Communication with our instructors has included misinformation that has ranged from the program is ending, but it's being funded for six more months to finish the houses that are currently in progress. And as recently as uh late last week, an email was sent stating that the program would not be accepting any more participants, which was news to us. Uh, at the hearing last week, I learned the program is fully funded and is going to continue accepting clients as they currently do while staff consider ways to increase participation.

If I might make one suggestion, uh, please include an instructor in future meetings when discussing the expansion of the program. Continued misrepresentation about the future of the program uh, creates unnecessary stress. It creates anxiety for people who are truly doing their best to assist people in building a sustainable career.

During our deliberations, we had a robust discussion about the costs of implementing some climate action initiatives, which in some cases may not have the most ideal investment from a financial perspective, but have a desirable impact on the county's values of reasonable stewardship of our resources and environment.

I do think that as a county, we're gonna have to be more more mindful of a legislature that wants to spend our sales tax money for us... I think this is appropriate place to say suggest that we should work with AMC because once a legislature believes that there's money out there that they could spend that they don't see the projects... But they can certainly decide that they want to spend our money, especially if they don't decide they decide they don't agree with our philosophy.

The 2020 census demographics show that in that community, 60% of residents speak English as a second language. 74% of residents in Ventura Village, where this library sits, identify as communities of color... The median income in this community is $32,000 annually. 40% of people who live in this community live below the poverty line. 84% are renters.

It's a regional asset. Regional. This is big. People fly people in from other places because of the things we can do for people. The hyperbolic chamber and our our burn unit and several other things that we do. Nobody else can beat us on the types of work and the research and everything we do here.

I opened this book looking directly for revenue opportunities, right?... not on the backs of people, right?

Ordinance 18 was started in 1995 when the solid waste system was much bigger than it is now. And it was really focused on providing money and waste to the Elk River Resource Recovery Project which ended in 2009. So in 2009, your predecessors decided that they would zero out that fee.

This last one, excess cardboard and trash penalty for haulers. I'm thinking back to when I visited the herk several years ago and that big gigantic claw. A lot of what was drippy and heavy was organic material, but I saw cardboard boxes everywhere. So, I'm wondering for 2026, we're going up $50. Uh, I say we double that. I'm just saying... to get out from the herk what shouldn't be there in the first place and uh increase that penalty by more than just 50 bucks for folks who are still bringing recycled material to the herk.

My concern on trash is my experience with the composting fee is that the trash people just pass it on and blend the county. Um, that they'll pass it on to everyone, not the people who are the real cause of it... But if you're just everyone's fees up, they don't care.