We will begin. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the administration's operation and budget committee. committee of Tuesday, July 28th, 2026. We begin our agenda with a 2026 budget update. I will pass pass that on to uh Miss Wetland. Chair Gotel commissioners, as you've heard during our June update, there are substantial budget challenges that we are facing in 2026 that will continue in 2027. The goal of these budget presentation is to provide transparency and information to you and to our residents regarding the tracking and monitoring of the county's financial health throughout the year. This is our fourth update of the year and in today's presentation you'll hear about our progress from January through June. Throughout this process, we continue to ground our work in disparity elimination and aligning our work to the mission, vision, and core values of the organization. We remain steadfast in our commitment of service to residents as we ensure the county acts with stewardship of public resources. I'm going to ask Joe Matthews, the county's chief financial officer, to provide the budget update. Thank you, Joe. Welcome. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Joe Matthews, chief financial officer for Henipin County. Um, we'll go ahead and jump to the next slide, please. Uh this is a format that you've seen before and we'll walk through. If you have questions, please feel free to ask and I'll pause at the end as well. Uh year-over-year, our budget FTEES at the end of June, uh we have 232 fewer FTEEs in our 2026 budget compared to the prior year. Just a reminder, we reduced about 240 positions from our 2025 budget to our 2026 budget. Uh just as context for that number, a lot of those reductions were in the human services area. hired FTEES. So those are people that we have in our payroll system. There are 311.5 fewer FTEEs compared to the same point in time last year. And while the variance between budgeted and hired is similar to the prior year, um again uh because of the reduced positions in the budget, uh this is a significant reduction in actual staff on payroll compared to last year. I also want to highlight that uh when you look at the actual FTEES, we're down about 572.1. That's based on hours paid. So folks that are on our payroll or in our payroll system may be on FMLA or they may be on parental leave or uh paid military leave or other things. Um so that's a significant reduction compared to what we budgeted for. Uh I do want to point out that that number does not include any employees who are being compensated uh under the paid family leave law that was enacted that's new this year. Those employees are being compensated as part of that uh benefit plan and they will not appear in that FTE count. If those hours are not being paid for through PTO or regular time, that number averages about 145 FTEEs on any given pay period. Um and we can provide more information if needed in terms of the total number of individual employees served but on any given payroll it's about 145 for us and again that benefit was not available to employees in 2025 adjusted for that amount uh actual FTES are still down significantly and so we are aware that that means that employees are continuing to do the work of the county with fewer people uh to carry that workload. Let's go ahead and move to the next slide please. Uh we've seen this slide before and I'll just walk through briefly. Um the blue columns are showing the 2026 actual expenditures. The gray columns are 2025. So you can see a comparison of how we're spending month-to-month compared to the prior year. You'll notice that our budget is not linear. If you look at all of the columns across the year, some are higher than others. Uh we do have some months where we have three pay periods that land in that month. Most have two. And then also I'll point out that December, that's when we make our debt payments and we have some other uh invoices that kind of wrap up at the end of construction season and other things. So December is always typically a month with higher spending. Uh lastly, I'll just remind everyone uh in March, most of that increase was due to non-propy tax related expenditures. Uh there was some with our environment energy services, but the most significant was really for Henipin Health, which is our Medicaid uh service that we provide through um our insurance arm serving those clients. And so that was really a reflection on claims paid. Uh and that's again not property tax funding. I do also want to highlight that uh if you look at the lines that are going from the lower left to the upper right. Uh the gold line is a linear representation of the annual budget. The green line below it is uh a representation of our actual spending. You'll note that starting in January, we had already been holding on expenses and positions. So, we started out by spending less than budgeted and we have gradually slightly expanded that as we've been holding on expenses monthtomonth. Again, our goal is not to, you know, completely flatten that line out, but we are monitoring to make sure that we are going to try to underspend our 2026 budget knowing that we have a number of challenges and headwinds coming our way with losses of federal funds and other external factors. Go to the next slide, please. And you can jump one more, please. Uh, you've seen this slide before. Uh right now as far as federal impacts that are in effect for 2026, the loss of administrative revenue for SNAP is already phasing in. That total annual amount will be about $8 million. The other item that I want to highlight is currently we estimate about 107.7 million of our federal funding is under some sort of protective order. That could be where the county is directly a plaintiff in a lawsuit or where the state or a state agency may be a plaintiff that we are by extension receiving various protection uh protective orders. Again, that number is slightly higher than the last time we checked in. That's largely due to the process continuing um and also some of our grants, you know, falling within that definition as it continues to move forward through the legal process. Next slide, please. I want to highlight that we have one new grant on this list. Uh the last item in this list is new from the last time you saw this presentation. There was a teenage pregnancy prevention program grant that has been cancelled. Uh we had expended the majority of that funding, but there's about $536,000 that has not been expended yet at the time of cancellation. uh we will go through and make an effort to you know mitigate that to the extent that we can through any processes we have available. We also for 2026 are working to actively solve for that shortfall in 2026 and then we'll address it uh with all of you in the 2027 budget process for those funds depending on where they land going forward. Next slide please. Anticipated cuts. Uh again, this is a reminder. We've looked at these in the past. The SNAP error rate uh is the most significant amount of of funding reduction coming um directly to the county next year. It will begin phasing in late next year. There are conversations with the state of Minnesota to pick up some of those cost reductions. We believe that they're planning to pick up half. Um, we also know that HUD uh has looked at cutting about $12 million in funding that would flow through to Minnesota's uh to Henipin County communities. Not all of that 12 million is directly budgeted in Henipin County's budget, but it does impact a lot of our partners that we work closely with. And then lastly, the Medicaid uh losses estimated at our county clinics. So, if you think about North Point or Red Door or other public health clinics is roughly $27 million. And again, that number will fluctuate. Um there's a lot of uncertainty about exactly how the HR1 uh pieces will be implemented. Uh but that is the best estimate that we're currently working with. And then lastly uh for Henipin healthcare system which includes HCMC again you've seen this number before but their total estimated impact from HR1 is 1.7 billion uh from 2027 through 2038 and next year is when they will begin seeing some impacts from the disenrollment of u Medicaid and then also uh they'll begin to see uh declining directed payments coming shortly after that. Next slide please. Uh we're going to continue on our uh oversight around hiring management. Uh so as you saw, we've been able to through attrition reduce the overall headcount on our payroll and we're continuing to do that. We are strategically hiring positions within uh the county. So it's not a firm hiring freeze. We are trying to make sure that our critical areas of care, areas of health or safety or wellness are being met. So if you think about our jail, our 911 facilities, also critical uh human services areas that are client facing, we're trying to make sure that we're hiring for those. And we've also been reviewing all contracts and RFPs to make sure that they're performing well and they're continuing to meet the the needs of the community and the organization's goals. And then we've also conducted very thorough capital review through our capital budget process and have been working with the capital budgeting task force to make sure that we have cohesive priorities set as that budget's getting ready to come to you all for review this fall. A new bullet on this list is future planning with the hospital. So as you're all aware, there was significant legislative action taken last legislative session with a very significant investment by the state in that in the hospital itself and also in healthcare as a whole. Um there's also a state task force that's being formed that will be looking at the future uh ownership governance and financing of the hospital and uh the county and the hospital are working very closely together to also talk about our ongoing relationship and the services that we provide to one another to support each other's missions. Next slide. Planning ahead for 2027. Um again the budget management strategies in 2026 have been working. uh we have had flexibility to try to adapt to changing situations. Uh they do certainly seem to keep changing on a weekly basis. Uh but we've had a good uh team and we believe that we've positioned ourselves well to have uh good decisions ahead of us as we move into the 2027 budget season. We have ongoing headwinds on the federal level. Uh we've been fortunate that the state has had good financial news so far, but we do worry about whether that will hold and if there is a downturn in the state's uh economic outlook or or budget outlook that could impact us. And then lastly, um we are trying to take these successes from 2026 to position oursel in a way that is sustainable for 2027 and beyond. And so as we look at where departments have been able to successfully reduce costs, we're also looking to align that with their 2027 budget requests and the proposed budget of 2027 that we'll be bringing to you all. Administrator Wetland will be presenting her budget to you on I believe September 22nd. And then lastly, in August, um, next month, you'll have your first opportunity to see a preliminary discussion on the tax base and what it looks like for 2027, as well as some potential levy scenarios with homeowner impacts. Last slide, please. August 20th is when we'll have that briefing on the budget and property tax impacts. On August 25th, we'll have one more similar budget update to this uh before we uh present the proposed budget. And then lastly, um just again just to remind you, September 22nd, Administrator Wentland will propose her budget to you all and the maximum levy will be considered by the board on September 29th. Thank you. >> Thank you. Colleagues, any questions? I know we've had a chance to have discussions already. I we appreciate all the hard work and we appreciate these regular briefings a lot. Thank you. Go ahead, U. Commissioner Lundy and then Commissioner Edo. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to uh thank staff for the update and also thinking that a lot of work have gone into it to get to us to hear that, you know, we do see the attrition that is a nice way of dealing with things, but it also does move uh work onto other people. So, um I just want to acknowledge [clears throat] that um that these are the things that are facing us. Um, and I think that, you know, on this hand, we've got this. On the other hand, we have property taxpayers that are getting squeezed from city, county, schools as well, and they're feeling it. So, I think we're all in this together, and I just want to thank staff for bringing this forward. Um, I know that we have much work to go, but I want to acknowledge what we have been doing and the the effects on everybody. So, thank you, >> Commissioner Ellison. >> Thank you. Um I mean I going to echo what u my colleagues just said. Um I mean I know residents I'm already hearing from in terms of property taxes and you know people's um their their you know cola increases are not increasing like they have in the past. Our economy is not doing well. We have all these cuts from the federal government as we look to property taxes. Um I think that we have to be mindful again about not pricing people out of their homes. Um I you know I've been in government for eight years and I have to say this is probably one of the most challenging years I've been in government and I was at the legislature during COVID um because we have to make really tough decisions when there's not enough money. We have no longer abundance. We have um a federal government that's that's cutting us at every last turn. Organizations that aren't prepared for that. We have a county budget where we have mandated services. Um, we have employee cost going up on health care. Uh, I just think we're in this very challenging spot and I just want to make sure that we find a balance. I don't think we're going to make everybody happy at the end of the day, but I really truly think that we need to figure out how to balance all of this and just thank you Joe for the update. Uh, helpful and I just think we still have a lot of work to do. So, I think, you know, whoever suggested at our monthly meetings on the budget is very much appreciated because I think we we have a lot of work to do. Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate these updates because they certainly give us a real-time view of what's happening. And what's happening is the federal government has put counties in a in a very impossible situation. Um, recently the news uh came out that federal court filings revealed that a lot of what's happening from the federal government is simply targeting blue states who voted against the federal administration. That's petty and it's gross. So, I'm glad that when we have the opportunity to join into lawsuits that we do because none of what's happening is constitutional. We've put so much of our mission and vision into the dollars that we put out in our budget every year. Um, our budget is is always a really good reflection of what our values are. And what the federal government has decided to do is pit ourselves against our own values. And that doesn't make sense. It's not good policy. It's not good leadership. It's gross. Uh I can't I'm going to say that frequently. You'll hear me say that frequently. It's absolutely gross what counties have been faced with. Um one of the slides talked about uh contract cuts and budget cuts and and we're we're not contracting with organizations that we have histories of contracting with for things like mobile services, for immunizations, for uh things that keep people healthy and happy. They're very hard decisions that we have to make. um some of our core systems we have to scale down because the federal government decided to target Minnesota because of how it voted. That's really really gross to me. And uh I do appreciate that the county and county administration is looking at every avenue to try to save ourselves from a federal government that has no intent on saving us. In fact, uh Mr. Matthews is right. It's a change every single day. It's a change every week. And we have to be very honest and open about what this is. This isn't that um we're in a position where we overspent for several years and now we're trying to rectify the situation. This is a situation where the federal government is intentionally disinvesting from counties and putting us in just impossible situations. We cannot rely on property tax revenue the way that we used to. And that's impossible because that's just the limit, one of the three limited revenue sources and three big le revenue sources that we have to deal with. But we're stuck in situations where where needed services are being um discontinued, where teen pregnancy is not being funded anymore. That's wild. Uh but this is all a result, we can all take this back to the federal government and what they are doing to counties across this country. Um, we just came back from a national conference and counties, county leaders were all talking about what the federal government has done to counties and our mission coming out of this conference was that we need to stay strong together as counties to save and protect what it is that we do, which is protect the public. Um, and so we're going to continue looking at where ways we can get new revenue. Uh, we're continuing to to look at um ways that we can mitigate, I heard that word, Mr. Matthews mitigate some of the devastating uh you know decisions that are coming out of Washington. I think we will continue to do that. We just have to do it harder. But uh we have to name what is causing this very difficult budget year and that is the federal government's attack on on counties. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Fernando. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. [clears throat] Um I'm also appreciative of the information. Just to add to what my colleagues have said so far, you know, Henipin is 22% of the state's population and we're very proud to be over 40% of the social safety net. And when a third of our budget in a very unusual manner is cut or clawed back, [gasps] reducing expenses is not going to be how we get to our future vision. And that is that is the acute need now. Um I believe it is the it is what is needed to ensure that we prevent full closure of services. Uh we all have seen across the country when a service concludes it is very hard to restart that service. Um whether it is a hospital or libraries or anything else. And so, uh, I want to just acknowledge the the the pain and dissatisfaction, um, that the of the feedback we've received. And as we look uh to the future um and health has of course been a uh a primary frame because of health care specifically with htmc and clinics over this past year the um HR1 effects but also because health is the way in which counties especially handipin have been achieving our strongest outcomes by viewing our work through a public health lens. we have achieved um outcomes that we're proud of and we want to be able to continue them. And so I'm uh saying aloud that uh of course with the time frame we're in, expense mitigation is our predominant tool. Um but unless and until we establish dedicated revenue for health, a dedicated revenue source for health, I am just really uh fearful of what that would mean to the community that we've all been able to contribute to. Um and it's worse than disinvestment. It's uh the federal government has reallocated our federal tax dollars. And so that's the other aspect. And it's not just like a little bit like over a third of the county's budget, right? So I I just want to um uplift dynamic and headwinds. We say all these uh words that are very generous to the situation a third a third of our of what we rely on financially for over 40% of the state social safety net and that's just um the henipin budget. So there are a lot of expectations that we are going to strive to meet. Um, and I just want to express very clearly, we will not shrink our way into the vision that our residents deserve. There needs to be a way in which we more broadly either offer accountability to where how we can receive the tax funds that we've uh put in um or you know how we as motans determine how we care for our neighbor and that has to come by way of a revenue source somewhere. more comments. Um, and just wanting to speak into this moment. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thanks, uh, Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate the the information. Um and you know appreciate also the the comments that my colleagues have made and just want to echo the um the increased challenges to our staff that we know are happening because of these shifts onto counties from the federal government. Um we are literally being asked to do more with less. Um like substantially more with substantially less. And that is going to have this downstream impact on all of the services we deliver. whether those individual programs are part of the intended uh uh target. uh the the grossness as Commissioner Connley has pointed out like it's it's absolutely disgusting how the federal government has uh put us into a situation of uh of not being able to take care of our residents in the way that uh the social contract that we have uh come to agree upon over the last you know several decades. are just being ripped away from us and and we're trying to pick up the pieces. Um I also want to acknowledge too that the we have an obligation to work alongside the state to make sure that we are uh able to maintain some of these services that the state is uh asking us to perform as well. And we're doing that work. And I know sometimes that work uh you know counties have recently found um efficiencies in in systems and suggested that to the state and that didn't translate into the state relieving us of some of the obligations. And so in I I hope in future um budget updates in the in the next rounds, we'll be able to see the impacts that the state is having on us as well. Uh because it's not zero and uh and counties have been working really closely with state to identify ways that we can still take care of residents. um whether it's be through you know uh technology modernization or uh better processes um finding efficiency in in systems that we're operating uh and we're also being asked to do more uh in those in those areas and I think a lot of those things we agree that we need to be doing that work uh but we need the state to be the partner as well so um look forward to hearing more about the totality of the impact uh facing us in the budget because so far this has been very much a federal impact and and we know that there are state impacts as well. So, uh we'll have to see what what that's coming up. But thank you, >> Commissioner Green. >> Um thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to join my colleagues in thanking uh Joe Matthews and the team, everybody. Also, um, thank you to employees who are staying at it with increased case loads, etc. Um, Mr. Matthews, you mentioned, uh, um, employee identified cost savings. I'm sorry, where I'm not seeing him. Oh, there like talking into the void. Um, you mentioned employee identified cost savings and I don't need an answer right now, but I'd love to just talk further at some point in the next week or two about how you're seeing those and identifying them. Um, I've had a couple constituents who are also employees come to me and and sort of ask for ways that they could submit ideas. And I want to make sure I understand the processes and make sure that people feel like they can share ideas in a um transparent way and that nobody in um in any sort of hierarchy feels threatened, etc., etc., but just want to gather the good ideas and and >> yeah, we'd be happy to follow up with you, Commissioner. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. I just want to say I really appreciate my colleagues comments on here because I regularly meet with Joe and and Jody on this budget. There was a lot of discussion I think at the beginning of the year between me and the chair and several of our colleagues up here regarding the budget and the fact that we needed to do these open public budget briefings way ahead of time and not wait for the fall when the actual budget briefings come. We thought it was very important that we be very upfront with employees but also with the general public and they should know what's really going on and what's what's working and what's not what's not working for us and to know the dire straits that a lot of piece place places are in the cities are in other counties are in but I just also want to point out that there are still discussions at the federal level about more budget cuts and about the the budgets coming down there this is not over yet that's the sad point to hear also we need to remind ourselves though that as much as the state is really trying to help us and they are and I appreciate the work they are doing to try to find pots of money to keep some of these programs afloat, the federal um officials are withholding nearly 400 million in total deferred deferred Medicaid payments to Minnesota. Um that's impactful and the usual step is usually never that much money when they do withhold dollars and usually when you start producing some of the audit materials that they've requested they let some of that money out. they have not and in fact they're talking about doing more. So this is the reality that we're living in. It could possibly get worse and so I just want to be really upfront and and very forward about this. But as those things come up, you're going to hear it in the next briefing if that comes forward. And we're going to make a real um honest attempt to try to keep this stuff on the forefront for everybody to see to the point where there have been discussions that next year we will probably doing something very similar with quarterly briefings too because this has been so wellreceived and people really appreciate the even greater transparency. Um and but this opens us up for a better public discussion too I think about what really matters to folks. So um uh quickly uh Commissioner Lendy >> uh thank you Madam Chair. Just wanted to point out that uh that you know just like the state budget uh hene county you know provides I think about 31% of the state budget uh we also at the federal level we are net payers as a state we're also as a county neters and the money that we are not receiving isn't like going in to pay down the deficit it's just going somewhere else and so it is a double hit we are paying for stuff we're not getting and then we're re we're receiving these mandates and so uh it is uh you know if anybody thinks that somehow this is a good financial decision by the federal government it just means that are taking our money and not giving us any of it back. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Yeah, thank you. And I appreciate that. Thank you, everyone. I look forward to hearing the next budget update from you. Item two on our agenda is minutes from the previous meeting of June 23rd, 2026. Do I have a motion? >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any corrections, changes? All those in favor signify by I. I. >> I. Motion carries. >> We have some routine items here. I'm going to um I believe I'm going to put uh A, B, and C together if my colleagues are in agreement with that. Um item uh I'll I'll take a motion for items 3 A. >> Okay. Moved and seconded. First uh item 3A is ratifications of permits, leases, leases, agreements, and related property agreements approved by the county administrator starting April 1st, 2026 through June 30th of 2026. Item 3B is to negotiate two lease agreements for rental space utilized by the Cedar River Opportunity Center at 5151 15th Avenue South in Minneapolis starting uh January 15th of 2027 through January 14th of 2032. And item C 3C is to negotiate uh amendment three to the lease agreement with 800 West Broadway LLC for rental space utilized by North North Point Health and Wellness Center at 800 West Broadway, Minneapolis from January 1 to uh 20 2027 to February 20 uh 28 through 2032. Um and uh the amount of $61,762 for the first gross rent. So it's been moved and second. Do anybody want any further information on these are pretty standard? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Um so this next two items, they are routine, but they're very different. Item 3D is an agreement with the city of Maple Grove for landscaping services at the Maple Grove Library. um starting April 1st, 2026 through March of 30 31 of 2029, not to exceed of $71,90. Would you like to move it? >> I'll second that. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. Motion carries. Item 3E is to establish a 2027 premium rate for the self-insured dental care plan applicable to employees eligible dependents and retirements. And we had an attachment of the 2027 dental rates. Would anyone like to move this? >> Move. >> Second. >> Second. Do does anybody want further information on this standard too? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. Motion carries. [snorts] >> Okay. We'll move on to items for discussion and action. Item 3F is actually has an R1. You should have received that earlier today. Um, Henipin County Youth. So, I'll I'll move the R1. Do I have a second? It's been moved and seconded. Henipin County Youth Activities Grants. This is always a fun thing to do. Lots of great grants and programs. Um, spring 2026 play area grants, equipment grants, lifeguard services grants, arts and music grants totaling just over $1.2 million. Um, Miss Watland or is it excuse me AC? >> Uh, Madam Chair, uh, Jennifer Yang, the director of grants management and administration is here to present this. >> Welcome, Miss Yang. Good afternoon, chair and commissioners. I'm Jennifer Yang, uh, director of the grants management and administration department. It is my pleasure to be here today to share the recommendations for our spring 2026 youth activities grants. For this cycle, funding opportunities were offered concurrently across all grant initiatives, and those are arts and music, equipment, play areas, and lifeguard services. Similar to previous grant cycles, the spring 2026 grant cycle was very competitive, reflecting the community's continued interests and the program's responsiveness to community needs. Uh the county received 82 applications altogether during this grant cycle. The review process uh for grant applications was a countywide effort uh including reviewers from several lines of business and representatives from community organizations. The review panels recommend awarding 26 applications in the total amount of 1,286,919. Of the 20 26 applications, there are nine arts and music grant applications totaling 146,018. 11 equipment grant applications in the total amount of 101,91. Three player grant applications in the total amount of 900,000 and three lifeguard services grant applications totaling 139,000. The recommended grant awards will allow an estimate of over 30,000 children of all abilities and backgrounds to benefit from increased and improved access and opportunity to youth activities. I'm happy to answer questions and I want to thank you for your ongoing support of the grant program. >> Colleagues, you have any questions about this? This is always so fun. All the cities are all excited about this all the time. Commissioner Lindy. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh I just want to thank uh staff uh for working with Book and Center uh school district. I know they have been eagerly waiting and applying and checking in and seeing how they can improve their uh applications and continue to move forward. And then I always like to highlight the uh the gift that keeps giving which is when we train lifeguards that we train people that um as I bore my sons completely and we'll do it forever. uh the day you wish you had more taken another lesson is a day too late and so having people who are lifeguards who can learn and then to train others is a way you save a life and it's life-saving skills that kids are learning and that they should say it loud and proud that they're teaching people how to save themselves. Uh and so I I really appreciate and highlight that every time we do something. So thank you. >> Thanks Commissioner Eden. >> Thank you. just really quick um always grateful for this and I won't you know go over them it's always really appreciate your work and I think these are such a a value to communities um for uh county county um Jody I apologize my brain pmenopause is brutal you guys telling you um all right but what with these these play grants um they come from the ballpark sales tax and I'm just trying to think of the future right in the planning when we're looking at this talk about like things that we'll be hit with. At what point will we run out of funding for this and do we have an idea of what that looks like? You don't have to know right now, but I do think that we should, you know, make sure we're communicating that with the cities because these are really something where cities have relied on them and we didn't renew the ballpark sales tax and that's where this money is coming from. We don't have money to do this otherwise. So, I just think if we could be looking at what that looks like so that we're really communicating in the future that would be helpful. Thank you. Go ahead, Commissioner. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Just to um extend what Commissioner Eden was speaking about, that's a really, really good point. I mean, in aggregate, this has helped to offset the property tax le portion of the levy essentially for a bunch of our local government, school districts, and um cities. So, that analysis would be very um favorable and perhaps a little bit more holistic even. I mean the discussion that we've had this morning and the feedback that has been coming forward from residents, workers, organizations, providers is consistent. Everyone is trying to brace ourselves and we at Henipin uh do have a um a different type of um at least kind of holistic view that we can aggregate in a way for uh so we can all be eyes wide open in terms of uh the impact. So I I appreciate your comment, Mr. Nson. Thank you, man. >> Yeah. Any other comments? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> That's always unanimous. [gasps] Item 3G, agreement with KPC Staffing, Inc. doing business as KP Companies for the procurement of consulting services to recruit, vet, and recommend candidates for the reconstitution Henipin Healthc Care Systems, Inc. board starting August 4th, 2026 through 1231 of 27 and not to exceed of $125,000 plus expenses. I'll move this. Do I have a second? >> Second, >> Administrator Wland. >> Uh Madam Chair, um Mr. >> Uh in August of 25, the Henipin County Board took action, as you know, to remove the corporate board of the county's subsidiary, Henipin Healthcare Systems, Inc. Since that time, the county board has operated as the direct governing board of HHS. As part of the 2026 session, the Minnesota legislature enacted a health and human services bill which included a provision requiring the Henipin County Board to reconstitute the HHS corporate board with qualified members and to transition governance to the reconstituted HHS board by January 15th of 2027. On June 11th of this year, the county board directed the county administrator to identify and retain a consultant to assist with recruiting, vetting, and recommending candidates for the reconstituted HHS board. We have done that, and that's what has is before you is the consultant to help us do that. So, this item fulfills uh the request from uh June of of 2026. and Beth Stack is here if you have specific questions about the uh the process for uh how we retained this consultant. >> Commissioner Fernando, Commissioner Lindy. >> Uh thank you. No question. I'm uh very appreciative that this is coming forward. It is very important that there is an objective and methodical manner by which the incoming board is reconstituted and vetted. My request is to ensure that there's some amount of public feedback opportunity or a mechanism for residents, workers, community members to be able to offer um a direct line. Uh of course uh we as uh commissioners receive feedback. Um, however, this is important to ensure that there is a standardized objective [snorts] method and that requires, you know, making sure that the public has a has a chance to weigh in. Thank you, Chair. >> Commissioner Lundy. >> Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I would echo Commissioner Fernando's statement on uh community ability. I also want to make sure that and I think this is part of the plan that we have some input on the there are people in healthcare who think that safet hospitals are not a good way to go and so when you recruit people for a board I expect and hope that we are recruiting people who are understand this is a safet hospital and has responsibilities uh to do exactly that and that's stepping away from that so I always worry that you can you can get a new board I'm trust me as the board chair I'm happy to hand that reigns over um but also O just want to make sure that anybody coming in understands that we are not looking to become a hospital that does something other than the role that it does. Um that at least reflect that that people who join that board are aware of that and not just um cuz we have had people that suggest that we make changes and not become the safet hospital that we are. So uh I'm always mindful of that and I know that once you let the horses out of the corral they're going to run where they're going to go. But uh at least making sure that that is at least something at the forefront that we have the opportunity. Thank you >> Commissioner Eden. >> Thank you. Um I am excited that we have a independent company doing this vetting. Um what I will say is as we go into reconstituting the board from us being the county the hospital board we have to look at past mistakes and I know we have to some extent with the recent review but we cannot create the same culture that was happening with the past boards. It wasn't working and it was almost a toxic working environment. Now if that was happening here at the county we would not allow that to happen. So I um truly believe when something becomes toxic, it's not the result of one person because it's easy to point fingers. Uh it is the result of the the the larger group uh letting it happen, letting it devolve. And so I just really want to make sure as we do this, yes, it is a safety net hospital, but what was happening on that board was not acceptable, which led us to this moment that we're in. And so whatever as we rebuild it, um I know that we'll be talking about bylaws which I think need to be amended in a way that that honestly those bylaws should look entirely different than they look today. Um so I think that we have a lot of work to do before us and this is just the beginning and I'm really looking forward to that work. >> Thank you. Um I just want to I just want to say that um I want I want to make sure that there's a lot of oversight on all the criteria that we have established that we want to see on the future board members uh coming back up on the HHS board. I also want us to codify the process for future recruitment so that it has to be done in a specific way so that f so we're not left with with people just nominating people who are absolutely weren't qualified probably or have the background that we really needed or maybe the expertise in an area that we were seeking. So I just want to make sure we're there. Um other comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by I. I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. And that concludes our agenda for today. Good afternoon. I'll call to order the health committee on this Tuesday, July 28th, 2026. We are going to be begin our committee today with a presentation on the next step program. Um this is an important and critical Henipin healthcare community program called Next Step. The NextStep program was created with a powerful purpose and it is to support victims of violent injury and help them reclaim stability, safety, and hope. We know that violence doesn't end at the hospital door and that physical wounds may be treated there, but the emotional, social, and environmental challenges often continue long after a person leaves the hospital. And NextB helps with all of that. I'd like to introduce and share uh introduced uh two folks and to have them share a little bit about the program. Control Galloway and Larry Burgess. Welcome to the committee. >> Uh thank you, Madam Chair and commissioners. Uh again, I'm Control Galloway. I'm the director of the Nextstep program, which is the state's only hospital-based violence intervention and prevention program. So, we support uh folks who are survivors of gun violence, stabbings, and community violence that come into hospitals at uh North Memorial, ACMC, Abid Northwestern, and Children's Minnesota. As you know, um when folks come into the hospital, especially being a survivor of gun violence, there's a lot of implicit bias that's attached to them. So, my team, I have two responses. The first team is our hospital responder team who will then respond directly into the stabilization room as people are coming into the stabil into the hospital uh via ambulance. Um once we get into that stabilization room, we start connecting with the patient cuz sometimes they're in the hospital, they're in that stabilization room and they're not letting the doctors do what they need to do to save their lives because they're in a room full of people who they don't know who it is. So my team will come in, sometimes we know who they are cuz we're from the community and we'll say, "Hey, they're part of the same team. let them do the work they need to do to save your life. Once that part is done, then we'll have a conversation with the participant is what we call them about what happened to them. What family is showing up to the hospital so we can connect that family and the medical team together cuz sometimes as you know when folks are showing up to the hospital, especially being injured with gun violence, our hospital tends to put up barriers for people for their family coming in. So sometimes even if the family is following the ambulance um we they'll get to the hospital and our hospital staff because of our procedures will say that person is not here and I can't tell you how much that erodess trust with the community once we we break that bond. So my team makes that connection to make sure that that doesn't happen. Um so once that is all taking place if they don't get discharged or cuz most uh folks who are shot don't get discharged they get admitted into the hospital. We still don't talk about our program. We're just trying to again rehumanize them because they're coming into our our into our hospitals, they've been dehumanized. So, we're trying to rehumanize them again. And once that process is done and we we built that relationship with them, we start talking about what goals they need to reintegrate back in their communities. Um that could be from financial support, that could be from reloc relocation in different parts of the city, different parts of the state. Um, they could be doing something different educationally, that could be uh job training, whatever they feel like they need. They need to go back into their community safely. Uh, because like I said, sometimes they can't go back home because their house is probably where the crime took place or is all shot up. So, they can't go there. So, we have to figure out a place for them to land safely. So once we do all that in inside of the hospital, then I have another team who will follow those folks in the community for about a year, year and a half, providing wraparound services, making sure that their the goals that they set that they need to reinvent, reintegrate back in their communities are, you know, happening. Um, so we, like I said, we follow people for about a year, a year and a half, making sure everything is going right for them because their life has changed forever. So, we're connecting the community supports. We're building them a new support system because they're moving differently now because of what happened to them. Um, we also have three community groups that we uh sponsor. We have what we call the Harriet initiative that takes place at the hospital every Tuesdays for folks to deal with the mental health issue, mental health that comes with being a survivor of gun violence or community violence and the anger. Why did this happen to me? So, we have two uh mental health professionals who lead that group just to help people. It's a 12-week program where they'll go through learning different skill sets again to address what happened to them. And then when they graduate from the class, they're able to come back and start mentoring people who are starting their journey through that class. Um, I want to say a couple of years ago, we we did a couple of assemblies at some schools and we started learning about kids and families who don't necessarily come to the hospital, but who have been affected by gun violence. Uh we learned about a young man who had to stop a domestic dispute and had to, you know, shoot his father because he was attacking his mother. We saw another young man who watched his mother die of a drug deal going bad. And then talking to the students who lose their who lose their peers to gun violence and they got to come to school the next day. How do they deal with all of that? So that's when we decided we had to change some of our service to start addressing some of that. And that uh initiative is being led by Larry Burgess. Hello, my name is uh Larry Burgess. I'm the school intervention supervisor. And the beautiful thing about us uh getting into the schools is that I'm back where I feel I belong. My whole background is involved in schools and working with youth. So, us being in the schools that allows us to give youth a space to connect uh with each other, but also bounce some things off of us. Uh we build the relationships with the youth. We also partner with um admin. We partner with the social workers and we part partner with counselors and also behavior teams to identify those students who may have been impacted by the community violence. Um they have two options. Either they can do one-on- ones with us or we have groups. And when we have our groups, the groups are typically from 6 to 9 weeks and we touch on things such as what's your purpose, resilience, grief, um how to communicate, conflict resolution, and just overall emotional well-being. The good thing about it also is that we're not just connecting with the youth, we're also able to pull their families in also. So, yes, their youth is benefiting, but we're also reaching out to their families and providing resources um and figuring out whatever it is uh that they may need. Um right now, we are currently at three schools. We are looking at expanding and at adding four more schools to our portfolio. Um and we're looking to identify or we're connecting with high schools and also middle schools. Eventually, we do want to get into middle um elementary schools, but right now our focus is uh middle school and also high schools. And as you can see on the screen, that's just our logic model. That's just the high high of sorry, this is what our program outputs and and outcomes are. Um so, uh thank you for having us and I will open it now for any questions that you have for us. >> Yes, thank you so much. I remember we were on a hospital tour together and you were talking about this program with the heart and love that you just presented on it and I was blown away and so thank you so much for being here. Yeah. I want to open it up to my to my colleagues for questions. You know there's um there's a small window of opportunity that I think opens up when someone is in the hospital surviving a gunshot wound um and other violent wounds. um we have said that you know gun violence is a public health crisis right and so I want to talk about just that small window of open small time where that there's a window open to really make change in someone's life you're there you're at that window can you talk a little bit about what that might look like and um you you've produced some great outcomes with people not you know participants not returning to the hospital with the same injury or worse right um just talk about kind of that window of opportunity where you can really change someone's life. >> Yeah. We call it the golden moment. It's just reminding people what they wanted to be before they got involved in a risky behavior. What were you what were you doing before you got in a risky behavior? It's not like everyone grows up and think, "Oh, I'm going to get shot or I'm going to be out here shooting." We're figuring what drove what what were the what were you thinking about doing before all of this happened and getting them back on that track. I mean, it's it's our motto. Change your story, change your life. We feel like everybody has their own story to tell. Everybody has a valuable story to tell. How can we get you back on track telling that valuable story that you were doing before uh your life was interrupted with all the risky behavior that you had to get involved in? And most people get involved in the risky behavior because that's the way they survive. That's their their survival mechanism. That's how they feed their family. That's how they feed themselves. That's how they keep themselves sheltered. So, how can we provide some resources to get you back on what you were dreaming of before the risky behavior got involved in your life? >> Thank you so much. the golden moment. Mr. Ed, >> well, I um thank you. I uh I just really appreciate this work. I truly do. It's it's looking at this. I think there's so much if you're coming in from that person's perspective coming in and people just don't see you see your experience. And I think people go through our systems all the time and they're like, "No one actually cares. They want to get to the next thing." And so, I love it. It's like, "I see you. Let's stop. Let's focus on you. I actually care." And so I love that about this so much because in community that's how you actually make real change. So you guys are doing really important work. Um but can you just tell me a little bit of the history because when I was reading this packet last night I was like well what is this program? Um so thank you Commissioner Connley for for adding this. But did I see that you're so are you at Children's Alina and North Memorial as well as HCMC? And I see your emails are HCMC. So are you a part of tell just give me a little bit of the history so I understand. do that. [laughter] >> Yes, we are employees of ACMC and we contract with the other three hospitals. Uh the program started off as a youth violence prevention program as a collaboration between the health department and of the city of Minneapolis and HCMC back in 20 2014. Um and then there were there were the age li there was an age limit of 12 to 28. And then they realized as they started doing the work, they were missing half the city because you know the north side of Minneapolis goes goes over to uh North Memorial. So in 2018 we got a grant from the state of Minnesota to then migrate over to uh North Memorial. Um and then I I didn't I didn't start out with the program. I came aboard in 2020 uh right before COVID hit and right before the murder of George Floyd. And during that summer, we saw, you know, all chaos broke out loose in our in our city. And a lot of hospitals and a lot of folks who were coming in that was beyond um the age limit that we had set needed we saw needed our help. So we just made a decision to get rid of the age limit and we started helping everybody who came in emergency departments. And at that time, Abbott Northwestern was seeing a lot of their pen penetrating trauma numbers go up through the roof and they wanted us to come over there. So, they went to the city council and got approve approval for us to come over there by adding another FTE and then we added Children's two years ago. >> Well, well done. Well done. Thank you for your work. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Lundy. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, you know, first and foremost, I want to thank you for the work that you're doing. Um, and [clears throat] just highlight the I've met with I think a little over two dozen murder victim families. And I'm struck by it's not just one there within that family within that room full of 10 to 12 people. You'll have somebody who's had a death from addiction. You'll have someone who overdosed. You'll have someone who a gunshot victim but survived. Then you'll have it that seems like these things kind of grab not just families. it it just feels like it grabs the family and everyone around the family cuz when they show up and tell their stories uh it's u very impactful. So I know that interrupting that cycle and maybe not interrupting it but just trying to help people understand that this doesn't always have to be the path that's with them that that they might find another path out and I do think you know to your point how do people find them waves into it is it's a lack of hope. If you got nothing to lose, you got nothing to lose. And so picking up a gun and and engaging in uh gun violence, what do I got to lose? If I mean, if the world has treated me like I'm a throwaway, then this is my only avenue. So uh really want to thank you for trying to intercede and try to provide people with a purpose and that that they know that people care about them. Sometimes that is the first and foremost step. Um, the other thing I just want to highlight is, you know, after, you know, the murder of George Floyd, we saw kids being given guns by gang members that were under 18. Well, with the new rule change in August 1st, we're going to see kids with 12-year-olds with guns because they cannot be in the justice system. Um, we don't have a carve out in Minnesota. Uh, so that means you're going to see gun violence actually committed at a younger age. I think your point about getting to middle schools is probably very appropriate because I think we are absolutely going to see that because gang members are really good about knowing the law [snorts] and if you can get someone else to do the shooting that who's not going to be held accountable. They are going to get the gun and they are going to shoot. Uh there are 12y olds who have committed acts of violence. Um but when that law changes things gang members and especially older ones are not stupid. They have the ones do it. And so I think your point about getting younger, it is going to follow the natural part of what's in front of us. >> Yeah. And I I'd appreciate that. And I would say this to your point. I always say and I think it's something, you know, hurt people hurt people and heal people heal people. And to your point about, you know, kids, it's about connection. And I'll say this, we have some tools that will work. And I one of the things that I've been saying that we need to do, especially in our state, is why don't we make high school sports free and free for our kids? We took some of the old avenues away that they used. They're bored. And you're right, the wrong people are connecting with them instead of having the right folks connect with them. The right folks that we want to connect with them, we've kind of limited them. We we've take the taken the legs from underneath them instead of like you said building them up. So that that would be my answer is and that's what I've always preached when I go up to St. pause like if you want to one solution is let's make high school sports free make or make even activities free for our kids to give them some kind of some type of connection to an appropriate [clears throat] adult instead of worrying about them being out in the streets because we got our families working two or three jobs just to make ends meet so they can't always have that support that they need for their child because they're trying to make ends meet. So, if we can help the families out by making some type of activity after school free, I think that would be one answer to the to our solution that you said is about to come our way. >> Yeah. The one thing I was going to add quickly is that um I also think that some of the gang violence we're seeing is we're seeing gangs decentralize and so you have more fragmented gangs when it used to be there was a hierarchy, which people could say that's good or bad, but the fact is things were kind of kept in line. Well, now we have multiple gangs and they're doing multiple things to get street cred. Um, and so I think we're coming back to the point that people are going to have to accept that gangs are active, that kids are getting into gangs. And I think we've tried to, wow, that's not happening, but it is. And but now the gangs are more dangerous because you're you have smaller, more active, and some of those old rules don't apply like it used to. And that's usually gets settled by gunfire. So, thank you, >> Commissioner Fernando. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Of course, thank you for your work. I've had a lot of opportunities to meet with um you and um different team members. And just to this last point, I just I cannot emphasize that enough. What communities need are reliable basic necessities, access to opportunity, and especially for our young people, an opportunity to feel connection in group and to have those financial barriers removed. And so I just [sighs] um you this program is the strongest public health intervention to gun violence in the state kind of period. Uh there have been many times that this uh program was you know people were questioning like should we continue with it and then you know 2020 was a really u meaningful year and I uh this is actually you know kind of how cities United came on on board. I mean, there was a for for especially for our young people, [snorts] there was this idea that unless you were at a city level or within prosecution that you didn't have a role with young people in gun violence. And I just really appreciate that um that you all have dedicated uh you know, your livelihood and your time and energy towards this outcome. And quite frankly, we need this kind of everywhere. I mean, it somehow has gotten so much worse in just 5 and 1/2 years. And I remember being, you know, a little sophomore commissioner at the time, uh, Commissioner Connley and I, and being told by lots of people that there was nothing that Henipin could do. And I was just I vowed to to attempt to reduce the number of like children's coffins that I see, you know, and so I I I don't we are nowhere near that promise being realized yet. So, uh, this is the strongest public health intervention. It's incredible that it is, um, kind of started in some ways with young people, young adults and, uh, and healthcare [snorts] um because and that that's where lots of victims present, you know, victims of of of all sorts of violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence, of course. [sighs and gasps] Um and so I just want to express gratitude and uh to share that there are a lot of us that want to bolster this type of public health intervention. There are many people locally and across the state. And so um as you are continuing to do your day-to-day work uh please know that there if you have some opportunity for parallel visioning there are many of us that are uh seeking to work hard and fight hard to establish the funding source needed to ensure that this type of work is everywhere. It's wraparound services holistic for families in their moments of most unimaginable devastation and need and um we can't you know thank you enough for the work that you do and uh there's still of course more work to be done but thank you. Thanks Sher. Absolutely. Other comments or questions? Um I'll just say you know thank you so much um both Mr. Galloway and and Mr. Dr. Burgess for all that you're doing as a parent of a middle schooler and a high schooler in about a month and a half. Uh I really [laughter] I really uh think that what you will do both in schools and in the hospital is just a double whammy on really combating what we're seeing as a public health epidemic, which is gun violence. And um and I also appreciate uh how you've combined mental health support with that, too. Um this can truly change and save people's lives. And that's what I believe that your program does. So, thank you for saving lives. Thank you for your public service. >> Thank you for having us. And I extend an invitation. If you ever want to come out and meet with our team, you're more than welcome to come. >> Invitation received. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. Item number 2A on our agenda today is the minutes from our previous meeting which was held June 23rd. Is there a motion to approve? Okay, it's >> been moved and seconded. Any corrections or comments on the minutes? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? [clears throat] The minutes have passed. We've got two items of routine business. Item 3A has an R1. So, I actually we'll move the R1. There's a second. >> Second. >> R1 has been moved and seconded. You've seen that. And it might come around and it is coming around right now. This is um an amendment to an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Health to provide funding to North Point Health and Wellness, our FQHC subsidy grant program. The dates on this is um January 1st of 2026 through December 31st of 2026. We're increasing the receivable here um by $526,240 for a new total receivable of just over $1.8 million. Um, this item has been moved and seconded. Um, is there anything to add? ACA Holly. >> Yep. >> Madam Chair, I don't have anything to add, but if you want further information on the CEO, Spates is here to provide that information. >> Certainly is. Any questions or comments? Commissioner Fernando. >> Well, I know that CEO Spates loves to talk at the podium. I'm joking. I just want to just speaking from this previous presentation, I want to talk about a public health intervention that is rooted in community that has really kind of moved with and iterated and strengthened um throughout the times because of its uh deep connection to community and uh not seeing health as one thing. So I just wanted to shout out uh especially given the conversation that we just had the presentation we just received uh the intersections of that work and of course to thank CEO Spates and the entire North Point board for their diligent service. They do a lot with whatever they are able to uh to uh to receive and it's wonderful to see a receivable of this size before us today. Thank you chair. >> Thank you. It certainly is. Miss Bates, you are absolutely welcome to give an overview of this uh this receivable here. Hey, good afternoon. Thank you, U, Madam Chair, Commissioner. It's Kimberly Spates. I don't know when I got this new title of CEO Space, but I'll I'll lean into it today. >> Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Um, so uh this uh particular item is a routine item. Uh we get the the FQAC subsidy on an annual basis. However, this year we um received a little more almost a little over half a million dollars um additional um given the current situation um in the healthcare landscape. And so this item um is really technical to receive those dollars, we're using them to just continue to support um individuals who come to North Point regardless of their ability to pay. um expanding some of our services within our schools, our school-based clinics, as well as taking care of some infrastructure, but really we're really just leaning into continuing to provide services at the high level that we provide them. So, thank you to the state for the additional um resources and your support um for accepting them and allowing us to continue to do what we do at North Point. But I'm here to answer any additional questions if needed. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. Other questions or comments? All right, seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. Uh the final item on our agenda today is item 3B, and this is an amendment five to an agreement with forensic and telemental health services LLC for the provision of peerreview consulting services and intensive community treatment. We're extending the end date to August 31st of 2027 and increasing the NTE by $30,000 for a new NTE of $148,000. Is there a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Colleagues, any overview on this one or questions or comments? All right. Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. That concludes our agenda and I'll declare us ajourned. I will call the or the call to order the Human Services Committee. It's Tuesday, July 28th. It's 2:56 p.m. and I'm Heather Eden. Our first order of business is to approve the minutes from June 23rd. If I could have a motion or if there's any changes, so moved. >> All right, it's moved and seconded. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Motion carries. We have three routine items before us today. If I could have a motion to have items 2A through 2C before us, I will read them into the >> move. Second. >> Thank you. They've been moved and seconded. Thank you both. Um item 2 A is a human services and public health resolution including contracts and amendments to contracts with providers. More information is contained on the board report, which is 2609. Uh and it is in the packet. Item 2B is an amendment to an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to continue the provision of transportation or transition to community service extending the end date of December 31st of 2026 and increasing the receivable amount by 275,000 for a new total receivable of 2,925,000. Um, oh, sorry, excuse me. 2,92,500. Item 2 C is an amendment to an agreement with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the Family Homelessness Prevention and Assistance Program providing funds for homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing services during the period of October 1st of 2025 through September of 30th of 2027 and increasing the receivable amount of 11 million for a two new receivable amount of 19,75,000. This item alo also authorizes the additional addition of nine grants funded FTEES um as well as the supplemental appropriation of 4,871,600 of the health budget for housing stability area. Are there any questions? Yes, >> pardon me. >> Um there's an R1 I think before you for item 2C. >> Oh, there is. Okay, good. Yes, thank you. There is an R1 and I have that right here. Okay, perfect. And that actually amended the amount that I just read. Um, so perfect. I already amended it without the R1. So for the public watching, let's do that. >> Update my motion to approve the block with the R1. >> With the R1. Thank you. And then and we have a second as well. >> Okay. Good. Thank you. Good. All right. Thank you. Um, Mr. Murphy, are there any questions on this? >> Oh, yes. Yes. Uh, Commissioner Fernandez Fernando. Uh, thank you, chair. Just want to express gratitude to the state for their partnership and um I think it'll be important for admin to continue to keep an eye on how much it costs to deliver the same services that we're being awarded. You know, we're we're in a dynamic and we uh saw this of course this past spring with HCMC. When we are delivering services that cost more than what we are receiving, the more people we serve, which is our objective, means that uh that potential gap also grows. So that there's no change in operations or and whatnot. Just given the totality of our conversations today in this boardroom, ensuring that we are um a you know kind of just monitoring what is the cost of a service and the receivable so that uh we can continue to maintain what residents need and that we are able to balance that well with um what workers and the organization needs. Thank you chair. >> A point very well made uh Commissioner Fernando because yes these the the services delivery is costing us more. Absolutely. Yes, Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is around the um the nine FTEEs. So, um says adding nine grant funded FTEEs. Grant funded FTEES worries me because that means we only have them for a limited amount of time. Does the the additional staff for this go through the September 30th, 2027 as well? >> Uh Mr. Murphy. >> Madam Chair, we have Julia Wellie up here to respond to that question. >> Miss Wellie, Chair Eden, Commissioner Connley, Commissioners, Julia Wellie from Housing Stability. >> Um, these funds, we're so excited to have them. Uh, they're onetime funding that came in uh from the legislature in response to the housing related needs u from Operation Metro Surge. They will allow us to um uh prevent evictions for 2,000 households. We're very excited about it, but it quadruples the amount of money we would have had available in the next 12 to 15 months for this one program. Um, we will be implementing those through increasing some of our provider contracts um who are able to expand their scope, but we could not get this amount of assistance out without also increasing our staff capacity. Um, so these positions um will be strategically placed within the housing prevention team to implement these services. um we will have the the funding availability for them through the end of the FHPA bianium. Um so through September 2027. >> Thank you. Commissioner Conley, do you have a follow-up? >> No, that was it. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um Miss Willy. All right. Any further questions? >> If not, um if not, there be no further questions. All those in favor of approving items 2 A through 2C, please say I. >> I. Motion carries. That concludes the human services committee. We are adjourned. Oh, I didn't say a post. Oops. Well, whatever. [laughter] like to call today's uh meeting of the law, safety, and justice committee to order. Uh we have a few items. Uh first up is approval of the minutes from June 23rd. If I get a motion, a second, please. >> Second. >> We have a motion, a second. Any changes, corrections, or additions? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Uh we have three routine items and if it's okay I'm going to uh put them in one group if I can get a motion for 2 A through 2C. >> Second. >> We have a motion to approve items 2A through 2C. 2A is an amendment to agreement with fall psychological to provide licensed psychological assessments and wellness services extending an end date to 53128 increasing not to exceed by 198,000 for a new not new new total not to exceed of 448,000. 2B is a joint powers agreement with the Minnesota State Agricultural Society to provide law enforcement services at the Minnesota State Fair. 82726 to 9826. And then 2C is agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety provision of investigative services related to the prevention of autotheft crimes 7126 at 6:30 29 uh receivable of 1,545,000. Are there any questions? We do have staff here uh ready to answer if we have questions. Commissioner Fernando. >> Uh, thank you, Chair. It's not a question. Just wanted to uplift 2B the JPA with uh regarding the state fair. So, two things. One, thank you for sending it in advance. I know that I've been offered feedback around being able to review the JPA. So, I appreciate being able to review the JPA. And the second is to um uplift a point of uh feedback and curiosity I've had previously, which is I don't know why we don't have a JPA with MPD. if we have a GPA for this and you sent all the other JPAs. Um I know that was mentioned in a previous briefing. So I'm this is very satisfactory to me. I appreciate reviewing it, eager to approve it and eager to attend the state fair. Um and I I want I want I I seek greater consistency regarding JPA and partnerships with law enforcement agencies. Thank you, Chair. Okay, >> any questions? Commissioner Eden. Uh, thank you. And, uh, support all of these things. I'm I'm a bit of a nerd. And so, I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole because the state fair JPA got me super excited about like fried candy bars. And then I was like, well, how many JPAs exist for the state fair for law enforcement agencies? Any guesses? >> I know, right? Fun trivia. Does the chief underline know? >> Probably. >> It's 65. I know. So anyways, nerd facts and uh fun fact for the day. So about 65 is what they typically have. And I have really nothing else of note here. [laughter] >> Uh I just want the record to show she's not just a bit of a nerd. She [laughter] is just uh fully promoted to nerd um as decreed today in the law safety committee. Um I just had a question on 2C. Uh uh Chief Enderline if you had if you could step forward. and less of a question on this, but I I just wanted to request is it possible to get um like a memo on I'd be interested in autotheft crimes by city. Um also I'm very interested in clearance rates. Um, and the reason I ask is I had a number of chiefs, uh, obviously the county sheriff's office has really talked about that that you've got a small group people actually commit these crimes and if you're not clearing a case and getting some of those that small group, they just keep going. And so I'm curious about that. I know that there was talk at our CJCC meeting about working with using uh I think they were using Ramsey, which hurts to say that uh some of their work that they've done on this, but I just curious about that breakdown because I've been told by many chiefs yourselves about that that link that it's not a big number. It's not like 500 kids connecting using kids, but it might be 50. And so if we were to start to intercede by getting better clearance, rate, we'd actually drive the numbers down dramatically by starting to pull some of these people to that. So I I know that you don't have that handy, but I'd really like to know by city and see who's doing a good job and just trying to understand that and then you know where those numbers are. So yeah, chair commissioners, thank you very much and thank you for pushing these through. I'm going to look back to Captain Lieutenant. I don't think they have that information at their fingertips either. >> That's no. >> Okay. We we can get a memo back to the board on that then. Yes, >> I I would appreciate it and by city would be great because I I just want to understand the patterns. So, thank you. Uh, Commissioner Connley, >> thank you. I too would appreciate that. So, I appreciate the ability to do that. My question is around um the background. So, um it looks like it says the it talks about a previous Henipin County Board action that authorized a JPA between Henipin County and the cities of Edina, Minnitanka, and St. Louis Park. and that's for the multi-jurisdictional framework around uh doing all of the things the program aims to do. Are the is it just is this board action just continuing with those three cities only >> chair commissioners? Yes, it is. The the the money that's allocated for this or the receivable for this the 1,545,000 [clears throat] is for FTEES primarily for FTEES. That would be two sheriff's office employees or detectives and then one each for our partner cities with this autotheft task force which would be a Dina Minnotonka and St. Louis Park. >> Thank you. Are there other task force for other cities? Is there any with with Minneapolis for example? >> Well uh chair commissioner for like a formal agreement with them >> to Yeah. to do um autotheft prevention. >> Yeah. Chair commissioner. Yes. Min Minneapolis does have an autotheft unit. They've recently stood up. I believe they have two detectives assigned to that. Two detectives assigned to that. We work in collaboration with them similarly to like their gun investigations unit, but they are not embedded in our autotheft task force. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um seeing none, we do have a motion, a second for 2 A through 2C. Can I get uh a vote? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. And with that, the agenda of the law, safety, and justice committee is complete, and I'll declare a journ. [clears throat] Where did you enter into the fair? I will call to order our public works committee for today. Uh our first item on the agenda is approving the minutes from our previous meeting. May I have a motion and a second? >> Moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Our minutes are approved. We have a pretty lengthy agenda here. Uh item 2A is to negotiate various uh 2026 ERF grant agreements total combined not to exceed of just under $2 million. Negotiating ERF grant agreement uh with Minihaha Creek WHED district for costs incurred for the period of 8222 through 31228 with a not to exceed of $285,457. May I have a motion for this item? >> We have a motion and a second. Uh this is always kind of fun to be able to approve some uh cleanup grants for a lot of different good purposes. Uh any questions or does do my colleagues need any refresher on this? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Uh hearing none. the that item is approved and I'm trying to draw out this meeting but I guess I'm going to call call us a journ. So he doesn't know Good afternoon. I'll call to order the meeting of the Henipin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority for this Tuesday, July 28th. Our first item of business is to approve the agenda. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Our agenda is set. Item 2 A is the minutes from our previous meeting held June 2nd. Is there a motion to bring those before us? Minutes have been moved and seconded. Any um comments or corrections on the minutes? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The minutes have passed. Item 3 A and B. These are the claims registers. 3A is the claims register for the period ending May 31st of 2026. And 3B is the claims register for the period ending June 30th, 2026. May I have a motion to approve both? >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. If uh all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Our claims registers have been approved. We have one item of business before us today on our agenda. This is item 4A. This is to terminate and forgive a 2002 AHIF agreement with RS Eden for Lindquist Apartments in Minneapolis. I will move that if there's a second. It's been moved and seconded and Abby Lucen will present on this item. Welcome. Good afternoon, Madame Chair and commissioners. This item is similar to two you heard last month. A request to appro for approval to terminate a 2002 AHIF agreement so that Linquist and existing supportive housing property serving youth may may undergo renovation and extend the affordability to cover an additional 50 years. This project meets our highest priority when considering loan servicing requests, which is to ensure the affordability continues. The Henipin County HR has also provided uh a recent supportive housing strategy award of 1 million to help the project address capital needs and secure the 50 years of affordability. So essentially, AHIFF terminates supportive housing strategy continues. RS Eden is the owner of Linquist departments and the link is the on-site service provider. Staff are recommending this action because it both protects the H har's original investment in the property and best serves county residents in need of affordable and supportive housing. I'm available should you have any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um the link is a great partner. Any questions or comments? Commissioner Fernando. >> Uh thank you, Chair. I really really appreciate the last handful of years where we've seen more of these come come through to you know extend affordability but really to offer some amount of stability for community providers. just want to um extend the request that if there are other jurisdictions that should be taking similar actions or if there I mean we need providers to remain uh serving residents and so not specific to this particular uh site but uh as we've all heard all day and our our residents um do need the collective property tax burden to be alleviated a little bit while maintaining services. Right? That's what we've been saying all year. And so if there are ideas that um you know we might have for other jurisdictions, just really encouraging that those conversations are taking place on the jurisdictional level. That's all chair. Thank you. >> Thank you. Other questions or comments? All right. Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. That brings us to the end of our agenda and I will declare adjourned. Thank you.