All right. Will you join us in 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. Thank you for that. Public comments. Is there anybody in the room? We've had quite a run of public comments. Today doesn't seem to look like the recent past. Nobody for public comments. >> Yes, sir. Uh, if you want to talk about something that is not on our agenda, >> come on up. >> Come on up. Tell us your name, where do you live, >> social security number, >> blood type. >> You got that already. You don't need that for me. >> This one. Either one. >> Either one. Either one, sir. >> Yep. You stand or sit. >> Okay. >> And hide. >> Well, welcome. >> Um, so my name is Jay Reeves. I live in Victoria. Jay Reeves, in case anybody forgets, they can look right here. I'm running for state auditor and um I've contacted all of you here uh within the last few months to get on your calendars to talk about some of the issues and concerns throughout the state of Minnesota with fraud and everything else that's going on. So, I'm running as an independent candidate for state auditor and I'm not here to campaign. So, I'm here to raise concerns about what's going on in our government and how um real common sense solutions have gone to the wayside. And um and I'm not saying that's anything particular to Carver County or any other specific county, but we know that there's programs that reach all of our communities that have been affected affected directly. And if we don't catch this uh now, as we can see, it's it's been ignored for a great bit of time. And my concern is that if we continue to do that, um it's affecting our children, grandchildren, and thereafter. So, um I'm running as an independent candidate. I'm not running affiliated with any of the red party or blue party. I'm running for the Green Party, and that party is our money, not specifically the Green Party that you remember from years ago. So, um I'm just want to get uh a couple of things out. Um, we're what we're going to concentrate on is we're going to concentrate on the local levels because that's what the state auditor does, city and county. And that's why I'm here to talk to folks here in the cities and counties. And that uh role is specific to bringing uh your reporting systems in into the current century um of which has been lacking. And that's part of the reason why we're having this issue is we have siloed reporting systems. So, um, one of my concerns too is is that we continue to have, um, people ignoring the issues that are in front of us and, uh, not having the accountability out there. So, what of my goal is to bring back uh, trust through accountability as well. So, just want to make sure that you are aware that I'm living in your community and I'm I've reached out to uh all of you to meet with you directly to have discussions on how um a person in that role uh not being partisan can assist you in making your jobs easier and that and all of us protecting all of us because the more money that they steal from us is the more money that the governments are asking from us to cover for more money to be stolen from us. And that's the that's what we got to stop. I've got to stop that self-licking ice cream cone that continues to happen. So again, Jay Reeves, I'm not here to campaign for anything. Just looking to get on your calendars at some point um to have discussions because I think that's where it needs to begin is with a discussion. That's all I got. Thanks. Appreciate it. >> Jay, do you live on the north side of Highway 5 or the south? >> Sorry. >> Okay. So, not the good part of Victoria. >> Best part of >> I represent the north side. Maybe that was obvious to some in the room. Um, but thank you. Thank you. Uh, you're speaking our language here in Carver County. Thank you. Anybody else from the public who does not want to campaign. Okay. Seeing none, the agenda review and adoption. >> Move approval. Mr. Chair. >> Second. >> I have a second. Motion by Commissioner Lynch and a louder second by Commissioner Anderson to review the agenda. Approve the agenda. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion passes. >> Commissioner Fehey moves approval of the January 6th minutes. And Commissioner Udman, did you second it? >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. I have a motion and a second to approve the January 6 minutes. Any discussion on those? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Community announcements. >> I would like to say uh if I could, Mr. Chair, it's very been very very slippery out there and uh you can uh actually take a quick fall and the first thing you see uh is the ground that you hit. So, um, Commissioner Workman took a nasty fall and he's here, uh, to show us, uh, uh, just to be careful. So, with that, any comments, Mr. Workman? >> Uh, it happens fast. >> Yes, it does. >> Uh, clear ice, Saturday morning, dusting of snow kind of hid the ice, little hill, boom. Um, but uh that little sound you hear when your head hits the ice is not a pleasant one. I don't I I didn't have a concussion or anything else. So, just sore. So, but I appreciate you using your valuable time to discuss my uh beautiful eye. So, >> just be careful out there. It's very slippery. >> Commissioner Fay, >> Mr. Chair, just a couple of community things. Uh St. John's chili feed and silent auction is hap happening on Sunday the 25th from 10:30 to 1. That's the St. John's school in and church in Norway young America. And also uh the ice cribage event once again on Benton Lake in Cologne. Uh that's on February 7th. Uh registration starts at 11:00. Uh play starts at noon. Um, I've participated in that e event every year so far. So, if you love cribage, uh, come on out and play some cribage on the ice in Cologne. And then, um, the dairy and beef expo at Central High School is happening on February 16th. Uh, that's from 9 to 3. Uh that's a great opportunity to come and learn more about the county's dairy and beef industry and all the various markets. And then also we have our Carver County Association of Townships. Their semianual membership meeting is next Wednesday on January 21st. And that's a great opportunity to to connect with all of the township supervisors and to learn more about the various townships and what matters to them. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Uh maybe you can explain how I play cribage on the ice. I'm not >> uh what they do is they set up a large tent and um >> Oh, they you just >> you go inside the tent and play regular cribage on tables. >> Oh, okay. But it's on Lake Benton up in the lake. >> I mean, is it warm? I mean, >> it is warm. >> Oh, okay. >> Yep. They have heaters. And >> I'm just out of curiosity. I want to go to this. >> All right. >> And food. Okay. You have me. >> Commissioner Udman. >> Well, Mr. Chair, I start these out with gratitude. Gratitude for a lot of conversations that have been in and out of the boardroom uh related to ICE. I know it's been a hot topic in our community and um sometimes we don't always address it. Um, for those that didn't see, the sheriff did announce that we will not be pursuing a contract specific to ICE, uh, as it as it relates to um, utilizing the jail as a detention facility. Uh, I believe that that was prematurely leaked and then they caught up really quickly to get a good um, message out to the community to let the general public know about that and the reasons for that. Essentially, um, ICE with new contracts needs 100 or more beds and we did not have 100 beds to offer. Also for full transparency for those in our community, um there is a US Marshals contract that's coming up that will be um in the boardroom here probably in February. So wanted to make those things transparent and available. Um Baylor Park and Lake Waconia have shut down the sledding hills in the cross country because of the unseasonably warm temperatures. Hopefully those get re reopened. And it um uh it made me think about some of the data that I just recently received um per request. I like to look at it at the end of every year, but parks are on pace to pass over 2 million visits in 2026. We'll have our official information for 25 out in the notsodistant future. I believe that's represents about a fourtime user increase since 2021. Our parks are being loved to death. And so the investment that the board's made in those parks, the efforts of Marty and and some of the conversations of Three Rivers are addressing such a gem that it is. I also believe in contrast our much beloved libraries have seen uh in the ne last 10 years about a 40% drop in personal visits and it just shows the user patterns and where people are spending their time and their energy um and that despite I think uh over 10,000 incremental youth um library cards um that have been issued in the last two years um and I believe uh that with 3,000 additional o open hours through expanded access. Um so right now we're sitting at about 335,000 visits um uh in the last reported year. So parks are also about seven times more our user base and we find our libraries um uh we we spend about three times more on our our libraries than our parks. And so wanted to throw that out there as we talk about budgets and other decisions that are coming up. I see Commissioner Workman's wearing a very festive gopher tie if we're going to pick on Tom today. Um I had a chance to be at uh the university campus and see both a gymnastics meet and women's basketball game and there's a probably I think it was like a half a dozen athletes that are tied to Carver County. and it was kind of cool to see them play at the division one level. Um the gymnastics meet, they uh they beat 21 or 10th ranked uh Arkansas and then the basketball team beat 21 ranked USC by one point. So it's good to see the kids that come out of Carver County and excel thereafter. Um if you're looking to be a little bit more interactive with the ice, um curbage sounds like a great plan. I don't know that I'd recommend it to all, but the polar plunge is on the 14th of of February. I will be jumping and I believe that there's um dozens of law enforcement folks that are representing our community that'll be there. That's going to be at Lola's on Lake Waconia. So, all are welcome to jump. Uh we do get the benefit I think of jumping first. Uh I think the Carver County group goes first. So, you can be in and out and gone probably within a half an hour or 45 minutes. So, um that'll be fun. Uh constituents, I know we talk uh a lot to our constituents um and and I've been talking to a lot of them as well. It seems like the themes are um uh taxes and the tax climate. Um and a number of people have actually expressed in the next year they plan to leave Carver County for other states. Um it's been focused on job opportunities and then it's been f focused on politics specifically um leadership at a time that we need it at the state, federal, and the local level. Um Commissioner Anderson and I will be meeting with City of Chaska today. We'll get a chance to see their public safety building. Um I think they did a phenomenal job of articulating the needs of that building. um it was very expensive and so um four or five consecutive years of double digit tax increases and I just wanted to paint the contrast. Um they did again nice job of explaining what it was. It's a lot of money and contrast is we're addressing one of our top strategic priorities um our county buildings particularly the ones that have been deferred for 20 or more years. We have a budget plan to address that so that the average uh resident doesn't feel the pinch of that when we go ahead and make those moves. And so I wanted to call that out. And then let's see. Uh, let's see. Oh, I see something that it's on our consent about golf courses and approval of something. I don't know if most people knew it, but if there was any way we could squeak out nine more holes of golf in Carver County, we would have more holes of of golf per square um mile in in Carver County than anywhere else in the state. So, if anybody's thinking about adding nine holes or or building a new golf course, uh those are the types of amenities that attract people here, the youth, the middle-aged, um the multi-generationals, and the the older folks. And so, I just wanted to call that out when I saw it on the consent. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Anderson. >> All right. Well, first I want to thank uh Greg Anderson. He is going to be um uh recognized soon for his work on the CDA, but he hosted me on his Living in Carver County podcast and um we had a great time talking about, you know, nothing is more exciting than talking about taxes and planning and all that sort of fun stuff. So, look for um for look for Greg on living in Carver County. So that was um so thank you Greg. I also wanted to congratulate Mackisa Johnson who was appointed to the District B Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission by um the new board chair of Met Council. So congratulations Mckisa who also resides in district 1. Um last week we spent a lot of time talking about different committees and um as commissioners we we are assigned to different committees either as board members or liaison and so I wanted to explain a little bit the importance of that. Um, Commissioner Fehee and I sit on the Minnesota mosquito control board control district board and um through looking at our budget, we were able to save about $7 million in taxpayer dollars um by spending some fund balance rather than increasing that levy. And so those are the types of things that we do. We're not just running around for meetings, but those are the types of things and oversight we provide as commissioners. Um, I also wanted to announce a couple of community events. Um, CHASA is hosting its Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 19th at the Chesa Event Center um at at uh starting at 7:30 a.m. So, if it's a always a great event, I would encourage you to come. And on January 7th, um Jan is hosting Febfest from 8 to 12 on Lake Anne. And I just want to share one more story. I I was um supposed to meet a friend of mine at a restaurant outside of this community and when I got there, it was closed. Um she was um unable to open as her staff were uncomfortable with with some of the the situations um oh was with some of the situations um happening downtown Minneapolis and um people had asked, "Aren't you angry? Aren't you angry about this?" And she said, "You know what? instead of getting angry, why don't we all just reach out and check in on people and make sure people are okay. So, I loved that message and that's something that I wanted to to pass along. So, check on each other if you can. That's all I have. Thank you very much. Uh, very quickly, I'm wearing this tie because the Gophers are playing Wisconsin in basketball tonight, the men's team. I will be in attendance. Um, it has been one heck of a fun little season we probably weren't supposed to have. They're digging deep and we're having some fun finally and I look forward to that all the time and good time down there. Um, I think Matt did a pretty good job of uh stating what the sheriff said. I'm going to maybe quickly brief over just a little memo that he had out to us. He wanted to give a heads up that he was no longer looking to pursue a contract with ICE to house their detainees. The needs identified by ICE exceed our capacity to deliver. Specifically, their minimum number of desired beds is 60, which allows them to maintain reasonable logistical efficiencies. Our jail has 111 beds with an average daily population of 50 plus or minus. If we committed to 60 beds for ICE, we would have no capacity to maintain our own operations, which is a deal breaker for us. So, uh, thank you to the sheriff for all his hard work on that issue. Um, and as Commissioner Derman mentioned, we do have a US Marshall Services contract coming up that we've always had and it'll be renewed uh coming up soon, maybe probably in February. Um, I do know somebody in Chanhassen who is very close to possibly creating 18 holes of new golf course. Uh, and I couldn't be more excited for that beautiful piece of land. We will see. I'll have to check in with her and see where that's at. I know Tom Layman has been in town and at city council meetings, if you know who he is, one of our famous golfers. Uh, and indeed stay safe on the ice. I think I think I do a header about every three years because I think I'm still younger than I am maybe moving around too quick. Uh, take care of yourself. I'm okay this time. We'll see what happens. Gravity as I get older is not my friend. And I probably ruined our picture this morning ogling with my right eye. Okay. Consent agenda. Do I have a motion for the consent agenda? >> Uh move approved, Mr. Chair. >> Second. >> Okay. Got a motion by Commissioner Lynch and a second by Commissioner Fehey to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion on those? >> Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Udman. >> I just wanted to call out 2.5. I think it's the right thing to do and I think it's extremely difficult to find people to do these services. Uh I think it's great you're getting creative with the funding and all that stuff. I think this might be a good topic for us as we're in a joint session with the Scott County particularly services that are are hard to do ourselves if we can partner with them and consider those. No action for today other than let's keep that in mind as we have those conversations with Scott County. Thank you. >> Okay. Hearing no other discussion. All those in favor of the consent agenda say I. >> I. Those opposed. >> Motion passes. Regular session item 3.1 recognition of advisory committee members. >> Who is going to go first? >> Up to you, Mr. Chair. I believe we have two out of the three here. Jim Ber and uh did I see Greg walk in? So >> Greg's here. >> Yep, he's here. >> Oh, he's behind the podium. Alison, you want to bring Greg up and >> Good morning, chair and commissioners. I'm Allison Strike. I'm the executive director for Carver County CDA. Here with Greg Anderson, um, who had his last board meeting with us in December. Greg, today we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for your service on the CDA board. It has truly been an honor to work alongside you and get to know you during your time on the board. Your insight and perspective have been invaluable, especially during the tough discussions that required thoughtful leadership. As board chair, you led with style that welcomed collaboration and respected every voice at the table. Even when delivering difficult messages, you did so with grace and respect, qualities that define true leadership. And I know you are so tired of me saying this. And I know you don't think of yourself as my boss, but you have been a b a great boss to me over this past year and a half as I've stepped into my role as executive director. What stands out most is your genuine care for the mission of our agency and for the people that we serve. That commitment has been evident in everything you've done from guiding strategic discussions to representing the agency at events like groundbreings and ribbon cutings. Those moments weren't just ceremonial. they reflect is your dedication to the work and the community we impact. Thank you for stepping up, for leading with integrity, and for leaving a legacy of collaboration and compassion. On behalf of all of us at the CDA, we appreciate your exceptional service and wish you the very best to say something. >> What is >> I blame you. Tom called and said, "I have this opportunity for you." And we met at the uh curling center. Um I was teasing him because I wanted to meet there because I said that's an example of really cool things that happen with progressive government. And um you know, we it's been an interesting ride um going with the CDA. I it takes a while to just really get up to speed with the myriad of uh of projects that are going on and the complexity of of the structure of all of these deals. Allison's been amazing. um you know, Julie before that, the breath of knowledge that they have and um the expertise and the finesse of dealing with so many different um levels of stakeholders is really really impressive. So, I don't know if it gets said enough, but the staff at the CDA are absolutely amazing and the complexity of the things that they do. I own real estate and I'm not anywhere near in their league in terms of the level of sophistication, you know, related to financing, related to operating, the management. Um, they just do an exceptional job. Um, I've said this before, the buildings are I we're really proud of the projects that we do because they're nice, but they're not extravagant. They're not wasteful. whether or not anything that would it would cause any citizens to object to in terms of being over the top or too palatial. Um, they're nice. They're at the right kind of hit that right sweet spot of extremely well-maintained, nice but not wasteful. And I think that the mission uh is accomplished every day by people who show up and really just um put their head down and and really are passionate about their jobs. So it's been an absolute pleasure to be involved with the CDA to be involved with the projects. I encourage all of the commissioners the next time they have a tour there'll be new board members and so they'll there's a bus tour where we go around and see some of the properties and I absolutely encourage you to to take advantage of that to see those projects because they are really um they're just exceptional. um you know the the other projects you know new staff you know Melody's fantastic um Chenica I mean there's just a lot of really really talented quality people and it's been an absolute pleasure to get to um be in this role so thank you so even though I was mad at the first couple months after I'm like what the hell did you get me into start looking at all this financing and things but you know once you kind of get over the learning curve um it's a pretty fun ride so thank you very much >> well Greg I I knew uh I knew uh of you know that and had talked to a lot of people had had not because of the CDA but because knew you as a realtor and a and a good businessman and a community supporter and um I don't Anagison I'll use the word you a plum and uh just an all-around good guy and it it's difficult to make these picks. um who who who uh who is interested and who does care but who does have some expertise for these trickier issues. You know, Jim Ber back there, he's got all sorts of parks and all sorts of different backgrounds and you have that and I thought it would fit well for the CDA. I knew you had cold feet. Um because you're a busy guy like all of us and you know the pay the pay is really good on the CDA um for all the work you do. Uh oh, that auditor is listening. That was sarcasm. It's about two tanks of gas >> in a priest. >> Um >> uh but so um to to know that believe me and you know as county commissioners you know we take these pick seriously and and um and the things that all these boards and commissions do seriously and we want to make good picks and we can sleep really good at night knowing people like you are there and so thank you. >> Were you there nine years? >> Yeah. Dear heavens, we were children back back then. So, >> I didn't have any more hair, but I was >> I wore my wig today. >> Mr. Fay, >> Mr. Chair, I just wanted to say personally, Greg, I talked to you on the the phone, but thank you. Um, when I got my start, um, I was on the CDA board and you and I had had have had a lot of conversations and a lot of insights and I definitely valued your opinion. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I also want to thank say thank you. I um Greg was the first person I met in Carver County and um so and uh and we we know each other in all sorts of different settings, but you know, as uh the alternate on the CDA, I've learned a lot from you just just in the last year. and um and I know that you have a lot of other adventures and things that you want to do in Carver County. So, I really just appreciate you contributing continuing to contribute to this community. >> Thank you. >> Well, we spoke too. Thank you uh for what you do. Um you lead with solutions and and modest solutions, but also pushing the envelope and challenging people in a respectful way. And I think that if there's ever a time that we need your decorum and people like you in service, it's now to push the envelope and do so with with decorum. And so I it's not I'm not dismissed as saying you helped lead a time when CDA is recorded the most historic number of incremental housing units ever. And you won't take that as your own credit, but to Allison's points, you've helped lead in that. You've helped shepherd that and and you get the credit for a lot of that as well. And so I hope that you continue to lead. I'm sure you'll be plugged back in with other stuff and other pursuits along with your kettle ball um and national championships and all those other things. But we need you uh we need your leadership. So, thank you and hopefully you continue to to participate. Thanks, >> Greg. Thank you so much for your for your leadership and serving for nine years. And don't feel too bad because Commissioner Workman's con me and doing a few things I didn't want to do either from time to time. >> By the way, if you listen to the podcast, Lisa was shamelessly um throwing praise at Tom. So, we did mark that off as >> Yeah, I think we got edited. We're editing that out, right? >> Your listenership just went way up. The podcast is huge. We have dozens of listeners right here. We'll take a quick I'll see you around. >> I came around the corner on Sweetwater Curve. And did you sell that house there, Greg? >> All right. There you go. All right. I get around. >> Uh good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. uh want to congratulate and recognize uh Jim Bcher from the uh water management organization citizens advisory committee. Jim has been um on this committee for nine years. Um I believe most of those were as vice chair and then he finished out his term as the chair of the committee. And uh we always appreciated Jim's background because he came um from serving on other watershed boards. Um and Commissioner Workman mentioned the parks commission as well. A good rounded background coming into our committee and um the the thing that really helped us out was that Jim's on the water all the time. So perspective on the lakes, what's happening on our landings, what's happening with AIS. Had a lot of discussions about AIS and inspections, and Jim is probably one of the guys that can firsthand tell how things are going out there, whether it's um, you know, a good interaction or seen what other Boers are doing. So invaluable representation on our committee and I think on behalf of um my staff and myself really want to thank Jim for all the time you put in for those night meetings and the guidance for um keeping our meetings going and perspective for the other advisory committee members. So thanks Jim. >> All right. So, I'm looking at the doorway here and I'm hoping my head will still fit when I hear stuff like that. And I'm sitting here standing here thinking at one time, as Paul mentioned, I've been on several different commissions. I was on five concurrently. And my wife would always say, "What do you do at these meetings? What do you do? You're on a watershed district. You're water management." I said, "Well, we talked this and this and this." So, well, whatever comes of that. I couldn't get her here today to actually see that I get accolades for this. So when I get home, hopefully the online thing will be available so she can actually watch it and see that her husband does accomplish something other than going bass fishing. So but the one thing about the WMO, it was really a surprise for me. Um, at the time I guess I was just checking off boxes how many commissions I can get on and good friend of mine had had joined the previous year. There was an opening. I ended up getting selected by the board of commissioners and I didn't know what to expect. I was already on the watershed district advisory committee. This was a little bit different but it really was eye opening to see what these this group accomplishes. I mean I was an engineer with GM. I was an engineer with Ford. I've been in way too many meetings. I've seen people blow their stack or do this. This guy has one, holler at him, do whatever. He's even kept everything in line. I'm like, "Wow, wish I would have had those jeans. I'd have more friends right now." But to see what they accomplish, everything they they would bring it to every meeting between Paul and Meline and Tim and uh Andy Drew Dickard bring it to us. We would look at yay nay whatever from there. Paul would bring it to you here as the commissioners need either needing approval or money or both. So appreciate everything that you've done as a group to support them. The bad thing about the WMO, like there always is a butt somewhere. If you ask a hundred people in Carver County, what do you know about the Carver County Water Management Organization? Easily, I mentioned this to Commissioner Fehey earlier, 90 to 95 of them wouldn't have the clue what you're talking about. But you go out and look at this project. You look at this retention pond being dug. You look at this stream bank being stabilized. You know, all the different little areas within the county. You see somebody out there with a backhoe doing something. Well, that's just somebody digging in dirt. No, they're actually straightening this because it slows down the water flow and it doesn't cause erosion. And here it is. All that just fits into place. This group is the one that does it and I I really have accolades for them. So please, please, please, when they come, when Paul comes to you hat and hand asking for money, please open up the county's checkbooks. My taxes just went up 14.7% for this year, so I'm donating a little bit, too. But I really enjoy enjoyed the uh nine years on the comm on the committee, and I appreciate the group of you. you weren't it was different members over different periods of time but having enough faith in me to allow me to be a member of it. So thank you very much. >> Well thank you Jim over and over we have appointed your uh your leadership and uh it's been you've been retired for how long now? >> 14 years. >> Oh okay. >> And I started immediately the first year joining commission. So, but um you know when I was a legislator, I used to tell my wife, uh I think I think I'm going to go down to the capital. They think I'm a big shot down there. >> Uh because I was just a guy at my house. So, our wives keep us humble. And um but this this is a live meeting and it's uh recorded. So, yes, your wife can hear all of this. But u you are the reason the state passes fishing limits uh because because he has the time and the desire to be on the water and and fishing. I've never uh never had a filt from him yet. Maybe that'll be happening soon. But >> um and maybe you're going to apply for something else. Is this it? Are you are you all done? >> I'm I'm actually down to I'm still on the uh Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek. Okay. >> Watershed Advisory Committee, but everything else I've I've termed out of everything else that I was a member of. >> Well, and I'm a liazison to that and so that would be maybe good for us to get together at the Legion and talk about the Riley Purgatory and then tell me truly what you think about Paul Molen. >> Maybe we'll have a beer or something. But uh but anyway, >> that's what's so hard for me. If Commissioner Lynch can attest to this, as from my nine years on the Carver County Park Commission, I like to always put the little digs in. You know, that was part of me growing up career-wise. And somebody talks that good about you. I'm standing here, my hands are tied, I can't say anything bad about them, and in reality, I can't. But I always have to bring that point up. >> Well, thank you so much. I I know you have a lot of energy left in you, and hopefully you can continue to help the county out. So, appreciate that. >> Thank you. if I could. Uh he mentioned that he did serve nine years on the park uh commission. We had a lot of good times. We developed the uh park commission. He's the uh one who gave a lot of input in on the new um landing because he almost got swamped one time when he was loading his boat. Um he's uh you the reason you don't get any fillets from him is because he's a bass fisherman. He touched on it. He said, "You know that something happened to me if I get conked in the head." He goes, "Then I'll fish walley." But right now he just fishes bass. Um I did get Jim to fall off his chair one night when we were actually he mentioned the digs. We were sitting uh when we were having an outside meeting at the Lake Roni Regional Park and Marty was kind of long-winded and the sun went down. As soon as the sun went down it was dry air yard started getting really chilly and Marty kept going on and I looked over Marty could you summarize and she almost fell off his chair lap. But anyway, uh like you said that you concurrently you uh you're retired engineer. You're on five uh boards. You did a wonderful job and then thank you Carver County thanks you immensely for your expertise and serving all these boards. So thank you sir >> Jim. Yes, thank you for serving and you and I first cross paths when we were on the park board together and I learned a lot from you at that time and so just heartfelt thank you for all the years of service hundreds of hours of service um going to the meetings but thousands of hours of preparation and so I like the crossover with WMO and parks because they inform one another and to understand the government and understand the inner workings of it that's not something that a lot of people understand. And so, as you had in the baton, comment on what Commissioner Workman said, I hope you make yourself available um to shepherd myself, others, and and the next generation that comes in because you have a wealth of knowledge. And I do hope your wife listens to this and anybody else. So, congratulations. >> I can all I can do is give it to her. I can't make her work. >> That's right. Thank you, >> Jim. I don't believe we've had a chance to meet, but I do want to thank you for your service and um I want to thank your wife for lending um lending you to us and and uh I know that that's a sacrifice that you've made over the years. It sounds like less fishing and um more attending meetings. Um, but thank you again and again and I do hope I echo everyone who says I hope you do kind of keep yourself available to us. So >> appreciate it. >> Enjoy your retirement from there. Although we still have you on Riley Purgatory. So that's awesome. >> Still got one. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. Okay, we did have one more. Frank Mendes, uh my dear friend and neighbor from the planning commission. He served on the board of adjustment, too. I think >> you did. And and uh I will tell you I I think about this often. The trail the most important trail I ever had a role in on 101 north highway 5 up to shore with Minnetonk up there across town. on the west side was the most magnificent coordination between representative workman who happened to hold a gavl at the at the state capital um uh Mark Sen who is a city council member at the city of Chanhassen who got the other half of the money when I got my half of the money but Mr. Menddees, super citizen, uh got all the neighborhoods on 101 Lotus Lake involved. He was tireless and uh he's done a great job for us and maybe he'll come down. We'll find out where he's at. I can give him a buzz. He has an elderly mother in Arizona. I think he's tending to her. She's ill and uh so all the best. But thank you, Frank Mendes. >> Mr. Chair, if I may. Yes, >> I had an opportunity. I did uh talk with uh Frank last week and being on the planning commission myself for multiple years uh had a lot of interactions with Frank and have learned a lot from him also. Uh just as a gentleman just extremely prepared for the various planning commission packets by um reading the packets uh doing the due diligence and just being prepared for the meetings and then had a lot of various thorough in-depth types of questions and he will be missed on the planning commission. >> Mr. Chair, I'm the alternate on the planning commission. I would say that is 100%. He was very prepared, very accurate and we were very lucky to have him for many years. >> I think this is today is all about my picks. Why are all my picks retiring? But no, I uh All good. All good. All right. Should we move on to the committee appointments and assignments? I say we will. >> All right. Okay, we've got Henip and Carver Workforce Development Board. Do we have Do we have anybody for these? >> If we need an alternate, I'm happy to do the alternate position on that one to close that one out. >> These are for us. >> We're double checking that. >> Looks like you're on You're the main appointment, uh, Commissioner Workman. And >> yeah, we're looking for >> What did you just say? >> You are the main appointment to the workforce. >> I am. >> When did that happen? >> I don't recall that. Did >> I don't recall that either. I know. No, I can't. >> I thought you said you took it. >> No, I don't think so. >> Nice try, Krista. >> Our congratulations in order. >> Yeah, congratulations. >> No, I didn't. >> I was supposed to miss a meeting. >> All right. >> This is uh >> Well, it looks like Yeah, we need a we need a main appointment then. >> Who is currently serving on the man? >> Commissioner, I think Anderson's alternate. Yeah, I just took on too many other committees um in order for me to >> Well, let's set it aside and uh maybe Mr. Bcher wants that. >> But thank you, Commissioner for being Mr. Chair. Heather, is there any urgency? I know they have some meetings coming up. If you want to come up and you won't be hurt otherwise. >> She seemed nervous when she didn't have an appointment. Put us Good morning board chair, commissioners. Um, thank you for the question. Uh I do think it I mean there the sense of urgency is I mean obviously there will be uh there are board meetings outside of this board meeting with the Henipin uh Carver Workforce Board uh that will continue on without us if we don't have an appointment um and a commissioner liaison to be there but uh they will continue on and we can keep uh certainly Commissioner Udman as an alternate updated we can uh keep notes and then when the when an appointment is made we can update that person. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Hey, how about the extension committee? >> I would be willing to take that role with Commissioner Lynch. >> I was willing to take that one. I city boy on there be >> if you want to, Mr. Chair. Go ahead. >> Probably not appropriate. I don't even know what the four H's are. >> I do. >> I always forget. Anybody? >> Well, >> helpful. heart. >> Um, okay. So, it's been >> home. >> Home. >> It's three. >> Horticulture. >> Head, heart, hands, heart, heart, health. Head, heart, hands, health. >> And I didn't look this up either. >> Yeah, say that again. I Yeah, thanks for the uh whip. >> Google search. >> He's a whip. >> All right, so we got that. Uh, Commissioner Fehee and Commissioner Lynch. uh for those appointments. >> You want to vote on that one, please, Mr. >> I guess we need to vote on >> the extension >> the Minnesota extension committee. >> I'd make the motion for Commissioner Fehee on the extension committee >> and I'll second it. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion passes. >> Mr. Chair, if I could. Um, uh, Dave, is it possible I do we have to post it because I had one opening for the library board. I had a conversation with the applicant. Uh, can we do that or does it have to be posted and held over for next because >> I think typically we do post, but good to hear you have an applicant. >> We received a few more applicants. I have it on the board the 27th. >> Okay, >> that works. >> That's fine. >> Yep. >> County administrator report. No report, Mr. Chair. >> No report. >> Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Commissioner Anderson has moved uh Commissioner Lynch has seconded to adjourn the regular session of this board meeting. Any discussion >> only that we're going to go into a work session. >> That we are going to go into the work session, talk about Carver County Transit and Mobility Study Update. And that's it. That's it. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. I told you that Simpsons Homer Homer was still being recorded. Homer was disgusted by the street by his house. They wanted to and the mayor goes Homer Simpson's here to ask for a new stop sign at Second Street in Elm. All those up here say hi. He was like and then oh then he said please meet us in the lobby for maple logs and that boy and he didn't get to get his day in the in the sun. So >> hi Kate. Should we take a quick break? Anybody quick break? >> No, let's move on. >> Okay. >> All right. Good morning. Good morning commissioners. Good morning board chair administrator. County attorney. Um, thank you for an opportunity to um offer us time to present uh study results of a Carver County transit and mobility study. I'm here also representing Lynden um our public works director who is taking the lead on this study but unfortunately he's not able to be here with us today. Um I just couple I want to just share a couple of things. As you wear uh we have formed a work group about four years ago now from repres with representative from housing human services public works environmental services um southwest transit and transit link with focusing on figuring out how to expand our transit opport um transit appropriately um to serve uh residents especially with Fortress in our long-term residents and our seniors. With support from this board, we have been working uh collectively step by step and we did achieve some expansions with transit link. We currently operating two circulators and um running some weekend and evening hours for transit link. In addition, last year this board has approved and invested um funding uh transportation funding coming from transportation uh tax account which is under administration of public works. And this board has um approved and supported us to enter a contract through Southwest um organization with Stantick and conduct a comprehensive countywide study focusing and clearly identifying needs and expansions in our car in Carver County as a whole to address needs of our residents. So, we're here today to present results of this study, engage into the discussion, and solicit your opinion of the next steps. I do want to make a little caveat. We did put a budget together, and that is a preliminary budget and we're still working through some um wrinkles on that budget um in terms of what's allowable and not allowable. So the budget could have slight adjustment uh based on the information we have received and if there is any questions about it you know I will ask our county attorney to also help us with that to answer those questions. So thank you again and with that I do want to introduce our presenter we have Miss Ella Rasp from Studik and we also have in the audience a director of Southwest Transit Mr. Eric Hansen and our transit mobility management board coordinator Mr. Alan Herman. So, thank you so much for the opportunity. >> Welcome everybody. Ella, right? >> Yes. Thank you, Kate. And good morning chair and commissioners. Thank you for having me this morning. U my name is Ella Rasp and I'm a senior transportation planner at Stantech and I'll be presenting on the behalf of the project team this morning for you. There we go. All right. So, our agenda for this work session this morning, we're going to bring you through um some some overview material on this study so you can be grounded in the approach that we've taken as we've gone through this analysis process. Um we'll also be introducing three scenarios that were developed to explore different solutions for transit investment in Carver County. And then finally, we'll be going through some preliminary recommendations that we'd like to get your input on as uh commissioners so that we can uh work to finalize a recommendation and move forward with the funding strategy. Okay. So, let's get started with just some grounding materials on how we've approached this study. Um so, this study is an initiative. Um, it's a partnership between Carver County and Southwest Transit with uh a lot of active collaboration with Transit Link as well to work to identify where there are transit needs in Carver County that we can address um in the light of the growing mobility needs that we're seeing throughout the the county and thinking in the future as the county continues to grow. Um, so this study is going to work to develop service concepts that will address those mobility needs um with the consultation of the community influenced by community priorities, travel patterns, as well as our long range planning goals for the county. Um, so with this study, we're going to be working to uh document the mobility needs and gaps within current services that can be filled with additional transit service. Um, we'll be using different uh data sources and analysis methods that we'll walk you through today to evaluate the different service options that we could be investing in in order to arrive at a final recommendation that will uh leverage funding from the regional sales and use tax uh as well as potential other grant funding that we will be seeking through this process. the timeline for this study. You know, you've been collaborating uh your staff uh at Carver County have been working with the providers um for a long time uh to develop these uh transit services. Um this study formally kicked off about six months ago in the summer of 2025. Um and today we're at the point where we're working through a final recommendation um and merging that into our funding strategy and uh recommendations for grant applications to funding programs. Okay, so getting into the analysis work that's been taking place. So just to ground you in the services that operate today in Carver County, um we have two transit service providers uh active in Carver County today. Um you have Transit Link and Southwest Transit. Um we have a map here showing the different services that are in operation including uh you know express bus routes that are the green lines operated by Southwest Transit. You have the green shading that represents the Southwest Prime services in operation. And then the blue colors, you see the blue uh shading representing transit link service area. And then uh the blue lines connecting Norman Young America and Waconia are those circulators. So this gives you a little bit of a picture. Two service providers serving different needs throughout the county today. Looking a little closer at Southwest Transit's operations in Carver County. Um, of course, Southwest Transit does operate outside of Carver County as well. So, you'll see that service area expands beyond Carver County. Um, but Southwest Transit operates express routes, park and ride locations, um, ondemand Southwest Prime service as well as Southwest Transit event shuttles. Um, a little bit of information here. I won't go comprehensively through each piece of Southwest Transit's governance. Um, we can if you have questions about these details, tap our our experts from Southwest Transit here uh to come in this in this session. Um, but some things I'll highlight here. Southwest Transit is a is an independent uh transit provider. They have uh funds that come through FTA formula funds as a subreient of the metropolitan council. uh and they have uh uh authority to determine how those funds are spent within their service area. Um and metropolitan council is of course then uh part of that funding distribution. Um we'll then look take a look at transit link. Uh today's services for transit link are composed of a dialeride service. Um this would be throughout Carver County except where there is Southwest Prime service available. Um, and we'll note here that Victoria and Carver um have previously been uh served by Transit Link, but with the launch of Southwest Prime, those uh two communities have been served by Southwest Prime. Um, circulator service, as Kate mentioned, um, is in operation between Waconia and Norwood Young America. Um, as well as within Wakonia. Um mobility management is uh the structure that facilitates the operations of transit link in Carver County. Um the mobility management services are collaboration between Scott and Carver counties. Um and I'll also uh nod questions on the administration of that Allan should you have any further as we go through the session here. Um but some some unique things to know about transit link service. It is then administered through that um smart link mobility management organization uh in collaboration with Met Council. Um so that service is a is a collaborative service with the Met Council and so there's a little bit more participation and decision-making about that service with the Met Metropolitan Council. Um so some things to know as we talk about these two services, Transit Link and Southwest Prime today. um they have a lot of shared characteristics in that, you know, a person can be picked up and dropped off at their desired location and the routes that those vehicles travel on um are unique to each trip. Um but just some comparison here to help uh illustrate the differences between these services and how they operate. Um transit link is a dialeride service. Um and so that means it can be scheduled in advance, you know, 10 days in advance, uh you know, a number of days so that that service is is known to the person who's trying to take that trip. Whereas Southwest Prime operates more on an ondemand basis. Um so more people are going to be uh thinking, I have an errand I need to run, I need to book that trip, and you have that same day service available. um geographically here as well. Transit link is being used uh to service more of that rural longer trips uh lower density areas and it's a good tool for that type of service. Um whereas Southwest Prime is servicing more of those short to mid-length trips in higher density areas and so you're seeing more turnover on that service. Um, so all that rolls up to you're going to see as Transit Link serves those longer trips, fewer people are riding within the numbers of hours that they are in operation every day. Whereas Southwest Prime, because it's in those shorter trips, people turn over more on that service. So you see more people able to ride that service in a given day. So just some features to keep in mind as we think about those two services and they ro and the role they serve in Carver County. Okay, so our analysis process for this study, we're starting to now think about what should future transit services look like in Carver County. Um, our strategy here has been to take a broad-based data analysis approach, pulling in a couple key sources to inform um, our strategies for transit service development. Um, we've been pulling in both uh, population and workforce data. You know, things like where are there job concentrations in Carver County? where is there a lot of growth in population and how can we serve those needs adequately with our transit resources. Um we've also been looking at current traffic data. So where are people currently traveling between within Carver County um and outside of Carver County so that we get a sense of where the connections are that need to be made with our transit services. Um and then finally looking at how different services are performing, comparing what's the right transit service to serve a specific transit need. um and using our um service data to help inform those decisions. Um so bringing all those data sources together required a little bit of a a structure here. In order to do that, we created this mobility and transit need analysis structure. Um you'll see we kind of had two buckets of our data analysis. Um and one bucket is the transit needs. So this is where we're taking in the population and workforce data, travel demand data to understand where there's uh travel need in Carver County and uh score based on those factors. Um and then in the second column here you'll see deliverability. This is where we're thinking about what is the right uh transit service type to fill that need. How suitable are different types of service to fill different needs throughout the county as well as alignment with a broader regional transit network. so that as we're thinking about servicing Carver County, we're thinking about how transit works as a region and how people's lives take place beyond the borders of our our jurisdictions. So, in going through that analysis process, I won't step you through the scoring uh in too much detail today. Um but we'd be happy to share more of this um as you have questions. Um some key things coming out of this mobility and transit need scoring process. We had a a top range of scores uh coming to Chaza, Chanhassen and Waconia indicating that bo those communities have both high need for transit service and a high suitability or a high deliverability to be able to um fill those needs with the transit services in operation. Um so those are great candidates for additional transit investment. Um, another bucket of the scores that we're seeing in this analysis are places where there's high need but lower deliverability. So, you might have indicators in that transit need score that show there's um, you know, a population or workforce need that we've identified. Um, however, it's not as connected with the regional network or might not be as well suited um, to high efficiency services in that area. Um the third bucket we saw coming out of this analysis is places where there's lower need but high deliverability. Um so seeing lower indicators of um concentrations of transit need in the data um but high connection into existing service networks and potential for high efficiency with additional transit investment. Um so that was the outcomes of our analysis uh in the the mobility and transit need assessment. We also as I mentioned uh went wanted to incorporate community feedback into this process talking to our riders talking to our regional stakeholders and city staff uh throughout this process. Um so the first round of engagement we really focused on listening and pulling in the different experiences that people have within our transit system. The second round of uh engagement was focusing on sharing some of these initial analysis outputs, making sure that we're we're getting the right uh messages from this data and that we're integrating other feedback uh to layer into that quantitative analysis. Um and then finally, round three, which we're just about to be starting as we finalize a recommendation. This will be where we're sharing out the recommendations of this study and um showing how the stakeholder feedback has been integrated into these recommendations. Um a couple highlights from phase one engagement. Um we were able to both leverage the existing southwest transit community survey to gather some uh insights on the needs of people within Carver County. Um, we were also able to attend the Carver Community Market, um, and meet with people both who are just, you know, community members coming to pick up groceries as well as people who are, uh, using services at the transit station nearby. Um, and that was a great way for us to to get people's input on this study and their insights on transit services. Um and finally in phase one engagement we were also able to have a writer focus group where we had a small group meet online to discuss in more depth. Okay. So with all that uh data analysis and input from our engagement process we moved into the the step of uh developing transit service concepts. Um, so you'll see this map here on the slide that uh shows the uh color coding based on the scores from the mobility and transit need assessment. Um, so you'll see that there um the dark green representing those uh overall top candidates that have high need, high deliverability. Um, you'll see the uh kind of lime green area representing places that had high need and low deliverability. And then uh the blue is places that had low need and high deliverability. And um the let's say cream color uh is where we have lower scores on both of those metrics. So we took that uh data and pulled that into a process of matching those needs with transit services. So those are our service improvement concepts. So, we're talking about, you know, is this a need that can be filled by transit link service? Is this a need that can be served by Southwest Prime Service? Um, is this a need that has a new service uh that hasn't been uh explored before that should be considered. Um so once we had all of those concepts developed um we packaged them into transit investment scenarios that would take the funding resources that we have um to package together service improvements and consider those different options for investment. So we developed um then three scenarios for transit investment in Carver County kind of uh around different strategies for leveraging the funding that is available. Um each of these scenarios is is uh including service improvements for all parts of Carver County. So we wanted to make sure there's a broad-based investment in services across uh the county. Um it also invests in both transit link and southwest prime services. Um and uh all works with about the same amount of funding of the funding that's being received through the regional sales and use tax and transportation advancement fund. Um you'll note that these uh scenarios don't include um express route changes um or airport and event shuttles. Um and that was because um both that was uh something we heard from the engagement feedback um as not the the highest need at this time as well as you know those services are uh more regional in nature and we wanted to invest these funds with local trans transportation needs in Carver County. Okay. So walking through these scenarios individually, scenario one takes the approach of trying to make a a balanced investment. So um using the scores from the mobility and transit need uh assessment um we are investing about equally in all of our different priorities between the you know high scoring communities um on both measures, high need, low deliverability. You know we're kind of spreading throughout all four of those buckets. Um so some characteristics of what we're recommending in scenario one for consideration. Um you'll see there's extended hours for Southwest Prime service in Chanhassid and Chaska. Um you'll see that there is ongoing Southwest Prime service in Victoria and Carver. Um there are um new one day per week transit link circulators recommended for Watertown, Cologne, Mayor and Hamburg. Um and then some overall expansion to the availability the capacity of transit link service throughout the rest of the county. Um in Waconia here you have a new recommendation to extend a southwest prime service zone but with limited hours compared to the rest of the service area. Scenario two. Um so this scenario is built around the idea that we um slightly emphasize the places that have a higher deliverability score. So they're going to be higher efficiency places to invest transit resources serving more people and more transportation demand with the resources we have to leverage. Um so some some things are similar to scenario one here. You'll see Chanhassen and Chaza service hours extension. You'll see broad-based transit link um availability and capacity recommended and continuation of service in Victoria and Carver for Southwest Prime. Uh the unique features of this uh this scenario would be in the Waconia and Norwood Young America uh communities uh where we have a recommendation to establish a new uh Southwest Prime connection zone. Um it would operate very similarly to Southwest Prime but only have specific hours where these longer distance trips are enabled between Nor Young America, Waconia and Victoria. Our third scenario uh for consideration was one that places higher emphasis on places that have the high need score. Um so places where there might be um a higher concentration of demand um for uh senior populations for lowincome populations places that would have a high impact for more transit investment. Um so this scenario as well continues on with some of the key themes we've been seeing um but unique uniquely invests in uh five day a week circulator service um to some of those high need communities including New Germany, Norwood Young America and uh Hancock Township Bit. So that would be a a greater investment in the circulator services. So, as we compare these three scenarios, um our study team worked together to uh gather some feedback from our steering committee um to discuss these options in um some ongoing rider engagement as well. Um but ultimately, we could also explore solutions that pull some of the key features from multiple of these scenarios. So, we're not um specifically saying that this scenario one, two, or three would be the final recommendation. This is going to be an ongoing service planning process as we move through a recommendation. Um, our phase 2 engagement where we did that outreach, um, we did launch a online survey that was available, uh, to people throughout Carver County as well as existing transit riders. Um, we also held in-person and virtual community meetings to engage people on these three transit scenarios. What we heard from people through that engagement process was overall um a a strong response to scenario two with the highest overall uh rating on a scale of 1 to five. Um you'll see the chart in front of you here representing the average rating on a one to five scale for each of the scenarios with scenario 2 receiving an average of 3.2. Um we also got a positive response to all three scenarios but you know a lot of interest in scenario two from the steering committee as well. Um as well in this uh survey we wanted to compare the two services in Waconia since there are um some unique features being considered in the different scenarios there. Um, we saw that the proposals in scenario two for Waconia for the new Southwest Prime connection zone were preferred over the limited hour Southwest Prime service proposal. So, this is the part where we get into some of the material that we are still working on developing. So, we want to engage you as uh decision makers in the development of these recommendations. Um, but as Kate mentioned, we are still in the process of refining some of these specific funding recommendations. Um but to move forward with a final recommendation based on scenario two um we've been developing these estimates. So what you'll see in front of you is a year-by-year phasing approach and the funding being pulled in from multiple sources to support the implementation of these recommendations. Um the let's see let's start with the regional sales and use tax uh and the transportation advancement fund. That is the Carver County uh part of this investment. Um so you'll see the second column there representing those investments rounding out at about 8.3 million over the course of the next uh nine years. um the metropolitan council component, they will have a a role in funding transit link expansions in Carver County. Um so those investments are represented in the third column uh coming to 4.2 uh million over the course of this recommendation time frame. Um third of the funding partners uh represented here is the Southwest transit funding component. Um this is the unique one-time match required in order to pursue regional solicitation funds. Um they will of course then be continuing to invest in the ongoing operations of their services in their service area and that is not represented in this um chart here. This is specific to the recommendation we're developing outside of the service that they provide already. Finally, you'll see the regional solicitation recommendation here. Um, we're recommending uh pursuing regional solicitation funds to support this kind of expand the pie of what we can do with the transit funding that Carver County is bringing to the table. Um, so you'll see in 2028, that is the year that we would expect to receive regional solicitation funds um if we apply in the 2026 cycle, which is uh expected to be released uh soon this year. So um moving through the years 2028 is when that regional solicitation funding would be received and those services would be initiated. Um and then the circulators uh that are proposed would be phased in on a uh ongoing basis through the year of 2030. And then in 2030, we would expect the regional solicitation funded service to uh be completed and for services that are previously regional solicitation funded to be brought back in to the regional sales and use tax transportation advancement fund uh cost line. So overall kind of rolling this all up uh over the course of this recommendation there would be um approximately 8.3 million coming into the uh proposal from Carver County through the regional sales and use tax and transportation advancement fund and then external funding would be bringing in 7 almost 7.6 million uh to support this recommendation. Um of course this is in the form of some grants and requests made to other agencies. So there's um you know potential for that number to shift as we find out more about those grant proposals and participation from other agencies. So where does that uh influence the uh regional sales and use tax and transportation advancement funds that Carver County manages? Um overall the regional sales and use tax and transportation advancement fund will be generating approximately 16.7 million over the course of this uh time horizon. Um so this recommendation uh would use approximately 8.6 million of that funding over the the course of that time. Um and then Carver County would have approximately 8.1 million uh to use for other priorities under that funding program um over the course of the recommendation. Um, some last notes here we'll share is that we're continuing to work actively with Southwest Transit and with Transit Link to refine these estimates and to refine our funding strategy here. So, that's really why we wanted to bring these concepts to you for a final recommendation for your input as county decision makers as we move into that final recommendation. Um we'll also be working to refine estimates for not only operations dollars um but capital needs to support these services. Um the the capital dollars are reflected in a in a um high level estimate at this time and we anticipate as we continue to uh finalize these recommendations to be able to bring those estimates into more detail. So with that note, um these are our current uh allocations to the different services that uh we've been discussing and how that would look as a single year snapshot. Um the table toward the top of this screen is representing the funding being leveraged through Carver County's contributions in the regional sales and use tax and f and transportation advancement fund. Um so we can dig into those details uh in discussion with you all. And then the lower table uh is the regional solicitation funded uh services. So these would be services that we'd recommend seeking these external funds to pursue. So this is the map of what everything would look like um once all of the services that are being phased in are in place. Um, so you'll see that this expands the access to uh communities across Carver County, creates new connections, um, and serves some of the key transit needs that have been identified through this study. Um, and we look forward to working with, uh, yourselves, your staff, and with additional community and stakeholder input to finalize this recommendation and move it forward. Um, our touch points for round three of engagement are outlined here on the um on the slide. Uh, we anticipate not only presenting to yourselves and gathering information um from you to refine this recommendation um but also going to the Southwest Transit Board um our steering committee and other members of the community to finalize this recommendation. And with that, I would love to open the floor uh to questions, answers, and I'll be happy to to stand for those uh questions you have. >> Well, very good, Ella. Uh have you ever thought of being an auctioneer? >> Kate told me I had I had a certain amount of time. So, >> who told you that? >> We have nothing nothing going on. >> Okay, great. I'll I'll notch it back. >> Good job. No, very good job, boy. Uh, lots to unpack here. Um, and it's maybe uh confusing in my brain because it's, you know, where's the money coming in and where's it going out and then, you know, the different layers of taxes in the communities and I'm not sure I see all of that, nor am I intended to at this point. Um but um but it sounds like uh sounds like this is money well spent to kind of take a peek at what we're doing and how we're doing it and and why. Um >> what does the board think? What do you what do you need from us? Ella, >> Mr. Chair, if we could move it and could we pause on that for a second? Sure. So >> I think I think there's more information we want to share with the board. related to funding in particular. It was already mentioned, but I think we need a clarification on on allowable uses of funding because it came up really late. I saw it like five o'clock yesterday. >> Yes. >> Uh and and I don't you explain it and then I know Jennifer's been looking at the issue too. Correct. Jennifer, you did the research on it. >> Yep. Lyn Walters and I did this. >> All right. >> Um board chair, commissioners. Thank you, Administrator Hamzy. So um first part so we would like to offer some additional information because what we were hoping to do initially of course um get your support or opinion on utilization of our transportation tax account and then you know solicitation um as we in December we start looking into the statue and we um realize that there is a legal language that we needed to solicit a deputy county attorney's information on in terms of supplanting any funding um that is available and or a new service. So we have been engaging in fairly lengthy discussions working with deputy county attorney Miss Tish who is actually here um Lyndon and has um reached out to her and shared the statue and we did get a little opinion yesterday took a little bit longer than we anticipated due to many things is happening right now and we needed little opinions on many things. So I will maybe ask Miss Tishi to uh who represent Carver County and not specific departments to speak to that. >> Sure. >> Uh Mr. Chair, commissioners, uh yes, and it was uh late December when Lyndon reached out and asked for a legal opinion about this uh language in the statute. Um specifically, it talks about uh these RSU T and TAA dollars. And this is all very new to me. I don't know any of these things. And so it took us a little time internally just to uh get a handle on what all these acronyms are and and what it all means. But uh so the the uh use of those RSUTa funds um specifically are limited in that they cannot they must supplement and not supplant existing sources of revenue. So uh we started doing some of the legislative research on that to see what what that means. What are existing sources of revenue? What does supplement versus uh supplant mean? Um I understand people who work in uh you know education or other grant funds from federal government probably are more familiar with this language. This was sort of new. It was Lynn Walters and I in our office that started digging into it. We had a meeting on Monday with Paul Molen and Alan Herman. Um again kind of just due to the nature of schedules and things that have come up um that was all we could pull together just to kind of get a better sense of and this PowerPoint was really helpful for us just to understand what are the services now what are the services proposed going forward and ultimately um our conclusion was and and to be honest when Lyndon raised the issue and I think u Miss Rasp had kind of weighed in from what Stant's opinion was at that time was uh that Lyndon Robent had heard some concerns about um using those this new kind of funding stream uh to backfill something that's already being funded. I am not going to say I fully understand what's going on. The two areas that we had expressed concern in our legal opinion yesterday had to do with and again I can see from the PowerPoint there's many proposed um transit opportunities out there that are are kind of new things but the existing services with uh Southwest Prime in Carver in Victoria. My my understanding, and I'm happy to be uh corrected, uh is that that funding is currently a combination of some of that Southwest uh prime or Southwest transit funding and subsidies or or levy dollars potentially from the cities. I I don't have a clear answer on that. We were trying to get that information um and didn't ultimately fully understand it. But um the concern is uh initially uh Mr. Robin had indicated, you know, is is this limitation, this language about it uh must supplement and not supplant existing sources of revenue. Is that limited to county revenue with RSUT, supplanting with county LOST, local uh you know what that means more than me quicker, but um that was one path that we looked at, but ultimat ultimately concluded based on both the legislative history um some statements that were made in committee meetings when this language is added, guidance from other areas where the language is included that existing sources of revenue in our mind includes both county revenue and those city dollar revenues. So, our legal opinion yesterday with respect to just those two areas that Carver and Victoria Southwest Prime Service uh could potentially not rely on the dollars that the county brings in unless our recommendation was and again kind of piggybacking off of guidance from other uh particularly in the educational uh realm. there's a lot of federal funding that is, you know, has that same supplement versus the plant language. um and talks about if you can make a justification if for example the cities of Carver and Victoria to the extent they are currently providing funding for those two services if those jurisdictions had made the decision based on reasons outside of the fact that there's a new funding source available as to why they were no longer going to be able to justify providing that funding then then you could potentially make that um justification. And so our recommendation was were you to use this new new grant money or our SQT money um to fund what are services that are already being funded by a local uh source of revenue. There needs to be documentation as to why it's not being swapped out or backfilled as they they have said in the committee hearings um just solely because this new source of revenue is available. So happy to take questions. That that that is kind of summarizes the extent of what I know about it. So I'll look to others who have more experience than this. But that's our recommendation thus far. >> Mr. Chair, I would I would simplify it by saying we need a little more time. >> It sounds like it >> came this came up late. Uh we we would like your feedback on the general ideas here. I I I appreciate all the work that's gone into this and I feel there are solid solid sort of directions to go, but that's a big big sort of snag in the plan and certainly we want we we don't want to the worst case we don't want to just discontinue those services. They fall apart and by the way in particular uh as Eric would point out uh City of Victoria and Carver Southwest Prime Service, they're outside of the Southwest Prime jurisdiction. type of tax taxing jurisdiction >> which is I don't know the history on that. I don't know if it's worth going through all that but but that adds sort of a unique wrinkle too, right? It's kind of like well how did it happen? And and and I could see the others perspectives here. Well, why why are we paying for that in in the Southwest Transit District? Right? So, all that I think needs to be bedded through a little bit better and and better understood by the board. But but we would look for your feedback on on the sort of the basic ideas here and how the committee has done a nice job of balancing all these variables. Uh and then one one last thing I would add what makes folks like me nervous is uh how stable is this funding? And of course we saw the TAA account under literal attack and we almost lost that last session. So, I'm not sure how you weigh it other than it's a risk risk decision as we move forward. I'm not sure if the committee did did any discussion about that. Uh, but it sure makes me nervous that we almost lost that last round and now we're hearing again that it's going to be on the table, right, Mr. Chair? We just heard that. >> So, anyway, another thing to put into into the in the melting pot here mixture and that with that I' kick it back to the board. Mr. Sure. >> Um well, I mean, if we implement a plan and the legislature pulls the money, then that's on legislators taking the money, right? Um >> if I give a little bit, >> Eric Hansen, why don't you come on up? >> And uh as Eric's coming up, forgot to mention the OPA. sort of plays into this whole discussion. There's a legislative angle, too. >> It does. There's a lot of moving parts, I guess you could say, in this whole thing. >> Um, so just kind of a little bit of background and history about this. And so we have a contract with the city of Carver and Victoria, the Bright Bride Service. That contract expires at the end of 2026. Um the way that the financial arrangement works right now ultimately what it means is that Carver and Victoria are paying for about 18% of the service and Southwest Transit is paying for about 82% of it which essentially means that we're subsidizing you know areas outside of our service area to the tune of 82%. That's about roughly a4 million a year something like that you know in terms of what we're putting into it. that arrangement came about before my tenure. So, I can't speak to why that, you know, was was created in terms of that particular financial arrangement. So, I I I I don't even want to speculate on it because I just don't know. Um, but that's kind of what the situation is. Over the last couple of years, uh Dana Hardy and Brent Merrick and I, the city managers from those communities have had multiple conversations because we've raised this issue with them and we said, "Look, you know, I'm not sure that we can continue to do this because of several reasons. Number one, there's an equity issue. It'd be kind of like saying, well, we're going to spend money in Carver County on residents in Scott County. Does that make sense?" You know, would you do that um when you're not collecting any taxes, you know, for that services? And so there's an there's an equity issue here. The bigger issue for us is is really comes down to and why this is kind of coming to a head right now is a little bit of a funding issue because what's happening with us is just that even though we're independent, our vehicles, our revenue vehicles, our buses and our most of our Southwest Prime vehicles are currently owned by the Met Council. The council has told us that they uh intend uh to change that arrangement so that we own those vehicles, but they're not providing enough long-term funding for us to replace them. Um and in fact, uh what's happened uh just this last fall is is that Met Council took 10 of those buses that we've been using for service and are using those now to uh run what used to be the Northstar line. So, the Northstar Line got closed. They took Southwest Transit buses to run the commuter service for it. That's a true story. Um, and so what it means, uh, ultimately is is that we've kind of done some math over the next 10 years. And we figure out that we're roughly 10 $20 million short over that 10-year period if we don't receive any additional funding from the Met Council for those additional buses. So when you start to add up the cost of $250 to $300,000 a year to run service to subsidize a service in other communities times 10 that goes to a long way towards filling some of that gap in terms of those buses and so our financial situation is about to change you know pretty dramatically. Um, so that's one of the things that's been driving this. But we've been having conversations with, you know, Victoria and Carver going back a couple of years and said, "Look, you know, we can't afford to continue to subsidize this. You know, what can you do?" Um, and basically Victoria would say, "Look, you know, we've got this new project that's going through u on Highway 5 and, you know, they're contributing to that. We can't afford to chip in more money." Carver Carver, the city of Carver is basically saying the same thing. we can't afford to pay the cost of this whole service. So in all likelihood, you know, what's going to happen is is that we may not this may not continue in Carver or Victoria if this is going if under the current scenario. That likely would be the justification that the that the deputy county attorney is is indicating um could be made in order to make something like this work. But as was stated several times, this came about at 4 5:00 yesterday afternoon and I Southwest Transit and our legal team wasn't brought into the conversation. Um, and so I I I haven't had an opportunity and our folks haven't had an opportunity to have a close conversation with staff about it. Um, but I wanted to make sure you understood all of that context because I know as commissioners at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you provide equitable service to the entire community and we don't want to put ourselves in a position where Carver and Victoria are left out. Um, so I think there's a lot of different ways to interpret legislation. I think we need to find, you know, something that we think, you know, makes sense that we can all get on board with so that so that everybody gets uh equitable service. And so I just wanted to make sure that you understood all of those pieces and how the contracts and everything else work. And we'll have some follow-up conversations with this county staff to try to figure out how to navigate this. So, thank you for letting me I That wasn't auctioneer style. That was way too long. >> No, no, I uh I appreciate that little update. Um I've been trying to pay attention to all of that. Um >> yeah. Um, so it it seems that we're we're and I kind of feared when we started studying this with the changes going on at the Met Council that maybe this could be a a moot point. We I mean we can wish in this hand and in this hand and but but the Met Council certainly has an oversight role here that could upend most of all of our scenarios. Um I >> I mean it's conceivable. I mean I I will say this. I mean, I know, you know, the counties were very upset, rightly so, that that the funding was, you know, looked at being pulled last year with with no notification or, uh, any outreach to the counties. Um, and I'm sure that there are people in the legislature that are looking at the same thing, you know, again, you know, in this coming year. And so, it's something we need to watch out for. One of the justifications that they make as to why that is is oh well the counties aren't spending that money anyway. So what difference does it make? We are as Carver County the poster child for Yeah, we are spending that money. And one of the reasons and and and there's actually a presentation that's planned next week. I don't know who's going to be doing that exactly um to a committee to talk about, you know, this issue in terms of what Carver County is doing because in reality, we're ahead of everybody else and it becomes a reason for all of the counties, you know, potentially funding these projects at your discretion becomes a reason for all of the counties as to why that funding should not be full pulled, you know, by the state. And I don't think anybody wants to take the funding from the counties and give it to the Met Council. Um because we all know what's going to happen with that. It's not going to be spent here. Um and so there are a lot of good political reasons, you know, to move forward with a funding package as well because it puts us in a stronger position with the state legislature. >> So another consideration. >> Mr. Chair, if I may, Eric, um it was interesting to hear the feedback because when you look at all these recommendations and Victorian Carver are kind of left out and that's to have a little bit more background, especially with the city of Carver and we used to have a transit station there and that all of a sudden disappeared or whatever the history is. >> Yeah. But more importantly to your point with that TAA funding um at the AMC board um meeting that was either November or December and had all of various commissioners there and this TAA funding came up and 90% of the commissioners in that room had no idea what TAA funding was. >> Right. and Lyndon Robgent was there representing Carver County and he stood up and gave a little presentation about TA funding and he goes, "Well, Carver County is using that money accordingly." And so as the meeting went on, that kind of became the joke that Carver County was getting all of this taa funding when realistically we were just spending the portion that was allocated to Carver County the proper way. So, I agree with um administrator Hemsy. We need some more information. There's all this >> stuff moving and if we want to get into the details in this presentation, I have multiple questions, but I don't know if if that's the time we want to do this now or do that later. >> It's completely up to you. I just wanted updated on that piece. Um, and um, thank you for your >> thank you for listening. >> Well, I think it's a it's a contrast. We're trying to we're trying to to have good transit, expand transit where we think our communities need it. Uh, but there's a lot of forces out there that are not as interested in that. And so I think we need to know uh more about where it all plays out and certainly further legal information and um I mean I think I think you uh if you're in government and and you're counting on a certain fund to stay put forever, I think you're you're dreaming. But, you know, we can only do what we can do and expand it. And, as I said, if the legislature wants to cut it, then it's on them that communities don't have the transit that they want. I've fought this since 1988 and why we have an opt out system and why we demanded our own control and many don't want us to have that control. So the $20 million capital number um if I can call it that for buses is not a very optimistic number and I I would I call that a killer. I mean you got to manage your fleet. Um and so for the Met Council to maybe leave us flat there. Um anyway, anybody else? Commissioner Hderman. >> Well, Mr. Chair, I agree we can't make any decisions or give any direction today anyway. I think it'd be good to have Lynon back to be front and center and kind of Commissioner Fahhey's point at the TA and all those things have come up in multiple conversations and they're complex. Um I have some questions that might help us not only on this specific topic but others as well. Um you guys as well as Eric, so probably more directed towards Eric. I hear a lot that you're able to deliver a rider way less expensively or said differently, more efficiently than maybe some peers in a neighboring area. H how do you do that, Eric? And is there a chance for consolidation under a single CEO to have the same results? >> I don't know. I mean, I I'd love to take over Met Council. That'd be great. I think it would be a big improvement. Um >> semi- joking. I I I but but I mean there's a couple things that are going on. I mean, it it depends on how you look at it. you know, to be clear, but if you look at the regional route analysis, we deliver a express bus customer, which is a good portion of our service for about $12 a person. Um, and that would be the subsidies. The taxpayers are subsiding at about 12. Met council does it for about 15, you know, which essentially makes us about 20% more efficient than they are in doing that. Um, you know, I I do believe that it's true that Southwest Transit is the fastest growing transit agency in the state. You know, our writership is up 14% over the last year. You know, and I I think over the same time, you know, me met Metro Transit's writership is flat or less. How do we do that? You know, I think it's because we provide a great service. You know, I mean, when you prov do a good job at what you do, you know, people respond to that. And so we've really kind of spent a lot of time doing community surveys and engaging with the community and understanding what people want. You know, what do you want from a service standpoint and and providing it to them. My criticism of transit generally and I I you know, I spent a lot of time in local government, but I was in the private sector before that, you know, in a marketing role. And my criticism of the transit agency is that it's all supply oriented. Well, we're going to give you more buses and you know then you can you know and that'll get more people the opportunity to ride. Well, it's it's got to be looked at from a demand standpoint. How what do people want? What does that look like? How do you provide a service? I mean, if you're in business as a business owner, and some of you are, you don't start from the standpoint of here's my product, take it or leave it. You start from the standpoint of understanding what your customer wants, you know, and so that's that's what we try to do. and and we watch our our numbers pretty closely, but but I I I think you got to run it more in a lot of cases like a business than like a government. And that's what I try to do. >> Eric, I had a couple more questions and I was more speaking on in to totality of Met Council, but MBTA and and I think that there's some guns pointed their way and sometimes you guys get lumped in with them. >> Um I didn't know that to be a true story until you shared it. I I thought that there was rumors that they were going to take the buses that we're accustomed to and replace them with plastic seats and all the things that go with that. And so down 10 buses. It also feels like the classic shift again um to different agencies to say, "Okay, we're we're on the bus now. You do. Now you're on the hook for the associated funings and those buses are not cheap on a per per ride basis, the 12 versus 15 versus I think others were rumored at 17 or 18 per ride. I don't think it's because we use older buses and we go a significantly shorter distance. its operating costs. Corre is that is that accurate? >> We're pretty efficient, you know. I mean, if you I I haven't looked at the 2024 data, but if you look at the 2023 data, the the national transportation database, we report all kinds of information to that, you know, so we're required to by law. And so, one of the things that we look at is what are our administrative costs of overhead? You know, our administrative costs are overhead in 2023 were lower as a percentage than Metro Transit Met Councils. And so um are there some duplicative services which is duplicative things? Yeah, they would say that that there are and there are yes obviously you know if you combine Metro Transit and Southwest Transit, you'd only have one, you know, CEO, you know, and so you you'd save my salary, I guess. But but in reality, we're we're providing a more efficient service, you know, in a lot of ways. So my staff who's here would probably be like, can we please hire some more people? Um but but in reality, you know, we're we're providing a pretty lean organization for what we do. There's no doubt about that. >> Three more questions. I'm going to go rapid. Um when uh the rail that's in Prairie opens, will that lead to a a drop in your user? >> I don't know. You know, I mean, I guess we'll find out. I mean, I I think there's a couple of things that's true. I think they serve different customers, you know. I I think that the even with the light rail, taking a bus downtown is going to be much quicker. You know, because the light rail is a local, you know, it stops along the way. So maybe if you want to go to Hopkins or somebody is coming out to Eden Prairie or something, you know, for some other reason, you know, it might make some sense. But I think I think they're different services. I think we probably will see some increase as more people come off of the train and they're going to want to catch a microtransit service to connect to somewhere else. Um, and we've been serving that area for the last six months with an autonomous vehicle service and that actually has increased ridership as well. And so I it could increase it, but I I don't know. You know, we've got a that's that's something we'll find out in about a year. >> Two more things. I know that the user profile of Victoria is significantly different than that in Carver uh and the growth that they're expecting. I think uh reportedly I 3,500 houses, 10,000 population the next three to eight years. Yeah. Um >> and I think they probably prematurely built that station um for they overshot the demand and it'll eventually catch up. But but that said, you talked about autonomous and you you are one of I think top three leaders in the state doing autonomous. Is robo taxi a real thing outside of Austin, Texas and LA that would be here within the next handful of years? >> That's a really good question. or do we need to solve this before we even think about >> I was having a conversation with our site engineer um that works for May mobility on autonomy and I said I said you know what's the likelihood that we're going to see fully driver out autonomous all the time you know and he said well ever I said yes he says 100% you know we're going to get there you know I said well what about in the next three years he says well you know it's possible but it's it's not likely so I think the answer is yes. I think it's just a question of when. You know, there's a lot of things that they need to address. You know, how do you handle weather? You know, um in particular is a big issue. It's a lot easier in a warmer climate than it is here. But it's one of the reasons why we need to do more testing here >> is because guess what? Most of the country doesn't live in Florida, you know. So, so I I think and and it has a big promise because half of our cost associated with this this microtransit is wrapped up in the labor and you know cars don't call in sick. Cars don't and we have we can't find enough drivers anyway. I mean 30% of our state fair even though we had a record state fair last year and people really loved it. you know, the the the secret behind the scenes is that we couldn't fill 30% of the shifts for the for the buses because there weren't enough drivers, which is why I need to hire you, Tom. >> Yeah. >> Um but but and and so this addresses that issue, too. You know, >> Musk was in a um a vehicle that didn't have a steering wheel or pedals recently, and you think about the future of that, and that seems a little scary, but they've got the the data to support it. People are privately able to invest in these things and deploy them. And I thought I look at the sports field and people are thinking about it. Oh man, I can get a lot of work done if I got four hours in the car. I had a friend pushed a Tesla button and he touched the the um he touched the pedals once on his way to Chicago and back once. >> That's it. Once went there to have a pizza, had the experience and came back. It's weird. It's happening. It's coming. Um but I asked because why why build why build the thing the widget the budget the thing that we've always done when we can deploy these things. Last question I had is more of education and and you have the answer. I don't is we talk about you subsidizing areas where it's not taxed to subsidize you. Is there a way to shift that and what would that take to happen as we expand another >> act to the state legislature? You know I mean we there's there's some potential interest in the legislature I've heard. I mean it's just you know talk at this point until there's an actual bill about potentially expanding you know additional you know communities that could opt out. um when when it was originally created back in the day um the transit taxing district didn't include Bonia and Chaza and or excuse me Wakonia and Carver and Victoria and other communities in Carver County and so um they didn't have the opportunity to do it um I mean they were really tiny you know back in the day and so it probably didn't make a lot of sense at that time um and so you'd have to you'd have to change the legislature would have to weigh in allow other communities to do that figure about how to divvy up the money or get more money. It's It's a lot more complex than you realize. I'm sure Workman would understand it. We can't do it alone. It would take an act of the legislature. Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Yep. >> It used to the funding used to be what they called feathered. So it was greater in the interior and as you went out it diminished because you were getting less and fancy feathering and I don't know it's morphed a long way from that. So >> u Mr. Chair if I could I just applaud you for actually looking at this. I think that uh you're very efficient in what you do and people have beatated around the busher a little bit, but it's a a fact that the Met Council has been trying to kill you for quite some time. And um why? Because one year more much more efficient. How much the Eden Prairie Transit Station is going to have effect? I think you're going to have to be going to Minneapolis. If Commissioner Workman just mentioned to me, if he's going to Hopkins, he's not going to stop and get in the thing, the train and ride to Hopkins where in 15 minutes he could be with his vehicle in Hopkins. So, it's going to be um not it's overstated the use of it. And not to mention, you're pretty gracious and you said in a year or so uh because it's supposed to been open when. Anyway, um I digress. Uh I appreciate for what you've done. Uh it's very important for the the rural parts of the uh community to get to an appointment, get to a doctor, um get groceries, and I applaud you for actually uh looking at it, and I appreciate your efficiencies, and I appreciate you being here. And this is a work session, so we're not making a a decision. You just want some uh comments. So, congratulations. Keep going moving forward. As you mentioned, there's a lot of moving parts, and we got to get through them. I just want to comment on the thoroughess of the study and um just how you've done this and how you've gathered this this data and so I I appreciate that work. I appreciate that heavy lift and um agreed we really need these services for all of Carver County and um hopefully we can resolve the funding issue. But again, thank you for your work. Mr. Chair, Mr. >> Renzy, >> I saw Alan Herman, you you still want to make some comments? I know we have to renew the contract with mobility management. We got like three names for you, Alan. >> They're all good names. >> Just try to keep up. >> I know we got to renew that contract coming up and there, you know, that also presents some issues for you that we'll come back to you with more info later. >> Correct. Uh good morning, Mr. Chair. Good to see you, Commissioners. Uh so, just want to make one clarification quick. um Victoria and Carver uh still receive transit link transportation. So in this scenario it's almost like again they're getting dual services and then again how will mech council look at that at some point in time because that is actually why Chanhassen and Chaza does not have transit link service is because um mech council decided that was a duplication of service with them providing that service and transit link in that area. So just wanted to clarify that piece in that uh and then also yeah there's a bigger discussion uh on where we head uh as far as transit link is concerned and so forth. Right now uh as Ellis the map shows here we are a twocount transit link system uh partnering with Scott County. Uh we just renewed that contract for five years and so forth. um we are the last ones that uh basically manage our own contracts. All the rest of the region lets the Met Council uh take care of their transit systems. So uh again it is Anoka was another one of those uh that was managing their own contract but in May they are going to turn that back to the council. So again that is one of those things that uh again do you want to decide again maybe later. Uh but it is a option of do you want to take that local control uh a little bit of local control. They're still the the money holders, right? Uh but again um the way that we've done some of these services like uh the weekend services and then also the circulators is we've partnered with them at a 50/50 match. So the county is paying 50% of that service. Met council is paying that 50% also. So it's a match piece in that. I just wanted to clarify that for you. >> Thank you Kate. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Minister Hamsey. I think we also um as administrator he pointed out will be entering discussion of mobility management um renewal and having some additional information on that as well. Um a management management joint powers agreement that both counties have between Carver and Scott County. Um, I think what I'm gathering, Mr. Chair, administrator, commissioner, is that you would like us to make it to explore all the legal implications by working with our county attorneys and having conversations with Southwest and Transit Link, you know, is one takeway. I'm gathering that you want to make sure that we are equitably um dispersing and recommending services across all Carver County. Um any other uh recommendations that we need to consider as we return to you or questions you want us to answer as we continue to refine the recommendation? >> I don't think so. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, commissioners, administrator. >> All right. Well, that's fun proving once again that county commissioners deal with nothing but the sexiest of issues. all times. Um, okay. Hearing nothing more from the rest of the board or staff, we're going to call this meeting to a close.