[0:00] Interesting.
[0:03] I call the September 8th County Board meeting to order and ask you to join me in
[0:07] the pledge of allegiance.
[0:12] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the
[0:17] Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:23] justice for all.
[0:29] I don't think there's any additions or corrections to the agenda. Board's wishes.
[0:35] Sir, I make a motion to approve the agenda as presented.
[0:37] I'll second that.
[0:38] Motion and a second. Any discussion?
[0:41] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
[0:43] Aye.
[0:44] Opposed same sign. Motion carries. Next is public comment.
[0:48] If you wish to share your thoughts, please provide your name and address after
[0:53] being acknowledged by the board chair.
[0:54] Each speaker has two minutes to express their remarks.
[0:58] Steele County promotes respect in both its work environment and boardroom.
[1:03] Speakers should maintain dignity and show respect towards others.
[1:07] Comments should be directed to the entire board, not an individual commissioner,
[1:11] official, or staff. The board chair may limit comments if they are argumentative,
[1:17] disrespectful, or redundant. Please avoid name-calling or abusive language, as
[1:23] this may result in being asked to return to your seat or to leave the boardroom.
[1:27] No action will be taken on items presented during the public comment period unless
[1:32] they are on the agenda. The board may refer some inquiries to the county
[1:37] administrator for follow-up. Is there any public comment at this time?
[1:46] Any public comment at this time?
[1:49] Seeing none, we'll move to the consent agenda. Board's wishes.
[1:54] Motion to approve consent agenda as presented.
[1:58] Second.
[1:58] Motion and second. Any discussion?
[2:01] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
[2:03] Aye.
[2:04] Opposed same sign. Motion carries.
[2:08] Presentation and action items. We have the Steele County's 2025 audit report and
[2:13] financial statements and supplementary presentation.
[2:21] Sorry.
[2:22] No, you're good.
[2:24] Thank you.
[2:26] This evening, we have joining us virtually is Sheanne from Baker Tilly, and she's
[2:31] going to provide the presentation in regards to the
[2:37] county's 2025 audit. We've had a few little technical difficulties,
[2:42] so you can see her on the screen, and she is looking at you guys because we have to
[2:47] use my camera off my laptop. So anyway, if you have
[2:53] questions, our mic is off, and feel free to ask her questions, and we are ready
[2:57] whenever you are.
[2:58] Can you hear us?
[3:00] I can hear you and see you.
[3:02] We can't hear you.
[3:03] You got to get your volume up.
[3:05] The volume is very low. Just a second. So sorry.
[3:10] That's what I thought. She was going to be on the quiet side.
[3:12] Well, earlier it was a little louder.
[3:16] Excuse me.
[3:17] Maybe it was something...
[3:19] Can you try again?
[3:21] Yep, and you're back.
[3:22] There we go. Thank you.
[3:24] Thank you. Sorry.
[3:27] All right. Well, thank you very much for having me virtually this evening.
[3:33] See some familiar faces. So again, I'm Sheanne Hediger, the principal with Baker
[3:38] Tilly, overseeing Steele County's annual audit process.
[3:43] Can you guys see the presentation on the screen that I'm sharing?
[3:47] Yeah. Yes, we can.
[3:48] Okay. All right. Sounds great.
[3:53] Well, tonight, I just wanted to go over, so as mentioned, we've done our audit
[3:58] field work for 2025 year-end.
[4:02] Mainly, we worked with Ashley and Madison through the process, and I really wanted
[4:08] to say thank you to them and the other staff.
[4:10] I know it's not a lone job there, but everybody's very responsive,
[4:16] cooperative with all of our questions.
[4:20] And I know you've had some turnover and people moving into new roles, which can
[4:25] obviously cause disruption, but from our perspective, things ultimately went very
[4:31] smoothly, and we're here today presenting to you.
[4:36] So tonight, I'm going to cover the three reports that we issued last week.
[4:41] The independent auditor's report, which is encompassed in the financial statements.
[4:48] So that's going to be number three here.
[4:50] We don't have to report on federal awards this year.
[4:52] We have an alternative examination that I'll cover as the reporting and insights
[4:56] letter. Also go through some financial highlights from 2025.
[5:02] Feel free to interrupt throughout if you have questions, or if you want to save
[5:06] them until the end. I'm fine either way.
[5:10] So we'll kick off with the independent auditor's report.
[5:13] This is the three pages within the financial statement document that is ours as the
[5:18] auditor.
[5:20] So the remainder of the financial statement document is that of the county's.
[5:24] So for 2025, we did issue an unmodified opinion.
[5:29] Also known as a clean opinion, so that is the highest level that the county can
[5:33] receive. That means we found that the financial statements are fairly presented in
[5:38] all material aspects in accordance with US GAAP.
[5:43] Within the auditor's report, then there's a few paragraphs that distinguish the
[5:47] responsibilities for the financial statements.
[5:51] So the first being management's responsibility.
[5:55] As I mentioned, the financial statement document is that of Steele County.
[5:59] So management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of that
[6:04] report.
[6:06] They also design and implement and maintain internal controls over that financial
[6:12] reporting, and then evaluating whether there are any conditions or events that
[6:18] raise substantial doubt about the county's ability to continue into the future.
[6:26] The auditor's responsibility. So
[6:31] our objective is to obtain a reasonable assurance that the financial statements are
[6:37] free from material misstatement.
[6:40] That reasonable assurance is a high-level assurance. It's not absolute.
[6:45] We are sampling transactions
[6:48] through our risk assessment process, determining what needs to be looked at.
[6:55] We're not looking at every transaction. We would be there all year round.
[7:00] You wouldn't want to pay us for that.
[7:01] So, that is ultimately the purpose of an audit is a high level of assurance.
[7:08] Misstatements, we talk about that they're free from material misstatements.
[7:13] A misstatement would be considered material
[7:16] if it had substantial likelihood to influence the judgment of your users.
[7:24] And then through our audit,
[7:27] we exercise professional judgment, maintaining our professional skepticism.
[7:33] We identify and assess those material misstatements,
[7:37] design and perform our procedures to respond to those risks.
[7:41] We obtain an understanding of the controls of the county and evaluate the
[7:45] accounting policies and estimates, and ultimately conclude as well if we feel there
[7:50] are any conditions or events that cause substantial doubt about the ability to
[7:56] continue.
[8:00] So now jumping into some of the numbers of the financial statements for 2025.
[8:06] Start out with the general fund fund balance.
[8:09] This is one of the most important metrics within your financial statements.
[8:14] Really helps to assess the health of the county overall.
[8:18] Having a good, strong fund balance allows for adequate cash flows to
[8:24] offset timing of when revenue come in.
[8:27] It also allows flexibility to respond to unplanned needs or budget needs.
[8:34] Things don't always come in as you budget for them, so having that fund balance
[8:39] reserve is good.
[8:42] The fund balance for the general fund is within these five categories listed.
[8:46] They are in order of liquidity and restriction, the top being the least liquid and
[8:51] the bottom being the least restrictive.
[8:55] So the non-spendable category, as the name alludes, is in a not spendable form.
[9:02] So that 620,000 or so is made up mostly of inventories and prepaid
[9:07] expenses, advances to other funds, and then long-term loan receivables
[9:15] The restricted balance is restricted for its use by external groups,
[9:21] creditors, grantors, laws, or regulations.
[9:26] So much of that is different grants or legislative or
[9:31] statute-based restrictions to what those balances.
[9:38] The committed fund balance is that which you as the board have set aside for
[9:42] specific purposes through resolutions.
[9:45] And that is about $500,000 of that balance is capital projects,
[9:52] and the remaining being for employee wellness programs.
[9:57] The assigned also which you as the company have set aside for specific
[10:02] purposes, but not as restrictive as a formal resolution.
[10:09] That $1.5 million is for future compensated absences,
[10:14] retiree payments.
[10:17] And then finally, the unassigned is just the residual left to be used for operation
[10:23] type things.
[10:25] And that is $30 million. So in total for 2025, the fund balance,
[10:31] just under $34 million, and that was a $4.3 million increase over prior year.
[10:38] And just for reference, page 37 of your financial statements does have the
[10:43] breakdown of each of these categories, of what they are, if you wanted to look
[10:48] further.
[10:52] Okay, so I gave you all the numbers, but what does that really mean?
[10:55] So this slide has a measure of adequacy.
[10:59] So looking at that fund balance
[11:02] in comparison to the general fund expenditures for the year.
[11:07] So we take those last two categories, the assigned and unassigned, which is the
[11:12] most flexible for spending uses.
[11:16] So your general fund expenditures for the year, just about $36.5 million.
[11:22] Compared to that available or those assigned and unassigned fund balance amounts of
[11:27] $31.5 million.
[11:29] What that translates to is you have about 86% of your expenditures for the year on
[11:34] hand.
[11:36] So if you were to get no revenues in the door for 2026, you essentially could
[11:41] operate for about 10 months.
[11:46] If you look on the graph here, we've had a rising trend the last three
[11:52] years of your actual percentage there.
[11:55] The green line is what the Minnesota Office of State Auditor recommends, a minimum
[12:01] of five months. It's 10, still counting as about 10 months.
[12:05] And then the Government Finance Officers Association recommended minimum is two
[12:09] months.
[12:11] So having above the five and really under a year's worth is the
[12:17] sweet spot to be in.
[12:20] The county does have a policy to have 45% to 55% of the subsequent
[12:26] year's budgeted expenditures in that fund balance.
[12:30] So at the end of 2025,
[12:33] that was about 80% above what our policy is stating.
[12:41] I guess from my perspective, it's not concerning to be above it.
[12:45] If you had years' worth of balances on hand, that would be
[12:51] probably too much, but you're also not too low here.
[12:55] Ultimately, you have a healthy adequate fund balance in your general fund.
[13:04] Anyway, so then leading to, I mentioned that about $4.3 million increase for the
[13:10] year.
[13:11] That is this middle column of the 2025 actual general fund revenues
[13:17] versus expenditures
[13:20] in comparison to your budget for the year.
[13:22] So you budgeted on a loss of $836,000,
[13:27] and your actual was $4.3 million. You can see that the biggest variance there is
[13:32] your revenues being about $5.5 million over your budget.
[13:39] A couple things that led to that investment income was about $3.7 million over
[13:44] budget.
[13:46] Again, not something you usually can plan for exactly what that number will be, and
[13:51] that's purely a positive if the market is performing better than your planned
[13:57] amounts.
[13:59] The other category that was
[14:03] quite a bit over budget was the miscellaneous income.
[14:06] That was about $1.2 million over budget, and two things lead to that.
[14:11] You have a $500,000 that came back from the MinnPrairie joint venture, and then
[14:17] about $612,000 that came back from the SCHA joint
[14:23] venture as well. So again, both of those payments that you probably didn't budget
[14:28] for and can be used for future purposes.
[14:34] All right.
[14:36] So that kind of wraps up my general fund specific topics.
[14:41] Now looking at some other metrics you want to point out on this slide.
[14:45] Now we switch to a three-year trend as the column headings.
[14:49] A little bit confusing if you had to work your way down.
[14:52] But the cash and investment totals for 2025,
[14:58] unrestricted cash was about $65.8 million.
[15:02] So that's almost a $5 million increase from the previous year.
[15:06] Much of that just being, like I mentioned, that investment income being better than
[15:11] planned, and then just overall fund balances increased.
[15:17] The restricted funds of about $3.1 million is your solid waste
[15:23] investment
[15:26] that are set aside for future remediation there.
[15:30] And then the fiduciary cash and investments are funds that the county holds on
[15:35] behalf of others. So other taxing districts,
[15:39] it may balance
[15:42] other state taxes and such. So not funds that the county can use, but just held at
[15:48] your end.
[15:51] Some of the other funds then of the county, they've got the four special revenue
[15:56] funds there. Northland Bridge, that fund balance will fluctuate depending
[16:01] on timing of projects and revenues coming in.
[16:06] The ditch fund, most of that is just special assessment activity, special
[16:12] assessments being received, and ditch projects going on.
[16:17] The opioid settlement, just continuing to receive those opioid payments through
[16:23] that settlement process.
[16:26] And then the homelessness and housing are state funds held for
[16:32] affordable housing purposes.
[16:36] Then we have the debt service fund,
[16:39] relatively breakeven for '24 to '25.
[16:42] As expected, you
[16:44] would love to aim for expected principal and interest there.
[16:49] And then finally, the capital projects fund.
[16:53] You see a decrease there from '24 to '25.
[16:56] Some significant projects in progress during 2025.
[17:01] Got the CCA building, the Four Seasons Center roof project, the Sheriff addition,
[17:07] and the Fairgrounds electrical upgrade. So all of that happening within that fund.
[17:16] All right. And we have the one enterprise fund of the county is the solid waste.
[17:22] There it did decrease from $2.5 million from '24 to '25.
[17:29] There is a statement of cash flows on page 12 of financial statements.
[17:34] You can see through that,
[17:37] the solid waste did have about $603,000 of increased cash through operations.
[17:44] But that was offset by $3.1 million of the landfill expansion costs
[17:50] and other capital assets that were purchased there.
[17:55] So essentially used reserves down to do those projects.
[18:01] Similar then, the working capital decreased down to $1.8 million, but
[18:07] still sufficient assets there to cover any current liabilities.
[18:13] And then finally, you can see the total net position.
[18:18] In total, it did decrease $192,000.
[18:22] But the bigger fluctuation is just within the categories with those
[18:27] Landfill expansion costs going into the net investment in capital asset and
[18:32] bringing down that unrestricted net position.
[18:40] Then our
[18:42] last financial highlight slide is a debt metric.
[18:47] If you look at the outstanding general obligation debt, so the debt that is levy
[18:52] funded,
[18:54] in balance, almost 2.7 million at the end of the year.
[18:58] There was no new debt issued in 2025, and principal and interest payments were
[19:04] made per the prepayment schedules.
[19:09] Compare that to your GO debt capacity of 206 million, which is calculated as
[19:15] 3% of the market value of the taxable property in the county.
[19:20] So you can see that row was from '24 to '25, meaning your tax base is
[19:24] increasing. But the county has used
[19:30] 1.3% of the debt capacity, so plenty of capacity there if needed.
[19:36] It also shows that the borrowing is not over-leveraged by any means.
[19:43] One of the metrics that bond rating agencies use is looking at what
[19:49] your debt service, your principal interest payments, in comparison to expenditures
[19:54] as a whole,
[19:56] how much are you debt leveraged. So for 2025, the county was at
[20:03] 3.76% of your principal and interest made up your total
[20:08] expenses.
[20:11] You can see on the graph here that red line shows the bond rating agency's maximum
[20:15] on these, 20%. They don't want to see your debt service exceeding 20% of your total
[20:21] expenditures.
[20:22] So yeah, well below that max. That's a really good metric to hold as well.
[20:31] All right.
[20:33] The second report then that we had...
[20:37] Actually, back up. So we have these two reports, the report on Minnesota legal
[20:42] compliance and then the ARPA examination.
[20:45] So the report on Minnesota legal compliance, the last few years, we've had a
[20:51] report on federal awards. It's been encompassed within that report.
[20:56] This year, a separate single audit was not needed for the county, and so you'll
[21:02] find this report just at the back of the financial statement document.
[21:07] So this is a report over the financial reporting and compliance, and
[21:13] then the Minnesota Legal Compliance Guide that we need to follow.
[21:19] So similar or same as of last year, we did identify one material weakness, which is
[21:25] the internal control over financial reporting.
[21:28] We, as your auditors, are preparing the financial statements, and we did identify
[21:34] a material audit entry through the process which was corrected and went through the
[21:38] financial statements. So that is reported to you in that report.
[21:43] We did not find any instances of non-compliance over financial reporting, and
[21:49] through our work with the Minnesota Legal Compliance Audit Guide, we did not find
[21:53] that the county had any compliance findings there either.
[21:58] So overall, a fairly clean report there.
[22:02] I will just make mention that material weakness over financial reporting
[22:07] is in probably close to 90% of the local government reports that I issue.
[22:13] So it's typical to see that, unless you have CPAs on staff that can keep
[22:19] up with all of the new standards and
[22:22] disclosures and how to report things.
[22:25] So mostly rely on their auditors for that service.
[22:32] All right. Then the second report this year, this is new for the county and will be
[22:37] a one-time report. But the
[22:43] federal single audit threshold for 2025 was a million dollars.
[22:49] And the ARPA awards, the
[22:55] coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund dollars,
[23:01] how much you spent there is what caused the county to be over a million dollars in
[23:05] federal expenditures. That program has a special exemption that if that's the
[23:10] program that does it, you only need to do this alternative examination rather than
[23:15] a full single audit. So the county exercised that option for twenty twenty-five,
[23:20] and we did our testing and issued our two-page report on that and noted that we had
[23:26] no compliance findings for all those federal dollars.
[23:30] So a clean report there.
[23:34] All right. And the final report is the reporting and insights letter , the one that
[23:39] the cover kind of matches this color that's on the slide.
[23:44] This really just is a summary of the whole audit process, any findings and our
[23:50] required communications to you as the board.
[23:54] So I'll have some highlights of that report.
[23:56] The required audit communications can be found on pages five through 10.
[24:04] Go through somewhat of our audit approach as well.
[24:08] So what we've identified as significant estimates for 2025 within the financials
[24:14] are the OPEB liability, the net pension liabilities, your PERA
[24:20] participation, and then the landfill closure, post-closure, and then the
[24:25] depreciation over your fixed assets.
[24:29] If we had found any difficulties in the process, any disagreements with management,
[24:35] had we had any significant or unusual transactions that may have
[24:40] required consultations outside of our audit team, any of those matters would be
[24:45] disclosed to you. If you look through the letter, we've noted that none of those
[24:50] situations happened. So again, very cooperative team.
[24:56] Nothing significant or unusual found for the year.
[25:01] There's a section talking about the corrected and uncorrected misstatements.
[25:06] There is a heading called that, and it's a little misleading because there were no
[25:10] uncorrected misstatements in 2025.
[25:13] So does discuss the audit entries that we
[25:17] made. And then finally at the last two or last three pages of the
[25:23] report is the two-way communication looking ahead to the 2026 audit.
[25:29] And that goes over the nature, scope, and timing of the audit.
[25:32] There's also a list of questions and things to get you thinking if there's anything
[25:38] that we as the auditors should know going into our audit to help us plan our
[25:43] procedures. We are open to hearing those questions anytime throughout the year.
[25:49] Nothing has to wait till these formal meetings.
[25:52] And my contact information is on the inside first page of that letter and at the
[25:58] end of the slide deck if ever needed.
[26:02] All right. And then we've got the upcoming GASB standards
[26:07] listed within the report. So there are three, two of them effective for 2026.
[26:14] We will work with management to make sure these are correctly implemented.
[26:20] A lot of reporting type things, especially that
[26:24] GASB 93, will move some things around in the financial statements for next year.
[26:29] So we will work with Ashley and Madison and others to make sure that's all
[26:35] appropriately recorded.
[26:38] All right. So that is the end of my prepared remarks at this time.
[26:44] Again, just want to give a big thank you to the staff.
[26:47] Audit is no small undertaking. We're very disruptive to the day-to-day county
[26:53] operations, so we do appreciate all the help with that.
[26:58] And I mentioned at the beginning some of the transition of people within the
[27:03] county.
[27:05] Things went fairly smooth, so really that's a testament to the good policies and
[27:11] procedures that the county also has that the staff turnover doesn't cause too much
[27:17] disruption in
[27:20] performing these good audit results at the end of the day. Thank you.
[27:26] Any questions for Sheehan?
[27:30] Clean report.
[27:32] Mm-hmm.
[27:32] Just wanted to let you know that. Thank you.
[27:35] Those are great.
[27:38] All right. Thank you.
[27:39] Good job, Ashley.
[27:40] Thank you.
[27:41] Thank you.
[27:42] Okay. Thank you.
[27:45] Bye.
[27:47] Ooh, there goes my sunglasses.
[27:53] We had the presentation, now next on the agenda is accept Steele County's 2025
[27:58] audit report, and financial statements and supplementary information.
[28:03] Board's wishes?
[28:05] Mr. Chair, I'll move acceptance of the Steele County's 2025 audit report and
[28:10] financial statements, and supplementary information as presented.
[28:13] I'll second it now.
[28:14] There's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[28:18] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
[28:20] Aye.
[28:21] Opposed same sign. Motion carries.
[28:24] There's no additional action items from the work session.
[28:27] Mr. Chair? If I might, I asked Mr. Svatinka to step out in the hall, which means he
[28:32] missed public comment. I don't know, did you still want to make public comment to
[28:36] the board?
[28:38] No, I'll talk to him later. We're going to do it.
[28:43] Okay.
[28:47] Next is September employee anniversaries.
[28:51] Gina,
[28:53] welcome.
[28:54] Thank you. Good evening.
[28:55] I noticed you had a print out smaller.
[28:57] Yeah.
[28:59] I'm here to present the September employee anniversaries to the board.
[29:04] I would like to start off with Jared Robinson, highway maintenance technician,
[29:08] completed 10 years of service. Sean Witter, foreman in the highway department, 10
[29:14] years of service. Taylor Cureton, patrol deputy, one year of service.
[29:20] Josh Horacy, patrol deputy, 11 years of service.
[29:24] Michelle Bromley, sergeant at the detention center, nine years of service.
[29:29] Julia Svatinka, legal admin assistant, with three years of service.
[29:35] Mike Witter, correctional officer, eight years.
[29:39] Jennifer Sue, adult probation officer, 19 years.
[29:44] Brianna Robran, care coordinator, finishing up her first year.
[29:49] Aaron Edel, accounting supervisor, 20 years.
[29:53] Dave Stenzel, environmental specialist, with five years of service.
[29:59] Tyler Severson, building inspector, coming up on his first year anniversary.
[30:04] John Anderson, correctional corporal, with seven years of service.
[30:10] Emma Johnson, health educator, two years of service.
[30:14] Kindra Gasner, our records supervisor, with three years of service.
[30:19] Mark Flowers, network support specialist, 12 years of service.
[30:24] Rihanna Reese, correctional officer, with three years of service.
[30:29] Brian Anderson, county assessor, 10 years of service.
[30:34] Amber Osef, public health director, 28 years of service.
[30:39] Mark Radu, maintenance, 35 years of service.
[30:44] Bobby Herzog, HR coordinator, seven years.
[30:48] And then Amy Berg, office support specialist in public health, with four years of
[30:53] service. Lots of 10-year anniversaries in September.
[30:58] Thank you, Gina, and thanks to the employees for their years of continued service.
[31:03] Next on the agenda is authorizing the solicitation of proposals
[31:09] for the sale of the former county highway shop location at
[31:14] 828 Hoffman Drive. Jake?
[31:18] I think Jake and I can tag team this, but the board obviously reviewed proposals at
[31:22] your last regular meeting, chose not to accept any of them.
[31:25] We did talk about this at the last property and maintenance committee meeting
[31:29] because subsequent to this proposal process, Jake actually did hear from at least
[31:34] one other individual or organization that might be interested.
[31:38] So the committee is recommending to the full board that you reauthorize for
[31:42] proposals. It would be a new request for proposal, so none of the previous
[31:47] proposals would be in running, so to speak.
[31:50] They would have to resubmit if they choose to do so.
[31:53] And then we would probably put together, again, another three to four-week period
[31:56] of time for the proposers to assemble their information, and we would bring it back
[31:59] to the board at one of your October meetings.
[32:02] And we actually had two reach out now.
[32:05] Since I brought it up.
[32:06] Yep.
[32:07] Is that right?
[32:08] Mr. Chair, a question?
[32:10] Yeah, Jim.
[32:11] So, if we go through this process and we're not satisfied with any of the
[32:16] proposals, we don't have to accept.
[32:18] Right.
[32:19] There's no commitment on our end, correct?
[32:20] Correct. You can accept or reject at the board's sole and exclusive discretion.
[32:24] Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
[32:28] Board's wishes?
[32:31] I'll make a motion to move forward with putting the property up for sale.
[32:39] I'll second.
[32:40] There's a motion and a second
[32:43] to authorize the proposals to sale the county shop location.
[32:47] Is there any other discussion?
[32:49] Seeing none, go ahead.
[32:50] I'll just add, I had one thing, Mr. Chair, here.
[32:53] This went through committee again, and we've got renewed interest from some other
[32:59] parties on this. And then I was down getting gas at Circle K down there that day,
[33:03] and this is after, and I thought, "Geez, I wonder if them businesses over there
[33:08] know it's going to be for sale." So I went over to the businesses right next door
[33:12] and I called them. It ain't happened yet, but it's probably going to be coming up.
[33:17] You can make an offer on it, and I told them to get ahold of the administrator
[33:19] because it's probably going to be coming up.
[33:21] I don't know if they did or not yet, but they didn't know nothing about it and was
[33:26] pretty interested in that way they could...
[33:29] That was that little slim right of way going along the railroad track.
[33:33] Where the road is.
[33:34] They could square that up and make their properties worth more.
[33:39] And so, I just thought open it up, they might be putting offers in too, but we'll
[33:44] see. Time will tell.
[33:45] Good thinking.
[33:46] Like I said, I'm not a realtor and I'm not getting commission. I'll let them know.
[33:51] And so far no one has contacted me, but if they do, I would certainly submit to
[33:54] them a proposal packet once it's approved by the board.
[33:58] Sounds great. There's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[34:02] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
[34:05] Aye.
[34:06] Opposed same sign. Motion carries. Thanks, Jake.
[34:09] Thank you, Commissioners.
[34:10] Next on the agenda
[34:13] is approved CUP number 447,
[34:17] WHKS Steele County, place fill
[34:21] in the floodplain with three conditions based on the findings of fact.
[34:26] Welcome, Amber.
[34:27] Hello.
[34:29] So WHKS and Steele County have requested a permit to place fill in a floodplain on
[34:34] Steele County property in Berlin Township.
[34:36] This work is part of the realignment of County State Aid Highway 28 to support the
[34:40] reconfigured boat launch and parking lot at Beaver Lake Park.
[34:43] The proposed development activities include earth moving, excavation, grading and
[34:48] fill, shoreline stabilization and restoration, road construction, and culvert
[34:52] installation. The planning commission recommends approval of CUP 447 with three
[34:57] conditions based on the findings of fact.
[35:01] We do have representation from WHKS and our public works team, if you have
[35:07] questions for any of them.
[35:08] Well, I can't remember your name.
[35:10] Oh, Brandon Chesley.
[35:11] That's right. Brandon, welcome.
[35:13] Thank you.
[35:13] Any questions from the board?
[35:18] Do you have anything to add to what Amber has said?
[35:23] Just as a follow-up from the planning and zoning committee a couple weeks ago, WHKS
[35:28] did send a survey crew at the property owner's request to stake the right of way
[35:32] limits and to pre-limit the project, unless there's any statement you could make at
[35:37] the very bottom of the copy as well.
[35:43] Board's wishes?
[35:52] Mr. Chair,
[35:54] make a motion to approve
[35:57] CUP
[35:59] number 447, WHKS Steele County, place fill in floodplain with the three conditions
[36:04] based on the findings of fact.
[36:08] I'll second.
[36:09] There's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[36:13] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
[36:16] Aye.
[36:17] Opposed same sign. Motion carries.
[36:21] Next is approve renewal of IUP 2021-04, Ulam
[36:27] Brothers, Berglund Pit in 18 conditions based on the findings of fact.
[36:35] Ueland Brothers is requesting renewal of IUP 2021-04 for a sand and gravel pit
[36:40] located on the property owned by Brad Berglund in Berlin Township.
[36:45] A total of 5,864 tons of material have been removed over the past five years.
[36:51] The planning commission recommends approval with 18 conditions, including an
[36:54] amendment to condition number three, updating the financial assurance language, and
[36:59] condition number 18, establishing the next renewal date of June 2031, based on the
[37:03] findings of fact.
[37:08] Board wishes.
[37:11] Mr. Chair, I make a motion to approve the renewal of IUP 2021-04, Ueland Brothers
[37:17] Berglund Pit with 18 conditions based on findings of fact.
[37:22] I'll second that.
[37:22] There's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[37:27] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
[37:29] Aye.
[37:30] Opposed same sign. Motion carries.
[37:33] Next is number 20 on our agenda. Approve renewal of IUP
[37:38] 2026-01,
[37:41] Integrity Materials, Von Ruden Pit with 19 conditions based on the findings
[37:47] of fact. Amber.
[37:50] So on this one, it is a new pit, it's not a renewal.
[37:54] So just fix that there. Integrity Material Sales is requesting a permit
[38:00] to mine sand and gravel on property owned by George and Zach Von Ruden in Havana
[38:05] Township. At this time, they propose to mine approximately eight acres and have
[38:10] submitted an engineered mining plan with their submittals.
[38:14] The area DNR hydrologist had no comments, and the applicants are coordinating with
[38:19] Steele County Soil and Water to ensure wetland protection.
[38:23] Additional concerns were received after the planning commission meeting and have
[38:28] been provided to you,
[38:31] and the planning commission recommends approval of IUP 2026-01 with 19 conditions
[38:37] based on the findings of fact.
[38:41] Board wishes. It's not a renewal, it's a new one.
[38:46] Mr. Chair, I will offer the IUP number
[38:51] 2026-01, Integrity Materials Von Ruden Pit with the 19 conditions based on the
[38:56] findings of fact.
[38:58] I'll second.
[38:59] Motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[39:02] Mr. Chair, just a question. So you said we received additional information.
[39:05] Is this the handout you were referencing?
[39:08] Yeah. Mr. Chair, members of the board, this came after the public hearing was
[39:11] closed, and the board cannot consider those comments at this time.
[39:15] So that was going to be my question.
[39:20] I am working on a response to answer some of his questions as well.
[39:25] All right.
[39:27] There's a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion?
[39:30] That's the same individual that had the letter at the planning and zoning.
[39:35] Yeah.
[39:35] This is a different one?
[39:36] Yeah.
[39:36] Okay.
[39:40] Is there any further discussion?
[39:47] Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
[39:50] Aye.
[39:50] Opposed same sign. Motion carries.
[39:53] Thanks, Amber.
[39:55] Mm-hmm.
[39:55] Informational items. The property and maintenance committee minutes
[39:59] are in the packet. Next is commissioner reports.
[40:03] Joe, do you have anything you want to tell us about?
[40:06] Nothing I can think of, Mr. Chairman.
[40:09] Thanks for coming. Greg?
[40:11] August 26th, I had a meeting with Representative
[40:17] Finstad in
[40:20] Rochester, and we discussed a railroad grant fund that the
[40:26] federal government has that may work out for one of our major projects coming up.
[40:31] September 1st, we had property meetings.
[40:34] September 4th had South Country Health Alliance quality meeting.
[40:39] Today, we had a budget session before the work session, and I'd like to call out
[40:44] the American Legion Women's Auxiliary for their gift cards for our veterans.
[40:50] And also,
[40:52] Public Health and the group that made several donations to them, Bundles of
[40:57] Love, Kiwanis Club, Capstone, and Hando
[41:02] Publications, and KOWZ Radio, and thank them for their contributions.
[41:08] Thank you, Greg. Jim, what do you got?
[41:10] Mr. Chair, I had planning and zoning August 31st, property maintenance the 1st of
[41:15] September, and a budget session today at 2 o'clock before this meeting.
[41:22] Thank you. Renee?
[41:24] Just first thing, an announcement.
[41:26] We have the fall policy meeting with AMC next week.
[41:29] So I will be out of the office for a good portion of the week attending, as well as
[41:33] a couple of board members.
[41:34] Okay.
[41:34] The second is just a reporter update to the full board.
[41:38] As you may be aware, one of the third-party consultants that we needed to select
[41:43] moving forward with our own human services was somebody to provide our workforce
[41:47] support. Ben and I, and other members of my leadership team, met with
[41:52] representatives from MRCI and WDI.
[41:55] We also consulted with HMA, and after several weeks of discussing, we chose to go
[42:00] forward with WDI as our workforce development partner.
[42:04] We did meet with MRCI to let them know they've done a great job for the last 10
[42:09] years. They have committed staff, but we really felt that WDI offered a broader
[42:13] selection of supports and services for our clients.
[42:16] They are willing to offer services on-premise to address the transportation issues
[42:21] or concerns that they might need. But if you do see the MRCI staff, let them know
[42:26] that we certainly appreciated the work that they did, and we encourage them to
[42:29] apply for positions with Steele County, if that was something that's of interest to
[42:32] them.
[42:34] Thank you. Jim?
[42:35] Mr. Chair, September 2nd, we had a Rice-Steele 911 Joint Powers Board meeting,
[42:42] and the 8th, today, our budget and work sessions.
[42:45] Thank you. Josh?
[42:47] On August 27th, I had the SEMCAC Executive Committee.
[42:51] On the 31st, I had planning and zoning.
[42:55] This morning we had the public works meeting, and then the budget work session
[42:59] before this, and the work session before this meeting.
[43:02] Thank you. I also attended the budget work session and the work session before this
[43:07] meeting. At this time, I'd entertain a motion to adjourn.
[43:12] So moved.
[43:14] Second.
[43:14] All those in favor signify by saying aye.
[43:16] Aye.
[43:16] Aye.
[43:17] Opposed same sign. Motion carries. Thank you all for coming.