[0:03] Okay, I believe we will adjourn the open forum session for this morning. I don't know if we want to have a motion in a second to adjourn that. Still moved. I got a motion by Commissioner Purpose, second by Commissioner Underdoll to adjourn the open forum session. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Oh, same sign. Okay, we will call to order the Board of Commissioners.

[0:30] September 8th, 2026, regular meeting to order, we'll start with the pledge.

[0:37] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

[0:44] One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[0:54] As the County Board proceeds with today's agenda, we will provide an opportunity for the public to comment regarding agenda items.

[1:02] following each presentation in prior to the County Board of Action. Additional

[1:08] comments will not be heard for items that have already completed a public hearing

[1:12] process. We ask that you fill out a public comment card in advance and submit it

[1:17] to Susie back there so that we can address each person in turn. If you have a

[1:24] question that arises during a presentation, please complete the card and submit it

[1:29] to Suzie as soon as you are able.

[1:31] If you are participating online,

[1:34] indicate your desire to provide public comment

[1:36] in the chat box, along with identifying information

[1:39] for the record.

[1:42] With that, we'll go on to roll call.

[1:44] Malika?

[1:45] Yes.

[1:46] Boys and 10.

[1:47] Here.

[1:47] Peter's.

[1:48] Here.

[1:49] First.

[1:49] Here.

[1:50] Here.

[1:52] Showing we are all here, approval of today's agenda,

[1:56] any additions? Subjections. Move to approve. Second.

[2:03] The motion by commission are under it all. Second by commission or purpose for approval of the agenda.

[2:08] Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[2:14] Both same sign. Approval of the minutes from our regular meeting, August 25th, 2026.

[2:20] Motion to approve. Second.

[2:22] The motion by Commissioner Malacca, second by Commissioner Heisington for approval of the minutes.

[2:29] Any discussion?

[2:31] Seeing none, all is in favor say aye.

[2:34] Aye.

[2:34] All the same sign.

[2:36] Motion passes.

[2:38] Okay, first up is property tax and elections, Denise.

[2:45] Good morning.

[2:47] Good morning.

[2:48] Approval requested today for a new on and off sale, including Sunday liquor license for the Red Cabin, LLC.

[2:55] We'll see doing business as the lodge of Lake Mazzasca on Lake Mazzasca, 717-053rd Street, West, Faribault, starting today through June 30th, 2027.

[3:10] Motion to approve.

[3:11] Second.

[3:12] Motion by Commissioner Purpose, second by Commissioner Underdall, for approval of the liquor license on Lake Mazzasca, any discussion?

[3:23] Seeing none, all those in favour say aye.

[3:25] All right.

[3:26] Close same sign motion passes.

[3:28] Thank you.

[3:29] Thank you.

[3:30] Next is facilities, Chris.

[3:33] Good

[3:41] morning, Mr. Smith.

[3:42] Good morning.

[3:43] Good morning.

[3:44] One minute of this.

[3:45] Looking to declare a fleet vehicle 2020 Dodge Caravan has County Surplus, the background

[3:53] of 2020 Dodge Caravan.

[3:55] Fleet vehicle, Venn number of stated, was utilized as the main friendship post, band of transport

[4:01] for clients to inform activities, the van of the need of transmission replacement, and

[4:07] other issues that exceed the value of the van.

[4:10] Therefore, it has been considered a surplus item.

[4:14] We will file this as surplus under the raised county surplus policy, and

[4:19] we'll auction the van out through an auction company, which complies with the county's surplus property policy.

[4:27] We're requesting to approve Fleet Vehicle 2020 Dodge Caravan as County Surplus.

[4:34] Motion to approve.

[4:35] Second.

[4:36] The motion by Commissioner Hoysington.

[4:38] Second by Commissioner Malica to declare this as a County Surplus.

[4:43] Any discussion?

[4:45] Chris, just one.

[4:46] Do you know how many miles we're on this vehicle?

[4:48] 99,000.

[4:49] This car is.

[4:51] Any other discussion?

[4:52] Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[4:56] Aye.

[4:57] Both same sign.

[4:59] Motion passes.

[5:00] Thank you.

[5:03] Information Technology.

[5:05] Allen.

[5:19] Good morning commissioners.

[5:20] Good morning.

[5:21] I have one item for you today.

[5:24] I'm here regarding our annual renewal of our Adobe licensing.

[5:29] Rice County uses Adobe products across most of our departments.

[5:32] We have 196 licenses of Acrobat Pro.

[5:35] two licenses of Creative Cloud Pro Plus and one license of Adobe AI Assistant.

[5:41] Acrobat is used for working with PDFs. Creative Cloud is a full suite of

[5:46] multimedia tools and the AI Assistant is an add-on for Adobe products that

[5:52] enable Adobe AI to assist working with documents or whatever files you're

[5:57] working with. CIT is the vendor that our Adobe contract is tied to. They provided

[6:04] I did a quote for the annual renewal for $53,305 in 80 cents for one year.

[6:11] This is out of the IT budget.

[6:13] I asked the board to approve renewal as quoted.

[6:17] Motion to approve.

[6:19] Second, the motion by Commissioner Malca, second by Commissioner.

[6:24] Washington, for approval, any discussion?

[6:27] Thank you.

[6:29] Alan, is this about the same as what we paid last year?

[6:32] as you see in the substantial increase?

[6:35] So yes, this is actually identical to last year.

[6:38] The only difference is that we've added the AI tool seat other than, oh, excuse me.

[6:47] Last year, the cost of the license was where identical.

[6:51] We didn't have the AI seat and we actually did an aggressive audit and push last year to

[6:57] reduce the license count. And we actually dropped from 198 to 160. However, we quickly found

[7:05] that we had a lot of people that used the products maybe not as often as came up when we queried

[7:09] all of the department heads. So over the next two months since then, we kept adding licenses

[7:15] and make it individual purchases.

[7:19] So we've climbed from 196 to, oh, excuse me, 196 still.

[7:27] So it's the same.

[7:29] And I did not make an aggressive push.

[7:32] This year it was very disruptive for departments

[7:34] and for my own staff having to go back

[7:35] and purchase more licenses, reinstall Acrobat on a lot of computers.

[7:40] So we've moved to more just regular check-ins with the departments

[7:43] regarding their usage.

[7:45] It's held steady going back actually since 2023, from 22 to 23, there was a very significant

[7:54] price increase, and I think they're trying to hold steady since then.

[7:59] Okay, okay, that was your purpose.

[8:03] Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[8:04] I see there's a couple in there that have different costs to them.

[8:07] Is that a different classification within the software, could you explain where that extra

[8:12] cost comes from?

[8:13] Are you referring to on the quote where we have the 159, the 1233, and the 59.

[8:19] Like the two of them in there at 1233.

[8:21] Yes, so the Acrobat Pro where we have 196 seats, that is Acrobat just the regular application that's very common.

[8:34] The Creative Cloud Plus is actually the suite of most of the products that Adobe makes.

[8:41] That's used in administration and in communications so that has the files that they need if we need to do any sort of trimming or optimization or clean up or any sort of work with video files or image files.

[9:00] So that's a Photoshop and it'll be in design and I know the tools that are used

[9:05] Primaries for putting content up on the web or

[9:09] Working with the files in different departments need

[9:12] Okay, so that's that's why that's a lot more expensive. That's a whole suite of products

[9:16] Acrobat is included in that, but it's it's actually one of the smaller pieces

[9:20] Okay, thank you any other

[9:25] discussion

[9:27] seen none

[9:29] All those in favor of the IT License Renewal, say aye.

[9:34] Aye.

[9:35] Can't sign.

[9:37] There will be License Renewal approved.

[9:40] Thank you.

[9:42] Community Corrections, Angela.

[9:50] Good morning, commissioners.

[9:51] Good morning.

[9:52] I have two items for you this morning.

[9:53] The first is a revised version of a contract with the Community Action Center for two rental

[10:02] housing units that are supplied as part of our treatment court program. They are paid

[10:08] for and supported through the treatment court enhancement grant. When that contract came

[10:13] before you in March, none of the parties, including us, notice that there was not a section

[10:19] regarding the security deposit for the two units. So that is the addition in the contract

[10:25] that you have before you. It's adding security deposit equal to one month's rent on each

[10:30] of the two units, I'm asking for approval of the revised contract.

[10:36] Motion to approve.

[10:37] Second.

[10:38] Motion by Commissioner Malica, second by Commissioner Underdall.

[10:42] For approval of the contract, any discussion on this?

[10:49] Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[10:52] Aye.

[10:52] The same sign, motion passes.

[10:55] Thank you.

[10:56] The second item before you is a proclamation of recovery month and to present that I would

[11:02] and introduce Toby Anderson, our behavioral health supervisor

[11:06] and Amber Starkson, our specialty coordinator.

[11:16] Good morning.

[11:17] Good morning.

[11:19] I'd like to read the proclamation to you

[11:21] and then maybe go through just a couple

[11:24] exciting things that are happening

[11:25] in the recovery world for this month.

[11:27] But first, we'll read the proclamation.

[11:30] So, whereas substance use disorders affect the health

[11:34] and well-being of individuals, families,

[11:36] and communities across the nation, the state and in Rice County, and whereas behavioral

[11:42] health is essential to everyone's overall well-being and behavioral health services are

[11:48] a key element to achieving and sustaining recovery, and whereas prevention of substance use

[11:54] disorders works, treatment is effective and recovery is possible, and whereas prevention, treatment,

[12:01] and peer-and-recovery support services,

[12:03] including recovery housing, mutual aid,

[12:07] employment services, faith communities,

[12:10] and other recovery support services,

[12:12] all help people build healthy, fulfilling lives,

[12:16] and whereas we celebrate the thousands of Minnesotans,

[12:19] including many Rice County residents living in recovery

[12:23] who lead meaningful lives

[12:24] and are essential active contributors to families,

[12:27] workplaces, our communities, and civic life, and whereas we recognize four

[12:33] dimensions of recovery from mental health and substance use disorders, health,

[12:38] home, purpose, and community, and whereas recovery has strengthened through the

[12:43] relationships, belonging, meaning, and purpose, families, faith communities, workplaces,

[12:50] schools, tribal communities, and local organizations all play a role in creating

[12:56] recovery supportive environments and whereas Rice County continues to invest in a broad

[13:02] spectrum of services that support and encourage recovery that works in collaboration with

[13:07] our many community partners who are committed to prevention, health, treatment and person-centered

[13:14] recovery programs, which support recovery at every stage and improve the recovery of life

[13:20] in our communities and whereas Rice County partners with communities across the state and nation

[13:26] to recognize and advance the goals of national recovery month.

[13:31] Therefore be it resolved that Rice County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaims the month of

[13:36] September as recovery month in Rice County and encourages all citizens to support and celebrate the

[13:41] achievements, dedication and sustained effort of all persons in recovery and those who have continued

[13:48] to support them on their recovery journey.

[13:52] A couple of just exciting things for this recovery month in particular, I think we've got

[13:57] recovery in the park on September 24th, that is the Thursday from 4 to 7.

[14:02] We'll make that extra exciting this month as we have one of our treatment core participants

[14:06] speaking at that event so we're excited to hear what this gentleman has to say.

[14:13] The other thing is we continue to move forward with the compass project and getting the space set up and doing those things.

[14:20] So we're excited for all of those things.

[14:23] Thank you.

[14:24] Thank you.

[14:26] Motion to approve.

[14:27] Thank you.

[14:28] Motion by Commissioner Malca, second by Commissioner Purpose for approval of Recovery Month Proclamation.

[14:35] Any discussion?

[14:38] Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[14:40] Aye.

[14:40] All same sign, motion passes, thank you.

[14:45] Next up, Sheriff's Office.

[14:52] Good morning, commissioners, Mr. Chair.

[14:54] Good morning.

[14:55] Just one item this morning, we're going to, well, with your approval.

[15:00] We will establish a joint powers agreement for our dive team. Currently, we have three members of our dive team that aren't technically paid for by Rice County, so we have one North Field Police Department officer and two Federal Police Department officers that are on our dive team. And since we added them, we felt this was appropriate. So what happens is Rice County has a budget and we provide all the training and all the

[15:30] the equipment and those three members are paid by their agency when they assist us.

[15:37] So just looking for your approval to move forward with this and like I said, there's no financial impact.

[15:46] So we'll do approve.

[15:50] Second.

[15:51] Motion by Commissioner Underdall.

[15:53] Second by Commissioner Heisington for the Joint Powers Agreement with the Rice County Dive Team.

[15:59] any discussion? Comments, commissioners, I mean I can change it on average. How many calls a year does

[16:08] Dive team get? I would say like in the summer months and then the early ice is our busiest time. I

[16:20] would say probably eight to 12 calls. We have about 15 members and I always like to remind everybody

[16:26] that it seems like a lot of people, but most of our call outs happen on a busy holiday weekend, so it's nice to have a good group of people to pull from.

[16:37] Thank you. Any other comments? Discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the joint powers say aye.

[16:46] I'm Rosanne Sine, motion passes.

[16:49] Thank you.

[16:51] Next is drainage authority, Jared.

[16:54] Would it go into drainage authority?

[16:56] Set that a second.

[16:58] We have a motion and a second motion by commission

[17:01] around all second by commission or嘛okha

[17:03] The going to drainage authority, all those in favor say aye.

[17:07] Aye.

[17:08] Rosanne Sine, drainage authority.

[17:11] We are in.

[17:12] Good morning.

[17:13] I'm not Jared, but I'll do my best here.

[17:16] He's here in case we need him for questions.

[17:19] I'm coming to you with two items we talked about at our committee meeting as well.

[17:25] The first one is to approve an assessment for joint ditch six repairs.

[17:29] We got the final invoice in in 2026, so we would like to proceed with the assessment.

[17:35] So it's a little bit of background as of the end of 2025 fiscal year.

[17:41] We had a negative fund balance in there of $335,985, and the expenditures that made up

[17:50] that fund balance were primarily for the project number 22-25087, which included removing

[17:58] true crossings, replacing a box culvert in a new location, and replacing the corrugated

[18:05] the middle pipe crossing with reinforced concrete pipe.

[18:09] The ditch banks were also re-sloped,

[18:12] and RIP rap was placed along curves

[18:13] and other areas that were vulnerable to erosion.

[18:17] There were three rock ripples placed

[18:19] throughout the project area to slow down the current

[18:21] and help bring the ditch back to its original grade.

[18:25] So I'm requesting the board adoption of the resolution

[18:27] to assess the Rice County benefiting parcels.

[18:32] So we can return to a positive fund balance.

[18:35] And Steel County is responsible for assessing their land owners.

[18:43] So with this, this would bring us to a positive fund balance as of about $30,000.

[18:51] $3,000.

[18:53] Motion to approve.

[18:54] Second.

[18:56] Motion by Commissioner Malca, second by Commissioner Purpose for joint ditch six assessment

[19:03] for repairs.

[19:05] Any discussion on that?

[19:09] Yeah.

[19:09] Peggy, just to clarify that, so the cost of repairs is $350,000, $287, correct?

[19:18] So, $335,985 is our negative fund balance.

[19:25] We're assessing additional so we can have a fund balance to cover.

[19:31] It basically will cover the next year or two of operations expenditures.

[19:37] And then eventually we'd like to get into a cycle of having a positive fund balance for

[19:42] digits so they don't go so far in the negative.

[19:45] And so this is going to be distributed between the land owners, assess this?

[19:50] Yes, if Sandy can scroll down, there's a list of, if you go down, yes, six of it, eight here.

[19:59] This is all of the parcels that are impacted by, if you scroll to the last page, Sandy, it explains how much.

[20:11] So if it's an amount less than 100,000.

[20:13] So everybody will get a letter that is a prepayment letter, they'll have 30 days to respond

[20:18] with a payment.

[20:20] If we don't receive payment within 30 days, then it will go on their property tax, the

[20:26] next property tax role, as an assessment, and then it's outlined below that if it's less

[20:32] than $100, they have one year to pay over 100, but less than 10,000 is five years and anything

[20:40] over 10,000 is ten years.

[20:42] Okay. All right.

[20:44] And it's a 4% interest rate.

[20:48] Any other discussion?

[20:52] Seeing none we have a motion and a second for approval of joint ditch six assessments.

[20:57] All those in favor say aye.

[20:59] Aye.

[21:00] Oh, same side.

[21:02] A ditch 25.

[21:06] Okay.

[21:07] Right, Digit 25, we're looking for approval.

[21:10] This is for the assessment for 2017 redetermination of benefits and repairs.

[21:16] The 2017 redetermination of benefits never got assessed, so we're trying to get this fund balance back into the positive.

[21:27] So as of 2025 fiscal year end, County Digit 25 had negative fund balance of $525,104.

[21:35] And again, this is made up from cost of redetermination of benefits.

[21:40] There's assessments from Lucifer County Joint Ditch 54 because 25 drains into joint ditch 54.

[21:50] And then Lucifer County had redetermined their benefits for joint ditch 54.

[21:57] And that identified the need for an assessment on county ditch 25.

[22:03] So there's two assessments from Lucera County out there, and then there's interest due for

[22:10] loan because the general fund is covering this balance, and then there's other repair and operational cost.

[22:19] So again, I'm looking for approval for the assessment in the amount of $540,693 in 93 cents again to be paid by the benefit in land owners.

[22:31] And this will bring us to a fund balance, a positive fund balance of about $15,500 to $89.

[22:40] And this ditch is going to be re-determined again here.

[22:46] It's on our re-determination schedule.

[22:52] So this $15,000 should cover us because there's not any repairs that will have at the meantime.

[23:00] time. Anything expected, anyway.

[23:05] Okay, we do before we have any action taken, we do have one comment on

[23:12] ditch 25. If you're done with the presentation. Okay, Jim Dubon, please, if you want

[23:19] to come forward.

[23:24] Good morning. Good morning.

[23:26] morning. Curious why this was all done in 2017 whites or the last redetermination was

[23:34] done in 2017 and it's finally getting assessed now. Based off the half a million dollars there's

[23:41] going to be quite a few unhappy campers when they get these notices in the mail. As far as repairs

[23:48] go I'm not aware of any that need to be done. There is some brush spreading that should be done

[23:53] before all that gets out of hand again, especially right next to the bridge on Union Lake Trail where all the wills are still growing.

[24:04] And how much exactly is the joint ditch 54 assessment to our ditch 25?

[24:13] Or where can I find out information?

[24:15] I think he's going to look that up and I'm going to just comment a little bit on I think because the county took

[24:25] Jared, maybe you can explain when the county took over the ditches from the SWCD.

[24:33] Well, that's been an answer to because off for the last 50 years, well, somebody's taking care of it, well, then nobody's taking care of it, and then somebody's taking care of it, nobody's taking care of it.

[24:43] So is that part going to change to where there's always somebody taking care of ditches?

[24:47] Yes, it is. That's why we took it over.

[24:52] But what year it was, it's been two years now or three years.

[24:56] Uh, yeah, since June of 2024, we took it over.

[25:02] Yes, the county has.

[25:04] So there's still some trees and little tree and some brush there that those willows by the bridge.

[25:10] Yeah, but I didn't see some last week I drove through there.

[25:12] There is some op-a-mac at all of them, but it's not.

[25:16] No, that the right next is okay with farther away.

[25:18] You got to get those.

[25:21] Then a curious question is, I was going through

[25:24] the assessment roles here, albeit as real,

[25:28] whoops, find print as it is.

[25:32] Some of these, the benefited acres far out exceeds

[25:37] the deeded acres, mine in particular.

[25:40] So I'm kind of curious about that, or is that just somebody

[25:44] chance posed in numbers and are on column?

[25:48] I think you'd have to get together with Jared and Peggy

[25:52] on those exact acres.

[25:55] I

[25:59] think that pretty much takes care of my comments.

[26:03] Okay.

[26:04] So I don't enjoy dinge 54 thing is if there was a complete

[26:09] channel from right slay, from Cody to Phelps to right slake

[26:13] sandborne were actually would run into ditch 54. Most of us wouldn't complain. But it's all backed

[26:22] up, especially between felps and rice and from rice to sandborne. From rice to sandborne,

[26:29] there's ten feet of drop and it takes forever for water to run through that. Which is one of our

[26:34] biggest beefs. Okay. We will in the next time we have a committee meeting we can. We're always told

[26:40] it's a natural water course and we can't do nothing about it which gets me real

[26:46] frustrating yes yes you know if we if we had to follow all the laws of today's

[26:52] which of which some of my think are done or it's stupid we want to have

[26:56] colony ditches and we want to have half the highways we have today something to

[27:01] think of okay thank you Peggy you got a number for us yes so in 2021 the

[27:11] amount of the assessment was $46,554.62 that came from Lesuracone.

[27:18] And then in 2025, it was $88,293.24.

[27:34] I'll have to look into those acres.

[27:37] It took a lot to put this file together based on what we were able to get from the last re-determination, so.

[27:46] There's no comments online, is there for any of these ditches?

[27:51] Okay.

[27:52] And may I just say that deeded acres don't impact the benefited acres.

[27:58] Like the re-determination is based off of the benefited acres as far as calculations go.

[28:05] So if we did put something in fact in the deeded acres, it doesn't affect the benefited acres and the percent of benefit.

[28:17] Mr. Chair, maybe as you get a hold of Jim's phone number and set up a meeting with him through this.

[28:28] Any

[28:31] other comments?

[28:33] Okay, well, I am looking for a motion and a second on this at the moment.

[28:42] Motion to approve.

[28:43] So motion by Commissioner Purpose, second by Commissioner Underdall to approve ditch 25 assessments.

[28:55] Any other discussion?

[28:57] Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[29:00] Aye.

[29:01] Those same sign.

[29:03] Motion approved.

[29:04] Move to go out of range authority.

[29:07] Thank you.

[29:07] Second.

[29:09] Motion by Commissioner Underdall, second by Commissioner Malacca to go out of drainage authority.

[29:14] All those in favor say aye.

[29:16] Aye.

[29:17] Oh, same sign.

[29:18] Next up is highway.

[29:20] Dennis Louby.

[29:21] And

[29:27] everyone.

[29:27] Morning.

[29:28] We have three items today.

[29:31] First off, would be resolution 26, 027, and the men.agreement number 106, 3268.

[29:40] Those two actions will make us eligible to receive up to the $271,653 and one

[29:50] cent. For two culvert replacements on County Road 16, we talked about it

[29:56] I think two weeks ago. The contractor, we have a pre-construction meeting.

[30:00] Later today, they're able to get the materials delivered this fall. This is the MINDOT language and agreement to receive that money to help pay for those two projects. So I'd recommend approval of the resolution and agreement. We'll do approve. Second. Give it to Purpose. Motion by commission or under the second by commission or purpose to approve resolution 26-027, any discussion.

[30:31] Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[30:33] Aye.

[30:34] All the same, sign, motion passes.

[30:39] Okay, next up is the final payment for a contract by Minnowal Construction.

[30:44] This would be our box culvert up in Northfield.

[30:49] We've got the paperwork's received as in my office.

[30:52] I don't have it for your signature today, but it'll be produced.

[30:55] So we're ready to final that contract, all aspects of that work.

[31:01] And the final payment is only $6,682.51, and we're ready to close that one out.

[31:11] Motion to approve?

[31:13] Second.

[31:15] Well, motion by Commissioner Heisenkton, second by Commissioner Malacca, any discussion.

[31:21] There's no liability with that.

[31:23] That's correct.

[31:24] We're done all resolved with the contractor and the city of Northfield the joint project with the city of Northfield

[31:30] They're paying about half of the construction costs. So okay, we're good

[31:36] Any other questions discussion?

[31:38] Seeing none all those in favor of final payment to minnowaw say aye. Hi. Oh, same sign

[31:46] motion passes

[31:48] last up is the long talked about much awaited action item for

[31:53] Trunk Highway 246, a portion of that to be turned back to the city of Northfield.

[31:59] That's been discussed for multiple years anyway and we've talked about it before.

[32:06] So this action really is just a pass through action that once the board signs today

[32:13] It's my understanding the City Council of Northfield will sign the same agreement tonight and then it'll be shipped off to Mindot for their execution and that will complete the official transfer of the road road right away there to the city of Northfield and it will be theirs from now on.

[32:32] So there's no financial impact to us. We're just approving that process and today's the day for that.

[32:41] Motion to approve.

[32:43] Second.

[32:44] Motion by Commissioner Purpose, second by Commissioner Malca

[32:48] to approve the transfer to the city of Northfield.

[32:53] Any discussion on this?

[32:56] Seeing none, all those in favour say aye.

[32:59] Aye.

[32:59] I will same sign.

[33:01] Okay.

[33:02] Thank you.

[33:03] Thank you.

[33:04] Outside agency appropriations, we've gone through the list

[33:09] and seeing that about a month ago,

[33:14] I am going to make a motion that we decrease from the

[33:20] 2026 board approved across the board 10% except for the insurances of the historical society

[33:29] and the Axis ID that we give them the requested 2027 amounts.

[33:36] I'll second that.

[33:39] Okay, we have a motion by myself, a second by Commissioner Purpose Discussion.

[33:46] Over here.

[33:47] Commissioner Malca, yes.

[33:49] I think that is really poor on our part to cut these agencies.

[33:57] Freeze, I could understand.

[33:59] But cutting a lot of them, do a lot of work for us.

[34:04] No matter how you look at it, you might not see it upfront, but they do a lot of work for us at the county.

[34:13] And I think it's absolutely wrong to cut 10% out of their appropriation.

[34:21] And if you sit there and think and you go through the list, you'll figure how each and

[34:26] every one of them touched the county from the libraries to the senior centers and you

[34:34] think about what the senior centers do for us and the programs that they put on trying

[34:43] to keep people healthy and in their own homes.

[34:49] And the fact that we'd be paying a lot more if we have to put more people in nursing homes.

[34:56] It's going to require more staff, it's going to require more dollars.

[35:01] So you have to think about the cause and effect here of what we're doing.

[35:07] Again, freeze, you know, I'm for free, I am not for cutting.

[35:14] I just don't think it's right, I don't think it's fair that we're cutting them.

[35:21] I know we have our own issues that we'll be facing, but at the same time, you pull the pin and see the dominoes fall.

[35:32] You really need to think about what we're doing here at 10% of

[35:39] cutting anything to be honest with you when you look at each and every one of these and what they do for the county.

[35:47] Well, when I gave their presentations, I do see a lot of overlap in some of them, so I think they could work better together personally.

[35:58] I do have an issue with the three libraries, and I think there's a disproportionate amount given to Northfield overfareable lawnsdale.

[36:10] I'd like to see those amounts re-determined, especially, no matter if we keep the same or reduce them, because I think just looking at quick populations,

[36:22] Lawnsdale is way underfunded compared to the other two, and I just see a lot of overlap in some of the stuff.

[36:32] I think we need to just do a back them up and do a baseline.

[36:39] What was it gonna? Like Southern Minnesota tourism, I've noted in their presentation that there

[36:47] was about seven counties that totally dropped them to zero. So you know it's just part of it.

[36:57] some of them had money in the bank still from last year so that's my two cents on that subject.

[37:07] Any other comments?

[37:12] When you look at this, I guess so my thoughts on it,

[37:18] there's almost $700,000 of this. It's going to free these agencies.

[37:39] I agree with Commissioner Mallica, you know, a freeze on all four that I also know that

[37:48] going through budgets, a lot of these months have been static for years actually, you know,

[37:56] we haven't granted any increases to them at all.

[38:02] And I know we need to try and, you know,

[38:05] to the line on what we're doing.

[38:08] I guess in my perspective on it,

[38:14] you know, a lot of these smaller agencies are some of them

[38:17] that we really rely heavily on, you know,

[38:21] with some of our work that the county does.

[38:25] as a social services and public health

[38:28] and different things like that,

[38:30] where they are good partners.

[38:33] And I think some of them, you know,

[38:36] we've tried to like hope center,

[38:39] we've actually tried to help them along

[38:41] a little bit more.

[38:42] And I hate to see this go backwards on that.

[38:47] You know, relative to your point,

[38:49] Charlie, about the libraries,

[38:52] I think in the past,

[38:54] I've had advocated that Lawnsdale needs a bigger share of, you know, that pie that we've got there, and I don't have the percentage, but I know in our maintenance of effort that the state requires a rice county, we far exceed that for the three libraries together.

[39:13] so I mean the city's it's interesting and again I've been on another side of

[39:19] the equation Galen has to you know where as it is a state councilor you're

[39:24] looking for dollars to help you know your budget but the city's also have the

[39:30] ability to love you for those dollars themselves too you know and not

[39:36] I don't rely totally on the county, but like I say, I'm not really excited about looking at a reduction.

[39:45] You know, maybe a reallocation as Commissioner Peters is talking about, I might consider that.

[39:55] If I can add one more thing.

[39:58] I think if we're going to look at the libraries, that's going to have to be a next year thing,

[40:03] versus a here today thing, to be honest and fair to them.

[40:10] I think that yes, we meet the state statute requirements.

[40:15] But I do think that we need to, if we're going to reduce,

[40:22] then we need to call them to the table and look at how we reallocate.

[40:27] I agree with the lawn sale thing.

[40:30] we've talked about that for a few years that they certainly need to have more.

[40:37] I think we did give them a boost here a few years ago, four years ago, did we give them

[40:44] boost them up a little bit?

[40:45] Commissioner Dockin was here when we did that.

[40:49] But I do agree that we need to look at law and state situation to see what we can do there.

[40:54] But if we're looking at trying to be allocate or reduce that I think that they need the the libraries need to be at the table with us

[41:03] Well,

[41:07] I'd like to see the reallocation done

[41:11] This year actually so we can maybe

[41:14] Push that out to another meeting and invite them here because we're you know right now

[41:21] Lodgedale only gets like 6.4% they should be up around 10 and you know so it's

[41:29] and the other two are pretty close to where they were but Lodgedale is

[41:34] really and we do pay out with the three libraries 464,000 and some the state

[41:43] only says we have to pay 311,000 to the libraries right there's the letter

[41:52] Well, then if you want that done this year, then we probably need to have the two of you

[41:58] withdraw your motions and then table this to another meeting.

[42:06] Well, we could, the main motion was the 10% reduction.

[42:10] So then we could just, I could redo the motion for the 10% reduction and then I'll move another motion forward for reallocation amongst the three libraries.

[42:28] So I will draw the reallocation part of my motion and just go motion across the board of 10% decrease.

[42:36] from the 2026 approved, except for the two

[42:41] insurances, they would get their agency requests

[42:46] for 2027.

[42:51] I was a motion.

[42:55] You were drawing that motion?

[42:57] I drew the first motion and I made a new motion.

[43:01] Do you think your second motion is the same as the first?

[43:03] I didn't have the library allocation in there.

[43:06] The second motion, it said we'll push that back.

[43:15] I would draw the motion for the 10% decrease with considering the library allocations at the same time and then my new motion states that I'd like to have a 10% decrease across the board for all the outside agencies keeping the historical society in the

[43:44] 2027.

[43:48] I'm going to second that.

[43:51] Any other discussion?

[43:55] Clarifications. I'm still just a little bit confused. We're withdrawing the 10% cut all

[44:04] together. We're withdrawing that, right? No, that came forward. The library reallocations

[44:10] will bring up at a certain, at a different motion.

[44:17] So just repeat the motion so I understand

[44:19] I'm sorry to advocate it, but I just don't know what it was.

[44:24] So the new motion states that we're looking at 10% cut outside agencies across the board,

[44:31] except for historical society insurance and egg society insurance,

[44:37] we would grant them their 2027 requests because it's an insurance thing.

[44:45] And Jim, I believe that's.

[44:49] I agree with that,

[44:52] Jerry, do you have that, you okay with this?

[44:56] Yes, I understand what you're saying now.

[44:58] So we're, we're, we're ticked, we're ticked.

[45:00] Any 10% off everybody's budget. Yeah, except for those two lions. Mr. Chair, if I could, yes, go ahead, commissioner of purpose. Ever since I've been on, which is shorter than some of you, but these people are always asking for an increase, which I'm not saying it's not needed. But we have to, in my mind, we have to protect the people of our county, too. We just can't raise

[45:31] these issues or these different companies year after year.

[45:38] I guess I'm in favor of cutting back.

[45:41] And then next year, let's start this process a little earlier.

[45:45] Let's invite the libraries in and let's reset the numbers.

[45:50] I know when soil and water, the state came out a couple years ago with the program for

[45:55] them and you know as you can see they didn't ask for anything this year but they've got a pretty

[46:05] good savings account down there currently and I don't think we want a these are levy dollars I

[46:12] don't think we want to keep taxing the people for somebody else to have a savings account and I would

[46:18] like to just back up and rework these numbers probably next year I do believe the staff needs

[46:25] It needs to have time to put their levy numbers together.

[46:29] So I think it's important we move forward with something, but

[46:34] I'm in favor of this 10% reduction except for the insurances.

[46:40] The other two, I'm always in favor.

[46:42] Yeah, I think as a board, we've all agreed that the increase in our levy's over the past three years is not sustainable.

[46:51] I think it's upward to 25 or 26% over the last three years.

[46:58] We at some point need to be sensitive to our levy dollars in the taxes that we're charging to people.

[47:10] I mean, I'm a huge fan of the libraries, it doesn't, this is a hard decision to make, but

[47:18] But it has no reflection on what we think of these organizations and the good they do in our communities.

[47:26] I think during this whole budget process now that we're going to be going through,

[47:31] we're going to have to make it some additional hard decisions that aren't going to be comfortable.

[47:39] But we have to be realistic about people are being taxed.

[47:45] Their taxes and insurance are starting to become larger than their marketing payments.

[47:51] And at some point, we need to pull the reins in.

[47:56] So as much as I would hate to, I agree 100% with what Gaelin said about these organizations and

[48:03] they do in our communities.

[48:05] But I think we're forced to make some hard decisions this year.

[48:10] And we've been, maybe, I'll speak for myself, maybe a little too passive as far as the increases that have happened.

[48:19] So, I regretfully think that I regretfully support this decision, I guess, of cutting it.

[48:28] Mr. Chair.

[48:30] Mr. Malco.

[48:31] So, I'll go back to saying I think it would be fair if we froze them for this year and send out a notice that it's all dependent upon votes, right?

[48:46] And bringing them to the table that they would get a 10% budget cut next year that could change.

[48:54] There are elections this year, right, and seats could change, seats might not change.

[49:02] But I do think that it would be fair.

[49:04] I don't think it's fair that we're cutting without having given some notice I had a time

[49:11] that the plan is to cut this.

[49:14] So my belief is we should either table it and bring it up at a future meeting and let these

[49:20] people know.

[49:21] ahead of time of the pending cut or we freeze and then deal with it earlier next year and

[49:32] bringing people to the table.

[49:36] Any other discussion?

[49:39] Well, there's no question.

[49:42] It's unfortunate that we're at this point.

[49:45] We have to have a preliminary budget in place by September 27th.

[49:51] Yeah, so our last business meeting in a month, we have to have it.

[49:55] So we don't have much time on our side of it.

[49:57] It's doing with the, you know, the concept, you know, the concept or reality of trying to, you know,

[50:07] and so our budget, I fully understand that and I'm not, you know, opposed to trying to take some measures.

[50:19] It would seem to me a little bit that it would be rather than 10% across the board and be a little bit more surgical about it.

[50:27] That's not as easy to do, I understand it.

[50:29] And again, we don't have the luxury of time here right now for it.

[50:35] And, you know, it's Commissioner Malik, it's time

[50:37] about, you know, if we had more time,

[50:39] we could have people come in and talk to us again about it.

[50:42] But at the end of the day, it's still up to us

[50:45] to make that final decision on it.

[50:49] And, you know, I kind of come back to, you know,

[50:53] really there's two, if you look at it broadly,

[50:55] it's so on water and libraries are, you know,

[50:59] they're the ones that are going to get the brunt of a 10% cut if that's the way

[51:03] the direction of the board goes.

[51:08] Like I

[51:15] say, time-wise is really tough one for me

[51:17] right now. I would much rather and I don't think the sentiment of the board is

[51:24] going that direction but to have done something a little more surgical with it in any kind of a cut.

[51:31] Any other discussion?

[51:35] Comments.

[51:36] Okay, right now we have the motion and a second on the floor for the 10% cut across the board except the two insurances that we would grant their 2027 request.

[51:51] All those in favor say aye.

[51:54] Aye.

[51:55] All those opposed same sign?

[51:57] No.

[51:58] Okay, do a roll call.

[52:00] Allica.

[52:01] No.

[52:02] Poisonton.

[52:03] Yeah.

[52:04] Eaters.

[52:04] Yes.

[52:05] First.

[52:06] Yes.

[52:06] Underdog.

[52:07] Hey.

[52:09] Emotion passes.

[52:10] Three to two.

[52:12] I'd also like to bring up.

[52:14] I think we should do the libraries.

[52:18] Renegotiations as soon as we can.

[52:21] I don't know if we can have those agencies come in.

[52:25] Because I just see a huge.

[52:28] And I know the Lawnsdale library tries with what they have, but they do do a lot of outreach now and they have a lot of programs.

[52:38] So that's where I'm coming from with the Lawnsdale system.

[52:45] I'd like to do that this year yet if possible.

[52:51] So I don't know how we could...

[52:53] Leave that up to the end to figure that out.

[52:57] Yes, if they want to bring them in and we could figure out either a per capita charge or how we're going to draw the circle around them to figure out percentages.

[53:07] So I will talk to Sarah on that

[53:15] consent agenda.

[53:20] Yep, next on the list is consent agenda with overtime payment of bills and personal appointments recommending approval motion to approve.

[53:29] second motion by Commissioner Malca, second by Commissioner Heisington for approval of the consent agenda.

[53:37] Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

[53:41] Aye.

[53:41] All same sign, consent agenda approved.

[53:48] And I believe that is motion to adjourn.

[53:51] Second.

[53:52] The motion by Commissioner Malca, second by Commissioner Underdoll for adjournment.

[53:58] All those in favor say aye.

[53:59] Aye.

[54:00] Meeting adjourned, thank you everyone.

Rice County Board of Commissioners Meeting

Transcript