It's 1:30. We can roll the tape. >> [music] >> Good afternoon. I'll call to order this meeting of the Henipin County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, December 11, 2025. It is 1:31 p.m. I'm Irene Fernando, chair of the board and District 2 Commissioner. I'm joined by District 1 Commissioner Jeff Lundy, District 3 Commissioner Marian Green, District 4 Commissioner Angela Connley, Vice Chair and District 5 Commissioner Debbie Gotell, District 6 Commissioner Heather Eden, and District 7 Commissioner Kevin Anderson. Henipin County acknowledges that the magnificent land and vibrant waterways from which our institutions benefit are located upon the cultural, spiritual, and indigenous homeland of the Dakota Oate. Henipin County calls attention to the Dakota people's ongoing connection to this special place. Onto the agenda, the first item is the pledge of allegiance. Please join me >> algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Next is to approve the agenda. May I have a motion, please? >> Go tell. >> Thank you, Commissioners Gotel and Lundy. All those in favor of the agenda, please say I. I >> I opposed. Motion carries. Three is Henipin Highlights and this as is our last meeting of the year, we will be doing the 2025 year in review presented by all commissioners. And I'll get us started. As we reflect on the past year, it's clear that 2025 has tested us in many ways, fiscally, politically, and operationally. Yet through it all, the board has remained focused, responsive, and deeply committed to the residents of Henipin County. Over the course of the year, we've convened 36 board meetings and taken action on more than 600 board action requests. That number alone speaks volumes about the pace and breadth of our work. But more importantly, reflects our shared commitment to good governance and to meeting the evolving needs of our communities. We've had to be nimble, adapting sometimes day by day to shifting federal funding streams and policy changes. And we've done so with one goal in mind, to serve our residents equitably and effectively. Whether it's ensuring access to food, stabilizing housing, or addressing rising health care costs, we've responded quickly and practically even as we face the early stages of what will be several challenging budget years ahead. Through it all, our focus has remained clear. Eliminating disparities and advancing opportunities for all who call Henipin County home, visit us, or work here. Commissioner Connley, would you like to share more of our reflections over this past year? >> Thank you, Chair Fernando. It was a very difficult year at our legislature. It would be remiss of me to speak about the state legisl legislature and not mention the shootings of our state representatives that happened in June. Speaker ammerita Melissa Hortman was killed alongside her husband Mark and [snorts] Senator John Hoffman, his wife Evette, and their daughter Hope were shot, seriously injured, and terrorized in their home. Our thoughts, prayers, and support continue to be with their families and their loved ones. Henipin County also lost two senators. Senator Bruce Anderson, who represented a small portion of Henipin County, passed away unexpectedly this past fall. And late last year, we lost former Senate Majority Leader Carrie Deetszik to cancer. As majority leader, Senator Dedick oversaw a historically productive legislative session in 2023 and as a former county staffer always had the best interests of Henipin County in her work. It was also a difficult year politically with ties in both the House and the Senate at various points during the year. Our focus shifted to protecting past legislative wins and safeguarding against federal cuts. We made small but important wins in the areas of elections, marriage license applications, and vital records processing, community supervision funding, and victims services funding. In housing, we were unable to secure dedicated funding for our housing work, but the state did protect past investments, including ESP and the family homelessness prevention assistance program. and we protected against a cut to veteran homelessness funding. In human services, we prevented a number of policies that would have shifted major costs onto counties. And we also saw some positive changes to the men choices assessments and modernization to our software and databases for state and county assistance programs. We are continuing to work towards our county priorities and collaborate with our state legislators to protect against funding losses from the federal government. Internally, we have a centralized team to support departments and provide guidance around changes in federal funding terms and requirements. This coordinated group is a partnership between OBF compliance and grants management and the county attorney's office. This team has positioned us to respond very quickly and with assurance as we navigate a very challenging and uncertain funding environment. In the health domain, we know that opioids are one of the biggest health crises our community is facing. In 2024, Henipin County saw 30 saw a 31% decrease in opioid overdose deaths from 2023. And much of this progress is thanks to our community partners and county programs. Although it is encouraging to see that data is moving in the in the positive direction, we recognize that one life lost to opioids is one life too many. There's still so much work to do. We have to keep investing in prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery to eliminate disparities and address the opioid crisis. In 2025, the county has invested $3.9 million toward opioid response work, including contracts with 39 community providers to help reach our community where they are at. Our opioid response team distributed uh o over se 75,000 Nlloxxone doses through county programs, community contracts, and nlloxxone vending machines to ensure robust community access to this life-saving medication. Commissioner Eden, would you like to share some updates from human services? >> Thank you, Commissioner Connley. Just this past week, we celebrated the opening of the Youth Stabilization Center located within the county's behavioral health center at 1800 Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. This family centered crisis residential program will serve with a complex serve youth with complex mental health and behavioral needs. The center offers 13 beds in a healing homelike environment with stabil stabilized services provided by community agencies in Henipin County. We believe housing is a necessity. Despite challenges and the uncertain nature of ongoing funding, we remain committed to providing robust continuum of affordable housing. This year, 942 units of affordable rental housing have been opened or reopened with improvement thanks to the county investments. We have also continued to address a crisis in family homelessness by creating a multi-layered system to bring families inside and help them quickly transition into housing. So far in 2025, Henipin County has helped to house 352 families, reducing the family shelter crisis by 15% with January from January of this year. This is a 62% reduction from 529 families in shelter in January of 2024. In 2025, Henipin County has committed 37 million in funding to shelter operations. We are the only government agency in the state to consistently fund shelter operations. We have added 83 beds for single adults and maintained another 50 that would ha would have otherwise gone offline, bringing us to more than 1,000 beds for this population. Transitioning to our residential service area, we are incredibly proud of our libraries and critical services they provide to our communities. This year, our libraries have added 4.5 million visits and 11.8 88 million checkouts, which unlike many other library systems across the county is nearly back to our pre prepandemic levels of visitors. Our active card holders have also grown a little more than 9% from 2024 up to 579,000. Our libraries are also an important part of our countywide strategy to address education disparities. By the time students return to school this fall, the library's homework help homework help program had already offered more than 5,800 drop-in sessions this year at 18 locations. Similarly, our literacy focus let's read program offered 3,300 sessions to K through5 students at eight locations. The 2025 was also an abnormally busy year for our elections team who administered seven special elections this year on top of the regular election cycle. Each and every election is a huge lift from for our election team who are dedicated to ensuring that every eligible voter is able to vote and perform this important constitutional right. Commissioner Catel, would you like to share more highlights from this past year? >> Absolutely. Thank you. Lots of good news here. In 2025, we continued to support local businesses communities and communities through Elevate Henipin program. Our local businesses generate revenue that stays in our communities, creating value and jobs for the entrepreneurs themselves and jobs for others in the process. To date, Elean excuse me, Elevate Henipin has served 4,080 entrepreneurs, launching 263 new businesses with 68% of those businesses led by entrepreneurs of color. Elevate impacts extend beyond business ownership. business participating in Elevate Henipin have created more than 900 jobs and notably 82% of those jobs are in black indigenous people of colorowned businesses. As an organization, the county has been dedicated to maximizing our funding opportunities to continue funding various programs ac across our lines of businesses, grants, management, coordination, and track grant funding across the county. Last year, the county was awarded 75 million in discretionary grants. These funds help us make progress on our disparity elimination commitments and are critical to bridging federal funding cuts. Commissioner Anderson, I will hand it over to you to share more about the environmental and energy work this past year. >> Thank you, Commissioner Catel. In 2025, the county advanced our zero waste policy by setting a target to cut the amount of edible food discarded in half and finalizing a wasted food prevention program. We also facilitated opportunities for residents and partners to learn, act, and connect with their community to reduce waste, such as at our swap it events. Our energy and environment staff continue to expand the county's offering and promotion of drop off and collection events for hazardous waste, building materials, organics, recycling, yard signs, and other harder to get rid of items. This year, we also inspected $860 businesses to ensure that they're complying with hazardous waste and recycling regulation and provided over $7 million in funding and expert assistance for about 300 projects that improve recycling and prevent waste, protect and restore land and water, and educate and engage audiences uh in protecting the environment. One of my favorite things to do in my district uh is to join our county staff in planting trees through our tree canopy uh grants partnerships on conservation easements and along our county roads uh in transportation. This year, the county was also successful uh in completing several multi-year reconstruction projects, including the phase one of Lowry Avenue reconstruction, University and Fourth Avenues, and Minnotonka Boulevard between Highway 100 and County Road 25. In addition to being a part of our the finalized uh extension of the 610 extension project in Maple Grove. Uh in addition to these major projects, Henipin County has also continued to invest in pedestrian safety improvements like ensuring our pedestrian ramps are ADA compliant across the county. Our transport transportation team is continuing to advance our 5-year CIP totaling approximately 60 projects at nearly $760 million which includes significant efforts in planning, scoping, design, construction, board actions, agreements, and project closeouts. I will now hand it over to Commissioner Lindy. >> Thank you, Commissioner Anderson. Our staff across multiple lines of businesses are working collaborative collaboratively to improve our public safety. One example of this work is the embedded social worker program. Since launching our initial embedded social worker model in six cities in 2019, we have expanded and strengthened this approach to improve our community's health and safety. Embedded social workers now serve residents in cities across the county as well as residents of the adult corrections facility and the juvenile detention center. Last year, social workers received more than 9,000 referrals and made more than 7,600 connections to service, keeping more than 97% of the individuals in community. And this year, the program expended expanded to include the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport and Minneapolis Emergency Communication Center. We will also continue to address disparities in our justice system through a number of innovative programs. This year, adult representation services has seen a 66% increase in prevention services. Adult representation services ensures equitable outcomes for clients through early and expanded access to holistic legal services. By providing prevention services, ARS is reducing barriers to stability and success for those experiencing extreme poverty in Henman County. These services include connecting with clients before initial court hearings, assisting individuals with obtaining and retaining citizenship, assisting clients by modifying child support obligations to align with their ability to pay, helping vulnerable adults gain autonomy through supportive decision-making, and working with parents who are at risk for child protection involvement. Last year, Henipin County received a $350,000 US Department of Justice grant to launch a childfriendly visitation program at the adult corrections facility. The child-friendly visitation program is a collaboration between law, safety, and justice departments, human services, and the prison Minnesota prison doula project to provide programming and services that support healthy connections and unification for incarcerated parents and their families. Incarcerated parents participate in a curriculum including printing parenting classes and onetoone peer support and can see their children in person or via video visits. Since the program launched, more than 1,000 incarcerated parents have participated in educational programming. 360 have received peer support. 36 have had in-person visits with their children and 59 [clears throat] have had video visits. I will now turn it over to Commissioner Green. Um, thank you, Commissioner Lundy. Uh, it has been a big year in transit and transportation. Um, there's so many ways that Henipin County is advancing a vision of a fully connected county where transit, biking, or walking is the easy choice. Henipin County wants to reap the benefits, the health, environmental, and economic benefits of a robust multimmoal transit system. This year, we have continued to advance the Blue Line Extension Project alongside community and agency partners. We reached two major milestones this year, including completing the federal environmental review process and reaching the 60% design milestone. We also continued to provide oversight and accountability for the county's investment in the Greenline extension, which began running test trains this fall and is approaching dunness this year. We also convened a new Henipin County mobility working group to better address transportation and mobility challenges for residents and staff in accessing or providing county services. And in 2025, the county developed our towards zero deaths action plan and updated the Americans with Disabilities Transition Plan. These are two very important plans that will guide us as we make investments on the county's transportation system in the years ahead. And with that, I'd like to hand it back to Chair Fernando. >> Thank you. In 2025, Henipin County has always has also taken bold and necessary steps to stabilize and transform our healthcare system because access to care is not just a service, it's a lifeline. We've worked closely with Henipin Healthcare System, which is our flagship health institution called HCMC, mo mostly located in downtown Minneapolis to ensure it remains strong and sustainable for generations to come. One that continues to serve as a critical safety net for our region. We also have Henipin Health, which is our county-based health plan. We've preserved access to care for tens of thousands of residents, many of whom face the greatest barriers to health and wellness. And at North Point Health and Wellness, just down the street from where I call home, we continue to provide extraordinary community rooted care that reflects the values and diversity of the people we serve. These efforts are not just about maintaining services. They're about reimagining what equitable, accessible, and community- centered health care can look like in Henipin County. Throughout this year, we've seen a clear evolution in how Henipin County approaches equity. We are no longer focused solely on reducing disparities. We are committed to eliminating them through data, through careful listening, through immense gratitude, uh through immense compassion and care from our workforce for which the board has deep gratitude for. This shift is more than just the language. It's a reflection of our values and our actions. >> [snorts] >> Many of the highlights shared here today demonstrate that commitment in motion, practical, measurable steps toward a more equitable future. One powerful example is the launch of our first in the nation county-led anti-displacement initiative with an additional $2 million investment already approved and moving forward. This program will support housing stability, land acquisition, and economic development, ensuring that residents can remain and thrive in the communities they call home. This is what transformation looks like. Bold ideas backed by action, rooted in community, and driven by a shared belief that everyone in Henipin County deserves the opportunity to live with dignity, stability, and hope. As we close out this year and look ahead, our commitment remains unwavering. We will continue to lead with purpose, act with urgency, and center equity in all that we do. For every resident in every quarter of Henipin County, I know this has been a very, very difficult year for our residents and workforce. We, the board, are grateful for your trust in us and grateful for uh all the workers every single day. and we talk about politics and operations, I believe shared humanity will prevail and I'm grateful uh to my colleagues for constantly prioritizing that shared humanity, especially this year. With that, we'll move to the next part of the agenda, which is the minutes from the previous meeting. We have one from November 18, 2025, which is 4A. May I have a motion, please? >> Second. >> Thank you, Commissioners Lundy and Green. Any notes or corrections on the minutes? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Opposed. Minutes are approved. Item five is referral of correspondence and department communications. 5 A through D are correspondence and we have no department communications as today is our last meeting of the year. May I have a motion to accept and I think just accept the correspondence. May I have a motion? >> I'll move them. Second. >> Thank you. Uh, Commissioners Gotell and Green. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Six is commendations for which we have none. Seven is commissioner communications. We just had the very big highlight. And so we're on to eight on the published agenda, [snorts] which is the claims register. 8A is for the period ending November 21, 2025. 8B for November 28. And 8 C is the claims register for the period ending December 5, 2025. Madam Chair, I move approval for all three. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. Commissioners Green and Connley. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. 9R cons is our consent agenda. These are items that would have passed unanimously out of committee. I'd entertain a motion for 9A to 9y, noting that 9E has an R2. May I have a >> I'll move with the R2. >> Thank you, Commissioner Anderson. May I have a second? Thank you, Commissioner Eden. These are consent items. Colleagues, anything that uh would like to highlight? Please, Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I I would like to highlight 9E, the Henipin County Youth Activities Grants. Um, I I wanted to highlight not just the ones that uh that show up in my district, which I'm always proud of. Uh, but and and I will highlight some of those, but um I want to point out why these grants matter right now. Counties across Minnesota and the country are navigating extreme pressure. um the financial pressures that we've talked about in uh all year are mounting and getting harder to navigate and yet even in this environment we have the capacity to do some of these really good works that are investing in our youth. Um, this is a choice for us to prioritize youth in activities and in arts and uh in all of the ways that they show up in their in their world. Um, we're choosing to say that supporting kids and teens is not an optional thing, but something that we are going to continue to fund um in good times and when it's challenging. Um and so some of the things that are happening in my district uh there are a number of through Rivers park districts uh uh grants that were funded uh the cities of Lorettto and Greenfield have uh new fields and equipment grants coming. These are allowing uh the communities to invest in their young people's growth, their safety, their creativity, and their sense of belonging. Um, and we know that these investments pay off. These are going to uh keep youth engaged for not just today, but into the future as they become tomorrow's leaders and workers and uh hopefully our next community builders. So, thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you, Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. There's two I'd like to highlight. um 9U which is exploring ordinance 18 uh amendments as a funding source to further accelerate zero waste implementation. Very excited about that. Um we all just most of us came from the Association of Minnesota County's annual conference and there's two breakouts that stood out to me and they were both about solid waste and uh the the slides were very clear. uh when you move up the waste hierarchy, it's all about reduce, reuse, recycle, composting um uh and and organics recycling. And so at the very bottom of that hierarchy is waste to energy and landfilling. And I think that when we look at our own ordinances to see what we can do about our values to move up that hierarchy and to really be all about accelerating zero waste, we've got to have funding mechanisms to do that. And so I'm excited to see what staff will come back with in terms of ways that we can find uh revenue sources going after big waste producers to amplify and do more around accelerating zero waste in Henipin County. So really grateful for that. And then 9V is just a historic move by us as a board. So, this establishes the Henipin County's reparative justice research task force offered by myself and Commissioner Green and and really built by the very thoughtful and strategic and intelligent brilliant minds that make up the race equity advisory council. For two years, they have said that Henipin County needs to explore what reparations could look like, where Henipin County is responsible for the disparities that exist in our county, and um and then from that create a task force that encompasses um other thought leaders and other folks who have lived uh experience to model and bring back to the board ways that we can repair harm in Henipin County with data, really a data-driven approach to this work. So, I'm a firm believer in reparative justice. There's a lot of data that already exists that shows um how reparative harm works when done right. And I think if Henipin can do it, we can do it right, especially with the race equity advisory council at the lead. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Lundy. >> Uh thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to highlight 9T uh the approval of the Henipin Healthcare System Financial Plan. Um it was in June of this year that uh we received the news like many in the public that uh there was a danger of it hospital closing uh this month. It is not closed. It will not be closed. Uh and it has a future. Um you know we are working hard that Sears budgets progress. We have headwinds against us. We have changes at the federal level. We have many things that but one thing we have going for us is a commitment by this board by the county and most importantly the workers and staff at the hospital to keep the hospital open on mission providing this same level of care that we all wanted to and uh this budget just first of many. We will have tough budgets but uh this one is the most important because it signals where we're headed and not where we're coming from. >> Commissioner Green. Um thank you Madam Chair. Uh I wanted to um join Commissioner Lundy in commenting on 9T the budget for HHS Henipin Healthcare System. Um I am pleased that we have a a budget for 2026 that we feel good about. Uh I guess I want to characterize my feelings as tempered optimism. Um, I know that those of us on this board are going to stay very close to that budget, as are leaders at the hospital, because it's just such a tough business, health care as a whole. Um, and any any, you know, any any news next year can send things reeling. And so, I know we're all going to be staying extremely close to it. Um, I also wanted to uh share some remarks on 9u, I'm sorry, 9V, the U. Repairerative Justice Research Task Force. um which Commissioner Connley and I brought forward. I wanted to thank the REAc um as Commissioner Connley shared. They have highlighted this for two years now and I really appreciated how they um sort of dimensionalized it this year and obviously we're we've carried it forward. I also wanted to thank my colleagues for your unanimous support of this initiative. I can't say I'm surprised because I feel like it's so in line with all the issues that we're talking about um here on the Deis, but I do say thank you. So, thank you. >> We're still on nine, which is our consent agenda. Um, colleagues, any further highlights prior to voting? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. 10 is our non-consent items. This would have passed out of committee, but not unanimously. We have one item 10A which is an amendment to an agreement with Ren Collective to provide complex legal communication services extending the end date to December 31, 2026 and increasing the not to exceed. Um my understanding is that there was a request to return this to staff. So I'll move to return this to staff second >> and then um I know that there was some communication. So, I'm not sure if uh if Miss Wetland or if um County Attorney Morardi would like to speak to the item just based off of the discussion. So, I'll hand it to you, Miss Wland. >> Sheriff Fernando, Commissioners, Henipin, County Attorney Mary Morardi is available and would like to speak to this action. >> Welcome. >> Thanks. Thank you. Um, chair, commissioners, I wanted to say it was it seems like just weeks ago, but when we had our budget hearing here, um, and I wanted to thank you for all of your support. Um, you've been extremely supportive of me and the office for the past three years. And in our budget presentation, uh, we had talked about the what we were trying to do to save and we had come in well under budget and I appreciate uh, your compliments in in on that. So I wanted to give an explanation about why we are withdrawing this bar. So this year in 2025 we have been asked um by county administration to uh lessen our budget or cut our budget by $786,000 and then an additional 2%. This year we were just calculating that we have actually saved $1.5 million out of our budget this year. that's come at tremendous cost to our staff. Um we have not filled positions that we really need um in domestic violence services and and other places. Next year we're being asked to keep open 25 positions. 25 positions in an office of about 500 staff. And the reason this struck me, I mean, I, as I said, I really appreciated your compliments about how did we manage our budget this way. And it was difficult. It was very difficult. And so I was really surprised um hearing about the REN contract. I was not here for that meeting, but I was surprised to hear that we were criticized by a commissioner who put out very inaccurate information because he was looking at the wrong organization. That ended up on Alpha News. Um, my office has paid for that as has the Ren Collective, uh, which is a fine organization. And I am formally asking Henipin County Board for a an official retraction of that information, misinformation that's been put out there by a member of this board because it has done tremendous damage to both that group and to us. But what I want to say beyond that is that the REN collective I I think it's hard to know until you're actually in this position the number of data requests, the number of media requests that we get, how we have to message everything that we're doing. Um, and the Ren Collective is a wonderful organization that has helped us with drafts and all of that. And it's really hurtful uh to see misinformation put out about them. And last week we had a a director's meeting and we learned some additional information about budgeting. And so that caused us to go back and look at all of our how we spend our money again. We are I think about 86% personnel uh something of that nature. We've gone to such extremes that we have made our staff go to uh get higher approval to get Kleenex and stuff like that. That is what we've been doing to try to save money to be a good financial partner here. So, we went back and we looked at all of our contracts and because of the the position that we're in now and looking forward to having to try to keep 25 open positions next year, we decided to cut this contract. And it is not because it is political. It's a political advocacy group. They're a terrific organization that they've helped us greatly. It is because we are once again trying to be good stewards of our money of taxpayer money which is not our money. We are going to have to go back and look at the rest of our contracts uh for expert services for other types of things to see if we can make some cuts there. But the idea of having to hold open 25 positions next year is really unsustainable for public safety. It really is. Um, you all know what we do in so many different areas that involves public safety. Um, and so I just wanted to bring to your attention, we're trying, we're doing the best we can. As I've said, we've saved 1.5 million this year and we're going to do our best next year, too. But this just is simply unsustainable. We have people, we have staff, lawyers who are struggling um with trials. We have support staff that are struggling to keep up because we haven't filled those positions. And I want to say that, you know, I am an elected. I'm one of two electeds in this county. It has been extremely frustrating and very difficult for morale and hard to explain um why my fellow elected is overbudget by millions of dollars again. And I just, you know, how do I explain that to our staff? You know, I'm sorry we can't fill positions. I know that you are struggling. I know that you may be crying in your office. I know I know this the struggles you're under because I used to do this work. Um and I know um it looks odd that we are making so many cuts. We're not allowing you to do this that and the other thing. And my fellow elected is coming in millions of dollars over budget. So I I just wanted to let you know that that we will continue to be good stewards of taxpayer money. That's important to us. We've proven that to you and I know and once again I want to thank you for being such wonderful partners. Um but I just want you to know this really isn't sustainable for us in this next year and I thought it was an important thing to let you know that now. Um that we will continue to try but I just don't think it's sustainable for us to be able to do our work. Thank you. >> Thank you. Really appreciate you being here. Um open for discussion. Any discussion from colleagues? Go ahead. >> I I just want to thank you, county attorney, for being here because I did get a few emails after that Alpha News article came out and then I've reached out to your office and I want to thank Sarah Davis from your office as well for a follow-up um because it sounds like there was a correction to be made. So, thank you. >> Yes. And thank you, uh, Chair Commissioner Edelen, uh, Sarah Davis from our office did, as you mentioned, follow up with an email with the correct information. And you know, I think all of you are mostly really good at this. But if you want information, ask us. This could have been avoided. It really could have. Just pick up the phone and ask us. We've always been extremely responsive to you, want to be responsive, and so something like this is easily avoidable. >> Further discussion, colleagues. Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, thank you, County Attorney Morardi. Um I my comments are actually not about the agreement uh but about the insustainability of the position we find ourselves in uh collectively. Um the budget pressures that we are facing are not unique to a specific office. Um, but it is a driving factor that is affecting every department, everything that the county is doing right now. And I completely agree with you that it is not sustainable what we are being asked to do with the resources that we are being uh presented with. Um and we are going to need to work together and examine everything that we are doing to find out if it is necessary, if it is legally required. Um because what we the resources we have now are so much less than uh than what is needed to provide the services to the community. uh that is looking to us to to do more with less every day. So I agree with you and I appreciate the um the willingness to look at everything um and you know re-evaluate contracts that we hold dear and I know the county is doing the same the same work and facing the same struggles across departments. So, yeah. Thank you, >> Chair Commissioner Anderson. I appreciate that and and please hear me. I know none of this is your doing. I know it isn't. I mean, we represent you. Um Mr. Schwiger represents you. We we know the pressures we're all under. And so, we really get that and that is one of the reasons why we've tried really hard. I guess um my frustration and somewhat confusion is we know we're in this space and yet why does one department in Henipin County get to come in millions of dollars over budget? I mean I have a hard time explaining that to my staff. I am an elected also. So why am I not coming in over budget? Um I'm a you know we're supposed to be providing public safety too. Why aren't we coming in over budget? What what and I have no explanation for that. Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, I want to say thank you for the clarifying information from Sarah Davis that came. I know I made a comment about the website, too. I retract whatever comments that I made uh because it did I was on the wrong website and I'm glad that I saw uh the correct one. And I do want to thank you. There is no department that should be over budget right now, especially not in the millions of dollars. There's no department that should be $100 over budget right now because of the circumstances that we're in. I applaud you and your staff for the the 500 people um that are carrying out the good work that we see I see I'll speak for myself that I see regularly in the news around what we're doing with young people with juveniles. The way that the data driven uh changes that you've made to your office are proving to be proving results. I'm seeing results. The county is seeing results uh as a result of your work. you have taken risks to do the work that you've done that has done nothing but good things for youth at that find themselves in our juvenile detention center or find themselves wrapped up in the courts. Um I think that you are correct in that uh there are tight strings that need to be pulled and we need to be mindful that every department no matter who you are those strings need to be pulled. Um I appreciate the clarity again on the ren contract. I appreciate your fiscal responsibility that you have shown throughout the budgeting process and want to thank you for being here to clarify and to be real about how difficult it is and that it isn't sustainable because it's not um and that is heard loud and clear. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Green. >> Um thank you, Madam Chair. Um um thank you, County Attorney Morardi, for being here and thank you for the email from Sarah Davis, which we all received. I really appreciated reading it and and was grateful for the information. Um [clears throat] I know that this is this person isn't in the room, but I would like to suggest to the Ren Collective that they come up with a greater distinction between the two sides of their business or two businesses I should say. Um because it felt like a really easy misunderstanding to have. And um in the same way that you would prefer that we ask you questions one-on-one and not in this space, I would prefer also that we have this sort of discussion about the budget at a budget briefing or in our ensuing meetings, not here at the last meeting of the year. I do have, you know, we we are also in the same position of of talking with people who work at Henipin County and saying times are really tough. Talking as Commissioner Anderson described with residents and saying times are really tough. So if you do want to talk about how we're navigating those very difficult conversations and work together on figuring out how to share that hard news while also supporting our residents and workers. I'd be really happy to have that conversation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, Chair, Commissioner Green, >> I don't need an answer. Thanks. >> Further discussion, colleagues. Um, County Attorney Morardi, really appreciate you uh coming in. Uh, understand we understand and there's a motion in a second to return this to staff. [gasps] I'll just also acknowledge um I too appreciate accurate information out there. So I will uh you know work with administration to to review what might have been uh out there that that is that has since we have new information about and so I will make sure to do that and from a you are correct that it will be many many um budget years and appreciate your invitation to ensure that we remain tight and equitable across all our departments. So there's a motion and a second to return item 10A to staff. Seeing no further discussion, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, county. >> Thank you. >> We are on to 11 of the agenda, which are progress items. These are items that would have passed out of committee, excuse me, that would have uh been moved to be progressed from committee to board without a vote. We have three votes uh three items today. 11A is I believe there's an R1 from staff. Yes, that's going to be handed out. And so I'll just make sure to read the correct um item description. Okay. So 11A is an agreement with the city of Minneapolis for waste delivery during the period of January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026. And I also have a note here um that these dates match what Minneapolis City Council has passed today in their meeting. >> Chair Fernando, >> yes, please. >> There's a slight modification to that R1. >> You know, I'll I will move this item. May I have a second? I move the R1. Second the R1 by Commissioner Green. I'll hand it to you, Miss Wellland. >> You chair Fernando County administration is bringing forward a slightly modified R1 based on a resolution just passed by city council seeking a one-year agreement rather than the previously um requested two-year agreement. Um I would request a verbal amendment to the previously distributed version. And the final whereas clause should read, "Whereas the city of Minneapolis by resolution on December 11th, 2025 has requested a one-year waste delivery agreement for the period of January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. If you'd like additional background, Lisa Cern is here and can provide more information." This seems pretty practical and aligned. Aligned governance is favorable. I think colleagues any any discussion. So we have in the R1 for 11A before us with the verbal amendment to the with a with a verbal description on the whereas clause. It's all in the same motion. Discussion. Commissioner Anderson. >> Uh a question on the the process. are is there a um the other entities we establish two-year contracts is the plan like what is the process if Minneapolis wants to have the second year uh will we be will there be a separate negotiation that happens at the end of next year should they want to do that Um and like could we do that earlier in the year? >> Well, Chair Fernando, Commissioner Anderson, Lisa Cerny can provide um a response. >> Chair Fernando, Commissioner Anderson, yes, the answer is we would plan to start having those conversations early on. Uh we know that there's going to be a number of different spaces and places for conversations specifically with Minneapolis. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? The R1 for 11A is before us. Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. 11B is a direct comprehensive study of Henipin Healthcare Systems, Inc. governance offered by myself. So, I'll move this >> second. >> Thank you, Commissioner Gotell. Um, colleagues, we had a a robust discussion a few weeks ago. This is intended to be the beginning of something and most importantly really getting um staff to be able to do the work regarding governance as early as possible given the many competing and cascading demands as we go into Q1 as we go into next month, excuse me, in a few weeks. So I will um open up for discussion and of course if Yeah, go ahead commission. Um, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you again for bringing forward a draft for us all to talk about, and I think I was um, at least one of the people who had questions and concerns, and I know I said I was initially not comfortable with this, but I appreciated the conversation that happened here on the day, a sort of open conversation about what, you know, what it meant. And I um specifically I guess I'm myself am drawing my eye to the last be it further be it further resolved clause the second half of it and a final report containing background and recommendations and I sort of felt like there was a verbal agreement on process be provided to the Hen County Board of Commissioners by June 30th 2026. So I'm feeling comfortable with this resolution. >> Thank you Commissioner Gotel. I just want to say that there's been a lot of conversation when we first took over as the HHS board around the fact that what is working and what is not working as far as for the governance and I think looking at other models and going out and doing some of this really hard work and then talking about what what might really work for us and again we may have aged out of that old type of governance that we had before. So I'm looking forward to this process and seeing what staff come up with some of the ideas that may be generated around what might be more effective for us and especially in these times which are very different and I think we ought to keep in mind too and hopefully HHS does once once we believe that this board will sometime be a very different iteration that these are living documents and governance should be looked at more often. So >> thank you. Further discussion hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of 11B, please say I. I >> opposed. Motion carries. 11 C is a 2026 proposed operating and capital budgets. >> I'll move it. Second. >> Thank you. Commissioners Gotell and Green. Miss Wetland. >> Chair Fernando. Commissioners, as you know, 10 months ago, county administration and the Office of Budget and Finance began the budget process. In September of this year, a proposed budget was presented to you, and you voted on a maximum levy of 7.79% for the county. What you have before you is the culmination of a significant amount of work by you and staff, including budget hearings, amendments, and the truth and taxation hearing. This board action includes the operating budget, capital budget, and administrator amendments. The board action today will result in a final net tax levy of $1.1 billion and a budget of $3.15 billion for 2026 with 9,763 full-time equivalent positions. With that, we are respectfully requesting approval of the 2026 capital and operating budget. I would like to express my special thanks to the many staff, the leaders who have worked throughout this year to bring us to this point today. Thank you. >> Thank you. And so, uh, before I open up for discussion, colleagues, to clarify, is there an R1 or anything for this or is it uh, this item as it is? Chair Fernando, commissioners, there is an R1. The R1 >> populates all >> the R1 populates all of the amendments um um that was brought to the budget >> and includes the schedule >> and includes the schedules. >> Great. And this is what was sent from Kelly this morning. Okay, great. So, commissioners goell and green moving the R1. See, that's all right. Okay. Thank you. So now um we have an R1 for the 2026 proposed operating capital budgets that populate um uh numbers and schedule. Uh we'll open up for discussion before we vote. Um Commissioner Goodell, >> I just want to say that this was a very financially challenging year for us to and and we just started we literally just started what's going to come down from the federal level. And so I first of all I want to thank the staff. We already heard from county attorney about what she sees ahead and and how difficult it was this year. It's not going to get easier for us, but and I know that staff are already working on the next year's budget because of the challenges that we have and there's been lots of conversations and they're looking for ways to collaborate to find ways of savings and everything. And I can't say how much I appreciate that right now because we're trying to get ahead of the curve where I think some some cities and some counties are just reactionary and we are actually trying to get ahead of this in some ways that we can. We're also quantifying things so that we can have real uh talking points when we go to the state and the federal uh lobbying efforts so that we know what's going on. So I just want to thank the staff for the hard work that they put in this year and for the fact that they're already starting down next year's path. So, thank you, >> Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just also want to share my thanks um for a solid budget as as difficult as it as it was. What keeps me optimistic though is 2026 is the year of seeking out new sources of revenue. I'm not going to stop being optimistic about that because I think that there is room. Uh we have made the comment about um looking under under the couches and the cushions all for the past I don't know four months now. Um but pulling in new money is going to be I think the key to continue to fund the very important work that we fund because continuing to do it with property tax is going to be unsustainable for us. Um, and we heard during truth and taxation, but I think we already knew uh that continuing down the path of only being uh limited to certain pocket, you know, pockets of funding is [snorts] going to hurt us in the long term because of the landscape we're in uh with the federal government. So, I'm anticipating uh uh really intentional and innovative thinking around new revenue sources to fund the good work that we do, new opportunities that don't uh for grant grants that maybe don't sacrifice the values that we hold dear as a county. Um and to keep going down that path. Uh I think that is how we take the heaviness and turn it into action. And I know that there's conversations that are already happening. So, thank you to the staff that have put the hard work into this budget. Thank you, Administrator Wentland for the hard work that you put into this budget. Um, and on to the next one. Thank you, >> Commissioner Eden. >> Thank you. I just want to thank staff. This is my second budget um being here at the county and I see how much work goes into it and I just want to thank all of you. Um, I think it takes a while. They say it takes like 16 months to adjust to a new job and I I'm I'm adjusting and I'm seeing how much work it is. Um, I also want to acknowledge that I've heard from over 350 of my residents about the strength the stress that property taxes is placing upon them. And uh, so as we enter into this next budget cycle, I understand it starts in January. I saw Jan Kalison at a League of Women Voters thing and I said, "Have we ever changed our our levy um while we're in the middle?" And she said, "I don't." She thinks maybe once. Um, the reality is is what is before us in this next year is going to be very challenging. the Medicaid um cuts and just so many other things that are happening. So, I just want us to be mindful that people's um pe people's income is not going up at the same rate that their property taxes are. And I think residents last week during Truth and Taxation talked about that. And I think it's really important that we think about that and think about how we can be creative even more than we have. I wish I was as excited about potential revenue as as you, Commissioner Connley. I but I worry that there's there's not a lot of revenue because what revenue means is fees to people and fees to people means that they have less money to pay for groceries and less money to pay for their their bills. Um so I just would caution us as we move into this year ahead. I'm glad that I'm glad to vote for this levy today and I think we do incredibly immensely important work. Um, and I think right now our federal government is under attack. Um, people, working people, impoverished people are under attack right now and we have a really important role to play. Um, but I just caution us as we go forward this next budget year. Thank you, >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I will also thank staff. Uh, this is not easy work. We have been working on this for since January. We have started thinking of 27 already and the uncertainty and the cost shifts that have come already are making every single decision that we're making harder. And so I know that we have some of the most dedicated and inventive and creative and amazing staff finding ways of meeting the needs of our residents. Um, and I I was talking to somebody in our human services just yesterday who said that they are so honored to be a part of the Henipin County system and doing the work on behalf of residents. Uh now I know this is not for everybody and I'm not going to propose this but he said I get the challenges that were that are in front of us and I would do this work no matter the headwinds because it is that important and they see the benefits to the people that they serve. And so that is frontline staff all the way to the administrator. And I know that having an organization that prioritizes the work of serving people is a very difficult thing to maintain and it's going to be harder than ever to continue doing that with the headwinds that we face. But I know that we'll find a way of making it through. Um, and I want to say thank you to our taxpayers who, as Commissioner Edson pointed out, and we've all pointed out, it is really hard to see your property taxes increase when your wages haven't increased or if you're living on a fixed income. And finding that balance of being able to deliver the services that are necessary for people who need it without pricing people out of their home is something that I think we all take with a huge amount of responsibility. And I I thank you for continuing to stay focused on that work. Um, and I thank my colleagues on the board for finding creative ways of looking for new revenue that doesn't uh doesn't hurt our residents. Um, and finding uh programs that we can say we need to trim back on if they're not required, that don't save us money or are not absolutely necessary because we're going to have to look at everything over the next year. and I know that this board is committed to doing that hard work. Um, and I'm I'm honored to be a part of doing that work alongside you. Thank you, >> Commissioner Lundy. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I also want to thank staff uh, you know, not only preparation but all the staff for the services that we provide that it is, it is tougher. Um, it will get even harder. It's I think we're looking at a three-year budget cycle that's going to be very difficult. Um this is the easiest one because it's easy to cut empty positions. It's easy to cut programs that are underperforming. It's easy to cut cons uh things that were like, okay, this isn't maybe our ben. Well, next year we're not going to have the empty positions to cut. We're not going to have the lowhanging fruit on programs. We're going to have to make decisions about what is core county business and really double down on that and focus on that because I'd rather have four strong programs than 10 weak programs. Um, and that doesn't mean we don't care. It just it's just a reality that like everyone like family budgets um as many people you know I sold my beloved extera which I love more than anything. Why? Because it was a third car in a two driver household with two boys in college. It didn't make sense. And so I think all of us are going to have to look at that. I think we need to take a hard look at services that are duplicative that that we need to say, can we put things together? Um I've got lots of ideas on that. And does that make them the right idea? No. But I think we need to be putting everything on the table. Um because it's not going to get easier. And we still don't know. I know the state budget is looks better this next year, but the future doesn't hold well. The federal government's broke. They're I don't know how many trillions of dollars in debt. I don't see that we're going to get any relief out of them. But best we don't get hurt as bad. And so I think it's you know at the end of the day it's going to be us. That's it. Uh there is nobody's going to come over the and rescue us from this financial thing. It's going to be us. Um I do as I always do every time at budget I've done it. This will be your n 19th budget. I always give credit to the taxpayers. It's their money we spend. Um it's not my money. It's their money. we force them to give it to us in property taxes or else we take their house. And I mean that with full uh honesty that we are trying to be the best stewards we can. I know that not everything we do is popular. Not everything everyone supports this but not that. I love this. I hate that. There is no way to have the perfect budget that everyone's happy. So I believe that we are accountable uh to the taxpayers. Um, I always sit down and understand that people may not be happy with what we do money with, but then they're happy with some stuff. And so I, uh, just want to give credit to everyone to try and do the best possible job we can, knowing that, um, at the end of the day, not everybody's going to be happy with us, and that's okay. Um, and so that's just the the world we live in. But I just want to always acknowledge the fact that it's taxpayers money that we're spending. And I hope that we spend it well and that we make a difference and that maybe we can take things that we can spend less on by driving different results. Um and in in closing, I just want to mention that, you know, the hospital still weighs heavy on us that and we're happy with the budget. We passed it today. Um we still have much changes and yet we operate in an environment where every healthcare healthc care organization in the state is closing. You see articles about rural areas um closing services. Uh, I know what it's like to have be a family. We're the nearest hospital or care is an hour and a half away. Um, you know, we complain here. We've got multitude of hospitals here. There are places in this state where they're driving a couple hours and there is no ambulance service. It is somebody getting in a truck carrying somebody who's having a heart attack or carrying something because that's the fastest way to get to care. So, uh, we will need to work with our partners as much as we can, but I just I know that we're going to depend on staff, but I do think we need to acknowledge there's no, uh, sacred lambs now that we are going to have to become a little more ruthless and uh, that's not fun, but that's why we we're here and, um, I guess that's what I'm here for. So, thank you, >> Commissioner Green. >> Um, thank you, Madam Chair, and and thank you, Commissioner Lundy, for those remarks. I'm delighted to speak right after you because a lot of what you said I just I'm like yeah exactly. Um first of all I do want to thank staff and staff leadership. I this is tough work and it starts so long ago and now we're about to start again and I agree with the statements that have been made about how this year is going to be even more difficult. Um so just big thank you um and thank you for your leadership and thank you in advance for what the work we're going to do together in 202 what is it six okay let's not get ahead of things 26 [laughter] um you know the truth and taxation this year truth and taxation I always feel like that there's like a little bit a degree to which you can sort of characterize who's coming based on like the timing and sentiment and whatnot um and yet every year it has its own tenor and its own way of reflecting what's what how people are feeling out there. And this year was certainly the toughest truth and taxation that I've experienced. Um and I did feel like it captured what we're hearing from residents which is everybody is making difficult choices and Henipin County is not exempt from that. Uh, and I also believe that we are here to do this amazing work exactly for when people are feeling um at like they are in their toughest moment. And so, uh, I wrote down similar phrases to those I used when I was talking about the hospital budget, like we are going to be staying closer than close to this budget. Uh, and I believe so much in the work that we're doing and I want to make sure that we keep doing it and we do more than keep the lights on, but we really continue a lot of the amazing work that we're doing. Um, and when I say we, I need to thank county staff, especially front lounge staff. Um, because they are doing this work day in and day out of serving residents and serving them in ways that we are seeing differences being made. you know, we get to see sort of the statistics um and their great work is reflected in that uh and and I do want that to keep going. So, thank you. >> Uh thank you colleagues. Um I too just want to express my gratitude to residents to the staff and just speak a few reflections of of this moment. counties. It's a privilege to get to work and lead at a county. Counties are the caregivers of governments. We're the primary government [snorts] mandated care for the vulnerable and counties provide essential services. You've heard me say that we're the caregivers and we're kind of the chores at times and it's not always easy to pursue those objectives and every community relies upon it. [sighs and gasps] So it has been um it is a privilege to get to be um on behalf of residents and as uh colleagues have shared this is completely unprecedented what's taking place and I it's just my seventh budget but I feel like every year we're saying the word unprecedented [sighs] 2020 2021 and so I I am trying to reflect on that for myself but we are in a time where Henipin has chosen to bolster and invest in public health when public health is not reliable from other levels of government. We're at a time where we are seeking to invest further in family unification and preventing family separation at a time where that is not a reliable experience for all of our neighbors and residents. And it's it's almost I mean it is unconscionable to to to see the preventable human devastation that is um cascading from from deities like you know from a days like this. And so I I just want to I just want to acknowledge that that we uh we are very very very proud of the budget before us because of it represents the mission and values and a continuity of services and it's at a time where really nothing can be taken for granted. So moving into next year, you've already heard a lot of us talk about it. We need to look at duplication, consolidation. We need to look at regionalization. Uh we need to be working alongside our municipalities to discover what areas of optimization might be possible, not unlike assessments from a number of years ago. How how might we be able to offer a more consistent um product and uh save taxpayers money? And that's not an easy conversation to have with other governing bodies. Um, and then colleagues, you all know I talked a lot about TIFF this year. And so I just keep going one level up. It's really about tax capacity and what are all of the Right. We don't we don't get to mathematically determine tax capacity, but we can study those variables to understand whether it's valuation or what's excluded to really get specific about our residents um property tax statements and and how might we uh be able to inquire systemically to to create uh solutions on that side because we're not going to cut our way through these next few years. Um and I agree with you. I want to be optimistic about uh new revenue too. So, but even with that with cutting with new revenue, we still need accountability on um alignment with the approved uh budgets and then a lot more analysis systemically to make sure that the math equation uh makes sense across all of our municipalities and communities. So, there's a budget before us. It's a statement of values. It has been very democratically contributed to and um I'm honored to get to vote in favor of it in a second. [snorts] Seeing no further discussion, 11C, the R1 for 11C is before us with the schedule and the dates. Um we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries and the 2026 operating capital budgets have been approved. Next on the agenda is old business. These are items that would have been seen by this board previously and laid over to today for which we have none. 13 is immediate approvals. We'll just go one at a time. 13A is to award a contract to Dawn Construction for the juvenile detention center day room safety upgrades project a little over $2 million. May I have a motion, please? >> Second. >> Thank you. Commissioners Anderson and Connley. Miss Wetland. Chair Fernando Commissioners Christy Duffy is here and can provide background. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, Chair for Mcnando. Thank you, [clears throat] board. I'm Christy Duffy with facility services and I'm here seeking approval for a construction contract with Dunlar Construction for the juvenile detention center project. This project will update a number of elements including updates to the dayroom and office spaces in each of the three living mods. This project will also replace old and deteriorating acoustic panels in those spaces. The kitchen will be reconfigured to support the food service staff providing additional space to prep meals for youth and secure storage spaces and fixed workstations will be updated with ergonomic furniture. We received six proposals for this work and Dunlar was chosen as providing the best value and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. We'll open up for discussion. Commissioner Connley. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um the way and thank you for for the overview of this. I am uh not going to be supportive of this today. Um and I'll kind of explain why. The juvenile detention center uh is a space where and I can be corrected but I understand there are a very low number of youth that are there today. 12 was the number that I have and over the past week it's been in uh those in the lower numbers. I think last year uh we saw a a high amount of young people. Since then though it has the number of youth that have been in the JDC has been going down. It's a dilapidated building and I would rather see $2 million or almost 2.1 million uh go into upgrades um to this space uh which I don't know where that is in conversation with uh folks that work on the capital improvements to the juvenile detention center, but I would rather see it go to something different. I can't like fully support this today um without knowing what the future of the juvenile detention center will be. Uh it's not a space that I think is conducive to our young people. uh to their well-being. It's um uh when I last toured it, um it looks and feels very much like a prison. So, when I compare that to the opening of the youth stabilization center, I feel like there's 12 youth in the JDC right now that could be at 1,800. Um I don't want to support any more funding going into the ju Juvenile detention center. So, it's not for a lack of you all needing to do the work that is in the background of this bar, um the office, the upgrades to the acoustics. it's that uh I cannot support $2.1 million going into this um facility for these purposes. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Further discussion? Um I have a question. Is the timing what's the timing of this uh item? I mean I the reason I'm asking is you didn't say this but I you said youth stabilization center and I mean many of us were there. it is really in many ways I think the standard of space that we can and should be pursuing when possible and so maybe speaking a little bit um to timing not um and and perhaps a little bit of response as wetland >> chair Fernando commissioners I will let Christy speak a little further on timing it's my understanding that these are some critical items that need to be completed um um at the location >> we're ready to mobilize as soon as the contract is approved Okay. Like it uh are they contracted for now? I mean, is there a time dependency for an approval today? Let me >> chair for commissioners. Um I just checked with staff. This is an item that could be um discussed and and not take an action upon today. if you'd like for staff to do further followup. >> I I would be if if the timing permits it uh just really especially with the youth stabilization uh center and an adjacency of of of uh what could is what what might be possible. Um and with reading the background there are aspects that likely don't conflict with what the what the RFP or the bid or but perhaps some follow-up would be great. If that's the case, since it's the last meeting of the year, I think technically we would vote to return to staff. So, I'll move to return to staff. >> Second. >> Thank you, Commissioner Connley. Further discussion on um this item before Commissioner Goel. >> I I too am very interested. You and I after we were at the at the open house discussed the fact that why can't we do something like this in the juvenile detention center? I talked to you too about this, Commissioner Connley, about why why is it like this? Why isn't it like something that's that's a lot more restorative that puts these kids on the right path? Um that that has a lot more one-on-one services for these kids. So schooling, all the things that they need a holistic approach that puts them back out either with their families or in a stable place and back in the community. So I think there's we've already seen a better way and a better path to do this work. So I'd like to see if we're going to be moving with the juvenile detention center in that path as well. >> Thank you. Further discussion. Commissioner Lenny. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I I don't mind bringing it to staff and have to come back. I just if you look at the cost per resident, >> um I'm just cautionous as we talk about money today that uh 12 to 13 beds at about 20 million or 15 million if you extrapolate that over JDC. Just put in some mile marks on that. And that, you know, the JDC is not meant to be a permit thing. It often turns into permanency because we can't find places to put kids. So I think uh personally you know upgrading that uh doing what we can but also investing our money in those following continuum where we know kids are headed because the JDC really its main function is to uh hold kids if they meet the criteria and then when until charging is done and then if depending on severity um but there are many many kind of stop points to getting kids whether they're back at home whether they're at to another place whether there's things that maybe they're not even charged and they're released Uh, so I I kind of look at this as continuum. I don't mind the conversation, but I I would rather invest money in the next steps um wherever possible and make the JDC as less needed as possible. But there is times I've been a couple ride alongs where we took kids down there and they were it was from a shooting. It was something uh that we needed to get them off at least for 48 hours and then that's what its purpose really is. Thank you. further disc. >> Thank you. I mean, I I would say we absolutely need a juvenile detention center. I don't disagree with Commissioner Connley that maybe we could I mean, you know, some of the youth there's there are few, but they have committed very serious crimes, murder or or something like that. So, I I would just say could we I think I'm good with the the pausing of the conversation because I think it's a good conversation to have. we should be very thoughtful over this next year too on where money is going and can it be spent better. Um, but I just would I would encourage another conversation on it and look holistically at what other things are coming for the JDC in this next year and maybe we could configure something here. So, thank you, >> Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you. Um, I I do agree that making sure that we're looking at the the big picture and I think maybe I mean I almost every contract that we evaluate is going to have probably a similar uh vein of is this the right progress of how we're spending money? How do we how do we re-evaluate this? Um, I do like as long as there is capacity and we're not at risk of uh of losing a contract that was negotiated. I know uh oftent times contracts come before us as immediate approvals because of time sensitivity. So, I appreciate the assurance that we're we're okay um in in taking this pause. Um, I also want to just say I think that it's important that we continue to put at least the the necessary resources for safety and maintenance of our facilities because letting facilities go becomes that much more expensive to replace um if we don't maintain them. Um, and so making sure that we're doing it right, making sure that we're uh being planful for uh the big picture is absolutely appropriate, but I want to make sure that um we have the conversation in a an appropriate amount of time so that we don't get to a point of saying like, okay, now these repairs for safety improvements are going to cost us, you know, three times as much. Um, so that would be my only uh caveat on this. So, thank you. >> You further discussion? [sighs] Well, there's a motion in a second to return to staff. I'll also um add as anal as further analysis is taking place um utilization and uh just being holistic about what might be phasable. Uh that's another aspect where yeah, your uh staff assessment on what can be phased would be helpful. Okay, with a motion and second, all those in favor of returning 13A to staff, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. 13B is in agreement with the Minnesota Department of Health for funding of North Point Health Grant for safe recovery site award. The period is October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2029 with a 1.625 receivable. I'll move this. May I have a second? >> Second. Thank you, Commissioner Lundy. Miss Wetland, >> Chair Fernando, Commissioners, Kimberly Spade, CEO of North Point Health and Wellness is here and can provide background. >> Uh, good afternoon, uh, Madame Chair and Commissioners. Thank you, uh, Jody. Um, as most of you, uh, may know, North Point provides harm reduction services in support of the county's effort around um, opioid reduction. Um this particular grant provides us the ability to continue to provide um services to those who are um actively using substances um in support of our syringe exchange uh care coordination um with our clinical and other wraparound supports. Um this particular receivable the dollar amount is for a threeyear period of time I believe and I can answer any other questions if you'd like. >> Thank you. CEO space. >> I was looking for you in the room, so I see that you popped online. All good. >> Um, congrats to the North Point team for such a significant uh award to receive. Colleagues, any discussion before we vote to receive this award? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. 13 C is the uh Thank you. 13C is the 2026 Henipin County Board Committee meeting calendar. I'll move this. May I have a second? second. >> Thank you, Commissioner Gotel. [sighs] Colleagues and departments and everybody who contributed to this calendar. Thanks for all of the effort. Um each year we are seeking to just have the calendar be a bit more expansive in order to uh in order to be able to publish as soon as possible. Um I'll just note that we have uh we have increased our utilization of Thursday meetings. Like so today we're meeting on a Thursday. We used to just say Tuesdays. Um but for any kind of stateisssued uh event regarding democracy such as caucus the primary voting as well as general voting wanting to increase this board's practice of um meeting on that Thursday instead of that Tuesday. Uh as well as um either administrative requests or holiday requests. Uh so I just wanted to acknowledge that since we've been a big Tuesday group. Uh and then I'll also note that we have expanded the number of kind of county uh sponsored events if you will. Um the national awards are in there. State of the county's in there. Something new that is in here uh because I'll acknowledge that I was I I I missed the convening it. Just wanted to flag that we have a county superintendent annual meeting that is uh listed for July because that's when superintendents are able to meet. So, uh, just wanted to flag a couple of notes on the calendar and really appreciate everybody's work in getting it together. Commissioner Lundy, thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank uh, your office and others for I really appreciate the diligence which you approach the board calendar, which may not seem like a lot to the general public, but having those things on where we're not conflicting with things, not conflicting with holidays of all faiths. Um, and also trying to just be aware that, you know, when we have a meeting and it's on a certain faith's holiday or important observance, that means they can't come here, which is their right to come to a meeting, whether to speak or to at least listen. And so, um, I appreciate it and I just want to say thank you. >> Thank you. Further discussion on the Oh gosh. Oh, >> I mean, I want to join in the thanks to you and your office. Um, Chair Fernando, I know, um, when I was chair of the board, I passed the January calendar in December, and a commissioner who's now retired said to me that that was like a modern-day miracle, and you've pulled off 12 months. So, that's 12 miracles. Um, so, thank you for that. And just in general, thank you for a great year of partnership from the chair's office. um really appreciate the degree of communication, the way it's clear that your team is sort of on the various letters that we all get that you take on. So just thank you. >> Thank you. Well, we're planning on a lot of miracles next year with respect to additional revenue, uh continuative services and um shared humanity prevailing. So without being too dramatic, uh all those in favor of the calendar, please say I. I >> opposed. [gasps] Motion carries. Um this is uh before I take a motion to adjurnn. We do have two authority meetings that are uh right after this and want to acknowledge that. So motion to adjurnn please. >> So >> second. >> Thank you. Commissioners Connley and Gotell. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> We are adjourned. And don't go too far. I'll hand the virtual gavl to rail chair green. Good afternoon everybody. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Henipin County Regional Rail Authority. Today's Thursday, December 11th, 2025. The first item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. Is there a motion to do that? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from Commissioner Fernando, second from Commissioner Connley. Uh any edits? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed, our agenda is approved. The first item uh after that is item number 2A specifically are minutes from the November 18th, 2025 meeting. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> Um motion from Commissioner Connley, a second from Commissioner Anderson. No notes or corrections. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All those opposed. Our minutes from November 18th are approved. Uh for the claims register, we have one claims register to approve. Item 3A, the claims register for the period ending November 10, 2025. I'll move it, Madam Chair. >> We have a motion from Commissioner Gatell, a second from Commissioner Fernando. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed. Uh that item is approved. And under new business, we've got one item. Item 4A, approval of the 2026 Henipin County Regional Rail Authority levy and budget um with various attachments. I'll move approval. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second from Commissioner Fernando. Uh, Miss Zerty >> Chair Green, commissioners, the action before you was consistent with the budget budget presentation on September 25th, 2025, which which pres which when we presented set the levy of $34 million and a budget of 34,734,800 million to cover operating debt service and capital projects associated with the regional rail road. In alignment with commitments to transit investments, these regional railroad transit investments continue our efforts which seek to eliminate disparities by connecting people to jobs, education, health care, and recreational activities as well as re leveraging the corridors and properties to maximize green space to mitigate storm water runoff and make progress towards achieving our million tree goal. With that, I'll stand for any questions. >> Thanks so much. Inspiring work. Any questions? Um, I'd like to um thank you and the team for developing the budget for the next year. I really appreciate that um both the way that you're leading the group and also the way um others sort of take up the charge in making sure that those dollars are working very hard for us. you know, the big dollars are transit investment and I got to talk during the shared board presentation about how important that is regionally. Uh, but there are lots of other amazing parts of the work of the rail authority. You identified um the greening as one of them and I absolutely agree and so thank you very much. Um, seeing no further questions or comments, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed. >> The HICRA budget is approved for 2026. Uh and I see nothing further in our agenda. Uh I will call as adjourned and look forward to our work together in 2026. And don't go away. [laughter] Please stick around for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Okay. Good afternoon everyone. I will call to order this final meeting of the Henipin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority for 2025. Today is Thursday, December 11th and the first item of business is to approve the agenda. Is there a motion to approve? >> Second. >> Agenda has been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. The agenda is set. Item two is to approve the minutes from our previous meeting held November 13th, 2025. Is there >> minutes have been moved and seconded. Any corrections or comments on the minutes? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The minutes have passed. Item three is our claims register. 3A is the claims register for the period ending November 30th, 2025. Is there a motion to to approve? >> So moved. >> Item has been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Our claims register is set. There are several items of new business before us, colleagues, items four, item 4 A is to negotiate an agreement with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the Minnesota City's Participation Program. The dates on this are January 1st of 2026 through December 31st of 2026. There's no cost to the county. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Item is moved and seconded. I will hand this to Melissa Il Ilas. Welcome Madam Chair, Commissioners. Melissa Ilas, Housing and Economic Development. The request before you today is to authorize negotiation of the 2026 participation agreement with Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for the Minnesota Cities Participation Program. Through this program, Minnesota Housing sells mortgage revenue bonds on behalf of city and county housing authorities and uses the proceeds to support below market interest rate mortgage loans for low and moderate income first-time home buyers. Participating private lenders originate the loans which Minnesota Housing then buys. Henman County Housing and Redevelopment Authority has been participating since 1997. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Thank you. Great program. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Commissioner Fando. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, not a question, just highlighting 217 households purchased their first home in suburban Henipin County. Just the stats on here. Um, and just knowing since this time that, you know, Henipin has started our own kind of home buying effort and so these are significant numbers and really really meaningful contribution. Uh, and wanted to highlight that. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you. Other comments or questions? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed. That item passes. Thank you, sir. A motion to bring 4B before us. >> Item has been moved and seconded. 4B is to negotiate an amendment to facility lease and management agreement with CHDC VA LLC for the Veterans and Community Housing Project. There is no cost to the authority. I am going to ask Abby Lucen to present on this item. Welcome. Um, Abby Lucen with Housing Economic Development. In 2002, the Minnesota legislature appropriated gen general obligation bonds to Minnesota housing to create, among other projects, the vets and community housing development. Under the conditions of the financing, the project must be owned by a public entity. And the Henipin County HR has served as owner since the property was developed in 2005 with Trellis, as Trellis, formerly known as CHDC. um as the property manager and asset manager under a facility lease and management agreement. Upon expiration of the Minnesota Housing loan for the project this year, the capitalized reserves were transferred from Minnesota Housing to Trellis. The action being requested today is approval for an amendment to the lease to govern the management of the reserves associated with this important supportive housing property. I'm available should you have any questions? >> Thank you. Colleagues, questions or comments? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any [clears throat] opposed? That item passes. I'll take a motion and second for 4 C. >> Second. >> Item has been moved and seconded. 4C is to negotiate an agreement with the Minneapolis Foundation to establish and administer a small business employee hardship fund from December 12th of 2025 through December 31st of 2029. There's an NTE of $75,000. For this one, I'll ask Patricia Fitzgerald to present. Thank you. Welcome. Commissioners, um, this item authorizes an agreement with the Minneapolis Foundation to establish and operate a collaborative employee hardship fund designed specifically for small businesses and nonprofits in Henipin County. With this agreement, the HRA is investing in the administrative cost to set up the framework for a fund that small businesses will contribute to. Essentially, what we're doing is we're taking a successful model that works well for larger businesses to support and retain their employees, and we're making it accessible and convenient for small businesses with reduced barriers and costs of entry. So in addition to the value for small businesses who opt in, this framework creates a vehicle for private funds to serve as a safety net for people employed by small businesses in our communities, providing access to financial support in times of hardship. We'll use our expertise in designing workable tools and resources for small businesses and our ability to reach local businesses through our established communication channels. working with the Minneapolis Foundation will promote the fund and will host an open call for businesses and nonprofits to opt in. We project that the return on investment to the county will be the economic benefits of the continued success of the 15 to 30 businesses that will participate and benefit through improved worker retention and the leverage of over $400,000 in private funds that will provide an estimated 300 workers with additional financial support in times of crisis. and I'm happy to address questions you may have. >> Thank you. Questions or comments? Commissioner Anderson. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh sounds like an amazing program. Uh really interested to see it uh be stood up. Um do we know yet the 15 to 30 businesses like how that process of opening up the applications is going to work. Can you speak a little bit more to that and um who all is eligible? >> Sure. Thank you, Chair Colleen Commissioner Anderson. Thanks for the question. Um so, fortunately, we have a lot of experience um opening up applications for things like our cohort programs where we promote out to a broad audience among all the county's communication channels. Um clearly establish what the barriers um and limitations are. In this case, we're anticipating accepting businesses and nonprofits with between 25 and 200 employees. We find that the Minneapolis Foundation already works with companies that have over 200. So, there is an area um that we're targeting to support more businesses, enabling them to opt in. Um we will work with the Minneapolis Foundation um to establish more clear guidelines and criteria, but we anticipate running the application process much like we do uh others that we're experienced with. I hope that helps. >> Yes, it does. Um, are there any is it open to all businesses in Henipin County then or is there I I only mention this because working with the Minneapolis Foundation may give an impression that it's only available to Minneapolis businesses. >> Thank you for that question. Um, Chair Connley, Commissioner Anderson, absolutely. It will be important to clarify that this is open to businesses throughout Henipin County. The Minneapolis Foundation is the fund administrator and owner of the poolled resources, but the intent is obviously eligible to throughout the county. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Commissioner Fernando. >> Uh thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'll also mention um just based off Commissioner Anderson's comments here, this feels like new to us, but it's also not new to us, if I might uh say. The Workforce Leadership Council 2.0 O has uh really um sought to validate this particular like programmatic intervention if you will and so what is that three plus years of small businesses entrepreneurs and um some testing of of this type of program and so I'll just express that as well that um this is it this might feel like a new effort because it comes to us in this bar uh but Henipin and many partners across our whole county uh city and suburbs have been working together to uh really hone in on what what this needs to be. So I I think it's very important to make sure that when those who are affected are getting to influence the the process and what's before us and that's really taken place uh from my understanding across the departments not just uh here but really across the department. So I wanted to mention that. Thank you madam chair. >> Thank you commissioner Lundy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, first, I I love the program. I'm prefacing it. I'm doing the sandwich method. I'm leading with how much I love it. U I think next year, and that's why I'm saying for next year is that we're going to have to look at things and ask questions about as we accept grants, does it mean that we are spending resources to fulfill our part of the grants and are those resources worth it? And I don't mean this one, but I think that's going to be a common theme I think we should get in the habit of doing because as we accept grants that require county staff to do work, um that is a budget item from now on. I mean, I just I feel it now. I like this program. I'm going to vote for it because I think but I think next year I think this is the type of thing we're going to have to look at is as we accept a grant are we expending money uh on our side that does it make sense given that the other headwinds we have. So um I'll end with the sandwich. I'm going to vote for it. I like the program. Uh so thank you >> the good old positive sandwich. Thank you Commissioner Green. >> Um thank you Madam Chair. Um, and thank you, Commissioner Fernando, for the context that you provided about sort of coming from the um, workforce workforce council 2.0. That was really interesting. Um, I was thinking as I read it, if I sort of squinted a little bit, it reminds me of guaranteed basic income. Um, and I wondered, you've shared that it's uh available to all businesses. Given the number of people who are working three jobs to make ends meet because the minimum wage is not nearly as high as it should be, how is this not overs subscribed? >> Thank you, Cherik, Mr. Green. So, um, I think what we're seeing, uh, funds like this, models like this are available. Minneapolis Foundation has been offering this for 20 years nearly. Um, and currently they've worked with well they're working with 13 companies. Um, so I think my experience leads me to believe that there are a lot of reasons why smaller businesses are not taking advantage of this opportunity awareness internal capacity HR capacity to implement and the costs and barriers to entry. So those are the things that this agreement will help address. We hope to expand it with the resources available. we can serve 15 to 30 companies. Um, and then the hope is they'll prove beneficial and additional businesses will do this on their own, invest in the framework that's already been established. A followup. Um, thank you. That's really helpful to hear it sketched out. And so it sounds I I wasn't understanding it this way, but now I'm feeling like it's a little bit leading towards a cooperative model. Okay. Thank you. >> Correct. >> Interested. >> Wonderful. Well, any further comments or questions from my colleagues? I'll just say, you know, I really appreciated how you defined the return on investment, which is the continued success of small businesses. I really like that. We should etch it somewhere. Um, and I'll just say that when I hear from a small business owner, it's usually because something there's a challenge and there's a barrier and they would like for me to address it. So, I see that this partnership really can uh eliminate some of the barriers that our small businesses are facing countywide all over. So, thank you for that. Uh, with no further questions or comments, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. That passes. I'll ask for a motion to bring item 4D before us. >> So moved. >> Item has been moved and seconded. 4 D is to negotiate an agreement with Affordable Housing Connections, Inc. to provide annual compliance monitoring services for affordable rent rental housing projects. The dates on this one are January 1st, 2026 through December 31st of 2028 for an NTE of $250,000. And I believe Julia Wellie will present on this one. Welcome. >> Thank you, Chair Connley. Commissioners, Julia Welli from Housing and Economic Development. Uh since the HR created the affordable housing incentive fund and more recently the supportive housing strategy capital fund, our portfolio um now includes over 270 um properties with more than 12,000 units. Uh while the county staff have completed all monitoring of this portfolio uh up to date, we now need additional support uh to continue this um compliance because the portfolio size continues to grow um and mature. And as the projects mature, they are requiring additional assistance. So, Affordable Housing Connections already provides annual compliance monitoring for the county's home uh rental portfolio as well as monitoring for the majority of our largest housing finance agencies across the state. Engaging affordable housing connections for our HR portfolio will leverage their expertise and their existing relationships with our same providers uh and allow our staff to focus on risk monitoring and continuous improvement. Thank you. >> Thank you. Questions or comments from my colleagues? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Uh that item passes and Miss Williams, don't go too far. Uh, I'll take a motion to bring item 4 E, thank you, before us. It's been moved and seconded. 4E is to negotiate an amendment to an agreement with the C cooperation corporation for supportive housing extending the term to September 30th of 2026 with no change to the NTE. Miss Williams will >> thank you, Chair Connley. Commissioners, in 2021, through our supportive housing strategy, the HRA engaged the Corporation for Supportive Housing to help build up our development pipeline through technical assistance and predevelopment financing. As we've been monitoring the affordable housing ecosystem the last couple of years and listening to our partners, we've determined that supportive housing projects are experiencing unique distresses that are distinct from the the rest of the affordable housing ecosystem. This distress not only impacts the current um buildings and more importantly tenants, it also decreases future production of the critically needed supportive housing. So this amendment to an existing contract uh will use um existing resources to um really reflect this changing operating environment. Uh- specifically, this amendment allows us to include add-in training and technical assistance that's focused on supportive housing operations and stabilization of existing properties. Uh the work actually would begin on Monday and then continue throughout the summer. Thanks. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Questions, Commissioner Gotel. Thank you for bringing this and I'm glad we're looking at things every way we can, but I again the biggest concerns are what's happening at the federal level and the supportive housing cuts that we know are coming down and I'm concerned with so many different ones of these projects of how how stable will they really remain and where they're going to be just in a year's time. So I just have a lot of lot of angst around that. >> Yep. Good reason, valid reasons. Any other questions or comments? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. Take a motion to bring item 4F before us. >> Item has been moved and seconded. Thank you. Item 4F is to negotiate seven agreements for cohort-based small business programming. The dates on this are January 1st to 20 of 2026 through December 31st of 2026. Total combined NTE of $612,000,500. Uh the item has been moved and seconded. I'll ask Patricia Fitzgerald to present on this item. Thank you. Welcome back. >> Thank you. Uh to your Conley commissioners, good afternoon. Uh Patricia Fitzgerald, Housing and Economic Development. Um this item authorizes seven agreements to continue our current slate of cohorts based programs for businesses from the startup or pre-revenue phase to second stage businesses with upwards of a 100 employees. We continue to hear overwhelmingly positive feedback from businesses on the value and the impact of these programs for years to come. The only notable change from last year uh is that we conducted an open and competitive process for two of the programs that had been led by national nonprofit organizations resulting in two contracts recommended here with extremely well-qualified local organizations. Um, this combined investment is offset also, I'll note, um, by some investment from Pure Counties, Ramsey, um, Dakota and Scott who contribute so that their businesses can participate as well. Um, and that was approved by separate agreement and already included in the budget. And I'm happy to address any questions you have. >> Thank you. Questions, comments? All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. Take a motion and a second to bring 4G before us. So moved. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. 4G is to negotiate 33 Elevate Henipin advising agreements for small business consulting from January 1st of 2026 through December 31st of 2026. The total combined NTE is $2.5 million. That has been moved and seconded and Lily Shaw was will present for us. Welcome. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, Chair Connelly. Commissioners, I'm Lily Shaw with Housing and Economic Development. Uh like a similar action this time last year, the action before you authorizes an agreement with 33 adviserss to provide our ongoing consultation consulting to small businesses as part of the elevate henipin business advisor network in 2026. This group of qualified consultants was selected through an open and competitive process as well as ongoing review of customer feedback, performance and demand. These 33 agreements will enable us to provide our premier consulting services to small businesses throughout the county in 10 distinct areas of support including marketing, accounting and so on. Uh we can't say enough about the quality of our adviserss. Each is knowledgeable, nimble and provides valued expertise. In fact, our customer satisfaction rates are extremely high with 98% of businesses reporting they feel more confident after working with one of our consultants. Um, these contracts will enable us to serve another 1,00 to,500 unique businesses by the end of 2026. Fantastic work. Questions or comments from my colleagues? I just want to say I I cannot say enough about Elevate Henipin, nor do I hear enough about the wonderful things I I've heard from some of that 98%. Your consultants and all of the work that you do under Elevate Henipin is truly well worth the money and I'm excited to hear about how many we can serve next year. Thank you for the work. >> Um we'll take the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. I'll take a motion to bring 4 us. >> So moved. >> Second. Item has been moved and seconded. Thank you for H's consent to the issuance of bonds by the city of Oakdale, Minnesota to refund HA series 2015 bonds for Ebenezer assisted living at 3451 Park Avenue in Edina and uh I'll ask Abby Abby Lucen to present on this one. Welcome back. >> Thank you, Chair Connley and commissioners. Abby Lucen with Housing and Economic Development. In 2015, the HCH issued housing revenue bonds and refinanced old bonds to support renovation of York Gardens, which is a senior housing assisted living and memory care facility in Adina. The 2015 bonds have a maturity date this month, and the city of Oakdale has agreed to issue bonds to refinance both York Gardens and a similar facility in Oakdale, also owned by Ebenezer. Staff recommend providing consent to Oakdale to refund the HRA bonds as the new bond issuance will benefit Ebenezer and its residents and allow for the satisfaction of our 2015 bonds. I'm available should you have any questions? >> Thank you. Questions or comments, colleagues? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. Our final item of business today is item 4 I. And this is approval of our 2026 Henipin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy and budget. I will move that if there is a second. >> Item has been moved and seconded. Mr. Dockery. >> Thank you, Madam Chair and Commissioners. Kevin Dockery with Housing and Economic Development. Today's request seeks approval of the 2026 Housing and Redevelopment Authority budget of $24,938,959 with a final tax levy of 22,186,537. These budget and levy amounts are consistent with the board's action on September 25th of this year, and the levy amount reflects a 0% change from 2025. The 2026 budget will continue the HA's focus on affordable housing, including supportive housing, single room occupancy, workforce housing, and enhanced home ownership activities. The budget also continues our HA support of community and economic development activities, including transit oriented communities and elevate Henipin small business support. With that, Madam Chair, I'd be happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. A solid budget with a flat levy. We love to see it. colleagues questions or comments? Mr. uh Commissioner Lundy. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a request. First of all, I want to thank you. I know that you know um as mayor and we use this money all the time. Yeah. >> And it's a gap filler. And so sometimes difference between a building getting done and not done um I think is sometimes this money from partners because that money from us can be leveraged at the state, can be used at the federal. So there's many parts where this kind of plays and so I want to thank you. I was going to ask if if uh there's a way to kind of do I would call it a uh a PR [snorts] among city officials. I sometimes wonder if the city officials are fully aware of these grants. I know um city of Crystal to their credit did one without Henipin. I guess I should be happy about that, but I'm never happy when I see the approvals and there's nothing for my district. I'm like what the heck is going on? So I kind of wonder if you know you talk we assume everyone knows what we do and what we offer. I'm wondering if that's always the case if people are because you have smaller cities that don't have full staff. I think of ASIO they've done some tremendous work on senior living on there and they were talking about the need to get more in grants. So, I think there's an opportunity as we're all feeling that kind of financial pressure, not just us, but cities that just don't assume, everyone knows what we offer, where to see it, where the grants are because I've met a lot of people who, you know, I'll educate them on something and they're like, I didn't know how can I apply for that and stuff like that. So, I would just make that request that I think some of the cities could use a a reminder. Um, anyway, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Fernando. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, very excited about H as always and everything that was presented. I'll just extend uh Commissioner Lundy's encouragement just to not scope it to this program. [laughter] I think what we're kind of getting at is we need to be in a different relationship with our municipalities in this coming year for many, many reasons. and um being thoughtful as early as possible about what types of shifts [snorts] or utilizations uh what does the data show us and so I just wanted to extend uh it's not just kind of a one-way communication hey this is what we have offering uh this is what we have to offer uh really encouraging a kind of different relationship um building exercise with our municipalities many of our municipalities have volunteer staff basically or one staff staff member um and very small elected bodies. So just given the complexity that's coming down politically uh ex expanding um you know Commissioner Lundy's good suggestion just just to see what might come up uh from from their end and and how Hannipin might be able to play a role as we look to 26 and 27. Thank you chair. >> Thank you. Other comments or questions on this wonderful budget? Seeing and hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That item passes. Colleagues, if you'll give me a minute and a half before we adjourn, I'd love to share some highlights. Uh there's some incredible bodies of work that live in HR, and I'm proud to share highlights from an exceptional year of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. In 2025, we set bold goals to expand equitable access to housing, support communitydriven development, and uplift small businesses, and did so under racial disparity elimination benchmarks. And we delivered. On economic development, we invested in transit oriented communities, supporting six projects that foster $80 million in investment, all in areas facing the greatest disparities in health and prosperity. A standout, the opening of the Pillsbury Community Center, now an expanded vibrant arts and economic hub near George Floyd Square. Our strategy to support emerging developers is working. Six people are being supported in getting projects underway. 90% of those led by people of color. Through Elevate Henipin, we've provided over 49,000 hours of consulting to small businesses. The over $8,000 hours provided in the first half of 2025 alone have generated numerous success stories like Ry Health who was able to work with seven Elevate Henipin advisers to build the systems needed to open a new women's health clinic and bring muchneeded culturally competent care to our community. To date, Elevate Henipin support has helped launch 131 new businesses with 68% led by entrepreneurs of color. We also facilitated $47 million in non-county financing, over 70% of which went to businesses owned by people of color, helping businesses like Open Hairspace and Richfield relocate and retain jobs. On housing, we participated in 14 project closings this year, initiating construction on over 1,000 affordable units. We awarded 15 million more to create and preserve nearly 1300 units with 41% deeply affordable at 30% of the AMI or below. Under the supportive housing strategy, we opened another 124 deeply affordable units that were tailored and reserved for the county priority populations. This means that 124 households connected to county services and at highest risk without housing moved into highquality supportive housing developments with them in mind. Also exciting is another 113 supportive housing strategy units are currently under construction as I speak. We also worked across county business lines to magnify impact. The Steven Square residents transitioned into a native focused substance use treatment center. It will open in 2026. Projects like Veian and Simpson shelter and apartments combine emergency shelter with permanent housing models of human- centered design. And for home ownership, we invested $2.7 million to create 60 affordable home ownership hope ownership opportunities through new builds, rehabbed homes, and down payment assistance. For repair and grow, we went from board approval in November of 2024 through contract negotiation, contract execution, and full dispersement in just one year. That's incredible. This work represents intense partnerships, creativity, critical financial modeling, and hustle, which will demonstrate benefits for years to come. This has truly been an exceptional year, delivering on both our housing strategy and our economic development strategy. and I'm excited to see where we go in 2026 and beyond. Thank you. And with that, I'll declare us ajourned. >> Thank you.