Good morning. Uh, welcome to the Dakota County uh, board meeting uh, for February 3rd, 2026. Um I will call us to order and note that there is a quorum present and uh if you can please join us in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> Very good. Next, we will go to the audience for comments. Um, we have the availability for people to address the county board on an item that is not on the agenda or that might be on the consent agenda. And we did have a number of uh people sign up to provide verbal comments. Those comments are limited to five minutes. And I will just call off names in order. When you come up, please be sure to identify yourself for the record and uh let us know what community you live in. So, first up is Amy Schwarz. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Morning. I'm Amy Schwarz. I live in Burnsville, Minnesota here in Dakota County. As the board of commissioners of Dakota County, you're charged with protecting the residents of this county. But I feel like you've fallen asleep at the switch. You've allowed ICE to use Dakota County property to stage attacks against Dakota County residents. ICE is regularly stationed at service center parking lots. They've harmed residents ability to access county services. ICE has followed Dakota County employees home, targeting them, making it harder for them to do the jobs and services they perform for Dakota County. Obviously, this is in addition to detaining and terrorizing residents based on the color of their skin. I have seen that this board has offered to put forth a letter. That letter has not even moved forward. And honestly, a weak need letter is not enough. We'd like the board of commissioners to protect the residents of this community and to pass an ordinance that prohibits ICE from staging on county owned or county controlled property. Such an ordinance is within the county's authority and control. And it's clearly the right thing to do from a public perspective and a moral perspective, but it's right from a political perspective as well. For those of you who have stood in the way of this progress, we know who you are and we are watching you. Please do the right thing because our memories on this will be very long. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, uh Kelly Moffett, welcome to the board. >> Good morning. My name is Kelly Moffett. I'm a resident of Egan. Uh lived in Egan for 10 years. I have three sons who all go to public schools uh in district 196. Happy to be a resident of Dakota County. But I'm here today uh like my uh friend Miss Schwarz who just spoke to urge the commission to take an affirmative stance on what is happening in our community. I want to acknowledge as I stand here today that I feel free to walk into this building to come here and to address you. And there are thousands and thousands of people in our community who do not share that same feeling. There are many people who I assume would want to be here today to stand up and to advocate for themselves, advocate for their neighbors, but cannot do that because they feel afraid to leave their homes. And not only that, they probably feel afraid to come to a government building seeing what they've seen when we've seen in the community ICE agents staging at government facilities. That makes it hard for our citizens to come and participate in our community in the way we all deserve to participate. I also will say what I have seen in the last few weeks from a mutual aid perspective in our community is nothing short of astonishing. I've participated in some volunteer organizations and the work I've seen happening and the way I have seen people standing up for our neighbors in our community has been amazing. But what we need from you is your support. you are in a unique position to stand up for our constituents, our neighbors, our immigrants, everyone who needs our support and to take a stand and to say we're not going to use government resources, property to support this, and we're going to protect our neighbors. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Schwarz. Uh, next we have Jeff Timberman. How folks, >> welcome to the board. >> Uh, our federal system in this country has worked pretty darn well over the past 250 years. When states and municipalities go too far, the federal government pushes back. >> Oh, yeah. And when the federal government goes too far, states and municipalities push back. Anyone who's paying attention right now knows that this system is in grave jeopardy. And it's within this context that I express my deep disappointment with Dakota Countyy's response to Operation Metro Surge. In a word, the response is pathetic. It reads like what it is, a politically motivated COPA. At a time when the state and other local government units have stood up for our citizens, you have effectively done nothing. I work for Keith Ellison. I'm not here today on his behalf. I'm not here today in my professional capacity. I'm here today only to express my personal opinions. These are solely my words and beliefs. To say that the Attorney General's office has been burdened by Operation Metro Surge is a gross understatement. We faced unprecedented burdens for more than a year now. In fact, we had to hire four special term attorneys whose job duty and position title is rule of law. Let that sink in. Their sole responsibility is to ensure that the federal government is following the rule of law. Dakota County has faced burdens too. We in my office have fought like hell to stand up for and protect motans and will keep fighting just like we fought to ensure that all motans have food, shelter and the basic necessities to live with dignity. And I ask, what have you done? Instead of telling DHS how Operation Metro Surge is affecting Dakota County residents, you chose to focus on how Operation Metro Surge is affecting Dakota County operations. 30% of our neighbors here in Dakota Dakota County are people of color and about 10% of our neighbors are Latino. How do you think your inaction has impacted these neighbors? Many of them are too many of whom are too afraid to leave their homes even to get groceries or seek needed medical care. I mean, I'm a white dude standing here complaining to you today. I don't have little lived experience. I can only speak from what I've seen spending my free time volunteering to help people in need. And I'll tell you, on an average Saturday where I volunteer, we serve in excess of 10,000 people in the metro area. 10,000 people who are too afraid to leave their homes, whose windows are covered with plastic so that you can't see in. Many of whom, in fact, most of whom are here legally. I was optimistic after listening to the January 27th special board meeting that we'd see an agenda item today. Commissioner Hmon Roland, you explicitly requested one. Where is it? To Commissioner Hman Roland, to Commissioner Halverson, to Commissioner Atkins. I urge you to press forward with a resolution even if it's doomed to fail. Let the voters see who is committed to protecting all the county residents. To the rest of you, your efforts to delay a meaningful discussion of a fullthroated response to operation metro surge has not been lost on us and will not be forgotten. First at the January 20th GP meeting and again at the January 27th special board meeting. You were not elected to be politicians, but it's clear to me that your personal politics are what's preventing progress here rather than what's best for the most vulnerable of your constituents. I used to work here. To the one, the people I worked with are kind human beings who work hard each day to serve Dakota County residents. You used to have a slogan here. It's be more. It's implanted on posters that hang throughout county buildings. It's on your employment applications and staff are constantly reminded of the need to be more and I consistently witness staff do just that. It's time for you to be more. More is what's required in this moment of history. Anything anything less is acquiescing to harm that in many cases cannot be undone. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, uh, Jacob Borealis. Welcome to the board. >> Thank you for letting me speak again. Uh, Jacob Borealis. I live in Nightville. Um, over the past two weeks, I have called each of you, spoken with some of you, sent messages to all of you, and have had absolutely no response from Commissioner Workman or Commissioner Slavic. I may not be your constituents, but I am in the county that you lead and represent. Um, Commissioners Hullberg, Halverson, Hman, Roland, Drossy, and Atkins, thank you so much for your patience and your cander during our conversations. I don't know we don't agree on things, but that's how we arrive at a solution that works for everyone. Um, I believe that our community is desperately looking for effective and professional law enforcement and nothing our local or state community or even national community has been observing from the Department of Homeland Security is effective, professional, or lawful. And I know I'm not the only one with these opinions. A lot of the information I've sent you has demonstrated that district judges around the country have arrived at the same conclusion. Ostensibly, the Department of Homeland Security claims to execute immigration enforcement. But in doing so, they are violating the rights affirmed, not granted, but affirmed by the fifth and 14th amendments. And in doing so, they are then violating the rights affirmed by the first, second, fourth, sixth, and eighth amendments for everyone else that is not explicitly a target of their immigration enforcement. If you aren't absolutely horrified by the hunting of our neighbors, by violent predators, you should be embarrassed and ashamed at how distant and out of touch you are with the very communities you claim to represent. We the community, not elected officials, not law enforcement officers, civilians are out there every day with nothing but whistles and cameras because that's all we have. The federal government has not told the truth. They are not a serious administration. They are lying at every opportunity to promote their agenda. So, we need to witness and observe. I came here today originally to encourage you to prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from executing any immigration enforcement from county properties. I thought that would be a reasonable compromise. And in our conversations, what you said made sense. Something like that would not be practical or effective unless it was in collaboration and support of our local law enforcement. We would need the chief of police. We would need the sheriff to figure out how to enforce this. And yes, some of it may not be practical. We can't completely forbid them. But just because it's impractical doesn't mean we don't do it. We're not going to enforce speed limits. That doesn't mean we get rid of them. Um, but I no longer think that is even possible because Sheriff Leo at the town hall, he said that and the other chiefs of police, call 911. If you feel scared, call 911. That's what local law enforcement is supposed to do. They are supposed to help. I have something from the Lakeville Police Department, a Freedom of Information request for an event that occurred on the 29th at 9:30 in the morning. They did it. Everyone I've been speaking to in rapid response groups has been very resistant because they don't trust law enforcement anymore. But they did. They called 911 to ask for help. Three squad cars pulled up. Three sworn peace officers of Minnesota showed up and did nothing. They were approached by peaceful observers saying please can you help? Please can you assist. They were approached by the manager of the facility to say please can you help? Please can you exist assist? They did nothing. They left. They did not even speak to these masked heavily armed unident unidentified individuals. And it is not obstruction. Sheriff Leo said they would not obstruct. That makes sense. But it is not obstruction to say, "Hey, are you who you claim to be or are you another Vance Bolter copycat? Hey, do you actually have a judicial warrant that gives you statutory authority to do this?" Because without a judicial warrant, what they're doing has no more legal weight than an HR policy. An administrative warrant does not have any legal weight to do anything. To confirm those two things is not obstruction. That's all we're asking. >> Make sure that you know you're running up on time. So, >> thank you so much. >> Yes, I know you have a lot to say. So, >> I don't know what the answer is anymore. I really want to work with local law enforcement to do something. I no longer believe we can even trust local law enforcement because this is an example of what I and the rest of the community have been saying for a year now. This is not just the past few months. People have been abducted from their immigration hearings after they lawfully entered the entered the country and followed the rules. >> You've had your five minutes and so if you want to just go ahead and wrap up. >> Please help us. I don't know what to do anymore. I thought I did, but it requires trust in our institutions and we don't have that anymore. >> Thank you very much. Um, that is everybody that is on the list. Is there anybody here who wishes to address the board? Give me a minute. Not seeing anyone else come up. Appreciate everybody who took the time to come out this morning um and address the board. Um typically when we hear from constituents uh we will ask uh for followup to um happen and so you guys have left your contact information and you may be hearing from either your commissioner and or um staff with regard to any uh inquiries that you made. Um so um you can uh look forward to that as kind of a next step uh for you. And um is there anything else uh in terms of uh typically we don't comment as a board, but um I I do want to be sure that people have the time uh to respond if need be and I'm not hearing anything from the board. All right. Um, we did not put together uh an agenda with uh any kind of uh big um time constraints because uh the intention really was to give time to the public today. And so um today was uh is definitely your time and there's always time at every public meeting um other than special meetings uh to address the board. Um and so uh these are uh public meetings and we commit to doing everything in public um for you. So with that um members, we can move on to our uh consent agenda and we will look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Miss Madam Chair, I'd like to approve the agenda first. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We can approve the agenda. Sorry, I said by that one. >> That's okay. There's a lot of emotion. >> We have a motion. >> Yes. >> And it's seconded. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? No. We actually we have our agenda. Next up, we can talk about the consent agenda. Is there any wishes to change or modify or approve the agenda? Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Savic, >> under the minutes of the special meeting, we have a constituent whose uh name and location is incorrect. >> Okay. >> Um uh I think we have a guy Mike Levold is actually Mark Legold. >> Okay. >> Um of Greenville. >> Okay. >> So I'll I'll pass that on to our clerk so that that change can be made. And if other than that, I will I'm happy to move the consent agenda with that amended change. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion to the motion? Hearing none, uh, we can take the role on the consent agenda. >> Commissioner Workman, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkins, >> yes. >> Commissioner Hullberg, >> yes. >> Commissioner Halverson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Dsti, >> yes. >> Commissioner Holand, >> yes. >> Commissioner Slavic, >> yes. >> Very good. And um, next up we will um, uh, with uh, out a regular agenda, we can move to uh, inter agency reports starting with AMC. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. I will just report out that uh the board asked for a clear consistent talking points for our u HHS u modernization and um staff are working on a matrix of the HHS programs that are impacted by federal funding uh reductions or freezes and want all of our feedback. So that and then Commissioner Slavic. >> Thank you, Madam Chair and Madam Chair. Thank you. Um couple things to of note. We did have our board meeting um that was the kind of the point that Commissioner Haymon Roland shared uh with that. It was our first time gathering um of the year with the new board members including Commissioner Hmon Roland. Um also of note on that that the executive committee did have a meeting with the governor um prior to our board meeting on that Friday. Um and we were it was a very positive one unlike our uh previous year's uh meeting with the governor uh when it was right after his budget proposal. Uh a lot of um positive momentum towards the number one priority of changing the uh the systems modernization with that. Um, so I think it was very positive and I think you probably will bring up the fact that uh tomorrow the governor will be in Dakota County to uh do that. So he's actually very much looking forward to uh to that as well. So it's a positive meeting. >> Thank you very much. Anything else with regard to AMC hearing? Nothing. Uh Metropolitan Emergency Services Board >> Executive Council got uh executive board got cancelled this month. So the next meeting is March 11th. >> Great. Anything to add? >> Hearing nothing. Um Minnesota Inner County Association. Um we had our um annual legislative uh conference in uh Sherburn County and it was a fantastic day. Um it was well attended. Um the information that was presented was really really valuable I would say. Um we worked on our um major agenda items including um modernization um as well as uh working on um other uh budget issues um and the I can't say enough about what a good conference it was. So um anything to follow up commissioner drasty >> your mic. Thank you. Uh Madame Chair, I agree with you. Uh we the one other key item is the act that must be implemented 2027. There's still a lot of concerns across all counties on the cost and even what it means that we have to do. So having uh several local legislators there um as u at the end of the meeting helped. But I could also tell from their perspective, they don't really understand it either because their comments were so brief when they were asked questions on cost and implementation, but otherwise great conference. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Josti. Metropolitan Mosquito Control Board, Commissioner Workman. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, it was not a real long meeting. We had two close sessions. They're negotiating union contracts and then um the executive director's performance evaluation. One thing that might be of interest is, you know, the Plymouth facility that they have there is in real rough shape. I mean, when half the building falls off, you know, there's a problem. Um, so they've hired a a realtor to look at, you know, can what would it cost to redo the building? You know, is it in the great Not really. Then what they're finding out is they may have to go out further because they need the airspace to land a helicopter >> and you know to pick up um >> pellets and things. So it's when you're in the Twin Cities metro area, you're kind of limited because the buildings are getting taller. So they're going to be looking further out. um still within the district but it's getting tougher >> because you have to land a helicopter there. So >> and that's yeah more to come. >> Yes it is. >> Thank you. National Association of Counties hearing nothing um we do have our NO conference coming up February 21st Madam Chair >> Commissioner uh Slavic Slavic. >> Yeah. So, I know uh just to give a quick heads up, the Association of Minnesota Counties is having an uh emergency executive meeting today related to a federal issue related to some HHS funding and some priorities and coming up. Um uh that there's kind of a national call to action. So, uh the association is looking to I would guess approve that recommendation and sign off as on behalf of all 87 counties. Um not a not a controversial thing just to make sure that things don't go haywire related to human services funding. >> Thank you uh Commissioner Slavic. Um the transportation uh advisory board commissioner Hullberg. >> Thank you Madam Chair. So, um we had our uh vote on uh the draft regional solicitation and active transportation. Uh and I failed miserably. Well, maybe not miserably. The votes um were like uh 14 to 10, 13 to nine. Uh we took roll call votes on every vote. Um the counties other than Ramsey all stood with um and it wasn't 10% across the board. It was actually the day after we had our work uh session on this issue. Um the technical committee put forward a plan that had a 15% funding. So rather than the 10% across the board, we pivoted and took what the technical team's uh recommendation was. That seemed you know had a better chance, but it still failed. Um, the basically for the most part, those that uh supported the position that Dakota County took were elected officials. Minddot also joined us in those votes and uh virtually everybody else that voted uh against our position were appointed uh individuals by the Met Council. We had three Dakota County members absent that day. So, um had they been there, I believe at least two of them would have uh joined us and we would had a bit stronger, but um obviously the tab's very divided. So, now it uh was released for public comment, so we'll have to rely on our staff to kind of put together a letter. Um but I I think it doesn't well for a consensus position moving through this process um because there's pretty strong feelings on both sides of it. So that's my update. Any questions >> for million river watershed joint powers board commissioner sav. >> Thank you madam chair. Uh we met as a first time of the year last week. Uh um proud to announce that I was uh appointed back as uh chair of the Vermillion. So I'm back back at it again. It's good to be there. Commissioner Hmon Roland is also on as representing Dakota County this year. Uh >> vice chair >> as vice chair. Yes. Thank you. Uh two a couple things that we did do. We approved uh some new members to the community advisory committee formerly known as our planning commission. But then uh the big action that has been about two years in the making was the we had our public hearing on the wershed management plan something that wersheds in the metro must do every 10 years and um we had the public hearing we um now have released the draft for the final 90-day review and assuming that there is no changes to that we've approved uh contingent on the board of soil and water. So this will be our pathway for the next 10 years uh once it is approved by the statewide board of soil and water. So great job. Anything else? >> Madam Chair, I would add the two people that we uh appointed to the advisory uh board have exceptional resumes, their experience, their education and um we're very fortunate. We would have had to pay a lot of money for these people and they are on our advisory board. So um grateful to them. >> Thank you so much. And the Workforce Development Board, Commissioner Hman Rollins. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um the Construct Tomorrow event will be taking place in um Scott County on February the 10th. So, that's coming up. the teen fair. Uh I didn't know whether I was going to share this or not, but I think I am given the strong sentiment of the people who spoke this morning. Um, we need to assure for the teen job fair on April 11th if that is going to be the date and if that is going to be the place because we need to assure that the the parents and the the teenagers that are coming to the event will have a safe and secure place to be able to do that. And it directly relates to the enforcement actions. So, um, if you have some ideas, I'd like you to get your your brains working on it. And I would, uh, definitely bring those back to, uh, the committee that's working on that. And then, Jessica, do you think we can do this? This is a very um, simplified way of understanding unemployment. And I thought it was the last week, the last board meeting, we were going to share it and it was difficult to pull it up. So, let's hope we can do it today. And take it away, Jessica. >> Have you ever wondered how the unemployment rate you hear about on the news is calculated? that some >> Each month we talk to people across the country asking questions about what they did last week. Based on their responses, we divide people into one of three categories: employed, unemployed, and not in the labor force. Let's use this hive and these bees as an example. If you have a job, you are employed. If you do not have a job, are currently looking for and available to take a job, you are unemployed. Employed and unemployed make up what's called the labor force. Everyone else falls into our third category, not in the labor force. Some examples are if you are retired, a student, or taking care of your family. The vast majority of people who are not in the labor force say that they do not want a job. To calculate the unemployment rate, you add the employed and the unemployed to get the labor force. Then you divide the number of unemployed by the labor force. So the unemployment rate is the unemployed divided by the labor force. To learn more, check out bls.gov/cps. And BLS, madam chair, is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So I know that was very simple but sometimes people include everyone into the unemployment and everyone is not included. It's the people who are intentionally wanting to seek a job or who are employed. So and that concludes my report. >> Thank you so much. I'm glad your AV equipment worked. >> Yes, I'm glad it did too. >> We always hold our breath with AV equipment. Um before uh we move on to the county manager's report, um I do have a couple of uh commissioner updates. Um I don't update you guys every week on Mela, but I did we did have our um uh organizing board meeting uh uh last month and uh I was able to pass the GAVL as president after a year and a half. And um we had a uh board member rejoin uh the board after being uh gone for a couple of years. and that board member was frankly surprised at all we got accomplished. And so I thought you guys might be interested to know >> um in the last year um the Melsa the Metropolitan Library Service Administration that is the um seven metro county library systems as well as the city of St. Paul um we sit as a board of trustees and we have an advisory board of our library directors. In that uh year um we hired a new executive director. We have replaced um one 30-year employee um and uh with somebody who is a communications expert who is just raring to go. Um we uh rewrote a number of job descriptions and uh want to thank uh Dakota County for assisting with uh some job grading as well. Um, so as we've been turning over um jobs, we've been rewriting job descriptions uh in order to fit a more modern um library uh system. We uh created a strategic plan that was just approved last um month. We rewrote our bylaws. Um we created a collaborative project. So um part of Melsa is is passed through. I would say the majority of MELAs is passed through. So the state the federal government provides money to states and the states distribute it to library systems for um funding. Um there are legal um restrictions on how those monies can be used and they have to be used for the good of uh all library systems. And so our library directors created a collaborative effort uh focused on adult literacy. Um so libraries get to use this um funding and and the the goal is to leverage the dollars that we have by providing partnerships um but also um making sure that individual library systems can um be responsive to their communities. Um I'm really excited to see this take um flight. And then uh super exciting stuff. We rewrote our HR policies which um doesn't sound like the most exciting thing but it had been decades. And so um I handed over the um gavvel and took a nap. Um so I just wanted you guys to know Mela is doing a lot to leverage the dollars that we have and get more dollars. We also rewrote um our uh funding formula so that um the dollars are distributed to local libraries in a more equitable manner. >> That's Mela for the last year and a half. Um, the other thing I wanted to update you all on is since um, we uh, sent our letter and if anybody else has updates, please let me know. But since we sent the letter about the impacts of ICE on county operations and our communities, I did have conversations with um, both the staff from a member of Congress's office and the governor's office as well, which I thought were really fruitful discussions. Um, it made me really glad that we sent the letter. Um, and I've heard from other counties since that have um kind of followed Dakota County's lead and either are in the process of discussing it or communicating to the federal government in writing um about the impacts of ICE. So, um it we didn't move the mountain, but we um definitely got to tell the county story um and the impacts at the local level. So, that is my report. Anything else? >> Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Hman Rollins. >> Thank you so much. Um, I just wanted to report out that we too uh uh at uh MVTA had our organizational meeting and uh I was elected vice chair which means I will hold that office for two years and then become chair. So >> good to hear. Thank you so much. Yeah. >> Anything else from the commissioners? Hearing nothing, we can move to our county manager. And Heidi, I know you've got some um updates um for us. Madam Chair, commissioners, thank you. I'd like to talk today about the county's operations and preparedness around uh the metro operation metro surge. And I have uh one of the assistant managers, Marty Fishbach, who's going to pull up a slide here. So, I just invite her to come up while I'm giving some intro introductory comments. We do continue to operate through an incident command structure within operations. It's similar to the ways that counties worked through the many issues of COVID. It's because we are seeing a lot of effects on our workforce. Uh we have had workers stopped by ICE in the course of their work. There's a lot of fear and stress affecting our our workforce. And so we are we're doing many things to try to combat that fear, make sure people have what they need to continue their jobs. We also are continuing to see some effects on contracted work. So potential slowdown as contractors perhaps don't have all of the staff that they need to do the work that they are contracted for mostly through facilities. Uh we also as we've mentioned before to you are waiting to see whether contractors um that we have coming for Bilsby um the turbine replacement at Bsby. they're international contractors and we're waiting to see whether that this will have an effect on those contractors coming a slowdown um that may affect when we can actually start up those turbons. Uh we of course are seeing we're responding to community needs on a variety of fronts. So first I would say there are some of our services that we have modified or we continue to modify to allow more inperson uh to allow more work to happen electronically that might otherwise happen in person. Point particularly to corrections where we have perhaps some people afraid to come out of their um homes and so we are doing our best to try to respond to their needs in modified ways. We're also keeping a keen eye watching and preparing for elections. You know that this is a a local uh responsibility in Minnesota. It's the counties and the cities that really run elections. We have an excellent elections office and that's our goal to have free and fair elections. We believe we're going to achieve that, but we don't know yet whether or how the surge may affect elections. We're doing everything we can to be prepared and I believe having incident command structure in place is going to help us be able to respond to anything that may uh come up. Of course, the biggest part of our response is to our community ser to our community members is through our community services division where we are seeing an increase in need for food support, for housing, and a real um what's shaping up to be a rent crisis. And so, I've asked Marty to talk a little bit more specifically about this. And I believe she's got the slide pulled up. So, I'm going to turn over to Marty. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um County Manager Welsh and Dr. Welsh and uh um Madam Chair and Commissioners um as you know we are seeing um we know that people in Dakota County have been unable to go to work and have been uh family members have been detained and that has also impacted family income. Um we are seeing a significant increase in emergency rental assistance for February and anticipate that will continue for March. Um while the total need is unknown, the housing team has been reaching out to apartment managers and u manufactured home uh complexes. And just a couple examples, in one large apartment building, 50 households out of the 200 units stated they were uncertain how they were going to pay for February rent. In another building of 170 units, just shy of 50 people signed up for additional services. Um, we've had a we've actually had to slow down our individual out outreach and trying to um target things where we can have the most effect with the less staff because we just don't have the capacity to meet all the outreach. Um, some of the impacts of course of a housing crisis would be unsustainable need for emergency assistance, financial losses for property owners, a strain on the court system as evictions go through. Um and we're already seeing an evidence of this with an uptick in applications. So the slide that you can see is um SNAP and cash applications. These are daily totals. So in the beginning that's like November, December. It's the first half of the slide and now we're um we're looking that's just that is uh January moving into February. Um so those are what our applications are looking like. We're responding in the following ways. We're continuing to to collect information from apartment managers and partners. Um we're increasing rental assistance output where we can. Now, this may this may um we're trying to do this uh in a way that we don't exhaust all of the resources um at once, but we are trying to figure out like where can we shift money so we can do more emergency assistance. We are um participating in convenience of community partners to explore more ways that we can prevent mass evictions. So um as an example, there was an event last Thursday. It was hosted by Mount Calvary in Egan and the um it was it was uh the family housing fund in Dakota County hosted this um this meeting. Uh nearly 50 people attended the meeting. They were from county and state government, faith communities, nonprofits, schools, and community aid organizations. Um, the attendees discussed the need they're seeing in their communities and the resources and how to best triage and navigate this. Um, next steps will evolve as we as we um figure out how best to use the resources that we have and how to um how to organize these things, how to coordinate. Um, we will continue to be at the table for ongoing discussion and planning, but that's what we're seeing in this housing space right now. >> Yes, >> thank my mic wasn't on. So, >> Madam Chair, we are happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Very good questions. board members. >> I have one commissioner >> particular one. Marty, could you repeat the numbers on you? You said there were 15 the numbers of individuals at one building. It was 15 out of 200. >> 50 out of 200 in one building and the other build that was out of 200 unit building. >> Another building of 170 units was just shy of 50 people that that weren't saying they they actually signed up for services. So the the apartment building was trying to proactively figure out like how people were doing and so people signed up to get more information. So that's not a um not how they would pay rent but signing up for services of the other building. >> So I've sure >> I've heard on the other side of things from the building owners uh who are they're not panicking quite yet but they're >> rapidly approaching. Uh, and do you have a sense of where the Well, the two buildings in particular, where were they located? >> Not specific addresses, but can we talk about communities that they're located in? >> One was in Burnsville. >> Do we know where the other one? >> We don't know the other one. >> Is the the folks, as you might imagine, I repres South St. Paul, West St. Paul, but uh it's been there as well as an individual owns buildings in Inber Grove, West St. Paul and Burnsville. and he called me about 10 days ago saying he was starting to get the sense that the rents weren't going to get paid. Um so he was wondering if we were I just wanted to make sure that I gave him accurate information. Uh how long will you said we want to dole out or something paraphrasing we don't want to run out of benefits. uh give me a sense of what that means and how long how long we can go before we do run out and what happens if we do run out or when we run out. >> Right. We are still doing that analysis. So some things that we are doing is um we shifted we had some carryover from last year that we're going to be um using right away. And then there's some other pieces that we're doing. And um I don't know, Dana, do you have more information about how we're keeping track of emergency assistance? >> And commissioners, with emergency assistance, we're the challenge with emergency assistance is it's kind of has to be the backs stop because of the current policies in place. We have some that are in our control, as in me and um Tiffany Miller, and making decisions about our policy, like expediting interviews for folks who are already on um and receiving SNAP, so we're familiar with their cases, you know, making it so that people can have their verifications in over 30 days rather than 10. You know, things like that that we can do to help speed up the process. There's other things that we will likely come to this board. the um request for board action that um sets emergency assistance policy. There's think one of the critical aspects is emergency assistance is meant to resolve the emergency, >> right? We don't if someone can't afford the rent, we don't want to pay now and have them face eviction next month. Well, with the uncertainty of how long this may go on, we may need to rethink what resolve the emergency means and how do we partner with others like mutual aid organizations, churches, nonprofits to braid funding for folks. So, emergency assistance can be part of the solution, but not necessarily all the solution. with emergency general assistance. As you're aware, that is a um state program um with a consolidated grant that's set for the year and it's on the state fiscal year. We're already almost out of that. >> Um we are likely to run out in March regardless of this and that is for households without children. Um and in this particular instance, there are very few non-citizens who are eligible for that per state policy anyways. And so that is kind of a program that's not necessarily going to be helpful in this instance. Whereas emergency assistance, which is for families, has a little bit broader um citizenship requirements and legal status requirements. Um, but there typically in a year we use up in a normal year I think we're around like $1.5 million of the TANF block grant for that annually and we use that in a little bit more every year under normal circumstances. So we're being very careful to think about where does emergency assistance fit in visav other sources of rental assistance so that we don't you know at the end of the year folks who are also needing that for all the normal reasons that people need rent assistance aren't left with nothing. And so just being really careful as we think about what we can use out of that pot versus others. additional questions. >> Were you done? >> We got one additional question. >> It's following up on that. >> We're gonna let him finish and then we'll go ahead commission. >> No, mine mine's a separate topic relative to the >> mine's following up on that commissioner. So I think about my experience historically, our experience as a board and what we went through with the pandemic >> and to understand where we are today when we when the pandemic first began. How does where we are today compared to that? And will we need to start like doing a dashboard so that we're on top of what's what's happening so that we can understand these financial implications for the county and where is the federal responsibility here and I don't know if you can even answer that question but that's something that I I think about >> madam chair >> if I could just uh respond to that this is part of why we have incident command >> uh set up Incident command does uh uh report out of the um what is happening, what are the effects on the organization that happens weekly. Um it is it is um a lot of it's focused operationally as opposed to so things like how many trainings did we do, how many questions did we get from staff, what questions, what did we decide about how to how to indicate whether space is private or not private. All kinds of questions like that. But we are gathering that piece there. Um, we're also monitoring uh as part of uh incident command what else is coming in. What else do we see? So that's where I would see that's how I would see being able to answer some of those. So, so >> commissioner human >> back to thank you madam chair back to the question about the comparison >> just because that's my experience and to understand that and I suppose you know the rest of the board is experiences as as well um >> how does it compare are we are we ramping up as quickly or is it can you even give that information to me >> madam chair commissioner roll I I don't think we know the answer to that. I would say that the um this is a little quicker and we don't really know what the end like when things will settle back down. >> We didn't know it then. >> So yes, that's true. This seems this seems like it's a little quicker pace, but we have not we haven't really made that comparison. We do have to the um point of um Dr. Welsh the um in the incident command structure there is a data component >> and so we'll make sure that a lot of this information is tracked. >> Okay. So and we don't madam chair and we'll be receiving that information >> madam chair commissioners uh we are we can certainly share that information with you. It's a weekly set of reports. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Commissioner Dy. >> Yes. Uh thank you madam chair and this for manager um housing being very complex and uh Dakota County we have a Dakota County uh CDA community development agency. Could you speak to and I let me back up. I think we house approximately just over 3,000 housing units 1600 senior workforce housing etc. So regarding this whole issue, I'm assuming on that side it's subsidized housing funded annually generally from HUD etc. It wouldn't be impacting the housing element that CDA manages >> madam chair uh commissioners so I am less of an expert in the CDA but I will give you my best try at an answer. It doesn't affect the funding that is coming from the federal government right now. However, if you had somebody in that housing that was afraid to leave their their apartment for for reasons related to the metro operations search and they then didn't have income, it could affect a person in the same way that it is. It would affect a person who's in a private apartment. Um, so that answers it. >> Okay, let's see. >> Commissioner Dsti. Okay, sounds good. Um, Commissioner Atkins, >> thank you, Madam Chair. And I've I've asked uh the CDA folks to talk about these same issues. Are they experiencing any issues with rent? that, you know, there's different sources that people that live in our housing have, but many of them are working or, you know, they were working when they weren't afraid to leave their home. So, we're looking at that. We don't have a they didn't at least 10 days ago, they didn't have a sense of what the impacts were. So, but with time, we'll develop that. My question was just very specific to the comment that uh Mr. Borealis and others raised relative to the use um of our parking lots by ICE officials or ICE agents. Um specific the the Northern Service Center. Uh and after actually after I visited with you, I talked to a couple of friends, both American citizens, both of Latino origin. I said, you know, if ICE was in the in the parking lot at Northern Service Center and you had to go there for something, would you go? and both have been pulled off um and demanded of information about their their heritage. Uh and uh both of one said no, the other one said hell no. Um so you know the the question is do you have any sense of whether or not uh that's an issue for PE is and and if it is an issue for people wanting to go to the Northern Service Center for obviously there's a host of services that are located there. Are there alternative ways for them to seek those or have you figured out alternative ways for them to seek those services in case they're afraid to go to a government building, specifically a government building where ICE might be mobilizing their efforts? >> Madam Chair, let me jump in first. >> Okay. >> Um I just want to note that we are unaware of ICE being in the Northern Service Center uh parking lot at >> I know they were at Western, right? >> They have been at Western uh when they were there for court. They are frequently here in Hastings because they interact with court, but we're unaware of them being on um Northern Service Center property at this point. Um so I just wanted to start with that piece and then the question of whether people are afraid. I mean it stands to reason that people they're afraid to go to the grocery store. They're afraid to go they're afraid to come out um for anything. And and so I think it does stand to reason that that may be the case, but I don't know that staff can can really say too much more about how the the clients are feeling. We are doing everything we can to make other means available where that is possible to meet people in the field to do things electronically where we can. So we're doing that wherever we can. It's not possible with every single service that that we that we have, but we are trying to to do that as much as possible. And then I would turn it to >> Dr. Welsh. If I if I madam chair, if I might I zero in on the Northern Service Center because it's a community that I represent, >> but Western Service Center. I know they've been mobilized there. We've obviously got a library and library services and various other services that are there. >> Yes. >> I don't really know what they've other than visiting the jail. I didn't know if they were mobilizing here at the administrative services center in Hastings. Correct. But I'd be open to answers about all of those. Um, >> madam chair, don't forget that we do deliver public health and wick in particular from the western service center. There's also all of the child protection staff that are at the at the western uh facility. So there are services that roughly speaking similar um groups of clients would be visiting the western services for as well as the northern. you're right in your assessment that it's different here in Hastings. We don't have the same um set of services here in Hastings. Uh so I think but I think that people may stands to reason that they would be if they're coming to see Wick for example they uh in in Western services center they may um fear may have fear of ICE in the parking lot nothing else so >> Madam Chair before you before you do that because I'm still at the Western Services Center can I >> commissioner All right that's the same issue of the concern for the the teen event that's going to be happening in April. And so um are you aware of any possibilities of um how uh staff are preparing for that to make sure that the teens are going to be teens and their parents are going to be safe? >> Heidi, Madam Chair, commissioners, um you know, we're I don't know that we have anything special that we can do differently than what we do already to in terms of having security at Western Services Center. We do have security person there. The courts are there and so there are reasons that ICE need to be able to access that building. Um, you know, we are certainly open to other possibilities if that event needs to move to another location. There are and you and I have had a couple emails about other possible places that they might consider. Uh, I think that's about that's about what I can say at this point. >> Okay. Madam Chair, just a follow. Um on a daily basis I'm getting several emails from people about Western Services Center and their concern about uh the staging that is there and um it it is a it is a serious concern and uh you know my dre would be that that um that Department of Homeland Security would function as it did professionally with our police department, our sheriff's department. Uh, and if we could go back to that, that would be back and forward, you know, uh, to the best practices into the future, that would be an important solution, I think, for us for the future because it's causing such a great ripple effect for us. Um, we want people to be able to, uh, teenagers to go to these events so they can learn about the jobs so that we can help our employers. This is is causing a a real ripple, a negative ripple in this. So um my hope is is that we are going to learn from this and collectively we come up with some solutions that are going to be effective so that our people are safe and can continue to have um Dakota County be 90% uh is what the safety response was that we could go back up to that. So, uh I really appreciate everything that staff are doing to help people and uh the solutions that are um um maybe mobile or virtual solutions to help people to be able to get this information and their services. Um my question um is has to do with I'm going to loop back on housing um because we did have a um a a consent agenda item today where we are applying for some federal grant money um and understanding that we are facing what feels to me like we are on a road for a crisis not unlike what we experienced back in um 2000 2001 on uh with the uh pandemic. Um this to me feels like a a very good opportunity and at the same time whenever I see anything federal with regard to grants right now, two things pop into my head. One is because they are targeting Minnesota, does Minnesota or Dakota County have a disadvantage in this grant process? Um are we going to be targeted in some way, shape, or form? Um, you may not know the answer to that question, but I think it's important that I um am a I have concerns about punitive action taken against us. Um, and then the other thing, um, how might this, um, help us as we think about the mutual aid that's happening in our communities and how might these grant fundings, um, support us in creating I think we have to create a a crisis plan. I know that we're um on track for that and there's a lot of work that has to happen with regard to that. But um how might how might what we approved today be helpful. >> Um >> Marty, whoever wants to answer. Sorry, >> Madam Chair. So you're you're still speaking specifically to the grant to the grant >> the grant application that we approved today. >> Um I don't think we know um anything that is imminent. I mean, I will say that in the next presentation at GGP, we're going to be giving an update on the strategic board priorities and one of the areas there that has that's in a in a court case right now is um stopping uh childcare assistance program. So, we know that it happens that we have had um we've had those things things are in court right now. Um so we haven't seen it happen but we are you know preparing the best we can knowing that these things are possible and we don't have a lot of um resources from just our perspective um I mean we do have la and saha which maybe is a resource for in the housing space um in the childare space we don't really have that same kind of um flexibility. And I think to your point, we really saw um as part of the convening that happened last Thursday, the community is looking they they um my understanding I was not at the event. Actually Dana was at the event. Um but my understanding is they really were um compartmentalizing like who can help who. So it was really a coming together of um not just resources but also you know for you know Dana mentioned if there was somebody that was undocumented, it wouldn't be anything we would be able to help with. The government programs, you're not eligible. Um, and another program might pick something like that up. So, those are some of the coordination we're seeing with the community. Madam Chair, Commissioners, I would just add as context the grant that you approved on the consent agenda, the >> ability to apply for the grant that was on the consent agenda, that's a regular grant that we apply for every year. It's something that's very important for our existing housing programs. It's kind of bread and butter in what we do in the housing program. I'm looking at Maline who's given us thumbs up too. Um, and so I don't know it it's not enough money or it's not it's not going to help a crisis I guess is kind of it's not going to help a new crisis, an additional more people or a big surge. It's not going to I don't want you to uh be I don't I I don't I want you to understand that it's our regular work is what comes through the the way you use that money that comes through that grant annually. >> That's how we use that money. Thank you for for clarifying that. I think it's important to note that um we do have a lot of dollars that flow through our system. I will say that when it comes to housing and homelessness, um you know, we made some decisions last year in our budget that were really challenging because it's not mandated services um and we we lost some staff in that area and we are looking at another potential crisis. I um will ask um for updates um with regard to community two things. One is I will ask that we get um and I think you alluded to this Heidi that um we get a report out on incident command um GGP um weekly. I think that we need to know um where um uh things are developing and crisis are developing so that we can be responsive in our communities. Um, the other thing I want us to think about as a board and as staff, I'd love um some advice is um how we might kind of uh duplicate what we saw in Egan last week, which is this is what we can bring to the table and what coordination we can do with um our mutual with other mutual aid partners and how we can really help um either uh support the coordination. It feels like we need to centralize some of this in communities um because what we're able to do as a county um is very different than what a local nonprofit or a church might do. Um, but I do think that everybody is uh trying to uh come together and uh help their neighbors uh deal with emergencies um and uh ensure that people who um are not able to uh get access to food um get access to rent um go out to their their workplaces and their jobs um support local businesses. um there's a lot of moving parts and um it feels like uh we could maybe be helping helpful with um communication and coordination in some way. So um I would like us to think through that if you guys have any thoughts of things that are happening in your own communities I think that would be very helpful. So um madam chair I think it's wise to use our power of convening. You're right. We are the largest entity and um if we can bring people together that would be great and if we could use our facilities to be able to do that, I'd like to see that happen. And >> so, Madam Chair, >> Commissioner Hullberg. >> Yeah. I'm just once again, we're we don't have an agenda item with an action item. This is an update. If the board wants to choose to take some kind of action, there's a process for that. Um, I understand the people want feedback on what we think about various things, but I just like to remind us that we're in a manager update and not an agenda item that's been posted. >> Thank you. Um, anything else on from the county manager? >> Nothing else. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um so we are going to uh go into GGP but before we do um every uh board meeting I like to um highlight the work that is done in Dakota County. Um we serve hundreds of thousands of people every single day in our community. Our employees work incredibly hard um to uh fulfill the the mission of Dakota County. And so by the numbers, I want to be sure that we are um recognizing some of the important work that's getting done. We're in the middle of winter. And so um today I wanted to um uh mention uh the transportation maintenance teams. These are the folks that um get called into work at 1 in the morning. um a text goes out to staff and um that you know they'll get an alert that they have to start at two in the morning and uh staff generally reply within two minutes. I'm on my way. Um and according to their bosses, this is an astronomical level of commitment. So we want to thank them for being so dedicated. Here's some numbers for you. Um our uh transportation maintenance folks on a snowy night will hit the road with 28 tandem drivers, two motorgrade operators for gravel roads. Um yes, we still have lots of gravel roads in Dakota County, Commissioner Slavic. Even in my district, >> those are your favorite roads, right? >> Um and uh one tractor uh for the transit facilities. The crews complete their routes a total of 1,110 lane miles in under four hours. I know that to be true because just the other morning I remember waking up and opening up my blinds and going, "They've already plowed." Um, so congrats. And the plow drivers do more than just drive. They're operating uh complicated machinery like augers and spinners uh to minimize salt um applications as they go. And the crews are likely to continue the downward trend of salt use. So they're also are looking out for our um precious waterways and um uh natural resources. And so thanks for continuing to innovate and think about ways that um this work can be done with a minimal impact to our environment. And so, um, today I just want to thank our transportation maintenance team for their hard work and for the thousands of of miles that they service to keep, um, our communities safe. So, hats off. Mittens on. Anything else for the good of the order? Did I miss it? Okay. With that, I can entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Move approval, Madam Chair. >> Second. >> Uh, excellent. All those in favor of adjournment, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? No. That we are adjourned. Thank you. GGP starts at