[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.

[43:17] Opposed same sign. Motion carries. Thank you all for coming.

SC Board Meeting 2026-09-08

Transcript