meeting. Uh I will call it to order. Uh
welcome and thanks everyone for coming.
Uh roll call will indicate all five
commissioners are present. Uh please
rise for a moment of silence and the
pledge of allegiance.
I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» [snorts]
>> Okay, our first item is the agenda.
» Okay, our first item is the agenda.
There is one addition. We'll call it M3
and put it under administration. Does
that work, Mike?
>> Sure.
» Sure.
>> Okay. Uh with that, if there are no more
» Okay. Uh with that, if there are no more
additions or
uh corrections to the agenda, I'm
looking for a motion.
>> So moved.
» So moved.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Clark.
» Thank you, Commissioner Clark.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. Any
» Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. Any
further discussion? Seeing none, all
those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
» I.
>> With your microphones on.
» With your microphones on.
Motion carried. Uh, next up is a consent
agenda item. You can see there is 13 of
those. Uh, is there anybody wishing to
pull anything or have a discussion on
any of those 13 items?
>> I'll move the consent agenda, Mr.
» I'll move the consent agenda, Mr.
Chairman.
>> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Bertram.
» Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Bertram.
>> With one quick question. Okay.
» With one quick question. Okay.
>> Second.
» Second.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Uh,
» Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Uh,
question to you, Commissioner Bertram.
>> E1. Uh, what district is Scott from on
» E1. Uh, what district is Scott from on
the dairy advisory committee?
>> He would be in yours.
» He would be in yours.
>> Okay. Wasn't sure it wasn't identified,
» Okay. Wasn't sure it wasn't identified,
so I didn't.
>> Yeah, he lives uh northeast of Eden
» Yeah, he lives uh northeast of Eden
Valley.
>> Got it. Thank [snorts] you.
» Got it. Thank [snorts] you.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Any other discussion on the consent
agenda?
Seeing none, all those in favor signify
by saying I. I.
>> I. Opposed.
» I. Opposed.
>> Motion carried.
» Motion carried.
Just to uh for the general public, this
past pay period, there was what $85
million that the county had put out. So,
I mean, it's there's a lot. You know, we
get a we get to view the
uh payments that are made. uh they send
out a list to us and and most of it was
the property tax the settlements on the
first half.
All right. So the first item on our
agenda is public works.
» Good morning commissioners.
>> Morning Chris. So item F1 in the agenda
» Morning Chris. So item F1 in the agenda
starting on page 130 in your packet is
to award a construction contract to
Design Electric. This project
SP073070-032
is our rural intersection lighting
project. There are 10 intersections
throughout the county that have
identified uh having a need to be lit
for uh increased safety at those
intersections. Um we received two bids.
Design Electric was the low bid, but
they're significantly over our estimate.
That's why I wanted to take some time
today to talk about this a little bit.
Uh we had estimated it to cost about
$230,000. The low bid was $44,317.
So that's a 75% almost 76% over our
estimate. So what's happening here? Um a
couple things. One thing, our estimate
might have been uh a bit low. This is a
type of project that we do not construct
every year. In fact, the last time we
did a similar project was four years ago
in 2022. And to put that in perspective,
back then um the bids came out to be
about $27,000
per intersection for very similar
things. You put up two poles kind of
diagonal from each other on the
intersection. Now we're looking at
$40,000 per intersection uh for this
type of lighting. So that's a 50%
increase in just four years of costs.
Before putting on the agenda, we did
reach out to the low bidder to get some
kind of insight on why uh these costs
were what they are. And basically the
response was everything's higher. Labor
[snorts] is higher. Copper is almost
twice the price it was per foot four
years ago. Steel is more. the [snorts]
grass seed is more expensive. The
controller cabinets where all the
electrical circuitry is, uh, he said
those are specifically are three times
the cost that they were [snorts] when
this was a similar project was last bid
in Sterns County. Um, so, uh, that tells
us that it was a fair bid. It just
that's what it is. U, the next lowest
bid was over $500,000, which would have
been 117%
increase over our estimate.
This project is receiving um federal
funds. Um it's receiving um about 80%
well based on our estimate about 80%
federal funds.
And we had set aside about $27,000 or so
of local money levy dollars to go to
this. But based on this low bid, we
would need an additional $144,317
of levy uh to to fund this project if we
award it. [snorts] The good news is we
have other levy funded projects that we
already awarded construction costs or
construction contracts to this year that
have come under what we are budgeting.
One project in particular, County Road
161, was part of our countywide
resurfacing project. We had budgeted
that to be $850,000
and the bids came in at $613,000.
So that right there that had a pro uh
that right there saved us $236,664
of levy. So we have additional levy that
was budgeted for construction this year
that uh savings from other projects that
could cover the overage on this project.
>> [snorts]
» [snorts]
>> With that being said, it is still my
» With that being said, it is still my
county highway engineer recommendation
is go ahead and award a construction
contract to design electric for this
rural intersection lighting project.
>> Thanks for that update, Chris. Uh wishes
» Thanks for that update, Chris. Uh wishes
of the board,
[clears throat]
Mr. Chairman,
>> Commissioner Bertram.
» Commissioner Bertram.
>> Uh Chris, you know, obviously that I
» Uh Chris, you know, obviously that I
think that caught all of our eyes uh
when it comes in over uh over uh the bid
comes in that much higher. Have we done
anything to recruit other potential
biders? I mean, typically if something
comes in that much higher, we rebid it.
Um, I would assume there's been a
discussion on that or a thought about
that.
>> Yeah, that is always something that we
» Yeah, that is always something that we
consider. Um, you know, our bidding
process is a sealed bid process. We
advertise it um on the county website.
We have an online bidding. We had a n
number of plan holders. Some of them
were material suppliers and stuff. uh
and so yeah we received two bids. So we
always consider when it comes to
overestimate should we rebid it. In this
case the volatility in the market uh
especially steel supplies even though
it's required to be domestic foreign
steel is going up as well foreign metals
which drives the cost of domestic
materials up as well. We felt like there
was probably a greater risk or even if
we rebid it again in the future by the
time we rebid it we're not going to see
any reduction in price. Uh, one other
alternative to rebid it is do we cut
something from the project? And when we
look at the 10 intersections, it's
really it was really difficult to
determine which intersection was more
important than the other to sacrifice
one to get a lower bid price. So, yeah,
that's always a consideration, but all
things considered, uh, um, I'm still
recommending we should probably go
forward with this at this time.
>> And, Mr. Chairman, just maybe we should
» And, Mr. Chairman, just maybe we should
think about like recruiting in the
future when we do this a year from now
to see if there's other folks that might
be interested in getting involved in
this because that certainly probably
would help to some degree.
>> Yeah, we we and to these type of
» Yeah, we we and to these type of
projects, traffic signal, electric
lighting, the biders are a lot less than
we see on typical other road
construction projects. So, if we could
find other biders out there, we could
benefit from that in the future.
Okay.
Commissioner Clark,
>> I'm going to make a motion to approve. I
» I'm going to make a motion to approve. I
certainly share uh I think we all
probably share the concerns uh the
Commissioner Bertram brought up, but
also, you know, in talking to you, I
mean, it doesn't seem like this is going
to go down and there is only so many
potential biders at this point anyways.
So, clearly safety is paramount.
» Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a
second?
>> Second. Thank you, Commissioner Johnson.
» Second. Thank you, Commissioner Johnson.
Any further discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor signify
by saying I.
>> I.
» I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Opposed. Motion carried.
» Opposed. Motion carried.
>> All right. Thank you.
» All right. Thank you.
>> That's all I had for the agenda unless
» That's all I had for the agenda unless
there was any questions. I'll step aside
then.
>> Okay. Any questions for Chris?
» Okay. Any questions for Chris?
Otherwise, thank you.
[snorts]
>> Okay. With that, uh, we will recess our
» Okay. With that, uh, we will recess our
regular meeting and open the human
services board meeting. Morning,
Melissa.
All right. Good morning, uh, Mr. Chair,
Commissioners, Melissa Huberty. I'm the
human services administrator. There's
only one item on the human services uh,
regular agenda today, and it's H1 on
page 133. Um, so what we're going to do
is present today that we've had the
largest transformation in Minnesota's
child welfare system in [music] decades.
That's happening right now. So, this is
exciting that we're all living through
this right now. Um the good news is is
that it's not only a focus on prevention
but a requirement of prevention
activities. Um so we're going to go
through that as well as the impacts of
some of major uh systemic and legal
changes, legislative changes in the
Minnesota child welfare. It's the
Minnesota African-American
Family Preservation and Child Welfare
Disproportionality Act, which we've been
calling the act to shorten it, as well
as the changes in age of delinquency and
some other changes at the federal level
that we felt we should do information
sharing now because these changes are
going to significantly impact uh
services at the county level as well as
county budgets. Um, so I have with me
today um, one of our six human services
directors, Nick Henderson, and I'll let
him um, introduce his team and take it
from there.
>> Good morning, Commissioner or Good
» Good morning, Commissioner or Good
morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners. Um,
Nick Henderson, human services director
of the family and children's division.
Um, as Melissa stated, we are here to do
a presentation. I will ask my supervisor
team who has joined me, three of our
seven supervisors in family and
children's to introduce themselves, and
then we'll go ahead and get going.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning,
commissioners. My name is Jenna Laterno.
I supervise our children's mental health
team.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair and
» Good morning, Mr. Chair and
commissioners. I'm Michael Hein and I
supervise the child protection unit D,
which is the intake, after hours, and
rapid response.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners.
» Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners.
My name is Shannon Ericson, and I
oversee the prevention unit.
>> All right. Well, Mr. Chair and
» All right. Well, Mr. Chair and
commissioners, we appreciate this
opportunity to discuss these important
changes with you this morning. Um, there
are several significant child welfare
reforms that will impact Sterns County,
the state of Minnesota, and potentially
the entire United States. When most
people think of public safety, they
think of law enforcement, emergency
public safety systems,
community corrections, and emergency
response. However, the child welfare
welfare system is a critical component
of our public safety system. Every day,
child protection workers make difficult
decisions involving the safety of
vulnerable children, the rights of
parents, and the stability of families.
The work we do helps prevent abuse,
neglect, and reduce future involvement
in the juvenile and criminal justice
systems, and strengthen families and
strengthen families before a crisis
arises. Unlike many other public
systems, child welfare carries a unique
level of accountability. Our workers are
expected not only to make the best
decisions possible with the information
available at the time, but also
demonstrate they have made sufficient
efforts to prevent harm, preserve
families, and achieve positive outcomes.
These expectations are evaluated hours,
days, weeks, months, and even years
later against the standards that
continue to evolve. It's also important
to acknowledge the increasing complexity
of the families we serve,
including higher rates of mental health,
substance use disorder, trauma
histories, housing instability, poverty,
and poverty related stressors. At the
same time, we continue to face
challenges related to limited or delayed
access to appropriate services,
workforce shortages, and gaps in
community- based resources. In addition,
system outcomes are influenced by the
values, beliefs, biases and practices
and approaches of multiple system
partners, including schools, law
enforcement, courts, attorneys, guardian
at items, and our service providers.
Each of which plays an important role in
how our families experience the system
and the timeliness and consistency of
supports that they receive. Today,
Minnesota is undertaking the most
significant child welfare reforms we
have seen in decades. These include the
age of delinquency change, the Minnesota
African-American family preservation and
child welfare disproportionality act,
the federal family first prevention
services act, and finally the federal
the newest federal initiative known as a
home for every child. Each of these
reforms is re rooted in one common goal.
improving outcomes for children and
families by preventing system
involvement whenever possible,
strengthening family preservation
efforts, reducing disparities, and
ensuring children have a safe, stable,
and permanent home. These changes will
require significant adjustments to our
practices, staffing, service delivery,
technology, community partnership, and
the resources we utilize. Our goal today
is to provide an overview of these
changes, discuss the opportunities, and
they present and help you understand the
impacts they'll have on our county and
our ability to continue to protect the
children and families in our community.
So, a little bit of an overview for
today. Um, we will go over give a broad
overview of the family first prevention
services act, talk about the act, uh,
the Minnesota age of delinquency change
which goes into effect August 1st. the
newest initiative which Minnesota signed
on to at the end of June, I believe it
was June 28th, a home for every child.
And then finally, understanding the uh
impacts and budget implications. One of
the things that I think is important to
note as we talk about this is child
welfare reform has really been something
that has been happening for five decades
at the federal legislature and it has
been a bipartisan. When I went back and
looked at all of the different uh law
changes that have occurred over the
years, um it has been bipartisan. It was
about 50/50. 50% Democrats, 50%
Republicans that uh were involved in uh
child welfare reform starting back in
1978 with the Indian Child Welfare Act
and then moving forward uh to 2018 with
the Family First um family or the Family
First Preservation Services Act. So, I'm
going to turn it over to General who
will begin um talking about Family
First, which began in 2018.
>> Good morning again. Uh, Families First
» Good morning again. Uh, Families First
was a or is a federal child welfare
reform that came into um play in 2018.
Minnesota did not implement this until
September 30th of 2021.
The family's first um preservation
services act represents one of the most
significant changes to child welfare
funding um that we've had in decades.
Historically, federal funding was
primarily available after a child
entered into foster care. And now
counties and states are able to capture
some of those monies um before the child
enters into care.
Legislation or this legislation reflects
a national shift towards strengthening
families and preventing child
maltreatment whenever it's safe to do
so. Some key things are not all states
are able to draw down these prevention
funds um as it requires approval of
their prevention plan. Um Minnesota does
have an approved plan. However, um there
are limitations with that. As of right
now, parents as teachers and
motivational interviewing are the two
approved programs that we are able to
use.
Title 4 E prevention funds in Stern
County. We have two um motivational
interview trained trainers within our
family and children's division. Um and a
majority of our staff are trained in
motivational interviewing. Uh the
exception to that would be our new hires
who have been here six months or less um
as they're doing other training. Um
overall Minnesota's having some
difficulty in drawing down some of these
funds because the um only people who can
um draw those funds are the child
protection case managers and that is our
area of highest turnover across the
state. Um so not it's proving
challenging to draw those those funds
down.
Um underneath families first, kinship
care is prioritized because children
generally experience better outcomes
when they can remain connected to the
family and community. Uh residential and
congre um placements have more
restrictions, require additional
justification and oversight.
Uh research consistently shows that
children do better when they can safely
remain with their families. Early
intervention often prevents crises from
escalating to the point of removal and
families first provides an opportunity
for more of those family based services
and those long-term um outcomes. Um the
law reflects a broader movement that
you'll hear us talking about today
towards prevention and similar changes.
This leads us into the act which is the
Minnesota African-American Family
Preservation and Child Welfare
Disproportionality Act. we've shortened
it to just the act. Um, this will be
going into effect on January 1st of
2027.
This legislation is representing a
significant practice shift for all
Minnesota counties. The law is intended
to address the disproportionate
involvement of African-American children
and other over representative
populations in the child welfare system.
Counties are increasing
increased service demands, staff
workload, documentation requirements,
costs associated with meeting the active
effort standards.
Active efforts will require agencies to
do more than just offer services.
Counties must actively assist families
in accessing and engaging services.
Um while the implementation details
continue to develop, the counties are
preparing for substantial financial um
costs with this.
Some key requirements of the act. We
must provide active efforts including
safety plans to keep children safely at
home. Support reunification when removal
occurs.
Emergency removals, foster care
placements, and termination of parental
rights are limited to prevent
unnecessary family separation.
There will be mandatory cultural
competency training for all child
welfare professionals and this includes
our case workers, supervisors, judges,
guardian at item attorneys. And lastly,
there will be an annual review of the
child welfare data to identify over
representation across race, culture,
ethnicity, income, and disability.
All child protection cases going forward
or when the act goes into play um will
have to take rigorous sustained action
to keep children safely with their
families and avoid out of home
placements.
We will build trusted network chosen by
the family to help create and carry out
safety plans. Ensure the plan directly
addresses the allegation and includes
needed economic supports when neglect is
involved.
We will involve families with
continuously uh planning decisions,
selecting services and their providers.
We will also inform families how they
can report their concerns to DCYF for
any non-compliance with the act.
right now um the initial guidance from
the state um is that the
we're only going to implement implement
[clears throat] the race and ethnicity
portion um of this this for the first
two years and then the state is going to
do some studies and determine um other
areas of disproportionality.
Um so that is where we are right now. Um
>> Mr. Chair commissioners, before we move
» Mr. Chair commissioners, before we move
forward, I think it is important to note
um we have been hearing a lot of
different conversations from the parent
attorneys around the state. So, the law
was written to implement that uh
disproportionately represented children
or race, culture, ethnicity, disability
status, and low-income socioeconomic
status. Um when the state gave their
guidance, they did indicate that they're
going to do a two-year study on the
disability status and low-income
socioeconomic status to determine
disproportionality or what factors
determine disproportionality. One of the
things that we saw with the early
implementation of the act uh in Henipin
and Ramsey County as they were the early
implementers of this law is that there
was some legal challenges that did come
forth. We do um anticipate because the
law is written in the way that it um
enacts the disability status and
low-income status that the delay that
the state is proposing through their
guidance uh to all of the counties will
be a legal challenge um that we will
anticipate. We have even heard some of
those rumblings here in our county.
» I'd like to take an opportunity to
explain in greater detail the difference
between reasonable efforts and active
efforts. For many years, child
protection agencies have been required
to make what's been considered
reasonable efforts to prevent out of
home placement and reunify families.
Under the law with the act, the standard
shifts to active efforts beginning
January 1st of 2027. Active efforts will
require a higher level of engagement by
our social workers and our agency.
Rather than simply providing a referral,
a worker will need to assist with
scheduling an appointment, coordinating
services, addressing barriers such as
transportation or child care, and
maintain ongoing contact with families
and providers. This approach is intended
to increase family engagement, improve
service participation, and reduce
disparities in child welfare outcomes.
While the goals are positive, active
efforts will require a significant
amount of additional staff time,
increased service availability, enhanced
documentation, and potentially
significant financial investments by
counties. Counties are still awaiting
additional guidance from the state
regarding the implementation
expectations, definition, and compliance
requirements. We anticipate the
estimated cost increase per family could
increase between 30% to 100% and could
double our staff um time spent on each
family. So, I'd like to provide a a
caveat or a short story to help really
kind of paint the picture of what this
might look like. If we're working with a
family who has a housing um issue,
they're homeless or their current
housing arrangement is not working out
for them. In a reasonable effort, we
would provide the family a list of
housing resources, check in with the
family a couple of weeks later, see if
they were able to find an apartment on
said list. They might say, "We're having
a difficult time with a damage deposit."
And then we'd work to potentially um
help them with the damage deposit. That
would be a reasonable effort. In an
active effort situation, we would we
would follow up with the family. Um we
would make those phone calls with that
family. We would call the landlords. We
would call the companies with them.
Let's say they found three apartments
that had openings that fit their
family's needs. We would drive them to
see those apartments. We would help them
fill out the apartment application. We
might pay the the the $30 application
fee. We might look for resources to
furnish the apartment. We might
transport them to the food shelf to get
their first groceries um opportunity. Um
and we also may assist with a damage
deposit. So, as you can see, it's a
significant difference between
reasonable efforts and active efforts
and what our staff are going to be
required to do um come January 1st.
>> Mr. Chair, commissioners, just to be
» Mr. Chair, commissioners, just to be
clear, this is required starting January
1st. And so, it will um the first year
it'll be at least half of our cases and
I believe the second year nearly all of
them.
>> And and this for clarification and this
» And and this for clarification and this
this isn't just the ethnicity race part.
This is everybody. anybody who fits into
the category of disproportionality. And
let's face it, child welfare is a
poverty situation largely. And there are
many disproportionate groups and they're
not just race and ethnicity, but for the
first year starting January 1, they're
going to zero in on race and ethnicity.
And thereafter, it'll be all the other
groups as far as we know, which will
cover all of our cases. So the the the
active efforts that um she's describing
we will have to do basically on at least
half the cases maybe a little more than
half starting January one and then the
next year on all of them.
>> Wow. It's basically handholding.
» Wow. It's basically handholding.
>> Yes. Yes. Significant um support
» Yes. Yes. Significant um support
wraparound services with families. Yes.
>> Okay. Thanks. One of the important
» Okay. Thanks. One of the important
pieces, Mr. chair and commissioners that
I'd like to highlight with that is the
ultimate goal is to keep the children
connected to their families, the
children connected to their communities,
which will hopefully reduce some of the
traumas and reduce some of our auto home
placement impacts.
So, the act is going to be a large shift
for us. Um the the other large shift
which starts August 1st is the law
regarding the age of delinquency which
has been raised from 10 years old to 13
years old. The goal of the legislation
is to ensure younger children receive
developmentally appropriate
interventions rather than juvenile
justice involvement.
Counties expect increased demand for
family services, children's mental
health services, school partnerships,
and community supports.
The change shifts responsibility from
the juvenile justice system toward child
serving systems and prevention focused
interventions.
Additional resources and service
capacity will be necessary to
effectively respond to the needs of
youth and families impacted by this
change.
Currently, our local partners have been
meeting for the last few months uh
looking at the impacts of this law and
how we will respond as community
partners and that has included county
attorney's office, human services, law
enforcement, our medical community and
therapeutic community among others
including judges and guardian at items.
This approach to address this change
will take a multiple dis disciplinary
approach and while we will be working
together on these cases we do expect
there will be some strained situations
that will impact this process. Currently
uh children that engage in serious uh
crimes um have the option of going to
secured detention for a period of time.
that option will no longer exist for
children between the ages of 10 and 13.
Some uh examples that we've experienced
here in Sterns County that will no
longer uh be eligible for delinquency or
detention are uh three examples. One, a
12-year-old child who brings a gun to
school that law enforcement will
respond, but that will be a large human
services child welfare approach. uh
working with partners to figure out how
to keep that child in the community
safe. Another example, 11-year-old child
who sexually assaults a peer at school.
Um so we'll be working together again
with community partners to figure out
how to keep that child in the community
safe. We see a lot of situations with uh
assaults in the within the family system
and we anticipate situations with a
younger child who perhaps assaults a
sibling or uh stabs a parent with a
knife. Uh these are situations that have
happened. So we anticipate additional
time with our after hours staff working
with law enforcement, safety planning,
trying to connect with that family,
friends, neighbors to identify places
for children to be safely um as we look
at implementing those additional
community- based services for children.
Mr. Chair and commissioners, just a few
things on this. Um we looked at the last
5 years data in regards to information
or referrals that the county attorney's
office had received and each year the
children that were between the age of 10
years and uh 12 years and 364 days of
life um were were between 40 and 65
children per year that were estimated to
be in there. and there was over 25 uh on
an annual basis that were estimated to
be of the felony level of offenses that
were served in that capacity. Um,
[snorts] you know, from our officer's
standpoint, it does leave um some angst
and anxiety in regards to if we get a
12-year-old who brings that firearm to
school, how will we ensure that the
community is safe without some of the
restrictive opport or restrictive
resources that we're utilizing the other
systems? And to be clear, those more
severe crimes, we did go to the
legislature this year, made a good uh
case for trying to carve out the most
egregious crimes for the 10 to 13 year
olds. We weren't successful this year,
but I do believe there's momentum for
making change in the next legislative
cycle. So, we do agree with this largely
with the misdemeanor crimes and the
lower crimes, but with those very
serious crimes, what will happen now is
when something very very serious
happens, it's mostly with the
12-year-olds, but let's say something
very, very serious happens, murder, um,
a very big assault or something like
that. Now, Nick's group in child welfare
and social workers will need to do that
instead of Becky's community corrections
area being able to do anything about it.
and um community corrections has more
levers um in terms of securing
juveniles, then Nick will have none of
those resources.
All right, the next piece that we're
going to talk about is the a home for
every child and that's putting the PIP
on a PIP. So um every year u the states
across the United States go through a
child and family um review process um
that is conducted by the feds who come
on site um in all of the states and I
can tell you that for the last 20 plus
years no state in the United States of
America has passed the child and family
services review. Um, so this was our
opportunity where our federal partners
at the Administration of Children and
Family Services have said there's got to
be something wrong with this process and
we need to do something different. Um,
so they started rolling out basically
the opportunity for counties to or
states to elect into a new initiative
that is being put on by the
Administration of Children and Families.
On on June 28th, the state of Minnesota
signed on to a home for every child, uh,
which is the new initiative. Um this
action responds to the state's child and
family services review performance
improvement plan um that the state has
been on for 20 plus years. It was
another it's another unfunded mandate
that pushes early intervention and
prevention. One of the things that we do
hope um I had an opportunity recently um
to meet with some of our federal
partners and part of the shift will also
be an ability hopefully for us to
continue to expand our prevention
services and draw down those title 4E
prevention services um through the um
child welfare um gateway which they have
the list of approved services. So
they're really pushing for states to
take on more um buy in more and invest
more in those prevention services in a
hope that they can draw down more of
those prevention funds. So as stated
earlier, we receive a lot of that title
4E federal funding when children go into
auto home placement for reimbursement
and the goal will be that we actually
will be able to seek reimbursement for
some of the services on the front end.
And I think as we all know and the
University of Chapen Hall um has
demonstrated through some of their
research investment on the front end I
believe their study is that it's three
times cheaper to invest on the front end
than it is for the deep end services. So
oftentimes if we're engaging with a
family that is receiving uh therapeutic
services oftentimes covered by insurance
if not covered by insurance is about
$200 per hour. and out of home placement
costs uh can range anywhere between $440
per day all the way up to $2,300 per day
per child in the family.
Um there are four goals um with this
that the state has identified and so the
state of Minnesota works with the
federal partners and then they'll um
because we're state administered uh
county delivered or county administer or
[snorts] state state run county
administered if I can say it right um
system here in Minnesota um the state
will work with the feds and then we'll
pass it down to the counties but there
are four goals with it and one is to
continue to improve casework practice
and accountability enhance family
engagement relationships and shared
decision-m ensuring that the families
ultimately have a voice and that is not
the system partners who are telling them
what they need uh because I think our
families know what's best improve
permanency planning and placement
stability and then finally advance an
equitable prevention focused and
culturally responsive system
real quick just to continue moving
through here a home for every child is
there is a bulletin through the
administration of children and families
it's technical bulletin 14 which gives
the new guidance in regards to the
initiative it talks about the priority
areas is from the federal government.
And then the key expectations, their key
expectations is that we have one foster
home available for every child in care.
Right now, the estimated national
average is uh there's 59 children uh for
every foster home that is available in
the United States. So, one of the goals
is expanding that service. And one of
the greatest ways that we can expand
that is by uh placing children with
their relatives and with kin and being
able to license them. And then finally,
the counties must expand prevention
efforts and our foster care capacity,
which we have been focusing on for
several years.
This next slide shows a snapshot of the
numbers from 2025 for the family and
children services division. Uh I wanted
to point uh the last bullet there, the
total number of individuals served. So
that shows the number of families that
we are working with uh throughout the
year. You can see the different [snorts]
levels of service there from child
protection, children's mental health,
our licensing of child and foster care
families, um as well as uh children who
are in the 18 to 21 year range receiving
services to help them in early
adulthood. And uh we also have a few
other very um creative initiatives with
the uh juveninal community action team,
parent support outreach, rapid response.
So within this um the percentages as we
talked earlier about the act and the
focus on reducing uh disparities for uh
people of color in the system currently
based on the 2025 numbers in the child
protection and child welfare cases 53%
of the individuals identify as people of
color 17% identified as black and 23%
identified as two or more races. Now the
goal of the act is to reduce disparities
as well as prevent uh unnecessary
placement of children out of the home.
We have seen a steady decline 7% per
year less children experiencing out of
home care on pace for a larger decline
in 2026. We've seen a trend of less
children entering care than exiting
[clears throat] care. So we are making
progress toward that goal but uh a lot
of work yet to be done.
As Michael had previously stated, we do
have a number of creative um in
innovative services that we are working
to implement. Um a number of those
services um are spread amongst our
individual units and are also um across
multiple divisions. Um I would like to
highlight our internships. So that is an
incredible recruitment tool for us. Um
we will have three that will start in
the fall. Uh SCSU, St. Kates, and
Morehead. So, um, continue to be an
internship, uh, place of choice for for
a lot of these young students, which is
really cool, um, to be able to train
them and and grow. Um, goodness knows
it's very difficult work and sometimes
very difficult for, um, us to attract,
um, individuals that that want to do
this great work. So, um, we feel really
excited about the internships that we've
been able to have um, because I do think
it's it's helped a great deal.
the implementation of all of the
requirements that you've heard about
will increase demands on staff uh
resources and our child welfare system
in general. Um the state required
training now exceeds 121 hours per
employee. To put that into perspective,
that's like a semester of college um for
these uh individuals when they come to
work for us. That's an extensive
training um protocol that they're
required by the state um to ensure that
they've had that type of training. And
I'll just add also the training that's
currently available, unless it's
changed, you can correct me if I'm
wrong, Shannon, but um it is not
currently offered in central Minnesota.
So that means we also have to pay for
our staff to go far away, spend the
nights, several nights at like very
frequently to pass their college level
course over months. It is not offered in
our area. So it's very expensive
>> and it's required.
» and it's required.
>> Mr. Chair, commissioners, just to
» Mr. Chair, commissioners, just to
explain where those locations are. They
are the Twin Cities, Duth, Detroit
Lakes, and Marshall, Minnesota.
And it's several days at a time each
month. So it's sending staff mileage,
hotels
gone. They're out of the workforce also.
So wait, go ahead. Sorry. Thank you.
>> Yeah, it is extensive training um that
» Yeah, it is extensive training um that
staff are required to do. Um the complex
cases frequently require coordination
among multiple workers across a variety
of units and divisions, increasing time
and resources needed to achieve um
positive outcomes. At the same time,
statutory changes prohibit secure
detention for youth under age 12 in
these cases, limiting placement.
must address the needs of the entire
family. Not just the child who came to
our attention. It is of the entire
family. So includes mom, dad, brother,
sister and at times if relatives are
caring for them, aunt, uncles,
grandparents and fictive kin. Some of
the things that I think are important to
note is that oftentimes if a family is
coming through the family and children's
door versus the delinquency system per
se, um security detention costs $440 per
day and for us to find a crisis
placement, not have that child enter
through the doors and be cared for here
in the county administration building.
Uh previously referred to as Nick's
Pretty Good Daycare, um the cost for
those crisis services are anywhere
between $800 and $1,300 per day to serve
those children. Active efforts, as we've
stated before, will be required in all
of these cases. And then those children
who are under the age of 13 who enter
our system, active efforts will apply to
them uh if they are a disproportionately
impacted youth beginning January 1st,
2027. There will be increased funding
for community- based services, increased
funding for group homes and non-secure
placements because we cannot utilize
secure placements. Additional staffing
capacities may be of consideration, and
then new technology to hopefully help us
close a service gap and communication
gap. I think everybody is well aware of
the blue screen presentations that have
happened in different areas and our
state antiquated systems which lead to
as we have increased documentation
efforts and requirements with all of our
system partners will be an additional
burden. I just want to give a quick
story on this. The other day Melissa
called me asking me a quick question
about a family. I said Melissa let me
share my screen with you and show you
how long this takes. I had to navigate
three screens which would be three
panes. So if you were on the internet
basically three clicks through the
internet. It took me 17 minutes just to
figure out the address of where this
individual lived.
And with that, uh, we appreciate your
time today, commissioners, and we will
be open to any questions that you may
have.
>> Okay. Well, thanks for the presentation.
» Okay. Well, thanks for the presentation.
Um, I have kind of have one off the
get-go here. You know, this is great,
but this seems like the second half.
Who's is there another group that's
dealing with the first half which to me
would be helping the parents either find
employment uh you know raise themselves
up to maybe prevent some of this?
>> Um Mr. Chair, I think that's a great
» Um Mr. Chair, I think that's a great
question. Um you know that's where the
prevention efforts come in where
hopefully we can utilize some of those
resources on the front end. There are a
lot of community based services who are
out there working with these families.
And then also when they do come to the
attention of our office, even if we
don't screen them in, that is one of our
goals is that we would be referring them
to the services to hopefully support
them before they would fully enter
through the system.
>> Okay. Thanks, Commissioner Johnson.
» Okay. Thanks, Commissioner Johnson.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
» Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Um, I think the whole community deserves
to offer you a big thanks for the work
that you do, you and your staff. This is
a heavy lift and most people aren't
thinking about it on a regular basis.
It's hugely important. Um, a couple of
specific questions. One is, um, on page
139 mentions case review. I know there
was discussion about whether or not the
state would do that or or the county
would do it. What's the decision on
that?
>> Go ahead,
» Go ahead,
>> Mr. Chair, Commissioner Johnson. That
» Mr. Chair, Commissioner Johnson. That
decision has not been finalized yet and
actually will come out in the final
guidance from the state. there is still
a strong legislative position that the
state will conduct those reviews in
conjunction with the county so that we
would assist them with any information
that is missing. Um the state is the one
who does have the systems to and the
technology to be able to conduct those
case reviews as they do in many other
areas and so the hopeful ultimate
outcome is that the state will take that
on.
>> Yes. And that would save us a little bit
» Yes. And that would save us a little bit
of time and effort. Um, you talked about
expanding
[snorts] um, foster care um,
victim uh, kin or relatives?
[clears throat] This may be silly, but
is is there a way to recruit is there a
way to vet more and more people and get
people in the community interested in
doing this kind of work?
Mr. Chair, Commissioner Johnson, we're
actually in the middle of a very strong
recruitment effort right now. We are
working with Town Square Media as well
to get the information out there, tell
the story of our foster parents and
recruiting. We actually, it has been
kind of a successful adventure over the
past several months with our licensing
department. Uh we have licensed seven
new foster homes, which is a huge
increase for us here in Sterns County.
Um over the past several months, we also
have worked with our communities of
color. Um and one of the important
pieces of that being is that we do have
the um requirement from the state with
the act to have culturally responsive,
culturally available homes uh to the
children that we serve. So we did work
with uh local organizations in the
community um to also recruit foster
parents there. Um and those uh were also
very successful events. Um, one of the
areas that we don't have, um, you know,
we don't have a lot of foster providers
of color and, um, we actually were able
to recruit, um, three foster providers
of color recently, which was a huge
success for us and, um, they have been a
great asset to joining our team and
being a resource.
>> Yeah, congratulations. That's great. Um,
» Yeah, congratulations. That's great. Um,
in terms of all this staff education,
other agencies like the technical
college and SCSU are struggling to
increase their strength and presence in
the community. Is it possible to work
with with colleges and universities
locally
to establish curricula that would would
cover the needs of your staff relative
this to the state requirements? Does
that make any sense?
>> Commissioner Johnson or Mr. Chair,
» Commissioner Johnson or Mr. Chair,
Commissioner Johnson, um I think that's
a a wonderful idea. The Child Welfare
Training Academy is the um group who
puts on our training and that is
associated with the University of
Minnesota. I think that you make a very
valuable point though of how could we
connect to bring those resources here.
We have St. Cloud State University, we
have the technical college, we have St.
Ben, St. John's. Um and u so we have
many resources here locally Rasmmanson
um many resources here locally where I
think that that could be a good
partnership and that's certainly
something that we could carry forward uh
to the state.
>> I think the community would be willing
» I think the community would be willing
to help you with that whether it's
center care or greater St. Cloud some
other agencies throughout the community
because I think it'd be really important
to cut the costs to make it more
efficient and to have the program be
local you know that would be really
helpful. Um, you guys presented a lot of
information. Um, and I missed this. I
think Jenna, you talked about um,
drawing down funds and a relationship
between that and staff turnover and I
didn't quite understand that.
» I'll I'll try to do a short and sweet
version.
>> Okay. Thanks. Um, so we're able to
» Okay. Thanks. Um, so we're able to
receive some funding for the work that
we do through Title 4 E prevention
funds, but that requires that they've
meet they've met some standards that go
with that, some training standards. Y
>> um, and right now the only workers when
» um, and right now the only workers when
they're fully trained and fully eligible
to click the button to get us some
funding are the child protection case
managers. So, our licensing workers, our
children's mental health workers, um
they're not eligible to draw down those
funds even though they're doing some
tremendous work with the families as
well. We're hoping that will change in
the future. Um but right now that is the
Minnesota standard
>> and what would cause it to change?
» and what would cause it to change?
>> I'm not entirely sure. I know that
» I'm not entirely sure. I know that
there's talks. I believe Nick, you might
have more information, but uh uh Mr.
Chair, Commissioner Johnson, in in
regards to the changes that are
occurring. Um, that has been one of our
biggest advocacies to the Department of
Children, Youth, and Family Services is
that prevention work doesn't ultimately
begin with our case managers. Case
manager means that we have identified
the point that the family needs case
management, longerterm services being
offered by our offices. And so, the
state right now is looking at refining
their plan. And so, that plan has to
then be resubmitted to the federal
government. Um I think there's some
clarification perhaps that could also
occur between the state of Minnesota and
the federal government on that I think
that it could apply um to the other
areas. So one of the largest areas for
us that we come into contact with
families initially is at the
investigation or assessment stage. So
that's when Michael Heinen's unit
receives that initial call of a child
protection report and we're going out to
assess the family. That's really where
those services are needed. That's where
the um heavy lift begins for our agency.
And so we are advocating that to the
state of Minnesota right now. And uh in
my last conversation with them actually
last week there is a strong momentum for
that plan to be changed so that we can
draw those funds down earlier. One of
the things I really want to give a kudos
to our department on uh in the entire
state of Minnesota. We are the only
agency with all of our staff who have
been here 6 months or more to have them
fully trained in motivational
interviewing. Um Henipin County, Ramsey
County have done a great job. um in
their amount of staff and it's actually
one of those things where the state is
looking to us to say how did you guys
get the buy in from your staff to be
successful with this
>> and that's one of those programs in
» and that's one of those programs in
which is required in order to draw down
the federal funding you have to have
them trained on that so it's hard to um
get providers also generally I'll say
generally to fit the federal guidelines
so that we can use their services and we
can draw down the federal funds it is
never simple in human services in terms
of financing so
>> thank for answering the questions and
» thank for answering the questions and
thank you for the work. I mean, I can't
say that enough. Thanks,
>> Commissioner Clark.
» Commissioner Clark.
[clears throat]
>> Thank you. Actually, building off of
» Thank you. Actually, building off of
what Commissioner Johnson was just
talking about, I've been thinking
something similar. I mean, besides the
fact that it's kind of crazy that the
state isn't offering any of the training
locally given all the places you just
brought up, right? Um but uh SCTCC and
SCSU have really embarked on a new array
of pathways and thinking about what
potentially could be a next cohort. Um
whether it is providing credentials that
could be stackable working on
technology. I was thinking about all the
changes right the motivational
interviewing talk about what's happening
with your internships. there could be a
great way
>> to be expanding recognizing how hard it
» to be expanding recognizing how hard it
can be to make sure that the demand is
such uh that they can have um steady
class sizes. But there's some cool
opportunities within customization. And
part of the reason why I was bringing up
the public ones is it gives the
legislature yet another reason to
actually be, you know, working and
providing those those funds. But we we
do have a lot of blessings with higher
ed around us. And we have trainers,
right? We have people who already know
how to do all of this. And let's face
it, once we finally get past the green
or the blue screens, there's a whole lot
more training there that's going to need
to be done. Uh so just wanted to at
least uh reinforce that piece of it. uh
as well as what you all do is just
amazing and our turnover is less than
some places but the stress, the burnout,
the challenges. You did such a great job
talking about um reasonable and active
efforts. One of the things to me as you
were talking and been thinking about
this a bunch is we got a bunch of areas
where there isn't housing, where there
isn't other opportunities. So you can be
being as active as you want. You may or
may not be able to help a family find
find it. So getting the resources that
we need, getting the legislature to be
uh more reasonable and what expectations
are and speeding up SSIS and the new
version is going to be key to all this
happening. So please thank your
colleagues, too. I mean, it's just it's
pivotal. So thank you.
>> Mr. Chair, Commissioner Clark, if I can
» Mr. Chair, Commissioner Clark, if I can
add one thing real briefly. Um, you had
mentioned staff turnover and that is a
highlight that I'd like to highlight
here in Sterns County. While the number
may seem high, the national average for
turnover in particular with child
protection case managers is anywhere
between 20 and 40% depending on the
agency and the jurisdiction that has
served in Sterns County and the Family
and Children's Division. Our turnover as
a whole, um, last time that we had
received the numbers was 11%.
» Mr. chair. That's that is certainly
something to celebrate and
[clears throat] it's just going to get
harder for people.
» Any other comments? I one quick question
on guardian at lightum. Does the county
license them or who license?
>> Mr. Chair, um the guardian at lightems
» Mr. Chair, um the guardian at lightems
is a state-run program. So the state is
the one who oversees the program. And
then are they um how do they come about
as far as being part of the Sterns
County,
>> Mr. Chair? Um the guardian items are
» Mr. Chair? Um the guardian items are
appointed in the child protection cases.
So anytime that a child is removed from
the home or the family becomes court
involved um they are automatically uh
appointed a guardian at item. They can
also be appointed in other matters. Uh
so if a family is going through a
divorce or custody case, a guardian item
can also be appointed by the court in
those matters. Good and several other
opportunities.
>> All right. Thanks. Any
» All right. Thanks. Any
Commissioner Perski?
>> Mr. Chair, uh first of all, thank you
» Mr. Chair, uh first of all, thank you
folks for your work. Thank your staff.
Uh there's a lot of faces out there
we're not seeing that are out there on
the battlefield doing these things. This
is not pretty business. Uh I've got page
and a half of things I've written down.
Uh but
you know, we're not the immediate
solution to this. The the problem we
have is across the nation. The problem
is across the world. It's poverty, it's
affordability, it's housing, its wages,
its nutritional needs, its violence, its
abuse. And we're not just going to make
that go away by putting people out there
and trying to face it. It's it's
something in the system and
across the board things have got to
change to make things better for these
families so that they can afford a place
to live that they can put afford to put
uh food on the table and they can keep
their kids in school and they have a
safe place to live. Okay. Uh on January
1, the light switch isn't going to just
come on and we're going to be able to
solve these problems. It's going to
take, you know, a lot of work and it's
going to take some time to get these
things realized. Um I it's it's
overwhelming, but we're going to have to
face it. Um what I'm concerned is,
are we going about it the right way? Are
we just putting a band-aid on it? We we
know we talk about wishful thinking.
Yeah, we don't we want to keep
[clears throat] the child in the home,
but if the child's threatened by one of
the parents or the other parents or
another sibling, how do we make that
safe for them? How do you do that? You
You're talking out of both sides your
mouth about wanting to keep them in that
environment, but that environment is not
what's best for that child.
I'm not giving us an a solution. I'm
just talking about the problem. And I I
wish I had better answers, but we we've
got to do more. And and maybe across the
departments though, too, we can do more.
That it's just not your burden. You
know, we in the criminal justice system,
we can do more. Maybe in affordable
housing, we can do more. Uh
finding these folks, some working with
the school districts, we can do more.
But, uh I I I I it's it's overwhelming.
And again, starting January 1, we're not
going to be able to turn on on a switch
and be able to address these problems
and have all the answer. Maybe we need
to take a look also as as how we're
doing it and and and how effective we
can be with the people that we have. And
these again, the people that are on the
front line, you can very much understand
their burnout because of the things that
they face when they go into a home or
what when they talk to a a belligerent
parent or uh one of the clients that's
dropping the fbomb every other word on
them and maybe being violent with them.
That's tough stuff to see. But again,
hope hopefully amongst ourselves, the
school districts, the county, city, we
can maybe make some improvements. I'm
I'm sorry, that's all I got to say.
>> Mr. Chair, Commissioner Persky, if I can
» Mr. Chair, Commissioner Persky, if I can
just add one thing. One, I really
appreciate your comments and to your
comments that you've alluded. I think
we're very very fortunate here in Sterns
County and central Minnesota with all of
our partnerships. We have I I believe
from the family and children's end, we
greatly appreciate our partnerships with
law enforcement, uh with Centricare,
with the Central Minnesota Mental Health
Center, with all of our local uh
providers who are here locally.
Everybody comes together and responds.
And when we think about the age of
delinquency and we pulled together our
first meeting with all of our system
partners, we met in room 499, had a big
square up set up in that room and we had
to pull more chairs in. So the community
did did come together and I think from
the family and children's end um
gratitude to all of our system partners
who come together when we make that
difficult call to say we have a child
that doesn't have a home right now. Can
you help us out? There's always somebody
who's willing to step up. When we have
children that are acting out that are
physically aggressive and um you know
are being separated from their parents,
our law enforcement partners come to the
call. locally here recently. Uh the
Sterns County Sheriff's Department
assisted us in a in a critical situation
and actually provided transportation
assistance. They didn't transport the
child, but they followed us all the way
to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to ensure
the safety of our staff and those
children were um you know, made it to
their destination when there was a lot
of risk with it. So, I think you make
some very valid points and I appreciate
you bringing those forward.
>> Mr. Chairman, um it's too depressing to
» Mr. Chairman, um it's too depressing to
talk much about it. I I wrote down a lot
of questions. I'll share some of those.
But it's so unfortunate that this is all
societal driven. I mean, this is not 50
years ago this didn't exist. I mean, and
people have a hard time if you haven't
been exposed to it or you haven't uh
either directly or indirectly have a
hard time getting their arms around
this. But when we say that a fourth of
our residents are on some kind of
assistance, people find that hard to
believe. Um, and you know,
[clears throat] uh, when you talk,
Commissioner Perski, you know, who's
going to solve this? Government's not
going to solve it. This is
communitydriven,
family driven, societal, and, um, yeah,
[snorts] it's overwhelming. It's
depressing. Uh, when I hear that there's
800 kids in the St. Thought School
District that are homeless, it's hard
for me to comprehend that. I believe it
because that's the information we're
given, but I just can't believe it
because I don't see it. and and I do
believe it, but how unfortunate. Um, and
it just makes me count my blessings that
I grew up in a family structure the way
uh I did and a lot of us did, but that's
not always the case. And some of this is
been a evolution of spiraling down of
people not being involved in the
community, not knowing their neighbor,
not going to church. um all those things
start tearing apart the family structure
and um falls on our doorsteps and I I
I'm a little shocked that all this
happens with are such uh active
participation with AMC and NO and all
those things and you know that we we do
have the ears of a lot of the
legislators and federal and state
legislators with the county uh
involvement that you know people then
sit down and say okay how's this going
to work out what is you You said
something about reasonable versus
active. Uh again, what's reason? We
aren't going to solve this. You know,
getting to Commissioner Persky's point
again, we're not going to solve this. I
mean, we're it is a band-aid, but and of
course, as you all know, the system does
get used by people who are in a in a
divorce situation where they're going to
pit one parent again. Some of it is very
legitimate, very unfortunate. Some of
it's being manipulative as far as trying
to make accusations to do and you got
that widespread of how many cases did
did you identify how many cases you
have? If you did, I missed it. I'm
sorry,
>> Commissioner Bertram. Depending on the
» Commissioner Bertram. Depending on the
case numbers um specifically, we did
serve just over 3,200 individuals. Um I
just looked at the numbers um and and
don't hold me to when I say this number
and I can certainly provide it to you.
Um but we had over 600 um active um case
management cases and those are just case
management cases because our numbers
come in in in different ways. Uh they
come in through intake and assessment.
Uh so that's where we conduct an
assessment investigation. So we
determine does it meet the criteria of
our uh 106 pages I believe of our child
protection screening guidelines that we
have to memorize. Uh if they meet that
criteria that we screen them in, we
investigate them. Uh meet with the
families, determine what are their uh
risk needs. So we kind of do a risk
needs assessment and then um ultimately
if they have a need for longerterm case
management that's where we get into the
cases and that's 600 cases. Now the
cases don't identify exactly the number
of individuals because they're all based
on family size. We have family sizes
that raise from you know from a mother
and f or a mother or father and a child
um all the way up to I think the largest
family system that I've seen so far in
my time is 12 children. Uh I believe two
mothers and three fathers in that family
system. So
>> talk about societal. [snorts]
» talk about societal. [snorts]
[sighs]
>> So that was a lot of information that we
» So that was a lot of information that we
presented today. We'll be back on August
4th for a work sessions. So questions
that you have, you can think about this
and we'll be back to answer those
questions or talk more about this
situation specific to the budget process
as well the next board meeting.
>> All right.
» All right.
>> Thank you, Chairman. I did have I've
» Thank you, Chairman. I did have I've
just thought of it. Uh, so was this was
this one I know and we've heard about
this for so long because we've been told
to contact lead. Was it like one
straight up vote for it or against it?
What was how
who voted for it? Who voted against it?
I'd like to see that. Uh, if it was a
straight up
>> one issue, one bill kind of a vote.
» one issue, one bill kind of a vote.
>> Uh, Mr. Chair um and Commissioner
» Uh, Mr. Chair um and Commissioner
Bertram, I believe it was,
um not a straightup vote. [laughter]
Um I believe the chairs of the committee
though were very strong and held a lot
of power if I'm not mistaken and were
unmovable on this. So, it didn't matter
that there was a lot of and I even think
bipartisan concern. This was not a one
side party or the other side of the
party. It was an all-out battle and I
believe the chairs of the the the
committee held strong no matter what the
feedback was and some of you were
involved in that. I think um so correct
me if you have more information but it
was not a straight up vote. Oh no.
[laughter]
>> And when I say straight Mr. Chairman
» And when I say straight Mr. Chairman
when I say who voted for it who voted
against it and again some of this stuff
are are issues in some areas and less of
issues in other areas. And of course,
it's always that attitude of we're going
to fix this statewide, not understanding
that the regions of the state are very
different. And you know, at what point
do we say that's enough or yes,
>> you know, whatever. But that that's what
» you know, whatever. But that that's what
I'm trying to get at. But uh there there
had to be uh and again I didn't follow
it and maybe Matt can help with that.
But what actual was was the vote that
kicked this all in and who voted for it
and who because again that
accountability
>> does need to again if I'm going to try
» does need to again if I'm going to try
to fix something in this area. I'm not
just going to
>> uh go to somebody on the street and say
» uh go to somebody on the street and say
let's have a cup of coffee and let's
come up with something. I'm gonna sit
down with folks like you and saying and
certainly you guys Nick and Melissa, but
you guys who really really are dealing
with that's where I'm going to go and
say, "Okay, how do we fix this? What do
we do?"
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> And of course, that obviously didn't
» And of course, that obviously didn't
happen here. May have happened in Ramsay
or Henipin. Didn't happen here to the
degree that it should have. Otherwise,
we wouldn't be dealing with this.
Generally, I would say most people
agreed with the value of the law, but
not how it was going to be implemented
and certainly not how it was resourced.
So, the big battle was over. We all I
think generally people agreed to do
this. We all agree we should do
prevention, but people did not agree on
that. They didn't resource it. We don't
have the providers. The reality on the
street is we don't even have the
providers to provide these services that
we're now being required to have
involved in cases. So, it was more
around those arguments, not around the
value of the law. So agreement around
value, not around resourcing it.
>> And I would say, Mr. Chairman, that
» And I would say, Mr. Chairman, that
easily 98% of the people in insurance
county don't know this is going on,
don't understand this. [snorts] You
know, even if they're part of the
system,
they may not care that it's costing what
it's costing to do this and uh you know,
because they see themselves as victims
or whatever. And of course, in the
societal numbers that don't need by the
grace of God these services and never
will, you know. So, it's it's just a
cesspool of
>> issues.
» Okay. [laughter]
>> Well, thanks thanks for the
» Well, thanks thanks for the
presentation. Uh, it's greatly
appreciated and we appreciate the staff
and the time and effort you put into um
helping the individuals that basically
fall underneath your
headings to take care of. You know,
hopefully something comes about at the
next session to kind of clear some of
the mud up in the air. So,
>> and make the load a little lighter to to
» and make the load a little lighter to to
lift.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
» Yeah. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you. Thank you.
» All right. Thank you. Thank you.
>> Okay. With that, we'll close the human
» Okay. With that, we'll close the human
services board and reconvene the regular
county board. Is everybody okay if we
run the public hearing before we take a
break?
>> Yep.
» Yep.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Okay. So, we do have a a short um
» Okay. So, we do have a a short um
PowerPoint that Sarah and Jeff will go
over and then of course open the public
hearing and go from there.
[clears throat]
>> Good morning, Commissioner. Sarah O,
» Good morning, Commissioner. Sarah O,
finance director in the auditor
treasures office.
>> I'm Jeff Swson, the accounting
» I'm Jeff Swson, the accounting
supervisor in the auditor's treasures
office. And
>> we should have a presentation that's
» we should have a presentation that's
coming up about the fee schedule changes
that we'd like to talk about this
morning. So, we have a short
presentation where Jeff will go over the
uh proposed changes that the department
and the auditor treasures office and the
budget committee have all seen. Uh we
will go through those changes briefly
and then we'll request that you open the
public hearing and uh take public
comment on that.
So, just to uh remind each of you, we go
through this process every year and each
year we we pick a quarter of the county
departments to review their fees. This
year the review was done in depth on the
attorney's office, human services and
parks, but we also allow all departments
to come forward if they have fee changes
that they feel are um reasonable or
needed within their areas. And we had
some of those come forward as well. So
Jeff gets all that information from the
departments. He looks at the average
cost to provide the service and then we
weigh that with the public private
benefit of the service and uh kind of
look at some comparable counties and
such to see what's reasonable. So I will
turn it over to Jeff to talk through
those proposed changes.
>> Good morning Mr. Chair commissioners. Um
» Good morning Mr. Chair commissioners. Um
well I'll go through each slide here to
talk about the changes. Um environmental
services had one little change or just
changing the name of a fee. Um the next
one extension is they're removing the
pressure gauge testing. We got a notice
from the University of Minnesota
extension recommending that we remove
that feed due to liability concerns.
>> So that's why we're
» So that's why we're
>> Good. Good thing that one's getting
» Good. Good thing that one's getting
removed because gauge couldn't quite fit
the gauge spelling.
[laughter]
>> Oh yeah.
» The next one is we'll talk about the
sheriff's department. The sheriff's
department is proposing to increase many
of the civil fees by $10 to be
comparable with other counties. We
surveyed other counties and they're
charging $95 to $120 for the same civil
process fees. The county was set at 70.
We're proposing to increase to 80. Those
increases are anticipated increase
revenue revenues by about $55,000. We're
also increasing the hourly wage wage
rate for deputy services to increase
with that increased cost or staffing
costs. And then this is the proposed
list of changes for the sheriff's
office. So those are all the civil
process fees that are going from 70 to
80.
Um the next one we'll talk about is
human services family and children.
They're removing two foster care license
fees and they're reducing the adoption
study fee. Um the footnote here is
starting April 1st, 2026, the state of
Minnesota took over corporate foster
care licensing and collection of the
fees. The state charges $2,50 per
corporate foster care facility and share
50% of that fee with the counties. So
the county should collect 1,025 for each
license renewal going forward. It's
anticipated the county will collect more
in foster care licensing fees than in
previous years due to this change.
And the next one is public health.
They're proposing to increase two fees
and remove six fees. Um the fees being
removed were not being charged
individual clients that were already
receiving public assistance, which is
the majority of the public health
clients. Many of the clients that were
charged did not pay in collection
efforts were timeconuming and generally
unsuccessful. Therefore, human services
recommends removing the fees from the
schedule.
>> Mr. Chairman, that doesn't eliminate the
» Mr. Chairman, that doesn't eliminate the
cost of the service.
>> Correct.
» Correct.
>> Uh and again, kind of a step spiral. So,
» Uh and again, kind of a step spiral. So,
there's a cost to the service I can't
pay or won't pay. So, then we remove it,
which is fine. Then you got the flip
side of that where people are paying
what the fee is. And again, it's a
societal
spiral. [snorts]
>> Correct.
» Correct.
Um, the next department we'll talk about
is parks. Parks is proposing to increase
12 12 fees, remove four four fees. Um,
they're updating it facility reservation
fees to address the increasing
maintenance costs. Um, they're removing
some wedding related search charges. Um,
they're removing the firewood. We no
longer sell it. They're increasing the
fine for failing to purchase a vehicle
permit at Corey Park. And calculating
fees with the parks is challenging
because the direct cost for park land
and shelters cannot be easily measured.
We know [clears throat]
um here is the list of the park fees
that are changing. They're changing the
shelter permits from 60 to $75 per day
at the various county parks.
And then this is the the second section.
Mr. Chair,
>> Perski.
» Perski.
>> Yeah. Say and then on the on that chart,
» Yeah. Say and then on the on that chart,
can we just change that one on the uh on
the sticker fee? Can you go back next?
>> You know, see it says, you know, failure
» You know, see it says, you know, failure
for parking permit
>> and it's got one at $10, one at 15. Now
» and it's got one at $10, one at 15. Now
they both go to 20. Y
>> can that just be failure to
» can that just be failure to
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> on a permit?
» on a permit?
>> Yep. I can combine them. Yep.
Um, if you have any specific questions,
the departments are here. Department
directors are here if you have any spec
specific questions on these fees that
are being changed. Um,
and then we need to hold a public
hearing and then we'd like the board to
take action and the fees would be
effective January 1. These fees are
reflected in the budget.
>> Okay. Uh with that after that
» Okay. Uh with that after that
presentation I will open the public
hearing.
Is there anyone here wishing to uh
address the board in regards to the fee
changes for the public hearing?
Anyone here wishing to
come up to the podium and speak at the
public hearing?
Again, anyone here wishing to speak on
behalf of these changes? Seeing no one,
I'll close the public hearing.
discussion board or a motion.
>> Mr. Chairman, again, uh, nobody knows
» Mr. Chairman, again, uh, nobody knows
about this and they're not going to know
about this unless they have to do one of
the permits, but it's obviously we have
to keep up with what our costs are and
there's nobody can argue that, but uh,
uh, nobody is aware of this. Uh, and
that's why we have the public hearing,
everything. I'm not surprised nobody's
here. They're they're not affected until
they go in to buy something and then
they'll see that it is. And but again,
we need to do what we need to do.
>> Maybe a question. Are most of these um
» Maybe a question. Are most of these um
the fees like you go to Quarry Park, is
it posted like when you come in the
parking fee or is Okay, I see Ben's
nodding his head. Does that apply too to
like Two Rivers County Park or
Sorry, Ben.
>> [sighs and gasps]
» [sighs and gasps]
>> I'm just curious if there was a QR thing
» I'm just curious if there was a QR thing
they scan when they come if they didn't
pay in advance.
>> Yeah. No. So, Corey Park is the only
» Yeah. No. So, Corey Park is the only
park where we have a parking pass that
is required. Anybody can walk in, bike
in for free. We have a partnership with
the Great River Regional Library that
people can actually check out free
passes to go to Corey Park. But yes, it
is posted online. It's posted when
people come into Corey Park. All of our
reservation fees for our shelters are
posted online. Those reservations have
to be made online or they need to call
the park office. So,
>> okay. All right.
» okay. All right.
>> Yes, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that's true. And
» Yes, Mr. Chair. Yeah, that's true. And
and so we have no other fees within our
parks. They're open to the public to be
used. This is just a parking fee that we
have at Corey Park.
>> And the other ones are shelter if
» And the other ones are shelter if
they're going to have
>> if they have a shelter,
» if they have a shelter,
>> birthday party or something.
» birthday party or something.
>> Correct.
» Correct.
>> Shelters are free to use. It's just if
» Shelters are free to use. It's just if
they want it reserved for them, then
they we ask they pay the fee. Otherwise,
if somebody shows up and nobody's in it,
people can use it. So,
>> okay.
» okay.
>> Okay. Uh, which is Well, I I do have one
» Okay. Uh, which is Well, I I do have one
other question. What What percent of the
sheriff deputies cost is being actually
recovered at the $80? [snorts]
» I mean, if you don't know it now, that's
just the sheriff's office. We didn't I
didn't analyze their fees this year. I
mean, dig down with it with their fees,
but it's probably around, if I had to
guess, it's 70 80% recovering, but I
don't know for sure. So,
>> okay, that just popped into my head when
» okay, that just popped into my head when
you were going through them before.
Okay. Wishes of the board.
So I'll just remind the board is of
course fees are one of those things we
don't necessarily like to do but it is
uh the person receiving the service or
the goods is paying for a big portion of
that and this prevents it from going on
to the levy. Right. So
>> Commissioner Clark
» Commissioner Clark
>> and Mr. Chair to that for that reason I
» and Mr. Chair to that for that reason I
will move approval of the fe these as
proposed.
>> Okay we have a motion. Thank you
» Okay we have a motion. Thank you
commissioner Johnson for the second.
Further discussion? Seeing none. Oh,
Commissioner Johnson.
>> Um, I just have a comment. I I think the
» Um, I just have a comment. I I think the
increases are modest.
>> Um, if you compare shelter fees for the
» Um, if you compare shelter fees for the
county relative to some cities, they're
quite a bit less. And uh so I think
we're we're doing well by the the
members of our community to to be
moderate in our approach and and
hopefully you know covering as much of
the cost as we can in each situation.
But
okay, any further discussion?
If not, all those in favor signify by
saying I
>> I
» I
>> opposed. Motion carried. Thank you.
» opposed. Motion carried. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Uh with that, we'll take a
» Thank you. Uh with that, we'll take a
short five minute break.
All right, we'll call the board meeting
back in session. Uh, next item is
administration.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
» Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> You have the performance measures first.
» You have the performance measures first.
You satisfied the requirements with the
little state program last time by
passing that resolution. Um, so we
entered into the state program, get a
little dollars back for doing that. Um,
[snorts] but we didn't do the
fullfledged presentation of uh our
annual performance measures which are
many more than what the what the state
requires. So going to turn it over to
deputy administrator Jill and you can
take it from here. [snorts]
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair, board members. Um,
» Thank you, Mr. Chair, board members. Um,
so as Mike said, this was um uh for on
last uh month's agenda, but moved to
this one, but we did get that um
paperwork in time for the um state for
the OSA office. So, they'll be sending
us a check here. Um in addition to that,
we do get levy limit protections if the
state legislature decides to do levy
limits. Doing that program prevents us
from um having to do a levy limit. So
good thing for us to do. Um so the
performance measure system has been
something we've been doing for a number
of years. It's on our strategic plan um
to evaluate what measures we're
collecting. So um in the future this
presentation might be looking a little
bit different, but in the board packet
you had um many dozens of different
performance measures. This presentation
um focuses kind of on services to the
community measures. Um in addition, the
state program has 24 different measures
um for which you can submit 10 of those
24. Um and so we kind of subbed in some
different measures this year due to what
data that we could collect.
All right. [snorts]
So we're going to start off first with
the county attorney's office and Mike is
here to to pitch hit for attorney
Kendall.
Oops. Got the little chair. [laughter]
I gotta feel like I'm a big boy. Good
morning. Um, Michael Lee, chief deputy
county attorney. Janelle sends her um
regrets. She is enjoying her summer
vacation. Um, in choosing uh our
performance measures, the the county
attorney's office uh is focused on
measuring how we use the significant
resources allotted to us to meet the
county's mission, particularly assuring
a safe community for all. As you might
imagine, with the public law firm, uh
the resources given to us consist mainly
of personnel uh or attorneys who do the
work of the office. We do not have
things, we have people. understanding
what is taking up their time is
necessary to ensure uh the resources we
have are properly directed to meet the
county's mission. So the measures we've
chosen provide a glimpse of the work in
each of our three divisions uh criminal,
juvenile, and civil. And they kind of
give an overall snapshot of how we are
using those resources. Uh the first
slides that you see come from our
criminal division who's primarily
responsible for prosecuting our criminal
offenses. uh and the most um resource
intensive activity within that division
uh is our trial work and you see the two
slides before you. One shows the number
of cases that are scheduled or set for
trial and the number of cases on the
right that actually do try. As you can
see the number of cases set for trial
has returned to basically a precoid
level. Uh but the percentage of trials
actually held uh has increased. The
cases we are trying also look different.
Law enforcement has new tools, body
camera, phone searches, uh vehicle
trackers, and other types of electronic
data that we just never had access to
for to before. Uh but with that comes
additional work. Uh our prosecutors and
our staff have to review um all of that
information um before we get set uh and
uh and are prepared for trial. So, um,
and that's not a bad thing, uh, because
as prosecutors, we like all the evidence
that we can get. More evidence usually,
uh, is a good thing. But the simple, uh,
matter is that trying a case today takes
more time and resources than it did, uh,
even five years ago. Uh, and there's
also just one little, uh, snippet on the
bottom there. Um, kind of something
that's happened uh, a lot more
frequently in the last couple of years.
We've had cases settle on the day of
trial, which sounds like a good thing,
but the reality is all the time and
effort to prepare that case uh still had
to be uh invested. So, it takes almost
as much time to prepare those cases uh
for trial as it does to actually try the
case.
Um and with some of those new tools, the
chart on your left, uh those new tools
that law enforcement has available, uh
require additional work on our part. Um
particularly uh some of those tools
require additional search warrants. Um
and we provide 247 uh on call coverage
uh for law enforcement to call when they
have legal questions and need to have a
warrant review because we do review each
and every warrant that is uh submitted
to the court before the court gets it.
Um so you can see from this chart we
started and we recognize this additional
work [clears throat] and started
tracking it in 2024. Uh and you can see
just based on our pace um for 2026,
we're going to double the number of
search warrants that we uh review from
uh from 2025 to 2026.
The middle chart um deals with our
juvenile division and our juvenile
division handles child protection
matters and delinquency prosecution.
uh as the legal adviser to human
services and child protection cases in
particular. Uh a lot of our work is uh
consulting with social workers to assist
them uh in determining whether to file a
child protection matter uh or ensuring
other legal legal requirements are met.
I think you heard Mr. Henderson talk
about the 106 page guide that the social
workers have to fi uh have to uh review
and be familiar with. we assist them in
kind of working through um those
particular cases. Uh and as you can see
since COVID or 2020, the consults we've
had uh have nearly doubled. Uh and I
think as you also heard from uh the
human services folks with the
legislative changes, that's only going
to increase. uh and as they get
additional if or when they get
additional staffing those additional um
uh legislative requirements will require
them to consult with us more often. So,
uh it won't be as big a hu uh resource
drain on us as it is obviously on human
services. Um but when their work goes
up, our work goes up as well. And the
final chart you have there uh is from
our civil division. Uh they provide
legal advice to county departments. uh
they handle civil commitments, child
support uh amongst other uh duties. Uh
but the one area that we do pride
ourselves on is answering requests for
legal opinions from the departments uh
and others in the county. Uh we continue
to encourage departments to ask for
legal opinions to help guide decisions
uh that may affect the county's
liability or simply to understand what
is or what isn't permitted under a
certain statutory uh scheme or
otherwise. uh the number of legal
opinions requested has doubled uh since
before COVID and again that's not a bad
thing. Uh we think it reflects a
positive movement where departments are
asking uh for our advice uh or opinion
to help guide their action. Uh and as
lawyers we always prefer to be asked on
the front end before the lawsuit uh
comes in.
>> Any questions?
» Thank you.
>> Don't see any. Thanks Mike. Right. Next
» Don't see any. Thanks Mike. Right. Next
we have the auditor treasures office and
Ry's going to take those.
>> So the first one is the uh payment plans
» So the first one is the uh payment plans
um quarterly and 10 months and these are
for current taxes and we continue to see
a steady increase in those electronic
tax statements um people getting their
TNT tax statement and valuation notices
online and that continues to increase.
So that makes it more convenient for
them and also saves us time and money on
postage and such.
Um [clears throat]
so the virtual services is a virtual
license center. Um we continue to see a
steady increase in that. We have all the
services that we can provide online
online in the virtual license center and
um we probably have one of the most
robust websites on that in the state.
um number assess special assessment
projects uh continue to go up. So this
does not include uh the solid waste but
everything else that comes from
primarily cities and watersheds. Um so a
lot of special assessment and a lot of
dollars there.
Don't know if we have any more. Thank
you.
>> Commissioner Commissioner Johnson,
» Commissioner Commissioner Johnson,
>> I can speak on
» I can speak on
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Commissioner Johnson, go ahead.
>> Okay, Mr. Chair, thank you. Um Randy, in
» Okay, Mr. Chair, thank you. Um Randy, in
terms of quarterly and 10-month tax um
payment plans,
>> what is the incidence of delinquency and
» what is the incidence of delinquency and
and how much money might that involve?
So the ones that uh are on those often
have been doing a escrow and then now
their mortgage is paid off and so they
can sign up for that and we take the
money directly out of their bank account
so they don't have to do anything. They
sign up for that automatically and that
that success rate is very high. We
rarely see um any sort of mispayment or
or or in that area. The delinquency I
can get you some numbers on that. you're
seeing a little bit of a tick up in
that.
>> When it comes to forfeite though, that
» When it comes to forfeite though, that
number remains pretty low, less than 10
a year.
>> Yeah. In this economy, I was just sort
» Yeah. In this economy, I was just sort
of imagining that
>> delinquency might be increasing and um
» delinquency might be increasing and um
you know, think things like Yep.
>> even taxes are hard on people.
» even taxes are hard on people.
>> Yep.
» Yep.
>> Randy, was
» Randy, was
your presentation different than the one
that's in the packet?
>> It is.
» It is.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Yes. I would say there's [laughter]
» Yes. I would say there's [laughter]
there's a lot more pages in here than uh
what you just went through over there.
[gasps]
>> Yeah, Mr. Chair, the um PowerPoint is
» Yeah, Mr. Chair, the um PowerPoint is
just a subset of all the different ones
that are in the packet. We didn't want
to do um all all the measures. It would
take a while. [laughter]
>> Too many.
» Too many.
>> Certainly, if the questions on any of
» Certainly, if the questions on any of
those, I'm always available. So,
>> okay. Thank you,
» okay. Thank you,
Shelley. Good morning.
>> Good morning. Shelley Benson,
» Good morning. Shelley Benson,
environmental services director. um your
favorite topic right issuing permits. So
one of the things I think is is always
interesting is how long does it take us
to issue those permits and so we have
started uh looking at that data and in
the commercial industrial uh sphere what
we're seeing is that the complexity and
the time it takes has gone up uh for
those days to issue. So, we're at even
though we only had 19 last year, we had
it took us 53 days on average to issue
those. And that's because of the
conditional use permit process because
that we include that time um as well in
there. Um the good news is the
residential permits have gone down. So,
even though during our peak time of the
year, like now it's approximately 21
days to issue a permit, on average, uh
last year it was seven. So peak times is
a little different than than our average
uh over the [snorts] course of the year.
Um and then permitting compliance.
>> Shel, can I just ask on that the
» Shel, can I just ask on that the
residential one that that's just where
>> the county is in charge, correct? If a
» the county is in charge, correct? If a
township has their own planning and
zoning, that's a different
>> right. Anything with a T any township
» right. Anything with a T any township
permits, [snorts] those are we don't
track their days. We just get them and
and uh record them so that they're all
in the system so that if you go to the
land services page, you can look it up
online to see a township permit or a
county permit. Uh but we don't track
those days uh to issue.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> And then permitting compliance. Um so
» And then permitting compliance. Um so
anything that falls within the scope of
land use uh requires us to look at the
statute. We have 60 days to issue a
permit. We don't use those 60 days. Um
very very rarely do we do that.
Occasionally on certain conditional uses
or um interim uses we'll have to extend
those time frames to that 120 days, but
most of the time we're we're getting um
permits issued. But this is about
compliance with that law, the 1099 and
making sure we're doing things within
that time frame. Um not just permits
fall within that uh wetland compliance.
So getting out to a site, making sure
all those rules are met, uh feed lot
compliance. So again, there's a lot of
things that fall within the uh 1599
requirements. And so this is the number
of activities we had last year um was
down a little bit, but the good news is
we had compliance with everything that
included variances and cups and the you
know the processing of all of those uh
permits and applications.
>> Mr. Chair Shel. Then also with that
» Mr. Chair Shel. Then also with that
60-day notice, often times it's it's not
our issue. Often times it's the person
that wants an extension and we grant
them the extension because they're not
prepared to move it forward. So,
>> right. Yeah. So, our first um we make
» right. Yeah. So, our first um we make
sure the an application's complete in
the first 10 days and then we have 60
days once it's complete to issue that
permit. We can extend it that 120 days
for our own purposes, but often it is an
extension uh request of a land owner
because they haven't completed some part
of a process, gotten the proper um storm
water management is one of those areas
where it sometimes it takes longer.
Engineering of any sort or survey work.
So those are things that often um
instead of us denying something, they
they put an extension or wave their
their time frame. So we have that as
well.
» Mr. Chair,
>> Commissioner Johnson.
» Commissioner Johnson.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Shelley, on the
» Thank you, Mr. Chair. Shelley, on the
the 53 days for the number of commercial
industrial permits, you said it was
pretty much a function of the the cup
process.
What What is it about that process that
causes the the increase in length of
time to get the permit? We are required
to have Commissioner Johnson um
public hearings. So we have to notice in
the newspaper the newspaper is a day uh
not a daily but a weekly. So we have to
publish a week almost a week in advance
for the paper. Then we have to have the
two weeks. So it's almost three weeks of
notice that add to the time and then the
application goes in front of the
planning commission. They do their
hearing and then it comes to the board.
and there's typically 12 days between
our planning commission and our county
board. So, it's all the timing for the
process. Um, [snorts]
by statute, we're required to hold
public hearings on certain types of
applications. So, that's what that
that's what those times are.
Um, I understand what you just said, but
but if I look at previous years, um, the
numbers significantly different, and
that's kind of where I was going. Has
something changed?
more recently besides calendaring things
and
>> the good the interesting part about that
» the good the interesting part about that
some of those were things that were
actually occurring a commercial property
right so a commercial uh construction
permit on a commercial property doesn't
require a cup or a you know an IUP so if
if it's just a zoning question I have a
commercial property and I want to build
a building I just come in the door I ask
for it I don't have to go through the
the longer process and we had more of
those actually in 2023.
Um quite a few.
>> So it's the type of permit that people
» So it's the type of permit that people
are applying for.
>> So the zoning district and the permit
» So the zoning district and the permit
type.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> But if they're in the agricultural
» But if they're in the agricultural
district, most of those are commercial
or not commercial. So that they are uh
require conditional use or an interim
use permit.
>> Sure.
» Sure.
>> So
» So
>> thanks.
» thanks.
>> That's the difference. Yeah.
» That's the difference. Yeah.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Thank you, Shelley.
» Thank you, Shelley.
Okay. So, next we have Highway with
Engineer Bird.
>> All right. Exciting. Does anybody love
» All right. Exciting. Does anybody love
graphs as much as I do? [laughter]
>> Uh, so there's a lot of things I can
» Uh, so there's a lot of things I can
tell you about these graphs. So,
starting off there on the left, bridge
ratings. So, this last uh inspection
cycle, we identified more bridges that
meet that threshold uh of below 60 for
the local planning index. That's what
LPI stands for. Why that is significant
is for state funding. uh state funding
requires your bridge structure to have
an LPI below 60 to become eligible for
bridge funding. So, we've seen a big
jump uh from 3 to 8. Don't be surprised
if this stays on there for a while
because funding usually lags three,
four, sometimes five years to identify
for uh structures to get replaced. So,
we'll do our best to try to schedule
into our our road program, but we always
like to seek outside funding for these
structures to replace them. And a common
source of funding is the the state
bridge bonding effort. So, each year
we're we're big advocates for a state
bonding bill and because that funds a
lot of bridges across the state. to put
in perspective, eight structures, that's
about 3 and a half% of our total number
of grid structures that we inspect in
the county. So statewide, it's about 4
and a.5% of the structures statewide. So
we're doing a little bit better than
statewide average on structures, but
something that we're going to we're
going to have to work hard to to get
that number back down to our target. Uh
the middle chart, very interesting as
well, our pavement ratings. So that
yellow bar is our goal. We want to make
that as high as possible. And the darker
blue bars uh to be as short as possible.
So the darkest there on the left bar,
that's our poor poor pavements. So we're
we're meeting our our targets for the
number of miles of road that are poor
and fair and and exceeding what we want
to be good and excellent. What's
interesting is that poor column to get
those miles of road back to a good or
excellent would cost more than the roads
in fair condition and quite a bit more
than the good and excellent. That's just
the way road is. The the worse condition
it is, the more expensive it is to get
it back to a good good condition. So,
it's something that we we always work
hard uh to try to schedule the correct
action at the right time of the project
to maximize public funding. So, um, it's
always a trade-off. Can we afford to do
a a smaller action this year or do we
need to delay the project and prepare to
have a more extensive project that's
going to cost more sometime in the
future? So,
>> Commissioner Bertram,
» Commissioner Bertram,
>> can you turn your mic on?
» can you turn your mic on?
>> Oh, I'm sorry.
» Oh, I'm sorry.
>> Thanks.
» Thanks.
>> Uh, do we still have to test our um all
» Uh, do we still have to test our um all
the bridges, even the federal like the
freeway bridges? Do my memory is that we
have to review all those. Is that
accurate?
>> Yes. So there's um depending on the type
» Yes. So there's um depending on the type
of structure, not all of them get
inspected every year. Um some a lot of
them now in in Minnesota a bridge
structure is anything that has a span of
10 ft or greater. So that could be if
you have two six foot diameter culverts
next to each other. We inspect those as
like a bridge structure, but that may be
on a a longer inspection cycle up to
maybe four years sometimes. Um and then
as the life of that structure progresses
and the condition decreases you may have
to inspect it more frequently. So we
inspect uh uh anything well I shouldn't
say that
there there are some criteria for
example a county road over the
interstate we don't inspect that because
most often mindot owns that structure
and then they're inspecting that even
though it carries a county roadway. But
um for most intents and purposes, if
it's carrying a county road over a
stream, um we're inspecting that. We're
also responsible for inspecting township
bridges. Um although we're not
responsible for the maintenance,
[clears throat]
in statute, it says the county highway
engineer is responsible for the
inspection. And then we have an
obligation to share that inspection
[snorts] report with the townships um
each year with the of the structures
with recommended maintenance actions if
anything's identified needing to repair.
>> Does that answer your question?
» Does that answer your question?
>> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
» Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Um and then uh the far right uh table
there uh cost per mile, you'll see a
steady increase and then COVID happened
in 22. We seemed uh we seen postcoid
material prices take a big jump whether
that was supply chain issues or
everything. It just seemed materials is
what c led to the increase in cost per
mile those years with a slow decrease uh
over the next subsequent years. Uh last
year we were about $9,600
per mile for maintenance. So that's not
down to below precoid cost per mile.
Precoid we were about $8,900 per mile of
maintenance. So will we ever see precoid
prices? I don't know. But um I maybe
we'll see it to level out over the next
uh couple years there.
>> Joe advance slides.
» Joe advance slides.
>> Mr. Chair,
» Mr. Chair,
>> Mr. Chair.
» Mr. Chair.
Okay. Yeah. Chris, does um that
maintenance cost does that in involve
snow removal? So is that seasonal as
well then?
>> Yeah. So that any kind of maintenance
» Yeah. So that any kind of maintenance
activity, snow removal, mowing of
roadside ditches, pothole patching,
striping, um, uh, resurfacing less than
two inches, uh, those kind of things.
So, uh, spraying for weeds within our
rideway. So, any kind of maintenance
activity, it doesn't include
construction projects.
>> Okay. So, I mean, that would be
» Okay. So, I mean, that would be
significant depending upon sanding, ice,
or salt.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> And then obviously fuel and overtime as
» And then obviously fuel and overtime as
well. So,
>> that's correct. You know, my experience
» that's correct. You know, my experience
has kind of showed sometimes when we
have a mild winter, there's this big
belief that, oh, we must be saving a lot
of money because we're not throwing out
salt and sand on the roads. We're not
burning as much diesel, which is true,
but the reality of it is there's other
maintenance activities that end up
taking up. What I've seen is sometimes
those years we ended up having more
pothole patching than we did in a
winter, more of a typical winter, or
maybe we're doing more crack filling.
Um, so maybe we save some, but it's
maybe not as much as we would anticipate
by not having to plow snow all winter.
There's something interesting in the
highway world.
>> Commissioner Johnson.
» Commissioner Johnson.
>> Uh, Mr. Chair, thank you.
» Uh, Mr. Chair, thank you.
Um Chris,
given the volatility of the price of oil
in 26 now,
>> are are we seeing increases in
» are are we seeing increases in
maintenance costs and will we be
projecting increases
into 20 into the 27 budget?
>> Um yeah, good question. We have seen
» Um yeah, good question. We have seen
fuel prices increase um uh but we've
seen fuel consumption not be as high as
we have in previous years.
For us, it gets really difficult because
[clears throat] we have like two snow
seasons in a calendar year. So, we had
the first half of this year be
relatively mild and fuel consumption was
probably lower than average. But, we
need to remember we could start be
plowing snow in November. What does
November and December going to look
like? Uh, it's really difficult this
time to kind of predict where our fuel
consumption is going to be and where
those prices are going to be right now.
So, we did see a slight increase in salt
prices. That's something that's
interesting. Um, you know, April May
year, we're putting in a quota to the
salt suppliers of what we're going to
purchase and we lock in a price per ton
and we've seen a slight increase in
price per ton at that time of year
>> um for the previous year. So, we have a
» um for the previous year. So, we have a
and we we put a quote of like we I don't
remember off the top of my head the
number of tons, but we say we're going
to commit to purchasing this many tons
and we're obligated to purchase at least
80% of that uh before next end of next
April of 27. So, that's where we have
some leeway after the first of the year.
Um if budgets are tight or we're over
and we don't purchase much salt, but
we'll just have to evaluate that at that
time.
Thank you,
>> Commissioner Perski.
» Commissioner Perski.
>> Mr. Chair, yeah, Chris, since we're
» Mr. Chair, yeah, Chris, since we're
talking about snow removal and winter
maintenance, uh, back when I was on the
council and in Mayor in Sartell, we
always had a snow event was5 to $8,000
for the city. Do you have the estimate
general rule of thumb for the county
what a snow event usually is? Um well,
okay, if you allow me to b uh borrow
from my previous experience, uh in
neighboring county, it was about uh
25,000 per snow event. In this county is
about four times as large. So,
>> okay.
» okay.
>> Uh I don't know if that that holds too
» Uh I don't know if that that holds too
or if we have gained some efficiency,
[snorts]
economy of scale there. So, when you
talk about labor, fuel prices, the
cutting edge is iron, the materials that
you're throwing out, it adds up rather
quickly. And if the snow is on the
weekend, we're paying overtime.
>> Yes. Correct. Yeah.
» Yes. Correct. Yeah.
>> Okay. Which
» Okay. Which
>> it's not going to happen the next couple
» it's not going to happen the next couple
of days.
>> We got to plan our snow snow events.
» We got to plan our snow snow events.
[laughter] Yeah. Um Yeah. And and
[snorts]
you can't always look back at the number
of days he had precipitation. Um even
though we didn't have precipitation, was
wind a factor? Did we send have to send
trucks back out? even though we didn't
have precipitation, did we have drifting
and we had to go clear roads again.
[snorts] So, um it's not always a direct
correlation between the number of days
of precipitation to what our snow
removal costs are.
>> Yeah.
» Um well, since we're talking about that
on the right side of this slide, uh snow
and ice removal times, there's our
targets for um our roads. We kind of
break them down to three different
categories based on traffic volumes. And
this is something that we strive on. You
look at the time there and obviously
we're prioritizing the higher volume
roads and try to uh put more uh trucks
and equipment to those and get those
cleared sooner than some of our lower
volume roads. As we try to gain
efficiencies, there is a point of
diminishing returns as roads get more
and more traffic on them. You know, our
plow trucks will get clogged up in that
traffic. So there, I just wanted to
preface it. There gets to be a point
where we're not going to gain any more
efficiencies as the road becomes higher
higher volume traffic because we're
stuck in the same traffic that everybody
else is driving in. So as we continue to
try to be more efficient and get those
times down, um there's only so much that
we can do with the traffic that we're
on. Jumping to the left side of this
slide, uh our road program, and this is
something I'll admit, I'm going to just
take this on the chin. this year um did
not get a new 5-year road program
adopted by July 1st and and that's just
a big reason for me being new. Um we
look at a lot of data to determine what
roads need to be uh reconstructed or
resurfaced or or what have you and
scheduling that like I mentioned earlier
trying to do the right action at the
right time of the roadway. and I just
needed time to look at that data and
kind of pick which roads need to be done
um in the fifth year. Another thing we
try to strive for too is having all of
our large projects have the bid openings
by June 15th. There's one rather large
project that's programmed for this
current year and that's the traffic
signal upgrades on Cass 75 through St.
Joe uh and Way Park St. Cloud. That's a
that's about a $5 million project and
we're receiving about $3.9 million of
federal funding. Um once again due to
the vacancies and me coming on board uh
that design schedule just not did not
progress as it should have and we have
final plans now that have been submitted
to the state for review. We're hoping
for a September bid opening on that
project that will allow the contractor
to order materials over the winter and
start uh constructing those new signals
uh next spring along 75. Um
>> and Mr. Chair, we we'll be talking about
» and Mr. Chair, we we'll be talking about
the 5-year program at the August meeting
when we have a work session on the
highway budget.
>> Yeah. So, that's where we're at on that.
» Yeah. So, that's where we're at on that.
One one quick question side note. Um,
has has the county ended up hiring you a
weed inspector yet or egg inspector?
>> Uh, [laughter]
» Uh, [laughter]
no. Um, and um, it was interesting. We
were warned that if we didn't hire
somebody by June, our phones would be
ringing off the hook. And sure enough,
that happened. So,
>> okay.
» okay.
>> Um,
» Um,
>> all right.
» all right.
>> So, we're that position got re-evaluated
» So, we're that position got re-evaluated
u after the vacancy and and that's where
it is right now. We're we're hoping to
get that advertised here pretty soon.
Um, I've learned that our weed
inspector, uh, Mr. Dunning, did a lot
for this county and a lot for our
partners in the county that it's going
to be tough to fill, but um, we'll be
optimistic and hopefully we have that
filled by by the fall.
>> Okay,
» Okay,
>> Mr. Chair, usually in in cities it
» Mr. Chair, usually in in cities it
defaults to the mayor. So, I'm just
wondering if it defaults to you.
[laughter]
>> I could do it. I did it for the
» I could do it. I did it for the
township.
One thing uh Bob Dunning was good about
was getting grants for you know noxious
weed eradication. What's interesting is
June is also the time frame of when
those grant applications were due. So me
and with the help of our environmental
uh technician we muddled our way through
a grant application. So hopefully we get
some funding to do that continue that
work. Um it just didn't seem like
something we couldn't wait for that
position to get filled. Uh, and I don't
know how good of an application it was
compared to what we submitted
previously. We'll see.
>> That's all right. I just I I just knew I
» That's all right. I just I I just knew I
had asked you that once before. So,
>> yeah. All right. Thanks.
» yeah. All right. Thanks.
>> What about the uh your uh financial
» What about the uh your uh financial
>> uh position?
» uh position?
>> Yeah. Uh we're still still working on
» Yeah. Uh we're still still working on
recruiting that. That's been challenging
and frustrating. There's been applicants
that we've interviewed, brought in
second view interviews, liked, and we go
to the next step with them only to find
out they've been offered employment
elsewhere and choose that. So, um, in
many regards, I feel like we're moving
faster than what counties normally do on
these these applicants, but, um, it's
still been a challenge to to fill that
position. um those are highly
soughtafter positions and we're
competing against private companies for
for that level of expertise and
[clears throat] I just um haven't got
that filled yet. So
>> okay,
» okay,
>> thank you.
» thank you.
>> Is it me? All right,
» Is it me? All right,
Mr. Chair, we have Melissa Huberty with
human services.
» All right, Melissa Huberty, human
services administrator. The first two
items um fit in the category of
notmandated services. So I've been asked
about that before. Almost all of human
services is mandated. These first two
items we're going to go through are the
community action team and the juvenile
community action team. They are not
mandated services, but they're very
smart because they help pre they're all
about prevention and they prevent us
having to move to the deep end services.
So with the first one, it's the
community action team. It's a
partnership with the emergency
department, centric care, law
enforcement,
um, central Minnesota mental health
center, um, our sheriff's office and
human services and we still meet
regularly and we take those very high
deepend cases that are rotating in and
out of the system in all of our areas.
We wrap a team around them and we
prevent a lot of those most expensive
services. And so in the first couple
years of this, we had sort of a control
group. We knew about with good g a good
estimate of how often people go to the
ER, how long they're hanging out in
jail. Um, and we put a monetary cost to
that. And so we continue to save quite a
bit of uh money in the system. And if
you were at CJCC, our criminal justice
coordinating committee this morning, uh
the sheriff's office mentioned the
community action team, and having a big
po uh play in terms of helping people
get out of their jail system a little
more quickly. So, um the next one is the
juvenile community action team um that
we referenced this morning uh when we
presented on our services. And for the
first time ever, this is a collaboration
um with school systems. And we're
finally getting out more into the rural
areas. And for the first time ever, we
have more kids exiting care than we have
kids entering care. So, we know we're
doing a good job. We're also no longer
needing to prioritize these families
with nine or 10 or 12 children. We can
get down to the one or two children as
well. So, having success there. Um
finally, community safety. This is in
our community corrections area. Um with
supervised release, that's parole. If
for folks who don't know the new
verbiage, um and probation, we have um
we're fitting both the guidelines right
now. It's a 65% at least or above or 85%
for um felony level no crime within 3
years. It's measured five years later
because it's um me the data is collected
three years after the case is closed and
then making sure all the court processes
are processed. So that's that.
Thank you, Melissa. Um, so next we have
uh property services. So state law
requires the review of each taxable
parcel every 5 years. And so we do a
fifth of those or 20% of those parcels
annually um evaluating those properties
for market value. Um so you can see here
that our county is ahead of the curve
when it comes to doing those assessments
um with almost 100% compliance um or
100% evaluation uh ongoing. And then the
next one from property services deals
with compliant recording practices. Uh
so the state requires that real estate
documents um and records are processed
within 10 days. You'll see that we
consistently hit that mark. COVID did
throw us for a a loop there, but um
we've recovered to 100% compliance.
And I'm also going to pitch it for parks
as well. So you'll see um the data point
we collect for them are visitors per
thousand. This is one of those uh
measures that the state has in their um
their program. Um, so that number equals
out to about 700 740,000 people visited
the parks within 2025. You're seeing a
significant jump there because we've
improved our counting. So, um, before we
had vehicle counters, park staff
observation,
um, and now in 2025, we have more
accurate data using cell phone data from
the regional parks and trails
commission. So, we'll probably see um
good data collection from that in the
years going forward.
All right. And now we have uh the
sheriff's office. And I'll note with um
the sheriff's data points that um he's
doing something a little bit different
this year. So, he's going to tell us
about his plans.
>> Uh hello. Yes, we have no information
» Uh hello. Yes, we have no information
basically. So, um [laughter] after uh
well, that's a good plan. So it can only
go up from there. Um [laughter]
yeah, after years of doing the kind of
the same uh performance measures, we
decided to take a look at different
things that we're doing in the sheriff's
office. So uh one uh we're going to
focus on the dispatch center. Um
with our new technology with Tyler
technology, we're able to look at the
the answering times and the how long
somebody might sit in a queue and wait
and those type of things. Uh and we want
to take a look at that presently. and
then um probably invoking some AI and
some technology. We're researching some
things to maybe bring into the uh uh
dispatch center next year and see how
that might improve our services and
customer service and uh get people to
the right resources and the right places
that they need to be um when they call
our dispatch center. The other uh thing,
as you know, uh jail programs has really
taken on a a large uh um footprint in
our in our jail. We've actually got a
full-time person now running uh just our
Ignite program through the National
Sheriff's Association. Uh I um was able
to happily report to uh Commissioner
Clark at our meeting um that we had our
first um uh person go through and uh and
uh from the civil commitment side of uh
we're a part of that uh program right
now with the grant uh pilot program if
you would uh to get people um back to
being able to go to court uh that are
coming in uh and we're able to do that
internally. So, we're just taking a look
at our jail programs and everything that
we offer. Uh, and as of like the other
day, I think we have 86%
uh attendance rate of our inmates
attending some type of programming,
whether it's education uh or AA or um
are trying to get some degrees or
certifications so that they're uh um you
know, employable when they get out and
have a better life when they get out and
they don't come back to our jail. So, uh
this is all brand new for us. So we will
have a basically starting at a a base
level and by next year when I come back
and report hopefully we have better
numbers uh better stats and all
positivity things.
>> Good. Thank you.
» Good. Thank you.
>> Commissioner Johnson, do you
» Commissioner Johnson, do you
>> I do have Steve I have a question for
» I do have Steve I have a question for
you and [snorts] it's related to more of
the detailed lists that I went through
ear well
a while back. Um
I noticed in terms of the programs there
are a number of uh religiously
associated ones, faith community
associated ones, excuse me.
>> Correct.
» Correct.
>> Um are those folks volunteering to do
» Um are those folks volunteering to do
those programs or are we soliciting
people to [snorts] do those programs?
>> The people coming in to do them or the
» The people coming in to do them or the
inmates
>> the the faith communities themselves
» the the faith communities themselves
coming in to do it. is that
>> so we have something on our website that
» so we have something on our website that
uh basically if you want to come in and
volunteer as an organization you can uh
when I came in as sheriff uh we had 23
programs and 20 of them were faith-based
of some kind or another which makes
sense because those are the the people
that will volunteer and will come in to
try and uh make things better um but we
had very little on the education side so
I was set about trying to change that
over the last few years to kind of equal
out the religious side of things along
with the uh educational side of things
and and since then we've had our some
GED graduates which we hadn't had in
about 15 years and uh and uh and
bringing in the virtual reality and the
education thing. But yes, the the
faith-based programs are the ones that
come in uh um that's where you're going
to see a lot of you know the volunteers
for that,
>> right? And and I appreciate the whole
» right? And and I appreciate the whole
list. I mean you're doing a lot of work
with these inmates through all these
these programs and I [snorts] appreciate
that very much. My my my real question
was is this something we're soliciting
or are people volunteering? And you said
they're volunteering to do the work.
>> Well, they're all voluntary. Uh we don't
» Well, they're all voluntary. Uh we don't
go out and go to find churches and say,
"Hey, do you want to come and do a
program in our jail, but if they have a
program or something that uh you know,
for instance um
is maybe it's not odd, but we have the
Menanites come in for a Christmas
concert um just in December, and they
offered to come and do that. We it it is
a little staff consuming just because we
have to secure everybody, search all
their stuff as they come in. But uh so
they they solicited us, I guess, if you
would. Yeah. Um and volunteered to come
in, but we're not actively going out.
But we'll certainly listen to anybody
that wants to come in. Uh it's just a
matter of um timing and and how much
time there is in a day to get programs
in and done.
>> Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks.
» Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks.
>> Yeah,
» Yeah,
>> Commissioner Perski.
» Commissioner Perski.
>> Yeah, Mr.
» Yeah, Mr.
Steve, that online learning has maybe
really evolved over the last few years.
I would imagine it gives us quite a few
opportunities for people.
>> Yes, we are definitely employing
» Yes, we are definitely employing
technology. Uh there's notebooks now in
the jail that uh the inmates uh you know
um can do GED all day long if they want.
For instance, if you want to get your
high school diploma, maybe
[clears throat] your night owl, you stay
up in your cell all night and you can
take all your courses, you know, right
in your cell at night. Uh so uh using
just technology and uh you know the the
notebooks have been a huge thing for us.
Uh the virtual reality headsets uh as
I've mentioned in the past uh um they
can put those on and manipulate [snorts]
um tools and uh and u you know get
certifications uh while it doesn't sound
like much. They can get certified to do
say like your basic oil changes and get
when they get out they're employable at
say a snappy lube or something like
that. Um, you know, welding is something
that we're looking at, uh, bringing in,
something where they can get a basic
welding certification. It's not a
college degree by any means, but it's
hopefully making them, um, much more
desirable and employable when they get
out.
>> So, yeah, education is uh, and obviously
» So, yeah, education is uh, and obviously
we have the the teacher in there and uh,
and for a long time, we were having
issues just trying to get them to be
able to be certified to get their GED.
We got that through the state in the
last couple years and we've had, like I
said, a couple graduates in the last um
year here that have gotten their GEDs
while in custody. So, uh, again, just
hopefully making their lives better and
being able to get out and be employable
[clears throat] and, uh, have a better
life.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> I'm gonna make sure I can get up.
» I'm gonna make sure I can get up.
[laughter]
>> Oh, one more thing.
» Oh, one more thing.
Um, so as as I mentioned earlier, a lot
of the performance measures that we're
featuring are all about external ser
services that we do. Um, but I'll note
that it is also developing new
performance measures for this coming
year to start collecting. And so I think
next year you'll see some of our
internal operation performance measures.
So our last one for today though is
veteran services.
>> Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners.
» Good morning, Mr. Chair, commissioners.
Uh Corey Vasi, uh veteran service
officer for Sterns County. Uh just a
kind of brief summary, what what's
requested of the state or from us by the
state for this program is the VA
compensation and pension dollars. Uh
that [snorts] information comes from the
geographic distribution of expenditures.
It's a federal VA uh data point. Uh and
they changed at the end of last year the
the schedule of when they will release
that. So that won't isn't expected to
come out for 2025 until September of
this year. Uh but
[snorts] last year at this time we
didn't have the 2024 numbers. So now we
have those for you. Uh it shows $76
million uh in VA compensation and
pension dollars. What that includes is
VA disability compensation, non-service
connected pension, uh dependency and
identity compensation, and education
benefits, uh paid to veterans within the
Sterns County. Uh so that's money that
came into into Sterns County from the
federal VA. Um we've provided additional
information on here because I think it
does a better job of demonstrating kind
of what our office does and and volume.
Um so roughly 9,000 veterans in Sterns
County. Um that population does slowly
decrease each year. Still a large
portion of our veteran population is
Vietnam era. Although the OAF uh OEF uh
veterans, the Iraq Afghanistan veterans
and first Gulf War veterans are now the
predominant, you know, uh demographic
within the veteran community.
Um,
one thing I thought I would note, you
know, the number of unique clients that
we interact with has stayed pretty
stable uh, over the last few years. Um,
those changes uh, fluctuate a little
bit, probably more to do with just a a
capacity limit based on staff
availability um, but is still relatively
stable.
» Any questions, Corey?
>> Thank you. Right.
» Thank you. Right.
>> Well, those are our measures for this
» Well, those are our measures for this
year. We'll put them online for folks to
refer to. And with that, I'll pass it
back to chair.
>> Okay. Um, Mike, it looks like M2 is up.
» Okay. Um, Mike, it looks like M2 is up.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. Uh, this is u
» Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. Uh, this is u
really your first look at the 2027
budget for this year. And hopefully we
have that PowerPoint coming up. I will
um note that the presentation that
you're going to see today is a little
is more brief than the first
presentation in previous years and for a
couple very practical reasons. One, the
the property tax data that we would
normally have is not available yet. We
don't have a total assessment. We don't
have the assessment of state of state
that the state um assesses and appraises
either. So you don't you won't see that
part until later in the process. Um
[clears throat]
you'll also see that uh that we've
scheduled some work sessions devoted to
uh the budget. So you'll have a chance
to get a little deeper into we've made
some suggestions for those topics and
then one meeting that uh that is that is
open for for your discussion. Um well,
they're all open, but um we've suggested
some topics and then hopefully uh the
executive summary that you see there um
is pretty thorough uh for this early
start as well. And um so [clears throat]
anyway, um we did start early and I want
to thank the leadership team. Um they
certainly responded to the changes in
the process, responded to the earlier
timeline. Um, and I really want to uh
give thanks to the budget committee,
Jill, Sarah, and Randy. Um, I wanted to
get this budget um, further along this
year to the point where it was complete.
And I don't mean ready for approval, but
I mean complete, pulled together. So you
have you you you're at a point where you
can start considering kind of the major
things that are making up the budget and
some of the changes that the budget
committee is recommending and and hence
some of the changes that you might want
to make um as the but in the budget as
well. And we fashioned this a little
different. Um you'll see the executive
summary was maybe a little different
than previous years is really tried to
focus on what the departments proposed
and then what and then clearly show what
changes the budget committee has made.
So hopefully that came through in that
executive summary as well. So with those
uh brief introductions, we'll get into
it a little bit. You can see the
timeline here. Um, and you can see that,
you know, today is your first look at
it. And then we we suggest that you have
a work session on August 4th, and that
would be devoted to the human services.
Um, because there's a lot of change
there. Same in the sheriff's office. And
then, uh, is that date wrong? August
25th? Should be 25th. On 25th, um, you
would see the highway 5-year plan, the
highway budget, and then, um, the
household hazardous weight waste budget
time for that. And then you have another
one on September 15th that if you want
to have a work session um just to kind
of wrap everything up before you do the
uh preliminary levy on at the end of
September, you could do that on the
September 15th. And then of course you
have a number of meetings before that um
that would be opportunities to discuss
the budget if you if you felt that was
necessary. December 1st, uh, you've
scheduled your truth and taxation
hearing and then your final meeting in
the year is December 15th, which of
course you would need to adopt the the
new budget.
So we at this point things are moved up.
Of course, those dates at the low at the
end of that is are are much the same as
previous years. [clears throat] So you
can um in the next slide you can see
where we are today. Um the proposed as
you as you saw in the in the memo um the
the budgets as proposed and entered into
the system um would have resulted in a
14.3% increase in the in the in the levy
and uh through the work that that the
four of us have done uh in the last
several weeks um we have this down to a
7.14%
uh increase which again I think is is a
pretty complete look at where we are. Of
course, there's changes that uh that
could be made and and we may learn some
things as the time goes on here, but I
think you you have a good look at
somewhere in the neighborhood of where
this budget is going to have to be uh by
the time you adop adopt it. And so
there's a number of drivers here and um
I don't think we need to go through
those necessarily line by line, but you
know that um we have contracts that are
5% increases um that that even if that
wasn't 5% it would be the bulk of your
of the increase in coming years if it
was a smaller number which assuredly
that will be uh in future years. And
then you see some of the the human
services items that you heard about
today, some of the human services items
that you're going to hear about at your
next meeting. Um, and then there's uh a
number of changes in um some changes in
revenues. Um, and then re remember we
levied an extra million dollars uh last
year and so that that is not, you know,
that's not included in this levy.
I'll talk a little bit about about all
that in a minute. Um and then we just
wanted to highlight a couple of of
things that may look a little different.
One is uh outside agencies. Uh what this
budget proposes is no change to any
outside agency funding um except for the
joint powers agreements which you're
really obligated by by agreement uh to
fund. So, you know, I'd point out that
we have typically um allowed increases
to uh you know, historical society and
and the soil and water conservation
district. It just felt that this year
with looking at this budget that um it
wasn't it wasn't a year to increase
those. Um so, we typically haven't shown
an increase in the top three there. um
actually the top four, maybe five, but I
would point out that it's a little
different for us to leave the historical
society and the conservation district um
at a at a at a level amount.
Um the next next page shows
um some areas that we actually are are
reductions in things we we have done in
the past. Um, so you know, we've had a
long discussion uh in this year about
the the federal lobbying. Um, I think
that remains to be seen where you want
to go with that. Um, the new
administration and you are planning to
have those discussions. Um, but what we
had in the proposed budget was $48,000
and we decided to pull that out. Well,
48,000 would have been um what we spent
in previous years. We also had a little
increase in the proposed budget that we
reduced in the in the 2026 budget. We
had u uh lease agreement money for the
Melrose Office for Veteran Services had
a had a trouble troubled time trying to
find a location for that. Um and again
since we hadn't started that
expansion in that service, we thought
this was a year to not fund that. Um our
newsletter is something that we've done
every year um for several years. We've
reduced it. I think we did four
newsletters in the first year we did it
and we reduced it to three and now we
reduced it to two because the cost uh
kept climbing and and so it was uh
getting to be a cost per issue that we
really wonder if it was worth worth the
cost and wor worth the staff time which
a lot of staff time goes into that
newsletter as well. Um the staff
reduction extension was already in the
proposed budget but thought it was
notable that it that is a reduction in
uh what we've spent last year. And then
the remote remote board meeting
broadcast equipment actually was in the
proposed um sorry about that but um this
was not funded in previous years but the
IT department proposed that they
purchased some equipment so when we hold
those remote remote board meetings even
if that local government wasn't capable
of broadcasting we could still broadcast
and we felt in this year that probably
we could be more mindful about where
we're going or we just need to be
accepting that we might have a meeting
every year that won't necessarily be
broadcast. So, those just some changes
that uh we felt we really needed to
note. Some of them, of course, are not
huge dollars, but again, notable.
A big uh area of of uh
that you heard about this morning is
some of the changes in human services.
And you see, we didn't talk about the
eligibility eligibility portion of that,
but uh you've heard about that. Um and
and there's eight people in in this
proposed budget for that. It'll really
needs to be a source of discussion in
the future. And then you see the social
workers which which we did talk somewhat
about this morning. Again, remember we
had a extra million dollars in this
year's levy. Um as you heard that all
these changes are occurring
the first of the year. So, if you wanted
to prepare for those changes, you would
be able to use that those contingency
funds and hire those people in advance
of January 1st because you also heard,
you know, how long it takes to train and
and and and be ready for that. So, um
that's all left to be decided whether or
not you would want to do that. The rest
of these are
um not on the levy. Um an oper
operations manager at household
hazardous waste, which would be through
the solid waste fund. And then you have
four positions in the sheriff's office
which are proposed to be public safety
aid. Um and we've been using public
safety aid particularly for dispatches
in the last couple of years. Um but this
will be a change to use um the public
safety aid for a couple of deputies as
well. And then you saw and you'll see I
think in a future slide here that uh the
sheriff's office proposed a number of
deputies and we really felt like and I
think and I think the sheriff agrees
that it might be time to update that
study that we did in 2017 with the MA
Center for Public Safety.
um just to so you so so you all can make
a plan for the future of where where you
want to go with um with patrol deputies
and dispatch as well. And then you have
uh the transition team u for the for the
jail. So there were a few more positions
requested. I can't recall the number but
uh we didn't fund everything. It was
yeah it was a small number. Um
so again the only the only ones that
would that are impacting the levy in
2027
would be those human services. Of course
there would be um
anything that's funded with public
safety aids. Someday that's going to
fall on the levy.
Um then there's a few large um IT
projects that are noted here. Um and in
in in and these are all funded with the
project fund. So we drew we took
[snorts] those out of the of
[clears throat] the levy and use the
project fund which has a 23 that's on
the next slide 26 million uh balance
which we transferred into was that last
year the year before anyway and grew
that grew that fund just for this
purpose. Um, and note, uh, there's a
there's consulting money. The $80,000,
um, you're going to need to get into an
analysis of space for for, uh, for
county employees and what we're going to
do with the downtown area. Um, and I
think that, um, I think that that using
a consultant and and the
additional capacity in the in in the
county administrator's office, I think
you can accomplish that. But I think you
should have uh some room for consulting
as you begin to make those important
decisions. And then I just talked about
the center for public safety study. We
had $55,000 put in here. We have a new
number there. Um just this morning um
heard from the sheriff um they they have
a proposal from CPM and it's more like
$70,000.
Um, so in this use of the project fund
is 890,000. If you do that study, you're
going to be more in the area of 95,000.
And then it's always important to look
at your fund balances, particularly this
year because we're showing in this
budget a two a use of the human services
fund balance of $2 million. And we've
proposed um a plan to reduce that over
time. So, what what we've suggested is
is that use $2 million of that strong
fund balance in 2027 and then drop that
use by $500,000 a year. And and in a
quick analysis, um I would suggest that
you're still going to be within your
policy of being at between 35 and 50%
with that fund balance even after you do
that. the human services fund balance
has has shown [snorts] a steady growth
and in that analysis I did um we uh I I
showed no growth. So I think you'll be
okay in doing that and if you're going
to use some fund balance
to me it makes sense to use it in this
2027 budget where you've got some pretty
extreme increases. Um and then the
project fund is the other one that's uh
the most significant use. And then of
note, um, we have in the solid waste
fund, um, we have [snorts] consulting
fees to take a look at
an expansion of the household hazardous
waste facility. We've looked at that for
several years. Um, and I think if you if
you hire a consultant, decide what kind
of space you need and get a cost
estimate, then you can really come to a
decision on what you want to do there.
And um I can't remember the number we
have in there, but any there's a number
in the budget for consulting fees um out
of the household hazardous waste fund.
You can see that with the $10 million
there you have funds that if you do want
to expand that facility, you would be
able to do that with existing funds. Now
[clears throat]
I guess that's enough on that. Yeah. Um
so even even with those use of fund
balance you can see you're going to
continue to have healthy fund balances.
Um [clears throat]
and the last slide I think we we've
already talked about um we've we're
suggesting you this be your schedule for
the next two meetings. You then you have
a meeting on September 15th. If you
wanted to have another work session you
could. Um
again you don't have the prop we don't
have the property tax data. Um we should
have that in August. Yeah. Soon. Um you
[clears throat] also don't have the
second year. We asked department
departments to look at the sec 2028.
Um [snorts] just given the time and
everything and where we wanted to get
this budget for your look today. Uh we
didn't have time to do that, but um the
budget committee and staff are going to
pull that together at some point in the
near future. So you can see um what this
budget and what we think they think at
that time. um that the 2028 budget is
going to look like.
Um
I know this is my last time presenting a
budget, but I can assure you I was
looking to the future as we did this. I
wasn't looking till Friday [laughter]
and I really think that the budget
committee did a a good job of getting
you where we are today.
>> Yeah. And I and I think you know by
» Yeah. And I and I think you know by
having these extra meetings you know
will give us time to ask the questions
you know related to sheriff and human
services also has you know we'll be able
to you know get more deep dive you know
that each of us have questions on
different things. So so yeah so this is
a nice early overview of you know what
you guys are looking at. So
» all right
>> Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Burch.
» Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Burch.
>> Um, couple things. First of all, uh, I
» Um, couple things. First of all, uh, I
got a call yesterday that said, uh, so
you're going to increase the, uh, the
property taxes by 7.14%. Well, I had no
idea what they were talking about. It
already hit the media before we even got
a piece of it. So, a little awkward
packet,
>> right? But, uh, we weren't given Mr.
» right? But, uh, we weren't given Mr.
Chairman, Commissioner Clark, I know
it's in here. I read the packet just
like you did. So, getting back, Mr.
Chairman, to the point. Um so anyway,
yes, this is a good start. It's still
high for me. Uh and the one thing that I
don't think that we've uh address as I
shared the the last meeting is we really
haven't looked asked department
directors what can you cut or move. So
we need staff and human services. Can we
be moving some staff from another
division over to We just automatically
assume that there needs to be increases
and we just automatically assume that
we'll build on
things. And this isn't a criticism. This
is a this is a, you know, a suggestion
that we, as I've shared, and I've done
this at the city of Payne's old $2.2
million budget over a three-year period,
we cut 200,000 10%. Nobody felt a thing.
Uh, we really zeroed in. We really said,
"Let's remind ourselves of why we're
here, what we need to do, water, sewer,
fire, please." And we did that and we
accomplished that. So, I do believe we
don't we haven't to my knowledge I
haven't seen it where we've asked
departments to say, "What could you
eliminate? What could you cut? What
could you move?" Because on top of
everything else uh of these things that
we can't control, what can we control?
you can't control uh the state federal
mandates that are coming on, but I do
believe that you can control we can
control some things uh that are within
our means. So that that's something I'd
like to see. And before we start talking
about hiring a consultant and everything
uh with the um hazardous waste, the
reason we have 10 million in there is
because the county's been taxing 10% to
commercial
uh garbage rates. Uh the board decreased
that to 8% a couple years ago. So um you
know just because the money's there that
is a tax and maybe we should be looking
at no other county except for Cany
County adds on to the commercial garbage
tax. The state tax is 17%. Counties have
the ability to add on to it which of
course we've done. No other county in
the immediate area has done that um
except for Canyu County. But uh so
that's something but some of the needs
that hazardous waste the mattress tires
you know those are things that before we
start building buildings we could easily
in my opinion put storage boxes where we
could put the products in and haul them
without having to handle them two or
three times. So some of those
conversations before we get too far
ahead of ourselves might be fruitful. So
maybe we have a conversation about what
exactly just because the money is there
it doesn't mean we need to spend it in
my opinion. So those are a couple of my
comments.
>> Commissioner Johnson.
» Commissioner Johnson.
>> Um thank you Mr. Chair. Um I'm
» Um thank you Mr. Chair. Um I'm
appreciative of the fact that on August
4th and August 25th we have an
opportunity to have the kinds of
discussions that Commissioner Bertram is
talking about. And I I support the idea
of people coming with ways to maximize
revenue, ways to decrease expenses, all
those typical things that one would do
when when we're tackling a budget. Um so
I' I'd encourage people to bring all
their best thinking to those meetings
and their best ideas so that we can
accomplish some of the goals that that
are being spoken of. And I think that's
kind of why we've set it up that way
this year is to have us be a little more
engaged in the process a little sooner.
>> Mr. Chair, and I'll respond to that as
» Mr. Chair, and I'll respond to that as
well. Uh because I don't want us to
think that because we've seen something
that's going to be our budget.
>> I would say that it it's not written in
» I would say that it it's not written in
ink necessarily or in stone. maybe in
pudding because I guess uh I I would
have a difficult time thinking, you
know, we're going to put 13 new people
in human services just rather than
rethink how we're doing something. Also,
I have a concern about fund balance and
spending fund balance. Uh because I and
Mike, I'm glad you brought up the idea
about looking at the 28 budget because
again, if we use that fund balance, what
does that do for 28? because those
uh expenditures just don't disappear.
And then one other comment uh and
Commissioner Johnson had mentioned about
planning for downtown. I guess I would
like to see our board be, you know,
proactive and and starting especially
the conversation with removal of the
buildings here or reuse of the buildings
down here. City of St. Cloud came out
with redevelopment plan. I knew nothing
about it and and I guess I I would think
that we should be involved with the
redevelopment plan, at least have an
idea what's going to happen with our
campus before the city would come out
with a plan about what they're doing
with our campus. So, we need to have
that conversation and obviously be
working cooperatively together. So,
>> Commissioner Clark,
» Commissioner Clark,
>> yeah, I too I'm glad for the additional
» yeah, I too I'm glad for the additional
time that we're going to have. I want to
thank the budget committee. You I know
we're not done. I'm glad we're not done.
We clearly don't have all the
information with regards to property
taxes among other things, but you have
brought an initial significant step down
from where I think many counties are
going to be. Um, and part of it really
is the federal and the state mandates
that we don't have a choice about.
Absolutely.
I I'm just trying to think of how to say
this. the amount of innovation,
creativity, forward thinking, the ways
to be reducing costs that our staff have
already done. Just want to applaud you
because it's significant and people have
been doing a lot of work. Like I'm
guessing everybody else, I would love to
see less human service positions being
asked for. I'm not sure how we would do
that just given what the demands of what
they're asking us to do. I would be
interested in hearing about a little bit
more um when we get to our August 4th
meeting about how you've utilized um
some of the partnership strategies,
technology and others to help us reduce
costs. And by all means, if you can find
other ways to be reducing budgets, yes,
please. And [snorts]
just for all of us, we just need to
remember how much of this is heavily
heavily mandated and we're not being
given a a lot of choice. So I the other
piece on uh uh uh Commissioner Perski,
your comments on the fund balance in
general, I would agree with that. We
have healthy fund balances right now.
There's so much uncertainty and both the
state and the feds, the state
legislature and even the departments
have at least acknowledged there's some
money that needs to be come brought to
us to be paying for some of the
mandates. Their budget is going to be a
mess. So, a real question is how much of
that's going to be realistic. Uh so for
me um I appreciate some conservative use
of those fund balances to help us at
least um perhaps buy a bit of time to be
making sure the re the state is
resourcing what they're requiring us to
do at a level we're not seeing. So I I I
would be very concerned if it was a
significant
um
bite of the apple as it were. But it
looks like you're trying to be prudent
and very much appreciate how much you're
thinking about our property taxpayers,
residential, commercial, apartments, our
egg, because the mandates that both the
feds and state are putting on us
is going to be so harmful to them. They
need to rethink about how they're paying
for these services and not go to these
really very regressive taxes. So look
forward to the deeper dive on all of
that. Um including um some of the
opportunities that I know most if not
all of us have had uh conversations with
regard to household hazardous waste and
where our highway may be going. So thank
you.
>> All right. Thank you.
» All right. Thank you.
Uh next we have the addition of M3, the
housing trust board.
>> Yes, Mr. Chair. um you have a vacancy on
» Yes, Mr. Chair. um you have a vacancy on
the housing trust fund board and you
have three applicants, applicant A, B,
and C. [snorts] And um in your rankings,
three of you ranked applicant A as your
first choice and um two of you
ranked applicant B as your first choice.
Um, [clears throat]
if you want to make an appointment, you
could do that now. Or if you don't, we
could.
>> Mr. Chairman, I'll move that we
» Mr. Chairman, I'll move that we
recommend applicant A based on the votes
um for that position.
» I'll second that.
>> Okay. We have a motion and a second to
» Okay. We have a motion and a second to
uh approve applicant A for the housing
trust fund board. Any further
discussion, Commissioner Johnson?
>> Um, yes.
» Um, yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um,
we were ranking, not voting,
>> is what I thought.
» is what I thought.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> Correct.
» Correct.
Um I I want to comment that that
applicant A I think has a passion for
others particularly in the area of human
services working with folks with
disabilities, public health, social
services, those kinds of things.
Applicant A would would certainly be of
value to many of our county boards and
commissions. And I think we should
probably find a place for applicant A.
When I look at applicant B, what I see
is a person who has a degree focused in
business management.
This this candidate also has experience
in managing deed and Minnesota housing
grants, budgeting, grant writing,
program development,
has been through certification processes
in the area of project management
through the U of M, housing stability
compliance with Minnesota housing and
workforce development through DED.
Um, credentials are important
in housing work. Um, community outreach,
strategic planning, and housing
assistance are also some of the
attributes in candidate B.
I I personally believe that our county
workforce and our boards and commissions
need to begin to look like the larger
community.
That view allows for fuller
representation.
And I think this is sort of a two-way
street.
people apply, but then providing them
the opportunity for involvement in the
county requires us to reach out in a
trusting and welcoming manner.
When I make decisions, sometimes I ask
myself three questions.
What do I want? Why do I want it? And do
the answers to those questions work with
my values?
It's it's not always a perfect system,
but it helps me to extend my thinking
and to to try something new and
different. And it's been pretty good.
That's how I got here, actually.
So, I I strongly support candidate B and
would like us to consider um
consider that that uh person that
individual as our appointee. Thanks.
>> Okay. Uh further discussion.
» Okay. Uh further discussion.
Commissioner Perski.
>> Uh Mr. Chair, I I candidate B I think is
» Uh Mr. Chair, I I candidate B I think is
qualified for perhaps a number of other
positions again within the county and
those opportunities would be available
um to them. So I I and I agree uh
Commissioner Johnson with uh much of
what you said. So
>> Commissioner Clark,
» Commissioner Clark,
>> thank you. Um I'm not going to repeat
» thank you. Um I'm not going to repeat
all the things that Commissioner Johnson
just said. I agree with them. They are
part of what I planned on talking about.
Um, I have to say I'm I'm becoming more
concerned that we do not have people
providing us more information. I felt
like app uh applicant B was the only one
to give us significant information about
themselves. So, I hope that we can get
more people to give us a bit more about
their background and why they're
interested. That would be useful. Um,
two additional things, uh, I would say
is that the board already has
significant representation
from the non Staint Cloud Way Park
areas. Um, and we often are trying to
have some balance between all the areas.
It's a great group. They in general are
not looking at any one specific area.
They're really trying to figure out how
to do it well. So that is not a comment
about them. But in replacing um what was
then citizen Johnson uh with the new
citizen, I would say that we would be a
little out of balance or a little more
out of balance if uh we ended up uh
going with applicant um A. And then
lastly, I think that background fits
very well with supportive housing. I do
not know if the applicant knows that
that is not what this I'm a strong
supporter and advocate for supportive
housing, but that is not what our
housing trust fund does. And I would I
so I put that I needed more information
if we were going to go any further on
that. I just want to make sure that
there was a a deeper understanding about
what we're actually doing with that
board. Absolutely. see number of places
that it looks like uh they would be very
good.
» Okay, any further discussion?
» Not seeing any. Um all those in favor of
the appointment of I believe it was was
it
>> a
» a
uh signify by saying I
>> I
» I
>> I
» I
>> opposed. Nay.
» opposed. Nay.
>> Roll call. Randy.
» Roll call. Randy.
>> Commissioner Johnson.
» Commissioner Johnson.
>> Nay.
» Nay.
>> Commissioner Clark.
» Commissioner Clark.
>> Nay.
» Nay.
>> Commissioner Perski.
» Commissioner Perski.
>> I.
» I.
>> Mr. Bertrram.
» Mr. Bertrram.
>> Hi.
» Hi.
>> Mr. Notch.
» Mr. Notch.
>> I.
» I.
>> Passes 3 to two.
» Passes 3 to two.
>> Okay. Thank you. Passes 3 to two.
» Okay. Thank you. Passes 3 to two.
>> All right. Thank you for that. And yes,
» All right. Thank you for that. And yes,
I I would agree. Uh more information on
some of these applications would be
great. Um
again,
you know, for some I think they apply
because we ask them to. So they figure,
well, I'm being asked, so they just do
it quick and easy and simple and don't
necessarily fill it out much more than
that because a lot of times some of
these committees we can't find
applicants for. But uh yeah, hopefully
in the future maybe, you know, if they
call and talk to staff or email, you
know, we can just ask for more clarity,
which should help us on various
appointments because it's nice when they
put more than one committee that they'd
be interested in
>> because then we have the database to
» because then we have the database to
use.
>> Okay, with that being said, uh the next
» Okay, with that being said, uh the next
is uh items by commissioners. Uh,
Commissioner Bertram, would you care to
start?
>> Sure, Mr. Chairman. Uh, haven't seen
» Sure, Mr. Chairman. Uh, haven't seen
anything on the fair yet. So, if Bill or
somebody can get that to us on the We
can make sure that I hope the department
directors and everybody are filling it
out and then that we can kind of spread
ourselves out around that too. It would
be nice. A lot of community events
continue to happen. Really is the flavor
of Cern County to see all these things
happen throughout the county makes us
who we are. And um certainly want to
wish Mike uh well as his last meeting um
and thank him for everything he's done
uh for the county and wish him and Susan
all the best. Um
>> thank you
» thank you
>> as uh they move forward.
» as uh they move forward.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Perski.
» Thank you, Commissioner Perski.
>> Uh yeah, I had the fair on there as
» Uh yeah, I had the fair on there as
well. I'd like to see that sign up, too.
I want to uh make sure I get a time and
a date to to get on that. Uh, also,
Commissioner Clark and I are heading to
New Orleans. Uh, no is on this week. Uh,
we, uh, we may, well, we're not going to
be escaping the heat, but we get to add
the humidity down there. So, I'm sure
it's going to be interesting uh, time
down there, but we both have u
significant issues we're working on uh,
uh, with the NACO board. Uh, I got a
question for Randy. Randy, just
wondering I'm hoping that the primaries
are are is going okay as far as uh
elections are concerned and just
wondering too also as far as election
workers and judges uh for the fall. Are
we in need of folks that could sign up
or be available to some of the uh
polling places?
>> Um elections [clears throat] are going
» Um elections [clears throat] are going
fine. Ballots are there. People are
voting. Um, you know, it always starts
out with a bunch of people and then we
get into a little bit of a lull and then
closer to the election date, the last
week gets busy again. And yeah, various
jurisdictions are always looking for
people, so contact your city or township
that you live in.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Yep.
» Yep.
>> All right. And we haven't pre uh seen
» All right. And we haven't pre uh seen
any potential issues or problems with
upcoming elections as far as you see. Uh
>> hopefully not. No, I don't see
» hopefully not. No, I don't see
necessarily
>> likely things yet.
» likely things yet.
>> Okay. Okay, that's good. And then uh
» Okay. Okay, that's good. And then uh
yeah, Mike, your your last meeting too.
Uh I just want to say thank you very
much uh for what you've done uh as a uh
administrator, city of St. Cloud
administrator here for the county and
that's impacted the area considerably
and and across the state. So, thank you
very much for what what you've done and
very appreciative of your approach of
how you've addressed issues throughout
the county.
>> Thank you,
» Thank you,
>> Commissioner Clark.
» Commissioner Clark.
>> Thank you. Um, so on the public service
» Thank you. Um, so on the public service
side of this, uh, you a couple of you
already brought up the fair. I want to
bring up specifically the milk run, our
second annual milk run, 5K walk run.
It'll be on Saturday, August 1st. Uh we
had 120 people last year on our
inaugural one of all ages and um uh
methods of being able to participate. So
I want to encourage people to uh take a
look and sign up for that. It's first
thing in the morning. You can beat the
heat and you don't actually have to
drink milk if it's too hot. But uh
really appreciate the work that the
dairy folks do on it. Um
uh when we were talking a little bit
about human services,
um some of us got chance to participate
in mock interviews yesterday with kids
going into high school or just barely in
high school. They were incredible. Um
the things that they were looking at
doing how they are trying to interrelate
um if we can figure out a way to partner
with some of our school districts on
even getting our pipeline maybe a little
earlier that would be pretty fabulous.
Um, but it's heartening thinking about
the next generation coming after all of
us. Um, again, thanks to the budget
committee and all the department heads
and staff for putting together this
really complete first look so early. And
then Mike, I think we could probably at
least I could spend a long time with
with thanks and [snorts] perhaps
beverages are in order uh to be toasting
you. Uh, when you came in the county was
in good shape. Our region was in really
good shape. A lot of wonderful things
have happened. We have a number of key
staff that are here from that time
frame. But you really helped us to move
to the next level. Obviously, we're a
complicated place. are really a
microcosm of the state and
between our budget and our number of
staff and all the people and all of the
different things in place, the
creativity and innovation that you've
empowered people and I can tell you feel
uncomfortable because you can't look at
me. [laughter] Um, as well as wanting
the details, right? We need people who
are the good detail people as well as
the people who are great at the
community partnerships. Um, you're gonna
be missed. I know I'm gonna miss you and
it's very [snorts] exciting thinking
about the next chapter for you. We're
going to be just fine because we've got
great people here um that'll help us to
even move to the next place in the
future. So, thank you.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Johnson.
» Thank you, Commissioner Johnson.
>> Um, I too was thinking about the
» Um, I too was thinking about the
election. I voted early. [snorts] Um,
from a slightly different perspective, I
was thinking about how we now live in a
society that is lacking in trust in a
lot of lot of areas. Um, is suspicious
in many areas. And as we begin this
season, I think we need to remind
people, and we may be doing this, Randy,
but we need to remind people of the
safeguards that we have in place,
whether it's through a little promotion
on the website or emails or a newspaper
ad, whatever the case may be. We know
that our elections are accurate and
secure here in Sterns County and in
Minnesota. [clears throat]
But I think we need to tell the people
that, and we need to tell them why. I
think we should talk a little bit about
voter registration and how the roles are
updated on a regular basis and where
that information comes from. [snorts] We
need to talk about identity
verification.
And we could take a few minutes to talk
about the public accuracy tests that
occur that that whether they're scanners
or voting machines or tabulators or
whatever the case may be that these
things are reviewed for accuracy. Um,
and I think it might be good if we just
kind of had a robust presentation early
on now and then maybe again in the fall
to remind people of those things.
We we we certainly can we we're going to
be on the radio spots starting next week
to talk about some of those various
things. Um, we do have a board
presentation I believe early September,
but I mean if you would like,
you know, primary is not too far away.
>> I guess that's up to you. We could look
» I guess that's up to you. We could look
at,
>> you know, I'm not requesting anything
» you know, I'm not requesting anything
particular, Randy. Okay.
>> If if we could put something on our
» If if we could put something on our
website and somehow communicate with
people across the county that this
information is available.
>> Yeah. Um and then whatever else we might
» Yeah. Um and then whatever else we might
do through the public relations people
or mention of it on the radio as as
various people are doing that
>> you know when you think about things
» you know when you think about things
like radio readership is about 4% of the
or listenership excuse me is about 4% of
the population it's it's not a lot.
>> Yeah.
» Yeah.
>> So we just need to find any way we can
» So we just need to find any way we can
to to help with that.
>> Um but thank you. The last thing I too
» Um but thank you. The last thing I too
want to comment about Mike and I'll make
this short. [clears throat] Um, I was on
the committee at the city level that
agreed to hire Mike to be the city
administrator when we were both boys.
[laughter]
It was quite a while ago. And I was very
excited when I saw him move to the
county. I was even more excited having
been elected and having Mike as the
county administrator.
So, I'm doubly sad that maybe I was
[clears throat] the reason he's leaving
[laughter]
because I've only met here a short time.
But, but Mike, I can't say enough about
you. I have great respect for you and
for your work, for your integrity, for
your enthusiasm and honesty that you put
into everything that you do. And I too
wish you and Susan uh the best in your
retirement. Thank you.
>> Okay. Um, I just have a couple of items.
» Okay. Um, I just have a couple of items.
Um, one of them is, uh, obviously
tomorrow we have interviews for the
three candidates to replace Mike. And
then also on Thursday we have the public
hearing on County Ditch 28. And my
understanding is that at least three of
us will be present.
Um, two will be remote, but there's a
chance because it wasn't noticed. Um,
you might not be able to
participate. I guess we Chad Kale from
Ricky and I had a conversation
yesterday. I don't know if Chad has
mentioned it, but uh Kayla was going to
research that part of it, but uh so I
just wanted to kind of put that out
there that but we have quorum in a room,
which was the main thing is we'd have
quorum.
So So that's uh on the agenda. That's
Thursday's meeting at 9:00. That's
strictly a public hearing on county
ditch 28.
>> You're actually meeting as the ditch
» You're actually meeting as the ditch
authority, not as the county. You're
meeting as a ditch authority, not the
county board. Correct.
>> Yeah. And then lastly, um, we have a
» Yeah. And then lastly, um, we have a
resolution
in regards to honoring Michael J.
Williams as Sterns County Administrator.
And I will read that. Whereas Michael
Williams has dedicated 40 years to
public service in local government,
including the past 10 years as Sterns
County Administrator. And whereas Sterns
County will continue to benefit from the
vision and leadership demonstrated by
Michael Williams for years to come. And
whereas Michael Williams worked with the
county's leadership team to establish
Sterns County's first mission and values
and implement a strategic planning
process that strengthens organizational
alignment and direction. And whereas
Michael Williams championed one of the
most transformative infrastructure
initiatives in county history, helping
secure more than 60 million in funding
to provide reliable broadband access to
nearly every home and business in the
county.
And whereas Michael Williams led the
planning, financing, and development of
the Sterns County Justice Center, the
largest capital project in county's
history. And whereas Michael Williams
provided sound financial leadership that
contributed to Sterns County's double A+
bond rating reflecting the county's
strong financial position and
responsible stewardship of public
resources.
And whereas Michael Williams modernized
county operations by establishing the
property services department through the
cons consolidation of the assessor's
office recorder office and land services
to improve service delivery
transitioning the county recorder
position from elected to appointed and
leading the expansion of the Sterns
County Service Center to improve access
to county services by bringing multiple
departments together under one roof. And
whereas Michael Williams led Sterns
County through the unprecedented
challenges of the CO 19 pandemic while
ensuring the continued delivery of
essential county services and expanded
public engagement through the creation
of the county newsletter and Sterns
County's first resident survey. And
whereas colleagues describe Michael
Williams as a thoughtful, respectful,
and effective leader who models
integrity and humility, promotes
innovation, and strengthens public
service through collaboration and
effective management.
And whereas Michael Williams is a mentor
to city and county administrators
throughout the state of Minnesota,
receiving the Joel Ree Excellence in
County Management Award, the Minnesota
Association of County Administrators
highest annual recognition for exemplary
service and leadership in county
government. And whereas the Sterns
County Board of Commissioners wishes to
acknowledge the lasting impact of
Michael Williams' leadership and his
decade of dedicated services to the
residents of Sterns County. Now
therefore, be it resolved the Sterns
County Board of Commissioners honors
Michael Williams for his exceptional
public service in assuring a safe,
healthy, vibrant county for all. Be it
further resolved the board expresses its
sincere gratitude for this his
outstanding contributions to the county
and leadership across the state and
extends its best wishes to him for a
fulfilling and well-earned retirement.
with that. Uh, I also got to say, you
know, it's kind of been a privilege. I
was in his chair when he was hired and
[laughter] I'm in the same chair now and
he's retiring. So, I don't know if if if
that's good or bad because then, you
know, I've been here longer than Mike
has. But, uh, congratulations again,
Mike. Uh, wish you and Susan the best.
And
>> we do have a few, uh, gifts here for you
» we do have a few, uh, gifts here for you
that we'd like to present to you.
>> Okay. Not sure if [laughter] you care to
» Okay. Not sure if [laughter] you care to
say anything first, but
>> you know, this is this is the part I'm
» you know, this is this is the part I'm
not good at. You know, can we go back to
talking about the budget or something,
but uh [laughter]
um you know, I I appreciate the the
words the two the words are too kind. Um
I I just do what you all do, what we all
do is we try to do our best for the
people of the county. In my case, I try
to do the best for the board leadership
team and the people of the county. And
um my work here in Sterns County, I
think as I said in my letter to the
board when I when I uh announced my
retirement is this has really been the
the highlight of my career here. So um
we did have a lot of challenge to work
through and I forgot some of those that
are in the resolution but with this
group we've always come through them you
know in shining success really. Uh it's
because of the board it's because of the
leadership team. It's because of the
fantastic people that work for the for
the county. Um,
and and you all do that. As someone I
heard today, I think it was the sheriff
said, you know, we're trying to make
people's lives better. And that's what
we're all trying to do. And that's what
I always said to every incoming um
[clears throat]
uh group of employees when they'd come
to come to orientation, I'd say, I boil
our mission down to we're trying to make
people's lives better. And so, thank you
all for that.
um you do you've done that as said with
innovation and with the highest of
professionalism and uh I'm just thankful
to have been a part of it and thank you
very much.
>> Good and we'd like to present you know
» Good and we'd like to present you know
with a small token here. It's public
service recognition Michael Williams in
appreciation for distinguished and
dedicated service to the county of
Sterns 2016 to 2026.
behalf of the board.
[applause]
» And Mike, we also have a few
>> Oh, the trivet,
» Oh, the trivet,
>> little trivet, [laughter]
» little trivet, [laughter]
your years of service. And would you and
we'll come down here and take a picture.
[clears throat]
Okay. And then uh be before I announce
the adjournment uh we are having a work
session right after the meeting today.
So
>> you are we're going to be in this room
» you are we're going to be in this room
but I think we're going to reset it.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you. And with
» Okay. All right. Thank you. And with
that uh we will adjourn the meeting.