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, liberty and justice uh
our first item tonight, we we have the uh privilege of recognizing some of the outstanding individuals who serve on the Winston Volunteer Fire Department. Uh these men and women exemplify dedication, courage, and selflessness. Qualities that not only keep our
community safe, but also strengthen the fabric of who we are as a city. Each year of service as a volunteer firefighter represents hours of training, calls answered at all hours of the day and night, and a steadfast commitment to helping others in times of
need. Being a firefighter is a calling and tonight we honor several individuals who have reached important milestones in their service. To each of you receiving a years of service award and for those who could not join us this evening, thank you.
Whether you've served 5 years or more than 30, your time, energy, and sacrifice matter. You have shown up when it counted most, and we are proud to recognize your achievements and service to Winstead. I'd also like to take a moment to
recognize and celebrate the retirement of Ryan Chatterton. He was not able to join us this evening, but I would like to thank him for his time with the Winston Volunteer Fire Department. His leadership and experience will be missed. We wish him the very best in his
next chapter of life. On behalf of the city of Winstead, the council, and our extended community, thank you for putting others first, for your bravery, and for choosing to serve. I would like to acknowledge Ariana Vale with 5 years of service and Kyle Thompson with 15
years of service. Unfortunately, they were not able to join us this evening. Please join me in congratulating Matt Markington and Brian Shoust. Both men are celebrating 10 years of service. Thank you both and congratulations. Please come forward to uh receive your
certificates. [Applause] Brian, stand back here. Um, for 10 years of service very much. Thank you. Hold on a second. I got to practice this. Last time we did this, smile wasn't the best.
Here we go. Right. Thank you very much, Matt. And here's a service. All right. Ready. [Applause] I'm fortunate enough that uh to sit in on the chief's meeting every month at
the fire department and and Matt and Brian and Troy and all the others in the leadership team. Uh, I can tell you're very dedicated and we are grateful for everything the the fire department and the members of the department do. Uh, I I've been nothing but impressed. Thank
you. All right. Uh, we will continue on with the consent agenda. Uh, items listed below are considered uh routine and non-controversial controversial by the city. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless requested by a council member, staff, or
citizen. If removed, the item will be discussed at the end of the regular agenda. Item A, approval of minutes. Uh, city council work session, June 17, 2025. City Council regular meeting June 17, 2025. City Council work session June
1st, 2025. And City Council regular meet uh, pardon me, July 1st, 2025. City Council regular meeting July 1st, 2025. Item B, 2025 street maintenance quote Bargain Incorporated authorizes
city administrator to approve a quote from Bargain Incorporated to conduct asphalt maintenance and crack repair services on various streets in the city city of Winstead in 2025 for an amount not to exceed $45,560.
Item C, firework permit application. Winstead Area Chamber of Commerce approved the outdoor firework permit application from the Winstead Area Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Spark 1 Incorporated to provide a firework display over Winstead Lake on
Friday, August 8th, 2025 with an alternate date of Saturday, August 9th, 2025, contingent upon the successful submission of all required documents and fees to the city of Winstead and approval of this Winstead Fire Chief.
Item D, resolution R-25-30, uh, firework display donations. Adopt resolution R-25-30, accepting donations in the amount of $15,000 to be dedicated toward the cost of the fireworks display on Friday,
August 8th, 2025 in conjunction with the Winstead Summer Festival. Item E, Winston Municipal Airport land lease agreement termination hanger number 36. Terminate the land lease agreement between the city of Winston
and Mr. Rick Stadola for hangar number 36 at the Winston Municipal Airport. Item F, Winston Municipal Airport land lease agreement. Hangar number 36. Approve the land lease agreement between the city of Winston and Mr. John E.
Clawson for hanger number 36 at the Winston Municipal Airport based upon the successful submission of all required documents and fees to the city of Winstead. Item number G, Security Bank and Trust Company pledge securities. Approve the
pledge securities that Security Bank and Trust Company has purchased for the city of Winstead for the month of June 2025. Item H, building permit uh report May June 2025. Approve the building permit
reports for May and June 2025. Item I, financial report, May 2025. Approve the financial report for the month of May 2025. And item J, claims, approve the claims list for July 15, 2025. That's
the consent agenda. Uh I would entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as written. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. We have a second. Is there any further discussion? All in favor?
I. Motion carries. Um, we have no public hearings tonight. We have no old business. Um, we have no new business. So, that will bring us to the organizational report. Um we are uh
fortunate to have uh Mloud County Commissioner Nathan Schmaltz and Mloud County Health and Human Services Director Barrett Spores uh joining us tonight to give us a presentation. Welcome to Winstead. Mr. Mayor approach got a handout that we
can follow. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Right. Thank you. [Music] Well, good evening and uh thank you for
inviting me in to uh be part of your uh city of Winston city council meeting. Um, happy to be here. And I think, uh, the way I'm going to start it off is this is M the Mloud County quarterly newsletter. Um, city hall probably gets
sent a copy of it, but it's an outline that I want to use tonight to go through. I'm not going to go through uh line by line or or page by page. I'm going to go through it rather quickly, but if you have any questions along the way, feel free to interrupt me and we'll
deal with those questions as they may come up. Uh the voting safety issues I won't speak to. That was something that uh the state uh legislature has dealt with uh in this past year. Um so I'll go right
to page two. They talk about our county assessors are going out uh knocking on doors. Um, so if someone's approached with a notice uh saying that uh we were here, you weren't home, follow the instructions on the cards that they
leave and hopefully there'll be a good cooperation between the homeowners and uh the assessors who are um out and about. Um, page three, uh, speaks to an economic forum that, uh, Liz Danielson,
um, held at the, uh, Mloud County Fairgrounds. Um, I attended, it was in April. Uh, some of the other cities attended as well. Um, it gives you an outline of, uh, what was presented. It, uh, was a lot of statistics, uh, that
were given to us, um, during that meeting. It kind of some of it makes sense, some of it needs further analytics. Uh when you see the data that was presented, but um it was wellreceived and well attended as well.
I'll highlight page four. The mobile 911 exhibit is visiting the Mloud County Fair. As it says, this is a traveling museum. Um I think it comes in on a large semi-tra, I believe. So, I'm
guessing it's similar to um the wall of healing that you hosted and as well the Mloud County hosted a year or two ago, but this exhibit is a museum uh which features uh the 9/11 event, the uh the Twin Towers coming down. I believe that
there'll be some artifacts uh on display there. There'll also be some uh volunteer witnesses, I believe, uh that will be available to speak to the public. So hopefully you can encourage others to uh check that exhibit out if
they come to the Mloud County Fair. And I will also uh iterate that the fair is once again a free fair. It's uh free admission to enter the fair. Um thanks to ARPA funds and the Mloud County Board of Commissioners uh for um making that
happen. Uh they talk about events for seniors and veterans. I I'll let you read that on your own. Uh safe driving on page five, we're all considered or uh considering, you know, how to be safe
drivers, right? So, there's a little bit of a education and statistics there on uh page five. Uh mental health services. Um I'll just touch on that and maybe um Barrett will speak a little bit more towards that. But our mental health
services was a joint uh was um something that was a uh how should I say that? We coordinated with Carver County with our mental health services and that cooperation ended and we now had to go out and find a new way to deliver mental
health services for Mloud County. So, as you read this, you'll see um there's a a group called Canvas Health now that we're contracting with to take over those mental health services and those 24/7 phone calls that come in when
someone is having a mental health crisis. Uh uh page six again talks to um you know some new laws concerning watercraft use. I won't speak to that. Um, and then on page seven, uh, there's some
schedules there about, uh, days, um, holidays where the government center is not open. And you might want to note, uh, on page seven, there's free wellwater testing going on at the Mloud County Fair. Um, they're testing for nitrates. It's something that the soil
and water department is going to be doing. Um and um if you or your citizens are interested in that, please uh check it out or ask questions about it. Um it's not every day of the fair. It's just Thursday the 14th.
Uh in the community spotlight at the right hand top of page seven, um a reach program is something that uh um we had a guest speaker come in on who runs the REACH program in the Hutchinson School District. It was a very interesting presentation that he gave. The reach
program is a mentorship program that tries to reach those kids who feel like they're just not fitting in. It gives them someone to talk to. It gives them um someone they can have confidence in. Uh it was really appreciative to hear
that they have a successful program there. And I think uh if anyone is interested in, you know, a reachout program, there's a good model going already in the Hutchinson School District with that program. Um,
as always, I'll tell people if they're coming in for um tabs or services at the government center, please use the Q list system. um it will eliminate a lot of the frustration that people experience there by not having an appointment. The
Culis system is very easy to use. It sets you with an appointment at a designated time and um generally the questions I feel if I field a question about someone who said they had a bad experience at the government center with tabs, they see the people sitting uh at
office desk but not coming to the front uh window service. Well, a lot of that is because people didn't have an appointment. And secondly, not all the people who sit in the office area there are trained to do the window service in
tabs or licenses or passports. Okay. So again, I can't say uh say it strongly enough that uh use the CQIS system, make your appointments, and it'll be a less frustrating experience for everyone concerned. Um, okay. So, we've got a major
construction project going on in District 1. Um, uh, concrete started going down last week, uh, southwest of Leester Prairie and, um, the sportsman's club hosted a large, uh, shoot, I believe, on Friday.
So, um, the concrete paving was completed right up to the sportsman's club entry as of Friday last week. Now, um I guess yesterday they started the plant up and the plant broke down here in Winston which set them back. Um
there's been a little bit of weather delay going on, but I understand that the plant was repaired overnight and uh they were up and running again today. I believe their goal today was to pave up to 190th Street. That's a mile to the south of Highway 7. I believe their
targets are to pave about a mile a day with the concrete piece. So, uh hopefully we'll see them uh you know coming on this side of Highway 7 uh if not tomorrow, the next day. Um I do have a um an org chart here on
uh on the construction project if anyone is interested in it. It talks about uh the stages of the project, where we're at. Um talks about uh what comes after the paving's completed. I believe that um uh the county engineer stated that
most of the underground work might be done here on uh in town, but I'm not positive on that. Maybe Neil has better information on that than I do. Um we're getting closer. Yeah. And then um I think um the
concrete will keep going down and um they they're talking about bringing in uh a milling crew to mill the asphalt portion. The asphalt portion goes through the municipality of the Lester Prairie as well as Winston.
So that's to be asphalt. Um shouldering uh comes after last and uh mailboxes and uh painting. So, um, they still do have a target date of finishing the project
sometime around August, uh, 24th. Um, I'll finish up with, you know, I I always say that I I enjoy what I do. I'm happy to serve the public here, uh, that voted me into office. And if you ever um, need uh, uh, to reach out to me, fe,
uh, feel free to do so. And then if I may, I took the liberty of inviting our um Mloud Countyy's Health and Human Services Director uh Barrett Spores. I'll formally introduce her in a minute here. Um it's kind of been a habit that I've done because I always I feel like I
want to expose the community to uh the people we actually have doing the work in Mloud County. Uh in the past, I've brought the administrator. I've brought Liz Danielson. Um and uh you know I try to rotate so that you get to see some
other faces on uh on the people who actually uh I always say that Mloud County isn't about the buildings. It's it's not about the fairgrounds. Uh I always say our greatest asset is the people who work for Mloud County. So uh
I I value uh those relationships that we have. Um, before I turn it over to Barrett, uh, do you, gentlemen, have any questions of me that I can help with right now? Good job, sir. Have a copy of that update you were just
talking about for this uh, on on um, this? It's the only one I have. Okay. Uh, I think Josh certainly has a copy. Okay. So, uh, he can certainly send you an electronic copy, I think. All right. Thank you. All right.
Okay, if there aren't any questions of me, I'm going to introduce Barrett Spores, Mloud County's Health and Sum Human Services Director. Um Barrett uh can indicate how long she's been with M how long she's been employed at Mloud County. Uh she was there before I became
a commissioner. I am now in my fifth year. Um I believe Barrett uh brings some very fine qualities and qualifications uh joining Mloud County with um the prior u career that she had as well. So
um I'll say that uh it's my belief and Barrett you can correct me if I'm wrong. Barrett runs our largest department in Mloud County if we go by um people working under her. Um social services is
large. It's the biggest piece of the pie in our Mloud County budget. So, um I hope you can value me having her tonight here tonight to address you and and maybe um give you an idea what she does for Mloud County and what her staff does
for Mloud County. Thank you. Thank you. Introduce yourself there. Do you want to hand this over? Well, good afternoon, Mayor Alers. Council members, thank you for having me here. I guess he maybe
didn't have a choice. Nathan just uh or Commissioner Smalls, I should refer him to, but Nathan and I have gotten to to know each other uh quite well over the years. I'm fortunate to have him on a number of um committees uh where he represents Mloud County um that I have a
vested interest in as the health and human services director. So again, my name is Barrett Spores. I reside in Mlau County. I am a uh 15, no longer than that, 17-year resident of Hutchinson uh transplant, but happy to uh live closer
to a target than my hour drive where I grew up. So, um, what I handed out to you, it can be real, um, kind of overwhelming. There it is. Our, uh, organization chart. And so, as, um, Commissioner Schmalls had mentioned,
health and human services, which, um, makes up three different areas. Our social services area, our, um, income maintenance area, and then also our public health services. Um in some counties public health and social
services are separate. Um the uh board of commissioners decided uh approximately six years ago to combine those departments for some efficiency purposes and we see that that has has gone has gone quite well. So instead of having two directors, I am the sole
director of that department. Um I will be celebrating my fth anniversary uh at the end of the summer with Mloud County. um and I'm very happy to be to be there and to be in the the the new building in Hutch in Gleno, excuse me. So, this ORC
chart, as you'll see, um we have 127 employees that work within Health and Human Services. So, it is the largest we have the most employees. We have uh probably the largest budget uh pretty close up there with highway, but we are we are probably the the main budget
there. So, I directly supervise 10 people, 10 supervisors, and each of those supervisors are in charge of a team of people and uh a number of programs that they would carry out. So, I'm going to kind of go down what each of those supervisors do in those
programs. And please stop me if you have questions because I I could Nathan said I you usually end by seven. I could keep you longer if you wanted. It depends on how many questions you you have. Um I can always come back again, too. Are you going to time me? Yeah.
We usually end way before seven. Way before. Okay. All right. Okay. Uh so the the first one and many people don't really understand that this is a function of of the county, but it is a mandated function is child support. when when there is um a separation of a
married couple or unmarried parents and there needs to be a determination of child support or determination of who is the the actual parents that is a role that we play and it's a a big role that we play um in determining um payments
all of that stuff they are um I have seven people on that team that are constantly um doing uh financial information, financial requests, investigations, um, and doing court appearances to to assist with that. So,
uh, we also have a financial assistance supervisor and, uh, uh, she, and I have their names on the back, too, um, if you're interested. She supervises 14 people. And what um that team does is they will um if if someone is looking
for an assistance program, whether it be cash or food support um or you've heard of SNAP now in the in the news because of the federal government, um that is what used to be called food stamps. So we would determine eligibility and then
issue the amounts that they would be um eligible to receive for those programs. So that takes up a a lot of a lot of time, a lot of people calling. We have to reertify people, redetermine if they're eligible. And you may have heard in the news over CO
reeligibility or reertification for those programs was put on hold, which meant everyone who had was eligible at the beginning of the pandemic stayed on till approximately last year. And so now we're having to go back and and reertify those people, many of which um are no
longer eligible. So having to do a lot of paperwork uh paperwork there. Uh we also have a family health uh supervisor. Uh that person works within our public health uh programs. Um uh she
is in charge of our wick program or our women women infant and children's program which is um uh they get wick benefits uh if they're eligible for for new mothers uh mothers with babies. We
have a wick uh clinic in Hutchinson and in Gleno. Um and we have uh many people who actually may live out of the county but work in one of those towns that visit our wick clinics because of those the convenience there. Uh that team also does a number of uh
family home visiting. Um they also uh work with um our Hispanic population as a community health worker. Um, so they are kind of out and about and working with with families. Also on the public health side, we have
a community care supervisor who has about 12 staff. And what they do is, you maybe have heard of Prime West. It's a um managed health care system. We also have uh Blue Plus, which is a product of Blue Cross Blue Shield. Um, so that's
this is for our 65 plus population who are eligible for medical assistance or an elderly waiver, maybe living in the nursing home and need some assistance. Um, the this team uh make sure they're to see if they're eligible and does the case management for them in order to be
able to to um receive those programs. Prime. Prime West is just for people over 65 or No, no. Prime West. Thank you. Yeah, Prime West is for for anyone in Min for the counties of Prime West who's on medical assistance. This team just does
65 plus. Oh, we have another team that works um the next one actually, the home and community based services for our under 65 population, those who may be disabled um uh whether they are developmentally disabled or have a traumatic brain
injury, those types of things. So, they would determine eligibility there. request. I'd also do some case management for them, helping with their housing, getting services set up, being that coordinator of of um all the things that they need.
Our adult services supervisor um has about 12 employees um uh we have two people uh specifically that do adult protection reports. And in the last few years, we've gotten a number uh that our numbers of adult
protection reports are increasing unfortunately. Um especially after the pandemic when people weren't able to visit their loved ones after the pandemic, got to go see mom and dad and realize, well, something, you know, it's not someone's taking advantage or mom or
dad maybe needs some more help. So, what these uh people do is they take reports that come in from the state. They go out and do the investigation. They find if there's neglect, abuse, whether it be financial, um so they are unfortunately very busy people, but they're out there
doing good work. Um fortunately with our adult protection um process, we're able to do if we don't find anything that's substantiated, we're able to do some preventative things um to help things escalate or for another report to
happen. So, we're able to do some work on the front end there if if something does come in and we're able to uh find a better solution for them. Our children's services supervisors, I've got two of those. Um, one of them works with our children's protection,
uh, our child protection services. Um, that is a big one for us, too. um any uh people who are mandated reporters or anyone who feels that they've witnessed or seen something that they need to report um of abuse or neglect towards a
a child that comes into us. We screen twice a day for uh those child protection um um screens that come in. Um once on the weekend if we need to because we have an obligation to respond to those within a certain amount of
time. Um we work closely with our law enforcement on those um child protection uh things that are needed. Those staff go out and they make home visits. They go in the trenches and see what's happening. And sometimes those visits are not uh not real pleasant. And so we
really value our partnership with law enforcement in order to to keep the kids of Mloud County safe with that. That's the front end. So, if there is a um a a case that we would open because of possible neglect or abuse, then we help with the case
management piece of it. The goal is is always for kids to remain at home with their mom and dad. And so, how can we help them? Do they need some training on cooking? Do they need to better financial management? Do they need to go to alcohol and drug classes? What do
they need in order to be the best parents that they possibly can be? Unfortunately, that's not always the case. And so we do go all the way up through um permanency which is removal of the the children from the home and then to adoption as well. So
um we also have programs uh with truency workers in the school. So kids can miss so many days of school per trimester or per semester depending upon the school and once that happens and we get involved. Why is the kid missing school?
Um are they um you know couch hopping? Do they not have a regular place to live? Are mom and dad not there? What are the what are the things that are preventing those kids from getting to school? Uh we also have a supervisor in social services that does our mental health
mental health case management. And mental health case management is um is voluntary. So that's for people who want to they know that they've got some mental health issues. They want help in coordinating services. They want someone to be able to help them go to
appointments or find them a provider or whatever that might look like. And we do that for children and adults. Um, so that is a a big piece of of what we do at the county. Nathan had mentioned the mental health and that's for mobile
crisis. So anyone in the that's another um uh thing that we are required to do by the state of Minnesota is provide mobile health mental or mental health mobile crisis. So Canvas Health is taking that over for us where if you call our number, it's our still our same
number that's out there. You will be able to talk to someone and um they'll be able to to help you and get you pointed in the direct right direction. Last but not least, we have a support services uh supervisor and their team.
They are the face of Mloud County. When you when you come upstairs to see us at Health and Human Services in Gleno, they are the people that check you in. Uh they are the people that are answering our phones. Uh we recently hired a Spanish speaking interpreter, which we are very excited about. this person is
going out on visits, whether they be adult protection, whether they be um case management, whatever that looks like. If that if our client's um first language is Spanish, this interpreter is going out with them. So, we saw that uh
definite need in some of our assessments and are happy to have that person on board. being we even though we are one combined department our social services is it we are funded through allocations from the department of human services. So we get
an allocation um each program is a little different but it could be based on population it could be based on how often we've used it um those numbers are coming out now to us for next year. um our public health program is grantsbased
and so that is we have to write for those grants and they can be competitive grants. So it it can be very difficult to um put on your social services hat with your allocations and then work with the department of health and those grants and the and the public health. So
those are state grants, federal grants, both some of both. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes we'll actually write for a local grant um through like the Southwest Initiative Foundation. Um if we have a specific um need, we will you know and that grant
works for us, we will write for a grant as well. So yeah, a lot of the social services programs are um they're state programs but county run. That is not the same in all 50 sta states. Many states
just they carry out those programs themselves and Minnesota gives the county money for us to do it. MA being one of those. MA being one of those. Exactly. So, so with this recent federal bill? Absolutely. Do you have to concern yourself with
budgeting or is it done on the state side of things? That's a great question. we are we've tried to get ourselves prepared for that for quite a while because um the the cost would shift to the state but knowing the state of Minnesota and how
things have gone in the past they'll shift that county back to th that money back to the the county so we are running numbers we're seeing what that looks like just trying to get ahead of it but most likely it'll come to the county where they'll shift the responsibility
to you is that what you mean by that yes Okay. And that cost sharing of it. Okay. Yep. So, um that that's a big unknown at this point. It really is a big unknown and and there, you know, I have another call tomorrow about it. Um but we Yeah, we
just don't know. But that's what we suspect will happen. You do you have a an association of uh people like you throughout the state and you guys all talk? I would imagine. Absolutely. Lot lot of panic in those conversations. a lot of panic in those
conversations. Yeah. You know, it um we're lucky enough to be a a midsized county. Um some of those larger counties, it could potentially bankrupt them. I mean, with the all the cost shifts that have been talked about, if that would potentially
ever happen or move the way that the trend is, that would be hard for them to s sustain that. I'm sorry. I don't mean to uh monopolize her uh the questioning, but um the Mloud County is what 35 to 38,000 people. What?
I think we're 35 34. Okay. 37. Yeah. What percentage of the population do you deal with? That is a really great question that very hard to answer. I would
I'm not able to guess that but I would suspect that most everyone has been touched by a health and human services program whether it be education information sharing um you know our wick
programs our health education know someone who might live in the nursing home and they're getting medical assistance or case management services I would I would uh guess a large percentage, right? Yeah. Last observation I'll make, I I would
venture to guess that the majority of Mloud County residents have had no idea how big of an umbrella you actually occupy. Yeah. Or you know. Yeah, that is absolutely. But we we see people at their worst. And so it's not
like um their best and their worst, but when people are having a come to see us, it's usually cuz they're having a bad day. It's usually cuz they're having struggles, whether it be financial, um you know, whatever it whatever it is, they need the assistance of someone. So
those 127 employees are very dedicated to the people of Mloud County. We have a lot of longevity of people who have been there for a very long time and are very dedicated to what what they do. Um the information and the amount of money that
flows through that department is substantial and they do a great job of keeping things confidential and uh working at their their highest level to be as efficient as we possibly can. Anybody else have any questions?
I thought you said we were going to divide the questions up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, Jeff covered it all. That was Yeah, very good at those. It's a lot. There there's a there's a lot. Um I encourage you to go to our
website and peruse that if you have any if you have any questions. If you are speak to a constituent who has some questions, direct them to us. And if we can't figure out how to help them or what they need, we are partnered with so
many other places within the county and and uh um contiguous counties that we'll be able to direct them in the right place. It it's a place that anybody can go. Absolutely. Be afraid to get the right guidance. Yep. Absolutely. Yep. And it's a place
that helps all people at any time in our reception area. We could have young kids running around because it's a wick day. We could have the elderly there because they're trying to help mom with some nursing home stuff. Or we could have migrants there because they're coming to work at Senica for the season and they
need some housing with us. So quite a variety. Well, we thank you for the presentation. Thank you for what you do. Thank you. Very important. Um Mr. Mayor, if I might finish up.
Okay. With I'll just take a few minutes. No clocks. So, the update at Mloud County. Um, since I visited you last year, we added a new commissioner on the board of commissioners. Uh, Commissioner Lori
Chuchka from Brownton. Uh, is uh taking uh basically the district that Daryl Luan served. Uh Lori is a great asset to the county board with her governmental experience already um under the under
her belt, you know, being the clerk in Brown. Um that's a tremendous asset for her. So I think she's way ahead of the curb um in joining the county board and we do uh truly appreciate uh what she brings to the county board. Um Barrett
mentioned a little bit about cost shift uh and what's happened at Mloud County. Um, when the governor's budget first came out, his very first budget, uh, back in, I think, I don't know if it was in February or when it was, that was not
received very well by our counties, especially Health and Human Services. Um, after that news broke, um, Barrett put together a, um, a a balance sheet. Had the governor's budget proposal been
adopted, that would have cost Mloud County taxpayers about $1 million. So, we were on high alert trying to make sure that there was enough education put out there with our state legislators to say this is not
workable for the people in Mloud County. And it's not just Mloud County. other counties join in with the same um response. So luckily through our lobby with AMC Association of Minnesota
Counties and also the um conversations that we had that I had that Barrett had with our state legislators, we avoided um most of that cost shift. And now the conversation is carrying over into what happened at the federal government with
the big beautiful bill and SNAP. Um as uh Barrett mentioned uh I'm also signed up to be on the same call where we'll be educated on what uh that big beautiful bill might mean to us here in Mloud County on shifting costs. Barrett
mentioned they might shift costs to the state might shift them right back to to the counties. So, um, we need to be to have more education on that and, uh, and then, um, you know, try to see what the best course of action it is for Mloud
County. Um, other news from the county, um, I serve on several committees. It keeps me very busy. It's a lot more than just showing up for two board meetings a month. Um, as I mentioned, um, the committee
assignments, uh, we have nine unions, uh, that are up for contract negotiations this year. Right now, we've had our openers, we call them the openers, our first meetings. Um, but, uh, we're just getting started in that process at Mloud
County. Um I sometimes tell people um you know and Barrett mentioned the cooperation with other uh entities like UKAP. Um I I try to reference UKAP to people if you know
people who are need UKAP is a resource. Um Mloud County Food Shelf another resource for those people who just are having a tough time in life. So share that message with uh any conversations
you have in the community. Um there are resources out there. We uh in Mloud County have a large staff of people that are ready and willing and very passionate about what they do on those who need help in Mloud County. So
appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, we've come to the open forum part of our meeting. It would appear there is no one that uh wants to participate. I don't want to speak for uh so we'll skip
that. City administrator update on announcements. Uh the only thing I have is we likely will not have our August 5th meeting unless something comes up between now and then. And then I'll give you the summer festival announcement that we'll
have that August 8th and 9th. Okay. Uh, Matt, do you have anything? Nope. Jesse? No, sir. M. No, sir. All right. With that, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. We have a motion. Is there a second? Second. All in favor?
I. We are turn.