[0:00] MALE SPEAKER: Tomorrow is a
national holiday, Constitution
[0:04] Day, and I lived a
good portion of my life
[0:10] without even realizing that.
[0:12] But I'm going to start
and just read the preamble
[0:15] of the US Constitution.
[0:18] And it states, "We, the
people of the United States,
[0:22] in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice,
[0:27] ensure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
[0:33] promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty
[0:37] to ourselves and
to our prosperity,
[0:44] do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United
[0:47] States of America."
[0:48] So with that in mind, and with
all of the discourse that we've
[0:56] had over the last
several weeks, I just
[1:00] want to remind
everybody that we do
[1:03] live in a truly
remarkable republic
[1:06] and we are truly blessed.
[1:09] And I pray that we
can find common unity,
[1:16] discuss our differences in a
fair, open, and non-violent way.
[1:22] 
[1:26] Regardless of where we're
at on the political side--
[1:29] left, right,
conservative, liberal--
[1:33] I think we all agree that
violence is not the answer
[1:38] and it just leads to
our broken country.
[1:41] So with that in mind,
I would like to just
[1:44] do a moment of silence
to pray for our country,
[1:48] Pray for Charlie Burke's
widow, his family,
[1:52] and pray for healing.
[1:55] So let's just take
one moment of silence
[1:58] and say a prayer
for our country.
[2:00] 
[2:13] Thank you.
[2:14] We'll start with the Pledge.
[2:16] 
[2:20] ALL: I pledge allegiance to
the flag, of the United States
[2:24] of America, and to
the Republic for which
[2:26] it stands, one nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty
[2:31] and justice for all.
[2:32] 
[2:38] MALE SPEAKER: At each committee
of the whole work session,
[2:40] the floor will be
open to solicit
[2:42] public comments on
items on the agenda
[2:45] after they have been presented.
[2:47] A comment card will need to be
filled out prior to speaking.
[2:50] Public comments will be limited
to three minutes for each person
[2:55] upon the discretion of the
county board chairperson.
[2:59] And we will start with
roll call, I guess.
[3:05] FEMALE SPEAKER: Mallika?
[3:06] MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
[3:07] FEMALE SPEAKER: Peters?
[3:07] MALE SPEAKER: Here.
[3:08] FEMALE SPEAKER: Hoisington?
[3:09] MALE SPEAKER: Here.
[3:10] FEMALE SPEAKER: Perfeerst?
[3:10] MALE SPEAKER: Here.
[3:11] FEMALE SPEAKER: Underdahl.
[3:12] MALE SPEAKER: Here.
[3:13] MALE SPEAKER:
First on our agenda
[3:15] is property tax and elections.
[3:18] But Denise is not
going to speak.
[3:19] I believe Dean is on
Circle Lake, Rice County.
[3:22] 
[3:32] DEAN: Good morning, gentlemen.
[3:33] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[3:34] MALE SPEAKER: Morning.
[3:35] DEAN: This is your update
for the Circle Lake
[3:37] Improvement District for 2025.
[3:40] I do have Cheryl Bonsen.
[3:42] She's our treasurer
here with me today,
[3:44] and Bill Houston, he's our
vice chair to back me up today
[3:49] on today's presentation.
[3:52] We'll go to the next slide.
[3:54] And it's just a reminder of
what the Circle Lake Improvement
[3:59] District is trying
to do, and that's
[4:01] to improve the water
quality of the lake
[4:04] to the point where we
can get off the and
[4:07] MPCA's impaired waters list.
[4:10] We go to the next slide,
just to remind you
[4:14] our four critical impairments.
[4:18] And then the next slide, those
four critical impairments
[4:22] are what causes or contributes
to the cyanobacteria
[4:25] or blue-green
algae and foul odor
[4:28] that we have out on the lake
through the summer season
[4:31] occasionally.
[4:33] We can move to the next slide.
[4:35] Our solution is a
three pronged approach.
[4:37] I've talked to you about this
before through the years,
[4:42] as we've tried to
identify the problems
[4:44] and try to figure out
what exactly we can do
[4:48] to resolve them, we've
come up with this three
[4:50] pronged approach.
[4:52] We need to get air, dissolved
oxygen into the lake.
[4:57] So we need to aerate the lake.
[4:59] There are products that will
sequester the phosphorus or make
[5:02] the phosphorus that is in the
lake-- and we have way too
[5:06] much phosphorus in this lake--
[5:07] sequester that.
[5:09] And then there are
biological agents
[5:11] that we can add to the lake to
help digest that muck that's
[5:15] in the bottom of the lake.
[5:17] So before I move on
to the next slide,
[5:20] the phosphorus
sequestration effort
[5:23] was something that
we had in front
[5:24] of you, actually, this year.
[5:26] We had a company
present a proposal to us
[5:30] for adding a phosphorus
sequestration agent to the lake.
[5:36] It was far, far too expensive
for us to fund on our own.
[5:39] So they were helping us get
a grant proposal in front
[5:44] of Congresswoman Jenny Craig.
[5:48] We asked for letters
of support for us
[5:52] and for that grant application.
[5:55] We want to make
sure that you know
[5:57] how much we appreciate
the letter that you
[5:59] had Sarah draft on our behalf.
[6:03] We had almost 30
residents and businesses
[6:06] around the lake that
wrote letters of support
[6:08] for this effort.
[6:10] Clean Water Partners
wrote a letter of support
[6:13] for this effort, and also the
Sheriff's Department weighed in.
[6:18] So all of those
letters of support
[6:20] went in with this grant
application to Jenny Craig,
[6:24] to Congresswoman Craig to
help us get that funded.
[6:30] But unfortunately, we
didn't make the cut.
[6:34] We didn't make it.
[6:37] So we'll move on
to the next slide
[6:39] to talk about the three pronged
approach, I mentioned before.
[6:45] We've tried to fund
it as a whole package.
[6:48] It's been way too expensive,
so we've had to break
[6:51] it into individual segments.
[6:54] So the first segment that we've
started to focus on this year
[6:56] is aeration.
[6:57] We can move on to
the next slide.
[7:00] And then it looks like this
this year-- onto the next slide.
[7:05] It's a combination
of a surface aerator.
[7:08] And I've labeled this
incorrectly, the nano bubbler.
[7:11] It's actually a small bubble
diffuser and nanobubbler
[7:15] or small bubble diffuser.
[7:16] It just talks to the
size of the bubbles
[7:18] that these units are producing.
[7:22] That fine bubble diffuser is
a little bit bigger bubble
[7:24] than the nanobubbler,
so that was
[7:26] my mistake when I labeled that.
[7:28] But between these
two units, they
[7:30] create a large bubble
of aerated water
[7:39] that is then moved
throughout the lake
[7:42] as the water flows
throughout the lake.
[7:46] This will ultimately,
and going into 2026,
[7:51] will actually be three of these
fine bubble diffusers that
[7:53] will circle a surface aerator.
[7:57] And we're going to deploy
them in three different spots.
[8:01] So we'll go on to
the next slide.
[8:04] This is currently where
the aerator is located.
[8:07] The DO recorder is taking
dissolved oxygen readings
[8:13] at three different
levels in the lake,
[8:14] and we're seeing results from
this, just this first unit--
[8:18] this kind of prototype unit--
[8:20] We're seeing results of this
aeration moving out at 400 feet
[8:25] away from the unit right now.
[8:26] We've measured it at 200 feet.
[8:28] We've measured it at 400 feet.
[8:30] And we'll continue moving
the DO recorders out until we
[8:35] find the limit as to
what this oxygen plume,
[8:39] this bubble of dissolved oxygen
in the water, how far it moves.
[8:43] And it's moving from
the surface all the way
[8:46] down to the bottom of the lake.
[8:47] So we're really excited
about the success
[8:50] that we're having with this.
[8:52] If we'll go up to
the next slide,
[8:56] the white arrows are the maps.
[8:58] This is how the water
flows through Circle Lake.
[9:02] So the red dot is where the
aerator is currently located.
[9:07] The blue dot down here on
the bottom on the right,
[9:10] if you move that dot to
the right a little bit,
[9:13] or to the east, that's where
the next unit will go for 2026.
[9:17] And again, it will
be a single surface
[9:19] aerator surrounded by three
small bubble diffusers.
[9:23] And then up at the
top, that blue dot
[9:27] is where we will locate another
unit, same as the others.
[9:31] And then, as we watch
this project develop,
[9:37] there are a couple
other locations where
[9:39] we might add a total of five.
[9:41] We're just figuring out
how effective this is
[9:44] and how far this dissolved
oxygen moves out.
[9:48] And we have to have this
dissolved oxygen in the lake
[9:51] for the lake to be healthy, so
that it can continue to support
[9:54] not only the wildlife
in there in the lake,
[9:57] but the bacteria
that's in the lake
[10:00] that helps dissolve the muck.
[10:03] And also, the fact that
when the oxygen in the lake
[10:09] goes to 0 at the bottom,
that's how that phosphorus gets
[10:12] released.
[10:13] That phosphorus is what the
algae uses to grow and bloom.
[10:17] And then the cycle of foul
odor and foul water continues.
[10:22] So that's our plan, as far as
the three pronged approach.
[10:26] We may-- depending on
how this works out,
[10:30] there are some biological agents
where we might have some test
[10:34] spots where we add some of
that just to see how effective
[10:37] these different products work
as far as digesting the muck
[10:40] in the bottom of the lake.
[10:42] And that's something that
we're looking at as well.
[10:44] So that's what we've
worked at on the aeration
[10:48] aspect of our three
pronged approach for 2025.
[10:53] Moving on to the
next slide, we're
[10:54] talking about weeds for 2025.
[10:57] The next slide is the areas
that we treated for weeds.
[11:01] It's curly leaf pondweed that
is our major invasive species.
[11:05] We have a little bit of
milfoil, but it's basically
[11:08] mostly curly pondweed.
[11:10] The area in green hash
there is where we treated,
[11:13] came to about 93 acres this
year, and it was very effective.
[11:18] And beyond that initial flush
of weeds that we took care
[11:22] of with the herbicide
treatment, our weeds this year
[11:24] have been very, very minimal.
[11:26] And so that's worked
out really, really well.
[11:31] That weed project was
funded by a $5,000 grant
[11:35] that came through Rice County.
[11:37] And then the Circle Lake
Association gave us $12,000
[11:42] to put towards weed control.
[11:44] We did not get a grant from
the DNR this year for weeds.
[11:47] We didn't get one last year.
[11:49] We didn't get one
this year, same thing.
[11:51] It's a lottery and we
just didn't get picked.
[11:54] So that's how that works.
[11:57] The hazard buoys, hazard to
navigation buoys are out there.
[12:04] We want to make sure
that the Sheriff's
[12:08] Department, Nathan Bodine--
[12:10] if you can, Joe, let them know
how much we appreciate it--
[12:14] if we go to the next slide--
[12:15] appreciate them.
[12:17] They put the buoys out
for us in the spring
[12:19] and they retrieve
them in the fall.
[12:23] We'll be setting that
up here pretty soon.
[12:25] So, Joe, if you let
the Sheriff's Office
[12:26] know how much we appreciate
that-- the water patrol--
[12:29] thank you.
[12:30] We move on to the
next slide, and I
[12:32] wanted to let you know that the
Circle Lake Improvement District
[12:35] now has a quarterly newsletter.
[12:38] Bill Houston is
our editor on that.
[12:41] He does a really great job.
[12:42] That was included in
your meeting packet.
[12:45] What you see here is just kind
of half of the front page,
[12:47] but it's in your meeting packet
if you'd care to look at that.
[12:50] It's a great educational
tool and vehicle that we
[12:55] get out to the community.
[12:56] It's available to them all
the time through our website,
[12:59] and so we're real happy that
Bill is doing this and getting
[13:04] that information out there.
[13:06] So we'll move to the next slide.
[13:10] For 2026, this is what
we're looking at to do.
[13:13] 
[13:17] The one thing I haven't spoken
about is any watershed projects.
[13:20] We are looking at into
watershed projects
[13:23] as they come to our attention.
[13:25] And then the next
slide is our financial.
[13:30] So I'll stop right here and
ask, is there any questions
[13:32] about what I've covered so
far, what we've done for 2025
[13:35] and what we're looking like
we're going to do for '26?
[13:38] No?
[13:39] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead.
[13:40] MALE SPEAKER: Mr.
Chair, thank you.
[13:42] Dean, my question is,
treating for this muck,
[13:46] what happens to it?
[13:48] DEAN: It just biodegrades, but
it can't do it without oxygen.
[13:52] MALE SPEAKER: But
what is in the muck?
[13:53] Sand and just dirt?
[13:55] DEAN: Dirt and sand and
biological material from--
[13:59] the algae grows, it dies, it
sinks to the bottom of the lake.
[14:02] The weeds grow, they die.
[14:04] They sink to the
bottom of the lake.
[14:05] So it's organic material that
is just resting in the bottom
[14:09] of the lake, trying to decay.
[14:11] But when it does, it
uses up all the oxygen.
[14:15] And then the phosphorus
that's in the soil
[14:17] in the bottom of the lake
starts getting released.
[14:19] And the whole cycle
starts all over again.
[14:22] MALE SPEAKER: So this
just dispenses throughout
[14:24] the whole lake, then?
[14:25] DEAN: Yes, sir.
[14:26] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[14:28] MALE SPEAKER: Anybody else?
[14:29] So, Dean, how are you
powering these aerators?
[14:34] DEAN: It's electric.
[14:35] They're electric powered.
[14:36] MALE SPEAKER: Electric?
[14:36] So is that coming off somebody's
power in someone's home?
[14:39] DEAN: In the particular
site we have right now,
[14:44] there's actually a power
pole down there that is--
[14:48] I believe it was installed
quite a number of years
[14:50] ago when the
Tri-Lakes Sportsman's
[14:52] Club was aerating that part of
the lake in the winter time.
[14:56] So there's a transformer
and a power pole
[14:58] down there on one of
our member's properties.
[15:01] We have a lease agreement
with him to access that site,
[15:04] and we're powering
this particular unit
[15:07] off of that power pole.
[15:08] So we have our own meter and
that's how that's going to go.
[15:12] On the other two
sites, that will
[15:13] be power that will be
provided by the resident,
[15:16] and we'll figure out a
way to compensate them.
[15:19] I don't know how
that's going to go.
[15:21] And you reminded me,
as just a side note,
[15:25] is that Benjamin Berry area
where we have the aerator right
[15:28] now will be an area that we will
aerate throughout the winter
[15:32] to support the fish and also
continue trying to get oxygen
[15:35] into the lake water as well.
[15:38] That will look like
that surface aerator
[15:41] that I showed you plus two more.
[15:43] There'll be three of them.
[15:44] We won't use the
bottom diffusers,
[15:46] but we'll put three of
the surface aerators
[15:48] out there to keep an
open section of water
[15:51] throughout the winter.
[15:53] MALE SPEAKER: Well, good.
[15:54] Well, I appreciate
what you're doing.
[15:56] It's incremental.
[15:57] It's an uphill battle.
[15:59] But I'm glad that
you're addressing
[16:02] it the best way you can.
[16:03] DEAN: And the thing we're
really excited about, like I
[16:05] said, is we're seeing
results and we've
[16:07] got something that's modular.
[16:09] It's transferable.
[16:10] If we can really get it
dialed in, we can use it.
[16:14] You can use it on other
lakes, and it's affordable.
[16:16] It's not like these
multi-million dollar projects
[16:19] that I've been talking to
you about in previous years.
[16:21] This is something
that we can afford,
[16:24] that we can pay for ourselves--
not that we're not looking
[16:26] for grants and the like
to expand these things,
[16:30] but this is
something that's wet.
[16:32] It's in the water,
it's being tested.
[16:33] And we're real excited.
[16:34] MALE SPEAKER: You're
doing what you can.
[16:36] DEAN: We're doing what we can.
[16:36] Exactly, sir.
[16:37] Thank you.
[16:39] So we'll go over our
financials real quick.
[16:43] Year to date income, we've
brought in about $58,000.
[16:48] The two points I want
to make on this slide,
[16:50] I mentioned the
$12,000 from the Circle
[16:52] Lake Association for weeds.
[16:54] They also gave us a $15,000 to
go towards the aeration project.
[16:59] Next slide, please.
[17:03] We've spent about $75,000.
[17:08] The big number there
is the projects
[17:10] which will be broken
out in the next slide,
[17:14] if we can move to that.
[17:15] So we've spent a little over
$27,000 on the lake restoration
[17:21] project or the aeration
project, and a little
[17:26] over $40,000 for weeds.
[17:28] We'll go to the next slide.
[17:31] This is the estimated
income and expenses
[17:34] for the rest of the year.
[17:36] The top number is the second
half of the assessment
[17:39] that will come in.
[17:41] This is really great, guys.
[17:44] The second number is $22,000.
[17:46] We had a member get up at our
annual meeting in August that
[17:49] challenged the group,
challenged the membership
[17:51] to match a $1,000
donation that he was
[17:55] going to make to the district.
[18:00] That challenge generated $22,000
in donations from the district.
[18:08] So we're really
excited about that
[18:09] and we certainly appreciate
that kind of support.
[18:13] It shows you the involvement
and the dedication
[18:16] that our members have towards
getting this lake cleaned up.
[18:21] 
[18:24] So you see the number for
the estimated expenses
[18:27] for the remainder of the year.
[18:29] We might be a little
bit low on that number
[18:30] because we didn't know
we were going to have
[18:32] that windfall of $22,000.
[18:35] We may find that we
spend a little bit more
[18:37] on the aeration project, just
because if we buy something now,
[18:43] it might be cheaper than
waiting for it next year.
[18:46] I don't think we'll spend
the $4,800 for weeds.
[18:49] There's just no weeds
in the lake right now,
[18:50] but there was about $5,000
left over in the budget
[18:53] for weeds if we had
a milfoil problem,
[18:55] and we don't at this point.
[18:58] We're looking at
somewhere just north
[19:01] of $98,000 in the bank
at the end of the year,
[19:05] if this kind of pans out.
[19:07] So we'll go to the next slide.
[19:10] And this is the vote.
[19:13] You can go to the next slide.
[19:14] We had 42 parcels vote
at our annual meeting,
[19:18] and there are the
results of that.
[19:21] They approved, and then we
can go on to the next slide.
[19:27] This is the budget that was
sent out to our membership.
[19:30] This is the budget
that they approved.
[19:32] I've broken it down into
the income and expense
[19:35] side for the next slides.
[19:36] So if we can go up one
more, on the income side
[19:40] of the approved budget
for 2026, for this budget,
[19:46] we carried over $70,000.
[19:49] The membership approved a
$400 per parcel assessment.
[19:54] That's going to generate
us around $66,800.
[19:57] The grants, I put this
grant DNR weed in here
[20:03] just because we just
don't think we're
[20:05] going to get any
money from the state.
[20:06] We've always had budgeted
$10,000 from the DNR,
[20:11] but I don't think that's
going to happen this year.
[20:13] I'm not sure that they're going
to have any money for weeds
[20:15] at all.
[20:16] But certainly, if they
do, we'll apply for it,
[20:19] but we're not counting on it.
[20:21] As far as we know, the $5,000
that comes through the County
[20:24] for weeds will be there.
[20:25] And then hopefully, we've
got $12,500 budgeted from
[20:32] other grant sources,
the Circle Lake
[20:34] Association being one of them.
[20:36] Up to the next slide,
estimated expenses.
[20:39] That top group of numbers just
kind of keeps the lights on.
[20:42] This is the budget for the
lake restoration project
[20:45] and weeds management project.
[20:48] Both of those projects are
over $5,000, so our membership
[20:51] has to vote on those.
[20:52] They've approved those as well.
[20:54] So if we do, in fact,
spend all this money,
[20:58] that'll pretty much
tap us out for 2026.
[21:01] I think we'll carry in
a little bit more than
[21:03] the $70,000 but it
gives you a rough
[21:05] idea of what we're looking at.
[21:07] And this is what the
membership approved.
[21:09] So we'll go to the next slide.
[21:11] For questions on the budget?
[21:13] 
[21:17] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead.
[21:18] DEAN: Well then, I thank
you very much for your time.
[21:20] I hope that when it
comes time for you
[21:21] to vote on our budget and our
items, that you approve it.
[21:27] And certainly, if you
have any questions,
[21:29] you know how to get a hold of me
and I appreciate your support.
[21:36] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead.
[21:37] MALE SPEAKER: Just a thank
you to you and everybody
[21:40] on the board and the
residents for stepping
[21:43] up and doing what
you're doing to make
[21:45] improvements to the lake.
[21:46] DEAN: You're welcome.
[21:47] I'll let them know.
[21:49] MALE SPEAKER: I
also have a comment.
[21:50] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead.
[21:52] MALE SPEAKER: The
Circle Lake island,
[21:53] you're all aware
of the land trust,
[21:56] purchasing it and
going to hopefully
[21:58] switch it over to the DNR, so
that's going to be a good thing.
[22:02] And then, I have had
several comments.
[22:04] I live real close to the
lake, of course, of how good
[22:08] it was this year,
the weeds and stuff.
[22:10] So you must be doing
something right, so thank you.
[22:15] DEAN: You're welcome.
[22:16] 
[22:19] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you, Dean.
[22:20] Appreciate it.
[22:20] DEAN: Thank you.
[22:23] MALE SPEAKER: Next,
we have our assessor's
[22:24] office with Josh Schoen.
[22:26] 
[22:30] JOSH SCHOEN: Good
morning, commissioners.
[22:31] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[22:32] MALE SPEAKER: Morning.
[22:32] JOSH SCHOEN: Thanks for letting
me do an update this morning.
[22:35] I'm going to start
just by showing
[22:38] the organization of my office.
[22:39] So I have 13 full staff in
my office, including myself.
[22:44] Our most recent hire
was in the end of May,
[22:47] so we've been fully
staffed since the end
[22:48] of May, which is
the longest stretch
[22:50] we've had since before COVID.
[22:52] So I'm thankful for that.
[22:54] Hopefully, that continues.
[22:56] But we have six appraisers,
three, I guess, office staff,
[23:01] and then two GIS
people besides myself
[23:04] and the assistant county
assessor, Carolyn.
[23:08] Next slide.
[23:10] I showed this slide when
I gave the presentation
[23:13] at the County Board of
Appeal and Equalization.
[23:15] So you can kind of see where
the market value has gone
[23:18] over the more recent years.
[23:21] Our sales ratio
study analyzes sales,
[23:25] so for the '26
assessed values, we
[23:28] started with sales
starting October 1 of '24
[23:32] and will go through the end
of September 30 of 2025.
[23:36] So we're getting close to
the end of that time study.
[23:40] From what I'm seeing before
the sales ratio season's over,
[23:46] is that we'll see similar
increases as a year ago,
[23:50] that kind of all property types,
our assessed value compared to
[23:54] the sale prices have been low.
[23:57] So I'm expecting
to see increases
[23:59] across all the property types.
[24:01] MALE SPEAKER: I have
a question about that.
[24:03] JOSH SCHOEN: Go ahead.
[24:05] MALE SPEAKER: At what point--
[24:06] and I know this is not
you-- but at what point are
[24:09] the Department of Revenue--
because that's who
[24:11] you answer to, right--
[24:12] I mean, they make the rules.
[24:14] At what point are they
going to say, gosh,
[24:19] we've made the assessors
raise the value on everything
[24:23] from commercial to residential,
to apartments to farmland,
[24:27] that it's not sustainable?
[24:28] Because that's the
point we're approaching.
[24:31] You can deliver that message
to whoever from the Department
[24:34] of Revenue, but I will as well.
[24:36] But it's becoming the point
where people can't, because it's
[24:39] part of the tax
process of the value
[24:42] and what they pay for
taxes on their homes.
[24:45] It's getting to the point where
it's not sustainable for people
[24:49] to be able to live in
their homes anymore
[24:51] because the values have
been rising so dramatically
[24:54] that we're going to
have a mess on our hands
[24:58] here coming up soon.
[24:59] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah, and
one of the big things
[25:02] to make sure understand
too, is remember,
[25:05] the values are just how
the levies are distributed.
[25:07] So I mean, if levies stayed
the same and values doubled,
[25:11] the taxes would stay the same
in a more simple tax system.
[25:15] So it is how it's
distributed statutorily.
[25:20] Assessors must value
at market value.
[25:24] I know other states have done
a little bit different things.
[25:28] In Minnesota, they
use net tax capacity.
[25:30] So not every classification
pays the same amount of taxes
[25:34] because there's a
multiplier that changes,
[25:37] that percentage that they pay.
[25:39] That's how Minnesota's
chosen to do that.
[25:43] I know Iowa, like
on their farmland,
[25:45] they value it like a small
percentage of the value.
[25:48] So it's always just how do
you shake that out, I guess.
[25:54] But what we are seeing is,
the good thing about when
[25:58] we see all property types--
[26:00] so residential and commercial
apartments-- when they all go up
[26:04] rather opposed to
one goes up, one goes
[26:06] down, that creates a tax shift.
[26:09] So that's a good thing about
when all of them go up together,
[26:12] at least there's not
this big tax shift
[26:15] that you could see
because then, there's
[26:16] kind of unexpected tax bills.
[26:19] So that's the positive
of that, I guess.
[26:23] Also, just having
a healthy market
[26:26] is usually a better
economical sign too.
[26:30] So hopefully, that
exists as well.
[26:35] I guess we can move
on to the next slide.
[26:37] This just shows the residential
and seasonal rec sales.
[26:43] I always kind of show
this from year to year,
[26:45] what the average
county-wide and average
[26:47] and Faribault, Northfield.
[26:49] Last year's study for
the 2025 assessment,
[26:53] the average county-wide
sale price was $350,000.
[26:57] And preliminary, through
the first week in September,
[27:00] it was $370,000.
[27:03] And then you can
see in Northfield,
[27:06] I think it went from 365 to
378, and then in Faribault, from
[27:11] 285 to just about $300,000.
[27:14] So you can see those increases
in the average sale price.
[27:18] 
[27:22] Last year, when
I gave an update,
[27:23] I had several slides
on legislative changes,
[27:27] and a lot of them really
created some tax shifts.
[27:30] We saw a really active bill
a year ago with the tax bill
[27:34] this year.
[27:35] There was a lot discussed
in the tax bill,
[27:37] but nothing really
made it through.
[27:40] Some of the big
changes a year ago
[27:42] was that they redid the
formula for the Homestead
[27:45] market value exclusion.
[27:46] That probably had the
biggest impact on tax shifts.
[27:50] Also, you can see in this
chart, from '23 to '24,
[27:55] the Ag Homestead tier went
from just over $2.1 million
[27:59] to $3.5 million.
[28:01] That created some shift.
[28:02] There was a low income
rental classification
[28:05] that really had a reduced rate
from essentially 0.75% to 0.25%.
[28:12] The legislature doesn't
always pass bills
[28:15] on the Homestead tier limit.
[28:16] Usually, the
Department of Revenue
[28:18] just determines that based
on the value increases
[28:21] that are on the state.
[28:22] There was that big
change a year ago
[28:24] because legislators didn't
think the Department
[28:27] of Revenue kept up with
the changes of ag value.
[28:30] But this year, there was a
$300,000 increase in that limit,
[28:34] which is percentage-wise,
pretty similar
[28:37] to the tillable increase that we
saw a year ago with our ag land.
[28:42] So that's probably
the one big change
[28:46] for this coming assessment.
[28:49] MALE SPEAKER: So, Josh, can
I ask just a question here?
[28:51] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah.
[28:52] MALE SPEAKER: How
do you determine
[28:54] agricultural homestead?
[28:56] I mean, what's the
criteria for that?
[28:58] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah, so
the most basic way is
[29:01] if you own and occupy the farm.
[29:04] So you live on the farm.
[29:06] Once you establish ag
homestead-- so that usually
[29:09] means at least 10 contiguous
productive acres in production--
[29:13] then, once you establish
that, you can link
[29:15] farmland within four townships.
[29:18] There's different ways.
[29:20] That's one thing that's added to
the complexity of ag homesteads
[29:24] that we have--
[29:25] a lot of our administration
in our offices
[29:27] just follow this stuff, but
there's relative ag homesteads.
[29:33] There's the special
ag homesteads
[29:34] because the farming community
has changed where there's
[29:37] more entity-owned properties.
[29:40] Maybe they're
moving off the farm,
[29:43] but they still continue
to farm but live in town.
[29:46] There's some ways that they can
qualify if they're the farmer
[29:49] or a relative is a farmer.
[29:52] They've really kind
of expanded the ways
[29:54] that that's changed
as farming operations
[29:56] have changed over the years.
[29:59] So it is something
we have, in general,
[30:03] our homestead applications,
once people file, they continue
[30:06] to get that homestead credit.
[30:08] But like the special egg, we
require applications every year.
[30:11] Any kind of relative homestead,
we've been on every other year
[30:14] cycle just to make sure
they continue to live
[30:17] there and meet that criteria.
[30:19] So it is a little more
complex than a simple answer
[30:24] on that, but that's
changed over the years.
[30:25] And every year-- well,
not every year, but it
[30:27] seems like there's a
little different rules
[30:31] periodically within.
[30:33] MALE SPEAKER: And
then the valuation
[30:34] limit would be
that's the maximum
[30:36] that they can be valued at?
[30:37] Is that what you're getting at?
[30:38] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah.
[30:38] Once all the farmland and
outbuildings reach that--
[30:44] let's say, it'll
be 3.8 next year.
[30:47] Once they hit that
limit, then they're
[30:49] taxed at the non-homestead
rate, which is twice as much
[30:52] as the homestead rate.
[30:53] So your taxes
double on that part.
[30:55] So we've had over the years,
like a truth and taxation time.
[30:58] We'll have some farmers
come in and say my taxes
[31:03] doubled on this parcel.
[31:04] This can't be right.
[31:05] And what happens
a lot of times is
[31:06] that parcel was
getting homestead
[31:08] and then it doesn't
get homestead.
[31:09] Maybe it's at the
end of that tier.
[31:11] It is one thing, legislation
addressed that homestead tier
[31:14] a year ago because there
wasn't a lot of change in there
[31:18] and we were having
some pretty big
[31:19] value increases in especially
the southern part of the state.
[31:23] So we saw a lot of that.
[31:25] And then it's such a big
difference between homestead
[31:28] and non-homestead with
ag land and outbuildings,
[31:31] that you notice that.
[31:32] Because really, the biggest
difference is the rate doubles.
[31:35] And there's also an
ag homestead credit
[31:37] that farmers get
that's up to $490
[31:41] based on the value
of the property.
[31:45] MALE SPEAKER: Well, thank
you for that clarification.
[31:48] You guys deal with
that more than I do.
[31:51] But you understand
that completely?
[31:53] MALE SPEAKER: Yeah.
[31:54] I've been to his
office several times.
[31:57] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah, no,
Minnesota has the most complex
[32:01] property tax laws in
the entire country,
[32:04] and it's not even close.
[32:06] I know the last time I heard, it
was like Minnesota had something
[32:08] like 67 property
tax classifications,
[32:11] and the next highest
state was Iowa with 11.
[32:14] It was that big a disparity.
[32:16] And there are credits
for different things.
[32:21] One thing that's changed
over the more recent years
[32:23] is there's a school building
bond credit that became
[32:28] established as a lot
of old state schools
[32:30] failed to pass
referendums because it
[32:34] would impact the farmers so
much and they'd vote against it.
[32:37] Now when there's a school
building bond, 70% of that
[32:42] comes back as a
credit to farmland.
[32:45] So they're only paying on 30%
of it, where historically,
[32:49] they've paid 100%.
[32:50] 
[32:53] Next slide?
[32:54] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you
for that clarification.
[32:55] I think it's important
and you helped me
[32:57] understand it a little better.
[32:58] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah.
[32:59] 
[33:01] Every year, the
Department of Revenue
[33:03] does a State Board
of Equalization.
[33:05] So whenever there's six or more
sales within a property type
[33:09] in a jurisdiction, our
median value or median sale,
[33:15] we have to be
within 90% to 105%.
[33:18] So if I don't get
that value there,
[33:22] the state steps in and
issues state orders
[33:25] that brings the whole
jurisdiction kind
[33:27] of up to that close to 100%.
[33:31] And then anyone that
appeals in that jurisdiction
[33:34] would lose their appeal.
[33:36] So it's something
that we want to avoid.
[33:39] And then also, they look
at different measures too.
[33:42] Like, there's certain
jurisdictions,
[33:43] like especially some of
our smaller townships
[33:45] that don't get six sales.
[33:47] So they look at how
those sales have occurred
[33:51] over the five year
period to see if we're
[33:53] making the changes necessary.
[33:55] So just because
there's not sales
[33:57] there doesn't mean we can't
just let the values be flat,
[34:02] and that's something we've been
keeping up with the market.
[34:04] We haven't had any
issues with that.
[34:07] And it's good too, just
from a fairness, equity
[34:10] with other taxpayers and to
make sure we're addressing
[34:13] those areas where we don't
have sales as we can see what
[34:17] the market indicates in
other areas of the County
[34:19] and other areas of the state.
[34:23] And then, one of the big things
we're working on right now--
[34:27] we're kind of wrapping
it up-- is our appraisers
[34:29] do quintile inspections.
[34:31] So we're required statutorily
to visit each property at least
[34:35] once every five year period.
[34:37] So every year, I guess since
last four or five years,
[34:42] we send out postcards
of the properties
[34:44] that we're going to visit.
[34:45] People have the opportunity
to line up appointments
[34:48] and we start going out
and visiting properties.
[34:52] And it's really,
a lot of times, I
[34:53] think people are a little
worried that we're going out
[34:55] there or we're going
to value the property
[34:57] and we're seeing this-- we
value properties every year.
[34:59] We're keeping up
with the market.
[35:01] It's really just to verify
whether the information we have
[35:04] is correct.
[35:05] Sometimes, we'll
be at properties
[35:07] and maybe the conditions
improved or there's something
[35:09] there that we didn't realize.
[35:10] But also, there's times that
they're having issues that might
[35:14] bring the value down or
buildings that have been
[35:16] raised that we didn't realize.
[35:18] So there's both ways on that.
[35:22] And we're really trying to
be as efficient as we can.
[35:27] We really utilize the air photos
that we've been getting a lot
[35:32] to make it more efficient, that
historically, like the director
[35:36] of the Department of
Revenue, was to go out
[35:38] and measure every single
building at every property
[35:41] that we're at.
[35:43] And that's just not realistic
with all the farms that we have.
[35:45] And we do all that
on air photos.
[35:48] We usually only measure if
we have some discrepancy
[35:51] that we see on the air photos.
[35:55] And then, you can see, through
the end of August, we've visited
[36:00] almost 5,800 properties.
[36:03] About 6,000 would be
1/5 of our parcels,
[36:06] so we're getting close to
wrapping up our quintile
[36:09] inspections, and
then our appraisers
[36:10] move to checking permits for
new construction for the year.
[36:16] On the next slide, we
currently have 13 active tax
[36:22] petitions in the County.
[36:24] One in payable '24, which we
have a motion hearing next week
[36:29] to try to get
dismissed, and then
[36:31] 12 for the payable '25 year.
[36:33] I think we started with
17 and payable '25,
[36:37] and we've either had five of
them dismissed or settled.
[36:40] 
[36:44] Next slide.
[36:45] So the Beacon website, so this
is kind of a website that really
[36:51] shows taxpayers a lot
of the information
[36:53] that we have on
their properties,
[36:54] shows property lines, maps.
[36:57] Last year, we had over 390,000
visitors, over 1,000 a day.
[37:03] With that, I think there
was over 5 million views
[37:06] of different sites on there.
[37:10] This year, we're quite a
bit ahead of that pace.
[37:12] We're on pace for
over 500,000 visits.
[37:17] And it's been a really
good tool as an assessor
[37:22] that we have transparency
with the taxpayers,
[37:24] that we can talk with taxpayers.
[37:26] And we hear when stuff's
wrong, whether it's
[37:29] their property
lines or information
[37:30] that we have on their property.
[37:33] I think it's been a good tool.
[37:34] We have tax
statements out there.
[37:36] People can see a copy of
their subdivision or plat.
[37:41] We have corner
certificates out there.
[37:44] Mike is working on
linking our sales
[37:47] to their LandShark
TriMin sites so that they
[37:51] can link to those documents.
[37:54] So it's been a really
good tool for us.
[37:57] We get a lot of
compliments from people
[37:58] on how usable our website is.
[38:02] MALE SPEAKER: So I have
one question on that.
[38:04] JOSH SCHOEN: Sure.
[38:05] MALE SPEAKER: The accuracy
of the Beacon sites, I mean,
[38:09] how much or how
accurate is it compared
[38:12] to actual surveyed stakes?
[38:15] And can people look at that
with a confidence of this
[38:19] is what it is?
[38:20] JOSH SCHOEN: No.
[38:21] I would say it's definitely
not survey grade.
[38:23] I think it'll be very
difficult to get it there,
[38:27] but it's the best
information that we have.
[38:29] We've gotten a lot
better over the years
[38:32] through efforts of our
GIS, and of course,
[38:35] Mike, the county surveyor.
[38:36] We've really cleaned up
a lot of information.
[38:41] It's tough.
[38:42] And even with the air
photos, the way they line up
[38:44] isn't always exactly perfect.
[38:47] So there's always some
error built in there.
[38:50] But you'll see
they're pretty good,
[38:52] and I like that we
have it out there.
[38:54] We hear from taxpayers
that we really
[38:56] research some legal
descriptions and we
[38:59] make some improvements on those
parcel lines based on that too.
[39:03] But I would say it's
gotten drastically
[39:06] better the last 10 years.
[39:09] And it continues to
be a work in progress.
[39:11] I don't think it'll
ever be survey grade,
[39:14] but it continues to get better.
[39:17] And we hope to hear from people
when there is something--
[39:22] MALE SPEAKER: Discrepancy?
[39:22] JOSH SCHOEN: --yeah, some
discrepancy because that's
[39:24] when we look into it.
[39:27] It gives us an opportunity
to relook at things.
[39:30] MALE SPEAKER: Well, good.
[39:30] I think it's good for everybody
to know that because some people
[39:34] make the presumption that
what's shown on Beacons,
[39:38] your fence is on my
property or whatever.
[39:40] JOSH SCHOEN: Yeah, I know we
do get a lot of questions,
[39:42] we're thinking about
putting a fence up.
[39:43] Get a survey or here's-- the
nice thing is we can pull
[39:47] the plat right up and say, these
corners are located right here.
[39:50] You need to find those to put up
a fence, but it's not perfect,
[39:56] but it's a good
representation, I guess.
[39:59] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[40:02] JOSH SCHOEN: The
final slide that I
[40:03] have is the air photo flight.
[40:06] We were on the first of a three
year contract over six years.
[40:11] So this spring, we flew air
photo flight by eagle view.
[40:17] It was purchased with
the compliance fund,
[40:18] and it's been a
really good tool.
[40:20] We put the ortho image
out on our Beacon website.
[40:23] And there's actually
a tool that you
[40:26] can look at some
oblique imagery,
[40:28] but it's really a tool that
we use internally a lot.
[40:31] Our office, the assessor's
office, dominates the use of it
[40:34] but other departments
around the County have it
[40:36] and we provide it to
the cities as well.
[40:40] In 2024, we had over
55,000 image views.
[40:44] And this year, we're on
pace for more than that.
[40:47] So we have over
43,000 image views.
[40:50] It's really, really allowed
us to do our job differently,
[40:55] to be more efficient
in the field.
[40:56] It's really amazing how far
this technology has come.
[40:59] And we're not purchasing the
best product that they have.
[41:05] This year, we by default,
got a better product.
[41:09] We got three inch
resolution, which
[41:11] means each pixel in the photo
is 3 inches by 3 inches, which I
[41:15] say without human error,
you can measure within three
[41:19] inches on each side, so you
can measure within 6 inches
[41:22] before kind of human
error, I guess.
[41:25] They have a 1 inch product.
[41:27] Traditionally, we've gotten
some three and some six,
[41:30] or it used to be
a 12 inch product
[41:33] that we got when they
first kind of came out,
[41:35] so it's gotten better.
[41:37] And just having different angles
of things has really helped
[41:41] us do our job efficiently.
[41:44] 
[41:47] And I guess, with that, are
there any other questions
[41:50] that you have for me today?
[41:51] 
[41:55] MALE SPEAKER: I
don't believe so.
[41:56] 
[41:59] JOSH SCHOEN: Well, thank you.
[42:00] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you
Josh, appreciate it.
[42:01] 
[42:04] Next, we have Adult
Services with Megan Thomas.
[42:06] 
[42:16] MEGAN THOMAS: Good
morning, commissioners.
[42:17] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[42:18] MALE SPEAKER: Morning.
[42:19] MEGAN THOMAS: I have quite
a packed agenda here,
[42:22] so I'm going to try to really
just hit some highlights
[42:25] and take any questions
that you might have,
[42:28] given today's agenda in general.
[42:30] So I just started off
with some acronyms.
[42:33] We use them quite
frequently downstairs.
[42:35] So when I say some of these
things, you might be like, well,
[42:39] what does that mean?
[42:39] I kind of just laid it out
for you in the beginning.
[42:43] So next slide, please.
[42:46] Continued, you can go to
the next one as well, Sarah.
[42:49] Thank you.
[42:49] So we're just going to start off
with CADI, Community Alternative
[42:52] for Disability Inclusion.
[42:54] So right now in 2025, we
currently have 8 case managers
[42:59] and we're serving 423 cases
with 25 in the hopper.
[43:04] And what that just
means is that we're
[43:05] waiting for people's medical
assistance to be approved
[43:09] or their certification
of disability, which
[43:12] is one of the two
eligibility requirements
[43:15] to open to a CADI waiver.
[43:17] So in combination of
one or two, or both,
[43:21] that's where the
number 25 comes in.
[43:24] Next slide.
[43:26] In MnCHOICES, we added a
new lead position in 2025.
[43:31] The MnCHOICES team consists of
four assessors at this time,
[43:35] including a lead who
also does assessments.
[43:38] They complete all waiver PCA
initials, annual MnCHOICES
[43:43] for PCA, or what is now rolling
out to be CFSS, So Community
[43:49] First Services and Supports.
[43:51] The second version, or MnCHOICES
2.0, launched in October 2024.
[43:56] And I know that I've previously
shared with you there
[43:58] were a lot of reservations.
[44:00] There's been a lot of
bumps along the way.
[44:02] There continues to be a
lot of concerns and bumps
[44:06] along the way using this
new platform for us.
[44:09] And with that, CFSS rolled out
at the same time, which has
[44:13] also been quite problematic.
[44:16] There hasn't been enough
providers in the state on board
[44:19] to provide the CFSS portion.
[44:23] And so how that differs
from straight PCA
[44:25] is the CFSS model
allows a person
[44:29] to have a monetary
budget, and so it
[44:32] allows a person and their
family or caregivers
[44:35] to determine how
those needs are going
[44:37] to be met with a budget model.
[44:39] And providers haven't
really gotten on board
[44:44] with being able to be the fiscal
supervisor of those things
[44:48] as well as providing
the service.
[44:49] So we've had a long wait for
families to open to CFSS.
[44:54] However, their PCA
does stay in place,
[44:57] so they're not losing services.
[44:59] There's no gap in services.
[45:01] The state is just
struggling with trying
[45:04] to lift that and bring
it to what I think
[45:06] their fruition was meant to be.
[45:10] MnCHOICE assessors are case
managing all of their own CFSS
[45:14] PCA individuals,
which is nothing new,
[45:17] but an average caseload for
an assessor is 77 to 120.
[45:21] And with the new MnCHOICES
2.0, it certainly
[45:27] has increased our
number of appeals
[45:29] that we're facing downstairs.
[45:31] So we've had 15
appeals so far, which
[45:33] is actually quite high for us.
[45:36] And what that means, or
where that comes from,
[45:38] really, is that the new platform
is determining people's number
[45:43] of hours of care per
day to either be lower,
[45:47] or the new budget model is
less than what it used to be.
[45:53] And so people are appealing
that, which they certainly
[45:55] have the right to do that.
[45:57] So we've spent a lot of time in
15 cases determining appeals.
[46:02] We have won a majority of those.
[46:05] And when I say majority,
some recommendations
[46:08] from the appellate court or
the DHS Human Services judge
[46:11] will make recommendations for
us to reconsider something.
[46:15] So they haven't reversed our
decisions or determinations,
[46:19] they've upheld most of ours.
[46:22] And then we have just a number--
[46:23] I think we have one
that's still floating
[46:25] out there since
February that we're
[46:26] still waiting to hear back on.
[46:28] So it's taking
quite a lot longer
[46:31] to get those determinations
back as well.
[46:35] Next slide.
[46:37] Developmental disabilities.
[46:39] We have seven case managers.
[46:40] We're currently serving
400 individuals.
[46:43] The average caseload size is
57, which is quite high for DD,
[46:49] so it's definitely
creeping up there.
[46:51] We have two that are designated
to children and families,
[46:55] so that's that CDCS consumer
directed support model.
[47:00] And so it's mostly kids living
with parents, guardians,
[47:03] that sort of caseload.
[47:05] So we have two case managers
that are delegated to that.
[47:08] And so their caseloads are
actually a little bit higher.
[47:11] But when you average
the team out,
[47:13] it looks to be that they're all
sitting on an average of 57.
[47:18] Next slide.
[47:19] 
[47:22] Adult protection mental
health intake and nursing.
[47:24] So in 2024, one of our
nurses retired, Lisa Benson.
[47:29] These positions are
mostly grant funded,
[47:33] so we made a choice looking
at the caseload of two nurses.
[47:37] We had two, one retired,
and decided not to fill back
[47:41] that position and
use the grant dollars
[47:43] to hire another adult
mental health case manager.
[47:46] And that's really
where our need was.
[47:49] So in a nursing perspective,
our current nurse
[47:51] is serving 17 individuals, which
includes medication management,
[47:56] monitoring of side effects,
education, communicating
[48:00] with doctors, psychiatrists,
psychologists,
[48:03] things of that nature.
[48:04] And so far, it's
been really good.
[48:06] We feel that we really
made the right decision
[48:09] with that because our case
management numbers were growing.
[48:13] And we'll talk a little bit
about the complexity of that.
[48:16] Next slide, please.
[48:17] MALE SPEAKER: Mr.
Chair, if I could?
[48:18] MEGAN THOMAS: Yes,
[48:19] MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
[48:19] Go ahead.
[48:20] MALE SPEAKER: Why are
we not using the Public
[48:21] Health or the
nursing department we
[48:23] have without duplicating here?
[48:26] MEGAN THOMAS: So it was
determined a long time ago--
[48:29] and Deb and I have spent
some time talking about this,
[48:31] and we just recently
talked about
[48:33] it when Lisa retired as well--
[48:35] that before, long
before my time,
[48:39] it was determined through
SCCBI and/or AMHI and CSP grant
[48:43] dollars, that we could have
specialized nursing funded
[48:47] by those grant dollars
embedded in our AMH AP units
[48:53] that maybe would have
more of, one could argue,
[48:57] nursing expertise or
mental health expertise,
[49:00] meeting those people that
were serving under AMH
[49:04] or at Friendship House.
[49:06] So that decision was
made a long time ago.
[49:08] I did reevaluate that.
[49:11] And I think-- not I think.
[49:13] I made the determination not
to jump back to Public Health
[49:17] just because we weren't going
to fill back a second nurse.
[49:21] So now we're down to one, and
this nurse is working so closely
[49:25] with AMH case managers, adult
mental health case managers--
[49:29] because it's their clients
that they're serving--
[49:31] that to be within the unit for
those quick questions-- like,
[49:35] hey, did we get a
prescription for this?
[49:38] Did their medication go up?
[49:39] When's their next psych-- just
that communication and being
[49:42] embedded in the world
that really that they're
[49:45] living and serving.
[49:46] So we do get support from
Public Health with some
[49:51] of our injectables
when necessary,
[49:53] and we're very
thankful for that.
[49:55] But really, from
my understanding
[49:58] of the whole
picture, it just lies
[50:00] back to this is how we
could use those grant
[50:02] dollars to fund this.
[50:06] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you
for the explanation.
[50:08] MEGAN THOMAS: Might not be
perfect, but it's working,
[50:12] and I think someday,
our current nurse isn't
[50:15] going to be there forever.
[50:17] And I presume if
Deb is still here,
[50:22] I would entertain
more conversations
[50:24] and continue to see how
we can partner in that.
[50:27] I don't know that we'll
always stay funded.
[50:29] We're the only county in the
region that uses grant dollars
[50:33] to fund nursing positions.
[50:34] So we're the
exception to the rule,
[50:37] but right now it's working
so don't rock the boat,
[50:41] is kind of how I feel.
[50:43] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[50:46] MEGAN THOMAS: Adult protection.
[50:47] So in 2025, we added a new
adult protection social worker.
[50:52] So we went from
2 to 3 on a team.
[50:55] We've opened 261 cases and we've
received 371 adult protection
[51:02] reports so far.
[51:04] As far as civil
commitments, we've
[51:06] had 14 and 36
pre-petition screenings
[51:10] that have been completed.
[51:11] So really, what that just
tells us is that the complexity
[51:17] and acuity of people we're
serving, which you all know
[51:20] is a lot greater, we're
serving more criminally
[51:23] involved individuals as well.
[51:25] So we anticipate to
see those numbers
[51:28] continue to increase over time.
[51:32] Case management-wise,
they're serving 150 people.
[51:35] So we have six case managers.
[51:37] So the average caseload
size is sitting at about 25.
[51:42] 30 is the average norm per case
manager when talking about AMH.
[51:47] It's targeted case
management, so these
[51:49] aren't meant to be long term
case managing, like DD and CADI.
[51:54] So we really do look
at our caseloads
[51:57] and we look at when it's
appropriate to close
[52:01] when successes happen.
[52:02] What does success
look like for people.
[52:05] We know that that's different.
[52:07] And then, as far as
intakes go in 2025,
[52:11] again, up until completing
this packet a couple weeks ago,
[52:15] we've completed 44.
[52:17] So our intake position
works with people
[52:21] to open to adult mental
health case management.
[52:24] It works with
children's mental health
[52:27] to open to case
management there,
[52:29] as well as our therapy
providers and working to get
[52:33] people connected to therapy.
[52:36] MALE SPEAKER: Mr.
Chair, if I could?
[52:38] MALE SPEAKER: Yes, please.
[52:39] I'm sorry.
[52:39] MEGAN THOMAS: No, it's OK.
[52:40] MALE SPEAKER: My question is,
do we have any responsibility,
[52:44] are we working up
at the state prison?
[52:47] MEGAN THOMAS: No.
[52:48] MALE SPEAKER: We've
nothing to do with--
[52:50] MEGAN THOMAS: We do not have any
input or anything in the state
[52:54] prison system for that.
[52:57] As far as MnCHOICES choices
go, we MnCHOICE a lot
[53:01] of people at the state prison.
[53:02] We get a lot of
referrals from there,
[53:05] and so we'll go in and
complete the assessment
[53:08] before they're released.
[53:10] And then our information then
goes to the county in which
[53:14] they're returning to
after release so they
[53:18] can connect them to services.
[53:19] So it kind of starts there,
but not from an intake
[53:22] per se perspective.
[53:25] Next slide.
[53:26] Thank you, Rick.
[53:28] Again, just a snippet
of Friendship House.
[53:30] We've had six new members
join so far in 2025,
[53:34] and then there's
just a little picture
[53:39] of how many participants--
[53:42] I tried to blow
this up, you guys.
[53:44] I couldn't get it any
bigger on the slide--
[53:48] who participated in what.
[53:49] And so what we've seen,
not only with new members,
[53:52] is majority of our
members are actually
[53:55] participating in most things.
[53:57] And so our participation numbers
have certainly increased.
[54:01] And as you all
know, Linda and Dana
[54:03] do such an amazing job
there, so we're really happy
[54:08] and our members are happy.
[54:10] So next slide is
just a little picture
[54:14] of our most recent additions.
[54:15] So our lovely new garbage
can that fits in there.
[54:18] And in the back, I didn't
have along pictures,
[54:22] but in the background,
you see two hydrangea
[54:24] bushes and one in the middle.
[54:26] Those are our most recent
grant-funded additions
[54:29] to our landscaping,
so continues to grow.
[54:34] Guardianship.
[54:36] Key pieces here.
[54:37] So we're currently
serving 109 individuals.
[54:40] Five of those are contracted
with Scott County.
[54:43] We have worked to assist
six individuals successfully
[54:47] restoring their rights
or moving to a lesser
[54:49] restrictive alternative, which
is supported decision making.
[54:53] If you remember from
previous board discussions,
[54:57] we launched supported decision
making under a grant in 2024.
[55:03] We've had some staff
fluctuation with that,
[55:06] but one staff has
stayed consistent,
[55:09] so we're currently
serving 26 individuals.
[55:12] We have four in a waiting list.
[55:15] We've closed 31 cases
so far, and we've
[55:19] provided 30 trainings in our
community of supported decision
[55:23] making and how that is really
a benefit to individuals,
[55:27] and could be a lesser
restrictive alternative as well.
[55:32] What we've learned along
the way is that it really
[55:34] keeps the ability of people
to experience autonomy
[55:38] and independence, and
it really has proven
[55:41] to be cost effective for
us in counties if they
[55:44] were to decide to do this.
[55:46] So of all the individuals
referred to us,
[55:49] we've either screened
them for guardianship
[55:51] and referred them
to SDM because they
[55:53] didn't meet that quite
level of vulnerable adult
[55:56] or incapacitated.
[55:58] We also have a screening
team with our courts
[56:01] and our judicial system, which
we review all cases filed
[56:05] under in forma pauperis,
which then, we bear
[56:08] the financial burdens of that.
[56:10] So we screen those cases that
are filed with the courts,
[56:13] and we've been able
to recommend supported
[56:15] decision making to the judges
for those cases as well.
[56:20] So next slide, Rick.
[56:24] Oh, sorry, go back.
[56:26] I thought there was another one.
[56:28] So as far as that
goes, we continue
[56:30] to evaluate our current
guardianship caseload
[56:34] for restoring rights,
supported decision making,
[56:38] those step down
processes as well.
[56:41] And right now, our grant is
still funded and in place
[56:44] until June 30 of 2026.
[56:47] And I know this legislative
session, we're going to go back
[56:51] and we're just going to
keep lobbying for this.
[56:55] We have a lot of support
at the legislative platform
[57:01] for this type of service,
really looking at guardianship
[57:04] and trying to keep it on civil
commitment, like as needed.
[57:11] I mean, you're really, truly are
taking a person's rights away.
[57:14] And we know that
there's a place for it,
[57:17] but we've seen a
lot of petitions
[57:19] where guardianship is
just simply not necessary,
[57:23] and so part of it's
education as well.
[57:26] So we meet with
a lot of families
[57:27] talking about that stuff too.
[57:29] Now next slide.
[57:32] Housing support.
[57:33] So again, I think an
email was shared with you.
[57:36] And if it wasn't,
I mean, we can.
[57:39] But again, just reminding
that housing support
[57:41] is not the same as
housing stabilization.
[57:44] What we've seen all over
the news with fraud,
[57:46] that is not what we
administer to downstairs.
[57:49] We have 106 housing
support providers
[57:53] with five new providers
that we've worked with
[57:55] and approved in the last year.
[57:57] Housing support does require
a lot of time and dedication.
[58:01] It's operated by a financial
supervisor as well as our CADI
[58:06] supervisor manages this role.
[58:09] It really could be its own FTE.
[58:12] We did apply for a grant this
year to fund a position for this
[58:16] because of the amount
of work that it entails,
[58:19] and unfortunately,
we weren't picked.
[58:22] In fact, DHS shared with us
that there was $9 million
[58:27] in requests above and
beyond what the legislative
[58:30] had approved for this.
[58:31] So they obviously see that
the need is out there as well.
[58:36] Next slide.
[58:39] Legislative updates.
[58:40] So I'm just going to get into
some legislative stuff that
[58:43] really impacts my division,
and this is where you may
[58:46] or may not have more questions.
[58:48] So from a MnCHOICES perspective,
our timelines change.
[58:52] So we went from 20 calendar
days to 20 business days
[58:56] from the time of a request.
[58:58] So when somebody
requests a MnCHOICES
[59:00] and we complete an
intake with them,
[59:02] we have 20 business days
to complete that MnCHOICES
[59:05] assessment with them now.
[59:06] Sometimes, it's phone tag
and scheduling conflicts,
[59:11] and you might get outside
those 20 business days.
[59:14] But I mean, that's
kind of natural
[59:16] when you're dealing
with people and trying
[59:18] to get things scheduled.
[59:20] Assessors may provide up to
four remote reassessments
[59:24] consecutively, but the
fifth one must be in person,
[59:27] so that's something new.
[59:29] We can now receive
a verbal attestation
[59:32] to replace assessment
signatures,
[59:34] but we make it our practice
downstairs to always try and get
[59:38] a physical signature for whether
it's consent for services
[59:42] or the consent for
MnCHOICES release
[59:44] of information,
things like that.
[59:47] But we now know that
if we have it in email
[59:50] or if we have a verbal
attestation, we document that
[59:53] and that can replace
the physical signatures.
[59:56] And then now,
individuals can attest
[59:59] to unchanged needs for two
consecutive reassessments.
[1:00:02] So what that just means is
that if I have an assessment
[1:00:04] this month and next
year comes around,
[1:00:07] and I say absolutely
nothing's changed,
[1:00:09] all the things are
same, the assessor
[1:00:11] can continue with the
previous year's assessment
[1:00:14] results and information.
[1:00:15] You can do that
twice until someone
[1:00:18] technically has to really
sit down and complete
[1:00:21] an assessment with you.
[1:00:23] So I would love to say that
lightens the MnCHOICE assessor's
[1:00:28] caseload and responsibilities,
but it doesn't because CFSS
[1:00:32] has actually quadrupled the
work for them in that regard.
[1:00:36] So, next slide.
[1:00:38] 
[1:00:41] DHS is working on a dashboard
of agencies assessment data.
[1:00:46] We're really looking
forward to that.
[1:00:48] MnCHOICES is never
really, by platform,
[1:00:51] been able to provide us
concrete data or numbers.
[1:00:54] We've had to collect
that on our own.
[1:00:56] They're now valid for
365 days, which is huge,
[1:01:00] so we're not going out and
having to redo assessments
[1:01:03] while we're waiting.
[1:01:04] If someone's MA took
so long to approve,
[1:01:07] or if their determination of
certification of disability
[1:01:13] has taken longer, we would have
to go out and redo assessments
[1:01:16] for those timelines.
[1:01:17] Now they're good for 365.
[1:01:20] This is probably
the biggest impact.
[1:01:23] So starting in January of
2027, MnCHOICES will no longer
[1:01:27] be reimbursed by a time study.
[1:01:29] It's going to have a
flat rate reimbursement
[1:01:32] for assessments completed.
[1:01:34] And so they're going to be
utilizing the later portion
[1:01:39] of '25 here this fall and
all of '26 to, I guess,
[1:01:43] determine what that flat rate is
going to look like for counties
[1:01:47] for the reimbursement phase.
[1:01:48] So it will be a
lot less than what
[1:01:52] we're getting through the
time study, so stay tuned.
[1:01:57] Next slide.
[1:01:59] 
[1:02:01] As most of you know-- and thank
you so much for your advocation
[1:02:05] and your platforms--
but the replacement
[1:02:07] and modernization
of SSIS was huge,
[1:02:11] in the amount of $35 million.
[1:02:13] Priority admissions,
again, I'm sure you heard
[1:02:16] many, many conversations-- not
just for me, but from others--
[1:02:20] about the 48 hour rule,
the bed capacity shortage,
[1:02:25] things of that nature.
[1:02:26] So $34 million was directed
to the Miller building
[1:02:30] for bed expansion, with
an additional $20 million
[1:02:33] for future administrative work.
[1:02:36] And then, last
legislative session,
[1:02:39] there was a reprieve to counties
for mentally ill and dangerous
[1:02:43] that were awaiting
placement from one
[1:02:45] state facility to another.
[1:02:46] That has now sunsetted and
counties don't get that.
[1:02:50] We never had a scenario
where we were able to reap
[1:02:55] the benefits of that reprieve.
[1:02:56] We didn't have anybody
in that situation.
[1:02:59] MALE SPEAKER: So,
excuse me, Megan?
[1:03:00] Could you just
explain for all of us
[1:03:03] the 48 hour rule, what exactly
that is, so people understand
[1:03:08] that a little better?
[1:03:08] MEGAN THOMAS: Well, I
encourage Brian to chime in.
[1:03:10] But basically, in a
nutshell, the 48 hour rule
[1:03:13] was that if we had somebody
that was brought into jail
[1:03:16] who was mentally ill--
[1:03:18] because that's not
the place for them,
[1:03:20] it's not appropriate that
they should a new placement,
[1:03:24] and they should be
released to a more
[1:03:26] appropriate placement
treatment facility, whatever,
[1:03:29] within 48 hours.
[1:03:31] That's pretty much
it in a nutshell.
[1:03:33] Would you add anything?
[1:03:36] MALE SPEAKER: No, that's what
it is at its basic level.
[1:03:38] MEGAN THOMAS: Yeah.
[1:03:39] MALE SPEAKER: So
you have 48 hours
[1:03:41] to deal with this individual?
[1:03:42] MEGAN THOMAS: That was
the intent of the statute.
[1:03:45] It has since then been paused
and relooked at because there's
[1:03:50] nowhere to put them.
[1:03:51] I mean, bed capacity
was, like, next to none.
[1:03:54] So they languished in jails.
[1:03:57] We did have an individual that
unfortunately spent 92 days
[1:04:01] in our jail before he was
able to get into St. Peter
[1:04:05] and be appropriately treated.
[1:04:07] So we were all fighting
the same fight.
[1:04:10] We know that jail is not where
people with mental health
[1:04:14] needs and symptoms should be.
[1:04:16] They should be treated as
humans and seek the treatment
[1:04:19] that they deserve.
[1:04:21] MALE SPEAKER: So right now, in
your opinion, is this working?
[1:04:24] I mean, are we able to
accomplish that in 48 hours?
[1:04:26] MEGAN THOMAS: Oh, no.
[1:04:27] No, we're far from it.
[1:04:28] And I think until, like, this
Miller building expansion
[1:04:33] and until we start
lifting places
[1:04:36] in more capacity
for people to go
[1:04:39] to have the treatment
that they need,
[1:04:42] we'll never meet the
48 hour rule, no.
[1:04:46] MALE SPEAKER: So we have a
rule that we can't achieve,
[1:04:48] basically?
[1:04:48] MEGAN THOMAS: Yep, pretty much.
[1:04:50] MALE SPEAKER: OK, thank you.
[1:04:52] MEGAN THOMAS: Next slide.
[1:04:53] 
[1:04:55] Competency attainment.
[1:04:57] So that was something that was
lifted where counties are going
[1:05:00] to have to contribute to
the cost of examination or
[1:05:03] competency attainment programs.
[1:05:05] This really hasn't
lifted-lifted per se,
[1:05:09] so we don't know what this
is going to look like.
[1:05:13] As we get further into budget
discussions and our 2026 budget,
[1:05:18] we did put a line item
in our budget for this
[1:05:21] because we have to, and we're
going to bear responsibility
[1:05:24] for this at some point.
[1:05:26] The state is just still working
on getting this out there,
[1:05:31] as a better word, maybe, to say.
[1:05:35] Other legislative
things, so there's
[1:05:38] a task force that's been
lifted in waiver, reimagine,
[1:05:41] and long term
services and supports,
[1:05:43] just looking at how to reduce
cost in long term services
[1:05:47] and supports building
greater efficiencies.
[1:05:49] They limited rate exceptions.
[1:05:51] So really, what this means is
that providers could request
[1:05:55] a rate exception for people that
had needs above and beyond maybe
[1:06:05] the norm, might be
the best word to use,
[1:06:08] and so they would make that
request to the counties.
[1:06:11] We would look at the
assessment and all of the needs
[1:06:15] that the person
reflects that they have,
[1:06:17] and then really
pass it on to DHS.
[1:06:20] So we're not approving or
denying the rate exceptions
[1:06:23] for these providers, DHS is.
[1:06:26] So they really have
reined that back in.
[1:06:29] I don't think they knew
when they lifted this what
[1:06:32] a pandemonium it was going
to be because really,
[1:06:37] right now, as it stands,
they very rarely get denied.
[1:06:41] So we just have to make sure
the request from the provider
[1:06:44] is valid.
[1:06:46] If it's not, we work
with the provider
[1:06:49] to revise the request
so it's actually
[1:06:55] accurate and appropriate.
[1:06:56] We won't send it to DHS
if it's not accurate.
[1:07:00] So that's basically our role
in it from a county standpoint.
[1:07:05] Next slide.
[1:07:06] 
[1:07:09] This is huge.
[1:07:10] There's been significant
provider fees and licensing
[1:07:14] requirements changes
that are going
[1:07:16] to come January 1 here in 2026.
[1:07:18] So anyone who is
adult foster care,
[1:07:21] child foster care, a community
residential setting--
[1:07:25] so a group home--
[1:07:26] or family adult
day services, will
[1:07:29] now be expected to pay an
annual licensing fee of $2,100.
[1:07:35] Previously, it was
$500 upon licensing
[1:07:39] and then every two
years after that.
[1:07:43] So it's not just the AFC
annual licensing fee,
[1:07:46] so a provider could have that.
[1:07:48] And they could have a 245d
license with Department of Human
[1:07:52] Services, and they
will also have
[1:07:54] to pay $2,100 a year for that.
[1:07:57] So they could take a
$4,200 hit to maintain
[1:08:02] both their licenses on an annual
basis, and that's per site.
[1:08:06] So when you have
providers like LSS
[1:08:11] Kennedy, which is now
Harry Meyering Center,
[1:08:14] that have multiple sites--
[1:08:16] 13, 14 group homes, nine--
[1:08:19] that's per site,
that's a huge hit
[1:08:21] to our foster care providers.
[1:08:23] That is going to be devastating.
[1:08:26] We have one provider--
so let me rephrase.
[1:08:28] We have 76 providers in Rice
County that are licensed
[1:08:31] in one capacity or another.
[1:08:33] We're still getting
information from DHS
[1:08:36] on this whole payment thing.
[1:08:38] But we out of the 76 providers
that are going to take a hit
[1:08:42] of $2,100 a year or $4,200
annually per site that they
[1:08:47] have, we have one family adult
foster care provider that
[1:08:52] doesn't take any waiver
funding for the two
[1:08:55] individuals that she serves.
[1:08:57] So she's funded through housing
supports and some other means.
[1:09:01] So for a provider like
that, it's pretty gigantic.
[1:09:06] I'm nervous.
[1:09:08] I'm worried about-- we've lost
providers and bed capacity
[1:09:12] within our residential
settings already
[1:09:14] the last few years just due
to staffing complications.
[1:09:19] I'm afraid to see what
these fees happen.
[1:09:23] So as far as the fees go, DHS
will be collecting all the fees
[1:09:27] from the providers
on an annual basis,
[1:09:29] and then 50% of those
fees are going to be
[1:09:32] kicked back to the county.
[1:09:34] So we could, in more detail,
really look at our provider
[1:09:39] lists and figure
it out and really
[1:09:41] grind the numbers out to see
what that looks like for us.
[1:09:44] But with so much
information kind
[1:09:47] of still coming out
statutorily about these,
[1:09:49] I haven't done that.
[1:09:50] I haven't done that yet.
[1:09:51] So I will soon when I
feel comfortable that this
[1:09:55] is set in stone.
[1:09:57] Any questions on that?
[1:10:00] MALE SPEAKER: So,
Megan-- yeah, I do.
[1:10:01] Megan, if you're going
to hit these providers
[1:10:04] with this big fee,
this annual fee,
[1:10:08] they're going to want
to recap that money
[1:10:10] somehow with their services
that they're providing, right?
[1:10:13] Or how is that--
[1:10:15] MEGAN THOMAS: There's no
way that we can offset that.
[1:10:18] We've already looked at it.
[1:10:20] It's impossible, and we can't--
[1:10:23] there's some actually
statutory language I just
[1:10:26] looked at this morning that--
[1:10:28] because I thought, OK.
[1:10:29] Well, if we get 50%,
can a portion of that
[1:10:33] be offset back to the provider?
[1:10:35] We can't even do that.
[1:10:36] I mean, there's language
in there that suggests
[1:10:38] that can't even happen.
[1:10:39] MALE SPEAKER: Well,
it seems to me
[1:10:40] it's going to be
obvious that we're
[1:10:42] going to lose some providers.
[1:10:43] MEGAN THOMAS: I think we will.
[1:10:44] I think it's very possible.
[1:10:45] We have some really dedicated
people in our community--
[1:10:48] and I'm thankful for
that-- that truly just
[1:10:51] believe in caring for people.
[1:10:54] But there are people
that maybe just
[1:10:56] can't financially sustain this
and there's no way to fix it.
[1:10:59] 
[1:11:03] MALE SPEAKER: So if you're
a provider, if you have one
[1:11:07] resident, or if
you have 10, you're
[1:11:09] still considered a provider?
[1:11:11] Is that how it works?
[1:11:12] MEGAN THOMAS: Yeah, it's how
many they're licensed for.
[1:11:16] So this particular provider that
doesn't take waiver funding,
[1:11:20] she has two people living in her
home, so she's licensed for two,
[1:11:24] where most of our corporate
sites are licensed for four.
[1:11:29] It's not based on the number of
people, it's based on the site.
[1:11:33] So if you're a single
family foster care provider,
[1:11:38] that's your site.
[1:11:39] That's your home.
[1:11:40] You have one.
[1:11:42] Like I said, some of
these bigger agencies
[1:11:44] that have multiple corporate
sites throughout our community,
[1:11:48] it's per site.
[1:11:49] 
[1:11:52] MALE SPEAKER: Well, it'd be
interesting to see what happens.
[1:11:55] MEGAN THOMAS: Yeah.
[1:11:57] Anything else?
[1:11:58] Nope?
[1:12:01] So I've already shared that.
[1:12:03] You can skip to the next slide.
[1:12:07] It is?
[1:12:07] Oh, see?
[1:12:09] Great.
[1:12:09] Perfect.
[1:12:10] I tried really hard to
just get through that.
[1:12:13] I know it's a lot.
[1:12:15] Any other questions, then?
[1:12:19] No?
[1:12:20] MALE SPEAKER: Well,
Megan, thank you
[1:12:21] for giving us a little
insight into your world
[1:12:24] and what you're doing, so
appreciate your efforts.
[1:12:27] MEGAN THOMAS: All
right, thank you.
[1:12:28] 
[1:12:31] MALE SPEAKER: Commissioners,
you all doing good?
[1:12:34] Very good.
[1:12:35] We have Public Health and
nursing with Deb Purfeerst.
[1:12:39] I don't see-- oh, there's Deb.
[1:12:40] 
[1:12:43] DEB PURFEERST: Good morning.
[1:12:44] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[1:12:45] DEB PURFEERST: You guys need
to stand up and stretch,
[1:12:47] or you're all good?
[1:12:49] MALE SPEAKER: I just
asked these guys.
[1:12:50] DEB PURFEERST: You're good.
[1:12:52] There's going to be two updates
today from Public Health.
[1:12:56] The first is on our safe
roads coalition and TCD work.
[1:13:01] So the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety
[1:13:04] provides funding for
traffic safety coalitions
[1:13:07] to address and prevent traffic
deaths and serious injuries.
[1:13:11] Public Health serves
as the fiscal host
[1:13:14] and the grant
manager for the Rice
[1:13:16] County Safe Roads Coalition.
[1:13:19] The coalition began in
2006 with Kathy Cooper
[1:13:24] serving as the coordinator.
[1:13:27] The mission of the coalition is
to move Rice County towards zero
[1:13:31] deaths and serious injury.
[1:13:33] So with me today, I
have Jessica Schleck.
[1:13:37] Jessica is our regional safe
roads coalition coordinator.
[1:13:42] She'll start the presentation
and talk about some
[1:13:45] of the state and
regional work being done.
[1:13:48] And then we have
Kathy Cooper here.
[1:13:50] Kathy is our Rice
County coordinator,
[1:13:53] so she'll be sharing
with you some of the data
[1:13:56] and local work being done.
[1:13:58] So I will turn it
over to my partners.
[1:14:01] JESSICA SCHLECK: Thank you.
[1:14:03] I talk fast, so we should
get you right back on track.
[1:14:06] So as she said, my name
is Jessica Schleck.
[1:14:08] I am the Southeast TCD
Regional Coordinator.
[1:14:11] I have had the privilege of
working with Kathy for 17 years,
[1:14:14] I think, or something, so lucky.
[1:14:16] But the statewide TCD
program was launched in 2003
[1:14:19] when we were seeing a big uptick
in traffic-related fatalities.
[1:14:22] So 655 people died on
our roads that year.
[1:14:25] So it was a program that
was created by the Minnesota
[1:14:27] Department of Public Safety,
Transportation and Health
[1:14:30] as a deliberate,
interdisciplinary
[1:14:32] approach to traffic safety.
[1:14:33] Basically, they just realized
we needed to not only work
[1:14:36] with the state stuff, we needed
to pull in local organizations
[1:14:39] to help.
[1:14:39] So the magic of this program
is we are 20 plus years in
[1:14:42] and we have so many
partners across the state.
[1:14:46] So TCD's vision.
[1:14:48] Hopefully, you've
heard this before,
[1:14:49] but to reduce fatalities
and serious injuries
[1:14:52] on Minnesota roads
to get to zero.
[1:14:55] You can go to the next.
[1:14:56] And the mission explains
just how we do that.
[1:14:59] You can go to the next one.
[1:15:01] It's by collaborating.
[1:15:03] So the TCD program focuses
on those four strategic areas
[1:15:06] to reduce crashes, enforcement,
education, engineering, EMS,
[1:15:10] and of course that
fifth E, which
[1:15:11] is everyone, because
everyone shares our roads.
[1:15:14] So, next one.
[1:15:16] So over the years, TCD
regional partnerships
[1:15:18] have been established in
eight geographical areas
[1:15:20] throughout the state.
[1:15:21] They're led by a regional TCD
coordinators such as myself.
[1:15:24] Each has a local
steering committee
[1:15:26] made up of traffic safety
stakeholders from that region.
[1:15:29] These are led by MnDOT
district engineer
[1:15:31] and a State Patrol captain.
[1:15:33] Also included on the map are two
state program TCD coordinators.
[1:15:37] We just recently added
a communications leader,
[1:15:41] so hopefully, that will help
us push out our messaging.
[1:15:44] There's also four law
enforcement liaisons
[1:15:46] who work with all levels
of law enforcement agencies
[1:15:48] across the state, and three
child passenger safety
[1:15:51] liaisons who make
sure our kiddos
[1:15:53] are in those right car seats.
[1:15:56] Let's go to the next one.
[1:15:57] So right now,
there are currently
[1:15:59] six funded and one
unfunded active
[1:16:01] TCD safe roads
coalitions in our region.
[1:16:04] So our educational
efforts only improve
[1:16:06] as more of these
coalitions are established.
[1:16:08] But as Kathy may talk about,
they have to apply for a grant.
[1:16:11] And if they don't
receive the grant,
[1:16:13] they don't get to do the work
or aren't able to do the work.
[1:16:17] So, next slide.
[1:16:19] So each of these coalitions
bring together community members
[1:16:22] from the five E's to
address areas of concern
[1:16:25] for their specific
county or community.
[1:16:27] So crash data is reviewed
and counties develop a plan
[1:16:30] for addressing these crashes.
[1:16:32] They also implement
activities and best practices
[1:16:35] to make the greatest impact on
reducing those serious and fatal
[1:16:38] injury crashes.
[1:16:39] So the coalitions
also assist law
[1:16:41] enforcement during the
enforcement periods
[1:16:43] with educational efforts.
[1:16:45] So they really are boots
on the ground doing all
[1:16:48] the work, very important work.
[1:16:50] Next slide.
[1:16:52] So these are just a few of the
focus areas that we work on.
[1:16:55] Kathy will talk more
about Rice County efforts
[1:16:57] when she steps up.
[1:16:58] But if you have any
questions about those,
[1:17:00] you can feel free
to let me know.
[1:17:03] So, next one.
[1:17:04] So this is just a
quick glance at some
[1:17:06] of the regional successes
over the past year.
[1:17:08] I'm not going to
read them to you,
[1:17:09] don't worry, but you should
have those on your own screen.
[1:17:13] If you have any
questions, let me know.
[1:17:14] But I just want to
point out there's
[1:17:15] a bunch that really
started in Rice County,
[1:17:18] like Joyride, for instance.
[1:17:19] Joyride Rice County
was the first county
[1:17:22] to implement Joyride.
[1:17:23] They were the first County
to work on the driver's
[1:17:25] license for all programs.
[1:17:27] You can add to this if you
want, but there's so many things
[1:17:30] that Rice County has really
implemented and kicked
[1:17:32] off for the whole state.
[1:17:33] So, next one.
[1:17:37] So since TCD started, together,
we have saved more than 4,700
[1:17:41] lives, which is 220 per year.
[1:17:43] So that is a great work, but--
[1:17:45] next slide-- but there's
a lot of work to be done.
[1:17:49] So as of September
12, last Friday, there
[1:17:52] were 253 fatalities
on Minnesota roads,
[1:17:55] compared to 310 at
this time last year.
[1:17:56] Well, that number, I just
got it right as I walked up,
[1:17:59] and it is 261.
[1:18:03] So that means that-- how
many people is that died
[1:18:06] from Friday until today?
[1:18:08] So that's a big number
for our weekend.
[1:18:11] So there's a lot of work to be
done to date in Rice County--
[1:18:15] or, I'll just let you go.
[1:18:19] KATHY COOPER:
Thank you, Jessica.
[1:18:22] I'm going to talk a
little bit about our Rice
[1:18:25] County crash facts.
[1:18:27] One of the requirements
of the grant,
[1:18:29] the TCD grant that
we receive, is
[1:18:31] that we have a fatal and
serious injury review committee,
[1:18:35] and we are required
to meet quarterly.
[1:18:38] So we track crashes in Rice
County with the help of our law
[1:18:44] enforcement and other
partners, and then we
[1:18:47] meet quarterly to review them.
[1:18:49] We're not reviewing them to
assign blame or anything,
[1:18:53] but what we're looking at is
why did that crash happen.
[1:18:57] What are the trends?
[1:18:58] What can we do to prevent
that crash, that type of crash
[1:19:03] from happening again?
[1:19:05] So the crash facts report that
I have in this presentation
[1:19:13] is incomplete.
[1:19:14] We're still working on
it, waiting for some data
[1:19:19] to complete it, but it's a
report from 2020 to 2024.
[1:19:24] And you'll see that there was
120 total serious and fatal
[1:19:31] injury crashes in Rice County.
[1:19:34] We average about 750 crashes in
Rice County every year, so two
[1:19:42] a day--
[1:19:43] two a day.
[1:19:45] And that's been pretty
consistent throughout the years.
[1:19:50] In 2025, we know that
we have already had--
[1:19:56] question?
[1:19:57] MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, go ahead.
[1:19:58] MALE SPEAKER: Are
you including--
[1:19:59] is this outside the
cities, county-based?
[1:20:02] Or is this including
some of the city?
[1:20:05] KATHY COOPER: It includes
the cities, the counties.
[1:20:07] So Northfield, Faribault,
Lonsdale, and then countywide.
[1:20:14] MALE SPEAKER: So the
cities are included?
[1:20:16] KATHY COOPER: Yes, the
cities are included, yes.
[1:20:19] But it's all broken out,
so the reports that we do
[1:20:23] are by city and then by the
county, and then a total.
[1:20:31] MALE SPEAKER: My
other question is,
[1:20:32] do you guys track the
location of these accidents
[1:20:36] for interception?
[1:20:37] KATHY COOPER: Yep, yep.
[1:20:39] Dennis Luebbe with Rice
County Highway Department,
[1:20:42] he's one of the members on
the fatal review committee.
[1:20:47] And he'll look at those
trends and the locations.
[1:20:55] And a lot of times, he
goes right out to the site
[1:20:58] and to see, do we have
proper signage there?
[1:21:02] What's going on here?
[1:21:04] He's a very important part
of our fatal review committee
[1:21:07] because he can provide
that perspective
[1:21:10] and he can get things done.
[1:21:12] If a motorcycle is going off
of a curve on a certain road,
[1:21:19] he'll go out and
check that curve.
[1:21:21] And do we have signage to
alert the motorcycle rider
[1:21:26] that there's a curve coming up?
[1:21:29] And curves are hard
for motorcycles.
[1:21:33] We've got data that
shows that as well.
[1:21:36] So any more questions
on the '20 to '24
[1:21:40] or the fatal review committee?
[1:21:44] In 2025, already to
date, we've had four
[1:21:51] fatal crashes in Rice County.
[1:21:53] And the one thing that
we have noticed already
[1:21:57] and have recorded is that
all four of the fatalities
[1:22:01] were over 65.
[1:22:03] So that's telling
us right there,
[1:22:07] we need to focus on
our older drivers.
[1:22:10] And so we wrote some things
into our 2026 grant application
[1:22:18] with that in mind.
[1:22:20] One of the things that
we did this past year
[1:22:23] is called Car Fit.
[1:22:24] And we had a Car Fit clinic
in Northfield in May.
[1:22:28] We're trying to bring it
to Faribault. We're hoping
[1:22:30] that the senior centers
will take it up and do it
[1:22:34] as a regular clinic, but
that's to help older people fit
[1:22:39] in their cars so that they're
driving more safely, that they
[1:22:45] can see out of their mirrors
on the side, their rear view,
[1:22:49] that they're at the right
height and the right distance
[1:22:52] from the steering wheel.
[1:22:54] So lots of work to do there.
[1:22:58] And then there's been 15 serious
injury crashes already in 2025.
[1:23:05] And four of those were
with older drivers.
[1:23:08] So we'll be meeting
for our fourth quarter
[1:23:12] fatal review committee at the
end of the month, September 29.
[1:23:17] And we'll finish up
this crash facts report,
[1:23:20] and then we'll get it out to
you so that you have the data.
[1:23:25] What else, here?
[1:23:26] Oh, TCD work in Rice County.
[1:23:29] So every year, we have to apply
for the grant around again,
[1:23:34] and we do that
with Public Health.
[1:23:36] Deb helps write that
grant, and there's
[1:23:40] two grants that are awarded.
[1:23:42] One is the education grant
through Public Health,
[1:23:47] and then local law enforcement
also writes a grant
[1:23:51] for extra enforcement help.
[1:23:57] And that kind of
rotates through the law
[1:23:59] enforcement and Rice County.
[1:24:01] So in this year,
2025, Northfield
[1:24:05] has been the coordinator
for the enforcement grant.
[1:24:08] Lonsdale wrote it for 2026.
[1:24:10] We're still waiting
to hear about that
[1:24:13] and hoping that
we get that grant.
[1:24:16] The next slide, please.
[1:24:19] Our Safe Roads Coalition
members has been pretty
[1:24:23] steady over the past years.
[1:24:26] They are wonderful members.
[1:24:29] I can't tell you how
much support that they
[1:24:32] provide to the coalition.
[1:24:34] Anything I ask of them,
they step right up.
[1:24:38] They may not always be at our
meetings, but I can call on them
[1:24:43] and they provide
for traffic safety
[1:24:49] activities in Rice County.
[1:24:51] Next slide, please.
[1:24:54] Some of the local efforts
this grant period,
[1:24:59] we sponsor or provide a
Thanksgiving Eve DWI kickoff
[1:25:04] this past fall Thanksgiving.
[1:25:08] It was held at the
Northfield police
[1:25:09] department on the Wednesday
before Thanksgiving.
[1:25:14] All law enforcement are invited.
[1:25:17] The county attorney comes.
[1:25:19] Media is there.
[1:25:21] Minnesotans For Safe Driving
and myself are there.
[1:25:26] We also recognize
the law enforcement
[1:25:30] officer in the county that
has the most DWI citations.
[1:25:35] So last year, there were
two officers that tied
[1:25:39] and they're given a
certificate of appreciation.
[1:25:44] Nancy Johnson with Minnesotans
For Safe Driving and I
[1:25:48] provide pizza for the officers.
[1:25:51] And sometimes, there's
an impact speaker.
[1:25:56] The County attorney will speak.
[1:25:59] It's a great time
to get together
[1:26:01] and thank them for their work.
[1:26:05] They're going out
on Thanksgiving Eve,
[1:26:09] when they would probably rather
be home with their families,
[1:26:13] helping to stuff that turkey
and make pies for the next day,
[1:26:17] but they're out on the road
to help ensure our safety.
[1:26:20] So that's a huge event for us.
[1:26:23] This last year in
Northfield too,
[1:26:26] we always try and do a poster
and some media coverage, a PSA.
[1:26:33] And Kevin Tussing was able to
bring in the Jesse James Gang
[1:26:41] to help us do that.
[1:26:42] And we had Sam Temple from
the City of Northfield
[1:26:48] communications department,
and Susie Rook.
[1:26:52] They were both there taking
photos of the James gang.
[1:26:56] All our law enforcement
were in red cowboy hats,
[1:27:00] Santa hats, cowboy Santa hats.
[1:27:02] And Susie did a fabulous
poster, and then Sam Temple
[1:27:07] did a PSA that we were
able to put on the city
[1:27:10] web pages and Facebook.
[1:27:12] So we really try and
get it out there.
[1:27:15] We try not to be all
doom and gloom about it,
[1:27:20] but raise awareness.
[1:27:22] This is important.
[1:27:24] This is serious.
[1:27:24] This is life and death
matters, so huge event.
[1:27:29] And then the Car Fit safety
clinic, I spoke about.
[1:27:34] We partnered with
Faribault's Double
[1:27:36] Impact for a traffic safety
week at Bethlehem Academy.
[1:27:40] Double Impact led the charge
and it was a great event
[1:27:47] at Bethlehem Academy.
[1:27:48] It was for the sophomore
and senior students.
[1:27:51] They brought in the drunk carts
with the fatal vision goggles,
[1:27:55] and we've actually had those for
the county board in the past,
[1:27:59] and a little course
out in the parking lot
[1:28:02] where you've had to put the
goggles on and drive through it.
[1:28:06] So they brought that
into the high school.
[1:28:08] It was very successful.
[1:28:10] And then on Wednesday, there
was a mini mock crash there.
[1:28:14] Again, law enforcement and
Double Impact, fire department,
[1:28:19] they handled that.
[1:28:20] They brought in a
helicopter, landed.
[1:28:23] So that was another huge event.
[1:28:25] They had an assembly
at the high school,
[1:28:28] and we brought in a
crash car that was
[1:28:31] posted on campus before prom.
[1:28:35] We also partnered
or participated,
[1:28:40] I guess, at the Safe
Summer Kickoff in Faribault
[1:28:43] on the last day of school.
[1:28:45] We brought in the
seat belt convincer
[1:28:47] and we also had a crash
car there as well.
[1:28:50] The belt convincer
was a lot of fun.
[1:28:53] We get a lot of teens that
take a ride on the seat belt
[1:28:59] convincer, and then they can
put their name in a drawing
[1:29:02] for a Kwik Trip card.
[1:29:04] A lot of little kids
want to ride it,
[1:29:08] but we set an age limit.
[1:29:09] You have to be 14, but the
little kids watch and we always
[1:29:14] ask their parents to take a
ride since their child can't
[1:29:19] show them what
it's all about, so
[1:29:22] another great education piece.
[1:29:25] And then, Joyride was
provided at the Defeat
[1:29:30] of Jesse James Days.
[1:29:32] Again, many, many,
many, many thanks
[1:29:35] to the committee and the
Northfield police department who
[1:29:38] provided the funding for
the epic shuttle and driver.
[1:29:43] It ran all three nights.
[1:29:47] She was extremely busy on
Saturday night, which is usual.
[1:29:52] But the thing that struck
me this year was the riders
[1:29:56] were so appreciative.
[1:29:58] On and on, and on,
thank you so much.
[1:30:02] Northfield is wonderful to
provide this kind of service.
[1:30:06] I wasn't going to
comment until I saw this.
[1:30:09] So that was really, really
exciting to hear that.
[1:30:13] And I didn't see any
public intoxication,
[1:30:19] and that was really good too.
[1:30:21] People were having fun
and being responsible.
[1:30:24] So I think Joyride, even though
the rider numbers aren't huge,
[1:30:31] it provides a lot of
education and awareness
[1:30:34] on don't drink and drive in our
community during this event.
[1:30:39] There still was a few
DWIs, but there were
[1:30:43] no crashes, so that was good.
[1:30:46] And then, I mentioned the
quarterly fatal and serious
[1:30:50] injury committee
reviews that we do.
[1:30:52] 
[1:30:55] We also have presentations
at driver's ed classes
[1:31:00] related to alcohol and drugs.
[1:31:02] I'm a speaker.
[1:31:05] Public Health also has a speaker
that does cannabis education
[1:31:10] at driver's ed and
in the health classes
[1:31:14] at the public high school,
so that's really good.
[1:31:21] And then we always support the
enforcement calendar with media
[1:31:25] releases and Facebook posts.
[1:31:27] And that's thanks
to Susie Rook here
[1:31:31] at Rice County Communications.
[1:31:33] She's a great partner and
she does a lot of work for us
[1:31:37] on that, so we appreciate it.
[1:31:39] And then, next slide, please.
[1:31:43] You'll see just some photos.
[1:31:45] The Car Fit clinic.
[1:31:46] There's the Jesse James
Gang poster that we put out.
[1:31:51] The PSA can be found on the
City of Northfield website.
[1:31:55] I think it's also
posted with Rice County.
[1:31:59] There's the crash car that
we had at Bethlehem Academy
[1:32:03] and at Safe Summer Kickoff.
[1:32:06] And then, I forgot
to thank College
[1:32:09] City Beverage for the banners.
[1:32:12] They print all the banners and
posters for the Joyride event,
[1:32:18] and they really did a
fabulous job this year too.
[1:32:22] I went in the
entertainment tent and they
[1:32:24] had banners on the outside.
[1:32:26] They had banners on the inside.
[1:32:27] They had posters all over.
[1:32:30] For the first time, I had
riders coming to the pick
[1:32:36] up location with
tickets filled out.
[1:32:40] Every year, I print
500 tickets and
[1:32:43] distribute them
to the local bars
[1:32:45] and in the entertainment tent.
[1:32:47] And I've never had
anybody come to the pick
[1:32:50] up location with their ticket,
so I always have a handful.
[1:32:54] They have to put their
address on the ticket.
[1:32:57] That's the only reason that they
need a ticket, is so that we can
[1:33:01] have their address
for the driver,
[1:33:03] so the driver knows
where to take them.
[1:33:05] So anyhow, that
was an improvement.
[1:33:10] So there, again, you'll
see our Rice County Safe
[1:33:15] Roads Coalition mission, to move
Rice County toward zero deaths.
[1:33:20] We've been close.
[1:33:22] We've had some years
with only two fatalities,
[1:33:25] and that's encouraging.
[1:33:27] And we're going to
get there, I know it.
[1:33:30] And then, if you
want to get involved,
[1:33:35] come to the Safe Roads Coalition
meetings or support us.
[1:33:40] We also attend the Southeast
TCD Steering Committee.
[1:33:45] And then, attend the state
conference this year.
[1:33:50] It's in Prior Lake,
October 21 to 22,
[1:33:54] and we have had county
board commissioners
[1:33:57] attend in the past.
[1:33:59] We've had the county
attorney and law enforcement,
[1:34:02] lots of good folks.
[1:34:04] And it's a great event, a lot
of workshops to choose from.
[1:34:09] And then, you'll see on the
last page, our regional posters.
[1:34:16] So every year, the
region, Jessica,
[1:34:20] will organize a photo shoot
of all law enforcement
[1:34:25] and first responders
for a photo shoot
[1:34:29] that we can distribute
for seat belt awareness
[1:34:34] prior to seat belt campaign.
[1:34:36] And so it moves throughout
the county, the 11 counties.
[1:34:40] We did it in 2012 at
Northfield Hospital.
[1:34:44] And this year, we did it at
the new Public Safety Center
[1:34:49] in Faribault. So
there's the poster.
[1:34:52] The poster was printed
by Neuger Communications.
[1:34:58] They did 500 large
posters for $40.
[1:35:03] So they were a great partner
too, and we thank them for that.
[1:35:07] So thank you very much.
[1:35:08] Any questions, anybody?
[1:35:10] 
[1:35:12] Thank you.
[1:35:13] MALE SPEAKER: Not necessarily--
[1:35:14] KATHY COOPER: Oh, I'm sorry.
[1:35:15] MALE SPEAKER: No, it's OK.
[1:35:16] Not necessarily a
question, but a statement.
[1:35:18] Thank you for what you do.
[1:35:20] You've been doing this
for how many years now?
[1:35:22] KATHY COOPER: 18.
[1:35:23] MALE SPEAKER: 18.
[1:35:24] And we appreciate it.
[1:35:27] MALE SPEAKER: Well, thank you.
[1:35:28] KATHY COOPER: There's so
many different factors,
[1:35:30] from seat belts, to
drinking, to inattentive
[1:35:34] driving, to these things.
[1:35:36] And we have an aging society,
so when you have training for 65
[1:35:43] plus, it's a lot of
factors that come
[1:35:47] into just driving a vehicle.
[1:35:48] KATHY COOPER: Right.
[1:35:49] And now, thanks to our
legislature passing
[1:35:54] legalized recreational
marijuana, that's
[1:35:57] going to be another issue.
[1:35:59] I mean, it's already an
issue, but it's probably
[1:36:01] going to be a greater issue.
[1:36:03] So, thank you.
[1:36:05] DEB PURFEERST: And I just want
to keep Kathy up here a second
[1:36:07] and point out that
Kathy has served
[1:36:10] in a very long
time in Rice County
[1:36:13] to promote traffic safety.
[1:36:15] So we're really grateful for
her work and her dedication.
[1:36:19] In 2024, Kathy was the recipient
of the Kathy Swanson Outstanding
[1:36:24] Service Award for Exceptional
Leadership in her efforts
[1:36:27] to improve traffic
safety in Minnesota,
[1:36:31] and it was because
of Kathy's work.
[1:36:34] Unfortunately, her daughter
was killed in a traffic crash
[1:36:39] a number of years ago,
but she led the efforts
[1:36:42] to improve the laws for
the primary seat belt law,
[1:36:46] and it was because of
Kathy's dedicated work
[1:36:49] that that happened.
[1:36:50] So we really appreciate
all the work that she
[1:36:54] has done in Rice County.
[1:36:55] I would also like to shout out
to some of the Rice County staff
[1:37:00] who are very helpful
with our coalition.
[1:37:04] We have the county attorney's
office, law enforcement, highway
[1:37:08] department and communications,
and they are all very active
[1:37:13] partners on our
coalition, so we couldn't
[1:37:16] get the work done without them.
[1:37:17] So, thank you.
[1:37:18] Again, thank you.
[1:37:20] Any other questions about
Safe Roads Coalition?
[1:37:23] MALE SPEAKER: Well,
I'd like to give it up
[1:37:24] for Kathy and your whole staff.
[1:37:26] So let's--
[1:37:27] DEB PURFEERST: Yeah,
thank you Kathy.
[1:37:28] [APPLAUSE]
[1:37:30] 
[1:37:31] KATHY COOPER: So we have a We
Care card because we do care.
[1:37:35] Law enforcement is not out
there just giving citations.
[1:37:40] They're trying to educate
the driving public.
[1:37:43] We care.
[1:37:44] We care.
[1:37:45] DEB PURFEERST: Kathy did bring
the fatal vision goggles,
[1:37:49] but I don't think we're going
to take time to do that.
[1:37:51] But later, if any of you want
to put them on and see what it
[1:37:55] would be like if you are
using cannabis products,
[1:37:59] it gives you a good
indication of what that is
[1:38:01] and how that might
affect your driving.
[1:38:05] So that concludes includes
our safe roads presentation.
[1:38:09] I'm going to move over
to the second thing
[1:38:12] that Public Health is
going to present about.
[1:38:15] So we're going to give you
an update on our community
[1:38:18] health assessment process.
[1:38:20] So as a reminder, all Minnesota
Community Health boards
[1:38:24] are mandated to participate
in assessment and planning
[1:38:28] and to determine local
public health priorities
[1:38:31] and focus local resources
on the greatest community
[1:38:35] and organizational needs.
[1:38:37] So we did have a community
health assessment and planning
[1:38:40] meeting in March of this year to
prioritize some of the issues.
[1:38:45] I have Sarah Coulter here.
[1:38:47] She is our clinic and
community supervisor,
[1:38:50] and she's going to give
a brief update about some
[1:38:54] of the work that
was done in March,
[1:38:56] as well as some of the
next steps moving forward.
[1:38:59] So, thank you, Sarah.
[1:39:01] SARAH COULTER: Thank you.
[1:39:02] So good morning, everyone.
[1:39:05] I'm Sarah Coulter.
[1:39:06] I am the clinic and community
supervisor, as Deb indicated,
[1:39:10] and I have been in
this role since 2013.
[1:39:13] So that actually means
this is my fourth go
[1:39:15] around with this process.
[1:39:17] So we keep doing
things a little bit
[1:39:19] differently, improving,
learning some new skills.
[1:39:21] And I want to acknowledge that
the things that have been talked
[1:39:24] about today, I've heard at least
15 different points that you're
[1:39:27] going to hear a little bit about
in this presentation as well.
[1:39:31] Health is in all policies.
[1:39:33] So just hearing some
of these things,
[1:39:35] I'm going to try and point out
where they connect to our work
[1:39:37] as well.
[1:39:38] So in the world of public
health, this process,
[1:39:42] this community health assessment
and improvement planning--
[1:39:45] you can go to the next slide--
[1:39:46] is required by the Local
Public Health Act of 1976.
[1:39:51] So I'm going to take you a
little bit through this wheel
[1:39:54] here.
[1:39:54] Our goals are to increase your
understanding of the health
[1:39:57] of the people of Rice County, to
walk through this process of how
[1:40:01] we identified our top
three health-related needs
[1:40:05] in the county, and then to
lay out our next steps, which
[1:40:08] get to the heart of
strategizing with the community
[1:40:12] and our partners to
address those needs.
[1:40:16] So, go ahead.
[1:40:17] We do this process through
a variety of methods.
[1:40:20] This assessment piece, that
first part of our wheel.
[1:40:23] The first part is
really data that we
[1:40:27] gather from national,
local and state sources.
[1:40:30] It's me going clickety-click,
click, click in my office
[1:40:33] pulling data from the census,
from the Minnesota student
[1:40:36] survey, et cetera, putting it
into tables, charts, and graphs,
[1:40:39] and trying to
understand that data.
[1:40:41] We also do a mailed survey.
[1:40:43] So if you go to the
next slide, you'll
[1:40:45] see that we do hire a survey
company to format the survey
[1:40:49] and to handle the
distribution of that survey.
[1:40:53] In this last round of surveying,
it was 57 questions long.
[1:41:01] We're working to shorten that.
[1:41:03] That's a lot of
questions for the public.
[1:41:05] We did have a 27% response rate,
which is still pretty good.
[1:41:12] But in 2021, we had
a 38% response rate.
[1:41:16] So we are making efforts to
shorten that survey, for sure.
[1:41:21] The survey results
are actually weighted
[1:41:23] to ensure that the results
more accurately reflect
[1:41:26] our population.
[1:41:27] For example, we don't
survey students,
[1:41:29] so this is not representative
of college students at all.
[1:41:33] And the number of respondents
who participate in a written
[1:41:37] survey like that,
they're typically older
[1:41:39] and they're typically
white women.
[1:41:42] So the results are
weighted to be more
[1:41:44] reflective of our
population and we
[1:41:46] can't use this data at all to
represent our people of color
[1:41:50] in Rice County.
[1:41:52] So all of these results were
compiled into a report, which
[1:41:56] is available on our website.
[1:41:58] And I am going to go through
the results of that survey
[1:42:01] and the data gathering
in a little bit,
[1:42:03] but I did want to show you
the next part of the wheel.
[1:42:07] So the report and the survey
are building our assessment,
[1:42:13] and then we have to do
this prioritization piece.
[1:42:18] So to move into that, we
actually asked for help.
[1:42:22] We don't do that
easily downstairs,
[1:42:24] but we did ask for
help from the Minnesota
[1:42:26] Department of Health, their data
and technical assistance team.
[1:42:30] I'm really grateful
that we did do
[1:42:31] that because they-- go ahead--
[1:42:33] they helped us prepare
for this meeting
[1:42:36] that we hosted
with the community.
[1:42:38] We did gain some new
skills and it did push
[1:42:43] us to try different new things.
[1:42:45] So that meeting was
held on March 18.
[1:42:49] And if you would
please raise your hand
[1:42:52] if you were able to
attend that meeting,
[1:42:55] or you can just raise
your hand if you wish
[1:42:58] you had attended that meeting.
[1:42:59] And I really hope everyone's
hand goes up because I'm
[1:43:02] going to give you this.
[1:43:03] Oh, sorry.
[1:43:04] I can't reach that.
[1:43:05] That's all right.
[1:43:05] MALE SPEAKER: I
think we all did.
[1:43:06] SARAH COULTER: Just
hold on to this.
[1:43:08] Don't do anything with it
right now, just hold on to it.
[1:43:11] All right, so there you go.
[1:43:14] So since everyone
did raise their hand
[1:43:16] and was hoping that they
could either have been there
[1:43:19] or that they were
there, at this meeting,
[1:43:23] 45 people from the community
were in attendance.
[1:43:26] And we did try some new tools.
[1:43:27] If anybody's ever
worked with Padlet,
[1:43:29] you'll see it in a little bit.
[1:43:30] And we use these data
sheets that the data
[1:43:32] and technical assistance
team helped us develop.
[1:43:35] So before we get
into the-- go ahead.
[1:43:38] Before we get into the
results of this data
[1:43:41] and what the health of
the people of Rice County
[1:43:43] looks like, I want to just
give you a quick overview.
[1:43:46] We've got about 68,000
people in Rice County.
[1:43:49] We are increasingly diverse,
and about 11% of our population
[1:43:54] lives in poverty.
[1:43:57] So as we do this, do you guys
have your cell phones with you?
[1:44:02] MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
[1:44:03] SARAH COULTER: If you would
please play along with me,
[1:44:05] I'd like to try something
new with you guys,
[1:44:07] because we're constantly trying
to innovate and keep people's
[1:44:09] attention and try new things.
[1:44:11] So if you would please go to
menti.com on your cell phone.
[1:44:17] And then at the top,
you're going to see
[1:44:18] a spot to plug in a code.
[1:44:20] And that code is there.
[1:44:22] It's going to stay on
the next few slides.
[1:44:24] So if it takes you
a bit to get there,
[1:44:28] your connectivity is
slow, you will get there.
[1:44:30] We're going to go on
to the next slide.
[1:44:32] But all you're going to do at
this point is go to the website
[1:44:35] and plug in the access
code, and then you can
[1:44:39] put your phone down for a bit.
[1:44:41] So once I am done reviewing
the health topics,
[1:44:44] I do want you to vote.
[1:44:46] So Menti is a voting
tool that I want
[1:44:48] you to try out with me today.
[1:44:50] Anyone is welcome to vote.
[1:44:51] So if members of the public at
home, they want to try voting,
[1:44:55] again, the information
is on the slides.
[1:44:57] People in the room,
you're welcome to vote.
[1:44:59] This is just to
help us understand
[1:45:03] and stay tuned into the data.
[1:45:04] We will be looking at the
results at the end of this.
[1:45:07] So again, on this slide
and the next several,
[1:45:10] that Menti information
is on there.
[1:45:13] All right, let's go on.
[1:45:15] So the first data slide
that we're going to look at
[1:45:17] is around health care access.
[1:45:19] And you can see, this is
how we oriented the public.
[1:45:21] So the exclamation points are
where we emphasized items that
[1:45:26] were particularly noteworthy.
[1:45:29] I am limiting myself to one data
point on each of these slides
[1:45:33] and I'm sheepish to tell you
that I did miss one slide,
[1:45:37] so I'll just verbally
talk through that one.
[1:45:40] So in no particular
order, we're starting
[1:45:42] off with health care access.
[1:45:44] Rice County has more
people per provider
[1:45:47] than the state average
for dental, mental health,
[1:45:50] and physical primary care.
[1:45:52] So more patients per provider
than the state average.
[1:45:57] I just want you to think about
how that impacts a person's
[1:46:00] ability to manage
their chronic disease,
[1:46:02] or to get in for an appointment.
[1:46:04] Next slide, we've got on
the bottom right, only 45%
[1:46:09] of our children and
teens who are enrolled
[1:46:11] in medical assistance--
so our low income
[1:46:14] families-- have completed
their well-child exam.
[1:46:18] But parents know that these
exams are an important part
[1:46:22] of catching their
child's development
[1:46:25] or physical care needs early on
so that they can be addressed.
[1:46:29] The sooner that we detect
something, the more likely
[1:46:32] we are to have a successful
health outcome of whatever
[1:46:35] is identified.
[1:46:37] So that's preventative
screenings.
[1:46:39] Physical health.
[1:46:40] So this sheet really captures
our leading causes of death.
[1:46:46] And those are labeled in Rice
County by one, two, skip a few,
[1:46:50] and then 4, 5, 6.
[1:46:54] The one I want to
point about out here
[1:46:56] is in your top right quadrant.
[1:46:58] We've got 38% of our population
has high blood pressure.
[1:47:03] High blood pressure is a
modifiable health risk.
[1:47:07] So that is something you can
actually do something about.
[1:47:11] That number has also
been increasing.
[1:47:15] All right.
[1:47:15] Next slide, we've got our
childhood immunizations.
[1:47:18] And I'd like to point out that
we have decreasing vaccination
[1:47:23] uptake here in Rice County.
[1:47:25] So there's four data points
on here and all four of them
[1:47:28] are asterisked,
so I'm just going
[1:47:30] to summarize it by
saying we have decreasing
[1:47:32] vaccinations in Rice County.
[1:47:34] And there was a pertussis
outbreak in Minnesota in 2024.
[1:47:39] Next slide.
[1:47:40] I lumped the youth
and the adults
[1:47:42] together when it comes
to weight status.
[1:47:44] Our adults are actually-- if
we look at overweight and obese
[1:47:48] together, 75% of our
Rice County residents
[1:47:52] are overweight or obese.
[1:47:54] And being in those
weight categories
[1:47:56] has an impact on our
chronic disease, which
[1:47:58] just two slides ago,
I told you was one
[1:48:01] of our leading causes of death.
[1:48:03] So I also wanted to point
out-- so I'm cheating
[1:48:06] and I'm doing two on this
one-- that as our screen
[1:48:09] time increases, oh, it's
actually-- no, it's right here.
[1:48:13] So as our screen time
increases, so sedentary time,
[1:48:17] so does our experience with
anxiety and depression.
[1:48:20] You're going to see that
here coming up soon too.
[1:48:24] So on this slide,
we've got our youth
[1:48:26] and our adult substance abuse.
[1:48:28] And I just want to say
that our children reflect
[1:48:31] the behaviors of the adults.
[1:48:32] So we've got increasing
amounts of cannabis.
[1:48:37] Tobacco is actually
going down a little bit.
[1:48:39] And tobacco is actually higher
in southern Rice County.
[1:48:42] So if you're a commissioner
in southern Rice County,
[1:48:45] take a look at that
top right area,
[1:48:48] looking at Southern Rice County
split by northern Rice County.
[1:48:52] Pause here, Sarah, because
this is where I forgot
[1:48:54] the slide on mental health.
[1:48:57] Sorry about that, it's actually
a really important one.
[1:49:00] And one in three adults
have either anxiety
[1:49:03] or depression in Rice County.
[1:49:06] It's the same for our children.
[1:49:08] It's also interesting that
when you look at loneliness,
[1:49:10] one in three of our adults
experience loneliness.
[1:49:14] So that number has increased
very significantly since 2016.
[1:49:22] We're going to go on.
[1:49:23] The next slide is
around maternal health.
[1:49:26] As you know, I do work with
our WIC services as well.
[1:49:30] And I want to
point out that this
[1:49:31] is an area WIC is
going to be focusing
[1:49:33] on in the next two years.
[1:49:35] 37% of our WIC moms
have a low hemoglobin.
[1:49:39] Hemoglobin is like the
iron in your blood,
[1:49:41] and it's what carries oxygen. A
woman is building another human
[1:49:45] at this time, and that
human needs blood volume,
[1:49:47] and so does mom.
[1:49:48] So in their third trimester,
we have 37% of our WIC moms
[1:49:52] with low hemoglobin.
[1:49:54] That is actually higher
when you look at it by race.
[1:49:57] So our white moms experience
lower levels of low hemoglobin,
[1:50:01] and our Black and
our Hispanic moms
[1:50:03] experience greater
levels of low hemoglobin.
[1:50:06] So low hemoglobin in
pregnancy increases
[1:50:09] risk of premature babies, so
babies born before 37 weeks.
[1:50:13] I'm guessing some
of you guys have
[1:50:14] had experiences with premature
babies in your lives.
[1:50:18] Those babies are also at
risk of low birth weight
[1:50:21] and at risk of
infection or the mother
[1:50:24] bleeding out during birth.
[1:50:25] So 37% of our moms
are experiencing this.
[1:50:30] All right, our housing slide.
[1:50:33] We've got nearly
half of our renters
[1:50:35] in Rice County are paying 30%
or more of their income on rent.
[1:50:42] You already knew
that, I'm thinking,
[1:50:43] but that is really,
really significant.
[1:50:46] Motor vehicle safety.
[1:50:48] Shout out to Kathy who, I don't
know if she's still in the room,
[1:50:51] but two in five of our students
report distracted driving.
[1:50:57] Commissioner Mallika pointed
out all the distractions
[1:50:59] that are available to
us when we're driving,
[1:51:03] and so just a nod to Kathy
on that part of her work.
[1:51:07] Violence, abuse, and neglect.
[1:51:10] One in 10 of our students report
emotional or physical abuse.
[1:51:14] There's also some information
from Megan Thomas's unit
[1:51:17] or department on
this slide as well,
[1:51:20] regarding the number of children
in out-of-home foster care.
[1:51:25] All right, that is what I
would like to call a turn
[1:51:28] and burn on the data
related to Rice County.
[1:51:32] And this is where we're going to
pause so that you guys can vote.
[1:51:35] So if you would again pull up
your Menti, what I want you
[1:51:38] to do is choose three
categories where
[1:51:40] you think it's the outstanding
or one of the top three
[1:51:44] of those categories.
[1:51:46] Just select them,
and then Sarah,
[1:51:49] if you would go to our
website so we can start
[1:51:51] seeing how you guys voted.
[1:51:53] 
[1:51:58] MALE SPEAKER: So you just told
us we're going to get depressed
[1:52:01] if we're on the screen
time and now you
[1:52:03] got us playing on our phones.
[1:52:05] SARAH COULTER: Yeah, yep.
[1:52:06] You're absolutely right, I do.
[1:52:08] But after this, please
feel free to turn it off.
[1:52:12] All right, so what you
can see, we've got--
[1:52:14] oh, good.
[1:52:15] You're still voting.
[1:52:16] I'm going to let it
settle for a bit.
[1:52:19] MALE SPEAKER: I was
paying attention.
[1:52:21] SARAH COULTER: And
dang, we're going
[1:52:22] to need some tiebreakers here.
[1:52:24] So if somebody
else wants to vote,
[1:52:26] you can see that the number
one issue here is housing,
[1:52:29] and then we've got a whole lot.
[1:52:31] And I'm not too surprised.
[1:52:32] All of these things is
a pressing health need.
[1:52:36] We're only able to
focus on the top three,
[1:52:39] and now we've got three.
[1:52:40] So let's just go with this.
[1:52:42] We've got physical health,
substance use, and housing.
[1:52:45] So just in this kind of--
[1:52:46] I'm sorry, I'm pretty
informal about some of this
[1:52:49] and this spitball method.
[1:52:50] This is what we
came up with, those
[1:52:52] being the top three--
housing, physical health,
[1:52:55] and substance use.
[1:52:56] Let's take a look, Sarah, if you
would go back to the top three
[1:52:59] that the community identified.
[1:53:01] When the community went through
this process which, granted,
[1:53:05] they got a whole lot
more meat on the bones
[1:53:07] in this presentation.
[1:53:08] We really took some time to
digest it with our partners.
[1:53:11] And these are the top three
that they came up with.
[1:53:14] Housing, mental health,
and health care access.
[1:53:18] So we can go to the next slide
because this is the tool Padlet.
[1:53:23] Super, super messy, but
it worked brilliantly.
[1:53:26] You're getting the summary, but
we spent the rest of our meeting
[1:53:31] after we identified the
top three, really diving
[1:53:34] deep on those three
topics of housing,
[1:53:37] mental health, and health care.
[1:53:38] And we talked about
what is helping
[1:53:42] on this issue of mental health,
housing, and health care,
[1:53:47] and what is contributing,
what's making it worse.
[1:53:50] And everybody just kept dumping
their ideas and information
[1:53:53] into this tool, Padlet.
[1:53:56] And now what we've done--
[1:53:59] well, then, we
stopped the meeting.
[1:54:02] Well, no, I guess not.
[1:54:04] We closed the
meeting by asking who
[1:54:06] wants to be involved in the
next steps of this process.
[1:54:10] So we can go to the
next slide, because I've
[1:54:12] taken you all the way
around to number three here.
[1:54:15] We are currently strategizing.
[1:54:17] So we're taking these
top three health issues
[1:54:20] and we're meeting with work
groups, which are going to begin
[1:54:24] meeting later on this month.
[1:54:26] And then we're
going to be setting
[1:54:27] some goals, some
strategies, and objectives.
[1:54:30] And we're going to
develop measurement
[1:54:34] in order to be able
to see whether or not
[1:54:35] we're having an impact.
[1:54:37] So the population measure
is something we just measure
[1:54:42] periodically, not regularly.
[1:54:45] So when we look at the fact
that one in three of our adults
[1:54:48] is experiencing
anxiety or depression,
[1:54:50] if I measure that
every week, I'm
[1:54:52] not going to see much change.
[1:54:54] But if I measure the efforts
that the community is having
[1:54:57] around, like, raising awareness
about mental health needs,
[1:55:01] increasing the
number of providers,
[1:55:02] those things change
more regularly.
[1:55:04] And then we pull our
population measure again
[1:55:07] in about three years and see
if we've had a positive impact
[1:55:11] on that outcome.
[1:55:14] So since our technology
worked, I don't actually
[1:55:17] need you to use your
red packets in the way
[1:55:20] that I thought I might
need you to use them
[1:55:22] if our technology didn't work.
[1:55:24] But in recognition that
one of our top health needs
[1:55:26] is mental health,
when you open up
[1:55:28] your packet, what
you're going to find in
[1:55:30] there is three wooden hearts.
[1:55:32] And again, since our technology
worked and mental health
[1:55:35] is a top health
need in Rice County,
[1:55:37] you can feel free to take
those three wooden hearts
[1:55:40] and distribute them
to three people.
[1:55:43] I'm going to ask you to find
three people that you want
[1:55:46] to appreciate, or just
send a message of kindness
[1:55:49] to, and give those little
hearts of kindness away.
[1:55:51] So thank you for
your time today.
[1:55:54] What questions may I help with?
[1:55:56] 
[1:55:59] MALE SPEAKER: Well,
Sarah, I enjoy your energy
[1:56:01] and your presentations.
[1:56:04] SARAH COULTER:
Love working here.
[1:56:05] We've got some good
stuff going on.
[1:56:08] MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
[1:56:08] Any other comments?
[1:56:11] Thank you, Sarah.
[1:56:12] That was very good.
[1:56:13] SARAH COULTER: Thank you.
[1:56:16] MALE SPEAKER: Commissioners,
are you doing good?
[1:56:19] Stay with it?
[1:56:20] 
[1:56:22] We got the honorable
Dennis Luebbe coming up.
[1:56:25] 
[1:56:32] DENNIS LUEBBE: Good morning.
[1:56:33] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[1:56:34] MALE SPEAKER: Good morning.
[1:56:35] DENNIS LUEBBE: So I'll
keep some updates brief.
[1:56:37] It's been a long morning.
[1:56:38] I know Paula wanted to know
how long I was going to talk
[1:56:41] because she's ready to go.
[1:56:45] Just some updates from highways.
[1:56:46] I'll focus on
construction, mostly.
[1:56:49] A couple projects, well, all
projects are moving along fine.
[1:56:53] I think in the next
couple of weeks,
[1:56:54] we'll be really close to
wrapping up several of them.
[1:56:59] I do want to point out that
on our County Road 50, that's
[1:57:02] that reconstruction
project, we ran
[1:57:03] into two pockets
of silty material
[1:57:06] that required us to put
in a little extra cement
[1:57:09] stabilization.
[1:57:11] So we'll probably
have a little cost
[1:57:13] overrun in at least that
line item on that contract.
[1:57:17] But at this point, I don't
think it's anything excessive.
[1:57:22] Let's see, on our County Road
78 culvert up by Sechler Park
[1:57:27] in Northfield, we
ran into bedrock,
[1:57:29] and that will cost a
few extra dollars again
[1:57:32] to have that excavated
out, especially
[1:57:34] for the knee walls or the
toe walls of that culvert.
[1:57:39] Again, I don't think
it's excessive,
[1:57:40] but probably some
unplanned cost on that job.
[1:57:48] Let's see, we did receive
some additional funding
[1:57:52] so we can advance the
Richland Township Bridge
[1:57:55] Hall Avenue Commissioner.
[1:57:57] I'll be talking to them
in November on that,
[1:58:00] get that squared
away for next year.
[1:58:03] I will have next week, for
your action or consideration,
[1:58:07] a proposal to start a design
for another Northfield Township
[1:58:12] Bridge on Carroll Trail.
[1:58:14] I got a proposal
from a consultant,
[1:58:16] so that'll be on the agenda
for next week's action item,
[1:58:20] as well as an update on County
Road 11, our slope failure
[1:58:24] due to the flooding last year.
[1:58:26] We did open some bids.
[1:58:28] The bids came in extremely high.
[1:58:31] And we will be
reassessing our options,
[1:58:35] and I'll share more details
with you next week on that.
[1:58:38] It doesn't look like
we'll get that project
[1:58:40] done this year due to the costs
we saw on that bid opening.
[1:58:45] And then the other
County Road 20 project
[1:58:50] we're designing for 2027 from
Trunk Highway 3 by Menard's
[1:58:55] and Dundas to back up
towards Faribault about three
[1:58:58] miles, that project, in
the design phase right now,
[1:59:02] we're probably looking at
a few challenges there.
[1:59:05] We've talked to Great
River Energy, which
[1:59:07] is the transmission line through
Rice County, or at least one
[1:59:11] of them.
[1:59:12] We're going to have to
move one of their poles
[1:59:14] so our alignment can best fit
the contours and the other needs
[1:59:20] of the project.
[1:59:21] That may not be cheap.
[1:59:24] We've just started the process
with them to investigate
[1:59:28] the cost to do that.
[1:59:30] And then, in that same area,
to make the road improvements
[1:59:35] and design a safe road
to serve the public
[1:59:38] for the next 50 years, we're
going to move the alignment.
[1:59:42] Moving that alignment
pushes us into some wetland
[1:59:45] and some poor soils.
[1:59:46] So we're just beginning to
learn how much over-excavation.
[1:59:50] We're going to get into that.
[1:59:52] So when we talk about
the cost of that project,
[1:59:56] I think it's creeping
upwards, but we'll know more
[2:00:00] as we get further into design.
[2:00:03] We do hope to have maybe some
exhibits in a public open house
[2:00:09] on that part of County
Road 20, I think in October
[2:00:12] now, maybe later in October.
[2:00:16] And let's see, well, I
think I'll stop there.
[2:00:20] I could talk a little
bit about parks
[2:00:21] if you're interested in what
we've been able to do in parks.
[2:00:26] We've got a project
going on at Shaker Park,
[2:00:28] right west of town off
of Trunk Highway 60
[2:00:30] for some ADA improvements
through Deb and Public Health
[2:00:35] funding some of that,
and then the action
[2:00:37] you took last week to free
up some of those dollars
[2:00:39] in our park dedication fee.
[2:00:42] Randy Tim's crew is going to
get in there, I think, next week
[2:00:44] and start making
those improvements.
[2:00:47] We have some trailhead
signs that were also funded
[2:00:50] through Public Health and SHIP.
[2:00:52] Those should be going up next
week at three different parks
[2:00:57] to give folks a better
sense of the park amenities
[2:01:01] and some of the
history of the parks.
[2:01:03] And Susie's been very
helpful to help that,
[2:01:06] along with other
staff in Public Health
[2:01:08] and in the assessor's office--
[2:01:10] good teamwork on that.
[2:01:12] Our MnDOT crew, I think, should
be placing signs along our Trunk
[2:01:16] Highway system in
Rice County that
[2:01:18] identify those parks as well.
[2:01:20] I need to follow up and see
where they're at with that.
[2:01:24] That was also funded
through Public Health.
[2:01:27] And then our regional
park application,
[2:01:31] we were able to go to
the Defeat of Jesse James
[2:01:35] Day on a Saturday morning.
[2:01:36] We had an opportunity
for a survey,
[2:01:39] try to capture some folks'
interest and knowledge
[2:01:42] of Cannon River Wilderness
Park, what amenities
[2:01:46] they would like to see.
[2:01:48] And some folks didn't even know
where it was, but that's fine.
[2:01:52] So we're building
awareness for that.
[2:01:53] That was a pretty good
turnout on that day
[2:01:55] until we got rained out,
I think, about 2 o'clock.
[2:01:59] Nice event up there.
[2:02:02] With the attorney's office,
we're working on the park rules.
[2:02:06] So as part of our signage,
we're going to display--
[2:02:10] the board will be acting
on that in the future
[2:02:13] here to develop some updated
park rules, so that's underway.
[2:02:18] And I think we're going
to hopefully wrap that
[2:02:20] up by the end of this year.
[2:02:23] And then it's
funding time, so I'll
[2:02:26] be working with Sandy on a
couple of different initiatives.
[2:02:28] And then also, our routine
highway funding opportunities
[2:02:34] are starting to come
to us, and there'll
[2:02:37] be some discussion
possibly on what projects
[2:02:40] we would pursue funding on.
[2:02:42] And we're talking about projects
that are probably in years
[2:02:44] 3, 4, and 5 in our program.
[2:02:47] So I'll keep it short.
[2:02:50] Any questions on that update?
[2:02:54] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead, Galen.
[2:02:56] MALE SPEAKER: I don't think
you mentioned County Road
[2:02:58] 46, Hazelwood Avenue.
[2:03:00] DENNIS LUEBBE: That
project, I think,
[2:03:02] has one lift of asphalt to go.
[2:03:04] They finished that this
week with the paving,
[2:03:07] and then of course, pavement
markings, signage, shouldering,
[2:03:10] and I think some
very minor ditch
[2:03:14] grading has to be done yet.
[2:03:16] Probably, I would say,
middle of October,
[2:03:20] maybe a week earlier than that.
[2:03:24] County Road 48 right
here in Faribault, it's
[2:03:27] an interesting
paving approach there
[2:03:29] to deal with all of the
different traffic lanes
[2:03:31] and the different
depths of paving.
[2:03:33] That's moved along
nicely, and the traffic
[2:03:36] signal work was done.
[2:03:38] And I think final
paving is, again,
[2:03:41] probably five to 10 days out.
[2:03:44] That could wrap up.
[2:03:45] Our County Road 27 project,
I think all the construction
[2:03:48] signs have been removed and so
I think we're essentially done.
[2:03:51] 
[2:03:54] Did mention County Road 50,
and I did mention the culvert.
[2:03:57] So it's been a good,
heavy month of work.
[2:04:03] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[2:04:04] MALE SPEAKER: How
about the fuel port?
[2:04:05] Is that going this year or is
that going to get pushed in?
[2:04:07] DENNIS LUEBBE: I talked to
our consultant just yesterday.
[2:04:10] We have not heard back from
the low bid on their intention.
[2:04:13] I do believe it is planned
for next year, Commissioner.
[2:04:16] I'm waiting for written
confirmation on that
[2:04:19] and I wanted to
mention that today,
[2:04:21] but I don't have it, so
we should get that any day
[2:04:24] with a schedule for work
commencing next spring.
[2:04:28] 
[2:04:34] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you, Dennis.
[2:04:35] Is that it?
[2:04:35] DENNIS LUEBBE: Yep, yep.
[2:04:36] MALE SPEAKER: I appreciate it.
[2:04:37] Thank you much.
[2:04:39] Next, we have finance
with Paula O'Connell.
[2:04:43] SARAH: And actually,
I'll be taking it.
[2:04:46] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you, Sarah.
[2:04:47] SARAH: Yep.
[2:04:48] Our prelim budget-- and I'm
going to stay here because I'm
[2:04:50] going to have multiple
screens that I
[2:04:51] can pull up our
information depending
[2:04:53] on where the questions land.
[2:04:56] Sometime later this
morning as well,
[2:04:58] the budget packet will be
updated for a new budget
[2:05:01] roll forward document.
[2:05:03] There was a section
in there that
[2:05:05] had some data from
outside agencies
[2:05:07] that needed to be updated,
so that will be taken care of
[2:05:10] and re-uploaded.
[2:05:11] I do have an accurate copy
that I can share on the screen
[2:05:14] when we get to that point.
[2:05:15] So let me move into
a presentation here.
[2:05:19] 
[2:05:29] I just have to try to get
it over to the other screen.
[2:05:32] 
[2:05:39] I'll try this instead.
[2:05:41] 
[2:05:50] There we are.
[2:05:51] So I'm going to just go through
the first couple of slides
[2:05:53] we have every year with
our mission, vision,
[2:05:55] values, priorities, and
the high level summary.
[2:05:59] So for next week, this
number is actually going
[2:06:03] to go just a little bit lower.
[2:06:06] We got some information
at the end of last week.
[2:06:08] As we talked about
throughout the summer here
[2:06:09] in legislative
session, we're going
[2:06:11] to be getting
information on a rolling
[2:06:13] basis beyond preliminary levy.
[2:06:15] So towards the end of last week,
we received some information.
[2:06:18] I know when Angela Brewer
was here talking about some
[2:06:21] of their grants, we requested
a one year extension.
[2:06:24] We didn't know the
results of that yet,
[2:06:25] so we had that half time FTE on
the levy instead of the grant,
[2:06:29] because as far as we knew, that
grant was going to be done.
[2:06:31] We did get, towards the end
of the week, notification
[2:06:34] that one year, no cost
extension was granted,
[2:06:38] so that FTE will
then shift from levy
[2:06:41] to grant funding for next year.
[2:06:43] That will take that
down a little bit.
[2:06:45] And then we had another
position that we reviewed,
[2:06:47] that instead of being full
time, is going to be 0.75.
[2:06:50] So that will move some
things around too.
[2:06:51] So for the purposes of
today, these are the numbers.
[2:06:55] But next week, when
you see the resolution,
[2:06:57] it will be a little
bit lower than that.
[2:07:00] So the 2026 budget
recommendation
[2:07:03] is $103,688,739 for all funds.
[2:07:08] The 2025 budget was a
little over 116 million.
[2:07:12] You'll see this visually
reflected later where you look
[2:07:14] at in particular, like
transportation projects can make
[2:07:18] that swing, or when we have
facility projects, things
[2:07:21] like that, that are not our
general ongoing operations,
[2:07:25] where you'll see that
number can shift what
[2:07:30] would be pretty significantly.
[2:07:32] So last year, we had more
transportation projects.
[2:07:35] This year, you'll see how
transportation is a smaller
[2:07:38] portion of the
budget than it was
[2:07:39] last year, just because again,
you guys see the 10 year plan.
[2:07:42] When we have larger, maybe
federal or state funded projects
[2:07:45] that's not levy, that can make
that number move quite a bit.
[2:07:48] So that's where we're
sitting for this year.
[2:07:50] Our total levy
increase is $3,532,540.
[2:07:56] If you think about all things
equal, nothing changes.
[2:08:01] What are the staff,
because of health
[2:08:03] care, bargaining agreement
changes, things of that nature--
[2:08:07] our personnel costs,
including all the taxes,
[2:08:11] and we have a new tax this year
with the paid family leave tax
[2:08:15] that will be going into play.
[2:08:17] That's $3,157,000,
so that leaves
[2:08:19] $374,870 for other things.
[2:08:23] The staffing is
not a one-for-one
[2:08:25] because we do have
some positions where
[2:08:27] a portion of their funding
might be reimbursed
[2:08:31] through state or
federal programs,
[2:08:32] or it might be a
grant funded position.
[2:08:34] So again, that staffing
number isn't a one-for-one,
[2:08:37] but that's what that increase
in payroll is year over year.
[2:08:41] And next year, we actually
have a slight overall decrease
[2:08:44] in FTE, so there's
not going to be
[2:08:47] an increase in our FTE from
last year to this year,
[2:08:50] or this year to next year.
[2:08:52] Our HRA levy increase is 0.
[2:08:55] We were able to stay flat
based on funding they
[2:08:58] get from a variety of sources.
[2:09:00] And then the county and
HRA combined levy is 8.87%,
[2:09:07] and then I'll have that
breakdown a little more further.
[2:09:09] So the total 2026 property tax
levy request is $43,354,666,
[2:09:17] but that will change
for next week.
[2:09:19] Again, that will be a
little bit lower than that.
[2:09:22] MALE SPEAKER: Sarah?
[2:09:23] SARAH: Yeah?
[2:09:24] MALE SPEAKER: Could you
go back just for a moment?
[2:09:26] Our top line, our
budget is $103,688,000.
[2:09:31] And then you got in
parentheses, $116,538,000.
[2:09:34] SARAH: Yeah, that
was this year's.
[2:09:36] So just so you could see what
our budget was for this year
[2:09:39] for expenditures
compared to what we're
[2:09:41] going to be spending next year.
[2:09:42] MALE SPEAKER: OK.
[2:09:43] SARAH: Yep.
[2:09:43] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[2:09:44] 
[2:09:49] SARAH: And this is, again,
kind of dialing down
[2:09:51] a little bit, our levy by fund.
[2:09:54] So you can see the changes for
general fund, libraries, road
[2:09:59] and bridge, human
services, and compared
[2:10:02] to what we levied in 2025.
[2:10:08] So our total gross county
levy is 7.6% increase.
[2:10:12] And then you take
into consideration
[2:10:13] county program aid, which
we're actually losing a bit.
[2:10:17] And that impact, even though
it's only a loss of $143,393,
[2:10:23] it doesn't keep up with our
cost of administering services.
[2:10:26] So that's what makes that
net levy net out to the 8.92.
[2:10:30] So before the impact of county
program aid, we're at 7.6,
[2:10:35] then we go up to 8.92.
[2:10:38] And we do have a slide that
just talks about program aid,
[2:10:43] but as a reminder for
people's knowledge
[2:10:46] here, we did have an
infusion or the legislature
[2:10:52] provided more money a few years
back for additional program aid.
[2:10:56] And that didn't change for
this year, but what we get
[2:10:59] is based on formula for how
our county is either performing
[2:11:03] or the demographics
of our county compared
[2:11:05] to other counties in the state.
[2:11:06] So you have two parts
to county program aid.
[2:11:09] You've got county
need aid and county
[2:11:11] tax base equalization aid.
[2:11:13] So for the county
need aid, our share
[2:11:15] is based on here's
the money, here's
[2:11:17] what the legislature
appropriates
[2:11:19] for each of those buckets.
[2:11:21] And then part of it's
distributed based on percentage
[2:11:25] of our population
that's 65 and older
[2:11:27] compared to other counties
with what their 65
[2:11:31] and older population is.
[2:11:32] The next part of that is based
on what portion of our county,
[2:11:37] how many residents
receive SNAP benefits.
[2:11:39] And then the other part is
based on state group A offenses,
[2:11:43] like part I crime data.
[2:11:45] So it's kind of that hard
thing too, because you
[2:11:49] don't want crime committed.
[2:11:51] You want a good economy
where we don't need some
[2:11:53] of those social safety nets.
[2:11:56] So as you improve
in those areas,
[2:11:58] your aid goes down
because then it
[2:12:00] seems like the economy of
your county is doing better,
[2:12:03] and same thing on the tax
base equalization aid.
[2:12:05] There were some
changes to this maybe--
[2:12:08] I'm thinking 10 years ago,
maybe a little longer,
[2:12:10] because it talks about--
[2:12:12] it's based on your
county tax base.
[2:12:16] And so there was a period
of time particularly, like,
[2:12:19] I was working in
Southwest Minnesota, where
[2:12:22] ag land was rapidly rising.
[2:12:24] You had over $10,000
an acre, sometimes
[2:12:27] close to $15,000 an acre.
[2:12:29] The prices in the
Minnesota River Valley
[2:12:30] were very significant.
[2:12:31] So those counties that
were small and having
[2:12:34] these rapid rises
of ag land values,
[2:12:39] their county program aid was
decreasing pretty significantly.
[2:12:43] So they put in this
little formula piece
[2:12:47] that is the greater of 0.27%
of the statewide appropriation
[2:12:55] for the equalization aid,
or 95% of your county's
[2:12:57] TBA for the previous year.
[2:12:59] So that reduced the instability
and that fluctuation
[2:13:02] of that portion of aid,
because again, that
[2:13:04] was pretty significant
for some counties
[2:13:07] that had those large
swings in the ag values.
[2:13:12] So that's where, again, if money
doesn't get added to that pool,
[2:13:18] some counties will see
a continual decline,
[2:13:20] while other counties will
see a continual increase.
[2:13:22] So it's more of a policy thing
when we get to legislature.
[2:13:26] 
[2:13:29] MALE SPEAKER: Excuse me, did you
commissioners understand that?
[2:13:33] SARAH: Sorry, it's complicated.
[2:13:34] MALE SPEAKER: I mean, that
was a lot to digest for me.
[2:13:36] SARAH: I know.
[2:13:37] I'll repeat it again during
final, but that is just,
[2:13:40] again, one of the complicated
formulas that we deal with that
[2:13:42] does have an impact on what our
net levy looks like every year,
[2:13:46] and it is a legislative point of
discussion every year as well.
[2:13:50] 
[2:13:53] So if we look at the county HRA
only tax rate and levy history,
[2:14:01] over the past 10 years
or so, our tax rate
[2:14:05] estimate for this coming year is
38.96%, our levy change, 8.87.
[2:14:11] I'm going to pull up
another document here just
[2:14:14] to show you some more info.
[2:14:16] Let me see here.
[2:14:17] 
[2:14:20] I think it's on here.
[2:14:21] 
[2:14:24] And Josh was here earlier.
[2:14:26] He talked about the trends
and what we're seeing.
[2:14:28] So these numbers
in the bottom are
[2:14:31] very close to his presentation
but not quite the same.
[2:14:33] These are a point in time
number that we get when we're
[2:14:36] working on preparing stuff.
[2:14:37] So when you look at our
taxable market value,
[2:14:42] our projection at the point in
time we did this document was
[2:14:45] about that $10,817,000,000 mark,
which was very close to what
[2:14:51] Josh had in his presentation.
[2:14:53] And our net tax capacity,
which is what he was describing
[2:14:56] in that very complex, all the
property classifications and all
[2:14:59] those classes are
assigned at a tax rate,
[2:15:01] based on what the
state tells us,
[2:15:03] each piece of
parcel can be taxed
[2:15:06] at, our net tax capacity for
the county is $111,267,925--
[2:15:13] again, an estimate at
this point in time.
[2:15:16] We have a little over $93
million in new construction,
[2:15:21] so this isn't just
values increasing
[2:15:23] because of different
market factors,
[2:15:25] this is also new construction.
[2:15:27] And that gives us our
tax rate of 38.96%.
[2:15:31] So basically, based on current
tax capacity that the state
[2:15:36] allows through their
statutes and rules,
[2:15:39] we're tapping into
about 38% of that.
[2:15:42] So we can, under their
rules, tax $111 million.
[2:15:47] We don't and are not going to.
[2:15:51] So that's kind of what shows.
[2:15:53] So we're looking at $43
million in property taxes.
[2:15:57] Our ceiling is 111, if
that kind of makes sense.
[2:16:01] So our new estimated net tax
capacity for new construction
[2:16:06] is $838 million.
[2:16:09] Our new construction
tax revenue--
[2:16:11] so of this increase that we're
asking for, we're estimating
[2:16:16] that $326,000 of that, maybe 3/4
of a percent-- a little more--
[2:16:21] is going to be paid
for by new construction
[2:16:24] that we're experiencing.
[2:16:26] So it's always good to see
growth in our tax base.
[2:16:30] That's what we're going
for to help spread
[2:16:32] that out a little bit more.
[2:16:33] 
[2:16:36] This is the document
that's in the attachment,
[2:16:39] but the more current version
where it goes through
[2:16:43] and talks about each
department within the fund.
[2:16:46] So the total general
fund is going up 9.27%.
[2:16:51] Some areas, we're
kind of phasing out
[2:16:56] some one-time funding
that we received
[2:16:58] and easing that off because
that money is just about done.
[2:17:04] We had an increase
in that payroll tax
[2:17:08] for the paid family leave,
some things like that.
[2:17:11] 
[2:17:14] Let's see here-- extension,
I'll talk about that one a bit
[2:17:17] because that looks
like a larger number,
[2:17:18] and that number will
come down a little bit.
[2:17:20] But in the prior year--
so not this year in '24,
[2:17:24] I think towards the
end of '23 maybe,
[2:17:26] a position was eliminated
but it wasn't eliminated,
[2:17:30] was only on pause.
[2:17:32] But we took it off
the levy and we
[2:17:33] provided for funds
for a facilitator
[2:17:37] to determine what
the needs were.
[2:17:39] So we had a position, didn't
feel like it was meeting
[2:17:42] the needs we wanted to do.
[2:17:43] We're reevaluating
that, and so now we've
[2:17:45] come up with some ideas so we
can look at having the Extension
[2:17:49] Committee review some
job descriptions, come
[2:17:51] to an agreement, and
that was a 0.75 FTE.
[2:17:54] So now for '26, we're
anticipating that that 0.75 FTE
[2:17:58] will be back in the
budget when it's
[2:18:00] been left unfilled for a
year while they try to work
[2:18:03] out the job descriptions.
[2:18:06] Those positions are State of
Minnesota, extension University
[2:18:09] of Minnesota positions, so
it's not like a job description
[2:18:12] that we can just
craft and change.
[2:18:14] We have to work
within what they have
[2:18:16] and their union, their wages,
their job descriptions.
[2:18:19] So it's just a little bit
different process to get
[2:18:21] to where we want to get to.
[2:18:22] But that'll be there, so that's
why it looks like there's
[2:18:24] a larger increase in
extension, is to accommodate
[2:18:27] for that position.
[2:18:30] And if anything changes
with that before final,
[2:18:32] we'll make those changes.
[2:18:33] 
[2:18:38] Again, we show we had these fund
summaries on the other page.
[2:18:43] Human Services.
[2:18:45] So throughout this
fall, we had departments
[2:18:47] come in that were going to
be seeing more of an impact
[2:18:50] from legislative changes.
[2:18:52] So, like, we had Social Services
presented a couple of times
[2:18:56] on some different areas.
[2:18:58] Community Corrections
was in because there's
[2:19:00] a little bit larger swing
in community corrections.
[2:19:02] So they came and talked twice
to you all about the things
[2:19:05] impacting their budget
and what the needs were.
[2:19:08] We had the 901 Center
and some other smaller
[2:19:11] presentations on budgets, so you
could get the detail in there.
[2:19:15] And when we do
final budget, we'll
[2:19:16] link to all those
online resources
[2:19:18] so people can go back and
review the specific department
[2:19:21] presentations on that for
more information as well.
[2:19:24] But in here, you'll see areas
where, again, we might have
[2:19:28] a little bit higher swing
because we have new things that
[2:19:30] are going in there,
whether it's competency
[2:19:32] attainment like Megan discussed,
or we have increased services.
[2:19:36] What you don't see in
particular in Human Services,
[2:19:40] are things that changed
in session this year,
[2:19:43] whether it's state or federal.
[2:19:44] But a lot of those have
delayed implementation.
[2:19:47] So some things are end of fourth
quarter next year, October,
[2:19:51] so we might have that in there.
[2:19:52] Some things are
2027 implementation,
[2:19:55] some things are 2028.
[2:19:56] And so departmental
staff and myself
[2:19:59] have been attending
any opportunity we can,
[2:20:01] federal and state online
meetings and webinars
[2:20:05] that they're holding.
[2:20:06] And the message has
pretty much been the same.
[2:20:08] Like, here's the change, here's
maybe a broad sweep of what they
[2:20:12] think an impact would be, but
the analysis is not complete as
[2:20:15] to what that means for us here.
[2:20:17] And so that
information hopefully
[2:20:19] will continue to develop over
towards the end of this year.
[2:20:23] Some of it we won't be
getting maybe till next year.
[2:20:27] So that's why we talked
significantly about impacts
[2:20:31] of changes and we've only
seen an increase of 7.462%
[2:20:36] because a lot of
those changes are not
[2:20:38] implemented quite yet
next year, but they
[2:20:40] will be seen in future years.
[2:20:44] Debt service.
[2:20:44] I have a thing on debt
service to show you guys,
[2:20:47] because we usually
talk about this
[2:20:48] and this is good
for thinking ahead.
[2:20:51] So all these numbers are
our debt service chart
[2:20:57] that Paula and finance track.
[2:21:00] So I'm going to
highlight because I
[2:21:01] know this is itty-bitty.
[2:21:02] But what it shows is how
we structured our debt.
[2:21:05] So for '25, '26, '27, '28, our
debt service number is flat,
[2:21:11] so we won't need
to increase pending
[2:21:13] a decision made to do anything
else with additional debt.
[2:21:18] $4,513,000 is our debt
service through 2028.
[2:21:24] Then you'll see in 2029, some
prior debt service issues
[2:21:28] are going to start to drop off.
[2:21:30] They're going to be paid.
[2:21:31] So we'll see a decrease
of almost $700,000
[2:21:35] in 2029 for debt service.
[2:21:37] We'll see some
little modifications
[2:21:41] in the next several
years, and then again, you
[2:21:44] just see a continued drop off.
[2:21:47] 
[2:21:50] Looks like 2039, we'll get
about a million decrease.
[2:21:54] But this is what our
schedule looks like
[2:21:56] and how our debt is structured.
[2:21:57] We try to do it so it
remains as flat as possible.
[2:22:00] So even when you
see some drop off,
[2:22:02] it might increase
in another area,
[2:22:04] again, because we try
to always structure
[2:22:06] our debt in a way
that keeps it flat
[2:22:08] so we don't see
those large swings.
[2:22:12] MALE SPEAKER:
Sarah, our debt levy
[2:22:15] is mainly due to our new
law enforcement center.
[2:22:18] Is that a big portion of that?
[2:22:19] SARAH: So, half?
[2:22:21] What do you think,
Paula, about half?
[2:22:24] It's little, but you
can see, we've got--
[2:22:28] let's see, that one
comes off this year.
[2:22:30] So we had a 2018
equipment certificate
[2:22:32] that got paid off in '14.
[2:22:34] The 2019 debt service
for the GSB, so in 2019,
[2:22:38] we had two issues because of the
project and how we broke it up.
[2:22:42] So those are on there.
[2:22:44] Those are about-- let's
see, between the two--
[2:22:50] about $700,000 for
that payment that
[2:22:54] goes up to a little
over eight in the last
[2:22:56] year of payment in 2033.
[2:22:59] And then the jail, the
2022 jail bonds are at 2.9.
[2:23:05] So of the 4.5, 2.9 right
now is the jail bonds.
[2:23:12] And then there was a
2016 crossover refunding.
[2:23:16] So when you have other
bonds that you might
[2:23:19] refund and restructure
at any point in time,
[2:23:22] you got refunding bonds.
[2:23:23] So that is done in '28.
[2:23:24] 
[2:23:28] So again, in 2029, we'll see a
decrease in our bond payment.
[2:23:32] So the next couple of years,
it'll be the same amount,
[2:23:36] and that'll help, with
the levy in that year,
[2:23:39] offset that-- again,
unless other decisions
[2:23:41] are made in the
meantime that might
[2:23:42] change our debt service needs.
[2:23:44] 
[2:23:50] Our capital projects
fund, that's another one
[2:23:52] I'd just like to highlight.
[2:23:54] Last year, in order to
get the levy where it was,
[2:23:57] we removed our
annual contribution
[2:24:02] to the capital projects fund.
[2:24:04] So those are things
for facility needs.
[2:24:06] When you have a more
major structural capital
[2:24:09] type project with
facilities, we use that fund.
[2:24:11] So in 2025, we used
some of it and then
[2:24:17] we did not contribute to it.
[2:24:20] And then this year,
we are doing it again.
[2:24:22] So we're going to
be using $83,000
[2:24:26] for projects that we have, and
we're going to be levying 100.
[2:24:32] Actually, we did levy
for it last year.
[2:24:34] One year, we didn't but
anyhow, sorry about that.
[2:24:37] We are going to be using 80-- so
that's the use of fund balance,
[2:24:40] is about $83,000 in projects
that are more capital in nature
[2:24:43] that we're going to be
using from that fund,
[2:24:45] and then we'll have
that net of the 100
[2:24:48] that we're going to be levying.
[2:24:51] You're going to be having some
meetings coming up regarding
[2:24:54] environmental services
in the landfill,
[2:24:56] some studies that's going to
talk about rates and things
[2:24:58] like that.
[2:24:59] But that environmental services
fund is a self-sustaining fund
[2:25:02] at this point.
[2:25:03] But again, you will be looking
at studies, landfill needs,
[2:25:06] changes in legislation
that might impact
[2:25:09] our expenses going forward.
[2:25:10] Those presentations
will be forthcoming.
[2:25:13] 
[2:25:20] Oops, sorry.
[2:25:20] MALE SPEAKER: Could you
go back a page, Sarah?
[2:25:23] MALE SPEAKER: Yes, go ahead.
[2:25:24] MALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
[2:25:25] The tax rate proposed
for '26 is 38.9%.
[2:25:29] What was it this last
year, in '25 year?
[2:25:33] SARAH: 37.
[2:25:34] MALE SPEAKER: 37?
[2:25:36] SARAH: Yep.
[2:25:38] We've come down from, like,
you see we were in the 40s.
[2:25:42] I mean, it's kind of just
bouncing back and forth here
[2:25:44] depending on where we're at.
[2:25:49] MALE SPEAKER: And how
does this look compared
[2:25:50] to surrounding counties?
[2:25:52] SARAH: Yep, and I can
get the most recent.
[2:25:54] I don't have it on me, but
we're typically in the lower
[2:25:57] of the tax rates in the state.
[2:26:00] But there is annually
a report that comes out
[2:26:03] that shows that information,
so we're in the better
[2:26:09] off of the tax rate counties.
[2:26:10] We're not the lowest.
[2:26:11] That's usually like a
county to the north of us
[2:26:14] in particular that stays
towards the bottom.
[2:26:16] 
[2:26:19] Yeah, no, we sit
really nice, but there
[2:26:20] are reports that
come out annually
[2:26:21] and I can get that information.
[2:26:25] So part of our 2026 budget
also includes the use
[2:26:28] of fund balance and reserves.
[2:26:30] So in most instances, it's from
money that has been set aside
[2:26:37] for special purposes,
one time money
[2:26:39] that we receive for
special purposes,
[2:26:42] departments that have fund
balances for specific projects
[2:26:45] like environmental services--
[2:26:47] again, one time state
or federal funding.
[2:26:50] So our projected based on
our use of $2 million for
[2:26:55] will still have
the estimated fund
[2:26:58] balances that are shown above.
[2:27:01] So some things that we're
using fund balances for
[2:27:04] is, we had some money
set aside when we
[2:27:07] were going to go self-insured.
[2:27:09] And so as part of our
health insurance agreements
[2:27:12] for the next three
years, since we decided
[2:27:14] not to go self-insured,
we're spending
[2:27:16] down that employer and employee
portion of those funds.
[2:27:22] So those were funds that have
been sitting in our reserve that
[2:27:24] have been dedicated
for that purpose
[2:27:27] that we're now going to be
spending down because we don't
[2:27:29] need to hold them
anymore, because we're
[2:27:31] not going to go self-insured.
[2:27:32] So we're spending those down.
[2:27:34] Same thing with some public
safety funds or highway funds
[2:27:38] or other, again,
one time revenues
[2:27:41] that we received that we
are intending to spend down.
[2:27:44] 
[2:27:47] But again, at the
end of the year,
[2:27:50] we should still have a healthy,
appropriate fund balance.
[2:27:53] 
[2:27:57] We discussed this the
beginning of the month
[2:28:01] here, our board agency, the
outside appropriation requests
[2:28:05] that you heard during August.
[2:28:08] And so we have our
2025 board approved,
[2:28:11] the 2026 requested, and
the 2026 board recommends.
[2:28:14] So after discussion, we've kept
the outside agency requests
[2:28:20] at their 2025 level and
made adjustments for areas
[2:28:24] with the two, with
the Historical Society
[2:28:26] and the Ag Society, where
we pay for the insurance.
[2:28:30] And those rates went up, and
that's kind of what it is.
[2:28:33] There's not an option
there, and so those are
[2:28:37] the only modifications to that.
[2:28:39] So our level for
outside agency funding
[2:28:42] goes from $856,256 to $868,661.
[2:28:47] And that change is just
due to insurance changes,
[2:28:49] but all other things
remained the same.
[2:28:52] 
[2:28:57] This, we covered
in detail, but here
[2:28:58] is the history of what our
county program aid looked like.
[2:29:01] So you can see where the state
made that infusion of funds,
[2:29:04] so we got a bump.
[2:29:05] And then now we're going
back down a little bit,
[2:29:10] just based on our
demographics of our county
[2:29:12] compared to others.
[2:29:13] 
[2:29:16] Adjustment to fees.
[2:29:18] So when we go through and meet
with departments on the budget,
[2:29:20] we talk about what are
the fees for service
[2:29:23] that we have control over.
[2:29:24] Are they appropriate?
[2:29:25] Do they need to be changed?
[2:29:27] In December, you all review the
fee schedule and approve that.
[2:29:31] So we made changes where we
knew they were going to be made
[2:29:33] and then we'll present that
fee schedule for discussion
[2:29:36] in detail in December.
[2:29:40] Here are some of the different
visual things you can see.
[2:29:43] We are a service.
[2:29:45] We provide services, so bulk
of our expenditures by type
[2:29:49] are personnel.
[2:29:50] 
[2:29:53] And our revenue.
[2:29:54] This is where you're going to
see a little bit of flipping
[2:29:57] from the prior year.
[2:29:58] So for 2026, 42% of our
budget is property taxes
[2:30:03] and penalties and 37%
intergovernmental.
[2:30:06] So that's like our
federal, state,
[2:30:07] and other governmental
revenues we get in.
[2:30:11] Last year, it was flipped where
we had I think 34% of our budget
[2:30:18] was funded by property
taxes and more was
[2:30:20] funded by intergovernmental.
[2:30:22] Some of it is due to
decreasing, but also, we
[2:30:27] had that large
transportation project too.
[2:30:31] So that kind of skews
us more than normal.
[2:30:34] Because if we don't
have that project,
[2:30:37] that doesn't count as funding.
[2:30:38] So again, take it a little
bit with a grain of salt
[2:30:42] that those things can make
these changes in something.
[2:30:46] One project could make those
numbers go back and forth.
[2:30:48] 
[2:30:51] Our expenditures by function.
[2:30:53] Again, this is where
you can visually
[2:30:54] see that last year, road
and bridge was higher
[2:30:58] than public safety
and social services,
[2:31:01] again, because of the road
program for that year.
[2:31:03] This year, the road
program looks different.
[2:31:05] And so you'll see human services
as being 25% of our expenditure
[2:31:11] by function, public
safety at 20,
[2:31:13] and then road and bridge at 17,
and general government at 14.
[2:31:18] So again, depending on what
some of our programming
[2:31:21] is for any given year,
what portion of the budget
[2:31:24] is larger changes
from time to time.
[2:31:26] 
[2:31:30] Joy was in and
presented on her budget
[2:31:33] during one of her meetings
earlier this month.
[2:31:37] So this just, again, talks
about what our levy use is,
[2:31:40] but she went into detail
with you guys on her budget.
[2:31:44] 
[2:31:47] And special purpose
funding for 2026
[2:31:50] that we're still administering,
the opioid litigation funding.
[2:31:54] We approved an MOA
a little earlier--
[2:31:58] I think it was actually
still this month--
[2:32:01] for some services, with
most to be able to continue
[2:32:04] that program, to provide some
gap funding while they reassess
[2:32:09] opportunities for other
state or federal sources
[2:32:11] to keep that going.
[2:32:12] The spending plan will be
discussed in full in December.
[2:32:15] We have some community
engagement activities
[2:32:17] between now and then, but just
know that the opioid litigation
[2:32:20] funding, that
number might change
[2:32:22] within the detail of the budget,
but that's not Levy funds.
[2:32:26] There are eligible certain uses
that we use and we discuss those
[2:32:29] with community members,
and then the spending plan
[2:32:33] is presented in December when
we have our final levy meeting.
[2:32:38] The local homeless prevention
aid for fiscal year '25,
[2:32:43] again, they're kind
of rolling years.
[2:32:44] So part of it's this year,
part of it's next year,
[2:32:46] and same thing in '27.
[2:32:48] Goes up a little bit
for fiscal year '26,
[2:32:51] so this is one that the funding
is very specific to support
[2:32:54] new or existing family
homeless prevention
[2:32:56] and assistance
projects or programs.
[2:32:59] We work with other agencies
to administer this funding.
[2:33:04] It's targeted towards
families with children.
[2:33:06] So annually, we report on this.
[2:33:08] I usually give an update in
December about some impact.
[2:33:11] Again, it's to stabilize
households with children that
[2:33:16] are school age children in the
homes that are either paying
[2:33:18] more than 50% of their
income for rent, lacking
[2:33:21] fixed, regular or
nighttime residence,
[2:33:23] living in overcrowded
conditions,
[2:33:25] or facing eviction and things
like that to help stabilize
[2:33:28] families and provide
connects with organizations
[2:33:31] to provide wraparound services.
[2:33:32] So this has been a pretty
successful program.
[2:33:36] And this was a
legislative appropriation
[2:33:39] that's pretty specific.
[2:33:40] We also are in our final
years of the statewide
[2:33:43] affordable housing aid.
[2:33:44] So these are for the purposes of
construction acquisition, things
[2:33:48] that work towards providing and
increasing affordable housing
[2:33:52] opportunities in the county.
[2:33:54] We've used our money so far
to support the engineering
[2:33:56] and design on Twin Oaks.
[2:33:58] In the last year, we'll be able
to look at other opportunities
[2:34:00] for how we use that affordable
housing aid in the community
[2:34:04] for eligible activities.
[2:34:05] 
[2:34:08] Looking at when we're going
to have our public hearing
[2:34:11] on the proposed budget
will be Thursday,
[2:34:13] December 11 at 6:00 PM.
[2:34:16] So kind of just a note, we
will not have a regular board
[2:34:18] meeting that week
because that aligns
[2:34:20] with our annual conference.
[2:34:21] But then that Thursday, we'll
come together that night
[2:34:24] for a public hearing.
[2:34:25] 
[2:34:29] So if you have any questions--
[2:34:34] MALE SPEAKER: I have a question.
[2:34:35] MALE SPEAKER: Yes, go ahead.
[2:34:36] MALE SPEAKER: Do
we have built-in
[2:34:37] for a downtown
maintenance building here?
[2:34:40] SARAH: No.
[2:34:42] So I have some meetings
tomorrow to talk
[2:34:47] about some different
things with other parties.
[2:34:51] I know that's very vague.
[2:34:53] We have some opportunities
to talk about
[2:34:55] that I'll bring forward to you.
[2:34:56] This does not include
a building there.
[2:34:58] That will be part of
an ongoing discussion
[2:35:00] of how we meet those needs,
but that is not in this budget.
[2:35:04] 
[2:35:08] MALE SPEAKER: Any other
questions, commissioners?
[2:35:10] MALE SPEAKER: Uh, yeah.
[2:35:12] SARAH: I know, it's
a lot of information.
[2:35:14] And we'll keep working this
through to the end of the year
[2:35:16] as we get more information,
more clarity on changes.
[2:35:19] The prelim you set
next week is the max.
[2:35:22] We can't go lower.
[2:35:24] Besides this grant that we heard
back from, unless some funding
[2:35:29] opportunities return to
us or loosen up a bit,
[2:35:32] I'm not going to say
that I anticipate
[2:35:35] that it's going to get
much lower than what it is.
[2:35:37] If anything, we're going
to look a little worse
[2:35:39] and we'll have to accommodate
in one area or another.
[2:35:42] But we can't go higher than
what you set next week.
[2:35:44] 
[2:35:47] MALE SPEAKER: Well, I
appreciate the pie charts.
[2:35:50] I'm a visual guy and I can
relate to that quite well.
[2:35:57] Yeah.
[2:35:58] MALE SPEAKER: I do
have a question.
[2:35:59] MALE SPEAKER: Go ahead.
[2:36:00] MALE SPEAKER: What percent
of this 8.9% or 8.8 levy
[2:36:06] is personnel, between
health insurance?
[2:36:11] SARAH: Yep, one moment here.
[2:36:12] I'll get that for you.
[2:36:13] 
[2:36:17] And some of that's a little--
[2:36:19] again, I talked about it's
not a one-for-one on the levy
[2:36:21] because of all of that.
[2:36:22] But I can show you of our
budget, so of the $106 million,
[2:36:30] 54% of that is
personnel services.
[2:36:33] It's staff.
[2:36:34] So how that kind of
proportionately shakes out just
[2:36:37] depends on what
percentage of a position
[2:36:39] might be funded by
another source-- grant,
[2:36:43] state, federal reimbursement.
[2:36:44] So it's easier to
say of our budget,
[2:36:48] here's what personnel
expenses are.
[2:36:50] I don't know, Paula,
if you've got another--
[2:36:52] 
[2:36:56] FEMALE SPEAKER: It's
complicated, because I can say,
[2:36:58] let's say that we have funding
sources in there for that,
[2:37:01] and that we do
support that budget.
[2:37:02] 
[2:37:05] But we can tell you
what the total is.
[2:37:07] We can we tell you what the
comparison is from last year
[2:37:11] to this year to break it down by
types of benefits and overtime,
[2:37:16] and things like that.
[2:37:19] SARAH: Yep, and our personnel
again increased a little
[2:37:21] over 3 million, but
that doesn't one-for-one
[2:37:24] go on our levy increase, just
because some of those positions
[2:37:27] are funded differently.
[2:37:30] MALE SPEAKER: I understand
it's a hard number to hit.
[2:37:32] SARAH: Yeah.
[2:37:33] So if we look at last year,
we were down, around 52,
[2:37:37] high $52 million for personnel.
[2:37:40] That includes health care,
taxes, all those things.
[2:37:43] 
[2:37:48] MALE SPEAKER: So
Sarah, basically,
[2:37:50] just so people understand, I
think transparency is the best
[2:37:54] thing we can be right now as
far as what we're up against
[2:37:58] and what we're doing.
[2:37:58] 
[2:38:02] Oh, gosh.
[2:38:02] I lost my train of thought.
[2:38:06] Well, one thing--
and Susie or Sarah,
[2:38:09] how available is the
public to these pie charts,
[2:38:12] so they can see what we're
doing and what we're up against?
[2:38:16] SARAH: Yeah, so once we're
done with this presentation,
[2:38:17] we can upload it in the
packet so people can see it.
[2:38:20] MALE SPEAKER: So that would
be out on our website?
[2:38:23] SARAH: Yep.
[2:38:23] MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, OK.
[2:38:25] I think that's important.
[2:38:27] Yeah, I don't know.
[2:38:30] Did anybody else have anything?
[2:38:32] SARAH: I think Commissioner
Peter stopped in a couple times
[2:38:36] for some of our
department meetings
[2:38:38] to see our process behind
the scenes and the work
[2:38:41] that we put in ahead of
bringing it to you all.
[2:38:44] So I think this year, I'm very
thankful to the departments
[2:38:46] for coming in,
understanding the situation.
[2:38:49] We had a much lower
initial request
[2:38:52] than we have in other
years, because everyone
[2:38:54] knew this is not the year
to ask for anything new.
[2:38:56] We need to figure
out how to sustain
[2:38:58] or how to make changes to
accommodate for any cuts, which
[2:39:01] was a good thing but it
also made it a lot harder
[2:39:03] to find those areas where we
could get it down from that
[2:39:07] 15% down to something under 10.
[2:39:09] It made the work
a little harder.
[2:39:11] And social services in
particular put a lot of work
[2:39:13] into evaluating things.
[2:39:15] One area I should have
highlighted when we're talking
[2:39:17] about-- and I didn't.
[2:39:18] Let me pull it up here
real quick again--
[2:39:21] that kind of helped us get
that last little mile here,
[2:39:25] let me see if it's on.
[2:39:28] And it might not be.
[2:39:29] It's not going to be in
this chart, I don't think.
[2:39:31] 
[2:39:34] Oh, maybe.
[2:39:35] So this thing called
contingency fund.
[2:39:37] What it is, is
anticipated wage savings.
[2:39:41] And that's the number we work
with a little bit at the end
[2:39:43] to try to get us down.
[2:39:45] So we look at what's our
usual savings in a given
[2:39:50] year because of vacancies
and time to fill,
[2:39:52] and things like that.
[2:39:53] And then in particular,
like in social services,
[2:39:55] we looked at with some of
the changes that are coming,
[2:39:59] do we have some positions
that are going to have a leg
[2:40:01] and being filled?
[2:40:03] Because we're going
to pivot what service
[2:40:05] we're needing to provide based
on what we're mandated to do.
[2:40:09] And so we changed that
number from that $1,044,000
[2:40:14] that we have as an
offset of wage savings,
[2:40:16] to $1,283,000 based on--