[1:32] [laughter]

[2:02] 9:00 we'll call the county board the meeting to order. Begin at the flag

[2:06] pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[2:10] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

[2:15] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[2:26] Roll call. Beth >> sure. Commissioner Benoy

[2:29] » here. >> Commissioner Heinen

[2:31] » here. >> Commissioner Pop

[2:32] » here. Commissioner Johnson >> here.

[2:34] » Commissioner Gapinsky >> present.

[2:36] » Thank you. [snorts and clears throat]

[2:39] » Approve or amend the agenda. Monty. >> Mr. Chair, we have one item to add. It's

[2:44] an a snap update by human service. Uh before we we add it, just I wanted to

[2:50] mention is we we need to make some schedule adjustments this morning.

[2:53] » Okay. uh so that you can recess county board at 10 uh so that Kale from Rinky

[2:59] can join us. >> Yep.

[3:00] » We need to move our close session to 9:30. So we're we're going to need to to

[3:05] take a break about, you know, 9:27 9:28 to get the room set up uh for our labor

[3:11] attorney to join us for that closed session. So, if you could plug into your

[3:14] agenda again, a break about 9:27 28 for labor labor at turning close session and

[3:20] then a recess at approximately 10 for ditch authority. Uh, so I think those

[3:27] are pretty significant uh stops. We really need to, you know, can't drift

[3:30] over because to keep with Kale's schedule and Susan's schedule, we really

[3:34] need to stop at those times. So, I guess the question is where does the human

[3:38] services item fit? Uh, >> Mr. Chair, what I would recommend is to

[3:44] do Roxan, do Troy, do Roxan, do Snap, and then put Monty off hold, put Monty

[3:50] on hold until after the >> Perfectly fine. So you're thinking maybe

[3:53] is after Roxan at 9:10 the human services update. Okay. Okay. And then

[3:59] that's all the changes we have, Mr. Chair.

[4:03] » Move for approval of amended agenda, Mr. Chair.

[4:05] » Second. >> And moved and seconded to approve the

[4:09] agenda. Any other discussion? All in favor?

[4:13] » I >> oppose. Carry.

[4:16] » County board meetings are broadcast live and video recorded on YouTube. Please

[4:19] restrain from speaking from the audience area and come to the podium so that

[4:23] viewers can hear you. The county board observes the Robert's rules of orders

[4:27] for its meeting. So, please obtain the board's chair consent before addressing

[4:31] the county board. Public comments are generally reserved for open forum

[4:35] segment or public hearing. However, public comment on other agenda items may

[4:40] be allowed at the discretion of the board's chair. Please turn your phones

[4:43] to vibrate. Thank you. Open forum. Nobody. Okay. Consent

[4:50] agenda. We have items one through. Move approval.

[4:59] » I want to pull >> second. No, you can go ahead. I'd like

[5:04] to pull item number four for >> I'll amend mine uh removing item number

[5:10] four >> and I will I will also

[5:17] » Okay, we've got a motion and a second to approve items one two

[5:23] five

[5:28] six seven and eight. >> Mr. Chair, this is a correct one through

[5:30] three and >> Yep.

[5:32] » One through three. Okay. >> Everything except

[5:35] » everything except There we go. >> Is there

[5:40] » There was a motion. >> There was a motion in a second. All in

[5:42] favor? >> I opposed. Carried.

[5:45] » Number four. >> Uh, can I just have a quick question?

[5:51] I noticed on the application that on number six on the application, it says,

[5:56] "Are property taxes current?" And the box is marked no. Is it common for us to

[6:02] issue a license with the uh current taxes not up to date?

[6:08] » Yes, but they have since paid in full. So,

[6:11] » okay. >> I'm sorry. I didn't hear that.

[6:14] » We can issue a license if the current taxes are not paid. It's only if they're

[6:19] delinquent. >> Oh, delinquent. Okay. Thank you.

[6:21] » Yeah. >> I'll move item number four.

[6:26] » Second. >> Motion been made and seconded. Uh move

[6:29] item number four for approval. All in favor?

[6:31] » I >> I post carried

[6:35] Troy.

[6:43] » Good morning, commissioners. >> Good morning.

[6:45] » Back before you once again with the AC contract. Um, as I mentioned last time,

[6:50] we've been with AC uh to provide our jail medical services for um the last

[6:56] three years. We have before you a three-year

[7:00] contract. Last time that I presented this, uh it was the wishes of the board

[7:04] to look at reducing the rate being proposed for the 2027 2028 years. Um

[7:11] following that meeting, I had a conversation with uh the folks at um AC.

[7:17] Uh thanks I think in no small part to our

[7:20] strong relationship that we developed with AC they were willing to reexamine

[7:24] those two years and are proposing a 3% increase in 2027 and 2028.

[7:34] » Any questions? >> Move for approval. Mr. Chair,

[7:37] » I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded for a

[7:40] three-year contract with AC for JL Medical.

[7:43] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes.

[7:44] » Thanks for your work on this, Troy. Absolutely.

[7:47] » Appreciate you going back. >> Yeah.

[7:48] » Yeah. >> All in favor?

[7:51] » I >> opposed. Carried. Thanks, Troy.

[7:53] » Thank you, commissioners.

[7:58] » Roxan. >> Good morning, commissioners.

[8:01] » Morning. >> Morning.

[8:02] » Good.

[8:30] Okay. So, in light of some recent um concerns that have come up regarding

[8:36] land use and in light of a um planning commission item that'll be coming

[8:41] forward, a request to amend the comprehensive plan and uh a resoning

[8:47] request. Um I thought it would be good to kind of review how

[8:52] zoning came to be and and how that operates here um not not only in Benton

[8:57] County but in all jurisdictions. Um so zoning is guided by the comprehensive

[9:03] plan which lays out the FA framework for the development of the county. Um the

[9:08] comprehensive plan is generally updated every 10 years and it was most recently

[9:14] updated and adopted on June 4th, 2019. As part of that process, we spent um

[9:20] several meetings, seven meetings with the county board and planning

[9:23] commission, nine meetings with cities and townships, three with focus groups,

[9:28] and then 13 months of rigorous review of the comprehensive plan um to come up

[9:32] with what we have here as just one component of that comp plan, which is

[9:37] the land use planning framework, and that is to help guide us in the

[9:42] development of the county. um maintaining that most of the county is

[9:46] agricultural in nature. Um and then reserving those areas along Highway 10

[9:53] um and at intersections for commercial development just due to the location of

[9:58] the access points and the heavier traffic [clears throat] and then areas

[10:03] generally between the city of Rice and Sartell as primarily where we want to

[10:08] see most of our residential development. um just due to the proximity of services

[10:14] and roadways. Um in addition, those areas have always maintained more of a

[10:21] residential or commercial nature simply due to the fact of um the soils and

[10:26] they've they've been um not as good of quality as we see in the rest of the

[10:32] county. Of course, um advancements in technology have increased um their

[10:37] ability to produce. However, that is primarily the reason why the

[10:41] comprehensive plan shows that side of the county as more of a residential or

[10:46] commercial area for the county. Um, so after the adoption of the comprehensive

[10:53] plan, we then thoroughly reviewed the zoning ordinance. And this wasn't just

[10:58] making sure that it matched up with the comprehensive plan. This was a full

[11:01] overhaul of the entire zoning ordinance. It was a full repeal and replace of the

[11:06] zoning ordinance. And so we thoroughly went through every zoning district and

[11:10] the uses within those district to determine um if it made sense with our

[11:14] comprehensive plan and for those areas in particular. That uh adoption occurred

[11:20] on April 21st, 2020. Uh so that led to what we see here as

[11:28] our zoning map [snorts] which each with each of our districts um

[11:34] identified in a different color. And again, you see how it matches up with

[11:38] primarily our residential districts um between Rice and the city of Sartell. Um

[11:44] along with commercial areas along and adjacent to Highway 10, we do have some

[11:49] of these rural service districts that are at the intersection of more um major

[11:54] major intersections um such as 95 and 25. We've got uh Dwelm down here. Um so

[12:01] just identifying those particular locations. Um and the key purpose of

[12:05] these zoning districts is to regulate land use, guide development, protect uh

[12:11] public welfare, prevent incompatible uses, maintain neighborhood character

[12:16] and property values, and to provide for adequate infrastructure. uh making sure

[12:21] that there is a different uh a difference between where we're placing

[12:26] our uh residential uses versus our commercial uses uh to protect the public

[12:31] health, safety, general welfare just uh by making sure that there is um uh space

[12:38] between those for especially for safety purposes. Um and then just to kind of

[12:43] get into specifically that difference between commercial and and uh industrial

[12:48] development in a comprehensive plan um under our goals we try to guide that

[12:53] commercial and industrial development to planned areas with adequate road

[12:57] service. Um but we do recognize that individ individuals do have home

[13:02] businesses. However, we state that allowed homebased

[13:07] businesses in rural areas that are compatible with neighboring properties

[13:11] and access roads. And going on to the next page here, we

[13:17] kind of outline in our development code exactly what a homebased occupation or

[13:22] extended home businesses. The home occupation is something that occurs

[13:26] within the single family dwelling structure and it takes up no no more

[13:31] than 20% of the home. Um and essentially it's not noticeable from uh the outside

[13:38] of the building. Um home extended businesses occur in an accessory

[13:42] structure. Um, and some of those examples are, um,

[13:46] home offices, uh, seamstress, tailor, photography studio, uh, beauty or barber

[13:52] shop with limited customers, internet sales with no face-to-face customer

[13:56] service, daycare services, and again, these businesses are relative to the

[14:03] zoning district in which they are located. So, you may not feel that um,

[14:07] you may not see certain home businesses in a residential district that you may

[14:11] see in an agricultural district. Um, for example, we have a location that has

[14:17] horses and they do lessons. So, in the A district, that may be an appropriate use

[14:23] as an extended home business where they're providing lessons on horses

[14:27] where that is not appropriate in a residential area. So, just to kind of go

[14:33] through a few of those things. Um, [clears throat]

[14:39] in in light of uh the most recent concern uh by a resident um granting of

[14:44] a use variance, um we statutoily are not able to grant use variances. And that is

[14:53] so that we protect our zoning districts, the public health and safety of areas.

[14:58] So that when there are set standards and uses allowed in a particular zoning

[15:03] district, we are not allowing one or you know picking and choosing the types of

[15:08] uses that are allowed in there, thereby affecting the full character of that

[15:12] zoning district. Furthermore, um reszoning a a single lot may be

[15:19] construed as spot zoning where you're only changing the zoning of an area

[15:24] specifically to allow a certain use. And there is case law that um that

[15:30] um I'm losing the word here. Uh supports that that supports that use variances

[15:38] are not something that can be granted and spot zoning doesn't always hold up.

[15:42] and you look into the size of the lot and whether um the surrounding zoning is

[15:50] different and whether is supported by the comprehensive plan. I also know that

[15:55] there was concerns about [cough] tax classification versus zoning

[15:59] districts and the tax classification determines the tax rate based on the

[16:03] property's actual use while zoning regulates the potential and legal use of

[16:08] the property. Um, so for example, let's say you do have somebody with a daycare.

[16:13] They're going to have a commercial tax classification, but it doesn't mean that

[16:17] all commercial uses would be allowed there. And so that's something that

[16:22] absolutely needs to be looked into um before moving forward. So we can't say,

[16:28] okay, well, they're classed commercial. They have a daycare running there, but

[16:32] now they move out and I get to move in a retail operation because it's

[16:35] commercial. Um, and [clears throat] that's the difference between taxing and

[16:41] zoning classifications. >> Uh, just for the board, I wasn't I was

[16:45] in DC at the last meeting when all this came up. So, a lot of this is due to my

[16:51] um questions on this uh on this issue because one of the things that came up

[16:56] with was exactly that on the tax it says it's commercial. So they're getting tax

[17:02] commercial, but yet they can't have a commercial

[17:05] » correct >> business there, right?

[17:07] » So to me, something's got to change. You know, whether tax, they shouldn't be

[17:12] being tax commercial if >> if they can't do business.

[17:15] » If they can't do business, right? >> Well, no longer should they be in there

[17:20] doing business. They should not have been doing business. And so, um, with

[17:24] the ceasing of that operation, Yes. Right.

[17:27] » But when they bought it, it was it it was commercial tax. So, I can see, you

[17:32] know, ignorance of the law is not always good, right? I I get that. But you got

[17:37] to understand that people just starting a business, they're they're not

[17:41] attorneys and lawyers and they look at that and they're like, "Oh, I get it.

[17:45] They didn't ask the questions. Doesn't make it right." That's why I think

[17:48] they're in this position. I don't think they meant to harm anybody.

[17:53] » No. And most people I I I mean, I would say most people do not intend that. Um,

[17:57] but I do I I I get a lot of phone calls every every day, every week, um, asking

[18:03] if certain things are are allowed. And I I think there was a lack of due

[18:08] diligence. And it may not have been on the property owners. It may have been

[18:11] on, uh, the realer or the previous property owner. Um, information was uh,

[18:17] misconstrued and and it's unfortunate. Um, and I know just kind of to address I

[18:25] know there was concerns about other uses in that particular neighborhood. Um, and

[18:30] and I've talked to the applic or the the current property owners about this.

[18:34] There is there's a a repair garage in that neighborhood. I'm aware of that.

[18:38] That particular uh property has had a repair garage prior to us regulating

[18:47] specific home businesses. And so they were allowed. And that is one example of

[18:52] where a non-conforming use is allowed to expand because they were in place at a

[18:58] time in which it was not regulated. Th >> that's exactly what is wrong with

[19:04] government is because 99% of people don't understand that. You know what I

[19:10] mean? And that that's it's frustrating. I'm

[19:13] » Yep. Yep. And I and I take every opportunity I can to to fully explain

[19:16] that uh to >> I'm not saying you did anything wrong.

[19:19] I'm not saying that, >> you know. So, Mr. Chair, Sir Roxen, when

[19:25] that non-conforming use goes away, then that goes away with the property, too,

[19:29] though. >> Correct.

[19:30] » Because that was grandfathered in. But once that

[19:33] » So, if it ceases to operate for one year,

[19:36] » right, >> that use goes away. Yep.

[19:42] » I I've dealt with this a lot at the city level. Yeah. when I was with the city.

[19:49] » So, I have a question on that repair shop. Sure.

[19:51] » If if that person sells that piece of property, does that grandfather move

[19:56] with the property if someone else buys the repair shop?

[19:59] » Yes. Okay. >> I would imagine there's a C on there.

[20:04] » There is not. >> So, it was even pre prior to that.

[20:07] » Yes. Yes. It was allowed to be there when home businesses um did not require

[20:13] a specific permit. um they were simply allowed as a home occupation or a home

[20:18] home business. >> So is that why you can they need to be

[20:22] done if they don't do anything within 12 months because there's no CUP there to

[20:25] go with the property? >> Um

[20:27] » I mean what if there good question? >> Yeah

[20:34] » without thatal.

[20:40] » Sure. So the reason that we can it has to go away is because they don't have a

[20:45] cup and they haven't done business for 12 months. But if they had had a cup and

[20:50] not done business for 12 months, they still have the cup.

[20:53] » Yeah.

[20:59] Any other questions? >> Well, it's just from my standpoint, I'm

[21:04] sitting here going, we're begging begging work workers and businesses to

[21:09] come into the county. And on the on the other side, not not not not your fault,

[21:14] but the laws don't allow us and then they they get upset with us and move out

[21:19] of the county. >> Right. And I mean, Roxan, from day one,

[21:23] since you've been here, you've been really intelligent and up bringing us up

[21:27] to speed on this kind of stuff and I really appreciate that. But I agree with

[21:31] Jared. Sometimes the law just is not right.

[21:34] » It It's not and and we're the ones that answer for it.

[21:37] » Well, and I think it's important to remember that. I mean, this is an exact

[21:40] situation, but there's some things that we have to look at it sometimes, right?

[21:44] The billboard issue, for example, in Highway 10,

[21:46] » we looked at that and decided as a board that that's something that needed to get

[21:50] updated. >> You know, are these some of those

[21:52] issues? I'm not talking about variances, but I'm talking about,

[21:55] » you know, our comp plan, >> right? At some point that's going to get

[21:58] reviewed and some of this stuff is going to get

[22:00] » and and we're not prohibiting businesses per se in our residential neighborhoods.

[22:06] Just certain types of businesses, ones that are going to have a lot more

[22:10] vehicles, bigger vehicles, more noise, traffic, um safety concerns for

[22:16] residential roads and things like that. Um but I would say nearly 95% of the

[22:22] county it it would be allowed in. Yeah. So unfortunately they chose that. You

[22:26] know, >> I want to make it extremely clear. I'm

[22:28] not I'm not saying you did anything wrong at all.

[22:31] » Means >> it just

[22:33] » it's a difficult conversation to have. Yeah.

[22:35] » Difficult to have with the applicant or the person that did it.

[22:38] » Yep. >> Well, and you look at the and I know you

[22:41] can't single out property, >> but you look at the property, it's

[22:46] actually kind of set up for something like that where it's got the tree

[22:49] barriers and everything like that. It's like

[22:53] » Well, and and even the location, you know, I mean, you look at

[22:56] » just to the north northwest and there's, you know, big agricultural fields,

[23:00] » 300 acres up there. >> Yeah.

[23:02] » And right alongside the railroad tracks. >> Yeah. Railroad tracks. Nothing's going

[23:06] to happen on that other side. >> Yeah.

[23:07] » And it's Yeah. I mean, but it's, you know, I mean, you were here and we did

[23:12] the comp plan and it was a long process and we met with township, cities,

[23:16] » everybody, you know, the the one deal that was in the orderly annexation that

[23:20] came forth up in the rice area. Boy, then people did not want it and we

[23:24] eventually come to an agreement >> and it's a great example of we can't

[23:27] cover every situation that might come up.

[23:29] » Yeah. >> So,

[23:31] » it's a blanket. >> It is. Yep.

[23:34] » Anyway, anybody else any got anything else?

[23:36] » Nope. >> Thank you. Thank you.

[23:39] » Thanks for all your knowledge. >> Thank you.

[23:44] » Uh, >> snap. Snap.

[23:46] » Yep. We'll do the

[23:49] » You got the

[23:53] » Good morning. I know that SNAP is on the news every single day, so you probably

[23:57] can't help but see some of the updates, but I asked Janelle to give us a current

[24:01] update of where we're at today um with SNAP. And sometimes people might wonder

[24:06] if we're not issuing SNAP benefits in November, what our staff are doing. Um,

[24:10] our staff are plenty busy. They still are doing all the processing, all the

[24:14] things so that things will be ready to go as soon as SNAP is back in place. And

[24:18] in fact, they're busier than ever because they're getting a lot of phone

[24:21] calls, a lot of people searching for food, a lot of questions about this

[24:25] process. But I will ask um Janelle to give a little update on where we're at.

[24:31] » Good morning, Janelle. >> Morning. Good morning.

[24:33] » Morning. Okay, first of all, the regular federal

[24:37] funding um that normally pays for SNAP and MIP food support will not be issued

[24:43] until probably until the shutdown is resolved. There was a federal court

[24:48] issued uh order issued on Friday um to the USDA to use contingency funds.

[24:55] There's about $5 billion in that and they figure that would maybe cover half

[25:00] of the nation's need for food. Um, let's see here.

[25:06] Okay, those contingency funds, they haven't been released yet, but they're

[25:10] working on it. So, that'll probably take some time before it actually gets

[25:14] issued. Um, and they're not really sure how they're going to do that yet. And

[25:18] what percentage >> isn't that actually in the courts right

[25:21] now saying that they don't know if they have the legal ability to do that?

[25:26] » I'm pretty sure of it. >> It's in the courts. He brought it back

[25:30] to the courts to explain to them of how they're going to distribute it and what

[25:35] they can regulate, not regulate >> because the government has to be in

[25:39] operation in order to uh enact the contingency.

[25:45] » Yeah, >> that's the loophole is what I have

[25:48] understood. >> Sorry, Janelle.

[25:51] » It's fine. >> Yeah. And I know there was like well

[25:55] there's a lot of food sources that are providing more and they've been given I

[25:59] think another four million in Minnesota to try to help with the shortfall but

[26:04] not going to be enough. Um let's see here. I was going to clarify that MIP

[26:10] cash funding is still going out. So the MIP cash funding was not included in

[26:15] that at all. Um let's see. And I think Sandy said earlier, we're still doing

[26:21] applications and renewals, still processing everything, doing the

[26:24] approval. It's just the funding that will be withheld.

[26:29] Uh let's see.

[26:33] [snorts] Yeah, and she had mentioned too that our phone calls and stuff, our

[26:37] phone calls and referring people to other resources will increase.

[26:41] And then I thought I'd let you know, we have 1,930 cases as of the end of

[26:46] October. And normally our issuing or our issuance

[26:50] for September was $545,636

[26:54] and then we have 65 cases pending when I checked it last. Any other questions,

[27:01] Mr. Chair? >> Yes. Uh uh when we were out in DC for

[27:05] the APO a week and a half ago, um we were out there for roads and bridges

[27:10] obviously, but one of the biggest things that we were talking about was SNAP and

[27:14] how that was going to affect everybody, not just our area. And one of the

[27:19] questions that I had that that was even though our counties aren't stopping

[27:25] because we're state and local, what's it going to look like when federal

[27:30] government comes back? how long is this process going to take to get caught back

[27:33] up? And they were, I would say, sheepish on on saying how long that would take,

[27:40] but they're they're saying significant time.

[27:43] » So just because the federal government starts back up, these programs start

[27:47] back up, [clears throat] funding doesn't automatically kick in.

[27:52] I want to give a kudos out to whoever does the uh uh human services Facebook

[27:58] page I think it is to where you uh provided all the areas to where people

[28:06] to look for food. My wife looked at it actually and told me about that the

[28:11] other day. So kudos to you guys. >> Thank you. You can also give kudos to

[28:16] our staff. They're doing a food drive as well. And over the weekend, um, a group

[28:20] of them did put together like this, um, white chicken chili packages. So, with

[28:24] the all the things you would need with a recipe to do do white chicken chili. I

[28:28] mean, it's it's minuscule in what we need in the world, but I still think it

[28:31] it is worth noting what our staff are doing on their own personal time as well

[28:35] to try and have an impact. >> Awesome. Thank you.

[28:38] » Y, >> great.

[28:39] » Thank you. >> Any other questions?

[28:41] » Any anything else? Thanks for the updates.

[28:44] » Thank you. Well, at this point, we're close enough

[28:48] that we'll recess the county board and >> so M chair we wouldn't recess. We just

[28:54] need to have a motion to go in close session pursuant to the agenda item.

[28:57] » So moved. >> Yep.

[28:59] » Second. >> And I could just note for the record

[29:01] again, we're you're closing uh the county board meeting pursuant to

[29:04] Minnesota statutes 13D.03 subdivision 1 for discussion of labor strategy and

[29:10] we're closing the session at 9:27. Can we also talk about Tim as long as

[29:16] we're doing that? >> Absolutely. Okay, that's right.

[29:18] » [laughter]

November 4, 2025 Benton County, Minnesota Board Regular Meeting Part 1

Transcript