[0:00] Thank you. [clears throat]

[0:04] » It started here. Call the meeting to order. Is there any

[0:09] additions to the >> Mr. Chair? There was one addition for

[0:13] public works and engineering contract for bridge safety inspections. Uh we are

[0:19] starting with resolution 2658. Today >> I make a motion to approve the uh

[0:26] agenda. move second

[0:30] car. Any other further discussion? The name, please.

[0:33] » Brad, >> yes.

[0:34] » We >> Yes.

[0:36] » Meer, >> yes.

[0:36] » Schmidt, >> yes.

[0:38] » Helina, >> yes.

[0:39] » Motion carries. >> Okay. Looking for uh any additions or

[0:44] corrections to the minutes. Chair make a motion to approve both sets

[0:51] of minutes. Draft minutes are by 217.

[0:58] Charlie, thanks. Jeff, any other discussion? The name, please.

[1:03] » Wave, >> yes.

[1:05] » Meer, >> yes.

[1:06] » Schmidt, >> yes.

[1:07] » Helina, >> yes.

[1:08] » Rat, >> yes.

[1:10] » Carrie, >> thank you. Troy, you are up first today.

[1:20] » Morning. Morning. Feeling surrounded. [laughter]

[1:26] you know it's like

[1:32] » I have a few items this morning. Uh I'll start with the donations.

[1:41] First donation is from Grand Township. It's in the amount of $1,000.

[1:49] uh [clears throat] and to be designated to the dive team,

[1:54] the search and rescue dive team. So, I'd ask the board to accept that donation.

[2:01] » I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2658,000

[2:05] from the Grand Township. >> Second extender.

[2:10] Any further discussion? My name, please.

[2:13] » Schmidt, >> yes.

[2:14] » Kina, >> yes.

[2:15] » Rap. >> Yes.

[2:16] » Wade. >> Yes. Meer.

[2:18] » Yes. >> Motion carries.

[2:21] All >> right. The second donation is in the

[2:24] amount of $1,400.

[2:28] It's from Roy and Conson Maiden Malt and it in memory of Michelle Brent. Now

[2:35] Michelle was a county employee. She also worked for my office for years there. So

[2:43] um from her parents um and they would like it designated

[2:49] their word safety vest. I assume that means a ballistic vest.

[2:56] Ask board to accept that donation. Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to

[3:03] approve resolution 26-59 donation.

[3:09] » I'll second that. Thanks, Charlie. The member discussion.

[3:14] [clears throat] >> Helina,

[3:16] » yes. >> Ra,

[3:17] » yes. >> Wade,

[3:18] » yes. >> Meer,

[3:19] » yes. >> Schmidt,

[3:20] » yes. >> Motion carries.

[3:23] » Thank you. Uh, next item is budget proposal.

[3:31] I'll have the budget proposal plus I always have done the next

[3:41] attachment I guess of increases and decreases.

[3:46] So I this point I I've kind of open it up to

[3:51] questions. There are some you've had a chance to look at it. There

[3:56] were Axon is one of the larger increases

[4:02] for our squat and bodywn cameras. But honestly, the

[4:10] squat and bodywn cameras pay for themselves. just the fact that deputy's

[4:17] encounters with the public are all recorded

[4:20] and tells the truth of what happened at at a

[4:26] scene. So they've certainly been beneficial,

[4:33] but it is probably the baritudes increase. So Mr.

[4:39] Fair. So, Troy, um, does the county have any what they call block cameras like

[4:44] the city does? We do not. We don't have access to the clock cameras. We can

[4:49] request the city look at the clock cameras for us if we're looking for a

[4:55] specific plate, but we actually don't have,

[5:00] » you know, primary type access. Do you know that when they take

[5:05] those pictures, are they taking pictures of the drivers and the people in the car

[5:08] as well as still? >> Well, it's it's uh

[5:16] you know, you're seeing an entire intersection.

[5:20] Most are set up at high traffic areas and so you're getting a view of an

[5:25] entire intersection. Um but it they are able to read license

[5:31] plates. They've been very helpful uh with missing people, especially when

[5:38] uh we recently had a the fe a female go missing. She was found

[5:43] » up in Cass County. We were able to track some of her movement.

[5:49] She had traveled quite a ways from home through the use of clock cameras

[5:56] » in other jurisdictions. And so we knew she was up in the, you know, north of

[6:02] here, >> up in the Cass County uh area. So we

[6:07] were able to talk to sheriff's offices up in that area and ask them to put some

[6:13] special effort into it. As it turns out, she was found by say civilians. Um, not

[6:21] law enforcement, but law enforcement knew immediately what they were dealing

[6:26] with because we had informed them that she may be up in that area. The clock

[6:33] cameras are not being used for doing surveillance on people

[6:39] » for citations. >> No, they're they're not locally using

[6:43] them for citations. Um, and that isn't it not surveillance.

[6:50] The purpose is be able to track traffic, spot stolen vehicles, spot vehicles

[6:57] registered to people with warrants. >> I I get it. It's just that people have

[7:02] contacted me are having a hard time separating that surveillance versus

[7:08] [snorts] >> Well, I mean, drive down Broadway. I

[7:11] know there's a camera on every business in Broadway.

[7:15] » You're under constant surveillance. We're under surveillance in this room.

[7:20] It's it. And I mean, yes. Am I do I feel strongly about it?

[7:27] » Simply because I know everywhere I go, I'm under surveillance. Fleet Farm, they

[7:32] have one of the best camera systems in town. Walmart, you name it.

[7:36] » I I hear you. I hear you. So most cameras are good enough. They can see

[7:41] the people driving them if they can get it zoomed in close.

[7:44] » The camera system is good enough to be >> Yeah. on it. It's going to be

[7:50] » Yeah, they've been very useful. Um and it's more than one missing person. I

[7:56] mean, we a different report, different person.

[8:00] We had no idea where that person was, but they appeared on the flash numerous

[8:04] several times within the city of Alexandria. So, we knew that person was

[8:10] in all likelihood in this area. And within a few hours of us contacting

[8:16] different people because of locations, we that person actually contacted us and

[8:23] told us they were not a missing person. So they had voluntarily gone missing.

[8:32] So as far as flock cameras, no, we don't have any. I don't have any in the

[8:36] budget, by the way, but I'm certainly not.

[8:43] I'm not opposed to the use of them because I know that they're not used or

[8:48] just surveilling people. There are people who believe they are, but it's

[8:53] just not factual. There's also people who believe I have access to the flop

[8:58] cameras and they're mine and they're they're not that they belong to the city

[9:03] and we don't have primary access to them. But certainly we have requested

[9:10] access them to access. Well, the press is here. They got it

[9:15] straight now.

[9:19] Do they care? It's just getting it out to the public.

[9:26] » So, no, there's none in the budget. The cameras we utilize are body warn and

[9:31] squad cameras. We've had squad cameras since uh late 1980s.

[9:38] So, if somebody has an issue with them, they're I'm already 46 years late or 40

[9:45] years too late. But and the body cameras are uh like I say, they're a very

[9:52] helpful tool, especially when it comes to complaints on deputies.

[9:59] » Yep. It might surprise you, but people don't always tell us truth

[10:05] » and so the cameras tell the truth.

[10:14] » All right. What else you got? uh budget-wise. I mean,

[10:21] if you have any specific questions, I'm not sure, but

[10:30] going to breeze through it. Medical care, that's an increase, but that's an

[10:35] annual increase for the contracted medical care for the jail.

[10:42] There's some that you've seen the list. I think there's lists of increases and

[10:47] decreases and I can certainly answer questions regarding any of them.

[10:55] So

[11:00] any questions? You know I only question I got is like on the voting end of it uh

[11:05] voting safety. Has there been any uh changes on that as far as uh any

[11:11] problems >> as far as patrol on the lakes?

[11:15] » Yeah. Um we haven't seen any dramatic changes. Lakes of course are busy in the

[11:21] summertime and uh so yeah, haven't been anything notable.

[11:32] All right.

[11:35] » That's too easy. I mean that

[11:40] you're supposed to stump the chunk here. >> Yeah.

[11:45] » Um Yeah. Otherwise, I have nothing budget or salary request. Obviously, I'm

[11:51] retiring at the beginning of next year. So, if you want to increase my salary

[11:57] for a couple days, you're welcome. But it would be a very short very short

[12:02] salary. >> What is your last day?

[12:06] » January what? What's your last day? >> You're talking about that. I think it's

[12:11] January 4th. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[12:15] » We haven't figured it out. >> Monday.

[12:17] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[12:21] First Monday in 2027 January. >> Okay.

[12:27] Coming soon. plan a retirement party on January 8th.

[12:32] » Elvis Presley's birthday. >> There you go.

[12:35] » Nobody sleeps. >> Get your hair dyed day. [laughter]

[12:40] » Thanks. >> Thank you.

[12:46] I'd like to call up Mary Ski to record.

[12:52] » Good morning. >> Good morning.

[12:56] [clears throat] >> Few items today. The first item um I'm

[12:59] required to present my yearly compliance report as a part of my budget

[13:03] presentation and this states in 2025 the recorders office processed 8533

[13:09] documents and we were 100% compliant with statutory turnaround time

[13:18] submit that report. >> We need to act on that.

[13:28] motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the

[13:30] compliance report for the recorder. Pimp. Any further discussion? The name,

[13:38] please. >> Meer,

[13:39] » yes. >> Schmidt,

[13:40] » yes. >> Scalina,

[13:42] » yes. >> Brad,

[13:43] » yes. >> Wade,

[13:44] » yes. Motion carries. Okay.

[13:47] » And then next for my budget report, my budget is largely stable, pretty much

[13:51] exactly the same as last year. um vast majority of our increase is just from

[13:56] budgets. It is myself and I still have four uh deputy recorders as well in my

[14:02] office.

[14:09] the recorder technology fund and the land records modernization. Those are

[14:13] special accounts that are set aside for special projects um as statute outlines

[14:19] and those are all

[14:22] stable as well. I did budget for one indexing project I'm looking at for this

[14:28] coming year. It takes some of our available real estate documents. um we

[14:32] have images out there from 1973 through 1992 where the images are there

[14:38] but it's not searchable by name and legal description and so that would be a

[14:42] good use of those funds from the recorder technology fund and so I'm uh

[14:47] working on gathering that together and put that in the budget as a proposed

[14:52] cost for next year and land records modernization is stable that's what we

[14:57] pay as re pictometry um and some GIS initiatives out

[15:03] Mr. Chair, that's just what you got tied in with the recorder equipment

[15:07] replacement stuff. >> Yeah, recorder equipment replacement.

[15:10] Yep. Only increase. >> Right. And those two accounts, we

[15:14] actually um kind of zero them out. They don't affect Olivia at all since

[15:19] » So, yeah, that's really my only increase.

[15:22] [clears throat]

[15:29] » All right. Any questions for Mary? Thank you. Looks good. Great question.

[15:35] » Um and then my salary request, I am requesting a salary of $90,000.

[15:41] Um my current salary is 86,000. I did submit um some comparable salaries

[15:48] as well. The closest being like Pope County, they again eight years in

[15:54] office. Um, the Pope County Recorder salary is currently 99,28

[15:59] and Stevens County close by is 106,558. This is my 19th year with Douglas County

[16:06] and I'm currently in my eighth year as county recorder.

[16:11] I appreciate your consideration and >> thank you. Thanks.

[16:21] » Yep. Next up, Chad Larson, County Attorney.

[16:26] » Thank you, Mr. Chair. I uh I prepared budget proposals for three departments.

[16:30] Uh the corer's office, the law library, as well as as the county attorney's

[16:35] office. So, I'll start with the coroner's office. Uh which really should

[16:39] be renamed the medical examiner's office because we haven't had a coroner in a

[16:43] couple decades now. >> Yeah. Yes. Uh we continue to contract

[16:48] with Midwest Medical Examiner's Office out of Anoka County for our autopsies as

[16:54] well as Lind and Anderson Funeral Homes for transportation to Anoka. Uh we pay a

[16:59] flat fee for transportation for those services on an alternating basis between

[17:04] those providers. Uh budgeting for the number of deaths

[17:10] requiring postmortems is difficult to predict in any given year. In the first

[17:14] five months of 2026, we spent just over 36,000.

[17:19] So I budgeted 75,000 for the entirety of 2027 based upon

[17:24] those numbers. That's that's the best guess I can provide. Um moving to the

[17:31] law library. All counties are statutoily required to maintain a law library uh

[17:36] for the use of of residents who wish to conduct their own legal research. Uh, as

[17:41] more and more people are using AI in an attempt to conduct proay litigation, the

[17:47] use of the law library has really gone down. We used to contract with

[17:54] folks over at the tech school to sit for certain hours in the law library and

[17:59] kind of direct people to the materials they needed, but it just wasn't getting

[18:03] the traffic that would sustain the cost that that evolved. Um, and the law

[18:09] library is really self- sustainable. It's funded by those who are convicted

[18:13] of crimes here in Douglas County. Their sentence usually incur includes a fine,

[18:17] a search charge, and then a law library fee. Occasionally, the judges will wave

[18:21] the law library fee depending on infancy or things of that nature. Uh, the fund

[18:26] balance carried over from year to year. I believe its current balance is

[18:30] approximately 140,000 right now. Um, I'm on the law library

[18:35] board with Commissioner Tina. uh the judges and the city attorney and we may

[18:40] consider reducing the current li fee uh given given the current balance. Uh and

[18:46] since we're losing commissioner Kina, we're going to have to recruit one of

[18:50] you to enter the exciting world of law library.

[18:54] Um can't wait. >> Yes, I've been using less and less.

[19:00] Well, that mean we used to have subscriptions to books and

[19:06] we we couldn't get rid of enough books. Um, so, you know, and people aren't

[19:12] using the computer that we have in there. The copier is sitting in a locked

[19:16] room right now. Nobody needed to use it. >> Nobody has a key.

[19:20] » We do have [clears throat and laughter] a key.

[19:22] Port administration does too. We have access to paper bleeder for those who

[19:26] still use that. Um, finally, as to my budget, uh, there

[19:30] really haven't been any dramatic changes, uh, to my budget aside from the

[19:34] usual annual increases in subscription fees for case management software and

[19:39] cloud storage. As Troy mentioned, um, we also use Axon, which is the body camera

[19:46] recordings. So those get uploaded to the cloud and then we have u software that

[19:52] integrates our case management system with Axon and so we're talking hundreds

[19:59] of thousands of hours of recorded data which takes up an enormous amount of of

[20:06] cloud space for that. Um, so we have that to integrate those recordings and

[20:13] and Axon fees as Troy mentioned keep increasing, but we don't really have an

[20:19] alternate vendor that provides the same quality of product that we need and we

[20:24] have to use and we're required to disclose to the defense as discovery all

[20:30] of our recordings. U so so those fees continue to to

[20:36] increase. Probably the most notable change in my budget is the absence of of

[20:40] Alamir's contribution, my salary in 2027 due to the conversion of the health

[20:46] system to a a 501c3. So, I did not put that into my budget

[20:53] for 2027, but that should come as no surprise to to this board. Um, we're

[20:58] currently fully staffed at this time with seven attorneys, six legal

[21:01] assistants, and one investigator.

[21:06] So payroll continues to be my largest expense. The associated

[21:10] non-discretionary related increases, healthcare costs,

[21:14] things of that nature. I've also included a 10 $10,000 for 2027

[21:19] to cover tax appeals in the event that we're

[21:24] going to have to hire outside counsel. Uh we did hire recently a new attorney

[21:31] um and she will be assigned to handle tax appeals very shortly. Right now I'm

[21:37] continuing to uh to do that as I as I can. And finally to my salary request,

[21:43] I'm not asking for anything above and beyond any percentage increase that the

[21:48] docu employees may be granted. That's all I have.

[21:55] » Mr. Sure. >> Yes. Tax attorney. Is that the one for

[21:58] the dark stores with Stacy's group or No,

[22:00] » that was one we used a few years ago. >> Yeah.

[22:03] » Extremely expensive. We tried to make a point with that particular

[22:08] » We tried to make it and it didn't work. >> It did not work.

[22:11] » We just ended up spending a lot a lot of money and they just the next time.

[22:16] » Not the same attorney. >> No. No. I know it's not the same person,

[22:19] but this is what they're doing. That's is that what you're

[22:22] » We have one case that we're currently doing that with.

[22:25] » Okay. >> But it's not near to the dramatic level

[22:30] that we did with with Flem. >> Yeah. Yeah. That was constant.

[22:36] Thank you.

[22:41] » Done. Chad. All done. Thank you. Anybody got any questions for Chad?

[22:46] All right. Thank you. We'll move on to uh Vicky Doling, Auditor Church.

[23:01] » Good morning. >> Good morning,

[23:03] » Right Mr. Chair. I've got two items here. One is uh this one being

[23:08] informational the pack uh with a couple couple meetings ago we had

[23:15] divot prairie round which is a nonprofit historical reenactment organization.

[23:20] They were going to they did host a 4day event July 30th

[23:25] through August 2nd out on city township. They had applied originally for a

[23:30] bonfire temporary liquor license but then ended up pulling that app because

[23:34] they couldn't get like liability or it wasn't feasible for them to do so. So

[23:38] they pulled the application. So just to make sure that makes it into the minutes

[23:42] that that never got sent off to the state. So that is void.

[23:48] » The application would never yeah until they did the insurance.

[23:53] » Yeah. And going forward, you know, as you've noticed, I've brought often

[23:58] brought for timely sake timeliness sake, efficiency sake to try to get these

[24:03] applications into the state on time to give them time to react. Often times I

[24:07] bring apps to you that that aren't like we're waiting for a county attorney or

[24:11] sheriff or like liquor liability or all those things. I'm not going to from this

[24:15] point on if the applicant doesn't have their liqu liability proof that to me

[24:19] that's going to be an incomplete application until they get that.

[24:21] » That makes sense. >> Yeah. Then that's

[24:24] something that we do with Rise on on a food application for a special event is

[24:31] if they don't get it 30 days ahead then they increase it by 50% on fee.

[24:36] » Sure. >> Even coming forward. So it's not like

[24:39] they're going to pull off a 4 day event in 12 days any. So they they they had

[24:44] time. >> Yep. Yep. This there was a couple of

[24:47] them in back in July that we really struggled with getting public liability.

[24:52] then you know that it's not where it needs to be because they could easily

[24:56] been in April because they knew they were do it

[25:00] because still got to go to the state from us.

[25:03] » Yep. >> And they often want 30 days.

[25:06] » They do too. >> Yeah.

[25:09] » Uh the next item is a resolution for a gambling permit. Uh Alamir Health

[25:13] Foundation or Douglas County Healthcare Foundation doing business as Al Health.

[25:18] Um they're performing a raffle out at Carlos Creek. on December 5th. So

[25:23] getting that into us very timely. >> I'll make a motion to approve resolution

[25:28] 2660 for the gaming permit for health. >> I'll second.

[25:35] » Thanks Jerry. Thanks Tim. Further discussion

[25:39] » Schmidt. >> Yes.

[25:41] » Helina. >> Yes.

[25:42] » Rat. >> Yes.

[25:43] » Wade. >> Yeah.

[25:44] » Meer >> yes.

[25:45] » Motion carried. Then the next resolution uh this is a

[25:50] kind of a annual I should say bianual election resolution for which um if

[25:56] there were to be recounts we have a joint powers agreement with the state

[26:00] that we will perform our county portion of the recount here in Douglas County.

[26:05] This would be like for statewide recounts. So they have us enter into a

[26:10] joint powers agreement for both the primary and the general election. Um,

[26:15] and they'll pay us a whopping four cents a ballot to do so.

[26:25] » Twice eight. I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2661 Minnesota

[26:31] election recount joint powers. I'll second Charlie. Further discussion.

[26:39] » Helina. >> Yes.

[26:40] » Rat. >> Yes.

[26:41] » Wade. >> Yes.

[26:42] » Meer. >> Yes.

[26:43] » Smith. Yes. >> Motion carries.

[26:46] » All right. I'm moving into my budget proposal. Uh not a whole lot of line

[26:52] item changes other than we do have a couple election

[26:57] items I got to bring up. One being um I'm going to be replacing our

[27:03] tabulators. They're reaching the end of life the next couple years here. So

[27:08] before the next presidential election, I'd like to get those replaced. We have

[27:11] been setting aside funds annually in our budget for this. So, it's coming out of

[27:16] capital projects to pay for that to the tune of about $260,000 or just under.

[27:23] Um, so that's a a big item, but nothing that we weren't anticipating. So, we

[27:28] that set aside funds for that. The other item that will affect elections is I've

[27:33] got it in the preliminary budget um to plan for the potential of a special a US

[27:41] Senate election next year. There's we have potential for that. Amy

[27:45] Clolobashar, her term isn't up until 2030 or 2031. She'd be on the ballot in

[27:50] 2030. However, she's a candidate for governor this year for the DFL

[27:56] political party. So there's a likely, you know, there's potential there that

[28:00] she could be elected governor. If so, then there would have to be a special

[28:04] election in 2027 to fill her spot. >> Election or she get appointed.

[28:10] » She'd appoint until the election occurs. >> Following year,

[28:15] » well, yeah, till January. >> She would take over January 4th.

[28:20] you get a voice company for that year >> until the election is held in November

[28:24] of 2027 and that person would take position and

[28:28] » that's why you got the increase. >> Yeah, that's why the increase in all

[28:31] those elections. >> You get that every other year,

[28:33] » right? >> Difference.

[28:34] » Yeah. Otherwise, this budget would look really good this year except for that.

[28:38] So, >> yeah, that's why you're you're not

[28:41] seeing the decrease in my budget that we normally would see in a off year. So,

[28:47] but we'll find out. We'll know by December the election will have been

[28:51] held by then. We'll know the results and we'll be able to tell if we establish

[28:56] our final budget if we can reduce that or not. We can always reduce it. We just

[29:00] can't increase it at that point. >> Thank you.

[29:05] » And then for salary requests, I'm going to stick with the standard 3% increase.

[29:14] » Question. How busy has the early voting been going?

[29:16] » Pick it up. I think the fact that we put a notice to voters, a full page

[29:21] requirement by statute that put a full page notice in last

[29:25] » next Tuesday. >> Yeah, next Tuesday is the primary. So,

[29:28] yeah, we had about 60ome people yesterday

[29:31] » working. >> Yeah. And they're they're loving the the

[29:34] flow of how it's working. They really are appreciating it. So, thank you on

[29:38] behalf of the voters for allowing us to use that space.

[29:41] » Well, we get to be nice and cozy in here. So,

[29:43] » yeah. >> Thank you. Yep. Anything else?

[29:50] [clears throat] >> Next up, Dave Rush, Landon Resource.

[29:57] » Good morning again. >> Uh, one item for you this morning. So,

[30:03] this is the Long Prairie Watershed Collaborative

[30:07] Fiscal Agreement agent agent fiscal agreement for year 2027. So, uh, Todd

[30:15] County has been the fiscal agent for this grant, um, new grant year in in

[30:21] fiscal year 2027. So, we just need to reaffirm that they continue to be the

[30:25] fiscal agent for that grant. So, whatever the board's wishes are and

[30:31] then we'll, >> Mr. Chair, is that just is that every

[30:35] year that >> I think it is whatever the grant

[30:39] agreement is with the state. So this looks like it's for fiscal year 2627

[30:47] running the state fiscal. >> Yeah.

[30:50] » Okay. >> So that's so this would be

[30:54] » or even late >> essentially updating that with a new

[30:59] grant period. >> Mr. Chair, does that Dave does that

[31:04] anything to do with the one plan? >> It directly has to do with one wershed

[31:08] one plan. So this would be those grants come to one entity in that watershed and

[31:15] they handle all the financial stuff in the sock river.

[31:19] » I do >> in the Sock River. They just switched

[31:23] that. I think it was uh Sterns County and now it's Sterns soil

[31:28] and water is the fiscal agent for that one.

[31:33] Yeah, that was cuz that's the third that's when financial center solid waste

[31:38] is same day. >> Yep. Yep. I'll make a motion.

[31:45] » Second, Charlie. Thanks, Jeff. Any further

[31:50] discussion? My name, please.

[31:53] » Me? >> Yes.

[31:54] » Schmidt? >> Yes.

[31:55] » Kina? >> Yes.

[31:56] » Rat? >> Yes.

[31:57] » Wade? >> Yes.

[31:58] » Motion carries. >> Good.

[32:01] Thank you. Mary,

[32:07] let's jump. Jill, you want to come on up?

[32:10] » Sure.

[32:25] » I just have one item this morning. Um, just looking for a motion to approve

[32:31] bills totaling 2,33,973.98.

[32:40] » Motion to pay the bills. >> Second,

[32:45] Mr. Charlie. Jerry discussion,

[32:51] please. >> Wade, yes.

[32:52] » Meer, >> yes.

[32:54] » Smith, >> yes. Helina,

[32:55] » yes. >> Yes. Mu carries.

[32:59] » Thank you.

[33:03] » Josh into that. >> I think this is

[33:10] » Oh, come on up. Come on up here. You're the next uh

[33:13] » Oh, sounds like fun.

[33:18] » We're just moving past it. >> That's what I heard.

[33:21] » Going good. >> Mr. Rush, you guys are running a

[33:23] fantastic uh >> Okay, so anyone wants to know who this

[33:26] is, Timson, [laughter] >> public works director.

[33:31] » Go ahead. >> Good morning. I just got three items for

[33:34] you today. The first one is to approve some no parking on CASA 46. So, I was

[33:38] approached by both the city of Alexandria and the school district as

[33:43] well looking to put up some no parking signs front of Discovery Middle School.

[33:47] Um, so they have both passed um the same resolution, so they're very identical

[33:55] what they're asking for. Um, and it is no parking during school day from 7:30

[34:00] to 3:30 to approve.

[34:06] » That's fine. I got a question. Have they talked about how they're going to deal

[34:10] with traffic problem they already have? Because now I go there and pick up

[34:14] grandkids. Where do they sit out on that road to get in there to pick up kids?

[34:19] So, where are they going to go now? They're going to go park at Henry's and

[34:22] then they're going to wave them up or because they have an issue with all

[34:25] » Yes, they do. >> So, now that you took away the parking,

[34:28] where are they going to go? Those people.

[34:30] » So, actually, I think they weren't supposed to be parking through there

[34:33] anyway. So, Discovery was supposed to be working at uh Roing,

[34:38] » but have you been there for that >> during that time? No.

[34:41] » It's about the worst night. >> It is. I know it's nasty. If you want to

[34:44] pick up your kid early, you better be a half hour early before school's out in

[34:48] order to be up in front. And if you're there at the time school's let out,

[34:52] they're backed up, parked on the road trying to get in there cuz they got a

[34:55] one circle. So, by eliminating the parking, where are those people supposed

[34:59] to go? >> So, what I do think people are going to

[35:02] do now that we have this path that we're in the process of finishing up, I think

[35:06] they're going to tell their kids, "Walk up to Willoughby."

[35:09] » They don't want that either. school does not want that because we sat on the they

[35:13] don't want the kids coming out to the sidewalk and get picked up.

[35:16] » So, >> so I'm concerned about this. But what

[35:19] would happen if we would take this take this out of here, take that out of there

[35:23] so people could come off the road and pick up their kids here?

[35:27] » Well, no. They they go here. >> Yeah.

[35:29] » Drive all the way back here. This is where you pick up the kids. You go

[35:32] around and go out over there. >> Okay.

[35:34] » And so when you stop here to pick up your kids, this is backed up all the way

[35:37] out to here. I'm there. You're here. So these people are waiting to get in to go

[35:42] pick up kids. And if they can't park there, where are they going to go?

[35:45] » If we made it so that they could come in here to get here instead of blocking up

[35:48] the road here. >> Well, they could park on there, but they

[35:50] can't get on. >> They got to go somewhere.

[35:53] [clears throat] >> They got to come in here. They can't.

[35:56] » They have to come in here, but then they can't get to this road.

[35:58] » But basically, >> it's a Well, you know where I live?

[36:02] » Yeah. I'm within six blocks of Christmas.

[36:06] The gymnas the gymnastics parking lot is supposed to be off limits for after

[36:10] school pickup. School is you and Jake. More of your

[36:17] engineers should go over there in the morning

[36:21] and then again from 2:45 to I'm not now, not till school starts, but before we

[36:28] make any final decisions on this roundabout and everything else. I but

[36:33] Shane >> and they have been working on it but

[36:36] they need help. That's why I'm telling >> Mr. Sandstead and his crew they need

[36:41] help with this idea. There was a time when all the buses picked up the kids.

[36:47] Now they flipped that. I mean on the back side of the school I mean the buses

[36:50] on the west side there. Now they move buses to the front

[36:54] » to the east side and then all the people are coming in on that south driveway

[36:59] like Shane said and you're supposed to pick your kids up somewhere in the back.

[37:04] We live over there in the ranch at Arabella and we got a grandson there. My

[37:08] wife will meet him somewhere over there on Spanky's property down here or drive,

[37:14] you know, [clears throat]

[37:17] situation our place anyway a lot of times. It's just it's such a So I'm just

[37:23] saying before we make a whole lot of final decisions on what we're going to

[37:26] do. >> I think it needs you you like you said

[37:30] that that's probably got to work with the damn railroad and get an overpass.

[37:35] » But now just what we're just talking about don't even happen when there's a

[37:39] train. >> That is a whole another.

[37:42] » So I I Mr. Sure. I just got to say what would happen if we would take and put a

[37:47] road across to the backside of the Eagles.

[37:50] » Well, that Charlie and I sat on that committee with Rick and we talked and

[37:54] that was exactly what we said. Why don't you build your road up and go back into

[37:58] that neighborhood and start and even use a bus that could haul the kids back

[38:02] there and unload them just a short back and forth and they they haven't done a

[38:06] thing. We sat there, we talked about that whole thing

[38:09] » and when it got done school just said they didn't do anything.

[38:12] » There was a lot of discussion. and they didn't do a thing with it. And I don't

[38:15] know if this is going to solve the problem they got. The only thing they're

[38:18] doing is telling the parents you can't park your because that's what the

[38:21] they're doing. The kids are coming out going out to the sidewalk jumping in the

[38:24] car and leaving. And they don't want them doing that. Okay. What are you

[38:27] going to do with the problem you got? That does solve some of it. So what I

[38:31] think a lot of their issue I don't think they need the whole bit no parking like

[38:35] what they have in here. They need so far away from either of their driveways so

[38:38] that as you're in and out if that's what we end up doing. I think that makes a

[38:42] ton of sense. agree with I agree with T I think you should go over and readress.

[38:47] » In all fairness to the school bus drivers once this buses start leaving

[38:51] everybody shuts down just like they did in Jefferson.

[38:55] People that are plenty of old enough in this room that and the high school was

[38:59] over there on Jefferson. Once they started going across Jefferson Street,

[39:04] nobody drove on Jefferson. The buses went hed right on out to Broadway. One

[39:08] right after the other this far apart. They do the same thing coming out of

[39:12] Discovery. That doesn't mean they're necessarily watching traffic, but

[39:16] traffic has to see them and stop with them. So, it's not it's not proper

[39:22] traffic control by a damsite. It's just what needs to be done. I don't know.

[39:27] It's not easy to when I read this, I wasn't excited because we sat in there

[39:31] and went over this all with them. They asked us, we gave them ideas and nothing

[39:34] happened. Others create more of a problem. I think

[39:37] » I don't we can't they don't want to come. They haven't come up with a

[39:40] solution and it's not easy. I think I I would really like you to do that before.

[39:44] Like I said, I do a lot of whining, but I live there and I I get to witness this

[39:49] every day a couple three times. >> Um, so what I'm hearing from the board,

[39:54] you want me and Jake to study this a little bit better? Should I be bringing

[39:56] this to you January? Is that too late or are you No.

[40:00] » Well, when's their school year's coming? I don't know when they want to try and

[40:03] do it, but how do you go look at it till school starts?

[40:05] » They were want this. I know before school starts. I know they split.

[40:08] » I want to answer it, but I mean you're going to have the sidewalk. What is that

[40:12] going to create? I don't know if that's going to create any It might

[40:16] » unless all the kids walk down and they pick them up at Henry's. Like I said,

[40:19] » yeah, but then you got to move. >> No, that's not

[40:22] » I mean that's why we have other issues because with the with the sidewalk now,

[40:25] how are the residents going to take it? >> Going to get a lot more going on in

[40:30] their area, right? So what I am what I'm writing down study

[40:37] this see if we can come up with a better option for them and present it to should

[40:40] we LGCC >> you got to see what they got going to

[40:46] find out what their plan is because they got to have one start in August

[40:52] » end of the month they got to have a traffic plan. So, just one question.

[40:57] What if you took the no put the no parking there but turned it into a right

[41:01] turn lane?

[41:05] » There isn't going to be a cop within the mile.

[41:08] » But, I mean, with the no parking, if you turn it into a right turn lane, they're

[41:12] going to go you can't work away. >> The other thing you could do is put no

[41:17] parking by both driveways back up so many feet at least to get them started.

[41:21] » I think that I think that's >> I don't have an issue with that. That's

[41:23] a start. But I don't think you need to do the whole thing because you're gonna

[41:26] have I don't the cars are going to sit out on the road then you're going to

[41:29] block stop traffic >> because I want to make a right-hand turn

[41:32] like you said into the school and I can't get in because they're they are

[41:35] backed up out to the road and they don't leave no space up the approaches.

[41:39] » Oh I I I live with that. >> That's for sure.

[41:42] » Go ahead. And also I'd like to make a comment. I think that the uh move of

[41:48] transportation is not being utilized fully. That's why we're seeing the

[41:52] backup in the traffic that we're not using the school bus and Uber paying for

[41:58] it. All of us are paying for that transportation. And I guarantee you that

[42:03] uh the uh school buses are almost empty. And uh they know that they talked about

[42:13] that 15 years ago when they were planning a new high school if they

[42:17] should even if we should get rid of our school buses.

[42:21] What do you need? Both a parking lot that holds 2,000 cars and school bus

[42:26] expans. You know, you get the 90 and 72 passenger buses with 8 to 10 kids on the

[42:34] state says we'll provide.

[42:40] » So, the motion is out there. If it doesn't get a second, it's going to die.

[42:45] Motion. He made a motion. I may go to the

[42:50] » parking as I said seconded parking you mean?

[42:53] » Yeah. >> I hear who wants to do that. You said

[42:57] the school >> the school and the city's already done.

[42:59] » They they both passed the resolutions there.

[43:02] » But it's up to you to >> it's up to the county board. It's the

[43:06] county's right. >> What he's saying is Jeff made a motion.

[43:08] I said if we don't get a second it's going to die anyway.

[43:10] » I'll second just so we can vote. >> Oh. [laughter]

[43:17] I could always be >> He's just got No. My name please.

[43:22] » Schmidt. >> No.

[43:23] » Helina. >> No.

[43:24] » Rat. >> No.

[43:25] » Wade. >> No.

[43:29] [laughter] >> No.

[43:35] » So, sorry. You didn't you didn't know. Are you coming? I know.

[43:38] » No. No. Um, so question. >> We're not meeting you up. question to

[43:41] the board because we talked about maybe doing something at each of these

[43:44] approaches. Is that what you want your motion to be? Should we take care of

[43:48] like 25 feet paint the curb back and make that no

[43:52] » your recommendation >> on what do you think I think that

[43:56] » Can you say it again? >> Um so what we would end up doing at each

[43:59] of those entrances coming into the main parking lot, we would paint uh probably

[44:04] 20 to 25 ft of the curb. We'll look at each of them exactly what that is. So,

[44:08] we'll make no parking as you're entering and exiting the main parking lot so you

[44:12] can actually see what's coming. >> We would paint that yellow. There would

[44:15] also have to be one sign up on either post.

[44:19] » So, I I mean I think that's good, but I do think that you should look into

[44:23] taking that a road west that

[44:30] » 100% that came up when we talked about it. Yeah, that's why I was surprised

[44:33] they didn't do anything. They actually got a trail there. They build it up a

[44:36] little bit. Yep. We'll we'll look at more options for the

[44:40] school. I don't think

[44:46] I made a motion. Charlie made a motion. I'll second it.

[44:50] » Any further discussion on this? The name, please.

[44:52] » Kina, >> yes.

[44:54] » Grab, >> yes.

[44:55] » Way, >> yes.

[44:56] » Meer, >> yes.

[44:57] » Schmidt, >> yes.

[44:58] » Motion carries. >> All right. I got direction.

[45:01] Uh, next item that we have is a resolution to accept a park donation.

[45:07] So, the Big Oie Bike Club um donated a mower for the trails for us. U Brad was

[45:12] going to be on his way to explain that he's here.

[45:14] » He didn't make it. >> Wonderful.

[45:15] » You were hiding back there on me. >> He came in quiet. He stayed away from me

[45:19] cuz I I don't sound like

[45:24] » Yep. Yeah. So, uh, we told tell the view this week about this at the coffee

[45:29] meeting, but, uh, yeah, the Big Old Bike Club, they were looking for a mower to

[45:33] help with the spin trimming on the mountain bike trails and, uh, I told

[45:37] them, "We'd be all for it, but that's not something the county is going to

[45:40] purchase, and they ended up writing a grant, getting one. They donated to us

[45:45] to maintain, and then we mow and we've been using it. I been using it this

[45:49] summer. It's been fantastic." Works well.

[45:51] » Yep. And we can run we can it's a all terrain zero for the tracks. It can go

[45:57] on 30 degree slope and we run it right down the center although we center the

[46:01] mountain bike trail and run the tracks on each side of it. And so we can mow

[46:04] about a foot and a half on each side. It's just one pass around instead of

[46:08] walking up and then coming back down the trail to spin from each side. So it's

[46:14] been a game saver. We're actually because of that, we've got the entire

[46:19] race course for the high school mountain bike race in September's already been

[46:22] repacked with clay this summer because we've had time cuz our mowing's been

[46:27] cutting. We mow about once every two weeks where we having somebody spin trim

[46:32] almost daily to try to keep those, you know, open for a high school race that's

[46:36] coming this fall. So, it's helped a lot with the maintenance.

[46:42] » We've been trying it out. It's obviously working. So, we're looking for the

[46:46] approval of potentially accepted. >> Sounds great. Make a motion to approve

[46:50] resolution 2662. >> Yep.

[46:55] » Park donation. >> I'll second.

[46:58] » Thanks, Tim. Thanks, Charlie. Any further discussions? Name, please.

[47:03] » Helina, >> yes.

[47:04] » Rat, >> yes.

[47:05] » Wade, >> yes.

[47:06] » Meer, >> yes.

[47:07] » Schmidt, >> yes. Motion carried.

[47:11] » Thank you. [clears throat] Last item that I have is to approve our

[47:14] engineering contract to do our bridge safety inspections. So, we've had MSA,

[47:17] they've been doing our bridge safety inspections for the last couple of

[47:20] years. Um, they've done a actually really good job with that for us. Um, 22

[47:26] bridges I believe are on here for uh this year. That includes the initial

[47:30] inspection of our Chipo Park bridge that we made last fall. Um this is this is

[47:35] kind of our standards um meets the uh the federal

[47:42] requirements. The one thing that I am looking for one thing that we have to

[47:47] include um so as of 2024

[47:52] uh the feds are actually requiring extra um covert data and bridge data. So

[47:58] different uh items that we typically didn't have in our uh bridge

[48:03] inspections. So that includes this uh 21,000 includes time for putting those

[48:08] in. So when you look into the uh uh attachment A and page three of that

[48:13] items three item four that mentions those snivey culver data collections uh

[48:19] standards for national bridge inventory. It's all snippy stands for

[48:24] [clears throat] um what they're they're going to get that extra data. So that

[48:27] includes the time for doing all of that for us that we can make those federal

[48:30] requirements as well. Um, one other thing I was going to point out um, under

[48:35] a state uh, timber haulers permit. So the state's been collecting

[48:41] all this money for years. They didn't know what to do with it. They've been

[48:43] giving it back to the counties. Um, so we'll have another $6,000 to apply

[48:47] towards that 21,000. So our cost will be less.

[48:51] » And how often do they have to inspect the bridges?

[48:53] » So it's going to depend on the structure itself. Some of them are at 12-month

[48:57] frequency. So, I think we have four of Nope, I think we have two of them that

[49:01] are every year. That should be on your list back there.

[49:05] » The ones that are in poor condition, they got to come in.

[49:07] » Yep. They got to come in every year. Um, most of your structures that are actual

[49:10] bridges um are going to be on a 24-month frequency if they're still pretty

[49:14] decent. We have in Douglas County uh 61 structures.

[49:20] Um and then your culverts when they're in actually pretty good condition, we

[49:23] can get those on a 4-year frequency. That's what we do.

[49:28] » So the state of Minnesota, any structure or group of structures that spans 10 ft

[49:33] or more is a bridge. >> And that's what ends up on our bridge

[49:37] inspection list. >> Tell me how many thousand calls we have.

[49:42] » No. No. So you're thinking culvert's like the the smaller

[49:45] » that that's anything that's bigger that spans 10 ft or more.

[49:50] » Oh, it spans 10. >> Why? Why?

[49:54] » Why? wide. >> Okay.

[49:55] » Not length. Yeah. >> Yeah. That would have been quite a bit

[49:59] more than 60 >> name.

[50:01] » He's about the only guy that [laughter]

[50:05] » correct. >> So, we got to check all the ones on the

[50:08] Central Lakes Trail. >> So, the state

[50:11] » So, we would check the ones it it depends on what road goes over it. Those

[50:16] are the ones that we check. >> And so, we are also the bridge

[50:20] inspectors for the townships. So, a lot of those don't roads are going to cross

[50:23] the except >> Y.

[50:27] Thank you.

[50:30] » We need action on that. >> Right.

[50:35] » I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second it. Any further discussion?

[50:41] Lay, please. R. >> Yes.

[50:43] » Wade. Yes. Meer. >> Yes. Smitt.

[50:46] » Yes. >> Yes. Motion carries.

[50:49] » Thank you very much. It will take uh get better.

[50:55] » Five minutes.

8/4/26 Regular Board of Commissioners Meeting Part 1

Transcript