It was a great opportunity to share our approach and framework for our utilizing AI within our own organization.

Lastly, I just want to mention there's always been trails back in there for people to go, but they are not accessible trails. That has changed with this work. So, all people of all capabilities are able to do it.

I think one challenge we have is people want to put a bubble wrap around nature to protect it. And unfortunately, the future generations need to get into nature.

This proposed property tax levy includes a total of 9,762 full-time equivalent employees, a decrease of 249.7 vacant full-time employee positions achieved through attrition. As I shared with you, this budget was not easy to build. It represents tough decisions, slow growth, and careful management in the face of uncertain state and federal funding conditions.

being really clear this is a result of cuts and lack of support from the state and federal governments that we have come to rely on for programs that we are required to offer. Um and it is the result of that disinvestment from other levels of government while maintaining the necessity of providing those services uh that our residents rely on.

In light of though the conversation around these disastrous cuts to human beings that have been handed down from the federal government, there have they have neglected to shift that conversation to what it really is and it's a property tax conversation. It's how we pay for the services that we provide and we are very limited in that. We can only do that through property tax dollars.

I think as Commissioner Gotel mentioned, this isn't a one-year deal like this. And so I do think the county and include the sheriff's department, include the county attorney's office. We need to start to look at redundant uh activities. And that doesn't mean they're bad activities. It just means do each of us need to do the same thing.

People depend on the county. We are the caregivers of government and in times that are harder, our services are often needed with greater need, greater complexity and greater care.

the Henipin County Mental Health Local Advisory Council passed a motion requesting the Henipin County Board of Commissioners make a formal proclam proclamation recognizing mental health mental illness awareness week which takes place on October 6 through October 12th.

the reality is is when we think about mental illness, we don't oftentimes tie our mental health with our physical health and they're one and the same.

I'm so excited about all the work that the county has done to destigmatize bringing mental health into our schools. If we get our kids to accept this as part of the average way you you treat yourself, you go for your physical, you go for mental health stabilization, that's that's a really big piece if we can start with this generation that's in those schools.

County Administration is recommending the appointment of Mr. Dave Lawless to serve as a Henipin County appointee to the Minnesota Ballpark Authority.

these are all long-standing arrangements by which the city transfers money that they receive from the federal government to the county where we have the expertise and the infrastructure to better administer it. Uh the changes to the agreement are to align with the county's evolving disposition with regards to federal uh terms.

this also is a longstanding renewal of a federal grant paying for families rapid rehousing, which is time limited assistance for families to help them exit homelessness, exit our shelter system, find accommodation in the private rented market.

Are you hearing anything about whether they'll be available in the future or not as we hear about cuts? Do you know anything?

The 2026 proposed levy is a is flat with no with no recommended increase and increases includes a slight decrease in expenditures for 2026.

Highquality transit makes it possible for people who don't have a car or choose not to drive to access more opportunities for employment, education, and healthcare.

it is arguably it goes to the heart of my district and Mr. Fernando. It goes to the heart of the people that actually uh suffer the worst in our economy. They're the people demographically financially uh the people where the concentration of poverty uh which in Minnesota poverty also equals demographics. And so this fact that we are investing in the blue line that we have been patiently and impatiently waiting for decades on this has not changed.

I also call people that say they support transit and they say they support this project to actually fight for it. the time of sitting meekly on the sidelines and hoping things will get done.

I'm going to point out something different, which is just the greening piece of this when you talked about the monarch butterflies and the other pollinators and everything like this and how you're actually planting milkweed and such like that to make sure it has my garden has milkweed wherever I can put milkweed in there.

Transit has become this very controversial topic for many reasons when at its core it is literally about people getting to where they need to go, people getting to school, people getting to job, people getting to healthcare.

A special highlight to how we are utilizing surplus railroad land, the surplus land that we have just sitting there. I think that this is a great way to pro protect our earth and to give back to the earth by planting for pollinators, for planting for sustainability.

Today's budget proposal and the programs that support it are designed to use the unique authorities of the HR to help the county and our residents address this moment of economic challenge.

Fist of 44, for example, is now home to 20 families referred from Henipin County's child welfare teams and 30 families exiting homelessness and prioritized through coordinated entry. These 50 families now have on-site wraparound services, affordable rent, all in a walkable transit connected neighborhood.

This represents a 0% change in property tax levy from 2025. The 2026 budget is projected to decrease by approximately 14.4 million. That is primarily driven by the completion of one-time pandemic recovery projects that leaked into 2025 and the return of unique supportive housing service funding to housing stability where it has resided since 2019.

two days ago, I think homeless to housing recently reached the milestone of housing over 2100 people, including 247 families since its inception. So, I just would say um that yes, I'm appreciative that we were able to keep the levy flat. Uh but also that housing is healthcare. We really are moving the needle on getting people into housing and keeping them there.

We know that supportive housing has been key to our accomplishments of housing and doing rapid rehousing for people who are unhoused. Um it was a major component of how we were able to achieve our functional zero for veterans uh homelessness and the funding streams from the federal government that supported that work are uh disappearing and it is making us our ability to do this work harder.

I'm curious and watching to see what uh what Brooklyn Park is going to do with that and look for the residents there as well. And so I don't know the answer, but I think we're going to see after this year's budget where where people start to put their money um or replace money that they get from someone else. So thank you.

I have concerns too like um, Commissioner Lundy, the nonprofit partners, several of them aren't going to be here in the near future. We know that. That's been told to us. They're in dire straits. They're in trouble. Um, that will add to our problems and that will be a heavy lift for us.

This project will reserve 13 units for people exiting homelessness with referrals from the county's coordinated entry system. This is a new commitment by the developer. Um referrals will begin as those 13 designated units turn over. No existing residents will be displaced.

certainly what I see is just really a true reflection here of our values. I see results uh in creating affordable housing results that I know will continue and of course economic opportunity that go hand inand as we heard the income component is really important.