e e e e e e please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good morning do we have anybody in the audience who'd like to uh make some public comments seeing none uh can I get a motion for agenda review and adoption move approval Mr chair second a motion by Lynch and a second by fahe for the agenda review and adoption any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes the approval of March 4th 20125 minutes move to a motion to approve as presented second okay I have a motion by fahe a second by udman to approve the March 4th 2025 minutes any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I I those opposed motion passes Community announcements commissioner Anderson start on the end all righty um so I had an opportunity to uh attend the board of adjustment um committee or board uh that that was an interesting process in my orientation just trying to figure out how all these pieces work um commissioner are you suffering in somnia I I am a little bit uh commissioner Workman and I also got a wonderful tour of the environmental uh Environmental Center and meet the people who are um truly passionate about that work I think um we heard a testimonial from uh a a client um who said that she was able to paint her entire kitchen from the leftover paint from Workforce Center or from the Environmental Center so that's just kind of a win and it just shows the amount of Services of wide variety of services that Carver County offers um attended my first Library board meeting and um and a first Workforce board henpen um Carver Workforce meeting um commissioner Lynch um offered my services and and allow and I had a chance to um talk a little bit at the lak toown township answer any questions um I appreciate that opportunity humility is always good for the soul so thank you commissioner Lynch I think that they missed you sorely um um I do want to um do a shout out in the unsung heroes section um we're we're getting ready to um spring is coming people are thinking about their their Gardens and so I spend a lot of time at the Home Dep Garden Center and it's going to look very different this year because a wonderful employee there Francy um is no longer there serving our our community and I think leaders come in all shapes and sizes and this is a woman who truly has served our community in that role and um is passionate about was passionate about that so she will she will truly be missed I also spend a lot of time in my day job um as a as I developed leadership training and I came across this quote that I want to end with and it says when we're no longer able to to change a situation we challenge to change ourselves and that's from Victor Frankle and so I find that um inspiring in these times of uncertainty so thank you that's where I'm at commiss udman uh good morning I had a chance to meet with Dr Horton this week he's actually a constituent in Carver County serves as the superintendent for intermediate school district 288 uh we have partnership and programs with them um and it was a great conversation he's been in the role about 8 months he's done some overhaul and and some strategic planning and hard conversations about what the future looks like and uh we'll strengthen that partnership um as it relates to trades 360 and other things uh shout out to the chasa girls made their way to State lost the first game but played back and ended up winning their final game uh it was cool to see I'll just share this story we were um in St Paul at parks meetings and talking to the dad of one of the kids that played against us against minetonka to get us to the state tournament and he said I just have uh I just am in awe when I look at the chasa side of the of the gym um he says you've got people in your program starting in fourth grade all the way up all the youth sports teams were there chearing on the Hawks at the away game our uh crowd was probably twice that of minetonka and he says and I look at our side and I see um I see people that got recruited to play from different cities and he says the sense of community was when you grab somebody to play in the last four years of their High School career versus somebody that's come up with the program it just made me appreciate and understand um how impactful Sports and activities in our community and building that Community are um I got a chance to speak with a couple student groups uh recently and I try to start some of those conversations by saying do you know what a commissioner does most of them did not actually all of them did not and by the end of it I said does anybody after we had a conversation have any interest in doing this role in the future and about half the group put their hand up and I thought that was pretty cool um get a chance to connect with the the Next Generation Um the pathway uh to to to what's in the future um and then I know we have some conversations today on topics and everybody does this job for something different I do it for my five and nine-year-old and we were driving down the road on 212 just recently and she's curious about all the building and she sees the Public Works building of course our destination was bongards cheese to grab some cheese curds and I I said would book you want to would you ever want to live in Carver County she' never given it thought a nine-year-old shouldn't have to and uh and she said I want to be a teacher Dad I think I want to be a teacher and and I said do you know it'd be awful hard to live in Carver County if you had a teacher salary and so we had a really good conversation about that and she says daddy is that why you do it and I said yeah I said I want this to be a place for you and Tenley to be able to live in in the future and so those conversations are real when you look into the eyes of those folks and I know a lot of the stuff that we do sometimes it's maybe not guarded in that um but it was those days for sure um and then a lot of conversations I also had a chance to attend a uh Township meeting um a couple pieces of Buzz that were in that um they raised their budget for the first time I think in seven years in dogr Township um and they raised it by 7% and and that was needed and necessary for some of the things are coming the secondary conversation with a lot of the folks that were in that room after the meeting um was they're looking at I don't know 600 to a thousand new houses in the orderly Annex period station of city of caror and it makes folks in the rural communities a little bit trepidacious as to what's coming our way that's a lot of houses and and these things are coming through orderly Annex and other things the conversation quickly shifted to some of the stuff that's coming out of Carver met Council gave projections that they're going to Triple in size in the next 20 years and if you look at just conservative estimates there's there's not sewer capacity to support that and so a lot of the conversation was is where is that sewer capacity going to come how is that going to come in the next 20 25 years and what opportunity we have when we look at uh 2050 comp plan and so as a commissioner Workman would say it's the sexy stuff sewer is on my mind and capacity as we grow as a pretty Vibrant Community so thank you commission Fe thank you Mr chair I also went to three Township meetings on the annual Township meeting night and it was interesting to the Grassroots part of the government and the issues that they talked about and facing seen the various budget challenges for all the townships and also I continue to learn more about the fire contracts and the relationships that the townships have with all the local fire departments and then there was discussions about the 2050 comp plan and the last Township meeting I was at was in Hancock Township which they hold their meetings in a private residence and we got some strawberry shortcake at night :' that night so that was a bonus so I a thank you to Hancock Township and to Tammy also uh the Minnesota Alliance of local history museums will be honoring six local history projects with a Minnesota History award and the Carver County Historical Society received one of those awards for their Carver County veterans searchable registry project it's a great example of a relatively small project that has had a big impact and something that could be easily replicated I hope others will use this software to create their own veterans database said a history Awards Committee Member and just a thank you to Jeremy Murray uh for all his great work that he's done with this project at the Historical Society and the last one Mr chair the department um of employment and economic development otherwise known as deed is pleased to announce the recent award for redevelopment grant program the city of nor Young America with their project called Norwood Flats uh received $238,500 the Redevelopment grant program continues to be a very popular program that is often over subscribed with funding requests we are very proud of this program and the positive effects it has on communities we are pleased to partner with our grantees to revitalize areas and provide opportunities for job creation and tax base increases that help our communities and state Thrive so thank you thank you commissioner Lynch I've always talked about how I really love local sports and uh like chasa the mayor Lutheran girls basketball team made it the state and they lost some very close games but they also won some uh games too and they lost in the constellation finals I'd like to thank uh commissioner Anderson my good friend commissioner Anderson for covering me at Lake toown Township I as on my way to my third Township meeting and I got a text that said we are no longer friends so they beat her up a little bit at Lake Town no they didn't she did a wonderful job so thank you commissioner Anderson for covering for me at Lake Town they missed you they miss you I understand there was a peach cobbler yes yes there was yes there was but uh no townships are very active they're a wonderful form of government and the people there actually are very knowledgeable and they want uh some answers and commissioner Anderson did very very well I've had some feedback on it so I just thank you sincerely for going there um and we're still friends have to give you I I made uh Watertown Township and Hollywood Township and then I was on my way to wakona Township I walked I pulled up and every place was dark I called up Scott Wakefield he said we finished at 7:30 and this is at 5 to8 so I made two out of the three I was going to so anyway um thank you uh commissioner Mr chair well thank you um happy St Patrick's week uh I wore the coat yesterday and the tie and the whole get up uh had a little fun down at the state capital I'm you're you're pretty much invisible the rest of the year you wear that coat and everybody noticed notice I'm going to probably try to wear it every every week um remember that uh to to go into history just a a hair here that it was not a famine in Ireland it was a genocide it was not a famine they were exporting Guinness um which I might have had a couple of yesterday and uh and others and I have a great book on on uh the ports at the time that were busy exporting all sorts of grain and food and other so it wasn't a famine it was called genocide so with that um I hope to get invited to a Township meeting someday um I've never represent as long as I've been involved in government and legislature I never had uh went that deep into caror County but commissioner fahe that story at a house with strawberry short okay we're we're still a good fun County aren't we we're still we don't have have the issues do we so um I know that uh I talked with Mr Hemy about maybe postponing the work session today on the uh environmental um I do have a funeral Rose Razer um um who's I guess sort of related to me my sister oldest sister is married to Tim Riser so her mother-in-law my sister's mother-in-law passed away she was 90 one or two or three um and could name all about 46 of her grandchildren by name and who they belong to till the final day uh her funeral is today at 11 o' and so I'm hoping to get to that the board can decide if they want to talk about the environmental stuff uh but uh could probably easily be postponed um and then your day would would be shorter too so um sewer capacity that commissioner fahe brought up uh The Honorable juel Smith who passed away some years ago and who was Mech counil rep and a very very smart gentleman here he he worked with Jonathan Corporation he was the County Attorney of chasa before that he lived across the street for me when I was growing up I got into trouble with his kids um suggested that a new I think commissioner udman you were talking about capacity you were the one that was talking about capacity I say f um that in fact the long range plan of the me council is to install a large sewer treatment plant somewhere west of here attached to the Minnesota River uh with a whole new link kind of like like adding a new 94 694 out uh for that capacity but they've long looked at um possibly in Carver County uh a large line that would connect somehow and be a wastewater treatment plant somewhere down by the Minnesota River so uh stay tuned for that if we're going to have growth I guess and then no townships okay can I get a motion from for the consent agenda so Mo second Mr chair I have a motion by udman and a second by Lynch for the consent agenda any discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes item 3.1 professional service agreement with the Carver County Community Development Agency for distribution of local affordable housing aid there's only three Act ACS in that one sentence I like it good morning board chair uh Commissioners uh thank you for having us this morning um the purpose of our presentation today is really to talk um in in more detail around um what the CDA um intends to do uh with the local affordable housing aid allocation that we received uh but I did want to do a level set I believe uh most of you have seen these slides already um they have been in front of the board at a couple different presentations we have done regard regarding um local affordable housing aid which we kindly refer to as laa uh so uh but I wanted to do um just like I say a recap I know commissioner Anderson in particular uh this a lot of this occurred over the last couple years and you were not on the board so I wanted to make sure you were aware of um kind of how this came about so laa was really created by the 2023 legisl legislature um it the dollars come from a sales and use tax um so uh what that really means is they vary a little bit and will vary a little bit every year depending on the spending that occurs in the Metro because it is based on um sales tax um this is decided then by the Department of Revenue um they do kind of a preliminary number for us and then do a certified number based off of the previous year's taxes uh and what they'll impose uh so we we don't quite know it it does vary we won't get an exact amount or the exact same amount every year we're actually hoping it will go up because if people spend hopefully then we'll have more tax again this applies to our Metro counties um the seven Metro um here Carver being one of them again this is uh calculated off of cost burden household where they're really utilizing the gross rent um of of residents who have who spend 30% or more on their household income 2024 legislation they did make some amendments um to the 2023 uh statute um just giving a little bit broader um definition and expansion of use for the laa funds uh this was good for us um it did allow some support services and Case Management Services um to be funded um that was left out of some of the original leg legislation and I'll um have Jen Romero our housing uh supervisor come up in a minute um to talk about how briefly how HHS is using some of the funds and that case management piece is really key um and was a great expansion for us to be able to utilize some of the dollars here at the county um to be able to administer administer some of the work that we do again the goal of Baja really is um to develop and preserve affordable housing um really um looking at those folks who may be in AAR either with rent or possibly um housing costs um household um even if they own a home um in a rears with those with those costs and expenses um to maintain their housing and again as I shared uh providing case management has really become a key part um for the education and sustainability and we were thrilled about that because I'm a Believer um that you can't just pay for housing but you really need to be able to edate and help folks to be able to sustain their housing um the board did approve um at their August 24th uh board meeting last year um that 30% of the laa funds again that appropriation will change um every year uh based off tax and spending um but 30% will go to Health and Human Services to utilize um as we see appropriate and then today um again the main goal is really to talk about at least the plan on how the CDA will plan will utilize the 70% that they will receive again their there's pretty um clearly identified and in some ways a little prescriptive um qualified projects definitions in statute um we have to conform with those requirements um that are outlined in that law on how we how we utilize the dollars I am in a um this is just a brief this is our certified 2024 amount you can see we're just a shade over 1.6 million um that Carver County received um in laa funds last year we do receive the funds in July and then December so it's a tomb payment um process they give us half the money um halfway through the year and then we get the rest at the end so our 2024 money uh half of what we just got in December so uh we're it's really rolling into 2025 um for all kind of intents and purposes for spending um and again the preliminary amount what we're predicting for 2025 is pushing 2.4 million um that was based off of just some predictive modeling that the state did um based off of the spending um that they've seen over the last year so again we won't have that information certified uh for us until probably June uh they usually seems to come out late June with a certified amount and then they cut checks in July uh so hopefully that will that will stay consistent and we'll be able to get those funds and actually we have a bit of an increase then of of dollars to spend um and so at this point I will ask Jen to come up uh the laa appropriation and spending in HHS is done um through Jen Romero and our housing unit and um in part parip with our income support unit and so we are we are already uh distributing some of these funds out and are utilizing These funds to to support the community so with that I'll ask Jen to come up and just share a bit about uh what she's doing in her area um regarding the funds Thanks Jen thank you heather good morning Commissioners so the rent assistance $120,000 will be used to help people preserve the housing that they already have so people who are behind for emergency reasons on their rent payments can submit an application to Carver County which would be processed uh through the income support department and either approved or denied based on the uh applicants eligibility uh part of that money is being spent specifically by a variety of case managers throughout Carver County who have long-term uh relationships with clients um that are very familiar with their client situation and know that the money will help keep them stabilized in their homes and prevent homelessness we also last October released an RFP uh to solicit our housing support providers to see if any of them needed additional funding for Support Services we ended up um allocating $255,000 to four agencies the cap agency received $100,000 to provide support services to their housing support program and to provide front desk coverage to the West Creek apartment building in chasa Skyline Inc is a housing support agency that is receiving $80,000 to add to their support services and also provide emergency rental assistance to the clients that they serve Maverick unified Services is our newest housing support contracted Agency for Carver County they're receiving $60,000 and they have begun a brand new program for us doing housing support Administration to help people stay in their homes and help rehouse people who are experiencing homelessness and then we have Volunteers of America who receive 15 will receive $15,000 to help Provide support services to lease up Prairie point in Shaka for the Carver County folks that they will be working with and then we will also be using approximately $80,000 of the funding to help um Provide support services to Residents throughout Carver County through the housing support or through the housing unit so through my unit basically help pay for the support service work that my team does when they're working with clients who are experiencing homelessness in the community to help rehouse and stabilize them any questions about that okay thanks good job so with that I'll invite up Allison or Melody I'm not sure if are both of you are tag team Allison's going to take lead uh so again like I said our our goal really today is for uh the CDA to be able to share um how they intend to use some of their funds and I want to just thank Allison um and Melody both uh for their collaboration and partnership it's been a wonderful process for us working together to really uh develop these plans and develop uh the projects and so uh I'm really excited about uh the uses so with that I'll turn it over to Alison to share a bit morning Allison morning chair and Commissioners um excited to talk about this new funding to um get some new programs up and running for for the residents of Carver County so this first slide is just um our proposal that we made to Heather to show um where we're trying to allocate the money over the next five years obviously this could be subject to change based on the needs in the community or you know other other things that other programs that might come up um but you can see the allocation and then I'll go into detail um on each of these programs on the next slides so the first is our down payment assistance program um it provide an affordable pathway for low and moderate income households to achieve home ownership um the guidelines for the down payment assistance program were passed at um the cda's January board meeting um households would be at or below 100% of area meeting income and that is currently 124,00 um and that would not be adjusted by household size um again program goals then encourage home ownership and maintain a strong residential real estate market for all household income and property types um this would be for firsttime home buyers uh the purchase price may not exceed 415,000 um and that's approximately 85% of the a median sales price for a single family home in Carver County and that can be adjusted annually um households would be eligible for up to $50,000 um and the debt to income ratio cannot exceed 40% um and then all households would be required to uh complete a hom Stretch Class in in order to be eligible for this program um then we' be looking to add a first generation down payment assistance program um so this program would follow the firsttime home buyer um we would just have funds set aside specifically for first generation households um and the definition for first generation would be the prospective homeowner um either themselves and their parents would not have owned a home um or they would have lost to foreclosure um and then all the rest of these programs we don't have guidelines for so we like I said down payment assistance has been approved we would be looking at then implementing um guidelines for all the other programs um so the next one is a grant fund program for seniors a rehab loan program again specifically Target seniors um so would help seniors that are not ready to move out of their house stay in their house longer um but be able to make repairs so that the house doesn't deteriorate um so it wouldn't be things like painting or cosmetic but things that preserve the Str the structure so um targeted improvements like rofs HVAC critical physical needs um this would be deferred and forgivable um with the right of first refusal to the CDA so that we could potentially put it either into our land trust program or work with somebody who's applying for down payment assistance or first gen where they could potentially buy it um and this would Target households at or below 60 % of area meeting income um and then the next one is a revolving Loan Fund um so the CDA currently we administer um a rehab loan program through Minnesota housing but this program is very challenging because it targets households at or below 30% of area median income um and it takes a long time to process this with mhfa so we would this would allow a more broad use of funds for fix up projects it would Target homeowners at or below 80% of area meeting income um and it would be a low interest revolving Loan Fund so it'll allow us to continue to make loans by having it be revolving and and making a little bit of interest on it um and then the last one is multif Family new uh production so this would be uh funding available uh as Gap financing for other developers coming in who are trying to do affordable housing developments uh private developers it would Target households at or below 80% of area median income um and for this particular program we probably won't implement this until year four or five um on that first spreadsheet because we're going to need time to set aside funding for there to be enough money in there for it to really make a difference for a developer who's seeking that g Gap financing any questions any questions I maybe have a couple this seems like a a pretty good windfall um but we're not really building any new housing correct we're um we're just sort of taking care of the people and the housing that we have right would that be the with correct with the exception of this last one the multif family new production so that would be used just to bring down the cost of can you give me an example of that so like for example um let's look at uh Carver Oaks that we have under construction with mhfa the county we got a million dollars from the county for that project so there's two areas in the funding with Minnesota housing where we get points for bringing in our own money to the deal so it will if if projects are going to mhfa it can help them get points and help you know potentially bring down the debt um and the Gap and what they're applying for um you know or as an example I think of um Lake Susan apartments in Chan Hassen that was a senior deal that opened a couple I think they actually opened right after covid a couple years ago um they did a tiff District so they had no mhfa money in the deal but they applied for our community growth partnership initiative so potentially a private developer who's maybe wants to do a tiff or something else creative to bring in in some affordable units then they could apply for money for this so it just depends on how they want to finance it okay thank you Mr chair if I may um on that topic this is the one that excites me the most and and you guys are good at putting up buildings and beating your head against the wall with all the things you have to do to assemble the funds and it's more complicated than I can even comprehend um I think this is the best spend of that money because everything else you you put it in once and and you might get a return this when you can put it in for a long term I've done some independent research on the potential of Co-op a co-op being where you own shares of it and when you're done you can have Equity when you leave on um I've also done research that suggests that 15 to 20% of the build cost of anything is land and so on the heels of what came out of the federal Administration in the last 24 hours of them potentially opening up federal lands um to make affordable housing possible it not only recognizes that there's I think they said 7 million missing middle houses that are needed that's a big number and I don't know what our share is based on those numbers and a lot of that land isn't here but I know the county sits on a lot of land and maybe that trickles down to the county partnering and purchasing underlying land to take that 15 to 20% off the table where we control that land then whatever you build on the on top maybe a third of that housing is is reserved for I'm looking in the back first-time sheriff's deputy that may want to come work for us um but can't because it's really expensive to live here had a chance to be in man last week and I met with the folks there um and they've used a model where when they're building up a big nice fancy um uh fire station they tested putting up three tow houses and their rent if you will is in exchange for um uh 20 uh 20 shifts at the fire station and it kind of solved their Community challenge because they're having a hard time recruiting firemen and I know we're having a lot of times we're not alone in law enforcement and what does that look like and so I guess if I envisioned um close my eyes and envisioned a ladder I think we've done really good in the first rung and the second run and the Third Run of those affordable folks I think you guys were in the in the Board Room a couple weeks ago when we talked about effectively the Youth and Young Adult homeless population has been solved through West Creek so the three rungs that are missing on that proverbial ladder are the what do you do after that if you're able to and not everybody is some people will forever stay in where they're at but if you're able to what is that step up housing look like so long way around saying and a lot of variables here could we use this to explore what a co-op model might be where you not only develop and build more stock that CDA controls so other people can benefit from it but you're also creating a path for ownership or partial ownership when you leave there's something to take and put it as a down payment on a house we don't have stock between 200 and $400,000 I'm not worried about the 500 600$ 700,000 plus we're competing fine for those but we're missing that middle because we haven't built it for 20 years is Co-op a model that we could use these dollars for that we've explored Al I don't have the answer to that but I'm happy to explore it uh I'm happy to explore it I mean I know there are funding opportunities specific to co-op type housing so we're happy to do some digging on that and see what we can find when we were last comment when we were looking at arpa dollars and to use your your word you said windfall we didn't expect that and I was told you know as a new commissioner don't expect these Monies to be coming because they're not and I think the next three to five years looks bleak the state is looking at6 to 10 billion doll deficit in 2728 this is an opportunity that we could actually make a difference and and make that stock we did the same thing with arpa we invested in Broadband we invested in housing we're going to see the benefit for those for 20 plus years to come and so I think this is an opportunity thank you for your willingness I'm happy to partner in share all that I know man might be a good one to take a look at I know when Susan was in Waconia they looked at it and there's a lot of there's a lot of pieces of the equation I get it U but if the fundamentals of could we partner to buy the underlying land maybe even out by Public Works who knows if we can have a sense of ownership I'm thinking for how can we develop more stock and how can we have a path for ownership for people to take that next step and it's an area I think that I think we're poised and we have the right team to tack tackle it like we've never done before so thank you for your willingness I maybe have a quick question maybe on behalf of the taxpayers maybe it's Ms Romero um she mentioned uh Prairie point in shaky can you explain to the Carver County taxpayer why you were talking about a place in shaki another another fine County yes so I'm gonna um use West Creek as an example so West Creek used coordinated entry to find the youth to fill the vacant unit so the project was dedicated to homeless youth they took youth technically from all over the um Suburban metro area most of them were from Carver County but there were some from other areas pre point is located in shaki but to fill their homeless dedicated units they have to select clients from the coordinated entry list because they're funded through the state and that list in includes all the Suburban Metro counties as well as Carver County so we anticipate and have anticipated for a very long time that the majority of the homeless units at Prairie point will be filled by Scott and Carver County households and so um Volunteers of America is the agency that will be providing the services for that property for the homeless dedicated units and so Volunteers of America will be working with carva County residents referred off of coordinated entry into that project when it opens in December so they'll start taking referrals probably around October if everything goes to plan in terms of the construction timeline and then they'll house Carver County folks who are willing and want to live in Shaka in that project does that then mean that Carver County dollars follow that person or only for a little bit um once they become residents of Scott County and they've lived in their new apartment for 30 days then they become Scott County's um priority but there's this whole lease up period where they're initially leasing up the homeless units which is a significant period of time and a good chunk of the building where there could be a sign ific number of Carver County folks given the opportunity to move there thank you heather anything else or and commissioner Workman I have a couple questions oh commissioner Anderson all right um I want to kind of go back to that that 3070 split um how's that working I mean are are both of you able to um it it well just how's that working is is that sufficient is the 30% sufficient for what we're what our needs are I think today it is we we base the 30% off of some evaluation that Jen and I had done around what we had historically spent on rent assistance what we had done um with housing Support Services through Health and Human Services um I have uh we've talked that that percentage might need to change if the climate changes if if we see a different need in Carver County we may need to come back to the board in future years and ask for a different percentage split uh and again uh we wanted to have enough dollars in there that the CDA could Implement some of these qualified projects um again the the definitions of those are are pretty prescriptive in the statute and and CDA has done a nice job of putting together a package that follows those qualified projects and it was important for HHS and for the community uh for the dollars to be there to be able to implement those programs and so I think for today um it's working again this we're we're really not even a year in yet uh we got our first in July of 2024 um second allocation in December of 2024 so we're really just um getting started so I think it'll be an interesting um an interesting question and and something to come back to in maybe the next year or two to say okay let's look back at this you know a couple of years worth of utilization and determine if that's the correct percentage moving forward thank you and then my other comment is I do love um the path to home ownership I think that's really the way to build people and to get them out of Po so I really appreciate um that that so much money is being spent on that do we have a a sense of how many families have been served by this at this point I'm not sure I saw that number maybe I missed it uh no because we haven't signed the contract that's to be appr that's what I'm missing all right um but that's where we're at does have some projections she could share she based on the numbers and what our DPA amounts are going going to be perfect thank you what a great question um oh um hello everyone my name is Melody bridan I'm the director of Community Development for the CDA um I'm really excited about this resource it's just something new that again we're able to implement um a lot of the needs that are identified in the housing plan where where we want to go with the county um we're anticipating uh again 50,000 for the down payment closing cost assistance roughly 75 to 100 for first gen um and land trust um 20,000 for seniors uh 25 for revolving Loan Fund altogether over 5 years we anticipate we'll be helping about 225 households in the county with this resource U again assuming a little bit of an in um increase in the resources every year with the sales tax yeah I love that thank you um for sharing that and I and I think you know too often when we talk about low-income housing we're talking about um rent and and really home ownership is really the way to kind of build people and get them out of poverty so I appreciate that um I also have another question for um director Goodman Goodwin Goodwin uh um you know with this program and and our and I love our partnership with CDA and and Jen and and what we're doing um I do know that um are is there a potential as we have more low-income housing what pressure does that put on your department for Case Management Services and and whatnot appreciate the question commissioner um it it is uh something we pay very close attention to in watch and the reality is for most of the units as Jen has even explained um that many of them are um homeless units are are meant to to combat that or even I'll use the example of of Carver place that is one of the senior housing units that's being developed by the CDA the reality is those are low-income you know units those as as we've explained uh they there often is needs to be um a percentage of of median income that's low enough to be able to qualify for those units so the bulk of those units do result in additional case load for St for my staff whether that's our financial assistance income support staff that would be processing those housing support applications might be opening those persons to food support other kinds of things could also be um additional case load in our home and Community Based care area which works with persons with disabilities or with the elderly senior older adults population uh they often might be receiving um elderly waiver services for example to help support uh being able to live in that residence and and get the services they need to live in an independent apartment or home uh so it it is there is a high percentage of all of these this build um that does does result in increased cases for Health and Human Services and it is something um that while we want the housing and I think the housing is very needed and it's a very good thing um it does operationally result in more cases to manage and when you start getting you know 50 60 70 80 those are those are that's an FTE those are more C you know that is not something that can oftentimes be absorbed um in our current staff uh compliment so thank you for the question yeah and and I appreciate that and I think that that's something that we have to understand um as a board that yes we do need this housing and um commissioner udman and I were were just in a Workforce um planning meeting and talked about the importance of um Workforce housing and that piece and we also have to start considering the pressure that's putting on our organization and um the operational cost that that that may be incurred by that um so as as we go forward and of course um budget to Dollars will be tight so um so thank you for for sharing that and um and just thank you so much for the partnership of this beautiful group of people and and serving our community I I appreciate the passion you have around this and um also just the competence and and um the talent we have in the room for this so so thank you for for all you do thank you commissioner I appreciate that and unless there's more questions I will move um and ask for a motion to approve the laa professional service agreement between Carver County and the CDA um we're going to run that through December 31st 2026 to give an opportunity to see again how these La laa DS play out how how you know what we we end up getting for it'll be interesting too because 2025 will really be our first year um that we to see where you know if we do continue to get incremental increases or if those dollars start um plateauing and stay flat um it'll be interesting to see where they go but we will run the contract through 2026 to give an opportunity for the CDA to begin to implement some of these programs and the contract actually is currently I think it may be right it actually could be approved as of um yesterday but I think we are have been running that through our internal contract process so it could be technically pending so um with that I'll ask for a motion and um again appreciate the opportunity I mean this is it's unusual to get um an allocation like this from the state uh I think it's exciting Because unless the legislature takes action to end it this is indefinite funding um again very unusual uh for us to get that opportunity so I do think there there are some wins here for the community um that we can do and do some good work with this funding how don't I get that motion and second on the table then I know commissioner udman has another question so the motion is to approve the local affordable housing aid professional service agreement between Carver County and Carver County Community Development agency contract number 25-13 1 through December 31st 2026 pending approval through the internal contract review process do I have a motion for that second okay I got a motion by Anderson and a second by fahe commissioner udman to commissioner Anderson's point about the cost of services when you build and you know I've seen two big developments proposed in in city of Carver alone and their commercial industrial tax Bas is less than it's poultry it's less than 1% and it it concerns me I think one of the numbers that I've heard in the past is the first $500,000 worth of home value or dwelling value um just barely covers County related St uh services and I don't know where that number came from um but at one time it was 450 and then I heard 500 is there a way we can get that average number because I think it's really helpful as we plan um when you build a house it comes with a lot of services when you build a warehouse it comes with Close To None right after you get the roads built so if there's that number floating around for caror County I think it'd be really helpful to know I know chasa and Chan hasten has done a great job of their non-residential tax base um 15 to 22% given wherever you're at and it's deeply concerning to see the growth in areas that are highly being driven by residential only and I think that's a great point of what the headwinds costs are not saying we shouldn't do it we just need to be aware of it and I'm really encouraged by uh year five of 2029 for multif family 26% of the dollars if there's any way we can accelerate that that would be my preference I think you close to 200 people you said would be impacted you get to impact them maybe once if you build a building if you rotate people through every you know three or four years or whatever the number is I don't know what the average is um you can get to that number in in a decade and then you've got multiple decades in the future where you can have uh permanent impact so thank you well and I think I've been asking questions like that for a long time and I'm not sure it's this group that has the answer that maybe it's Paul Molen maybe it's frishman uh what is the the right math I know the city of St Paul has so much nonprofit property Catholic Church Etc that they have a unique issue city of Victoria has a unique issue they got a lot of Park land and so they're trying to come up with some industrial but there's a there's a algorithm of some sort out there about how best to do that um but I'm not sure you guys are I think I think the question was in relationship to what what what the Human Service yes cost are of of a an individual home and so but I'll leave it up to you but uh maybe maybe you're going to need some help with that but um but anyway okay any other questions seeing none I do have a motion and a second for this any further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion pass thank you sir thank you you okay item 3.2 approval of revised bylaws for the mental health local advisory councel very good sir I'll start us off again with this uh as uh commissioner our our new liaison commissioner Anderson knows uh we've been working on updating the bylaws uh for the mental health advisory committee also known as the mental health local advisory Council so when you hear that term they are exchange kind of one in the same uh to the board uh it's called the mental health advisory committee but we follow some of the statutory language around the naming of the operational naming of that committee so I did want to introduce I believe um Melissa is here she's one of my amazing staff um Melissa Hansen who runs our case management area and uh overseas and is our County liaison um to the mental health local advisory Council so I wanted to bring her up and allow her to introduce herself um and to set the stage a little bit regarding um the the council and then Kayla is here as well um who is our newest chair of that Council um to actually walk you through the changes of the bylaws good morning Commissioners I'm Melissa Hansen uh the community support unit supervisor so I've been um honored to be one of the staff leison for the mental health advisory committee um known by Statute as the mental health local advisory Council often called the Lac um I wanted to just introduce Kayla Pasco who has been rather newly elected as the chair but has been really active since she's been a member um really valuable in sharing her talent and skills and Robert's Rules of orders expert for our committee so um appreciate all that she's been able to add so come on up Kaa well good morning good morning Mr chair Commissioners thank you so much for seeing us Adam chair thank you so much for seeing us today um before you we have a set of proposed amendments to the bylaws for the mental health local advisory committee uh the goal of these is to kind of update the language to make sure that we are in compliance with the statute as it's written this is statute 2 46. 666 subsection 5 of the Minnesota state statute um the major changes that are being made one were're uh lowering the number of members of the committee for those of you who have been with us for a while you're aware this is a ult committee to fill we'd like to have full seats um for no other reason than it makes it a lot easier to calculate a quorum um in addition to that the biggest change is that we are putting into the bylaws the actual statutory requirements for the qualifications of each of our members so if you'll go ahead on the believe it's the second page of the document um you'll note that in specifically the statute states that the committee must include at least one consumer one family member of an adult with a mental illness one mental health professional one Community Support Services Program representative and those are things that were not included in our bylaws previously additional language has been recommended um and has been placed as an amendment just to make sure we have clear language and consistent language throughout the bylaws again in compliance with the statute be happy to take any questions at this time any questions seems very clear as always you're very clear thank you on what's required so thank you I am grandparent certified uh if you need help with the child yes uh we we came in at the very very last second cut it very close but I'm glad to be here so it's not a sound we hear in this room very often it's kind of nice yeah a little happy baby gigles what what was the name his name is Arthur oh sure that yeah nice all right uh a little bit of cleanup uh you you got rid of my old friend Sue kunet off that committee she got uh timed out right correct and uh so maybe we need to change that good people have to leave these committees and uh and then we're looking for more so but commissioner Lynch aren't you who's the I I have been for for quite some time commissioner Anderson has uh has taken this one over and it's uh you mentioned cleanup it's very good uh just to see from going from 14 to 13 to uh the tie to avoid the tie vote but are there are there ties not usually but uh it's a very difficult one as Kayla has uh to to staff because there's different categories to go through and uh but um there have bur yeah there have been ties but more likely it's just to get the quarum more than anything to go from 8 to seven is kind of a big deal it is for this Committee in particular we almost always have seven we very rarely have eight and part of that's because this is a weekday 4 pm meeting and so it's a little bit harder to get people to come to it and there's a lot of lay on there's a lot of non voting members on that including this board seat so so that doesn't help um I mean fills the room it fills the room but it fills the room that doesn't make me a quorum yeah so that's that's our recommendation and you are correct commissioner Lynch um the reason why we chose to go to 13 instead of 15 was because of the Quorum issues the reason why we chose an odd number was in case of a tie okay well I have a motion by Anderson in a second by Lynch I understand to approve the revised bylaws for the Carver County Mental Health local advisor Council yes that suit you guys that does any further discussion hearing none all those in favor say I all right those opposed motion passes thank Youk you Commissioners and thank you for your work on this I'd be more happy to talk to Arthur just so he doesn't talk down just so he doesn't talk down to me six times certified not up that I'm bragging all right commissioner Lynch do you have anything you want to say I'd like to recess of the County Board and reconvene as the county ditch Authority commissioner Lynch has moved that we recess as the as the county ditch Authority do I have a second second I got a second by commissioner Anderson any discussion on that any seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes Mr man thank you Mr chair uh David frisman uh County cover County ditch administrator also property and finance director um good morning uh board members as well um today's motion is a for the redetermination of benefits um the which the county dit number six approved at a public hearing on February 18th and I uh went through and added up all of the um uh the cost of the redetermination of benefits and um the just making sure I got this right so and there there ditch the buffer strip have payments have already been made so the total cost of the redetermination was 6 3,176 so I'm recommending uh a special assessment of 63,0 176 um be assessed for County ditch six and then for any individual assessment over 2 $50 to spread that uh over five years with an interest rate of 4% I'll make that motion Mr chair we have a motion by commissioner fahe I second and a second by commissioner Lynch to consider adoption of a recommended 63,65 special assessment with any individual assessment over 250 spread over 5 years with an interest rate of 4% any discussion on that Mr chair do we know this one and others how much the max would be that uh a household would absorb and do we do we know how many properties this 63,000 has spread over uh I I do have the list I uh both those questions I don't have it with me um but yeah it is it's all based on the um the benefits that uh the viewers determined um that the board um approved and so so this assessment will go against that and then any future assessments for ditch maintenance or repairs anything will'll all be using that new um list of benefits benefited properties and the viewers did a good job because no land owners is in the room um yes that's correct I also want to make the point to be clear that um these payments could be spread over um five years but they don't have to be yeah thank you commissioner Anderson um the we will be sending out a note notice uh special assessment notice uh within the next 30 days um and that'll uh let all the addal owners know what their assessment is and give them an opportunity to pay that prepay that before um the end of the year and and then they'll be no uh they won't pay any interest on that but anyone who any assessments that are not paid over 250 will will put them on um at uh that uh over spread over five years at 4 percent interest rate and this interest went up from 3% to 4% can you um talk to that a little bit why the change um that was uh I guess my historical um thinking was 3% but I I checked in with our assistant Finance director Mary Kay um also checked with um McLoud County and 4% is the is the rate it was not a change yeah was yeah was just was my preliminary recommendation of 3% and then got a chance to talk to few more people and and they said the the going rate was closer to 4% okay thank you well Mr Fishman so what information do the property owners have they don't know how much they're paying I mean do they have the math about what their percentage of this is they know the percentage they they have that available yeah that that's that's what the board approved is their percentage that information's been on our website um what their percentage is they could they there was a hypothetical $100,000 um uh assessment that that was included on our website so they could see if for 100,000 they could see what their percentage would be um now for um cd6 it'll be that number we just approved they you know they they'll be able to use the proportion it's not not the 100,000 but they have that available and like I said we will be sending out a letter that'll be addressed to each property owner at their address and it'll have their specific amount that their um that their assessment is for so I made know that I have 2 and a half% of this Y and now I know the 63 yep and I can do simple math and I know what I'm okay $1,200 I just was trying to figure out why nobody was here with less information um is this done are we done with this then we we are now done with uh County ditch six um and as I said we we now we have a workshop coming up in uh in April uh where we're going to talk with our uh ditch attorney and uh Mike wanis from the um who's our ditch inspector from our the Conservation District uh we're going to have a discussion with the board about setting a policy in terms of uh maintaining these ditches and what work needs to be done and how um you know when do we want to inspect things and how how often do we want to keep uh um doing repairs and maintenance coming out of that there'll be any projects that then we want to take on any things any repairs we want to make there'll be a cost associated with that we'll go through uh a public hearing not public hearing but at least a public meeting process uh depending on the amounts we could do a public hearing but um if there's smaller amounts and then that'll be an annual um assessment that the board will approve which we've been doing um uh consistently in November uh we bring back any assessments um recommendations based on the work that's been done um either by us us in in our County or it could be done at on a joint County and now they're sending us a bill and then we're and assessing that back to the property owners so this this was kind of this was a oneoff event where we're updating all of the um the properties that are benefiting from the ditch uh we probably won't do this again for another maybe 15 20 25 years this particular redetermination of benefits but we will do ongoing maintenance um and repairs as needed and then we'll be assessing those costs back to the property owners so I'd like all the board members to look into the camera wherever it is and uh make sure that Christa writes this down to our future County boards uh all the hard hard work that we uh did it was very hard thank you Dave uh uh but I was thinking 25 years from now they they might look at it again but this is it it's kind of a nice feeling I would say so yes thank you they're not going to say Thank you so I'm going to say thank you to this board for all their hard work on this important issue so did I get a second a first uh or uh yes in a second yes he did six okay so any other questions because I do have a motion seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes thank you on behalf of future County Board can I do that I'm not even sure I can do that all right item 4.2 consider adoption of special assessment for redetermination of benefits for County ditch number nine uh thank you Mr chair uh same process uh just different ditch and different amounts the county ditch nine the redetermination of benefits was approved after public hearing on February 18th and that um there was the viewers did um calculate uh um buffer strip payments which is one rod um on either side one rod is like 16 feet is that 16 and a half feet I'm I'm figuring I'm trying to remember that one uh 6 and half ft on either side of the ditch the property owner has to keep that in Grass it can't be um uh can't be uh used for um farming and because of that there um there is a requirement when a redetermination of benefits is done that those buffer payments be made uh we did do the research and there was um a couple of um um properties that had the buffer Serv payments made um back in the 80s uh County ditch 9 has not had their buffer strip payments U made so um that was at $ 67,69 3,629 um those amounts together uh add up to 91,92 that's the recommendation for a special assessment um for uh County ditch 9 and that one also recommending that any uh special assessments over $250 get spread over five years at interest rate of 4% and the proper will be notified um by a letter that um they have the option to prepay uh their assessment uh by the end of the year um and then no assessment will be made on their property okay much like the first one do I have a motion Mr chair um Lynch Dave what is a buffer strip uh it's say 16 and 1 12 ft on either uh side of the ditch and uh the property owners are not able to do anything with that they have to uh keep it in grass or um they can't they can't Farm it um so they can't they can't roll crop it they actually have grass and then they want to Hay it and the reason they want to do that I just want to get this on the record then they do it for uh should have asked you the question it's very similar to what Lyon likes to do on the side the road keeps the trees out of it so it's just uh and we encourage everyone to uh keep it in grass and then uh actually bail it and it uh keeps it in production but in a rain event if you get a couple of it keeps the dirt out of the ditch so I just want to have that for the record yeah thank you m I think that was the governor Dayton there uh was it's recent fairly recent for that that yeah go ahead Mike I've already been uh wrong or not totally accurate on one answer and this may be different from the railroad uh buffers that farmers never adhere to correct uh and it's amazing what you can grow on a railroad tie filled with Creo um good morning Mr chair and ditch board Mike wanis I'm your ditch inspector also the sbcd manager um so the governor date buffer strip was approved in 2015 and that was a state mandate that all public ditches have that 162t buffer all public Waters have um minimum 30 average 50 foot buffer strip of perennial vegetation however it's been in ditch law so statute 103e ever since the 1970s that anytime viewers are appointed to a ditch system the ditch system has to compensate those landowners for that one rod 16 and2 foot of grass buffer so we have two different buffer laws in place one through the ditch law one through Governor Dayton's buffer law um what Dave has mentioned is County ditch 9 has never been paid for those buffer strips so now that the viewers were appointed as this redetermination of benefits process they have to compensate those landowners for that 16 and a half fet of buffer strip who does the ditch Authority has to pay for it through the ditch funds for that particular ditch system the other ditch benefiting ditch Property Owners pay the ones that okay not controversial at all well I don't know if I'd say that yeah there's there's two separate buffer laws well thank God okay thank you for that yeah Mr chair I'll make a motion to adopt the recommendation of the 91,92 special assessment for ditch nine for ditch number nine all right commissioner fahe has made a motion I would second commissioner Lynch has seconded any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I those opposed motion [Applause] passes all right item 4.3 consider adoption of a special assessment for redetermination of benefits for County ditch number 10 thank you Mr chair um so County ditch number 10 the uh they approved the recommended viewers report for the redetermination of benefits after a public hearing on February 18th as well um I've determin that the buffer strip payments have previously been paid for the redetermination of benefits um as part of the redetermination benefits back in 1982 uh the total cost for the redetermination of benefits for cd10 was $1 19,00 $177 um recommending an assessment of actual that 19,1 177 not the 18,000 that's in your packets um but the so the recommendation is a 19,176 special assessment uh with any individual assessments over $250 spread over a 5year period at an interest rate of 4% I'm not sure not sure what happened on this particular RBA um and that as we mentioned before that property owners will be getting a letter um notifying them of their uh Stitch assessment and giveing the opportunity to uh prepay that before the end of the year okay I'm going to read this action because it was corrected uh consider adoption of a recommended $1,177 special assessment with any individual assessment over $250 spread over a 5-year period with an interest rate of 4% sent that would be a motion so moved Mr chair second I have a motion by commissioner fahe and a second by commissioner Lynch for the previously stated action any discussion on this one only that if I could Mr chair that um they seem we're going through the same thing and it's a cookie cutter but uh if you're a farmer and these ditches are very important to you they take away a lot of the water and uh um and without these ditches there'd be many acres that wouldn't be farmable so just add stick to have that on the record thank you for adding that another debatable topic for another day I would say um I like Farmland okay we got a motion a second no other discussion all those in favor say I I those opposed motion passes commissioner Lynch I'd like to make the motion to adjourn as the county ditch Authority and reconvene as the County Board commissioner Lynch has moved to adjourn as County ditch Authority and reconvene as a County Board is there a second second second by Anderson any discussion on that motion hearing none all those in favor say I I I those opposed motion passes commissioner commissioner Mr Hemy thank you Mr chair board members on page four your schedule uh the strategic planning sessions we have them all finally locked in so thank you to Christa including I believe did you get everybody into the one-on-one meetings on April 3D so those are all set up ready to go uh we have a few more logistical items to go through otherwise uh we're on our way with that process and then uh on your agenda as board chair Workman I already mentioned you have a work session today and up up to you and the other board members Mr chair I know it's going to take uh probably an hour to get through the whole presentation we could either move it if we did move it we would want to move it into April because of Staffing schedules well I'll leave it up to the board I would need to leave probably in about 30 minutes so given um given share workman's understanding in this in this area I would um I would be reluctant to continue this conversation without him pres I would leave it up to the chair's discretion to move it wherever you would like sir okay I'll leave up to staff to move it to a future thank you for coming anyway um and um likely be April what what were we talking about Nick April probably April 8 April 8th okay we'll shoot for that and how other issues pop up I did want to um thank the the gentleman in the back for being ready and prepared to have this conversation sorry for the curveball um life happens or death happens in in this situation so but I I think you understand um share workman's expertise in this area and um so thanks for your flexibility I'm doing pretty good bluff job all right you are you are I will accept a motion to adjourn in a second I'd move to adjourn Mr chair I thinkman seconded I got a motion by Lynch and a second by Anderson to adjourn our regular session any discussion all those in favor say I I those oppos our meeting is adjourned