you like you can if beat the Cali good evening it's awful close to 7:00 so we will open the wona County Planning Commission meeting let's rise for the
Pledge of Allegiance 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
motion to approve the agenda uh yeah the next item on the agenda is approval of the amended agenda now I have one question this thing
from animal folks is that supposed to be part of the official record or well that's not on our agenda so does everyone have a copy of that okay all right Louie you move to
approve the agenda as amended second Don second set all is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say i o nay theend is
unanimously approved okay did everyone get a chance to read the minutes from January 16th meeting motion to approve the minute Louie moves to approve the minutes is written second John seconds the motion
is there any discussion on this motion hearing none all those in favor of approval of the minutes for January 16th 2025 meeting say I pose
nay okay then the next item is updates Board of adjustment we had no meeting this month well that was sure y all right County board approved was the bance that was the road and the everon was the uh shed
both were approved okay uh at this time I will go over the public comment for Dog Channel ban rules and regulations first of
all the Planning Commission appreciate all of you for attending our meeting tonight if you are here in person and wish to make a public comment you will need to be signed up on the signin sheet which I just got
delivered to me after those in person are done making public comments we will move to those online when you come to the podium or speak online you will need to state your name and address before making your
comments each speaker will have two minutes to share your comments a timer will be on the screen to monitor your time the this comment period is meant to gather information for the the Planning
Commission to provide a recommendation toward the County's board's consideration of a dog kettle breeding man we are here to listen to and consider your comments and concerns but will not be answering questions or
engaging in discussion with members of the public again we will hear all public comments from those in person first and then move to anyone online need a motion sir to open
public yeah I need a motion to put to open up the public hearing for the dog kennel vanan I'll make motion to open the public hearing well Louie did you can make a second Chef absolutely um is there any other
discussion hearing none all those in favor open the public hearing for the Dog Channel ban say po it's open the public hearing is now open please okay I got to read you off a
name Pete hutkowski I hope I got that close to right yes you did you got it just right good evening everybody oh you got to state your name and address my name is Pete H Kowski 106 Wilmer Street rollingstone Minnesota
I came here to I want to tell you a definition of a puppy mill in Websters a commercial farming operation in which purebred dogs are raised in large numbers and often in a substandard
or poor conditions currently hundreds of thousands of dogs languish in puppy mills large Comm uh commercial breeding operations that Supply most uh pet stores across United States and
contribute heavy to pet overpopulation problem we don't we don't need puppy mills and these are uh the people who are you've inspected the who you've all had inspected are
businesses you don't want to take a business away from somebody you it's just like going down to Donald's you don't like it let's get rid of it same thing it it it is a business of somebody's it's been inspected you
didn't find any problems don't take their business away thank you thank you an Olen hello my name is an Olen I'm with an organization called animal folks letter
was submitted to you address 1041 Grand Avenue St Paul Minnesota animal folks has been working closely with residents of Winona County on the issue of commercial dog
breeding over the years considerable data including testimony has been presented to the Planning Commission and the County Board on this issue on behalf of hundreds of Winona County
residents 900 petitions submitted and others throughout Minnesota I ask you to vote Yes to ban future permits on commercial dog breing canals thank
you um Karen ryel hello Karen Riley I live at 528 East Howard Street in Winona I'm a Winona County resident and have been working on the issue of
commercial dog breeding for years providing test testimony and letters to the editor in opposition to this breeding practice I ask you to vote Yes to ban future permits on commercial dog breeding kennels thank
you Dwayne work Dwayne work 25693 County Road 25 Leon V soda I believe you have my letter in the packet already I sent that in the other day but I'll read it off for the those present
this evening I have been following the information about dog kettles and have attended meetings I am puzzled about why we are not listening to the Minnesota Board of animal health which is responsible for dog kennels they have a long track record of quality work in
keeping animals and people safe I called the Minnesota state animal board health of Board of Health and I believe that numberers in my letter here somewhere if each of you would like to do that I found out dog kennels are inspected once a year dog kennels must follow protocol set up
by a state veter state laws must 1980s from a man named Paul Durant record each dog K and posted on a website and I've seen a few of these those are concerning
issues they used to send one state veterinarian to each kenel in Winona County but since this issue has come up in Winona County they are now sending two veterians to each dog kennel get two sets of eyes and
signatures the person I talked to stated winon doggy dog kennels are exemplary example of how a dog kennel should be run in the state of Minnesota this is com comes from the State Minnesota Board of animal health they all and
from what I could find on record there have been no citations for this past year of 2024 that's not written but that's what I'm stating there there are some t citations in 2015 2011 2023 and 224 but I haven't seen
seen any duplicates so um Health papers are issued by the state veterinarian the dogs need to be seen looked at the vaccinations need to be recorded if vaccinations are needed and I didn't
know this if a dog needs bu two minutes I'm done sorry but you have the restate letter and concerns thank you thank you Mr chair uh it wasn't in my I I wasn't in the packet here it oh well I think it
did did come through electronic um here I guess well it just needs at least provide it to staff and they can make copies and and make sure it gets into the official record and I guess a clarifying question um are you
are you rising to speak in favor of keeping the against the ban you are against the ban I understand that thank you okay now this one I'm having trouble reading is
it me heling or something heling Megan Megan okay well it looks like we got a lot lot of doctors in the audience tonight not quite a doctor but okay so my name is Megan heling I'm from liono
Lakes Minnesota uh animal folks in collaboration with Winona County residents have provided data um over the years highlighting uh the impact of commercial dog breeding kennels and the harm they cause to both animals and people the most recent letter in your
packet um submitted includes a list of USDA this is federal violation and teachable moments for wona kennels however there may be additional violations that go unreported as the USDA has changed its policies over the
years regarding what violations are recorded and how they are documented also as a point of clarification the Minnesota Board of animal health does not allow any inspection reports to be made public I
spoke with Dr kitu that leads the dog and Commercial cat breeder section of the board of Animal Health this morning he confirmed this information is not public uh to the uh on their website or it should someone call that information
is protected and under data privacy so we have no insight into any inspection reports from uh Minnesota State Board of animal health we ask you to vote Yes on the ban for future permits of commercial breeding kennels thank you for your time
thank you uh Mark Clark Mark Clark 22199 Highway 248 Rolling Stone Minnesota the comprehensive plan is intended for use as general
guideline for land use the County's staff and elected and appointed officials should consistent reference the plan so that decisions reflect the community's desires this is what the comprehensive plan says wona County recognizes the
culture and economic importance of agriculture in the community local decisions local decisions should reflect the importance of maintaining agricultural practices that are recognized as approved best management practices and are conducted in
accordance with federal and state laws furthermore local decisions should support maintaining and sustaining the viability of Family Farms promoting policies that support Winona County's strong tradition of locally owned
agriculture operations and the administration of best management practices that consider the conservation of soil water quality economic viability Innovative practices and the promotion and stewardship of the land
and its resources to M to to retain the viability of Agriculture for future Generations that's what we're here that's what you are here to do tonight is you're concerned about the future generations and what you're doing if you
implement this ban is you're taking an income stream away from hardworking family people in this County for no reason they're inspected if anything look around there's a lot of worse spots in this
County that in not in this County in other counties that raise these puppies there should be more of them raised here as good a job as they do in Winona County and this is right out of I was reading directly out of the comprehensive plan and that's where
you're supposed to be making your decisions you and the County Board are supposed to be making your decisions based on that thank you very much now we list there we go Tim
charmer hey everybody I'm going to change this a little bit my name is Tim charmer and I live at 246 90 County Road 15 and I'm going to start this off and I'm going to read for me that my wife and I put this together um I'm going to
put a face to the dog breeders my name is Tim Sher my wife and I own operate a dog breeding facility in wona County we're both lifetime residents of wona County born and raised here are five
kids three of which now still preside in Winona County we have been continue to be active members in the community volunteering giving back in many different ways we we asking you to vote no the moratorium the conditional use permits for the dog breeding kennels we
love our dogs they're part of our family our dogs have names they're played with they're loved every day by us and now our grandkids they receive the best nutrition they have heated and air conditioned areas Pens play areas grass
play areas we follow the Minnesota State Board of Health regulations and are inspected received our cup on September 20th 2013 voted in favor by the Commissioners were Jacob olssen pomy Valentine award
not a one abstained our puppies are adopted by people who are thrilled to bring a new family member to their homes we meet each family personally we hear from them after they go to their new homes many of our folks are coming back for their second and even third furry friend we hear things like she is Owen
Shadow and is right next to him follows whatever room he goes in and sits right by to him it is just unbelievable how we found everything we hoped for for our household especially for Owen Owen was a special needs adult this is just one example of what
we hear from more than just one person wiona county is a great place to work and live we raised our kids here we love this County and it's our County the individuals that live in our County that have input and voices that should be heard thank you
come back all day I got too many pages all right uh okay now I I'm kind of at a loss at this one too buter is that that it nki I know
I hi I'm wetta PIR 23583 Highway 74 St Charles I've been in the penet pet industry for over 40 years um I see a lot of different kennels in Wabasha Alstead wona counties and I would say your license breeders in wona County are
the top okay they're really good you can go into those other counties and you come out smelling your hair stink it's just it's really pretty bad okay and I would hope that you would say no to
Banning it because I think it makes them come to the table that they say you know this is what we you know we have to do you have somebody in there checking them also you know it's they're not your licensed breeders have to hit a
certain bar okay and they're not the puppy mills like everybody talks like they are and I just think you should say no that you need you know to ban it great thank you H
Joanne no I can't read the last name but Wegman Wegman okay D Wegman uh address is 1121 County Road 10 Dober which tells you they in O County but we are farmers and we do rent
land in Monona I am here as a friend to the Amish I have been in several of their kennels um what I want to say to the people and take to take all emotion out of it they are inspected by three
different entities on a yearly basis now if uh those who want this ban if they have issues they might have issues with the agencies that are over with have oversight not with
the ks so I just want to bring that to uh to everyone's attention and the other thing that I want to say is where do people think the working dogss come from when I'm talking about working dogs I'm
talking about service dogs I'm talking about the dogs that the military requests I'm talking about the dogs that the police forces request I'm talking about the dogs at the prison request for their programs by the P will
repeat and please when you make the decision it is a a decision needs to be made without emotion and it is as a farmer operator
or some access code accepted enter your participant ID follow there are 12 other participants in this conference please announce yourself this meeting is being recorded this meeting is being
transcribed okay Ted Hazelton uh good evening Ted Hazelton I live at 1073 West fth Street wiona Minnesota and I come before you tonight to ask that the word of
adjustment do not ban or enact a ban I have a little experience with dog kennels myself my father e and Hazelton owned and operated Hazelton kennels in Minnesota City from
1952 till 1995 over 30 years and excuse me over 40 years and we were inspected we had to have uh lers and everything else that currently existed
today when you talk of a ban the typically a reason for a ban is is something that creates adverse problems or end danger safety for residents this is not the
case I've been in a few of these kennels I know some Amish personally since I have a part-time job where I all the Amish around to various things that they like to do such as weddings and funerals
and reunions so I've seen these candels they are state-of-the-art they're well-kept and it's some of their livelihood so I would implore the
county uh board and this board to say no to a Bayon thank you okay is there anyone else in the audience here in person that wishes to speak at this time go
ahead need uh ly rig 24620 Gilmore Valley Road Winona um I would be against the ban um it seems to me that they're already
laws against abuse against animals um it sounds to me like these kennels are inspected if they're inspected and they're finding that there's nothing wrong what would be the reason for Banning them I don't understand that it only takes away people's opportunity to
have a business and as a farmer I am also concerned about that slippery slope what's next you're Banning the dogs then are you going to be banning people having so many horses for breeding
cows goats I mean to me there's a danger in Banning anything you can have regulations you can have them inspected you can have you know whatever it takes to make sure those animals are taking care of properly but I don't think there
should be a ban to me that seems over the top thank [Music] you okay uh an is there anybody online have to ask anyone online oh I got to
ask okay is there anyone online that wishes to speak to this public hearing uh yes I do this is Trish O'Neal can you hear me yeah we can hear you but we need we need your name and address again okay
my name is Trish O'Neal I live at 35156 Place Northwest in Rochester I'm a graduate of wona State University and I lived in Winona for five years um I belong with the Humane world of
Minnesota and our mission is to make sure that animals are not kept as Commodities and not treated as noning um part of production these animals feel pain and
suffering and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that there are many good breeding operations in wona County the overall umbrella of this problem is the
overpopulation that we have of pets and I think probably you all aware of that as our shelters in Minnesota are overcrowded typically in one year over 700 dogs are euthanized because of overcrowding we
don't have the capacity to keep them more are killed than can get adopted so I would ask that uh you support the band and help prevent the
overbreeding of dogs that we have in this state thank you anyone else online anyone else online oh you have to unmute yourself if you want to speak to us for the third and final time is
anyone online wish to speak to this public hearing about the dog treating kennel ban okay is there anyone else in this audience that would like to speak I will make a motion to close the
public hearing uh Che made the motion to close the public hearing and Jordan seconded it is there any further discussion hearing none all those in
favor say I I oppose nay the public hearing in is now closed um at this time I guess I open the floor to the members of the Planning Commission for your comments go ahead
John um I've got some notes that I'd like to mostly read sorry if this gets a little long I think I'm I'll be able to make it quick um on Thursday February 6th Jean Hansen
and I had the opportunity to meet with with an inspector from the Minnesota Board of Health uh his name um is Howard treadmore Howard took us on a tour of Winona County dog breeding facilities I'll say right now specifically it was
uh the looy Yoda and David Yoder uh kennels we were able to have and Jean you know jump in if I say anything that you don't go along with because we were both there we were able to have long detailed examinations of two facilities and could have visited
several more except and I were this was the day it was so windy and cold we were tired of being on the ridge getting blown around at these Farms so we had spent three three hours three and a half hours
already uh examining the these two um uh kennels in detail so we didn't see a point in going to see anymore um let me tell you what I did not see when I was at these kennels I did
not see depressed looking dogs I didn't see dogs cowering in Corners I didn't see unhealthy looking dogs in fact all the dogs looked very vigorous I also did not see money obsessed managers kenel managers
that lacked concern for the dogs they were breeding these were family businesses families were taking care of the dogs what I did see was a lot of wagging Tails um I'm a dog owner myself uh I
have a dog now I've had dogs in the past I have multiple cats I know a depressed animal when I see it and I did not see any of that that um I saw um a lot of barking it looked like happy
barking not like distress barking I saw spacious kennels with access to protected open air areas and what we what we both saw a lot of was documentation about inspections findings
and remediations um the letter that we have here from animal folks I I have a couple comments about that um I found found the discussion of several dogs at the uh ly Yoda kennel uh a little
misleading uh for one thing uh it implied that the behavioral dysfunctions that the dogs exhibited um didn't there's no indication in their letter that well maybe looy yod's conditions candal conditions has
something to do with it maybe not no it was implied that it was due to him but I and many of you have been in homes where there are normal families that have had pets that for one reason or another the pet seems to have a
dysfunction it's not it's not that that never happens in a normal family home but another point I wanted to make about the uh animal folks letter was this um discussion of the three
dysfunctional dogs I believe was 13 years old I mean this was an event 13 years ago now I'm a businessman I know that every year I've conducted my business I've improved one way or another I've learned
more I've improved my methods and um I don't think that we we can ignore the fact that whatever ly even if looy yoders uh kennel condition had something
to do with the dysfunctional behavior of these dogs um I would assumed in 13 years he's learned a lot and changed a lot and that's just assuming once again that it's a possibility he's he has some
effect on this now um farther down in the letter there's a section on USDA violations once again I'm going to refer to my business experience I worked in factories in the United States and in
foreign countries for decades just looking at the two and a half decades I I worked in the United States in Factory would write us up go away we would fix it they come in the next time
it better be right maybe they'd find something else wrong but it's always a dynamic you know uh you have inspectors write up reports because their job is to inspect and find anything that's not perfect in your
operation so the fact that there were uh violations is not like a a violation of personal dignity or something like that it's it's a violation of a record and some of the examples or the the reports
given I mean there was one one uh uh panel with no violations the other ones none of them seemed very egregious to me easily fixable just like an OSHA violation and in fact a couple a lot of
them were mentioned in the report as teachable moments that's that's not a big violation but it's once again the inspectors come in they inspect you you learn what's wrong you fix it it's
always a feedback loop you're always improving uh by the findings that inspectors uh uh give to you uh as I mentioned before we were in the uh operations uh run by Leroy Yoder and David
Yoder Leroy's operation which was by the way visited by uh Dwayne vagley on the County Board uh prior to to us um extremely modern um it was uh very clean
spacious uh his family uh helps manage it then we went to David yoders David David's operation is a little uh uh older still as a pet lover myself I did
not see anything that looked uh dodgy at all in his operation some special points that I thought were important when when um um when Eugene and I went was both kennels had daily socialization plans in place
for their dogs both kennels had INF floor heating in their kennels both kennels had new geothermal cooling systems being installed uh for the upcoming summer months
uh uh David Yoda told me that he had spent about $20,000 uh to U in getting his system uh which is not yet complete but getting it uh uh ready for this summer so these are
not fly by night operations by any means they're not puppy mills there's nothing degrading going on in these operations they're they're clean the people care about the dogs uh the families are involved these were I thought first class
operations now another point I want to stress here and and Mara I'd like you to take this on board because you're going back to the County Board and dealing with this later both of these operations are certified by K9 care now uh a
previous speaker mentioned that there are three different inspections the USDA the State Board of animal health I assume that third one was K9 care U so both I'll say again both Leroy Yoder and
David yod's operations are certified to a standard now that standard canine care is an independent certification service provided by purau Purdue University College of veterinary
medicine people who subscribe to this uh have have uh the K9 Care Program certification staff come in examine their operations they have a whole different set of
documentation uh that has to be maintained for this program it's a certification program um that for both of these kennels that that I mentioned is an essential part of their marketing
because of course everyone in the country uh who pay who has any awareness at all um is is aware of the fact that there are complaints about you know treatment of animal animals comes up in
the news all the time the market for pets is changing their National customers are requiring this certification in order to meet the developing demands of the Pet Market um Eugene and I saw the
documentation very extensive Ive it's very much uh uh extending beyond the the Health and Welfare issues that are uh uh of course extremely important it also
focuses on the variables and the indicators of psychological health of the dogs so Marsha what I am recommending is I'm proposing uh although I no no influence
over it but I'm proposing that the county drop the proposed ban uh of new uh dog breeding facilities wona County and instead uh require that any new
facilities must Subs subscribe to this National certification program called K9 care it has it had the beauty of it is of course the number one beauty is the dogs are guaranteed to be in Humane
conditions the C the by the way the certification team drops in unlimited times per year at random times unannounced and it's mandatory that that
they be able to get into your kennel so it's like there's there's nothing that the uh breeder can do to game the system they're they are paying their own money to have an extremely strict
program applied to their kenel so what I'm um suggesting to the Winona County Board is make it a requirement of new kennels to certify according to this standard
probably I don't know how many of the existing uh operations um are IFI DEC on care I'm guessing any that aren't are probably going to be gravitating that way in the future because as I
said uh that I was told by the both yoders that that the the market just demands that this kind of certification U be applied to their dogs and in the future you know it's it's it'll be a de
facto uh a de facto standard right I mean a de facto National Standard um and the the lower order beauty of it is the county doesn't have to allocate any money for inspections training of Staff staff
time doesn't have to take the responsibility for any uh legal issues that might come from from disagreements between the breeders in the county everything if if you you are certified by this
organization at your own expense it's in it's way stricter and more uh comprehensive than anything that Winona county is likely to ever develop as as a set of criteria I think if I could just add I
think there is a somewhat similar program in Minnesota and I think the Charmers are part of that I think it's called readers excellent endorsement so but I understand right right and there might and there might as as the market continues develop there might be another
organization similar to this that arises but you know the county can decide what constitutes a reasonable and and uh certification effective system yes okay thank you go ahead yes Mr sh thank you
um in my research uh of course a conditional use permit is issued to all these uh breeders and uh that stays with the land uh meaning that if they move anybody that moves into there can still
use that conditional use permit to me that was a little concerning I would have preferred to have a way to uh say that if somebody knew or if they change the name that they come in and they uh reapply for a permit I'm not sure that
that is is possible but but uh I just wanted to throw it out there as a concern that that I had um another thing that I thought was um setting limits on animal units I know most of the
conditional use permits we did Issue did set limits but I think there are a couple are out there that have no limits assigned to them and uh again that was a concern I did note that uh a couple of
the conditional use permits were issued to a PO Box as opposed to a address and I think that's something that uh was concerning to me
uh out of the 15 original conditional use permits I believe that were issued for Lona County we currently have couny uh the Charmers I believe we have eight readers that are active through
the uh USDA they have a federal license um you mentioned that you visited uh David and umy and I had an opportunity to visit Henry Yoder and look in his operation
and I I fully agree with everything you said about the operation the heated floors the access to to uh water the uh the the areas outside for the dogs to be able to go in and out as they please the
dogs seemed all healthy they were very uh active and uh very responsive while we were in there uh it was it's just uh that I would like to
see that is if we agree to doing opening up to more condition use permits that we do make sure number one that's assigned to a physical address and not a PO box and if there's a way to issue new
ones in such a format like maybe an inum use permit or so that would uh TI to the owner as well as as the land so if if a new owner comes in they have to come in and request for a new permit it just
gives that would be inuse permit inuse permit yes otherwise that's about all that uh I had to say for that John oh I just wanted to uh bring up so that everyone
understands I believe I'm right on this that the ban that they're talking about the county is is going to be voting on is of new kennels that exist in kennels are all gr
grandfathered in if if the county has allowed in the past there's there's going to be no disruption uh to your operation they are considering a another step in some type of licensure of the
existing ones that hasn't been discussed in any detail but it's not a ban it's not a ban yeah it may require another step of some type anyone else have any comments I have a com I as though um from what we're seeing here that we have enough
tools at our disposal and at our that are in our tool set to uh continue high standards of practice uh where I do not feel that a ban adequately uh honors those who are doing it well uh and maybe even setting that standard
even higher however I feel it's just a little disingenuous to state that this INF a large farming Community when reading of these 12 listed cups on the
documentation here 11 out of those 12 are to one family uh with the sole exception of the Charmers one last name uh yes last name similar last name but also on the same
street uh when you account for them all absolutely uh in some cases yes but uh you know when we look at uh the repeating addresses here and as for repeating names it accounts for one
family we cannot assume that uh Yoda is like Smith for uh family name it doesn't necessarily mean that uh all the yoders on one road are related but if fair enough so we can't assume that
absolutely but of the same last name if at this point and again on the same road um it's reasonable to assume that they are in some way connected um so I just when we talk about how it impacts an entire F like
farming Community we're talking about a very specific community in a very specific part of town arguably and again that's just from what I'm taking here from the information provided by animal folks so that assumes that this is correct honest and has Integrity in what
they State here um so I absolutely I I feel as though and I want to reiterate we have the tools to keep the standard high I would love it if Winona is was known for fantastic
well-bred dogs um but it really just at this point just implies that one or two families just maintain that very high quality uh if we're not going to Louie do you have something to to say
yes I do I think you sitting there the uh breeding of the dogs is counts within the Monona comprehension plan it is what our count is about by adding new businesses and keeping businesses in here subverting and limiting the amount of people that would come into this
business would not help out our growth the uh there is an opportunity in this business also to breed service dogs and they don't have to just be for police dogs but they can be for the blind
the the handicap the service dogs helping them getting that area I believe there's a niche for that and as far as they talk about overbreeding on dogs the capitalist Market limits the amount of dogs that you're going to raise because if you can't sell them they're not going to raise
them well I think we found that out when the co uh epidemic was they I'm just iterating it we should be for capitalism right and not sit there and put limits in where there really does not need to
be limits I mean they're doing a good job of what they're doing they're good neighbors on that and I would have to say that we the county does not need this ordinance anyone else have something to say
Mara have a lot but I'll I'll be short um in our training before this meeting um they provided with uh the Fifth Amendment and the 14th Amendment and I think we need to be careful what we're proposing as far as Banning the Fifth
Amendment is no person shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law well of course this is part of due process of law but as it's been stated our comprehensive land use plan as it exists today goal number nine
on page 14 says Economic Opportunity for everyone and this is exactly what it is it's an economic opportunity for everyone these people pay a lot of taxes these are not non-tax properties and the the scale and scope of of INF floor heat
and air condition everything they're taxed at a very high rate so they are contributing considerably to our our communities and then the 14th Amendment nor shall any state deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws well if we have
allowed again I'm not a lawyer I get my law degree off the box of cial in the morning but if we have allow in my opinion if we have allowed dog breeding we have a conditional use permit process that seems to be regulated we've got state agencies federal agencies
regulating inspecting and everything but now all of a sudden if we say no you can't do that in Winona County I think we may be stepping on the 14th Amendment we're saying they're okay and I I agree that they will be you know grandfathered in but there may be some future um you
know extras put put on them but now to say somebody new coming in can't do it when we really haven't the facts don't support a ban because we don't have the County Board declared a public health emergency and I think that is a real
stretch um because we don't have dogs running around we don't have a Rabia attack we haven't had any outbreak of any disease with the dogs um you know if anything we probably have a chicken you know issue with you know you talk about a disease that's affect ing public
health and then um of course and I know my lawyers love case law uh Holt versus city of Sock Rapids the court declared unconstitutional respondent municipality ordinance limiting the number of dogs per residential unit I'm just taking
that out of something I Googled off the the internet but I think by Banning it we're stepping into a territory that is not something that the county is capable of Defending or wants to put the resources into defending and I I firmly
believe that as you stated that it is a small it is a cluster within our County that that does this geographically and family but there again you're you're are you picking on a subcultural group within Winona County I hope not but it
it kind of sometimes could be thought of that and I don't think that's something we want to do that's another worry I had also if if uh you get a good the the right attorney you'd have quite a case you could have quite a case absolutely um and I don't think we can
defend that or would want to spend money to defend it so I I am I think the conditional use permit process works I have said long and hard you can condition something right out of existence if you want to that's not the goal oh I do have to I'm sorry we had
that thing of conflict of interest I am a member of the Farm Bureau and the Farm Bureau wrote a letter but I did not take part in writing that drafting that letter and we got a note from the township officer Association I attend those meetings regularly um we did have
a discussion but I did not prompt them to write a letter to the um to the um uh commission or the County Board that was their own actions taken so I just want to be up front both of those letters um sought uh against the ban yes just
clarification yes um well I tried to keep my mouth shut but I think everybody else has had a chance to speak if anybody else wants to say more go ahead otherwise I'm going to speak for a little bit Jordan have one more thing um I did want to point out that there is uh
action being taken in Congress um on this issue as far as animal welfare in regards to commercial dog breeders um obviously things take a long time to make their way through Congress so it was introduced in
2023 um but has not been voted on yet but it is to sum it up real quick it's a bill that would um require adequate housing exercise and Veterinary Care appropriate and nutritious food continuous access to portable water and
meaningful socialization with humans and compatible dogs for at least 30 minutes each day um so this is an issue that people are aware of nationally and um I think everything is headed in the right direction but I I think it would be an
overreach on our part to ban it completely when it's um when there are a lot of other venues that have not been exhausted yet to to address this issue okay
um I don't really know where to start because I've been working on this for probably six years since the first time they brought it to the Planning
Commission for a moratorium and if I can find it here I totally agree with what the Planning Commission that night said in
regards to not having a moratorium um anyway it's it was part of the agenda right April 20th 2023 yeah yeah I think it's this is very well
stated now Steve if we do make a decision can we just use this as our findings a fact or at least go over it for that reason or or what order do you want us to do this
in I guess it's my first question well I mean you could obviously have a discussion about as a board what you want to recommended County Board and uh use whatever documents you want to to do that uh and then uh staff would would
help iron out the language or or anything you would need to um convey to the board what you want to convey okay well I'm taking on my own shoulders here but does anyone
want to make a motion on this subject I'll make a motion we do not proceed with the ban and allow conditional use permits in the future to be issued by is there a second second L seconds it all right is there
any further discussion or amendments what um I I just would like you know if the county board's looking to improve and protect the animals and you know hopefully the Breeders and everything I do like the idea of of putting something in there either that breeder of
Excellence endorsement or the K9 um care certificate and I guess I need a little more information uh timeline how quickly that can be obtained and that can be a condition put on any new application that that be obtained within a certain
time frame and we can get more details on that on that but I do like that as being a a higher bar being establish for our breeders I think it's attainable and I think it would be an important uh tool yeah that that was all I was goingon to
add as well I was curious if John wanted to add that as an amendment or uh well would you either you want I'll add I'll add that to the amendment I uh I would propose that we do not enable a ban that conditional use
permits be issued where they are uh um warranted and that one of the conditions at this point be that they seek certification from a k9 uh certifiable CL seek and obtain
seek and obtain yes Lou do you second that second the motion but I I got something else to add okay go ahead to this what I am what we see what's going on in Washington and the actions they're taking on a federal level there are
people that committed acts of Fraud and other acts that are in the government and supposedly have the ability to have sovereign immunity they may not have that sovereign immunity our elected officials when they go directly against no one
law this is getting in the Harry some he might want to read in a little more but we could sit there where active members are going to be fac in in federal court someplace doing this and I and I would think that the persons that want to propose this they
may want to look at that before they vote for the band because it could be their house online their wealth their retirement could be online it's a possibility of it
yeah okay is there any other discussion on this proposal I my only I want to vocalize just a little bit of concern is because we're listing specific agencies that aren't governmental or may not be they may be for-profit I don't want to give the impression that we are showing
favorability towards um the same way that we would not recommend a contractor for use I don't want to make recommendation for a an agency that may be for-profit or that we haven't done enough research to confirm that there uh there that there's no uh conflict County Board would have
to to get some research done ab and make a judgment that's why we Rec Ed a certif certification from a dog absolutely as long as it's it's the end goal just being to to increase standards of uh practice not naming any specific
yeah not specifically one group or AB that seems reasonable we have a motion in a second to vote yeah well we're still I'll call I'm calling the question you're calling the question that's fine
um all those in favor of Steve's motion and I don't even have it written down so can somebody help me would you reiterate
I yeah I I propose that we do not proceed with the ban for dog breeders that we continue to issue conditional use permits where warranted based off of a possible
certification of a dog um I'm not sure ex that from a dog friendly certification Eric could I add maybe just a suggestion as a friendly amendment I know you said conditional
use the last I think um Nexus of some of the permits we worked on were inuse permits so we we would we would want that because that is kind of how these permits have evolved through the years that we've been
involved with in sometimes an an use permit although although if we're if we're going to ignore me calling the question yeah um I'm going to to also say um that if you have a dog breeding
operation that's invested in first class infrastructure where their operation an interim use permit is not going to is not going to count uh make it right it has to be conditional so that you've set
up a business you've been successful by everybody's standards that are objective standards you want to retire you have something to leave to your family or to sell to another
party and a conditional use permit provides for that inter use permit I don't think provides that protection for your investment Gord I think it would be good to leave it open to either option um and I think our
County staff does a good job of informing the applicants so if they were to choose to only want an interm use permit I think that would be appropriate as well all right I agree with you I agree with you okay the question has been called see you pe all those favor
of the motion on the floor which I won't try and repeat to not proceed with the ban uh to not proceed with the ban say I I oppose
nay the motion is carried unanimously um is there any other business that should be brought before the Planning Commission this evening second that just a second I
thank all the people present for their participation I think we had some good discussion I think that probably even though we talked about this
earlier we all learned something here tonight no matter how much we thought we knew before we got here so thank you all right now who moved to journ Louie did okay and who's going to Second it Jordan
Will second it all those in favor of adjourning say I I don't think we have to