[0:00] full fun county contract.

[0:05] But um it's difficult when we've got such a high percentage of our staff and

[0:12] benefits going to employees in our entire budget to start, you know,

[0:19] saying, "Well, you can't have new pencils and you can't have new paper and

[0:23] you can't I mean, we don't want to we don't want to I I don't want to. I guess

[0:29] I can't speak for the rest of the commission, but I don't want to go

[0:32] through piece by piece by piece. Okay, you get less $450 and you get less

[0:37] $1,200. And when you start doing all of that to add up to a significant number

[0:44] in the budget for some programs, that can be a lot. I mean, substantial.

[0:50] What if we can't get any office supplies? What if we can't use the

[0:54] copier? Things like that. um in giving half to the county contracts and you're

[1:02] providing this spreadsheet that would be

[1:08] a reduction of you're looking at just the contracted

[1:13] services. >> I'm looking just at contracted services.

[1:19] » Well, this includes contracted services, economic development, and historical

[1:24] suspect. Great. So, it's about $100,000 different.

[1:32] That's got to be more than that. >> Yeah. We would have to lower the general

[1:36] fund budget by 42,600 as opposed to the 69418.

[1:47] If we did that, that would do $100,000

[1:52] approximately, right? Well, we would so the difference between

[1:58] the 694181 and the 42,600 would be the difference

[2:04] um the amount we would save if we cut these

[2:08] in half, but we'd still have to reduce the general fund.

[2:14] » Great. Great. >> Um then I have another Can I ask another

[2:18] question, Madam Chair? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Really quick.

[2:20] » Sorry. On the subject of the historical

[2:24] that we we do have an agreement with the historical society that we will levy a

[2:30] quarter of a mill and if we choose to go below that um it requires 60 days notice

[2:36] of the budget approved so

[2:43] » you're saying we can't cut it >> not for this year I think the deadline

[2:51] something should learn to Okay,

[2:55] » make a note of that for next year. Now, >> okay,

[2:59] » might be zero next year. >> So, when we're looking at cash

[3:05] and my spreadsheet, whether it's the first one or the second one, the

[3:12] spreadsheet for cash, one is well, it's both. 14,355,82.

[3:20] Is that correct? >> Yes. And that's what we have in the bank

[3:24] right now. >> No, that would be the estimates.

[3:28] » Okay. >> For the end of

[3:30] » Do you know what we have in the bank right now? I'm sorry. I'm asking all

[3:35] these questions. I don't mean to >> send out this budget to actual because

[3:39] there was a question on the cash. >> Yeah,

[3:41] » it was 18 million um at the end of June, but that also includes

[3:46] all the funds that are listed below the general fund. The general fund actually

[3:50] had um a balance at the end of June of 21,516

[3:57] um projected at the end of the year at 14 million 522.

[4:03] and Colleen. Um, I I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but it seems

[4:09] to me that in recent years when we've looked at balancing the budget, and

[4:14] maybe you or some of the commission members can remember or staff, um, it

[4:20] seems to me that was it last year that we spent 12 million to buy down the

[4:26] budget or was that >> cash to buy them?

[4:29] » Yeah, I don't think it was that much. I don't know.

[4:32] » Oh, it wasn't that much. >> $12 million.

[4:34] » But right now, guesstimate,

[4:39] we have $12 million in cash carry for approximate

[4:46] guesstimated or 14 million, I'm sorry. Um right now

[4:51] even if we if we sitting right here and if I said okay instead of doing the cuts

[5:02] the whatever the whatever and if we needed to take cash carry forward to

[5:08] fund the rest of the budget with the 3% increase on our taxes how much would

[5:15] that cost?

[5:22] If we if we took if we looked at the budget right now and had a 3% increase

[5:29] for taxes, how much cash carry forward would it cost to buy to to fund the

[5:36] budget right where we're at right now?

[5:42] » To get under the cap. >> Oh. Um, so if

[5:49] the Well, it depends if you're cutting the contract.

[5:53] » Well, do it without first, right? >> And then do it with I'm sorry, I got a

[5:57] calculator 181. Um,

[6:05] » 69481 is with contracted services. >> Yes, we need to cut the general fund

[6:11] budget. I mean, we can reduce the cash. I don't

[6:16] know the amount of 10. >> Do we know? I'm sorry I'm asking those

[6:21] questions. Do we know, and maybe Sheriff Schneider can help me with this, do we

[6:26] know if there's any uh movement on the uh contract with DOC right now or not

[6:35] for the beds at the jail? So, um, Chair Hagen, members of the

[6:43] commission, just I just checked with Miss Miss Morstead, and if I'm recalling

[6:47] our budget for 2025 correctly, we have approximately just over a million, I

[6:53] believe it's 1.1 million in revenue from housing out of county prisoners. Uh, we

[7:00] could potentially, we got our certificate of occupancy, so we could

[7:03] potentially start housing people possibly even next week or this weekend.

[7:09] in the new pod. Uh the doc contract is not finalized, but I just had a meeting

[7:15] with some federal partners yesterday. We had meetings with federal partners two

[7:19] weeks ago asking for beds. Uh we could obviously start selling those beds as

[7:26] soon as we occupy or can get staff to staff it. And uh with 156 days left this

[7:35] year and we sell 72 beds off, leaving a couple for ourselves. Uh that's that's

[7:43] obviously starting tomorrow, which isn't going to happen. That's over a million

[7:46] dollars, uh that we could add to the revenue that

[7:50] was not accounted for this year. Uh the other thing with with Miss Horstead's

[7:56] numbers as far as the uh revenue from the beds, something that wasn't

[8:01] clarified is by dropping the number from 60 beds to 72 beds doesn't mean those 12

[8:09] beds are going to be full of prisoners from this the county of Grand Forks.

[8:14] Like I just said, we've had two meetings and they want as many beds as they can

[8:17] get right now. The intention of that is to allow us some flexibility. So if we

[8:22] do have an influx of prisoners, we could house people in those. But when we're

[8:26] not housing people there, we can sell those beds off as well. So in actuality,

[8:30] we should still be very very close to the 2.68 million revenue for 2026 on

[8:36] those beds, even if we retain 12 extra out of the 72. Is the federal

[8:43] reimbursement rate per day different than the one we're talking about with

[8:47] the state doc? >> Not yet. We're locked in. I found out

[8:51] we're locked in until uh December, but they're all willing to renegotiate um

[8:56] for January. >> So, I remember did we change it to that

[9:02] number or not? >> No. No.

[9:07] » There was 72 beds in the original. not even the original, the amended design by

[9:13] the former administration, uh they worked on adding an additional

[9:19] 10 beds to the unit, but the conversation with the state was always

[9:23] for the 72, >> right?

[9:25] » So that would pick us up an extra 10 at the county side. I mean, DOCR just did

[9:31] their inspection and we got dinged in several areas and one of them was over

[9:35] bunking areas because we're not meeting the criteria, the amount of space these

[9:40] prisoners need to actually get up and walk.

[9:42] » Yeah, >> we can no longer trip, it's called

[9:45] triple bunking. We can no longer throw a boat on the floor and say sleep here.

[9:50] Can't do it. We're in violation. We continue to do it. We won't have to

[9:53] worry about renting to anybody. Um, so we got to make modifications for that.

[9:59] Uh, and that's, you know, part of that is something that I hate doing and

[10:03] that's throwing criminals back on the street so they can come steal your

[10:07] stuff, do whatever, run from the police, and then we got nowhere to put them.

[10:11] Well, we got to lock them up for a day, so we got to throw somebody else back on

[10:14] the street. So, I mean, the jail wasn't built for the state to house pen

[10:20] prisoners there. I I get that. I get both sides of the argument. I get that

[10:24] we can't afford it. I'm not arguing that either. Right? But the reality is if we

[10:29] want to do our job to try to keep people locked up or throw people in jail that

[10:34] need to be thrown in jail, even if it is for a day or a night, we need to retain

[10:39] a couple beds on it. We'll sell the rest. We got to have some room. We can't

[10:45] we can't just sell every single bed that's there and try to make new beds to

[10:49] sell those to pay for this. So, we'll sell as many as we can. I mean, that's

[10:53] that's our objective, right? If if you're not using it, let somebody that

[10:57] can use it use it.

[11:01] » All right, go for it. Um, Colleen, with the budget that we have sitting in front

[11:06] of us, we don't have any contract dollars put in from Department of

[11:11] Corrections at this point. Am I correct in that assumption?

[11:15] » We increase the prisoner board payment 3.29.

[11:21] Okay, >> that would increase to reflect 60 beds

[11:24] to the state. >> Okay,

[11:26] » but you could increase that number. What I'm saying is we would sell the beds

[11:30] that we're not using. I just want to have a little control over maybe 12

[11:34] beds. That'd be great. >> We're going to sell them. So, you could

[11:38] probably increase that number by another 300,000 safely, if not more.

[11:44] » Back to where it was originally with the 82 beds.

[11:49] And I would like to >> I would like to move a motion

[11:55] » to use 694,000

[11:59] or whatever it is to balance the budget including the 3% tax increase

[12:06] um using cash carry forward to balance the budget for the 2026 year.

[12:15] » The way they are. keeping the contracted services the way they are and um doing

[12:21] the change in the well that's already been made the change in the um employee

[12:28] uh HR coming in monthly instead of all frontloaded um but that would be my

[12:34] motion using cash carry forward plus the 3% increase in taxes um to balance the

[12:42] 2026 bud >> and the dollar amount is that going to

[12:44] change will But I

[12:48] » But I'm just saying like with the motion, does it have to be dollar

[12:51] specific? Can it just be cash carried forward? Because if we make any

[12:54] adjustments to the budget, >> that's a question for you.

[13:00] » Do we have to um do we have to say the very exact dollar amount or just say

[13:05] cash carry forward to balance the budget of no more than

[13:10] $700,000?

[13:13] Is that okay? Will $700,000 cut it?

[13:18] » Okay, I make that motion. >> I

[13:22] added 300. >> Yep. Okay. I I make that motion.

[13:28] » Second. >> Second.

[13:31] » I'm going do it all then. Number one, that's exactly the reason we're in the

[13:34] shape we're in right now. Continuing to take money to pay operational expenses

[13:38] out of cash reserve. I got my 12 pages. Here we go. because you put you threw a

[13:43] motion on the floor for you could even talk. So, let's go. Um,

[13:49] now I got the floor. So, get comfortable everyone. Um, starting with this page

[13:54] here. Um,

[13:59] you have a show two Yak attendants at 212107

[14:04] and somewhere else I found him at 161 whatever. So, how'd it go up $50,000?

[14:12] One sheet says one number, one sheet says the other.

[14:19] » This sheet is just the cost of it without I

[14:24] mean that's the cost of what it costs to add to

[14:28] » Okay. So the 161 is the real cost. That's what it cost to hire, right?

[14:32] » Okay. That's what I make sure. >> Okay. down below. Next, you have 3% step

[14:40] at the number, 2 and a half% cola at the number. So, if you give a 3% step and a

[14:46] two and a four two and 4% cola, how does that only equal 300,000?

[14:54] Because 181 and 222 is 403 866.

[15:05] And this is not supposed to I don't understand how that works because if a

[15:09] step is that a cost and a cola is that cost then if we get a colon a step

[15:14] shouldn't those two cost come together and make a number which is higher than

[15:18] that number >> well and the so on the one sheet we have

[15:23] the negative 80,000 that's due to getting a step

[15:29] this year which isn't >> okay I'm looking I'm looking at this one

[15:35] So, not everyone has received their step >> yet.

[15:39] » This is the one I'm looking at. >> So, I am baffled by

[15:46] shouldn't a step and a cola equal a step and a cola.

[15:56] » 22. If it's if the step is 180, that's the cost and the cola that's the cost.

[16:02] Didn't you add those two together because we're going to give a cola and a

[16:06] stem?

[16:11] » Have I got everyone back? >> No.

[16:14] » Um, would that be because on on a cola and a step the steps on the adversary

[16:19] date colas are effective Jan one. >> Well, I did that because

[16:23] » so it's not a cumulative increase. It's an increase and then another increase

[16:28] later on at at an anniversary date. That makes sense.

[16:32] » They don't all get the same step at the same time.

[16:35] » Maybe I was just doing wrong, but to me, if it says the step cost 181737,

[16:40] that's what it's going to cost for the whole year for all employees to be

[16:44] stepped. Is that right? Because if then in the cola for the

[16:49] whole year for every employee is 222 and it should be a little over 400.

[16:59] Okay. I I we can decide that on one Tuesday night, I guess. But I don't

[17:05] understand it. I'm not afraid to say it. So maybe I'm just not getting it, but I

[17:09] I to me 1 plus 1 is two if that's the numbers. So I I don't understand that

[17:15] one. So that okay worksheet.

[17:22] Okay.

[17:25] When I went through here, we're have showing a mill. This is the one here.

[17:31] We're showing a mill increase of 4.04%.

[17:37] And on this document, it states that the 3.47%

[17:42] of that 4.04 is because of new growth. Is that

[17:49] correct? And so then the actual value increase for the county

[17:57] was 0.57. So basically the value barely went up

[18:02] for the whole county and that 3.47 is all the new buildings whoever whatever

[18:09] came on this that and all that. Am I understanding that correctly?

[18:12] » Okay. Thank you.

[18:25] discussion. >> Yeah, I have to talk.

[18:27] » Okay. I thought this was switching the subject.

[18:30] » No, this is the budget. >> I'm on the budget.

[18:31] » I'm on the budget. I'm not No, I'm not. No, this is all budget all day. No, we

[18:35] » there is a time limit. I don't know if there is for how long, you know, full

[18:40] pages. >> Well, the time limits when when we're

[18:42] done with the meeting. Uh we'll take a break if we need to. We uh this is too

[18:46] important of a deal to be worried about time. Um

[18:51] that one.

[18:58] Okay. On this page,

[19:02] I got two questions. Number one, this would be for Miss Wstead. Uh on the

[19:09] left, far left, not there often. Uh starting with the

[19:15] Uh, historical society. >> Yeah, I'll wait. Yeah.

[19:28] Yeah, that's it. Okay. I just want to So, I want to get this straight so it's

[19:32] not going to happen again. So, the historical, we have to give them 60-day

[19:35] notice, >> correct? People's going to release it

[19:38] below the 0.25 mills. >> Okay. And we're at 2.5 ms

[19:44] » now. Correct.

[19:50] » That's what the request. >> So we are less than

[19:55] » hope that she allow this and senior citizens. That's a vote. So we have no

[19:59] say in the matter. Correct. The city voted I think it was 1974

[20:04] for one mill

[20:08] » 1988.

[20:15] Every day we find more stuff we can't touch. I can't balance the budget.

[20:24] » Okay. Emergency fund we can address. We can control that. The veteran service we

[20:30] control.

[20:36] » Right. Right. Uh extension service

[20:55] want to discontinue the tax levy. >> Well, I don't want to discontinue, but

[21:01] can we can we modify the amount they request? Today they asked for I'm just

[21:07] gonna make me remember. Say they asked for 100,000. Can we decide to cut it to

[21:10] 50?

[21:36] If you want I can we can skip that and you come back to that if you want me to

[21:38] get that. Okay. Health department we we can control that right

[21:44] » that's subject to a contract we have with

[21:46] » right special assessments we control state tax we do not garrison diversion

[21:50] we do not water resource board which is different from the

[21:56] joint water resolution. So the water resource board can we reduce what they

[22:02] asked for?

[22:06] Well I look I I know the joint water we cannot touch that. We cannot touch the

[22:12] amlets because that's voted on. We cannot touch the soil conversation

[22:16] conservation.

[22:20] That just leaves the water resource board, the library, and I know we can do

[22:25] the library as long as the city branches.

[22:28] So regard to the water resource board commissioners can either disapprove

[22:33] their budget, amend and approve their budget, amend it or approve the budget

[22:38] as >> Okay.

[22:40] » So we can amend it. We can Okay. And then the library

[22:53] subject to an agreement with the city that pertains to the library which

[22:58] requires us.

[23:02] » Right. But I'm not saying but if they ask for X we can reduce

[23:08] as long as we maintain funding. I'm not talking about eliminating. I'm just

[23:12] saying if they asked for X can we cut X some? the agreement um with the city

[23:19] provides that we will

[23:26] » So you're saying we have to limit four mills because we're not doing that now.

[23:32] » Oh, the city request >> two.

[23:34] » Okay. The library request or the city request?

[23:36] » The library city department. So >> it must come through the city then.

[23:43] » Yes. So if the city would have to ask us to fund more

[23:47] if we if we tried to cut it they'd say no that we'd have done.

[23:51] » So I think our agreement for the library services is that um we will fund their

[23:58] request up to a maximum of four. So if they ask to go above that we can deny

[24:04] it. So >> if they ask for

[24:06] they asked for a $400,000 raise this year we would have to give it to them.

[24:12] Okay. Okay. The city would have to do that though

[24:14] » if it's within that. >> Yeah. But not the library board.

[24:19] » The library board. >> The library board runs the library, but

[24:23] if it's a city department, I would assume the mayor would have a final say.

[24:27] » Library board is admin is an administrative.

[24:32] » The our agreements with the library board. I can't speak to

[24:37] what I can say is it's a um it's a city library.

[24:43] » Yeah. >> That we contract with to provide

[24:46] services which is different than some structure.

[24:49] » Okay. I'll need a copy of that contract and uh Okay. Is there an opt out clause

[24:54] in there? >> No.

[24:57] » The contract is that >> the library director submits the library

[25:02] budget to the mayor's office. Yeah. And then that's when the

[25:07] » library board is adversarial only. The library board doesn't make

[25:13] » any questions for him about the library and the budget.

[25:17] » I'll get a hold of. So basically the way I'm hearing it is the city decides what

[25:22] the county has to pay for the library. Am I wrong in that comment? I think the

[25:27] library budget and maybe the two is approved by the library.

[25:34] It's adversarial I believe but we don't have like the final say on this is what

[25:38] we're spending. No, >> it's a review budget basically.

[25:43] » We acknowledge that dollar amount and take that forward to the city, but

[25:48] there's no um >> the the board is adversarial. The board

[25:54] doesn't say, "Oh, you're giving this dollar amount to this board to this

[25:59] library member. We don't agree with I mean, we're not it's not micromanaged at

[26:04] all." >> Well, the library director presents it,

[26:07] we review it, ask questions, and then that's what gets submitted for final

[26:11] review.

[26:16] » Okay. Oh, that's right. If I want to cut it today, could I make a motion to cut

[26:20] the budget for the library? I can't make it any simpler.

[26:25] » That contract. >> Okay. I'll need a copy of the contract.

[26:28] Not today, but if printed on the 85 on August 5th, can you just give it to

[26:35] me then? Print. Okay. And I'll meet with the city on that myself. Okay. So, I'll

[26:39] work on the library and the extension. I hope everyone understands what we're

[26:43] doing to ourselves here. We have 63 pairs of handcuffs on our budget. We

[26:47] have all these things. And when when the taxes go up, do the

[26:53] people go the oh the water board ra raised oh the library no you know who

[26:57] raised taxes the county commission raised taxes. It's this is bad way to do

[27:03] it. We're we're we got to give money to people and we literally have no say.

[27:08] That's nutso. >> But the services that we provide

[27:12] shouldn't cost any more money and the services that were mandated by our

[27:17] century code. Well, Gracie Graciey's making a list of the century code. We'll

[27:22] we'll be going after that come next session. The point

[27:25] » years. >> Yeah.

[27:26] » A year and a half. >> I'm a dog with a

[27:29] » happen every month. Every year. >> I know. And maybe some of these

[27:32] questions should have been asked by commissioners the last 20 years. But I

[27:35] digress. So, uh I'll wait for the ext answer on

[27:39] the extension service and I will get with the city on the library and get a

[27:45] copy of the contract as soon as we go there. But you whittle down your

[27:48] opportunities. You know, we sit here discussing about trying to give an

[27:52] employees raise. Well, time to get through all the people we can't cut.

[27:56] There's not much left. Um,

[28:02] and I just want to mention a side note on the cash balance. You've got a $5

[28:06] million sheriff building payment due down the road. And when you keep kicking

[28:10] the can down the road, that's why at the end of the road you have a lot of cans.

[28:14] You've got a potential. We're using software from whatever decade that's out

[28:21] so far out of date. And by the way, I still need a price on that. I want to

[28:24] know the price to get the right software that does everything. So, we got old

[28:29] software. We got a building we got to pay for.

[28:32] Uh, we've got a potential remodel of the courthouse.

[28:37] You just you keep spending it. We just run out of money one day. Just a point

[28:41] of clarific

[28:49] but but what we have now as they say is so out of date and we can't inter it

[28:53] doesn't interface >> uh no I'm talking about the whole city

[28:59] system we can't update our payroll system a county I'm sorry the county

[29:03] system the payroll doesn't talk to it whatever we got to replace everything so

[29:09] we can become efficient when she she talked about that uh that we can't do it

[29:14] right now because it doesn't >> chitchat.

[29:20] » Well, that's what I'll talk about. I want to know the price for everything

[29:24] because you know what? If we don't have prices and we don't plan

[29:29] just going to keep getting worse. That's why that stuff's got to be on like the

[29:33] the six-year capital improvement plan. So, let's just say it's half a million.

[29:37] I have no idea. Let's just say it's 500,000. We got to pick a year and stick

[29:40] it on there. 500 grand so we're ready. Otherwise, we just keep using old

[29:45] payroll and just keep using those time cards.

[29:48] » I'll bring that to the August 5th commission meeting, Commissioner Beri.

[29:52] So, >> I just I see the best guess you guess on

[29:54] the money just so I can >> still has that. We'll bring it up on the

[29:57] Okay. and also not only the cost upfront but then what you would end up having to

[30:02] pay either monthly or annually to continue to utilize that soft

[30:08] because there is a cost involved it's not free

[30:11] » we could just go back to pads and pans that's fine with me but I just ch why

[30:16] not have the plow guys drive around with pickups with half a blade on I mean th

[30:20] this job is just as important as their other job and the people should have

[30:23] up-to-date equipment which is the software otherwise we can't. Well,

[30:28] that's why you still keep doing time cards. I I'm not going to go through

[30:31] this in detail, but this is I asked Mr. Ford to show you how much money we're

[30:36] not going to be collecting as we continue to let people not pay taxes.

[30:40] You just made a motion to raise taxes. Here's a list of all the people that

[30:43] aren't paying their fair share, >> their previous years. Well, I'm

[30:48] » and some have already been paid off and I believe in 2026,

[30:54] the end of 2026, we will see one of the tiff or one of the pilot programs end

[31:03] and then that will go into the tax space. Am I correct on that?

[31:07] » Yeah, some of them end in 2049, which I won't be around to see uh on the capital

[31:13] improvements plan. Oh, tail toes. Uh, at one point last year, you had re-roofing

[31:19] the jail. Where are we at? The old jail. And that's not on here.

[31:26] » That that got approved. That got approved for capital improvements this

[31:29] year. That project is in place and CL has been

[31:34] » with this for the old >> No, no. I I meant uh I'm sorry, the old

[31:40] part of the current jail. Uh originally there was a plan to re-root for over a

[31:45] three-year phase. >> That's on there.

[31:47] » Okay. What what's it under? >> That's on that. That's on that plan.

[31:53] » What year? >> I believe 27

[32:02] » receal jail syines. No.

[32:13] Okay, I can't find her.

[32:43] That would be it wouldn't uh Bill I don't think it

[32:49] would be on the sheep coin handed out because this is for 26.

[32:52] » I got I got a fiveyear plan. >> Okay.

[33:00] » It it's I I know it's in my list. I don't know.

[33:06] » I can't say why it's why it's in print. >> Okay, that's fine.

[33:10] » On the format that you're in here, but I >> I do know it's on there.

[33:14] » Okay. Can you email me that? >> And originally the plan was to regroup

[33:18] over three years. >> Yes.

[33:19] » I'd like to look at it, which obviously you pay mobilization cost every year.

[33:24] » Inevitable. >> It's going to cost more. I'd like to see

[33:26] a plan of what it would cost to pay it in one.

[33:28] » Yeah. >> If you could put vocals,

[33:32] » that goes back to plan. So there's other roof stuff you got to have. You spend

[33:35] your cash reserves down and and if you do it three years instead of one year,

[33:39] you're going to pay more for that, too. It's going to cost you more.

[33:45] Um,

[33:52] okay. I'm going to go through this Jack stuff.

[33:55] I know you guys don't want to do it, but I I'm the math guy, so I just want to

[33:59] make sure you see what you're doing here. First of all, just say this.

[34:02] There's a reason 50 other counties don't have it. Either they're too small that

[34:05] they can add. Um if you look at this one here

[34:14] uh you have on here additional jail cos.

[34:19] Does that mean we can house people in those beds that are on the other side?

[34:24] Because why else would we be hiring jail cos?

[34:27] » That was just that for adult housing. >> Okay. Can we use that for adult housing?

[34:34] » But it wouldn't be very You're talking the 16 beds.

[34:36] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[34:39] » Okay.

[34:42] » Well, if it's 16 bids at $100 a day would be 1648,

[34:49] 600,000.

[34:53] » 1,600 times 365 584. So, what do we get on a daily basis for

[35:00] the youth that we have housed in that facility?

[35:03] » 350. So, 350 compared to 100? >> No. No. I'll get to that.

[35:10] » That's Yeah, >> you don't want to get in that battle

[35:14] with me. Trust me, that's 5484,000 in revenue

[35:19] » for that. The total if you want to go back to that the total revenue for the

[35:24] act for the year is 614 631 let me see I have it in here

[35:32] » 6 614500 right so it's basically the same however

[35:39] that 584 would pay for those four more jailers it would pay for the two

[35:43] deputies to transport uh as far as the people who are would be

[35:47] laid off the jail's hiring uh cost of the vehicles if they last 5

[35:53] years each would be 30,000 a year. So the point being we would save money. I

[35:58] know you guys aren't interested but uh I'm just telling you we're getting

[36:03] played like a set of areas from the state and the other regions the other

[36:07] counties in this region. >> What about our kids in this county that

[36:10] have needs? >> What about them?

[36:12] » I'll get to it. >> What about the teenagers and the kids

[36:15] that have >> Madam Chair? Do I have the floor?

[36:19] Thank you. >> Uh let's talk about Well, I'll get to

[36:22] that. Uh the issue is we are we are there's something called

[36:26] fixed costs. We have this building available for the state and all these

[36:31] other counties at any time at their beck and call. The fee we charge them in no

[36:36] way, shape, or form comes close to compensating our fixed cost. That

[36:42] building is there 247. We're paying on it. We have to heat it. We have to cool

[36:46] it. the staff's there. Whether there's somebody there from another county or

[36:49] not, we should be drawing up contracts with every county that wants to even

[36:53] think about putting something there. You have to have a contract with us that

[36:56] pays a fixed cost fee. And you also should then pay a fee per child. We

[37:01] should set the same kind of contract up with the state. They love to have that

[37:05] and have that available, but they don't want to have that

[37:08] building. They want us to have it. And so what we're doing is the citizens of

[37:12] Grand Forks, let's just say we don't hire the two, whatever, the county of

[37:17] Grand Forks is paying $1.32 million a year to subsidize the state of

[37:24] North Dakota and the regions in this area. And if we want to keep this, then

[37:30] let's get on this and get this and get some contracts written. They're they're

[37:35] killing us. They're they have this thing available, but they're not paying

[37:39] anywhere close to what it costs to be available. The sheriff doesn't patrol

[37:44] Trail County. We don't do the books for Walls County.

[37:48] We don't plow for Steel County. We're we're taking in an entire region of

[37:52] stuff and they will drop someone off when they want for this amount of time

[37:59] and then it's done. And we still have all those bills to have that brand new

[38:03] spanking state-of-the-art building there ready 247 365.

[38:09] » Robin talk. >> So I did have a meeting this morning

[38:13] about >> contracting with the city of Grand Forks

[38:17] because the majority of the kids that we get are coming from the police

[38:20] department to have them pay an overhead to have the availability of having the

[38:25] center put twice. It won't be able to look be looked at until the 2027 budget.

[38:29] Obviously, it's too late for 2026, but I did speak with Lisa Jonner. She said

[38:35] it's difficult to do an overhead fee when you're also charging daily rates to

[38:38] the other counties and they are paying a daily rate. So,

[38:42] » well, I would love to look at an overhead fee versus the daily rate then

[38:45] because >> but the problem with that is I can't

[38:48] guarantee. So, I mean, especially with my not potentially closing down, leaving

[38:53] us as one of the only two detention facilities in the entire state. I got a

[38:58] phone call yesterday from Wisconsin looking for a bed for a juvenile. No

[39:02] beds in Iowa, no beds in Minnesota, no beds in Michigan, no beds in South

[39:06] Dakota, no beds in Illinois. Juvenile beds are a hot commodity. They're going

[39:10] to sell and I can't guarantee beds to people because that puts us in a

[39:14] situation where we don't have beds for our own.

[39:18] » I'm I'm I'm just bringing it up. Keep doing the

[39:23] way you want it. Keep writing off those losses. Keep raising those taxes. It's

[39:27] it's try go talk to anything anybody about fixed costs. We are we are losing

[39:31] our shirts on this and we should not be doing this. We should not be subsidizing

[39:36] the state of North Dakota. The county taxpayers are paying for county

[39:39] services. They're not paying for Benson County, Trail County, Walsh County,

[39:44] state of North Dakota, etc., etc., etc., etc. And that's what we're doing in this

[39:47] plan. So, if you guys are happy, I still have the floor.

[39:54] I love Robert's rules of orders. All right, I want to get to u

[40:01] want to get to the cars in the sheriff's department.

[40:06] Um go out here again. Uh I would like to see a comparison between the state bid

[40:16] for the Explorer versus the towel for the four cylinder and the six-cylinder.

[40:21] the cabin space, the gas tank, how many gallons it holds,

[40:26] and the city highway MPG, the cost of the individual items that

[40:32] make it, the car, the cage, all the stuff they have to do, and the cost to

[40:37] install it, who's doing it. Uh, I also

[40:42] » over show you. >> All right, you get it all together and

[40:47] just flatten an email. in paper. Thank you.

[41:02] Well, I don't I'll look through this. I also

[41:07] I know there's going to be a disagreement. I would like to give all

[41:10] the information concerning our leasing program to Mr. forward and have him

[41:15] contact a business banker

[41:20] and a CPA partner and have him analyze those leases to see if it's better to

[41:25] lease or to buy. >> Mr. Mullins has already talked to

[41:29] Michelle Olsen, to Debbie Nelson, to myself and Chief Deputy Stroberg. We've

[41:32] given him all of the information. He likes to disagree with it, even though

[41:36] all three of us keep giving him the same stuff. If you want to do it, feel free.

[41:41] But we've already done it with him three times. If he got to you and you want to

[41:44] share that with other people and waste their time, feel free.

[41:47] » I will give it to Mr. Ford and the third party can decide as far as I'm concerned

[41:52] whether it's better to buy in cash or to pay finance charges on a vehicle.

[41:57] » I have a question. Can I ask that question?

[41:59] » Yeah, sure. >> So, if we're asking a third party to do

[42:01] that, do we have to pay for the third party or do they do that for free?

[42:06] » We'll ask them. We'll bring it back if they have a

[42:09] charge. Now we're concerned about money.

[42:14] Interesting. Um, >> let's keep going.

[42:18] » As far as the jail, the jail wants the state wants all 72

[42:24] beds. Apparently, that contract is sitting somewhere.

[42:28] I would like to be on the next agenda. The contract for the state.

[42:35] I'd like to have Mr. sponsor and her represent or his representative on the

[42:39] video and I want to know what we're doing. We voted as a commission

[42:43] unanimously months ago to rent 72 beds. I'm ready to approve the contract. I'm

[42:49] ready to approve the chair to sign it. >> You don't have

[42:53] » That's why I want it on next meeting so we can have one to look at. So, we've

[42:57] been waiting months for this. So, we voted 72 beds. Let's go.

[43:02] Um,

[43:16] okay. He

[43:20] I'm not sure. I just want to follow up on it.

[43:23] Do we owe approximately $700,000 to the builder of the sheriff's office?

[43:29] I saw in the budget I found 300,000 budgeted. So, do we is that the only

[43:35] amount we own? Are we making payments? What? I'm not sure what's going on

[43:39] there. >> Sure.

[43:43] » You're talking about the >> I call the project alternates,

[43:46] » right? >> So, there was a million dollars budgeted

[43:50] for 2025 for the sheriff's office facility. 300,000 was set aside to pay

[43:58] the lease, waters, all that stuff for this year. 700,000

[44:04] was set aside for project alternates. Commission approved up to 1.31

[44:09] something million project alternates. County Commission voted to pay 700,000

[44:15] this year in project alternates, 300,000 next year in project alternates, and the

[44:20] remaining balance plus interest, if any, remaining balance in 2027.

[44:26] » Can we pay that early? >> You're talking to the wrong guy.

[44:29] » Okay. Can we pay that early? We need to find that out

[44:34] because >> the answer is yes, but I can't tell you

[44:37] what you can and can't pay. He'll take the payment early.

[44:40] » Okay. That's what I'm asking about. Yeah.

[44:41] » Is there is there a no penalty? All right. So, we should look at paying that

[44:45] off early >> because if we got money somewhere

[44:48] collecting 3% interest and we're paying 7% interest to finance it, we're losing

[44:53] money.

[44:58] » Commission, you're talking about paying early the alternates.

[45:02] » Pay it all off next year. >> The entire thing.

[45:04] » Yes. >> Okay. I And I can talk about this on the

[45:07] 5th. I asked Miss Mors to put it on the agenda, but I did talk to Mr. Huner this

[45:10] morning. So I have I'll have information.

[45:24] » Okay. I'm I'm not going to make too many cuts till we'll see if this motion

[45:28] passes and I got plenty of cuts to bring forward if it fails.

[45:34] » You done? >> Yeah. Thank you.

[45:37] We have a motion on the floor to be staffed by ourselves into

[45:44] I remember from 45 minutes ago. >> All right. All those in favor?

[45:55] » Mr.

[45:58] » Yes. >> Yes.

[46:10] You sure can. I just want to acknowledge the program managers of the county um

[46:16] for their professionalism and um really looking at cutting their

[46:22] costs wherever they could. There were um minimal increases

[46:29] compared to quite a bit of decreases. And I I um I believe or this may be a

[46:36] personal issue, but I respect their opinions. They're professionals. They're

[46:41] trained in that subject content area. And I just think we as a commission need

[46:47] to um be appreciative of program managers doing the best that they can in

[46:54] making cuts and also working hard to continue in getting contract with

[47:01] various entities so that we can continue to make improvements and I just want to

[47:07] acknowledge that. >> Oh uh Mr. forward. Ma'am, may I speak?

[47:11] » Go ahead. >> Scrap that about the third party. If we

[47:14] don't care about money, we don't care about money.

[47:17] » So, don't bother looking into it.

[47:21] » I'm sure public can decide that

[47:28] contracted services we need to talk about that anymore. Is

[47:32] there anything else that we need to >> Gormanfield public notice?

[47:37] » I can speak to that sound quickly. Uh at the at the last commission meeting um

[47:42] the commission asked Mr. Magnus to send out a notification within three miles of

[47:48] the G field >> for the paving of the runway.

[47:52] » Yes. >> Uh I spoke with Mr. Magnus yesterday.

[47:56] » It's just it's not feasible for him. Uh there's no master list. He'd have to

[48:00] reach out to the post office. It would be a pretty big expense to the county

[48:04] and it wouldn't be done in time. uh and he would have to manually input every

[48:08] address which would take him days upon days. Uh so with that in mind being the

[48:14] commission to direct him to do three miles he is asking to go back to the

[48:18] standard of a onemation. >> So we just need a motion to

[48:21] » move second. Is there any further discussion?

[48:27] All those in favor of the motion please say I.

[48:29] » I oppos.

7/29/25 Grand Forks County Board of Commissioners Special Meeting

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