Marathon once, and the Twin Cities Marathon three times. He has raced for over 10,000 miles over his career. Over those years, Bob has also met the love of his life, Jod, and they had four daughters together. Those daughters have since blessed them with six
grandchildren. Last week, Bob called called me from hospice, convinced and excited that he will very soon meet his maker. There will be no coming back from his latest bout of cancer. From his bed, he is literally taking the time to call hundreds of contractors and countless
volunteers who have helped Ironwood Springs reach its goals over the years. And once again, he demonstrates what thankful and blessed truly means. I know it's not traditional to do so, but I thought it appropriate at that I take this time to recognize what Bob has done for our community and hope you keep him
in your thoughts in the days ahead. Thank you. That we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Good journ.