good morning everybody morning the first item on the agenda is the public comment SEC uh session if anyone present or online would like to address the County Board please come forward state your name your address and you'll have two minutes to speak with
the County Board um would anyone present like to address the County Board and if you are online just unmute yourself and let us know I'll ask two more times would anyone like to address the county board this
morning and one last time would anyone like to address the County Board this morning with that we'll close the public comment section um next item on the agenda to is approv County Board minutes uh from December 5th and December 9th I'll move to approve second motion by
commissioner Meyer seconded by commissioner elen any other discussion all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries 5 next it on the on the agenda acknowledge receipt of approved committee minutes of the board of adjustment from October 17th and the
land records committee from October 30th move to acknowledge receipt second motion by commissioner Ward seconded by commissioner elen any other discussion all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries 5 consent comments and
approval of the agenda uh commissioner elen um well we could pull 710 please and then some comments at the end um U miss m can you help me is does it make sense just to turn 710 into 8.35 or
is there a reason maybe we should bump it up to save staff some time from having to sit through a longer meeting um I would suggest moving it up okay so is it okay with the full County Board to make it item 8.05
yeah uh commissioner Ward uh I would like to pull uh 7.2 um because I feel it's kind of uh related to the budgeting of that that whole program and to get a handle on really what it's costing us so it can be
at the beginning or the end that's hope does that one matter do you think everyone is here for that so it can be pushed later we'll make that one 8.35 so 7.2 becomes 8.35 and then a couple uh comments
updates at the end please commissioner Olsson nothing for me commissioner Meyer um I have a request for a board action and then um some comments Miss fine nothing sir Miss sonan nothing for me all
right we'll um move to approve the amended agenda I'll second that thank you so motion by commissioner Ward second by commissioner Meyer to approve the amended agenda any other discussion all those in favor say I I oppose motion carries 5 um then we'll need to read the
consent comments into the record please I'm sorry the the remaining consent business yes 7.1 approve State affordable housing aid use of fonds agreement with the Southeastern Minnesota multi County Housing and
Redevelopment Authority 7.2 was pulled 7.3 approve renewal of purchase of service and business associate agreements with Winona orc Industries 7.4 approve renewal of purchase of service and business associate agreements with semi-independent Living
Services with Home and Community Options 7.5 approve renewal of purpose of service and business of f leges LLC for semi-independent Living Services 7.6 approved renewal of state of Minnesota joint Powers agreement with
career Force to provide Minnesota family investment program and diversionary work program employment and training services 7.7 approved renewal to the he East amhi entic Cooperative agreement for 2025 to
2026 to provide adult Mental Health Services 7.8 accept certificate of performance and authorized final payment for County Road roads 108 and 114 surfacing project 7.9 approved resolution for 2025 Sheriff's uniform
allowance 7.10 was F 7.11 approved fiscal year 2025 Intercounty agreement with class 4 subject in inspection 7.12 approve cannabis timeline resolution and
7.13 confirmed payment of dis move to approve the consent business as it was read second motion by commissioner Meyer second and by commissioner Elon any further discussion all in favor say I I oppose motion carries I that then takes
us down to um what had previously been 7.2 approv lease continuation at 152 um West thirs commissioner Elson I just wanted to make do something real quick I realize it's a month to month that's awesome get some flexibility in there it
goes up 3% after a year that's a that's a normal op type thing but didn't we talk about one time moving some of that stuff into the basement here where we have all these storage rooms not into this building right law enforcement I know we talked about okay law enforcement one but what about here
we've got a lot of empty rooms down there how much I guess my question is is how much stuff is actually in that room is it full um we just had the one yeah um I can't say how full it is I don't
see that eron is logged on um I can get you the answer I just thought I mean we can end the lease I mean it's month to month yeah but I just pulled it to say Hey you know 1940 you know it's you know do discuss footage on that if it's just because that's the size of the room p
and stuff plenty of empty spots down the basement we could shove that stuff in for the time being even if we end up doing something with the LC or whatever way we go so just a thought so that was my point save us another seven Grand a year you'll check in and could you let commissioner Elie
know yes I'm still going to ask that the contract be approved yeah yeah nothing against it it's a great contract nice job on the month to month I just was thinking here's another seven Grand we can stick it in the basement okay commissioner
Olson is isn't that space um temperature humidity controlled doesn't it have a special fire suppression system so that if there is a fire it doesn't yeah so we couldn't provide the
same protection of the documents if we didn't have that same that is correct but that's something that could be double checked make my question is what are we storing are we following are we following the mandated retention record
system or is this extra stuff we're storing because we spent a lot of time in men money and energy on Mike of uh uh digitally doing stuff are we still have we still got and it's just like in a household you got a closet you seem to fill it up with stuff and is it and is
it really stuff we is it stuff we really need to store that's my question a good question chair uh Mr LEF is on could we ask him those questions absolutely please um uh I guess Marine could you
summarize the question for Aon uh Mr liy there's questions about the uh space we are Leasing and what is being stored in there um is it information or items that we must
have or is it kind of like a a store all space can you elaborate please yes there are some files down there that are permanent retention I have been working with department head supervisors to see what they can scan stuff like that to
eliminate some of the storage um but we have a lot of old plat books and a lot of maps of of the county that uh you know the assessors use the highway uses a lot of the books are from 1880 the Deeds um we do have a little bit of
furniture in some of the rooms um or I should say one room that we have down there but a lot of it is um files adoption files so things that we must keep correct so if we were to relocate that and and
this is commissioner eling would we need to there is there special Provisions with fire retention humidity controlled environment for that or is that just in in a secure room um a lot of it would be in a secure
room because there are Personnel files um that need to be kept um currently the building is temperature controlled and sprinkled where it's at um one of the issues so it doesn't wreck the documents do you know pardon me I'm sorry I couldn't hear
that's okay is it is it a dry system so it doesn't wreck the documents or is it is it just a wet system no it's just a it's just a wet system this would be no different so is it possible to approve this and approve item 7.1 can we just
find out a little more about that we might have a situation we get rid of it as a whole as long as it's month by month correct so motion by commissioner Meer I'll second it seconded by commissioner Elson any further discussion all those in favor say I I opposed I uh motion carries for one um
so that takes us down to item correct me if I'm wrong item 8.1 conduct public hearing to consider local sales tax and use tax ordinance and resolution is there a staff presentation prior to the public hearing no ma'am no then I move to open the public hearing second uh
motion by commissioner Meer seconded by commissioner eling any further discussion before we open the meeting all in favor say I opposed motion passes so at this point would anyone like to address the County Board
regarding the local sales tax um ordinance I'll ask that two more times is anyone present who would like to address the local option sales tax ordinance if anyone is online can you guys see anyone trying to I can't see I
don't think so this sir um I'll ask one more time is there anyone that would like to address the County Board regarding the local sales tax ordinance with that um we'll need a motion to close the public hearing motion by commissioner eling
second by commissioner Ward to close the public hearing any other discussion all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries item 8.2 adopt resolution for the 2025 budget um miss fty or Mr Elliot
Mr chair can we go back to absolutely I think the intention was to um have the public hearing and then for the board to approving the resolution have yep by the end of the year correct
thank you yeah actually this week or next week because we want to make the first deine we need 90 days 90 days for oh yes need resolution of fing the local tax board meeting minutes the ordinance certificate of approval and ordinance sent to the Minnesota Secretary of State
as well as the Commission of Revenue so I can prepare all those but I need your approve thank you I make a motion to approve the local sales tax and use ordinance as written and adopted is that correct and resolution and resolution it's contained in your pocket there as
contained in the packet here it is motion by commissioner Eline is there a second second motion by commissioner elen seconded by commissioner olon any other further discussion just a a point of clarification uh is this state rule
this April 1 is that when the the local businesses will start collecting that and reporting that is that a state if we're lucky well should we shouldn't be lucky it should be is it is it State rule it it it's we have to have according to the scholes of Department
of Revenue um they have to have this with 90 days before it's it goes into effect so so yes April 1 would be the earliest that we could do it and they do it by quarter they could only start on the first day of a quarter yeah we'd have to
wait then until July if we didn't get our paperwork in it might not happen which which we intend to well yeah there should be no reason not to meet in April yeah take get on the April one it's 90 days back count back 90 days to April 1 so we have to get it in before the end of the year okay so it's it's in our
perview to expedite anything to get that April 1 yes okay because as as of right now we will not collect a full Year's revenue from this it'll start three okay yes hopefully they would then
have the 90 days they use the work to get all the uh whatever the department revenue does okay well if there's any problem at the state level I would hope you would advise this and we'll jump on
them any other discussion it's excuse me if I may just if everyone could make sure your mic is up close to you and that papers aren't covering it they're having hearing okay thank you thank you any other
discussion all those in favor of the motion say I I oppose motion carries 50 thank you Miss sonan is there anything else we should do with that commissioner Ward um and I you know I'm only one but I I asked that at some time we have a review
with the consulting company that helped us pass this um R strategies yeah just you know it it they don't need to come in person just a a phone thing or something I mean I have I have some con questions and concerns of somebody going
forward with this project again how they how they prepared their materials and stuff but could you possibly off personal opinion I mean I think there was the the issue you're looking at me strange the big issue is they kept call call in it a law enforcement center and it's the you know and we I know Josh and
I specifically said you got to say jail and they kept confusing the terms I think with the public those are types of things if I may is the whole board asking for that or or is it that commissioner W desire to I can handle it myself but you know what else I just I'm
asking if it's the whole board or not I think it I think it's fair to ask for some kind of like some you asking for a summary or well and then for us to give them some feedback what we thought worked well and what maybe we would have changed so to set up possibly um an hour
meeting to give feedback for those that wish to take part is that a fair again yeah I'm only one I can do it but then again I'm only one and is the whole board okay with that I'm okay with it yeah I don't need to be there but that's fine to set up a
a followup okay okay thank you so that Miss sonman takes care of thank you of item 8.1 and the resolution and then you have 90 days and then it can start collecting on on April 1st hopefully
best case scenario interrup um I just want to make it clear that the uh consulting firm that we use for the reference work is not working on getting the approval from the revenue that will come through my office there any other expense thank you for
that so item 8.2 adopt resolution for the 2025 budget Miss hold here Mr Elliott Mr chair Commissioners um the resolution is asking you to approve the revenue and expense budget for 2025 of
81,9 a, 42 um and I'll just kind of walk you through what's in the budget uh this is about you know multiple times we've we've covered this so it should not most of it shouldn't uh be anything you
haven't seen before um the budget the expense budget includes a 30% increase in health insurance it's a $3.7 million Capital expenditures includes bonding for the courthouse roof of $2 million approximate 6% increase in wage
and benefits for employees uh it also includes funding the r plus program because with property tax because the grant expired in 2024 uh Outside Agency funding
is the same as 2024 except for a $14,000 increase for The Soil and Water Conservation District can I interrupt you do thanks um well I know that that supposedly that's true um last year the Veterans Memorial stuff was
$810 and the items uh 8.13 through 8.21 there's nine of them not 10 of them and they're each $90 that's $ 8810 not 9900 so did we miss one or is it really 810 it's 810 in the budget the uh the
summary here is incorrect that's incorrect so but it says 900 that's really 8 810 yes and the second one has to do with the library which didn't receive an increase yeah which does appear like it got about
5,000 doll increase and so did it or did it not get the $5,000 it did okay good so then we said but we said I think there's a motion that everybody was going to stay the same as 2024 so why did we bump them and I think
there's another one that was bumped up because we're and we're above statute so I'm just asking it's okay but I I don't know that we approved the additional I thought every everything we've said was going to stay at the 2024 except soil water level and the
extension educator right but the library's bumped you're bumping the library up about 5,000 yeah why who who authorized that I think it's just an oversight okay okay then I think there was another one too the um wasn't there something that I'm sorry interrupt wasn't there like there's a state
requirement that three 3% no that's 100 well no the state requirement is 179,000 we're well above yeah that's true not that I don't like the library because I do and I support them so so the what we should be working off of is
the the 2, $274,000 number correct but we don't have the request in the packet I was going to look to see if that's what they requested we took that we who were you asking it is Library C I'm sorry Mr
Elliot um is is the amount they requested 274 or 279 they requested 279 905 this one chart I have but but we did say we were going to hold them everybody to the 2024 figures there's not a contract for that one is that correct the library
does not have a contract so we're required by law support stat State Statute so would that require a board action right now to change that amount to yes because it's in the budget right now at 27995 well and so I have a little angst
you're trying to get us to approve a budget but then later in the agenda we're approving all these other things I think we should approve the other things first and then the the budget because you're with all due respect commissioner Ward we put it this direction because we were told last year that it revers that you first had to establish your budget
and then approve things so I'm sorry I need clarification about so we could establish budget spending I'm sorry so we could establish a budget and then make adjustments afterwards is that absolutely is that okay and 5,000 is nothing I mean right but I it's it's not locked in when we approve it we're going
to approve it and then we're then we'll make modifications is that okay commissioner W I'm if we stay with the philosophy the budget is just a tool it's you know and it's a guideline and it's estimate and and I don't know if I buy into that either but that's what I'm always told can we approve the budget
and then we'll make modifications to it but are we approve okay I'm fine either way what's the board's desire we approved the agenda so yeah continue I guess you have to you have to approve it based on the agenda and how
it's written yeah so yeah we can't change it around now we can still is is the library a separate line item yes it is yes yes line item 8.25 yeah so we can catch that one but there's other things in the budget
here that we have to do before we not everything in the budget is laid out after correct no just the Outside Agency just the outside agencies so there still are other discussions for that budget to happen okay I'm sorry Mr Elliott thank you sure um net Staffing
increases of four and a half positions uh largely offset by Revenue increases overtime decreases and repurposing of vacant positions the net impact of the property tax at this point is 230,000 uh to turnover savings uh which
is uh savings that we estimate that we are going to have in 2025 based upon position vacancies because it always happens that way um and that's based on a three-year look back uh uh there is a line item in the budget uh for
maintenance and one-time costs related to a possible real estate purchase $50,000 increase to the U ofm extension program over 2024 funding a million3 for recently approved
jail funding sales tax and the property tax levy at 25.7 million which is a 3.64 increase from 2024 um that's pretty much concludes what I was going to walk through for you if
there are any questions oh sorry commission I apolog I couldn't tell if that was a him no it is it's a me thinking i' got a lot of things I'm thinking about continue um anybody else yeah sure
commiss I mean I will just thank you staff um from where we started at to where you have put the budget um and the levy increase I'm grateful for everyone's hard work on it um and given
that as a resident of the city of wona which is going to have an over 10% tax increase I'm really impressed with how you've managed to um reduce the budget and maintain programming and uh potentially improve our
services by finding ways to get money for the new positions to improve the level of work that we provide but also to collect that money from the state um and other sources to make that feasible so I support the budget 100% the way
that it is and I'm grateful for all your L thank you commissioner wart okay if we go down go down my your list the draft budget includes okay I can I can understand a 30% increase in health insurance that's something we can control um the the request for 3.7
million in capital expenditures there's still things in that Capital things like we did we still did keep the the 40,000 for redoing uh uh the lights the controls in here which I think the lights are on they work um we also had
the 40,000 in here for Paving uh a a highway shop which uh I have citizens that would like that 40,000 on their Road not a parking lot um and and stuff so I think there's still things in the capital and the 2 million for and bonding uh I'm not sure I'm not sold on
bonding for a $2 million roof on a a courthouse um contractual number three increases in contractual wage and benefits now you say approximately six does that include the steps and the cost of living that we incur is that an
average of 6% then okay clarification on that um number four uh funding W and program without a grant 170 but then we also are um the item that got pulled is more money for wrap and I it to me it seems like that's a moving Target I'm
not sure what the wrap program is really costing us it seems like there's and maybe I'm just confused I don't follow it close enough I'm not involved in the rap program so but it seems like this is 170 and then we've got some more money um I'm concerned of what we're spending on that function um Outside Agency we
did say we were going to stay at the 2024 again I I don't like my philanthropic giving to outside agencies and I do see and maybe I missed it um I know they do good work but I think all I asked for was the um reporting they do
as 5013 C's and I don't remember seeing anything for big brothers or big sisters and I may have missed it there's a lot of information been going on um I'm not asking for new information just stuff that they're supposed to be providing if they're a 5013c to the state of Minnesota uh number six the net increase
of four and a half positions where our mechanism to justify the last part largely offset by Revenue increase overtime decrease and repurposing vacant the worksheet where's the worksheet and how do we track that over time and I'm really concerned that it's
four and a half positions basically in health and human services and the reason I I say some of those things is I just came from AMC and we had the state uh Economist talked to uh the association Minnesota conferences and the alll
picture doesn't not look good and if the state of Minnesota is going to have to work and reduce any expenditures uh Health and Human Services is 2third of the state budget so and we're looking at adding four positions just in that area and I do
question um we have do we we do have a full-time social worker connected with the jail we do we do okay the jail population has been hovering 15 to 20 people is that on and you always say there's case load per social worker is
that a full case load for a social worker 15 to 20 people that come and go and can that person be yeah can that person is there other duties as assigned I don't know I mean if they're truly a licensed social workers have to be licensed correct isn't there a license
not all of them not all of them but again are we do we have somebody working with 15 to 20 people that could maybe take some of the workload for these four and a half positions we're proposing I I don't support four and a half new Health and Human Service because I think that fund a lot of that funding was onetime
funding that we're getting I have a strong feeling it's gonna go away and go away quickly get off that topic the the jail social worker um yes works with people who are coming into the jail going out of the jail depending on whether they
get released but then following up with them as well and it's not just it's it's not a static 20 um it's it's a continu a continuation so it's you know you say 20 but it multiply 20 by 365 days a year um
and and that person is actually saving the county money because these people are avoiding going to say the uh ER they're avoiding going to expensive mental health um that might land them you know in a treatment program um that
the county will will fund one way or another because they're usually on on Medicaid um or some some form of of Public Assistance um so say 20 yeah that's like oh they're only doing with 20 20 people that's
spend a day with the social with theour find out okay well we just we need to J I got not disagreeing on that I just my thing would be is to bring in you look at the size of the of you
look at the size of that department the amount of people and and to add four and a half people it's not just the four and a half people and are they going to pay for themselves and is it necessary but just it's going to take a full-time person just to train that many people so
although it looks good is it you know do if if it's genuinely necessary I brought up and voiced my concerns to Mr Elliot that said hey if these things are cost neutral or potentially even positive which they're not um you know obviously
it's it's 230,000 it's almost an entire Levy point and we're saying we have an entire Levy Point worth of need in the county you know what's the percentage of adding four and a half positions to the amount of people that we already have it seems like it's exceptionally High
especially bringing in the r program and the people that are already there and now additional four and a half people this is putting a lot of money into that department very very quickly and then you just have the cost of train in them and maintaining them and turnover and
and then if the funding's left and this is a this is is not something to take lightly and I suggested bringing in a contract person and maybe a couple contract people or maybe we find hire one person if there is a genuine need bringing a contract person prove the concept out that this is going to have a
positive net impact and move forward but it just seems like we're just jumping in just hey let's just throw it all in there without even looking at the fact that these people are going to need to get trained oversight offices everything else that comes with it so I just think it's a I think it's a a grossly
overlooked thing to just say hey it's no big deal to hire four people let alone the cost of hiring four and a half more people so could I also respond to that my my office works with Department of Human Services all
the time and I mean I I can say that first of all I think that the levy is what you're looking at is is very low um um you started at a a much higher rate um we are operating I think the
Department of Human Services from what I've seen the the work that the chel workers do we are already operating at a very um put it well thank you very lean and probably need need more people to provide the
services that this County um well they provide the services and they go above and beyond to provide those services and they are they are um burning out so um when you say that 4.5
positions I'm sorry Comm eling again spend a day with a social worker who has to work with a family in crisis and you'll know that there with every that this count fac so um again the budget is
cut to the Limit and I know you know I think you and I have a different philosophy about what government provides and what government um what the government expenses should be um but all all of the County employees
really and I've said this before and was accused of harassing a a commissioner to do it but I'm not what I'm saying is that all of the County employees are working tirelessly for this County and I don't think there's there's there's when you
when you talk about not adding some positions that means that people still have to work longer hours over time that costs a lot more money than hiring these positions so just want to say my say because I'm in the middle of this every single day criminal cases and child
protecting cases and commitments and guardianships all these people need need help and they come to the county for that help thank you commissioner and commission Tomar was your hand raised no but I'm not finished with my list commiss award
commission I just want to go go back to that um I I appreciate it um I do but are we and again I'm not uh this isn't meant in a factious way but I I I don't understand if we need legal
advice we'll give legal advice but this is a discussion among the board and it's not a petition for whether this needs to happen or not so the question I have is it's not and again I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to but I just feel like sometimes we got a six commissioner here
so and again I I I thank you for your opinion but the reality of it is is that I it's it's the US five here that have to have it and you're more than welcome to chimee I'm not the one to say it is or isn't but at the same time um I'm I'm
not this isn't a punt to say hey uh they're not doing a good job cuz feel the reference that that that I'm hearing is that I'm I'm alluding to that they don't work hard there isn't a need for it I've never said that there is or isn't a need for it I'm just simply looking at it saying is there more a
constructive way that we could go about this because one of the biggest problems is is once you start you can't it's difficult to get rid of people if that case load changes and the ability to adopt four and a half new positions into something that isn't overly grossly large to begin with um also takes a lot
of work so there's work to create less work to do that and so is there a different way that we could layer these people in to really figure out what the offset of the true need is because right now it's a bit of a guess to figure that out and then also that allows us to
position funding in a little bit better too so it isn't uh it isn't a punt to say that it is is or isn't needed fully and in its entirety it's just a different way of doing it rather than saying let's go hire a very large cost
to the taxpayer without true knowing the net impact we we know what we can guess it we're looking at a levy Point based on that but it's to say that every other source out here that has a fund that has a need and just saying we're putting a lot of money into that program the the
the the whole kind of social programs out there and turning a blind eye to everybody else we're funding a $170,000 rap program we have a net impact to 230,000 on here that's a $400,000 increase into that department nobody else is getting that so I'm just
saying is there a way to layer this in and do it differently maybe we don't go all four and a half positions we do maybe a couple positions and make sure they pay for themselves we try to find a contract position the budget side will allow us to have the money to do it but how we choose to actually go about it is
something that we could do we don't NE have to specifically say it has to be an employee it could also be a cont type position so that's where I'm trying to go with this is there smarter way to do this and layer this process in over a couple years rather than just throwing everything at once so was commissioner
Ward commissioner Ward before you go I want to just pause for a quick second is I am perfectly fine being I have four hours blocked off for this meeting but we can um I I just want a question for all the Commissioners um is we um this
is the budget process we've asked staff to do a lot of work and if it wasn't for that I know that Miss hly and now Mr Elliott do um they when these requests come through they do go through them and they didn't approve all of them so all those points are very valid but I also feel like our staff has gone through and
evaluated each one of them is that I feel like this budget well there's room I think to tweak it a little bit is we could turn this into a 6-h hour 8 hour conversation or we could view it as a compromise um and 3.64% I think some Commissioners right
very valid points feel like it could be lower other Commissioners valid points feel like we we are there's room to add more to provide more you know preemptive Services Etc um so I just want to encourage folks how much we're going to go round and round on this and I'm not
saying just blindly accept it but maybe we should just focus on maybe the top priorities for each one of us Etc and lastly um I do there is sometimes a concern with you know how many folks are joining the conversation but in this case um commissioner Ward did ask a question
about rap and it it falls directly under other county attorney's office and the County Attorney is a fellow elected officer who represents the entire County as well so I think there is a danger about sometimes but I think this was an appropriate time to jump in so thanks for that input commissioner Ward and commissioner Meyer um well this all this
discussion leads me to we need that finance committee I think a finance committee should have been going through this the last couple months with with uh you know uh open eyes and I think it would be a benefit um the with attorney San's and and I hear that
same analysis often but again I think we need to be able to have documentation of a cost benefit analysis how because I've been told in the past we've added people and we've been promised with and we hope that it is that that um we uh you know
are cost neutral and then it turns out that it's not and but I can't verify that that's that's information that's and but again maybe a finance committee would be a benef great benefit um quickly then on the list here um I
appreciate that you did the turnover savings uh number seven number eight uh I don't know if we have maintenance built into our budget so that 125,000 for maintenance and one time is that that's for rest well yeah that's
all tied to that not addition so that could go away right um uh number nine the uh umm extension now that is what Josh and I are talking about that's a contract it's a 2-year contract if it doesn't work out we can change it they're not our employees they're our
contract things so um if we don't see the benefit and things change we have the flexibility to change it we got the sales tax and um I guess the uh property tax yes I greatly appreciate that they've come down but of course uh there
was a shock value throw out a high number and then come down and think yeah I did my job but you did do your job you did get it down uh considerably I do greatly appreciate that but I guess in my 10 years the the growth in County government is exponential I mean it didn't used to be this expensive to run
Winona County and Winona County isn't growing we're just a stagnant County we're just sitting here um so yeah there and was the um I'm sorry the highway design engineer that is included so I was looking at the I was looking at the projects I have angst
with that I was looking at the projects most of the projects we're going to do next year are resurfacing I don't think that takes high level of engineering you know to Warrant that position there is one project that's going to be reconstructed but it's a rural and maybe it needs a
few new CTS and stuff so I think that and you're saying zero and I did see Chuck I thank you you did take some out of the uh Contract Services to accommodate that but I just questioned that because each project requires a certain amount of expertise and we seem to go
out and hire that expertise for the roads um so I don't know if an in-house person will give us as much expertise as we need thank you commissioner thanks um just want to start by saying thanks to all the Commissioners because I know we
all care about having uh maximizing the amount of services and the quality of the services but also minimizing the tax impact and and to commissioner bagley's points our staff is well aware of that and I believe that our staff acts in
that same manner so I think we're not alone in in having concerns about this tradeoff between services and cost um I did want to make three points uh commissioner Ward had talked about cutting some things out of the bonding
and my concern with this is that those things will still need to be done so even though there's still 40,000 in there for one of the paving projects I would remind you that there's actually two Paving projects and so those things that we don't do we eliminate don't like
cease to need doing and so I think it's really important for us in a year when the Lev is pretty low that we actually go ahead and take care of our property and infrastructure um the second thing is
that uh I know that Winona County has been written up for about 10 years for the ratio of Supervisors to social workers to clients in the state audit and this is because they're telling us
that that ratio is so high that there's no way that the supervisors and the staff can actually fully vet and make sure that all requirements are met and so this is where it Rose to a significant impact two years ago on the
state audit so I think it's really about time that we staff and this idea that those staff positions are partially paid for or in part or in full part paid for by the state government is it's really in recognition of the fact that we have
been underst staed and they are encouraging us to appropriately put in the right number of employees to meet the workload so I I also think it's it's not true that um you know there's
$430,000 and Only Human Services getting that because no you know that's about the price of a plow truck and so we are spending money on other functions um Road and Bridge is a big portion of our
budget so I totally support us fully funding our health and human services um they provide us with Statistics at the Workforce Development board and there's about 133% of our population which is a
significant amount over 6,000 that are uh using County Services for Income Maintenance programs so um I I'll add on this that one of the things that our staff is talking about is providing us
with something called activity based financing where we would in fact be able to get those kind of metrics and make those kind of judgments we just need our new Finance director to get through this year- end process because I think he's done a fabulous job and is going to
provide us some tools that we haven't had in the past um and the last thing I want to do is defend the r plus program at our last meeting I provided a handout that uh came from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and it was
really research that indicated if you have folks s just sitting in jail who have substance abuse issues and you provide them with services or if you have folks who have mental health issues and you provide them with Services it saves far more money than what you
invest in it because they don't end up back in jail and even in our packet there are some pretty great statistics about the success factors and rate of success for folks who are in our R plus program so I think the staff has done a
fabulous job I'll just reiterate that and I am going to move that we adopt the 2025 budget as it was presented to us in our packet there's a motion by commissioner Myer res there second uh second by commissioner Olsson we'll continue the discussion
commissioner Olen you know I I would we've had several budget meeting and budget sessions um and we've had good faith negotiations between all of us [Music] um the staff has asked us where do you
want us to get and and they got us there um as far as a percentage um we all made compromises uh to what we thought was important for our funding and uh here here it sits before
us at 3.64% I I believe uh that's a great Target I believe that we all arrived at this um in good faith and to sit and question uh different points
now is uh throws all the other work that we've done away um I'm not going to play into the theatrics so for the last minute Shuffle um I'm going to support the motion and I just want to second that um that uh again this is I think the
staff's done a great job it's also there's compromises uh we all want something to be added we all want something to be um dropped um early on I had made some proposals for semac for the senior Advocate and um for I think um there was one one of the position as
well um but I think that and I asked the staff because last meeting commissioner Elon you talked about 3.73 3 something like that Etc I said I wanted to try to find a way and maybe this is because of the Christmas spirit and maybe I'm I'm gonna play that card real quickly I
would love to see a 50 vote if you want to give me a gift and Etc I'm hoping that we could find a way I'm going to play the Christmas card all this yel tide spirit and all this Christmas murf is that I hope we could get to 3.64 that's a lot lower than what we started
with and it also takes into account the local option sales tax which is very important that we we said we would reduce it and we are going to reduce it quite a bit from where we started off Etc so I don't of course each commissioner can do as they wish but I
hope we can have a five V comm W uh I've been known to wear green um um so I I have to look at a a bigger picture um looking into the future of course I said the state econ says we're
we're in we're in trouble um the revenues now I think there's another Revenue comes out in February but the revenues at the state level which we depend on are probably looking pretty bleak 2026 uh we may be okay but 27 28 29
we're we're if it if the trend continues there is going to be a great reduction in revenues that the state has with that said um one of the things that we kind of need to put at least in the back of our mind is this family paid leave act that's going to cost us all a lot of
money so when you start talking about adding employees they're in that Hopper it's yet to be determined really what impact that's going to have but that's on the horizon the other thing this our County I have not heard of this but I had some other counties uh express some huge concerns and this is again I think
two years out the American the africanamerican preservation act um the fiscal note for small counties is huge it's millions of dollars for smaller counties than Winona so again we have to look at some of these things they're not
in concrete stone yet but they're common and they're going to have huge economic impacts so we can't keep building um with knowing that you know we need to be aware of these things that are going to be very costly in our in our near future
um and so that's why my hesitancy to keep increasing uh you know our budget thank you m Alon yeah I I I concur that's I mean anytime I've ever sat on a board budget meeting running businesses
you're not looking for large expenditures the large expenditures you find that it's it's the combination of all these little ones that add up and the unforeseen and foreseen cost down the road that add up and that's what drives things up a small percentage small percentage small percentage that gets things out of control so one could
call it nitpicking one can call it hey we got here and we shouldn't you know relook at a few things had I known the state position 3 four five months ago you know I probably would have had even a stronger stance but the reality of it is is there's a lot of unforeseen you don't know and things change often times
right up until the last hour so you know I think that's why we have boards and why we should consider some of these situations my stance on hiring anybody regardless of what position it is what department it has it it's it's it's it's
not against any Department it's just is there a better way to do it that's my thing just like hiring an employee they have to prove themselves out in the private sector we don't have the luxury of well it didn't work so we rais taxes a little bit to pay for them because we
might lose the funding from the state and if we can have that sort of position and methodically take a different way as to how we enter into these situations is what's going to keep us in that low tax range I I want to be the number one tax county in the state I don't want to
be number four I want to be number one and I want to be looked upon how we do things exceptionally efficiently and if you go to fast and all right now I guarantee you they are not satisfied where they're at with efficiency and they will never be satisfied because that's what got them to where they are so at the end of the day I I'm a person
that's constantly never satisfied um and not in a negative way so I think it's I think it's a disservice to the taxpayer to just settle based on what we've done um and that we should continue to always look on a daily basis of areas that we
uh continue to cut so I I I really don't believe that we can justify adding that many positions to one particular department and look at everybody else and say you get nothing I just I think I think it's Injustice to the rest of the to the
Departments and you know with the exception of the two that we are favoring um I just think it's a little over the top um and again it it could very well be needed but to layer it in to ensure that the state funding stays there and to ensure that we're doing the correct thing and but we can actually
prove the concept out that this is a cost savings to the tax paare and as well as it's necessary to fill the void that we need I don't believe just throwing a lump sum at it like this is the best way to do that any other
discussion Mr chair Mr Ellie um I'm hoping we can fix the mistake that I made on the Outside Agency stuff before the vot is uh in regards to the library so it's in the budget at$ 27995 but I've said in
words that we're holding flat so I don't know if we need to like formally change it to the pre uh prior year number of 27447 just to eliminate any confusion it would have to be in the um so is the best way to do that is
to do it in the motion I think so and then to adjust amendment is that to then we would adjust the levy amount and it'll be a very small percentage it's a fraction it's a fraction yeah or do we just leave it I would suggest just leaving it and then when you get to the
actual item you could make your adjustment okay again it's a fraction what what's the board's wishes how long is it going to take you to figure that out I'm I could make a friendly
amendment that the budget reflect the library funding minus the 5,000 it it can do it very quickly just say it's 2024 budget level y it's the so commission are you okay with that yeah I'm totally fine so the the correct me
I'm going to try to restate the motion is to approve the levy at 3.64% with two changes um we're just doing the budget now not the left okay apologize you're right this is just yeah this correct this is just the budget um with
the change to Telco and a small adjustment for it what commissioner aling said say that again no it's his it's his second it's your motion 2024 level corre for
cell if that's what you want to do okay so this is to approve the um the the budget with celco at the 2024 level commissioner Meer okay with that totally fine sorry there was a commissioner Meer had a question on the
U Veteran Memorial W9 why it's 810 versus 900 that one's in the budget at 810 cover everybody at the same equal amount 9 N9 at 90 okay all right stated wrong with mathematic number right cor yes all right thank you all those in
favor say I I we're voting on the amendment we're voting my understanding is if the person who made Motion in the second or we're good I'll get with it okay all right then so the motion is to approve the the budget um with the one change to cell
cope at the 2024 amount is that is that clear thank you all in favor say I I opposed motion passes 32 uh we're then we're on to item 8.3 sorry about Christmas yeah it's the
sow I got the SP there's still one more chance get my green suit on the snow the jingles so the next item is to adopt the you know it's the fairy tale 225 Levy resolution Mr Elliott so we've pretty
much covered all the main components here the levy property tax levy the recommended uh Levy is with notwithstanding the the change we just made to the library funding uh 2,692
49 which is a 3.6% increase over 2024 I'm not sure what else we need to discuss but that that's where it sits 3.6 3.64 correct yes okay I
would do want to reduce it by the 5,000 or not I think we can leave it as is um move to approve item 8.3 which is to adopt the 2025 Levy resolution presented in our packet what by commissioner Meers
second going to by commissioner Olsson any other discussion be down a little bit I just think we could have went a little further with it I I think there's some things we could have done to cut a little more out anticipating that I think in the next couple years things are going to get really Rocky and
we're going to have to pick up some of this expense so I was just looking for every possible way to perhaps look at you know saving some of that later on so I'm nervous for the future very valid points Comm for just because we pass this doesn't mean we
have to spend it all it's just the model it's just a guesstimate it's just a plan we don't necessarily need to spend it all we can put what we don't spend we can put into reserves to commissioner El's point I think that we have found through
experience that when the uh total economy goes south um our expenses go up because Human Services have a big demand so um to uh invest early is maybe wise and
I Mr El commissioner El made very valid points I think valid points could also be made that there's room to also increase it considering we are the fourth fifth lowest in the state but again this is a compromise between five Commissioners and and the result of a whole lot of work from a lot of Staff
Etc any other discussion I just want to publicly thank staff again you guys did an amazing job trying to get to St um you know there's always room for improvement but for where we started and where we are thank you very much guys um I'm never satisfied but that's the way
it is you know so um but all of this goes with with the thank you to all the staff that well thank you commissioner eling I agree with you I third that any other discussion all those in favor of the
motion to set the levy at 3.64% um say I I all those opposed I tried all right um so uh that takes us to item 8.4 adopt 2025 fee
schedule we have it in our packet is there any anything else Missy or should we just it's for you motion to approve second motion by commissioner olon second by commissioner Meyer any other discussion um in the past we found something mid year and so this we do have the flexibility
to change if we find something that's yeah pull it up as a one off is that yeah because we did find something a couple years ago that was totally out of out of syn okay with that flexibility yes any other discussion all those in favor say I I
oppos motion carries 5 then we have I'm I'm going to make a suggestion we don't need to do it um there are items 8.5 8.6 8.7 and 8 8 we could go through and discuss them one by one could we also I'm I'm I'm going to make this suggestion later on when we look at the
um agreements for American Legions um and the others Etc is maybe we could lump some of these or we could go through them one at a time but um if the full board was okay with it could we possibly lump similar items together in one motion I'm just trying to I'm fine with that and we can we can make the
motion and if it doesn't have pass so be it so I'll start the but I'll move that we adopt 85 86 87 88 as in the packet motion by commissioner Meer is there a second a second for the point of
discussion motion by commissioner Mark second by commissioner olon discussion commissioner olon so you are suggesting we go at the administration's recommendation that is what I and could we publicly say those increases that I'm
sure that I'm on the same page sheriff sheriff the new amount would be $73,345 per. is that in the packet unless yes wait oh on each each one but it's right on the opposite side of the resolution
what page this is on page 344 for the sheriff yeah I had I had figured it was yeah it's yeah 6% that was the request but the request is not what is in the
verbage so in the rfba if I may Mr chair in the rfba it's under the summary of the issue is where it says with the percentage Yeah what page are you looking at there 3442 342 yeah so it's a three and a it's
a 3% not a 6% but not 3% of his current salary 3% of what the comparable is okay well I've never ever supported those comparables I do not think they're comparables I didn't take the time trying to get through this packet to compare um what their budgets were but
they are they are very different budgets dollar-wise usually much higher and um uh question I have of and I know we got uh reports from all the agencies um through the grap Vine I've heard that the county sheriff we spent a lot on overtime did we come up with a and I
know you've been extremely busy in snowstorms and everything responded to your email oh but we did have email problems yeah we' had email problems yeah we do have high overtime that is correct okay so that's a direct uh in my opinion that's a direct um
impact of management um I don't know that we've denied any um new hires or have we in the last there's one proposed in the budget right now for 202 there's a deputy it's requested but
will that red I mean so what I I apologize it will reduce over time so how much how many did we I apologize the emails we've had problems I did not see it did we have a dollar figure tied to that overtime or just hours I sent the dollars I don't I didn't have the hours
okay that's okay how many how many dollars um just in the licensed officers I believe it was 193,000 you know that was 2024 that's what we've already expended I mean it it's nothing to do with the person personalities of the people holding
these jobs but it's the job of the sheriff to manage that and if we spent that kind of money on overtime and then they're asking for a pay increase on that I I just it's not acceptable any other discussion yeah
commiss sure um three things but so what I'm recommending is what administration has proposed in the packet and in each case it is the comparables Plus a 3% increase um which if if I understand right 3% is
what we're keeping the rest of our staff so but the three points are that um I I understand that you don't like the comparables commissioner award never have and I take your points as valid the reality is though this was negotiated I
don't know a decade or more ago long time ago and it is recognized by all of our collective bargaining units and that is what makes it difficult to say no we're going to choose a different set because we would need to go through all those negotiations again so I don't even
know if that's possible but certainly not possible today um and the second thing is that I think each of these department heads are doing a great job and I thank them for their service I
thank them for all the hard work that they put in and I appreciate every one of them but they send to us you know their points for why it is that they would like to have an increase except
for Mr bamban uh greater than what administration has recommended but I don't really think that we can have a full performance review of these individuals in public um and the very first year that I was in office uh because there's like I have
more seniority than the other people in these counties um and I I did this extra stuff and while I am grateful for all of those things um I asked for a rubric that we might be able to consider those factors
and the deal is if you have such a rubric it is also going to have to require us to discuss negative factors in public and I'm thinking that's not really allowed or appropriate that that's kind of private information so I
really um I I want the folks that are discussed in here and whose salaries were increasing to understand that I really do appreciate them but there are reasons that get in the way of us being able to include all of those additional factors in the
consideration I think we have to go with what were recommended that was third point that is it that's commissioner and commissioner well um you talk about the review I think we've sh as a County Board we've shered our responsibility
and given it to ad Administration and I don't deny that they've tried hard and worked hard as far as talking about Job performance we're all public employees they're public employees they're they put their names on the ballot to talk about performance review and everything
it should be in public in my opinion and um we gave I think what well as an average we're giving uh the the County Employees steps and a 3% increase and that was earlier um
reiterated approximately average and such so again for somebody to ask for more than that um again and if you if you I'm sorry if you want to make money you go to the private sector um this is not a money-making career there should be a certain amount of Public Service commitment to the public I think there
is I think we have very dedicated electeds but um to my taxpayers aren't seeing these kind of increases in their bottom line to to afford it so I mean I I represent the taxpayers um and it's just it's a it's a
lot of money when you add it up because an increase of this at hund plus thousand is a a huge much more significant amount than the staff person that gets that increase and we all go buy the same box of cereal and pay the
same price for that box of cereal so I mean it is a significant increase for a higher wage person than it is a a a line worker so thank you commissioner Elon that actually alludes to my point in having dealt with salaries high-end
salaries before in my career one of the things that always gets brought up is the the wage Gap difference because 3% to a higher-end person and 3% to the person behind the counter over there making 40,000 doesn't actually keep up and so what you do is you
disproportionately give a portion of your budget that you have for payroll to this higher class now it doesn't mean they may or may not deserve that but that goes back to commissioner Ward's pay for performance scenario so what happens is is by doing
just a blind 3% across the board um you end up disproportionately moving that wage Gap um and that person actually pays the price because there's only so many dollars in the budget now it doesn't mean they may or may or may not
deserve this and that's part of where the in the private sector a lot of pay for performance comes into place but collectively if everybody gets behind it and does the same thing it pushes the bar forward because we're constantly comparing it to the next person doing it and it just it's a way to drive that
wage set up um by just simply uh uh comparing it to the Joneses across the street is really what we're doing so we have to be careful especially when we're getting into these these salary situations um you know look at the stock market What It Takes how much variable
there is on 10% today at 40,000 versus 10% when it was 10,000 it's a th000 points today it takes 4,000 points to do the exact same thing so we have to start thinking like this as these wages go up and that top number gets up you exponentially are increasing the wage
gap which I hear so much talk about but we just don't nobody talks about it but in the private sector we talk about it a lot because that disproportionately sets that apart and there's only so many dollars so how do you pay the person behind the counter more and again we're in a situation we
don't have to go out and earn that we just simply go out and take it so that is where I look at this and say yes we we to a certain extent we need to be comparable to what other people are paying and J positions um but at the same time we also have to pave our own path and that path might come with some
ups and downs and it might come being able to look at I'm just going to fictitiously make a name at Tamarind say I'm sorry but your raise went there because in the public sector that's what we have to do because there's no more money so I think or excuse me in the private sector so I think we need to look at this a little bit and say Hey
you know the rubber stamping of these wages and things like that can we look at it and say hey if we're making an adjustment based on where other people are is it necessary to have a cost of living adjustment when that cost of a living adjustment could be relative to what it actually takes to live which is
commissioner Ward's point a box of cereal does it cost anymore for that person to walk in the store buy a gallon of gas buy a box of cereal buy something off the shelf no it doesn't so it is disproportionately driving those aside so it has nothing to do with the
Personnel the people has nothing to do with that it's just again just like looking at hiring people how what's a better way to look at doing this so we don't continue to to do something that has a very negative impact on how people perceive budgets and paying employees
even at a government sector the private sector we can hide it all we want in the private in the public sector we can't so I I I just I think it's a it's a disservice to just blindly hand out a 3 % on a high wage especially if we're already factoring in that we're compensating them more based on I'm
going to say comparing to the Joneses any other discussion the current motion on the table is to approve the administrative recommendations for 8.5 8.6 8.7 and 8.8 any other discussion all those in favor of the
motion say I I opposed motion passes it's 32 um it's now 10:00 are we okay continuing on um I'm not sure how long we're going to go today but are we okay for the time being quick check in sure we're good item 8.9 approve resolution
designating Transportation sales tax projects Miss H is there anything to cover there or is that just no again the logic of having this under General business was because previously previous year we were informed to not have things be before the board approved the budget
so that's why it's under General business I'll move to to approve 89 8.9 MH is there a second commissioner Meer made a motion to approve item 8.9 approve resolution designated in transportation sales tax projects is there a second I'll second
motion by commissioner Meyer seconded by commissioner Ward any further discussion again this is this is a flexible plan it depending on if conditions change and everything but this is the goal part of the requ requirement for the sales tax is to have
a list of projects which I I I appreciate um so but it is a flexible if something changes um it can be uh modified commissioner Elon yeah I just wanted to commend the highway department and uh Mr Kramer for being fluid with
this and making updates and changing things and prioritizing projects it's probably still one of the biggest things we get phone calls especially obviously in the rural districts and I determin that everybody lives on the worst Road in M
County so um yeah so thank you commissioner wion I'm not going to support the motion simply because well number one I didn't vote for this tax and number two I don't believe we're following the statutory requirements uh
when we cut our Levy and we don't keep our Levy for Road and Bridge projects uh equal to inflation then we're substituting with the sales tax which is forbidden so I'm not going to support
it any other discussion Michelle quite frankly without this sales tax we'd be in a lot of trouble any other discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed I motion
carries uh 41 item 8.10 approve memorandum of agreement with the University of Minnesota to provide County uh Lona County extension for 2025 through 2027 move second motion by commissioner Elie second by commissioner Ward any further
discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed motion carries 5 congratulations make us proud thank you we know you do good work Christmas wish keep reporting one we want we want the data you were read on
purpose and we want the data we like data numbers numbers uh that takes us on to 8.11 um approved purchase of Express vote machines to replace automar
Automark assisted voting devices I'm sorry just what what was the need to drive this again I I just couldn't remember what that voting machines yeah the they're failing Auto marks we're having problems with them with the elections
and we're required to have an assisted voting device um several around the city of Winona are failing and they're just out of their life cycle so is this a new software new just same thing new piece of equipment that
essentially does the same thing so the the assisted voting devices we have now the auto marks they you can put the ballot in it will audibly read it to you if you need to it will um put put it on the screen M you can expand the text to
be larger if needed or shift it to um a different I think you'd call it night mode at this point but I high contrast or something is what it's called in the in the programming but um so it's it's for folks to be able to mark their ballot um more easily or if they're
shaky it'll mark it for them and then the ballot gets spit out and it goes into the tabulator just like all the other ballots it's just a tool to Mark the ballot it'll also read the ballot to make sure there aren't any errors but our tabulators do that as well Mr so does it so I've got a series of
questions here yeah um is there any so I I go one by one or I can stay them all but is there any tradein value to what we have 100 bucks it's in the contract yeah okay um
so I'm assuming there's a $100 worth of gold in them yeah go to South Korea or Russia y but there's no no there's no fixing this I mean I mean normally we they're very old I think I don't remember the exact year that we got them
but they're they're over a decade old um we got them initially by my recollection I'd have to go dig it out but we initially got them when the the statutes were changed that we had to have assisted voting devices
and at that time there was more money behind it when they're saying hey yeah right no no election money for the there is election money and some of that will be used toward this um we also need to work with the cities and townships and
get those agreements if we're going to get them otherwise we have to distribute a quarter of it um but there the county will get roughly between 30 and 35 and 40,000 each year as a whole 25% of that
is allocated for cities and townships unless we have an agreement with the cities and townships which we are working on but um we're trying to determine if we're I mean that we're diving down the rabbit hole here but uh we're trying to determine if it's best practice to continue to divvy
up all of the election expenses across the city's um townships and county or the count just leave it in the county budget where it's spread across all of the citizens or taxpayers not citizens
um not necessarily voters leaving it just in the county budget reducing that Manpower of billing and chasing the bills and Etc um but there is
funding that and at least the county share we intend to use toward this commisson any any other question questions so so we do have a portion of funding coming so we're going to kind of front the cash and then they're going to pay us back is that am I understanding
that right I have to report what we spend those funds on so the funds that we received in 23 and 24 can be utilized for this I don't know that I can retroactively say I already spent the money you're going to give me in
25 um or 26 I think those funds are intended to be used on an annual basis for election costs um I don't think that I can spend it before it is allocated to us if that
makes sense yeah so one of the things that do we have to do all of them now could we do just update some of them you know is just kind of like a hay switch them all for hey switch them all um the reason for that is when we switch tabulators we had a little bit of that
and it it makes reporting a nightmare and less um transparent if you're if one system's using this tabulator and the other townships using this other tulor then you're cop combining results and
yeah yeah that's why I asked I didn't know if it was some so okay so really this is an All or Nothing proposition I mean it's a it's not a cheap bill you know to do this by any means so but doing it this year versus next year which it's already in the budget for next year that you guys have approved so
the monies that we could get in is there some other way and we don't know for sure whether we can say hey we bought this all and what I mean you would think the state my fear is first of all the state's going to say well sorry we don't have any money um which I'm anticipating is coming and this is going to get stuck on us locally but the second thing is is
that we don't know for sure that we can appropriate future funds to back bill but we could find that out we could yes and then also even if we don't do we have any new things coming up that we could you know like you said some of these other projects do we anticipate more of these types of things happening
or is this kind of a hey this is our one big thing there are there is anticipated so the city the larger cities City of St Charles City of wona city of Goodview um and city of Lewiston uses pull pads and those will need to be replaced this is the last year we can use the ones that
we have that's about a 30,000 capital expenditure for if we don't do it in 26 um the cities will scream to do it by the next presidential cycle because the
paper rosters and Counting especially in the city of St Charles where they have 2500 registered voters in one Precinct like city of wona is split into 16 precincts so the most they have is 1,200 still counting 1,200 pages of
signatures is cumbersome where the pull pads make it so they just look at the front of the screen and they know they have 728 check-ins and they know they're on with the tabulator um the cities really like them is that their their
choice could they go could could we say we're only going to provide the notebooks and if they want to paper rers if they want to go to the expense um on there I think that is an option as far as when we go to replace the pull pads that if they if they
really uh want them that they got to pay for them um the that's an option they do have benefit for us as well um in that we don't have to read people's handwriting
and manually enter all of those voter registrations that saves the county time in that but there is a lot of work to setting up those pull pads and even if we say hey cities uh if you want these you got to pay for the devices that's
still a lot of work for the county team in advance to get those all tested and set up up and ready to go for the election um do that either way right right we have to do that either way uh but not if we do paper I mean paper on
the front end for the county is a lot less work than getting those pole pads ready on the back end there's a lot more work with all the election day registrations so and posting voting history Etc I can post all the voting history for all the cities um that use
pole pads and all the election day registrations and get those in and um there is another extra step for the edrs that we have to do in SVS per every single registrant um but it's still
tfold faster we could do it in 3 days I think we did for this presidential cycle we posted the voter history and the edrs for all of those cities in 3 days that wouldn't happen if it was all paper but there there's pros and cons to them
but that is another capital expenditure in the near future which was your question but my last question is is can we avoid it this year and look at it next year is there a need to do it this year they will cost more if we do it
next year I'm am not going to say well there I'm just saying there the the $600 um the reason it's on this agenda is because there are offering a $600 per unit if they're shipped out this year that won't be there next year and I'm
not sure that the $100 per auto mark that we have is going to be there next year either reduction in price correct plus the 100 in the agenda plus the 100 the county will save almost $23,000 it's right here on
399 commissioner Meer yep uh I know thank you I I know when it comes to the pole pads my husband is election judge here in the city also Monica Hennessy has spoken to me I know that they were very frustrated because they didn't have po beds for the
primary correct we didn't have the my staff just didn't have the capacity to get the testing done they feel like their turnout especially in the presidential years high enough that uh they would really be hurting if they did not have uh the pull pets I know that's really important to them right I mean on
Election Day it boils down for them um that thing is their Precinct finder will print out directions if they're at the wrong Precinct you punch in the other address and it will print directions from that Precinct to where they're supposed to be and you can hand it to the voter it's um it's also they they
don't have to flip through the notebook to find the person to see if they're registered or if they've already voted and it's a quick count and that is the hu biggest benefit for them instead of flipping through the pages of the roster or counting manually counting all of the
um voter receipts that they can know that they are on throughout the day so I'm goingon to move to approve item 8.11 which is to do the purchase of the voting machine second motion by commissioner Meyer second by commissioner olon further discussion
commissioner Ward yeah um you are aware that there is still a very large segment of our population that doesn't trust anything to do with machines in voting these the assisted V to be clear we're not talking pole pads right now the assisted voting devices you say device
and elections raises their concerns I understand but it's a statutory requirement that we have these assisted voting devices whether people use them or not y okay but I just the public is still watching very we basically are doing this because we're required to do it and mandated mandated if we don't do
it now it's going to cost us more money correct any other discussion all in favor say I I opposed motion carries I just had a ton of questions like wow it's you know we what are we doing here so thank you people item 8.12 uh Pro migration from
ring central to zoom workplace this is a bad time to talk about it considering how wnes they went but um is this just commission Mark yeah I I'm gonna move that we go ahead and approve this I had individuals from the public who are very excited that we would be moving away
from ring central I do get complaces from the public people like I have to download that to my machine what the heck is it I'm not familiar with it so I I I think it's be a good move was that a motion yeah I know other counties use uh
it's a great Improvement motion by commissioner Meer seconded by commissioner Olsen any other discussion commissioner Ward well but with the budgetary thing is it it's replacing something is is the total upside to this the $1,765 more with the replacing of the
it's a cost savings um you said total remote Services one time P that is the two-year quote is$ 220,000 but what are we currently paying for what we're using yeah yeah I mean that's a lot of money I mean they were
giving out free socks at the uh AMC meeting but uh I did not bring Wonder Sam Michael is on his way in because he was just on um I want to say it's $60,000 that we're going to save over the four years I did email this to you
commissioner okay I'll find it in that email world I and could look it up on my email there is 60,000 that we're going to save over the four years and an easier platform yes okay all right if it's savings then that that's a good thing thank you any other
discussion all those in favor of the sorry oh oh there he does um do we have any specific questions I think we got them answered thank you for coming so quickly is it one of the things is it adaptable to Apple products a lot of this stuff does not work with Apple
products yes this one will be adaptable to all Apple products okay all right and it's a cost and it costs yeah so the idea behind it was when we we're going over the budget and with the budget constraints we were given we started exploring other Solutions and zoom provides us the
ability to reduce our cost without having to take away any features from our users at a $55,000 a year number I think okay so it's cost saving as well as better features for our users
without losing any functionality when another yeah when will we make the transition so we can prepare ourselves to be as soon as we get all the sign offs and everything done we can start we're just finishing our email migration now and then we'll move on to the next one
so next little thank you for all the work that's not us you're dealing with the mess afterwards and other I got a whole team of us so it's you know it's our pleasure I'll be down to see you after the meeting do you want to say anything else are we we were ready to vote but if you if you guys have no more questions I'm good good thank you well
maybe uh not this issue but maybe I was going to make a comment at the end so our citizens know if we didn't respond to an email we changed the system within the county yes ma'am and and so there's citizens that may not have got an answer from us if they email me it's not that
we're ignoring you it's that the county changed the system ton of emails to go through yeah and yes ma'am it's an improvement it's very much so an improvement maybe a little temporary turbulence to get through yes ma'am okay okay all right thank you all in favor of the motion to approve item 8.12 say I I
oppose motion carries um thank you thank so um I would like to see if the board would be also open to the possibility of grouping together 8.13 down to 8.21 I would like to do that so I would move
that we approve those nine items which are all um $90 funding towards uh the VFW sons of American Legion Etc motion by commissioner Meyer seconded by commissioner elen any other discussion
all in favor say I I opposed motion carries 5 so that takes us down to item 8.22 I'm going to suggest this I think this I realize this might not fly but we could also Bunch items 8.22 um all the way down to 8.34 and
make the one adjustment to um to celco or we could go yeah if we do I I'll move that we approve 822 and 823 as they're presented in the packet second motion by commissioner Meer
seconded by commissioner Elie any other discussion I'm sorry 822 and 8223 yeah takes us to soil water okay we did get a report from the initiative fund and we have had reports from tourism okay thank you all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries
that brings us down to item 8.24 commissioner Meer did you want to lead off oh well I certainly I uh Soil and Water has done a fabulous job I am I do support the work that they do I would like to see us fully fund them so I am
going to um uh move to approve 824 which is to provide soil water with the increase that they requested second motion by commissioner Meer seconded by commissioner Olsson any further discussion commissioner Ward well we had said we were holding agency funding to
the 2024 so that's a change but we didn't change the budget we said that we've been saying that is the exception that would that the 4 for the two ex y two exceptions uh what number was that oh I
see five okay right any other discussion all those in favor say I I I oppos motion carries 5 um the next item is 8.24 um this is the agreement with CCO thank you thank
you 8.25 to approve the renewal agreement with um celco this is the one that needs to be um revised to the the prior number which would be 274,000 commissioner Ward I not that I'm aware of have we had a report from the
libraries the last couple years I me to look I I don't remember seeing anything they used to give us two years ago they should be again my my Ang is if I'm handing over uh tax beare dollars I should at minimum get some type of uh usage report or something again nothing
complicated um but um uh I would ask them to forward us some information and has there been the that's the one were known as primar a city function did didn't they cut hours and people or they added them back oh
this funding goes also for like lacrescent yeah I mean it's and we used to do see we used to do individuals and we said no we're not going to pick and choose it it's all the libraries actually they just extended their hours okay so they're back up because I think one time they cut and they cut so okay
again we should know that any other discuss question all those in favor say I I opposed carries five um the rest of the remaining agencies 8.26 through 8.34
correct me if I'm wrong they are uh Frozen at the 2024 um amounts we could possibly Bunch those together or we could go through one by one well with some are actually contracts so the Humane Society I think
looking back they haven't really spent 20,000 isn't that a contract per animal with through the Sheriff's Department it it sets a maximum yeah well guess again um they should be providing us with some because if
they're ask asking and I thought I read somewhere they only spent like under $8,000 so why are we collecting 20 to spend eight and I don't remember where I had that figure somewhere in all of this uh my point is if they're only spending that much we probably shouldn't be
asking to collect from the taxpayers that much more move to approve 826 all the way through the end of 834 second motion by commissioner Meer second by commissioner olon any other discussion about any of the other commissioner Ward
um again I've I have not to my knowledge seen anything from Big Brothers and Big Sisters not the saying they're not doing something but again if you're asking me for taxpayer dollars you should have the the respect to let the taxpayers know what you're doing and how you're spending the money so I would ask that
we reach out to them and and get some kind of of data um the primary prevention I just heard on the radio this morning uh the semac they gave us a report uh I think the Advocacy Center I think we got a report through an email
volunteer services I think we did get a report senior advocacy I don't did we get something from them I'm pretty sure you did okay I'd have to double check that and then I also the St Charles Hometown I don't know if we've gotten any AC report from them that's a minimum
standard we should set Miss could you follow up with Big Brothers Big Sisters yes sir so and the St Charles Hometown resource I mean I I don't know that we've received any information from them for a couple
years any other discussion all those in favor of the motion to approve items 8.26 through 8.34 say I I nay motion care is 41 um that I'm sorry commissioner Elon yeah I
was just going to say just you know alluding to commissioner WS maybe just a continuing reminder to stay in front of the board you know for some of this outside funding Stu just as a whole thank you um
you so that then takes us to bre M I'm wrong to committee reports and Communications didn't we yeah 8 thank you thank you oh gosh I forgot that's my bad thank you uh so it takes us down to
what was formerly item 7.2 now becomes 8.35 right and um so we had in the budget 170 and then we also had something from the opioid this is yeah this is that the
wrap program so what is the budget for wrap I guess I am I'm confused exactly what how much funding we're allocating towards that is a p my jump in yeah yeah is a portion of the funding of that 170,000 coming
through the opioid that's what's being requested here is that the amount that is in item 7.2 be taken from the opioid funds and not then need the levy funding yeah so we're basically it could offset
potentially that money okay so it's not the 170 plus the 60 no it would be substituting okay all right I'll move to approve item 7.2 second motion by commissioner Meer second by commissioner Olson any other discussion commissioner Ward I have expressed concerns that we
be very careful what we use this opioid money for having gone through the tobacco settlement it was very specific when you're asking a private entity to pay back some wrongdoing they've done we need to document and we need to be sure that we're spending it in the appropriate place place and I think
sometimes we want to do good things um but again if if we're tasked and we have to be accountable for those dollars at some point in time we better have exactly what we spend it on and it was the appropriate uh categories to spend it on thank you any other discussion thank you all those in the favor to um
approve what what had been formally um item 7.2 say I opposed and Carries five is there anything else before committee reports and communication I don't know no then commissioner El I think you're
first uh sorry I just wondered where did this come from I did oh I'm gonna talk about oh okay all right gotcha got a quiz after this or what um no I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas thank you for a for a great year I wanted to thank the staff
for all the work um I know sometimes it just seems maybe counterintuitive or some of the things that we get into and and we end up scrapping or starting over or we move forward or constantly question um that's what I appreciate about boards is that it brings a lot of
different ideas and to to col mingle with staff and and um with you know the the positive direction in which we go so I look forward to 2025 and I just wanted to thank everybody and the opportunity to be here and the constituents that that put myself in this position and I
wish everybody Merry Christmas and happy New Year thank you award same to you with our first s fall of the Year major snowfall of the year please give the snowfall drivers the courtesy of not tailgating or or are forcing them to
do situations and respect the snowplow drivers there last night going home at 10:30 there were a lot of them out and they do an awesome job but it it please respect them and the job that they have to do um I kind of covered the state Economist and and those things um one
thing that uh just to have a heads up um AMC Association Minnesota counties is creating a new work group uh around mandates so our our agenda this morning was filled with all kinds of things that are mandates and are not mandates and they haven't done this work for a number of years so in the new year they're
going to and I have volunteered to be on that committee they're going to discuss some of the formulas uh what's mandated what isn't and compile a new list with the idea of also maybe approaching legislators and and uh uh letting them know that they are greatly unfunded uh
or underfunded mandates so I think that's an important thing that the AMC is going to do and prepare some type of document in 2025 so I'll be on that that uh committee thanks for doing that and maybe we can zoom I don't know as opposed to ring central yeah anything
else commission Mar um I'm sorry commissioner W no again yeah happy holidays to everybody and safe travels and and it it can be a very stressful time of the year and it can be a very fun time of the year so try and have the fun thank you uh commiss Meer I'll just
say that if few years ago uh je P thought that I was you oh so it happened how could that happen it happens I we both have white hair white hair yeah um so I have a request for board action I'm looking for one other person who might
be interested in the conversation um a citizen approached me um with a grant opportunity that the county could apply for was related to uh the nitrates and groundwater and so I think what I'd be
interested in is actually getting an update from our staff about what work the state is doing what work the Count's doing because I understand that many times when we already get grant money then we really are not in a good
position to apply for other grants because you know we already have stuff that's funded and taken care of so and it might not be us maybe it's that the soil water district in Olstead should apply for the grant because they are taking a lead on a lot of that work but I just wanted to get an update from our
staff okay anything else commissioner May yes okay so uh this all right so uh Winona State got a million dollars a it was over a million dollars from the Department of Defense and they are working on setting
up a center for civic dialogue or Civic Center um there was an event I think it was two weeks ago now uh I know that Ben Clinger was there he was there as the mayor of good viiew um and the students
did a presentation it was about what is American greatness and then they had prepared this for us to do uh talking at our tables I thought it was well done they picked sort of Concepts such as um higher education is that a thing that
makes America great and then they highlighted across the political Spectrum then what would that mean what would that mean to uh a progressive what would it mean to a Democratic Socialist um what would it mean to a communist it was a a great event I know that they
have done one that was similar to that uh the topic they the students picked the topic they had picked a topic and it was how to keep uh schools safe and they had done that at school but they're going to be doing that again I think at a couple of other maybe at middle school I'm not sure exactly where but um I
thought they were doing a fabulous job and uh I attended and I wanted to just share that with you if you see some of their events thank you anything else that's it okay um couple things uh you mentioned school safety just wanted to take a moment to recognize the tragedy that
took place in Madison uh the school shooting um at the at the Christian School um my heart goes out to everybody all the parents um the students um teachers who work there Etc um also like commissioner Elie and want to wish happy um happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to
all the staff thank you for what you guys do um thank you to the our um to my fellow Commissioners like commissioner elen said we weren't elected to always agree with each other despite my Christmas wish um every now and then it it won't hurt but um I I do enjoy our
conversations I learn something every time and there are so many valid points different perspectives excited so our next meeting um we we're going to have three meetings in January correct 7th and the 28th so um so two morning
meetings and then a night meeting correct all right is is that all then miss H Miss if I may so depending on the number of agenda items that come up we may have on the first meeting in January to potentially not have the 14th meeting
just because if we don't have items but it'll be an option is what I'm saying we'll we'll wait and see how the agenda items that's I thought it was a mandatory the first the seventh is mandatory oh the seventh okay oh you're
saying the 14 oh okay I didn't 9 N and six six yes it's easier to schedule one and cancel it than it is correct right so we'll we'll determine that after on the 7th you can make that decision there
there will be an rfba for you to decide okay gotcha right is that it entertain a motion to adjourn motion by commissioner El second by commissioner Olson other discussion all the favor say I I I we
are adur that was better than I thought yeah Dwayne's got time for lunch before can I was worried I wasn't gonna make a white but joint at 2 o'clock I planning doing granola bar during