[0:06] It is 9 o' folks. We're going to call the meeting to order.

[0:14] » All right. Madam clerk, would you uh present us with a roll call?

[0:18] » Keith Carpensky >> here.

[0:20] » Adam Jarko >> here.

[0:21] » Jeremy Hall >> here.

[0:25] » Duke >> here.

[0:26] » And Russ Arcan >> here. Everybody is here today.

[0:30] » All right. Before you is an agenda. Is there any um questions, additions or or

[0:36] requests, sir?

[0:43] » Second. Motion's been made and second to approve the agenda is written. Is there

[0:48] any discussion?

[0:51] » Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

[0:56] » Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Minutes of August 12th.

[1:02] » Motion to approve as presented. >> Second.

[1:06] » Motion's been made. The second to approve the minutes. Any discussion?

[1:10] » Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I.

[1:13] » Post. Nay. Motion passes. Public comment. We're going to limit this to

[1:20] three uh minutes per person, not to exceed 30 minutes. And um we're going to

[1:25] stick pretty close to that. So, anybody for public comment?

[1:37] Good morning. Uh my name is Perry Lee, spelled P A L I N St. Cy Falls or Rural

[1:44] St. Cy Falls. Um, I'd like to speak briefly in favor of

[1:51] the 95% service rate for the library. Um, my wife and I are

[1:59] we use the library. If if we reduce the service rate, I think the service to the

[2:06] community would be less would have to be less.

[2:09] Um, how much if we if we stay at 95%, how much is what's the difference for me

[2:15] in my taxes? Is it $2? I don't know. My wife and I get hundreds of dollars every

[2:20] year of service from the the library. We just don't want to see it reduced.

[2:26] Um, when we go into the library, we see people there that are using the

[2:30] computers to apply for work. We see uh school students, public school students.

[2:37] we see homeschool students using the library. It's an important resource for

[2:42] our community. We should be supporting it at the highest level that that we

[2:47] can. Um that's really all I have this morning. Uh thank you for listening. Uh

[2:53] let's vote for the um highest service rate that that we can for the libraries.

[3:00] Thank you.

[3:04] » Anyone else?

[3:13] Good morning. My name is Kathy Hink. I live in Oyola.

[3:17] I also want to support the libraries to the best and maximum that we can. I want

[3:22] to also say thank you for your time and work at that you do for our Pope County.

[3:27] It's important work. It requires significant time and effort and I

[3:31] appreciate that. Thank you. and the support of all our libraries. I

[3:35] want to say we could have a list longer than my arm telling you all the things

[3:39] our libraries provide to our communities. Thank you to our libraries.

[3:43] Thank you. I don't want to see it stop. I use a library for several things. My

[3:49] husband uses the library. When my grandchildren come to town, they ask to

[3:53] go to our library. I'm aware of the many services it

[3:58] offers. Many groups use their library for using different rooms there. We vote

[4:02] in the library. I want to express that the library fund

[4:06] is a pass through tax that cannot be used for any other purpose. Withholding

[4:11] money from the library does not benefit any other Pulk County entity.

[4:15] Withholding the money handicaps the libraries.

[4:18] When I check out a book at the library, the due date paper tells me how much

[4:21] money I've saved by borrowing the book instead of buying it.

[4:25] I have saved vastly more money by the contribution I make to the library by

[4:31] checking the book out than the contribution I make to the county pay

[4:35] for it. It's well worth my money. I urge you to support the county libraries to

[4:41] the maximum allow. Thank you.

[4:53] » Good morning. My name is Josh Carlau. I live in St. Croy Falls. I'm also

[4:57] president of the St. Croy Falls Library, but I'd like to just say that it is a

[5:02] service that's provided then to the public for the public. And at 95% which

[5:09] we have right now, if we can be 100% that'd be great because

[5:14] that cost also includes keeping the facility open for the people to use. And

[5:20] we have to have people there to maintain the facility and that is part of the

[5:25] cost. And if we lose that percentage of money, that means that's less staff,

[5:30] that means less hours for the building, that means less public use. And that

[5:35] just is not good for public for our county at all. And that's the main point

[5:41] of why we need to keep at least 95% and if we could get to 100% that'd be

[5:47] great. Thank you.

[5:55] Anyone else?

[6:00] Anyone else? Right. Um

[6:05] any other public comment at all appear to be anyone. All right. So

[6:11] supervisor Naz committee members I see France here.

[6:15] » Yes.

[6:23] » Morning everybody. I'm Fran Duncinson. I'm the supervisor for district 12 which

[6:28] is the city of Amry and I also chaired the county's library planning services

[6:34] committee on the last goaround. So I don't know if any of you remember back

[6:38] in the day when Poke County had a county library that the county managed the

[6:43] county ran and the county paid for as part of the county tax levy.

[6:48] the decision was made to abolish that and then at that time uh act 15 came

[6:56] into play because we do have to provide services to everyone in the rural areas

[7:02] as well as cities and villages. So I just wanted to stress that this isn't a

[7:07] burden on any county budget. The county simply acts as a pass through, levies

[7:13] the required amounts on towns and villages, collects it, and forwards it

[7:17] onto the library. The funds are not discretionary, can't be used for any

[7:23] other purpose, and they don't affect the county's own levy limits. Nobody makes

[7:28] money uh from Act 150. It's a fair and balanced system. When you think about

[7:33] it, it's a pretty good deal for the townships because

[7:37] I don't know that the townships would want to build their own libraries, staff

[7:42] them, fund them, and go to all of that expense. So, the the uh reimbursement is

[7:49] is actually a pretty good deal for him. You know, too, I just want to recognize

[7:55] and I want to appreciate the value of the rural residents that v that visit

[8:00] our villages and cities and visit our libraries and patronize our businesses

[8:06] and visit our community. But due to cities and villages own levy

[8:12] limits, they can't be expected to subsidize the

[8:17] expanding services for the neighboring towns.

[8:21] So um in conclusion I think you know if we want thriving modern libraries that

[8:27] serve everybody including the real residents we have to support the system

[8:32] fully and consistently.

[8:40] » Okay. Moving on to number seven presentation regarding the 2025 audit.

[8:50] Morning.

[8:59] My name is Jonathan Sherwood. I'm a principal with Clifton Larson Allen. Um

[9:03] I'm responsible for the uh completion of the 2025 uh audit audit report for the

[9:10] county. Um I've summarized it down into an executive audit summary. I know that

[9:13] that was previously provided to you all. Hopefully, it's being able to be brought

[9:16] up here momentarily for us so we can hopefully follow along and try to keep

[9:20] it as lively as possible. Um, if there's any questions or uh comments for you uh

[9:26] from the committee members, I'm happy to address them as we go along. Uh, if I

[9:29] don't know them off the top of my head, we've got Sher and obviously Mo is here

[9:32] as well to help me out as well. Um, so I just want to start off my presentation

[9:35] by again just thank you for having me here this morning. Uh, giving me the

[9:38] opportunity to go into some of the details. Um and also just extend a uh

[9:42] tremendous gratitude to the county staff that we interact with in preparing your

[9:46] audited financial statements. Um there's a tremendous amount of effort and work

[9:50] that goes into this, not just by your finance team, but department heads

[9:53] throughout the county. There's a lot of uh grant requests and uh reimbursements

[9:58] from state and federal agencies and dealing with all of those individual

[10:01] programs uh that get quite technical. Um so our auditor requests out to them are

[10:06] definitely not they don't go unnoticed by your departments. um and they're not

[10:09] just brushed aside, you know, they're readily uh responded back to. So that

[10:13] makes uh completing our audit uh that much more efficient. So we very much

[10:16] appreciate those efforts. Uh before I get into some of the numbers for you, um

[10:20] I will start with the audit report summary which is on page one. Uh just to

[10:26] highlight some information for you of your giant, you know, over 100page plus

[10:30] audit report. There's essentially only about three or four total pages in this

[10:33] whole report that actually belongs to CLA, your independent auditors. And

[10:38] that's what's known as our auditor's opinion. So we issue what's known as a

[10:41] clean opinion or an unmodified opinion. It's the highest level of assurance that

[10:45] an outside agency can place upon your audited state your audited statements.

[10:49] Basically means that your financial statements are free of material errors

[10:52] and can be readily used upon internally externally to make some you know

[10:56] educated uh decision-making based on the financial health of Poke County. Um,

[11:02] through our audit work, we also take a look at and we evaluate the internal

[11:06] controls of the county. If there's any any issues there that raise to a level

[11:10] significant enough to be brought up to governance, we include those in our

[11:14] internal control communication. So, we issue what's known as two material

[11:19] weaknesses. So, there are issues that we have that that we'll discuss here for

[11:22] you briefly. Um, these items are um they're same as last year. Their

[11:27] presence by themselves um are not necessarily red flags saying you have

[11:31] major issues, you must do something. Fire alarm ringing. Um there are just um

[11:36] significant enough for you to be aware of so that you can have some

[11:40] compensating controls around them so that you're aware of governance. You can

[11:43] ask appropriate questions and gain additional clarity throughout the year.

[11:47] Uh the first is material audit adjustments. basically means that

[11:50] through the course of our audit work, we propose audit adjustments to your books

[11:54] that had they not been made, they would materially impact a decision that could

[11:59] possibly be made um based on your audit audited numbers. Um also more more of an

[12:05] important uh item from my perspective is limited segregations of duties. So this

[12:10] is through all of the transaction cycles through all of the departments of the

[12:13] county. at times you have limited staff available that are they're functioning

[12:17] in more than just processing and reconciling and doing kind of all of the

[12:21] control work of that specific item. You think some of your smaller departments

[12:24] that do cash handling at times um smaller um like county parks and that

[12:29] kind of stuff, they're doing all of the cash receiping, they're doing the

[12:32] reconciling of those record of those reports and then the reporting up to

[12:36] management at that point. So, or there isn't proper checks and balances, you

[12:40] know, as a um as like a replacement type situation where if they were gone on

[12:45] vacation, somebody else wouldn't be able to step in and readily do that same

[12:48] activity. So, just know that that that those situations are present throughout

[12:52] county departments. So, as a compensating control, being very active

[12:56] as a committee member, uh as a board member, asking for clarify clarifying

[13:01] questions as to what disp what uh dispersements are, asking for support

[13:05] for those types of things is very important. U from an external audit

[13:08] perspective, you're actively involved in the internal control structure of the

[13:13] county. Um as also as part of our work, uh we have to perform what's known as a

[13:18] single audit for federal purposes. So the county obviously receives

[13:21] significant amount of federal funding and as such we're required to do

[13:24] compliance audits over certain programs. Uh for 2025, we actually took a look at

[13:29] three federal programs and then the state has a subsection of additional

[13:33] state programs that we were required to look at as well. We had to test five

[13:36] state programs through all of our compliance testing and compliance work.

[13:40] There were no compliance issues that we needed to report. Um there is an

[13:43] additional filing with the federal government that we still are working on

[13:46] which is due uh September 30th which is just to basically verify and and you

[13:51] know make that reporting back to the federal government.

[13:56] Um so now to turn the page here to item number two. Uh diving into some of the

[14:00] actual financial results for you. Um item number one is this is everything

[14:05] that's referred to as the general fund, general operations of the county. So

[14:09] general operations included in here are um public safety, uh culture, wreck,

[14:14] education, kind of all the nuts and bolts, everything that's not required to

[14:18] be reported elsewhere is included in your general fund. when we're looking at

[14:21] a general fund and we kind of, you know, boil it down to what's the fiscal health

[14:25] of Poke County. Um, there's three highlighted shades or highlighted rows

[14:30] up here. And I know it's a little difficult for some people to probably

[14:32] follow along. Um, so to cut to the chase, we basically take a look at the

[14:36] total number of total amount of expenditures. What did it take to run

[14:39] Poke County operations for the year? Compare that against what are the the

[14:44] true unassigned reserves that you have at the end of the year, your fund

[14:47] balance that could be used to meet future obligations. and we we compute a

[14:51] ratio and that ratio is 94.3% for fiscal year 25 basically said otherwise you've

[14:57] got about 94% of total general fund operations for one year is set aside in

[15:02] your reserves which from an outside perspective I would consider that you

[15:06] know fiscally healthy for sure um you have a an internal policy that your

[15:11] minimum fund balance policy is between 40 and 50% of total general fund

[15:15] expenditures so even that your minimum fund balance policy for the you're

[15:20] actually meeting that and exceeding it. So overall, again, that's strong

[15:23] financial results at the end of 2025. Having such a robust unassigned fund

[15:29] balance will allow the county multiple benefits for you. Number one is to

[15:33] completely eliminate any need for short-term borrowing, which is apparent

[15:37] throughout governments of your size. So you'd avoid any short-term interest

[15:40] expense out there. Uh number two would be it's definitely favorable from a bond

[15:45] rating uh situation. If if the need would arise to go to issue some some

[15:49] debt, you would get more favorable repayment terms because you have you

[15:53] know liquidity available to meet future debt service obligations. U and then

[15:57] third it does also offer kind of in conjunction with that um capital project

[16:01] flexibility. So, if there's any major pro uh capital projects on the horizon,

[16:05] such as a, you know, aging nursing home or maybe some additional county roads

[16:09] that need to be uh replaced or county um investment in infrastructure, you have

[16:15] some uh some reserves set aside to help finance or help fund that upfront and

[16:19] then ultimately reduce the amount of financing that you would need available.

[16:24] Um, also the last comment I wanted to make for you on your general fund

[16:27] operations for 2025, um, you have a total um, total budgeted

[16:34] expenditures for the year of just over $34.1 million in total expenses that we

[16:39] basically came into the year, we being the county came into the year saying

[16:42] that's what we intend to spend. Um, actual results was just over $35

[16:47] million. Um, so it's a little bit hard, you know, to wrap my head around at

[16:52] times of such large dollar amounts. Um, so you did technically have an

[16:55] unfavorable budget variance. We basically spent, you know, more than

[16:58] what we said we were going to. But in context, that's 2.6% to your budget. So,

[17:04] you know, from an individual standpoint, I would think that we when you're trying

[17:07] to hit a target of trying to spend $34.1 million and you're within 2.6% of that,

[17:12] I consider that very strong budgeting management. you know, you basically came

[17:16] into the year said we're going to spend 34.1 million and we came, you know, for

[17:19] all intents and purposes, very close to what we said we were going to spend. So,

[17:23] overall, this very strong financial results, strong budget acumen, uh, for

[17:27] the general fund of the county. Before I switch gears on any special

[17:32] revenue funds, everybody still awake? Any other questions I can answer for you

[17:36] right away? Um, if not, I can dive into some. Item number two here on the very

[17:40] bottom of the page, these are all the special revenue funds. So these are

[17:44] other activities that are tracked specifically for these purposes. They're

[17:48] special revenue funds, meaning that the revenue source that goes into them are

[17:52] restricted and must be used for those specific purposes. They're either

[17:55] restricted by internal county policy, meaning there's a separate tax levy

[17:59] that's set to support those or that there's uh state grants or federal

[18:03] grants that are set aides that must be used for these purposes. Uh the two that

[18:07] usually get the most interest at county uh presentations such as this is

[18:11] children's and families and health services fund. You see that there are

[18:15] some zero rows up there and it's zero through the last four years that that

[18:19] I'm presenting here in this handout. And that's by design. It's an internal

[18:22] county policy that at the end of every year if there's a deficit or a surplus,

[18:27] those activities get transferred over to the general fund. So, in 2025,

[18:32] Children's and Families had a transfer back to the general fund, meaning it

[18:36] ended the year with a surplus of about $137,000.

[18:40] And in health services, it was a transfer of $1.2 million transfer back

[18:45] to the general fund for 2025. Um, in 2024, it was a similar activity.

[18:51] So, just for some comparison, similar activity for the the children's families

[18:56] fund. However, health services fund actually required a transfer in of about

[19:00] 173,000. So, just for context, Children's and Family had very similar

[19:05] financial results for 2025 as compared to prior year. And in 2024 for health

[19:10] services fund, it was actually running a deficit and it had some very positive

[19:14] results in 2025 for health services funds because again, it had about a $1.2

[19:19] million fund balance that was transferred to the general fund. So the

[19:22] result of a health services fund, you know, the kind of the reasons behind why

[19:26] that had such a vast improvement from 24 to 25. There's some intergovernmental

[19:30] revenues, so uh state and federal programs, grant programs. Some of those

[19:35] additional funds came into uh health services fund in 2025. So that kind of

[19:39] gives you some context of why those operations uh were so much improved in

[19:44] 25. Um, the other thing that's likes that I like to point out for children's

[19:49] and families is essentially how much tax levy because you do again you have some

[19:53] specific tax levy that goes in to support these activities. Children's and

[19:56] families um had a tax levy support of about $2.2 million and then health

[20:02] services fund has a tax levy of just over $1.6 million in total tax levy

[20:07] going to support those those activities. Uh those are slight increases for health

[20:12] services fund of about $100,000 that went into from tax levy changes from 24

[20:17] to 25. Uh and the tax levy requirement for children's and families actually

[20:21] decreased. Um it was at 2.3 million and it it decreased to 2.2 million. So

[20:27] essentially between those two activities it was tax levy neutral. One increased

[20:30] and one decre decreased by roughly the same dollar amount.

[20:36] Um, other things to actually point out here real quick before I move on is you

[20:39] do have some negative balances up here up here. So, those are negative

[20:43] deficits. So, eventually you'll need additional revenue sources to help cover

[20:47] those activities. Um, and the one that really is standing out there the most is

[20:51] the dams fund which is at $2.6 million. Uh, the reasoning for this is it purely

[20:57] is a timing situation. During 2024 and 2025, the county actually took ownership

[21:03] or took responsibility to maintain some of these dams. Uh the work was then

[21:07] required to be done upfront with federal and state funds now being received in

[21:12] 2026. So it is a little bit of an of an anomaly here for the report in 2025.

[21:18] You're sitting at a deficit of 2.6 million, but just know that there is

[21:22] additional funding that will be recognized in 2026 to help uh alleviate

[21:26] that deficit. Um the other one of note is the recycling center fund and that is

[21:31] the operations of the recycling center not necessarily the construction that's

[21:35] a separate fund. Uh so this is just the the pure operations. So you can see that

[21:38] that deficit has been out there for a number of years and it did increase in

[21:43] 2025 total deficit of about $600,000. Uh but as you may be aware, the county did

[21:49] adopt a recycling um essentially special, you know, a user charge or um

[21:55] charge for service that did get implemented in 2026, which will also

[22:00] then be used to offset and then fully fund those operations.

[22:04] I think that covers everything I have for you on page two.

[22:08] So I can change gears a little bit here for you. Um on page three, um item

[22:13] number three is your debt service fund. This is just uh purely um all of your

[22:17] debt service obligations are required to be reported separately standalone in its

[22:22] own fund. You do have some reserves at the end of the year of about $176,000

[22:26] that will be used to meet future debt service obligations. For context, the uh

[22:31] county did uh get its debt service requirements for 25. You have principal

[22:36] uh principal payments of 1.9 million in total interest of about 164,000. So just

[22:41] over $2 million in total debt service obligations were paid in 2025. Got a

[22:47] couple more comments on debt. Uh one of my very last points here for you. So

[22:51] I'll save some additional commentary for that time.

[22:55] Item number four, your capital projects funds. So again, these are separate

[22:58] capital projects. You know, typically one one time not necessarily recurring

[23:03] projects over and over again. Um you do have uh three separate capital projects

[23:07] funds that you report in your audited statements. Um total reserves are about

[23:12] $1.1 million. So you do have, you know, essentially set aside or committed

[23:16] dollars for specific projects. One being the grandstand project, the rebuilding

[23:20] of the grandstand project. Uh the other is the there's some residual work that

[23:24] needs to be done u or some some cleanup work, some finalizing work at the

[23:28] recycling center itself. Um and then there's a very small dollar amount uh

[23:32] set aside for parks and recreation purposes.

[23:36] Uh the next item I have for you here is the business type activity uh that we

[23:41] report the for the nursing home or golden age manner. So this is a

[23:46] standalone audit that we also perform because there you know it's its own

[23:49] complex regulatory environment. We complete that audit separately but

[23:52] obviously it is an entity of the county and it gets rolled up into the full

[23:56] county statements as well. Um so this is just a snapshot in time here for your

[24:00] balance sheet summary of your your nursing home activities for context. If

[24:04] you're looking at, you know, what the the overall um operational results were

[24:09] for 2025, it did have a positive net income or change in net position. So, it

[24:14] added to its net position, it increased by about $79,000.

[24:19] Um that did uh it does appear that it is a decrease in overall because if you

[24:23] look at 2024 the last line up there uh for the 2024 column was just over $1.1

[24:28] million and then the decrease now in in operations it was quote unquote only a

[24:33] $79,000 increase. So it is a slight you know it

[24:37] appears just based on this commentary that appears that the Golden Age Manor

[24:41] went quote unquote backwards from what it was in 2024. Um, however, I do

[24:46] caution that because now we're looking at what's known to without getting too

[24:48] far into the weeds. This is full acrruel accounting. So, there's additional um

[24:52] expenditures that you're seeing in in these operational results that aren't

[24:57] necessarily kept into, you know, when you compare apples to apples for your

[25:01] your governmental activities. Uh, one of the biggest issues is that that kind of

[25:05] throws some of this analysis off is the county's involvement in the WRS

[25:09] retirement system. So that necessarily the the significant um expenditures that

[25:15] hit these these numbers because they are allocated across I mean it is you know

[25:19] quoteunquote the true cost of doing those but those are non-cash

[25:22] expenditures. It's not like you're going to have to come up with and um you know

[25:25] come out of pocket in order to fully fund that those liabilities. So that is

[25:29] in the $700,000 and it is also in that $1.1 million. the amount of that that

[25:35] swing varies greatly based on the financial results of the WRS system in

[25:40] total. So overall I kind of when I'm looking at nursing homes I basically go

[25:44] right to what is the the things that the county can control. So overall

[25:49] expenditures yes we did um we are facing challenges in nursing homes in general

[25:53] with increased staff costs. So total expenditures are increasing across the

[25:58] board in nursing homes. Uh but then on the other side of it kind of it's a you

[26:01] know double-edged sword. The the good news is the reason that you had to

[26:05] increase costs for nursing and salaries is because you did have positive results

[26:09] operationally with an increase in occupancy. So if you have an increase in

[26:12] occupancy, of course you're going to have some increased costs, but you know

[26:16] when push comes to shove, you did have positive results overall for your

[26:19] nursing home. Um, moving on to page four. There's a

[26:26] couple other funds to get through and then the long-term debt discussion and

[26:29] then I should have uh put a bowl on it here for you for this morning. Um, the

[26:34] next fund that we have to quickly discuss is your internal services fund

[26:38] of your highway department. So, this is all of your, you know, the maintenance,

[26:41] the construction of all of the internally serviced county highways.

[26:45] Yes, you do also provide some work to outside um municipalities, but for the

[26:50] most part, the primary purpose of your highway department is to service county

[26:54] roads in Poke County. Um you will see that there was a negative change in fund

[26:58] balance, so it did decrease and it's been a trend here since 2022 through

[27:02] 2025. The highway department itself is incurring more expenses that it's

[27:06] bringing in in terms of charges for services in reimbursement from the

[27:10] state. So, a lot of that is, you know, you can only charge the state back for

[27:14] reimbursement based on uh DOT formulas and everything that goes into developing

[27:20] those rates that you can reimburse from. Um, so, you know, it is something just

[27:23] to keep an eye on in terms of long-term projections if you're going to have some

[27:27] major county highway needs and some projects that need to be get done that

[27:31] need to get done. Um, I don't think it's, you know, too out of line to say

[27:34] that, you know, your your money that you used to be able to invest, you know, 10,

[27:38] 15 years ago in order to pave roads doesn't get you nearly as far. You know,

[27:42] all pun intended. You know, you're not going to go as far. Your dollars simply

[27:46] don't go as far in terms of um battling increased costs across the board for

[27:51] construction and highways. Um, total revenues that came into the fund in 2025

[27:55] is about $9.2 million. Um, and again, that's state aids, that's department,

[28:01] uh, DOT reimbursements from the state, as well as charges for services for

[28:05] outside entities that you're doing work for. Um, and then you compare that to

[28:09] 11.5 million in total expenses, which kind of, you know, whittleles your way

[28:13] down to about an $800,000 loss for the year. Um, tax levy that went into

[28:18] support highway operations in 2025 was just over $4 million as opposed to 3.9

[28:23] million the year prior. Uh last but not least here is for your

[28:29] internal services fund for your self- insuranceances fund. And you'll notice

[28:33] here that the change in net position about you know halfway down the page

[28:36] here it's been a deliberate drawd down of net position since 2021 2020 time

[28:44] frame where the health health insurancees fund actually had a very

[28:47] robust significant uh surplus and it was deliberately drawn down over a number of

[28:52] years. the last few years, however, it's drawn down, I would say, at a rate

[28:57] higher than anticipated. You've had some very high claims years. Um, and the

[29:01] change in net position in 2025, so it reduced or it lost $1.6 million in fund

[29:06] balance. Um and if you consider that that I know that in 2026 um you've got

[29:12] some additional um losses to incur but then ultimately the decision going

[29:16] forward is to basically completely get out of the self- insurance type

[29:20] situation and go move to a full insured plan u through another health insurance

[29:24] provider. So, just know that there's, you know, it it has been maintained. It

[29:28] has been watched vigilantly um by management um in finance to make the

[29:33] proper decisions there and and ensure that you're still able to uh offer

[29:38] health insurance benefits to county employees, which is obviously very uh

[29:41] very important. Last but not least are your total

[29:45] long-term obligations. Um so, in 2025, you have just over $9 million in total

[29:52] general obligation notes. So general obligation notes are backed by the full

[29:56] faith and credit of taxpayers. So it's completely allowed by state levy to

[30:02] include whatever the annual requirement is for principal and interest payments

[30:06] by state levy uh limits. You're allowed to include those and in you know

[30:11] basically make sure that you're able to meet your debt service obligations. for

[30:15] a county um of your size, you are uh limited by state statute of how much

[30:20] total geo debt you're allowed by state statute to issue. So, it's about 5% of

[30:25] total equalized value of all equalized value in the county. Um from a county

[30:31] standpoint for you ever to to bump up against the total legal statutory limit,

[30:37] um it's, you know, basically not very feasible. You know, if you get to 90%,

[30:40] you'd be very very unpopular politicians overall. um you're carrying about 2 and

[30:44] a.5% of what your total outstanding obligations are. Um from my perspective,

[30:48] counties of your size and counties in this area, um that's an extremely low or

[30:52] light uh debt capacity. Um some of the other counties in the area are carrying

[30:57] which I would consider more towards, you know, as soon as you start getting to

[31:00] about 25 35, you know, some of them will brush up against 40% of total um geo

[31:07] debt capacity. Um, I would consider those communities more highly leveraged

[31:11] or they have quite a substantial debt burden. And typically counties get to

[31:15] that situation when they have major projects. So, if you look around some

[31:18] neighboring counties, you know, they've got brand new general uh government

[31:21] county buildings, brand new jails, such as that. If you look at their financial

[31:25] statements, they're going to look at your 2 and a half% and compare it to

[31:29] their 30 35% and you're in a much more favorable position overall. Um, long

[31:34] story short, so if you have the need to go to, you know, issue debt, um, you

[31:39] know, you're you're in in an advantageous position. Um, the other

[31:43] side of things that's a little counterintuitive at times is because of

[31:47] that whole intricacies of being able to use the general obligation debt in order

[31:53] to build that into your levy. It also allows you when it comes to budget time

[31:57] to make sure that tax levies don't vary uh vary um widely from one year to the

[32:04] next. So essentially it is a budgeting tool to help smooth transitions of tax

[32:09] levies. So if one year you you've got a lot of debt and then all of a sudden

[32:11] your debt capacity falls off, well now by statute you're not able to include

[32:15] that in your levy. So tax levies would decrease significantly. The next year

[32:20] you would issue more debt for whatever reason and then it would spike wildly.

[32:23] So I know that it's usually a very unpopular uh method to go where you know

[32:29] you want to avoid those swings is basically what I'm getting to. Uh

[32:32] outside of that um I think that that checking my notes

[32:37] that does uh cover all the talking points I wanted to to give you uh pages

[32:42] four and five for those visual learners in the room and these are bar graphs um

[32:46] which basically can show the the first page here on page five is the total

[32:50] revenues that are coming into the county. Um it is kind of interesting to

[32:54] see that you can see your tax growth. How much has been uh levied from 2019

[32:58] all the way to 2025. And then you can see the uh the interest interesting line

[33:03] to me as an auditor might be of interest to folks in the room. Uh the

[33:07] intergovernmental line up there that's all the state and federal dollars that

[33:10] are coming into to governments. So this is just kind of more or less interesting

[33:14] again where you can see in 2020, you know, as a result of 2020 um with COVID

[33:18] 2021 2022, it has a significant spike in total revenues essentially coming from

[33:23] the federal government. Um that's really what's causing those spikes. Um and then

[33:27] in um uh page number six here, which is all of the expenses, uh this is

[33:33] essentially, you know, where all of your expenses ended up um as a result of, you

[33:37] know, the revenue sources coming in. Again, there's usually a fairly decent

[33:41] spike when you're looking at health and human services. Uh that's all public

[33:45] health response to COVID and that kind of stuff for those interesting years

[33:48] later as well. Um any questions, comments, concerns that I could address

[33:53] for our committee members? >> Yes, sir.

[33:57] » Um you quickly covered the recycling center.

[34:00] » Um I think I heard you say there's a $600,000 deficit without the third the

[34:05] recycling fee. So, if that's not reapproved this budget year, there's a

[34:10] $600,000 deficit in 2027. Did I understand that correctly?

[34:14] » The $600,000 that you're referring to is a cumulative deficit. So, it's not an

[34:19] annual deficit. That's, you know, from inception to current where you're at in

[34:23] 2025. So, the 2026 uh recycling charge that's that's out

[34:30] there that will help start whittling that down. Uh to get the exact annual

[34:34] deficit that you're referring to, like, okay, what would 2027 look like if we

[34:39] removed that? I'd have to do a little bit more analysis. Maybe Sherry and Mo

[34:42] have something a little bit off the top of your head that you could speak to it

[34:45] better. Yeah, the recycling fee right now is in place for um 26 27 28 and then

[34:51] it gets readressed um for 2029 um on the program to see where it lands.

[35:02] You mentioned that uh I believe you mentioned that we're at the for 2025 we

[35:08] carried a reserve of about 94% of the total budget. How does that compare to

[35:13] prior years? >> If we back up to page two,

[35:19] um the high water mark in that I'm showing here in 20 for the four years

[35:24] that I present, um in 2022, you carried 101.8%.

[35:29] So, you're actually 100% fully funded for one year. Um and then it, you know,

[35:34] decreased slightly in 2023, 2024 with some intentional spend down, additional

[35:39] projects and whatnot there. And now in 2025, you bumped back up to about 94.3

[35:43] million or 94.3%, excuse me.

[35:52] Any other questions? Anybody? All right. Well, thank you. No problem.

[35:58] Appreciate it. >> Moving on to number eight presentation

[36:03] by library planning committee um services committee for 2027

[36:08] reimbursement rates. who is presenting that

[36:11] » from the library. Um there we've done this in past years um with the library

[36:16] fees and stuff. So the opportunity and a little bit of history of um how we got

[36:21] where it was.

[36:26] » Good morning. Um I'm John Thompson. I'm the director of the library system. We

[36:31] are headquartered in Oaklair. One of my primary responsibilities is library

[36:36] administration consulting and as part of that um I assist the county library

[36:42] planning committees with their county library planning efforts and so I'm here

[36:48] to help answer some of the questions give an overview of county library

[36:51] funding from a historical perspective I've worked on

[36:56] at least the last three county library plans um so I do have a little bit of

[37:02] background of how we got to where we are today and then um also answer any

[37:08] questions that you might have related to the statute that underlies county

[37:13] library planning funding. And Heather is here as well from Amory.

[37:18] » Hi. Good morning. Uh my name is Heather Warda and I'm the director at the Amory

[37:23] Public Library. Uh my husband Brandon works across the way at the USDA and I

[37:27] have a daughter in the Amory Middle School. We live in Lincoln Township and

[37:31] we have a small farm where we grow garlic of all things, large amounts of

[37:36] garlic for wholesale. I just wanted to thank you for the chance to stand here

[37:39] and answer any questions that you might have and thank you for your service to

[37:43] PT County. Does this work or you are you

[37:50] okay? So, we did that slide. Okay. Um so as part of the uh county library

[37:59] planning process, the county board of supervisors when they approved the plan

[38:04] um a few years ago determined how library service is provided to the

[38:11] county residents that live in municipalities without libraries. So

[38:16] that responsibility is given to the libraries that are within Pulk County um

[38:22] which are all listed here as well. Turtle Lake is a little unique in that

[38:26] they rest both in Baron County and Pole County. So they serve um both libraries

[38:32] and are considered um libraries um for reimbursement by each of the counties

[38:38] where the library service resides. So to take a look at the county library

[38:46] service as a whole, most of county is rural in nature. Um there are

[38:55] approximately 15,000 folks that live in the municipalities with libraries.

[39:00] Of that um there are 30,000 of the folks that live in areas outside of P County

[39:07] with the library. So the vast majority of the population is served from or the

[39:13] service comes from folks that live outside of municipal limits. So when we

[39:19] look at the circulation from the libraries, I'm the chart's a little hard

[39:24] to read, but of of the total circulation for the libraries, there's 280,000 items

[39:30] checked out. About 84,000 of those items were checked

[39:35] out by residents of the municipalities and then 146,000 items were checked out

[39:42] by rural Pulk County folks living in areas without a library. And that is

[39:46] just within um Pulk County. Those residents could also go to St. county,

[39:53] um, Bernett County, uh, Dun County, wherever they the the dollars from

[40:00] county funding follows the folks where they go to the library. So, that's where

[40:06] the adjacent county funding is is put in place. We're really here looking at the

[40:12] dollars that are going to the individual Poke County libraries.

[40:18] So libraries typically are funded by their municipalities as well as the

[40:23] counties. So uh act 150 which was established in 1999

[40:30] provided a mechanism for the counties to fund

[40:34] library service.

[40:38] We we then received additional revenue from adjacent counties with act 420

[40:45] which followed about five six years later. So act um 420 is established in

[40:51] 4312 of Wisconsin state statute and what it did was set a rate of funding for the

[40:59] libraries based on a common way we track library use which is

[41:05] circulation of materials. What it determines is a cost per circulation.

[41:11] What that represents is the entire use of the library by the public. So it

[41:16] includes library programming, um, internet access, um, whether they

[41:22] sit and read a magazine, look at a newspaper,

[41:26] um, come to the, you know, a program out in the rural areas, whatever

[41:31] partnerships the libraries may have, it funds the entire operation of the

[41:36] library. And, and notice I said operation, it does not fund capital

[41:41] expenses for the municipality. So when Oyola built their brand new

[41:46] building, when Amry moved, those funds for those capital expenses were borne by

[41:53] the municipalities and donations that were given to the project. The county is

[41:58] not um funding those capital expenses.

[42:04] Um statute requires a minimum of 70%.

[42:09] Um what the last three the last two prior county library plans had a goal of

[42:16] funding at 100%. The current current plan removed that percentage.

[42:22] The goal of the county library planning committees for those years was to move

[42:27] from that 70% to the 100%. Currently the county has been at 95%

[42:34] which is where um it rests now. pending whatever resolution you make today.

[42:43] As a library system, we are comprised of 10

[42:47] individual counties. Of those counties, there are only two that fund at 70%. One

[42:54] is Russ County and they are unique in that they fund a city county library in

[42:59] Lady Smith. So their funding for libraries is different than the state

[43:04] formula. The other one is Pepin which consists of two public libraries. On

[43:09] paper they're at 70% but their county has a hold harmless so they are actually

[43:14] at an amount higher than 70%. But for example Dun County, Oakclair County and

[43:21] St. Croy County are all at 100%. Um other counties are moving forward

[43:26] increasing from the 70%. Some of them are 80, some are at 90. And like I said

[43:31] Pulk County is at 95.

[43:36] One of the um unique pieces of this funding is that

[43:43] it's basically being paid two years after the fact. So the data that you're

[43:49] going to be using to pay for the 27 expenditure is based on 2025 data. So,

[43:56] we're we're taking the data that the libraries filled out on their annual

[44:00] reports for 25, making a request for payment in 2027. The chart here gives

[44:07] you a rough idea of what that looks like at either 100% or 95%.

[44:14] Um the cost per circulation does vary amongst libraries based on

[44:20] total circulation expenditures for like staffing um what other types of programs

[44:27] they're offering. So every library is unique and what how they serve their

[44:31] communities. Some smaller communities they may have a higher cost per circ but

[44:38] that's there's an infrastructure that every library has to have. They have to

[44:42] have a director that's certified. They have to pay for the utilities. They have

[44:47] to pay for building um expenses. They have to pay for

[44:52] their participation in in more our shared catalog. So there is a a set

[44:59] amount of money that every library basically needs to operate and then

[45:04] library boards that are appointed by the local municipalities

[45:09] approve policies and budgets moving forward for the services that they

[45:14] provide. And then um

[45:18] when we look at again those two sources of funding, the municipalities

[45:26] um are funding about 1 one,79,621

[45:34] in 2025 and the county funded 1,00 1 million excuse me1,55,122.

[45:43] So that's a slightly under what the municipalities

[45:47] are paying, but the usage from the rural residents outstrips what the

[45:53] municipal residents are using their libraries for. If we were to look at it

[45:58] from a per capita funding basis, P County is at about $34.54.

[46:03] The minimum a municipality is paying per capita is about $53. So, um it as Fran

[46:11] mentioned, it is a bargain for rural residents.

[46:16] And then this is just a sample of um Amry's budget to give you a sense of how

[46:22] what makes up um a budget. Obviously, Emry's budget is significantly larger

[46:28] and different than maybe the library and century or dresser. Um but they all have

[46:34] the same basic um components. the the amounts the

[46:40] amounts are just different. And then the next slide just to give you a quick

[46:44] overview of kind of what libraries do. Libraries are just not books. They're

[46:48] programs services helping uh with filling out applications. Ego government

[46:54] types of things. Um some folks don't have an email address. They don't know

[46:59] how to set one up. Libraries are there to help them do that. Um they also

[47:05] are wayfinders. Um, there are places people know they can come get

[47:10] information, point them in the right direction. There's been many times I've

[47:15] been sitting in the library in Boston Lake where they've pointed

[47:19] residents to where the county buildings are. They're not sure where the county

[47:23] places are. That's the people know they can get valid information at the

[47:27] library.

[47:31] And then we also have a variety of partnerships that the libraries do with

[47:36] not only governmental agencies, other businesses um and the schools within the

[47:41] area. And

[47:46] Brandon touched upon this too. Um county library payments are outside of the levy

[47:51] limit. So they do not have an impact on any other the county departmental

[47:55] budgets. Um and the funds go directly to the libraries and those funds fall under

[48:03] the control of the library board. Municipalities cannot use those for any

[48:07] other purpose

[48:11] questions.

[48:17] Um thank you very much. >> You're really great information. I don't

[48:21] think I have the same stuff that you have.

[48:22] » I think you have the county plan that was passed. Yes. So I have 208 and 2024

[48:28] and I think you presented 2025. So I just want to make sure I kind of

[48:33] understand the numbers right and I'll take the blame for having this

[48:37] discussion today for raising the question at the last meeting.

[48:40] » Uh I represent all rural residents in my district. So just kind of want to make

[48:45] sure if I'm I'm on page 10 of the library plan which is the 2024 numbers.

[48:51] I don't know if you haven't.

[48:55] » I've got the 24. Yep.

[49:05] » Number differently. Okay. Um, which number? So, at the this at the top it

[49:10] says 2024 municipal per capita support. >> Yep.

[49:15] » Okay. Yep. >> So, and then that's $1,49,96,

[49:19] right? You see that number? >> Yep. So that if I'm and I'm just asking

[49:22] the questions I'm trying to understand how this works. So that is how much

[49:26] these communities that are listed put into the libraries.

[49:30] » Correct. >> And then if you go to the bottom

[49:33] 1,78,000 is what the county the non

[49:38] village city residents of the county put in. So it's about half 50/50, right? Is

[49:42] that fair? >> Right. and and the the note with the

[49:46] amount for the county that also includes payments that Pulk County is making to

[49:50] the adjacent county. So, it might be money going to Deer Park. It might be

[49:55] money going to um Webster or whoever else is in

[50:01] adjacent county. That's okay. That's helpful. So the the 31,000

[50:06] non what you guys call non-resident Pulk County residents are are paying about

[50:12] half for the libraries. And then if you go to that next one

[50:18] um the circulation it looks like and I think you said in

[50:23] your presentation that circulation is kind of how you base this.

[50:28] » So um I'm just back to page nine one page ahead.

[50:33] 159,000 circulation to the non-residents and total circulation of 309.

[50:40] So again, roughly half of the circulation is to non residents. Is that

[50:46] roughly close? Yep. Um and then the last question that I have and it gets to the

[50:52] circulation is you got to go all the way back to 2018.

[50:55] The the cir total circulation then was 419,000.

[50:59] In 2024, the total circulation was 309,000.

[51:04] And in your your presentation, the 2025 was 280,000. So from 2018

[51:12] to 2025, we've had a reduction in circulation library systemwide in Pulk

[51:18] County of about a third. And then if you look at the the

[51:23] electronic stuff, it appears that that has increased by maybe 50% or more even.

[51:31] » Um, so tell me what is circulation what I think about it is when I was a kid I

[51:36] went to the Amry Library and checked out a book that's circulation. What is the

[51:40] what is the other what's the electronic? What does that involve? So that would be

[51:45] using um the Libby app to download a an ebook or an e audio material so that

[51:51] they're using a device to listen to that material versus coming in physically

[52:00] into the library and grabbing a book or a DVD or an audio.

[52:05] So I'm a member of the Amry Public Library. Probably am not anymore, but I

[52:08] I have been for a long time over the years. Um, I can go somewhere and

[52:13] download an ebook onto something onto my phone and listen to it. That's what

[52:17] that's what that's talking about. >> Correct.

[52:19] » Yeah. And so how does how do I I couldn't figure out how that compares

[52:26] resident to non-resident. Do you guys have that

[52:28] » great >> information? it. We don't really have

[52:33] that specific of information because the vendors that supply those materials

[52:39] don't get it down to the detail of what township a person lives in when they

[52:45] check that or borrow that item. So, we have raw numbers. We could extrapolate

[52:52] based on physical circulation and guess what that might be. Um, but areas that

[52:59] don't have a high-speed internet that's reliable, they're less apt to download

[53:04] those materials. So, it it it may not be a true um one for one comparison based

[53:11] on physical circulation. So, and and to that usage,

[53:17] the expenses that the libraries pay for those materials, that's part of their

[53:22] operational budget. So, it's kind of figured into that cost per circulation.

[53:27] » That's what I was going to ask. So, there's some I assume sub subscription

[53:30] that the Amry Library or the Pulk County Libraries or someone has with these

[53:35] services that then allow me as a member to download the books. Yep. So, it it is

[53:41] a statewide overdrive collection. The libraries and library systems within the

[53:47] state of Wisconsin pay for those materials. So there is a giant

[53:53] collection on Libby app for those items and then individual libraries and

[53:58] systems pay for additional um licensed copies of those items so people can

[54:04] check them out. So let's say it's a super popular um item

[54:10] and there's a lot of people waiting for it um the library system or an

[54:14] individual library may purchase or lease additional copies. So that reduces the

[54:20] wait time for folks.

[54:25] » Thanks.

[54:29] » Any other questions? Anyone? >> All right. Thank you.

[54:34] » Thank you. >> Appreciate all your support.

[54:40] See, we went on to um Number nine, discussion and possible

[54:46] action regarding resolution 3826 setting the rates for library

[54:58] » wants to start the discussion I guess. Well,

[55:05] I don't know what there's left to discuss.

[55:09] » Well, I think did we got to move this on?

[55:13] » If I remember how we left it last month, we we were going to send it to the board

[55:17] without a without a percentage recommended.

[55:21] Um, I kind of think we should probably that this committee should probably

[55:26] recommend it at percentage. Okay. And um that can be that can be amended at the

[55:34] board level or or whatever. But I think we should send this forward with a

[55:39] recommendation. Would that that be appropriate?

[55:43] » Yes. >> So the resolution needs to get passed so

[55:46] that be included in the budget. But um whether this committee assigns a

[55:52] percentage today and then sends it with a recommendation or sends it neutral

[55:58] with no numbers in there so that the board can amend it um at the at the full

[56:05] county board. That sort of discussion potentially may

[56:09] require going into committee as a whole, but all of that's for the board to

[56:12] decide. You can do either thing. You could send it with a neutral

[56:16] recommendation since there is no percentage in there and say board you

[56:21] contemplate what to do with this or if you all decide uh on a percentage you

[56:27] could put it in there and then send it with recommendation. If you do that the

[56:32] board can still amend at the full board to a different percentage uh at that

[56:37] time and that's resolution 3826 that you have in our packet. Is that right?

[56:42] » Correct. >> Correct. Well, I' I'd move to approve

[56:45] resolution 3826 at and then fill in your blanks at 95%.

[56:51] » I'd second that. >> All right. So, we've got a motion.

[56:54] » Just for point of clarity, it would be move to approve with an amendment. So,

[57:01] » you want me to take the amendment? >> I think the cleanest way would be move

[57:04] to approve and then get a second and then during discussion move to amend.

[57:09] Get the change. >> That's my motion then.

[57:11] » Okay. So, we've got a motion to a motion and a second to approve the resolution.

[57:16] Send it to the board with recommendation >> with a recommendation of 95%.

[57:23] » You want me to make a motion to amend? >> So, on the floor it would be motion to

[57:27] send to the board uh with recommendation and then you all

[57:32] have to vote or you go get seconded. So for discussion and then we would need a

[57:38] motion to amend to replace the X's the >> So currently we've got the motion and a

[57:43] second to move the to move the resolution forward

[57:49] » and I'll make the motion to amend to 95%.

[57:52] » So first of all any discussion on that moving it forward

[57:56] » but you don't want to you don't want to vote on that until

[57:59] » right. So now the amendments he's made a motion to amend it to add the 95%. Is

[58:05] there a second on that? >> Yes.

[58:07] » Right. So that's been properly moved and seconded.

[58:10] » That's leaving it as is >> with 95%. Yeah.

[58:15] Uh any further discussion on that? >> I just want to say one quick thing.

[58:20] Thank you so much for the presentation. Very helpful information. It appears to

[58:24] me that from the circulation, if that's the right number to use, and I'm not

[58:29] sure it is after after what we've seen today, maybe we need to move away from

[58:32] we're doing electronic more than circulation now. Um that the the rural

[58:37] residents, and that's what I've been concerned about, are actually using a

[58:42] little bit more than 50% and they're funding it at

[58:46] essentially half. So, it seems to me that my question of is this fair to the

[58:51] rural residents has been answered and it is. It does seem that it it's fair. The

[58:57] one long-term concern I would have our circulation is plummeting the way that

[59:00] it has over the last seven or eight years. Maybe there needs to be a look

[59:05] long term at a how the how this model is set up because it seems like people

[59:11] aren't checking out books, they're doing other things. But I guess that's for

[59:15] another day. I would assume that other counties are experiencing similar things

[59:20] especially the rural county. So we'll we'll be getting that

[59:26] information over the years

[59:30] » discussion and I someone from the library could

[59:34] correct me but I believe that calculation is determined by the

[59:37] statute. So it would be the legislature that has to take a look at it and and

[59:41] » yeah I my point was more how we operate as libraries then you know if we're not

[59:47] checking out books but we're doing downloads maybe there's a more efficient

[59:51] way to do that. >> All right we'll be voting now then on on

[59:58] moving this to the board with a with recommendation I believe is how is is

[1:00:04] how you um worded that. >> Yes. and adding the 95%. Is that

[1:00:09] correct? >> Yes.

[1:00:10] » Did we vote on the amendment yet? >> No.

[1:00:12] » No. >> So, vote on the amendment first and then

[1:00:14] » So, we'll vote on the amendments. Hey, add the 95% in. All in favor signify by

[1:00:18] saying I >> I

[1:00:21] remember. >> Sorry, Jeremy. Was that was that an I or

[1:00:26] an A? >> I

[1:00:29] so it passes unanimously. Now to move the entire the entire

[1:00:36] resolution forward as amended. All in favor signify by saying I

[1:00:40] » I post nay and that passes too. All right.

[1:00:50] » Uh number 10 update in remote work professional services and independent

[1:00:56] contractors. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Um that was a request by

[1:01:00] Hall for an update on remote work. um from HR HR professional Stephanie um is

[1:01:05] going to update you on our latest numbers.

[1:01:11] Bring that up. Thank >> you.

[1:01:16] You should have brought dropped that in your box. It's along with the it's on

[1:01:20] the end of the budget one halfway through

[1:01:26] » slide

[1:01:30] nine.

[1:01:35] Yes.

[1:01:55] » All right. just really Hi, I'm Stephanie Lauder and I'm the senior affair

[1:01:59] generalist county. I've been with the county since December.

[1:02:04] Um and really quickly um we do offer our employees, you know, the opportunity to

[1:02:14] um remote work. So we have occasional which

[1:02:19] employee requests from a supervisor as needed. So kind of like on a ho ad hoc

[1:02:24] basis whether they live far away and you know are going to a doctor's appointment

[1:02:30] so that they can still be productive and be working in a you know a high capacity

[1:02:36] of their time. Uh we have hybrid and field office work. So if somebody were

[1:02:43] to be on the field um let's say a social worker and uh they were working in the

[1:02:50] field and hybrid so that they wouldn't spend a majority of their time driving

[1:02:56] um they could be productive you know working and then uh right now we

[1:03:02] currently actually have 65 employees on approved telecommuting agreements. Um,

[1:03:10] and the next slide breaks it down by division and department.

[1:03:19] So, it's a total of 65 and out of um the county's regular employees about 17%.

[1:03:28] Have this agreement in place.

[1:03:35] Any

[1:03:47] questions?

[1:03:52] » Do you want me to do the next slide? >> Yeah.

[1:03:55] » The other the other thing I hall asked on was uh contracted services,

[1:04:00] professional services. Um, with that in your slide, if you go to the next slide,

[1:04:06] Claire, please. We have different types of of contracts

[1:04:10] we work up naturally um with our contractors. Um, we utilize them for

[1:04:16] employment law, bonding, uh, government with the uh, HR management, IT, security

[1:04:24] among other ones. Um, some of the other smaller contractor firms we deal with

[1:04:28] are individuals. Our deer removal contract on our on our county highways.

[1:04:33] Uh, the state has a separate one. We do squad outfitting uh with Anderson Tech.

[1:04:38] He does the decals on our squads. Foster care HR. Um, Scott Good for IT um is one

[1:04:45] that we used when he left the the organization. We had him sign a contract

[1:04:50] with us to bridge that gap before we hired a new IT director to keep our

[1:04:53] cyber security going for forward with that. Um other things we do with that um

[1:04:58] we contract out line striping um paving. We don't own our own paver. It's more

[1:05:04] efficient for monarch to layer mix and we just haul it. Um so of that currently

[1:05:09] in 2026 we have 170 uh 1099s we're doing. Um and of that we um 2.2 2

[1:05:17] million in 2026 for current payment of those contracted services and that's

[1:05:21] throughout the entire organization. We contract out our janitorial services. Um

[1:05:27] along with um we used to do security in the justice center and now we brought

[1:05:31] that in house using jailers. But um it's something we can provide contract

[1:05:36] services more efficiently and cheaper for our residents uh than doing it in

[1:05:40] house. So that's kind of a snapshot of what uh professional services and

[1:05:45] contracts we have with um general speaking without uh bringing the entire

[1:05:50] list. Not sure if there's any questions on

[1:05:53] that slide or one question they I didn't realize the dead deer removal were or we

[1:06:01] pay per animal or is it a contract that uh you know is an annual fee or how do

[1:06:08] we do that? Uh they bid it. It goes in per animal and on a monthly charge. Uh

[1:06:13] and there's a time frame depending on the time of year of whether it's um 72

[1:06:18] hours in the in the winter, 24 hours in the

[1:06:22] summertime. There's an they expediate that. If you get call in and say it's in

[1:06:27] front of someone's front yard, they'll come get it. But remember, that's only

[1:06:31] on county highways. Um the state utilizes the same contractor um on state

[1:06:36] highways. uh depending there is some kind of delays on some of those

[1:06:40] » the towns work with the same contractor. >> Uh I I don't know if they've reached out

[1:06:46] to this contractor for town work. >> Um one more question and then I guess do

[1:06:52] they so do we pay per incident then or or how does that work?

[1:06:57] » It's kind of like a an overall bundle contract for the year. Um, I forgot what

[1:07:03] the last numbers were, right around 12 grand or 10 grand. Ran the numbers of

[1:07:08] what it cost to have two employees going out hooking up a deer and where to

[1:07:12] dispose them at Waste Management or some other facility. Um, was much more than

[1:07:17] that. The critical thing is is the timing of the call. Um, we have a system

[1:07:22] where we fill out a sheet and it gets faxed and emailed right to the vendor so

[1:07:26] that he knows exact location by um what segment and uh address where to

[1:07:34] move that deer. There is a stipulation in the DNR contract that they can move

[1:07:38] them off and pull them off right away depending on where they are located. So,

[1:07:42] not all of them just get picked up and shipped off

[1:07:47] and sometimes it's easier for highway staff just to pull them off right away

[1:07:50] and depending where they're at more so or a resident that's in the yard or

[1:07:56] something in the sheriff's department use that too. So, if you see one

[1:07:59] underneath a mailbox that's high priority.

[1:08:06] » See if Jeremy's got anything. >> Yeah, I just have a couple questions.

[1:08:10] Um, I'm wondering uh when the HR contract will term out and the IT

[1:08:15] contract and what our processes will be to hire those positions and what's the

[1:08:19] timeline on those? >> The IT director has already started. So,

[1:08:24] Scott Good's contract will phase out here shortly.

[1:08:27] um the IT or the excuse me the HR um contract um those hours now have been

[1:08:34] reduced to 20 hours a week and we'll phase out as we go into the process of

[1:08:38] hiring an HR manager

[1:08:42] » and then do we have any um changes coming from working remote

[1:08:48] policies as far as the number of people and how often

[1:08:53] » um this is con this is looked at uh continually with the directors and the

[1:08:57] managers to see if it's efficient and they're getting their work done. If not,

[1:09:01] those um remote agreements are pulled and they're brought back in house

[1:09:06] depending on what that is. >> Has there been any pulled in the last

[1:09:09] two years? >> Yes.

[1:09:12] » Do you know how many? >> Not off hand. No.

[1:09:16] » Okay.

[1:09:20] » And I can Jeremy. So if you look at the telecommuting by division and

[1:09:24] department, this is Joe Lo corporation council. So you'll see

[1:09:31] my office under general government makes up the lion share of the 11 people that

[1:09:37] are working remotely. Um that includes myself

[1:09:44] one day a week maybe uh attorney Schiffer one maybe two days a week on

[1:09:50] the occasion when he doesn't have court which is rare um

[1:09:56] him Mortonson also similarly if she has court and is needs to be in the office

[1:10:02] is in the office for the three of us in corporation council it's up.

[1:10:09] For example, Pierce County is trying to hire a corporation or assistant

[1:10:14] corporation council. The person that they wanted to hire was requesting full

[1:10:19] remote work. Um, one of the district attorneys in uh Pierce County was full

[1:10:27] remote work. We at least in my office are at a

[1:10:32] professional level in this um geographic area don't have the level of

[1:10:40] professionals that want to necessarily come into this field. So, at least for

[1:10:47] my office, which is the only one I can really speak for, there's a need to

[1:10:52] extend that benefit so that it attracts the type of people that want to be

[1:10:57] working for the county. Uh, the other five in my office are all child support

[1:11:05] specialists. Most other counties, sorry, some other counties have full remote

[1:11:12] work for their specialists to where they don't come into the office ever. Um,

[1:11:19] they work fully remote. That is not how our office operates. Uh, our office

[1:11:23] requires our specialists to be in the office again if they have court, which

[1:11:28] is probably two to three days of the week. Um, I think we at most allow

[1:11:33] people to work from from home two days a week. So that those employees all fall

[1:11:39] under that hybrid kind of scheduling. Um, so all eight of the employees in my

[1:11:45] department fall under that type of schedule. And it's a determination that

[1:11:50] I have made and that Malia made before me that in order to get the type of

[1:11:55] people that we want to work in our field, that's a benefit that we need to

[1:12:01] extend. Um what my job is as the manager is to make

[1:12:07] sure uh at least for child support, it's relatively easy,

[1:12:12] right? We have five or six KPIs that the state dictates to us. We can look at

[1:12:20] those KPIs not just by our office but by each individual worker and we the state

[1:12:26] has a process by which they uh send random notifications to your computer

[1:12:31] and you have five or 10 minutes or something like that to reply and put in

[1:12:36] a case note and do something. So there are mechanisms that are built into at

[1:12:41] least my systems that require a person to be at their computer and actively

[1:12:47] attentive and working. Um, similarly, if there was any problem with

[1:12:55] Attorney Schaefer or Miss Mortonson, I would see those pretty quickly in a

[1:13:01] failure to file something on time or a failure to reply to an email that I send

[1:13:05] or a failure of either of them to reply to an outside attorney or something like

[1:13:10] that. And I'll hear about it relatively quickly. I can only really speak for my

[1:13:15] department, but I can only imagine that the department heads of other

[1:13:19] departments are in similar situations. Um, but again, I can't speak for them,

[1:13:25] but that that's kind of a snapshot of what that looks like. Uh, and I would

[1:13:31] assume that that's across the the government. And I I know that community

[1:13:34] services has KPIs that they have uh for their employees. Um but again I can only

[1:13:42] speak to to my particular department >> and one of the other being a border

[1:13:47] county also next to Minnesota one of the other things that we have to be very be

[1:13:50] conscious of is their family their FLMA that's paid. So if you reside in

[1:13:55] Minnesota and you work here in P County you have to be in office 51% of the

[1:14:01] time. You know that being said if you took two days vacation a week you you

[1:14:06] can't you can't be remote the rest of the week. you have to be in office so we

[1:14:10] don't get caught up in paying for paid family medical leave.

[1:14:14] » So I guess that is to to your question Supervisor Hall the somewhat an answer.

[1:14:20] There has been a development in the policy for work from home but it it is

[1:14:25] related to the the change of the law in the state of Minnesota. Correct.

[1:14:35] » Anyone else? All right. Thank you.

[1:14:38] » You bet. Stay up here update. >> Yes.

[1:14:44] All right. Well, that's one of the things we have to do naturally is is a

[1:14:48] structurally balanced budget every year. And um this is your first look at that.

[1:14:54] So, um we can go with that and see how important that is. Uh next slide. So,

[1:15:00] the slide you saw last month at general government. Um this is the outside

[1:15:04] agencies. You can see the the second column is their request for 2027

[1:15:10] and the last one is going to be my recommendation for each outside agency

[1:15:15] with that and that's what we put in the budget. Um

[1:15:19] that are in there the historical society asked for 67,165

[1:15:25] a $7,000 increase. I kept them at last year's level. the same with uh tourism

[1:15:32] and the other ones are the same with except for West Central Wisconsin

[1:15:36] Planning Commission. That's a formula done by statute with that one. Next

[1:15:40] slide.

[1:15:45] These are uh all the AFRs now have been through committees. These are the public

[1:15:51] work capital AFRs. That's $2.4 million worth. Um of that

[1:15:57] 2.2 two is part of debt service. Keeping our levy flat, keeping our levy the same

[1:16:02] with that debt payment um allows us to do these projects. We got two highway

[1:16:06] projects, seven squads, m uh windows for the museum, uh lighting controls for the

[1:16:12] justice center, remote controls for the Clam Falls Dam, again, replacing carpet

[1:16:17] in the Justice Center, part of it, control boat that's paid for um over

[1:16:23] four years from uh the DNR through a grant. the same with their players

[1:16:28] expedition UTV. We got fluorescent lights in the CISA

[1:16:32] building, uh the sheriff's office, cubicle

[1:16:37] remodel, uh mixing valves in the jail, and then for parks, snowblower, and a

[1:16:43] zeroturn lawn mower that's paid through the one tenn fund. So 2.2 of that is

[1:16:48] debt financing to keep our levy the same as last year.

[1:16:53] Next slide. uh public safety, public works operating

[1:16:58] AFRs. Um these are um staff driven. Uh most of them are staff. The first one

[1:17:04] though is the one uh 150,000 for the ster litigation. We add that line item.

[1:17:10] Uh we have increased costs for uh medical costs for the jail.

[1:17:14] Um adding the AD the DA to the Axon contract. Those are for the body cams.

[1:17:20] Um how they go through their process. And then these are employee ones. an X

[1:17:25] once for a highway taking a maintenance worker to a maintenance techni or a

[1:17:29] highway technician uh increasing a parks maintenance worker

[1:17:33] to a park uh parks uh maintenance technician due to certifications and

[1:17:38] licensing. Next one's from the CJCC

[1:17:42] uh coordinator of diversion going to the full CJC coordinator position and then

[1:17:47] the other two are from the courts um two legal assistants going to parillegal due

[1:17:51] to more duties they are doing. Um, next slide. ES committee only had two FR

[1:17:57] AFRs. That was an increase from administrative assistant to

[1:18:02] administrative specialist due to duties again. And then for the register of

[1:18:06] deeds was an optical character recognition software for $5,000 to help

[1:18:11] um searching documents. Uh there was no AFRS for health and

[1:18:17] human services which was nice. Um and then the next one is general government.

[1:18:23] Uh these ones here are um for admin increasing uh finance manager to

[1:18:29] controller due to change in duties and what they've been doing. Uh it is

[1:18:36] increase of an from an M to an L position for our public information

[1:18:41] specialist to a public information communication

[1:18:45] coordinator for the duties that have expanded on on that position. And then

[1:18:48] the other one's from court counsel. Uh a great increase from NIL for legal uh

[1:18:55] legal office manager to a legal office manager to position.

[1:19:00] Uh next slide. Uh provisionally this is all the

[1:19:04] approved AFRs that we did 2.7 million uh received over $6 million in requests

[1:19:11] from departments uh for not only personnel but for capital projects.

[1:19:16] Again 2.2 two of that is our debt financing to keep our levy flat um with

[1:19:21] that and that allows us to do all these projects

[1:19:25] with that. So um you'll get the full budget then uh next week at the county

[1:19:31] board it'll be yours and then in October we'll look at technical amendments or

[1:19:35] changes that you would like with that. But this is a structurally balanced

[1:19:39] budget right now for um for 2027.

[1:19:50] Any questions? Anything? Jeremy

[1:19:57] doesn't appear to be

[1:20:01] um administrator's update. >> Sure. I only had three things on my list

[1:20:06] this this I've been telling the committees. Um

[1:20:10] sales tax for August was down 4% but we're still 2.6% above uh what we were

[1:20:15] last year about 90 grand. So that's good. Um County Road H north of Highway

[1:20:20] 8 is closed currently for the bridge repair over the Apple River replacement.

[1:20:24] About six weeks for that. And then coming up in October, Oyola 243 closes

[1:20:29] for one year to replace the 243 bridge. And then subsequently 8 to 10 years

[1:20:36] highway 8 into Taylor's falls that bridge will be replaced.

[1:20:44] All right. Um review work plan and identify subject

[1:20:49] matter for the next meeting.

[1:20:58] I don't know what what we've got for that, but

[1:21:02] probably isn't anything. It'll be the um finalizing budget stuff. I would imagine

[1:21:08] I don't know what else we would have for >> there'll be actually a couple of things

[1:21:12] coming from my office for October. Um there's going to be a couple of

[1:21:16] resolutions for annexations. So, when a city or village annexes land from a

[1:21:22] town, uh we have to sometimes do adjustments for supervisor district

[1:21:26] lines when it comes to like elections and who votes where. Um we've had a

[1:21:31] couple of them come up over the last couple of years that we have not taken

[1:21:36] care of because we were not aware that we had to make those changes. Thought it

[1:21:39] was all done at the municipal level. We're going to get those cleaned up and

[1:21:43] make sure that everything falls in line and is contiguous with the rest of the

[1:21:46] supervisor districts. So, we have those annexations ready. And then, um,

[1:21:50] something I've talked to, uh, the administrator and Don Woram about also

[1:21:56] is the Arnellou is coming up, uh, in December. Um, so that's a discussion

[1:22:02] that's going to be coming up also, and I'm just involved in that one because we

[1:22:06] handle dog takes with them. Um, so that's something that kind of comes

[1:22:10] through my office. >> So those items will be for October's

[1:22:13] meeting. >> The annexations will for sure be in

[1:22:15] October. I guess it's kind of up to you guys as to when you want to. We are now

[1:22:20] discussions. Okay. >> That contract I believe is up in

[1:22:23] December, so sometime before then. But those annexations will come up next

[1:22:28] month because we have to approve them and then they take effect in November on

[1:22:32] November 15th. So we want to make sure that they're approved before then.

[1:22:37] Just a point of clarity before anyone panics about voting or anything like

[1:22:41] that. In previous elections, all of the annexed areas had zero population. So

[1:22:48] stemming any paranoia on that >> one is a is a z6.068

[1:22:56] acres from town of Lincoln to city of Amory. It's just one little like

[1:23:00] rightway road. And then the other one I believe is the where the um

[1:23:06] the new hospital facility is going in St. Croy Falls. Again, population zero.

[1:23:12] They're annexing that from town of St. Croy Falls to the city.

[1:23:16] » Okay. >> And we will have some I believe moving

[1:23:20] forward. I know the village is working on some of theirs, but you'll maybe see

[1:23:24] this a little more often as they come up instead of just kind of cleaning up

[1:23:28] these these previous ones. So, it might be something you see in the

[1:23:32] future a little more often. >> Well, inform us early.

[1:23:38] » We'll do my best. >> All right. Final final agenda item.

[1:23:48] » Jeremy,

[1:23:51] » he does not appear to be on any >> motion to adjourn.

[1:23:57] Second. >> All right. Motion has been made and

[1:23:59] second to adjurnn. All in favor? >> I oppose.

General Government Committee Meeting: 9-9-2026

Transcript