[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome everyone to the administration operations and budget committee of Tuesday, August 19th, 2025. We'll begin our agenda with the first item, which is a minutes from the previous meeting of August 5th, 2025. May I have a motion to move it? >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any corrections? All those in favor signify by I. I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Um, we have uh under new business, which is item two, routine items. um amendment to with the MPCA to host an Americaore member from Minnesota Green Corps Climate and Resiliency and direct resident engagement from October 13, 2025 through September 4th of 2026. Do I have a motion for this? >> So moved. >> So moved and seconded. Um Commissioner Fernando, you'd like to speak to this? >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I know it's a routine item and for those who have been following along are aware that I oppose the Americanore wages. So I appreciate the work and the partnership and I also appreciate uh county staff's efforts for engaging with Americanore green corps and in this case MPCA um and the the wages are at levels that I am not comfortable with. So I'll be voting no. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um anyone else want to comment on this? I just want to say that I I too do not care for this. It's a federally fun issue though and we have very little we can do about it. Um unfortunate. We hold ourselves to a higher standard here at the county. So all those in favor signify by I. >> I opposed. >> No. >> It's opposed by one. Um items for discussion and action is item 2B. Authorize county staff to pursue 2026 state general obligation bonding appropriations. I'll move this. Do I have a second? Does anyone need any discussion on this? This is a routine item. All those in favor signify by I. I >> opposed. Motion carries. >> The next item is on the addendum area. This is 2C. Is the 2025 watershed board applicants and and appointments to 9M Creek WHED district board. Just a caveat to this. My understanding is we do not have a recorded comment. There was one applicant, Larry Olsen, and so I would entertain a motion just to progress this to the board. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. And our final item is number three, which is progressed. This is accelerating zero waste implementation in Minneapolis. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. I >> think there's an R2. >> Is there an R2? >> R2. >> I'll second the R2. the R2 and Commissioner Fernando, would you like to speak to this or just one? >> No, Madam Chair, the R2, thank you for reminding this. This comes through um admin, but thank you for the reminder, Commissioner Anderson. Um there was this is a this is an admin action, but it just happens to be at the same time of my own public statement. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that they're they're separate. Um, and it was Commissioner Eden that requested that it uh be tabled to today uh laid over to today for staff and I believe that that's occurred. So I I think um administration is probably prepared. Thanks chair. >> Go ahead, please. >> Madam Chair, commissioners, you have in front of you um the R2 that addresses the comments that were made um when the resolution was brought at the last board cycle. Assistant County Administrator for public works, Lisa Cerny, will provide a summary of this item. Welcome, Miss Cernney. >> Good afternoon, Chair Gatell and Commissioners. As mentioned, my name is Lisa Cerny. I'm the assistant county administrator for the public works line of business. This item is brought by administration in response to ongoing conversations with Henipin County cities, especially the city of Minneapolis, the annual recycling progress report and the climate action board briefing last month. To achieve our mutual goal with Minneapolis, there's a need for shared responsibility and accountability who to reduce waste and repurpose the herk facility. This resolution is compliant with state statutes and our solid waste management plan. The county's climate equity and zerowaste goals require us to transform the solid waste system. In 2021, the board defined zero a zerowaste vision and a commitment to preventing 90% or more of all discarded material from being landfilled or incinerated. The resol the resolving clauses in this board action describe the county's 45 years leadership on the solid waste on solid waste policy including most recently the bold 2023 zerow waste action plan the plan to reinvent the solid waste system and the 2024 solid waste management plan. In last month's climate briefing, we reviewed progress on the 12 highest impact actions and the zerowaste dashboard metrics. We've made meaningful progress in the areas we directly influence, but overall progress has been incremental. This is because Henipin County has limited control over the solid waste system and behavior change is hard. Our success depends on alignment across the system and each partner doing their part. Our s the county has followed through on our zero waste commitment with increased invest in investments in policy programming and infrastructure. At the climate briefing, the board called for greater accountability from our state leaders and our cities, especially our largest city, Minneapolis. We cannot achieve our zero waste goals without Minneapolis implementing their zerowaste plans. I also want to acknowledge some good work of Minneapolis. Minneapolis staff are dedicated, knowledgeable, and committed to zero waste. Their curbside services and collection of large items like mattresses, electronics, and appliance are top rate. They have made progress most recently by expanding organics dropoff sites, providing grants for innovative waste reduction projects, and studying new funding mechanisms for zero waste. But we do need them to move forward on more progressive zerowaste policies already outlined in their climate equity plan to achieve our shared climate and zero waste goals. In August 2024, Chair Fernando and county leadership presented to the city council the most impactful strategies for implementing zero waste as quickly as possible in the city of Minneapolis. I'm going to highlight just a couple. One, improving hauler reporting. Two, increasing compliance with existing ordinances. Three, advancing organized collection for commercial and multifamily sources. and for improving curbside recycling and organics participation. In October 2024, the city of Minneapolis passed a resolution to support the closure of Herk by December 31st, 2027. The city's resolution states that the city will implement diversion and reduction measures as quickly as possible and develop methods to track progress towards zero waste goals. In the past year, limited progress has been made on their strategies. The purpose of this resolution is to ex to continue to push to accelerate zerowaste implementation in Minneapolis. Now, I'm going to describe the resolving clauses. These are actions to increase accountability by Minneapolis by requiring the city to set targets and develop plans to implement the most impactful strategies to advance climate action and zero waste goals. Since the resolution was introduced, several edits in the R2 have been made to in response to feedback provided by the city of Minneapolis. The R2 clarifies requirements, narrows the scope and focus of the zerowaste actions and offers collaborative support to Minneapolis to meet these requirements. This a with this action the city will establish baseline reported established baselines by reporting on recycling rates for the following. the residential curbside program, the commercial, institutional and multifamily sector, and overall recycling rates for 2024. It also acknowledges that if data is not currently available, we Henipin County um we are requiring the city to report on the necessary steps to collect and report the data in collaboration with us. The city will also be required to report on compliance rates with two existing ordinances, the green to go and recycling at commercial building ordinances. Again, if the data is not available, we will collaborate with the city to report the necessary steps to collecting and reporting on that data. Then the city will be required to set target goals for annual recycling rates through 2030. Capture rates by materials material types by 2030. And establish a date to initiate the statutory process for implementing organized commercial institutional and multifamily collection and recycling organics and trash. The county staff team will collaborate with the city to help set targets. Further, the city will be required to identify necessary resources and a timeline that address the county's four priorities for the city and strate and seven strategies the city committed to in their climate equity plan to advance zero waste in a circular economy. The date for this information is to be provided to the board has shifted back to no later than October 20th, 2025. The resolution also guides the updates of the county's residential waste reduction and recycling funding policy to include measurable performance standards be applied to cities of the first class in determining whether the city has satisfied standards to receive annual distribution of score funds. This resolution simply informs county staff that we'll be bringing forward um information on this this fall and an update to the overall residential waste and waste reduction and recycling funding policy. I also want to take just a moment to share uh for perspective the county is not asking Minneapolis to take action without doing our part. Henipin County has made significant investments in zero waste and continue to support Minneapolis. The countyy's solid waste management fee provides a dedicated funding source that supports zero waste programs throughout Henipin County. The county has submit committed significant resources to accelerating zero waste. Since 2021, you have increased the waste reduction and recycling budget by over $5 million. You have authorized hiring nine additional FTEEs, including staff, to develop new initiatives to prevent food waste, reduce single-use plastics, address longstanding disparities in access to recycling and organic services, especially in multifamily settings. The county has strengthened ordinance 13 to include recycling and organics requirements for both the residential and commercial sectors and we have backed up those policies with active compliance to support implementation. The county has also actively advocated for stronger state policies to advance zero waste, including extended producer responsibility for packaging. support for Minneapolis. The county not only invests directly in countywide waste programs, we provide funding, technical assistance, and staff support for city programs, including Minneapolis. In 2024, the county provided the city of Minneapolis $1.7 million in score funding, including more than $215 for multifamily recycling. 215,000, excuse me, for multifamily recycling and an additional 150,000 to support organics processing and made 1.3 million in grant funding countywide of grant funding available countywide for schools, businesses, multifamily properties, community groups, food recovery, and deconstruction projects. In short, the county has made significant investments in zero waste by increasing our budget, enforcing our regulatory requirements, and advancing the actions laid out in our plans. We continue to provide support to Minneapolis through funding, technical assistance, and policy leadership. Our expectation is that the city will be a committed and collaborative partner in the implementation so that we can achieve our shared zero waste goals. With that, I will stand for any questions. I want to thank you for that in-depth um outline of all the things we're doing, but also our work with Minneapolis. Any other comments or questions? Please go ahead, Commissioner Fernando. >> Uh thank you, Madam Chair. So, I just want to really be uh clear, this action before us is a staff action, and I'm grateful to county staff and um city staff for arriving at uh a landing place. Uh but just uh given the um amount of feedback and I really appreciate everybody engaging here, I just wanted to uh uplift, you know, without hesitation that there are distinctions between um what what residents are requesting and what I and the county what the county's proposed and what I've supported. And I actually haven't had a chance to speak about it, but I I just want to uh name three things. One, I really am concerned about the plan for trash. I've expressed that before. Um, I'm interested in in knowing where the trash that you that is collected at your curb that that service occurs continuously and without disruption. That is a concern and I'm I look forward to partnering with the city of Minneapolis to ensure that there is a nondisrupted continued services for solid waste. Uh the second thing is about landfills. I do not support um more landfills. I know that that is not a popular position among some, but individually from a waste hierarchy perspective, I want to be I I don't want to be shy that I am not in favor of more landfilling. Um, and certainly not um we're we're we don't really have the ability to even site a land landfill here. And then the third is about the facility. I live about a mile or so from the Herk. Um, I believe in a facility that the county owns and assists in operating to receive solid waste. That is my individual belief. Henipin County is the largest county and Minneapolis is the largest single city generator in the state of Minnesota. And so as a point of values, I do believe that a facility should exist within the Minneapolis borders is my individual position. Um, and so the city of Minneapolis's uh resolution, those have some those are some distinction points and I want to be upfront about that. Um, I believe that we should have a facility in our I live here. I work here. I believe we should have a facility in our borders. I believe that we should maintain aspects of the energy infrastructure. I desire for Henipin County to remain within the solid waste system, but that's up to cities to uh to assist or allow um and I do understand there are many perspectives. I want a plan for the solid waste. I want a plan for the trash and um I look forward to working towards that outcome. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Other comments? Go ahead, Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um and thanks to administration for working very closely with the city of Minneapolis. Um so uh and um bringing forward the R2 today. I have several issues with the R2 and I'll explain, but I want to start with the letter that we got from the city that said that many requirements in the original resolution were not feasible for the city. The letter specifically calls for concluding the city's hurt contract in February. um and that that would be a potential loss to access for the herk for Minneapolis uh waste incineration. Um and uh the city um talked about Margaret Anderson Keller talked about the financial impacts. Um cancelling the city's waste delivery agreement as proposed would force Minneapolis to pay more expensive contract rates. uh eliminating um access to the herk altogether would force Minneapolis to dispose of waste in waste in landfills outside of the county. Either way, she says disposal costs and fees would go directly to the consumer and increase by about 60% which she did some math was around $4 per resident. She talks again about environmental impacts etc. Um, now mind you, this is all coming after the city's resolution that supported closure of the herk. In the R2, it talks about how like the four main categories, Miss Cernney, that you just called out. One of them is improve curbside recycling and organics participation. We just had a climate briefing that said the participation in Minneapolis is high. Every a lot of people have green cards. It was the usage is low. So, I don't think that they need to improve in participation. The focus should be on who is putting what in the in the organics recycling bins and how the city is going to incentivize that, how we could perhaps help. Um, but I don't know that increased participation just broadly like that uh is matching what we saw at our climate briefing. I also want to add that there's uh things that I've talked with. So, as most folks know, my district is just the city of Minneapolis and Fort Snelling. And what I've heard from council members and residents is why don't why isn't our recycling picked up every week? Why is it picked up every two weeks? There's a lot of council members who have uh shared support for something like that lowhanging fruit. Um what does that mean for haulers? Um so improving hauler reporting, increasing compliance with existing ordinances, advancing organics collection for commercial and multifamily sector waste, etc. These are things that um have I think always been within our priorities and with our plans for several years now. It's just that this resolution says uh that the city hasn't been responsive to that. Um, so again, when we had the the first version of of this resolution, it was uh there was the possibility that we could just say, Minneapolis, we can't do business with you if you can't meet our standards or meet the investments that we've made um towards zero waste. So I guess there's and there's another piece of this R2 that talks about evaluating mandatory organics program participation for city service properties to start in 2040. Now if I recall correctly when we uh approved our solid waste plan um it was an amendment that made the closure date as early as 2028 and I believe I brought that amendment forward. Um I don't think 2040 is reasonable at all. I think that if we are going to add a bullet point here to evaluate organics program participation for city service properties that shouldn't start in 2040 that should start in 2027 which is according the bullet that I'm looking at it says action FZW5.2 evaluate mandatory organics program participation for city service properties to start in 2040. That should start next year. I mean, according to the city's own resolution, right? So, uh I don't support that bullet. Um and then the next bullet reads allocate resources. We already do that. Hire a consultant to resource organics recycling programs. And who's going to pay for that? Is the city going to pay for that? Um because I don't know that we need a consultant. We've got so much information on what we've learned that we could share with the city and that's part of the technical assistance that we could provide them. Um the next is the support Henipin County Ordinance 13 requirements by adopting an ordinance requiring certain food generators to divert food scraps from trash. Um so this is something that I think is a suggestion to the city. How will we hold them accountable to that? Um and then what is uh so what does accountability look like for that specific bullet point? because uh in my opinion that's something that I would think should already be happening if we're uh trying to divert and according to this letter from the leadership at the city of Minneapolis that's their whole goal in that resolution is to reach diversion by 2027 2033 that timeline um but this doesn't have a timeline in it um so I get that we need to establish reporting guidelines for cities especially the biggest city in this county. How does this bullet um give me accountability that we will get uh data that we need? We'll know that they have a robust plan to divert food scraps. How they're going to do it? Are they going to go bold? Are we going to find big food producers in Minneapolis, which is 75%? Uh what is it? It's part it's the biggest part of that 75% chunk. 22% is consumers, 53% thank you is uh are big businesses. So I have several questions about this R2, but it doesn't it doesn't meet the standards that I have heard from residents. It doesn't meet the standards that I've heard from um just our standards, right? Uh and it doesn't meet what we need to do to reach the earliest possible closure, which is 2028. I I just I'm I'm not seeing um the urgency that I would expect coming from the city. Um I know that we've done our due diligence uh and have worked with the legislature. We've got big bills passed. We've got more to pass next session and um I'm I'm just having a hard time with the R2. It seems like we're taking a couple steps back to give the city more time and I don't know that we need to do that. So I don't there's some questions in there, Miss Ernie, but also I not I don't know if I'm comfortable uh supporting the R2 as written. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Chair Gatell, Commissioner Connley, there were many questions and I know I'm not going to get all of them and so feel free to um interrupt me if I miss some of them. Um but maybe let me just start with um where the R2 came from. Um the R2 the modifications that were included were through numerous conversations with Minneapolis and the intent is really to start getting some of those numbers, understand where they are, understand where their targets are and um work with them to develop programs that can be accelerated in an intentional and focused way in order to achieve our joint um matching aligned goals on closure of herk in an accelerated way. Um I understand maybe from accountability what does this say and and maybe what I would say is right now we need the data in order to figure out some of some of those details. >> Commissioner, >> thank you Madam Chair. So we have data though. We have data. We know how much waste they're producing. We know how much of that waste is organics. We know how much of it is recyclable. We we have some data. What we don't have is what the city is not reporting on which is annual collection, multif family units, etc. That's something that they need to work on. But are how long do we have to wait for that? >> Chair Gatell, Commissioner Connley, the date in here is October October 20th of this calendar year. And so then once we have that information by this calendar year then you and we and they can make more informed decisions on you know it's budget time and so there can be conversations around what could get added, amended, modified from either their budget or our budget perspective in order to um take actions on the specific number or maybe it's the compliance rate or uh that that type of action. Um, that was kind of the thinking behind the October 20th 25 date could then inform budget conversations, budget decisions that impacts, you know, staffing resources. It impacts program capacity. That was the driver of the date. >> Followup. >> I do, but I'll e the yield the floor for a second. I'm still thinking. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Lundy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, trying to think how to phrase it. So, the first time when we thought the we brought forth the bar, which Commissioner Connley, Rando, and I brought forward, you know, we we talked about establishing the shutdown for the hurricane by the 2040. We established plans and stuff. We engaged with the suburbs. We asked their feedback. We got letters. We got input. And I feel like suddenly we're just all about Minneapolis and there is no engagement with suburbs in this because they had opinions on the shut down the hurricane. They uh did I always agree with them? No. Did I think that they were over kind of skipping some stuff? Yes. But there was lots of letters, lots of feedback. Every city manager got a letter from us saying, "Hey, we want your opinion. We're thinking about this." Anything that we do in Minneapolis to shut down the Hurricane does by definition shut down the Herk for the entire county. Uh, and I want that goal, but I just feel like we're missing twothirds of the county in this in this uh, conversation. Like, if it's so important that Minneapolis do this, then why wouldn't the other two-thirds also have to do it? I mean, is trash that's developed in Brooklyn Park, Plymouth, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, isn't it the same importance that we should know what's going on elsewhere? Uh, and so that's my problem. And my worry is Brooklyn Park has the only transfer station as of right now, despite all our plans and our ideas, it is the only transfer station. Is trash going to start going there? Um, will when Minneapolis, which historically doesn't act upon these things, suddenly have to do the moment because this is just asking them to collect data and do compliance. we're still going to get to the moment where what are you going to do with your trash? And I'm afraid they're going to ship it right through my district uh on their way to Elk River or wherever the landfill is. And so the end result is either it lands in Brooklyn Park as passing through all my cities or it goes through my cities on the way to El River. I I think this even though it's really focused on Minneapolis, the effects of whatever the outcome of Minneapolis includes twothirds of the county that is not at the table uh not reflected in this. Um and that's just kind of where I'm at is there are so much things I think if we're going to talk about waste and all this that we have to have a countywide plan. This is not a countywide plan. Um, I don't trust that when dollars comes down to it that we're going to get what I believe will have to be four transfer stations if we're going to go landfilling or if we're going to do recycling or composting. I believe those four transfer stations actually need to be sorting facilities. So that um I think you have older apartments in Minneapolis, my district has them where they were never built to to do anything but collect trash. Now we have recycling. Now we want composting that they are just physically incapable of collecting all that materials in a manner. Um, and so there's just a lot of stuff that that I believe needs to happen. I believe our goal should be to have sorting facilities so we can get to the point where we sort as much trash as we can out. But it's got to be I think it's got to be four sites. I think it's got to be Brooklyn Park. It's got to be somewhere south. I'll just say Adina because somebody asked me why not Edina. And I think that's a fair question. Why not Edina? um somewhere out west, maybe on Lake Minnotonka, if we're going to pick sites that'll cause everyone to panic. Um and then because guess what? My city is no less important than Edina or the Lakes of Minnetonka. And so if trash is going to come to my city, it can sure the hell go to other places that we would never think of sending trash. And so, and I think there needs to be one in Minneapolis, too. Uh I just don't see how we're going to do this. And I think that needs to be our plan. And it will cost money. Um, but uh I just I do bristle when I think about people laughing about sending it to some cities, but it's okay to send it to mine and I think that kind of thing really ticks me off when I say that out loud and I know that's exactly how people think. So, I'll yield. Thank you, >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, you know, I part of I fully agree with the the idea of um we need a countywide like we have developed a countywide plan that uh that encompasses everything. I think this action being so focused on Minneapolis kind of misses some of that mark. Um, I have a little bit of a problem with just so focused on reporting of what garbage is out there. Garbage is the problem. I mean, we can't afford to landfill it. Commissioner Fernando, I completely agree with you. Uh, landfilling is not the answer. It cannot be the answer. We need to reduce the amount of garbage that we are creating so that we don't have landfilling and we don't have the necessity of the herk like that is where we need to be working on and reporting on how much garbage is coming from apartments versus how much is coming from uh whatever if we don't do something statewide, federally, locally, every like at the big levels where garbage is being really created. Um then we are just twiddling around the edges and uh threatening to pull funding uh if a city doesn't do what like doesn't report the way we want it to. Um like it doesn't feel quite right to me. I mean I know that we need them as partners. uh and like score funding is a kind of a small piece of of how we get that, but it doesn't feel exactly right. And I know we're going to have to deal with um every single city looking at this and evaluating whether or not they are going to partner with us at some point in our goals of reducing garbage. Um, and so I'm really concerned about like the direction that this takes us. Um, and the fact that it is so limited to Minneapolis and reporting. I feel like we need to do so much more uh to get us to a point where we are reducing the amount of garbage collected. I fully agree with the sorting facilities. We need to have those. We need to be investing in those so that we can start splitting up the garbage, making it easier for consumers and apartment uh people who are living in multif family units that were not designed to collect and sort and uh have multiple collection units. We need to be creating the facilities that are going to sort them on the back end. Um, that's I think that's where we need to go so that recycling and sorting can be made easier for residents and that there are fewer hurdles. Is it going to cost money? Yeah, it's going to cost a lot of money. Um, and we need to have the state agreeing and bringing that forward. I think we need to be advocating at the legislature to uh to get us there. I mean, that was part of our bonding request that we just approved. uh is making sure that we have some repurposed money to for a presort facility. Um we got to double down on that. So uh anyways, thank you, Madam Chair. >> And back to Commissioner Connley. I know you were trying to gather your thoughts. >> I was Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. Go ahead. Commissioner Connley, if I might just speak a little bit to Commissioner Anderson's um and and I apologize for interrupting um but I just wanted to really share the the the reason why this resolution really focuses on the data is that we as staff really rely on the data and where what information or what what types of material are in the trash. So, so that we can be really intentional about building specific programs and identifying education to support behavior change because each person, each space, each place kind of sometimes requires um a personal touch point, I might just I might say. And so that's really the value of the data that we're looking for and the partnership with the city so that we can prioritize and focus on pro specific programs, specific compliance, specific action in order to make that that um progress. So I just I wanted to just share the value of the data is really important to us as staff as we're we're making and bringing forward those those pieces. I also just want to highlight that Historically, it is not uncommon for the county board to have passed a resolution seeking the city of Minneapolis to take action on this topic. In 2011, the county board took action requiring the city of Minneapolis to provide single sort recycling for that action to take place. Also in October 2014, the county board took action action requiring the city to implement organics recycling. And so I just I want to just share that this action is maybe not unprecedented from a county board, county staff bringing forward an action requesting that. I also want to share that the county staff works with what we call recycling coordinators throughout the county in each city and those interactions and that engagement is different because we know that cities have a different relationship with residents and so therefore we support them in kind of those individual sort of approaches. Um so I just wanted to to just share a little bit more background information on on that. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Sernie. Um Commissioner Connley. Thank you. Uh thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Missy, for that additional information. I just wanted to to point out um that, you know, the um the reason this is so focused on Minneapolis is because Minneapolis is the biggest producer of waste in Henipin County. I think our solid waste plan that we approved two years ago is for all cities, all 45 cities in our county. It is the guideline that we will use to work with all 45 cities. One of those cities brings 75% of waste to the herk. And most of what goes to the herk doesn't need to be in the herk. What is it 50% 60%? There's a very high number of organic waste and recyclable material that goes into this burner that's being burned. It doesn't need to. So 60 >> 30. Okay. It's still a lot. >> It's still a lot. But the majority of what's going into the herk is coming from one city. So, I I I want to stress that's why this particular action, not our overall plan, because we have a a plan and it's solid, pun intended. Um, but this resolution in and of itself focuses so much on Minneapolis and what they need to do is because of the that high usage of what's going in and and I I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that I don't support landfilling either. I want clean air and I want clean water. And in increasing landfilling doesn't get us clean water. I want to do both. Commissioner Anderson, you mentioned it. I think we can get there. We just have to be bold and unapologetic about accountability. Reporting, reporting, reporting. I understand the the need for data. We are a datadriven county. I get it. But can we mandate weekly pickup of recycling instead of bi-weekly if we mandated it in the first place? Can we say that the city of Minneapolis must pick up recycling every week rather than every two weeks? And then I also want to like push back on this narrative of behavior change because it is a part of it. But as a consumer, I throw away what I get. So there's a chain, right? There's the producer who is packaging things and there's big box retailers. There's all the things where a couch comes in a box. It's wild. Um, so the people are on the receiving end of what the producers are putting out there, right? And yet we are the ones that have to recycle and our and and make sure our food it's composted, all of the things. I want to hold those producers just as if not more responsible than we are the people and the behavior change. who's working on behavior change with the big producers of food scraps and food waste, the big producers of packaging waste. All of that's going into the her and it doesn't need to be. So the behavior change on the consumer, I'm not as pressed about that as I am about the behavior change of our biggest waste producers in Henipin County that the majority of which are in the city of Minneapolis. So, I want to clarify that this this is about the city because of how much of what's in the herk uh um comes from the city and all 45 cities are a part of the overall plan, the solid waste plan that we approve to close this thing um as early as 2028. And I want to work with all of those cities on what is specific to their needs that would reduce significantly their reliance on burning their trash. uh because we don't want to continue to do that beyond 2028 as early as 2028. Um so, you know, I just um I think I'll add one other thing and that's that no other city in this county passed a resolution that supported a a closure date earlier than ours. The city of Minneapolis did that. They supported a closure date of 2027. I don't recall any other city moving a resolution like that. Right? So, we want to hold them to that because that means again we're aligned on the earliest possible closure of the herk. So, then that brings me back to the resolving clauses which are about that reporting, right? So, I support the October 20th date for them to give us something. I support that. Um, and and I don't support I think the bullet I called out uh about evaluate mandatory organics program participation for the city by 2040. I think we should just scrap that. But I think that I can wait until October 10th for something from the city that will give us an idea of what their reporting might look like. But I also want to go harder. And I'm I'm thankful to the people that show up to today. I'm thankful for people who who reach out to me personally about this issue uh because it matters. It cares. I think Henipin County has a value of making sure our residents have clean air and clean water and and a clean environment. And uh there's so much that goes into that when you have a behemoth like the Herk fully operational, right, without really bold action coming from one city in particular. And I I don't feel any kind of way about calling out Minneapolis considering that's my constituency and I work very closely with the council who have been in support of of our solid waste uh plan who have been in support of what we're trying to do by 2028. I just think that uh the R2 gives a a gives um a lot of push towards reporting which I know we need but again I think that most of this could be solidified after October 10th when 20th when we hear from them and again I don't want anything that says 2040 on it. I think that they could do something about organics and increasing or mandatory uh mandatory organics program participation for the city city service properties to start in 20 240. That's something that can be done next year. I don't see why that would take till 2040. Um and and additionally, yes, we are in a budget season. They are in a budget season, too. I think the city has already set their levy. um what is in that that might include increases to zero waste participation etc. So hopefully that's part of what we receive on October 10th. As this is written though, I don't think I could support it. I can support getting information back by the city uh from the city by October 10th. Um and I understand what we're doing. Um, but I think that I would be better informed uh if what you see on October 20th is enough to make substantial um uh substantial change within what the city is currently doing. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Lundy. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just going to uh comment when Commissioner Conley was talking about the track and stuff. I I do think we it would be really nice if we're embarking on this to I would love to know if my recycling from Bookham Park goes to a recycling center. I'd like to know if my composting from Bookham Park goes to a composting center. I put in the right bins. Uh I track out and figure out what goes where, but I'm curious does it actually end up because when I hear people sometimes they're saying that some of that stuff ends up in regular trash. Um, and so I would just be curious, and I don't mean just Broken Park. I'd like us to do a spot check. I've asked us every time about doing this program to just see because I think wouldn't we want to know if we're doing all this stuff recycling and the stuff's ending up in the landfill anyway. Um, and maybe it's not, but uh, if we can't get information for producers, there is a way. You get volunteers to put have trackers put it in their trash and see where it ends up at and you will find out where it goes. And maybe we might find out that there's a hauler that's not doing what they're supposed to do. I don't know. Uh haulers always tell me the the value in recycling is in the cans. It's not in the plastic. And so that's what they really want is is the cans. And so, uh, that's just something I think if we're talking about tracking things, um, I've always wanted to know if, uh, and I guess I should just buy some air tags and throw it in there one day and see where they end up. But, uh, uh, that spot check, I think, is something we should do as a county all the time just to see is everybody doing it and trusting people, I think, is always verification is important. Thanks, >> Commissioner Fernando. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, colleagues, does it seem prudent to progress this item to set the September 9th board meeting? >> I would I would I don't know if we should do that, but can I would like to comment for that? I haven't had a chance to comment. I'll go back to you. So, we all have a lot to say about this. >> You know, Minneapolis is the most impacted. They're also the most vocal. And yes, they passed a resolution to ask the the herk to close sooner. And I think they need to step up to the plate to be the leader then. And I we're trying to figure out how we help them do that. And sometimes and we've had a lot of conversations. We're not getting as far as we'd like. Cities have a lot of power. I'm a sitting I was a sitting mayor. So was Commissioner Lundy. You have a lot of power to make a lot of ordinances to change a lot of things on the policy sides. They could do this. It's a choice. Now, if this is you're the citizens who are asking for this, ask your council members to pass these ordinances. Uh we sit on I I sit on your representative as a pol um on the partnership of waste and energy. We have a list of like 20 to 25 different laws. We'd like we got the packaging waste one through. We have electronics and all kinds of things. We have about plastics and everything. We need these kinds of things. But they could be doing things at the local level, too. It's a choice. It's a choice. Now, if they mean what they say, then they need to do it. All the score dollars that come in through the county, every single penny goes back out the door to all the cities that work on this stuff. We don't take any of those dollars. Now, the state has cut that. Tell the state to fully fund that. That really matters if they want us to do this. I believe in sorting facilities. How you going to pay for that? Well, if you're cutting score funding and other funding to these, you can't fund this, you know? And so, I I do believe in that. Um, and I believe our suburbs are doing things, too. But I also believe that not all cities are being compliant with getting the data in and pushing their haulers to do the data. We had a briefing and we had some data on there. There were holes because there was just no reporting. So that that's a problem. That's a problem. And we can only go so long and say this is not just a problem. We we can't keep incentivizing you. We need you to do something. So we need disincentives. And so that that's that's part of the picture. So that's why I see this as a part of the solution. So I think there's more work to be done. I think too, I know I have spent time talking to my suburbs about this um particular um um bar that we're pushing forward and everything like this. And I'm going to tell you they're concerned because they don't know where their trash is going to go either. And so I think they all want to be a part of the solution, but we haven't done enough outreach to let the suburbs know that we're doing this. and that's a concern to make sure that they're all on board and that they know about it and that they're also going to be looking at this and maybe maybe they all need to sit down together and start talking together. But this is going to push and move something and Minneapolis needs to step up just like every other other city. So I I I do believe this is this is right-minded to move something similar to this forward and I would certainly entertain a progress motion to keep working on this together. But I was going to go to Connie and then I can go back to you. Uh, Madam Chair, I was just going to move the progress motion. Okay. I'm going to go to Commissioner Anderson before you move it. >> Um, I could be supportive of the progress. I'm wondering given the amount of discussion on this if a like return to staff or like do we have enough time? I suppose we have two weeks, don't we? Or three weeks. >> Yeah. Madam Chair, if I may, um, uh, September 9th's the next meeting. So there is a number of weeks >> and uh especially with the R2's date of October 20th, this at least keeps it in this in this cycle. This would have had to be ratified by board anyway. That was the logic. I mean I'm >> good idea. >> I mean that's >> we can always do something more if we need to, but we could. Okay, I'll entertain the progress. >> Move progress. We have a second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. On the progress motion, all those in favor signify by I. >> I. I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. And that concludes our agenda. Good afternoon. I'll call to order the human services committee on this Tuesday, August 19th. I am Vice Chair Angela Connley. Our chair cannot be with us today. The first item of business is to approve the minutes from the previous meeting which was held August 5th. Is there a motion? >> The minutes have been moved. Is there a second? Moved and seconded. Any corrections or comments on the minutes? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. >> I. Any opposed? That uh the minutes have passed. We have one uh routine item. 2A is our human services and public health resolution. This includes contracts and amendments to contracts with providers. This is report 2512. I'll move that if there's a second. >> Second. >> Item has been moved and seconded. Any questions about those contracts? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I I any opposed? That item passes. We have one item it appears uh for discussion and action. That's item 2B. This is a service level agreement with Henipin Health System supporting the Henipin Emergency Medical Services Program. We are adding $170,6558. That's $170,658 as a supplemental appropriation to the HPH25 budget. Is there a motion to bring that before us? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Item has been moved and seconded. ACA Murphy. Wait, Deputy Murphy. Wow. >> Madam Chair, commissioners, the bar you have before you would uh provide additional funding um to uh fund a service level agreement that was earlier approved between the county and Henipin Healthcare System. It would fund the addition of two limited full-time social workers at Henipin Healthcare Systems emergency medical services program. The positions would support residents who are high utilizers of the emergency department at Henipin Healthcare System. Uh those who often have complex needs for mental health and substance use disorder. The arrangement will allow HHS to leverage the combination of the hospital and health systems clinical expertise, the infrastructure of Henipin County human services and a variety of community resources. In addition to serving residents better, it would help reduce the volume of need represented in the ED. Henipin Healthcare System would cover 100% of the cost and is receiving support directly from the federal government substance use uh uh and mental health services administration for its share. If you have questions, Madam Chair, commissioners, we have Leah Kaiser available. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Social workers save lives. Colleagues, questions or comments? Commissioner Fernando? >> Yeah, just a quick comment. They do save lives. There's a social worker up here. So, just wanted to mention that. Um, what's really favorable about this is it is not dissimilar from what we're doing with public safety. noting that a health response and a public safety response really intersect at these um complex needs for our residents. And so we've known for a long time that people will show up at 911 either on the criminal legal side, the public safety side, or in our emergency rooms. And so this mirroring of our embedded social worker program is a really logical and data supported um solution, and I'm excited to support it. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Hearing Hearing Hearing Hearing Hearing Hearing Hearing Hearing and seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes and I will declare a journ. I will call to order our public works committee for today. Our first item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of our August 5th meeting. May I have a motion in a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any additions or corrections to the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? The minutes are approved. Our first item um a rout we have two routine items. Our first item is an agreement with the MPCA to host Americanore uh members from the Minnesota Green Corps Environment and Energy, Land and Water Unit. Uh period of 10825 to 9426. This is really the same uh as our previous action but just in a different part of our uh of our agreements um separating out this vote. But I think we've probably had our comments on this. Uh all those in favor say I. I. I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Uh, that item is approved with one no. Item 2B is an authorization to acquire right ofway by direct purchase or condemnation for various transportation projects. This is a routine item uh to advance our work uh while we are uh improving our roadways and making uh our public works work. >> I'll move it, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any questions on the uh the details of our acquisitions? Um seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? That item is approved. And with that, our agenda is concluded. Good afternoon everyone. I'll call to order the resident service committee of Tuesday, August 19th at 2:55. I'm vice chair Debbie Goel Stani and for chair Heather Eden who could not be with us today. Our first order of business is to prove uh approve the minutes from the February 4th. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any corrections or changes? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> Motion carries. We have one routine item for discussion and action before us today. Um can I get a motion for this 2A? >> I'll move it. >> Second. It's >> been moved and seconded. It is an amendment to an agreement with QMatic Corporation for Software and Services extending the end date to December 31st of 2026 with a not to exceed of $32,000 for a new total not to exceed of $449,000. Does anybody need a description or question on this? It's a routine item. All those in favor signify by I. >> I. Motion carries. Um being no further qu comments or questions um I'll conclude the resident services committee will we are adjourned. Thank you.