e e e e e e e good morning everyone it is 9:00 A.M on Tuesday May 7th we will call the right County Board of Commissioners to order we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance 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 good morning everyone and this a nice uh wet Tuesday morning which seems to be every Tuesday lately uh we'll begin with the uh dispensing of the minutes from the meetings on 4:15 4:16 the second meeting on 416 and 429 those minutes can be approved individually or collectively uh is there any modifications Mr chair I'll make a motion to approve all four collectively all right motion by commissioner Dietrich I'll second that second by commissioner Holland any discussion hearing just suggesting for in case I want to talk later hearing no comments all in favor say I hi hi same sign all right minutes are approved unanimously uh today's agendas any corrections or modifications today's agenda board members administrator Kelly no I'll entertain a motion to approve today's agenda as presented I'll make that motion Mr chair all right motion by commissioner catchmark I'll second that second by commissioner Holland any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oh same sign all right agenda is approved unanimously uh today's consent agenda would anyone like to remove anything from today's consent agenda for further discussion Mr chair yes claim number 10 19638 for discussion uh Waste Management contract okay what was that under Finance claims Clement of the claims acknowledgement of the claims okay so you want to take uh claims 109 638 one96 make a motion to approve the consent agenda with that item removed okay uh with that item removed we'll deal with it uh under items for consideration if that works uh just to giving time for staff to pull up the pertinent information for that um so with that I'll entertain a motion to approv today's consent agenda with uh that claim of 10 19639 638 I'll make that 638 all right motion by commissioner catchmark second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I post same sign all right so uh that wouldn't I move to items for consideration Administration 6 and so now moving forward under the timed agenda items uh Chad hman with the highway awarding contract number 249 morning Commissioners um one item for you today uh so this is just to award contract 249 for the construction the roundabout out here at 2583 uh New Look Contracting out of Rogers um construction slated to start sometime as soon as we get contract signed and they have till like the end of September um so basically looking for for toward that and we this has been approved by mindat since it's part sh their road so we had to wait for their approval we would have brought it last meeting so um ready to go all right hey chairman can one question Chad I was approached this weekend by somebody that's in the building industry and wondered why they're not double roundabouts with the growth that's happening between Buffalo and monicello it's good question yeah um one is minda doesn't have any plans to have a multi-lane four-lane Road between Buffalo and monacell in the next 20 years okay and so their requirement is is if a single Lane will provide the capacity for 10 years then you only build a single Lane okay if it's more if it's under 10 years then you can look at a double lane roundabout but that's why so good question but it it it is going it is designed to be expandable so we're not tearing the whole thing out we're just bumping the curbs out in the future when needed oh so yeah sounds good it's always nice to blame the state yeah pass the buck no it's but it's it's good logic if you overdesign them then there's safety issues too so um it they like to keep them as tight as possible as long as possible so okay cool thanks Mr chair just a couple quick questions um so we don't have a start date on it no we'll know soon cuz the way we have it written is we give them a big window but once they start they only have this much time so it'll be kind of sliding so when they tell us they're ready so that way we get better bids um so it'll hopefully start after school school and in a perfect world it starts after school and is done before school starts but you know it's it's a busy construction season so um once we get that we'll get the word out as well um the detours have those always already been established yes yep it's our CA 37 AR casad 12 and then trunk Highway 55 so should be fairly easy so all right thank you all right uh with that I'll entertain a motion to award uh contract 2409 so moved motion by commissioner dri second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I hi post same sign contract approved unanimously thank you thank you thanks CH now moving on to our 908 timed agenda item we're running a few minutes ahead but that's fine uh I feel it's a non-al uh contentious item here to approve the two uh resolutions offering support for border-to-border Grant applications to midco and Charter uh good morning Mr chair board um as commissioner V vet stated uh there are two resolutions before you for approval um the first would offer support and financial contribution to a charter project that would serve up to 781 locations in Marysville Rockford and buffalo townships the second would support a midco project in Silver Creek monello and Maple Lake townships bringing service to up to 454 locations um this will allocate $300,000 of our art funds to these projects and it's really our last opportunity to do so based on the time frames for the ARP expenditures um with that I would take any questions board members I will applaud the uh members of the Broadband committee Elizabeth and her team as well as the ISP providers that have stepped up to uh apply uh every round some of them we we did better than others but ultimately I think how many uh points did we up to this point I think we've had connectivity to 3,95 that's I mean and with this last one if we get all of them we might be able to get close to that 5,000 Mark which would be uh phenomenal very exciting Mr chair just an additional comment just thank you for all your hard work and building those relationships with the providers as well um it's just really helped things um to to compel and get to the point where we're at so thank you thanks and there's uh worth noting that there's still a lot of money out there uh especially at the federal level uh it's just a matter of uh working the complexity of being able to get those funds I think that's one of the bigger challenges that that we've seen and I think the state sees with it so more will come with that all right I'll entertain a motion for those uh two resolutions offering support I we can approve them collectively or individually whichever you uh so choose I'll make the motion all right motion by commissioner diet I'll second second by Comm commissioner catchmark uh is that collectively all right to approve the two resolutions offering support to border to border uh Grant applications for Charter and midco all right any discussion hearing none it's a resolution commissioner catchmark i i i i i resolution passes unanimously thank you all right thank you we're still a couple minutes ahead here but we'll move forward here uh Chief trer members of the board two resol today the first one is asking the board to read and adopt resolution declaring next week which is includes the uh May May 15th as police officer uh Memorial week um happy to answer any questions regarding that all right Mr chair yes good morning Chief did you have any plans for any awards ceremonies or anything around here during that week sometimes people off agencies have that we don't have any awards uh scheduled we have a couple other maybe uh provide some food and different things for next week but as far as awards no okay is there rumors that the chief and the sheriff are going to patrol that for a couple days there too if you if you want better service we're going to keep the guys who are dedicated to the road out there so I have to always Heckle you about that I know I'll make that motion Mr chair all right motion by commissioner catchmark I'll second that second by commissioner Holland uh this is a very worthwhile uh celebration in honoring those individuals so we thank you for coming forward with it and we want to make sure that we uh give them a pat on them all a pat on the back uh next week when we honor them resolution commissioner Shane I I I I I thank you thank you second on the agenda is a resolution to approve a 2024 uh Federal boting and safety Grant um this is is for dedicated um additional enforcement for high Activity Days um payment is through Straight time overtime um basically it's for additional enforcement for like fourth July anytime events that occur on the water whether it's music festivals um we had a DNR fishing events those types of things and that would help cover those uh shifts yes thank you cheap and I had I had requested on as a side note for some exhibits that were referenced because in the past we've seen the allowable expenses and sometimes stuff gets attached but we don't see it but it didn't sound like that one was attached but I saw that you sent it so that's helpful to know what's what's allowed in the in the grant so thank you you're welcome I'll make a motion to approve the resolution for the grant all right motion by commissioner catchmark second by commissioner Holland any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign is there resolution oh you're right that thank you it was a resolution so but we'll uh I'll start it off here thanks for correcting me there commissioner Holland resolution call I vote i i i i i all right resolution passes unanimously see when you have so many resolutions I'm always bound to get one out of there thank you thank you thank all right and now Captain Ferguson making his way here to approve a resolution authorizing the transfer of surplus equipment and property from the Sheriff's Office to public corporation morning Mr chair Commissioners uh resolution in front of you uh kind of a generic title on my part but uh yeah I'm actually talking specifically about radios in this instant uh portable radios the previous model XTS uh portable radio that we were using with our transition to encrypted radio traffic those radio that particular model no longer has utility within our office so we're looking to transfer uh radios to listed as a public corporation City in this case uh within the county uh they would have utility for that entity all right Mr chair yes Morning Captain I I had a few questions I had brought this up a year or two I think we talked about it that hey what are we going to do with these things and see who could utilize ize them so uh and I read the background of justification here did did it get offered to the municipalities as far as Street departments Public Works Parks or just the fire departments Mr chair commissioner katchar yes uh through the fire chiefs that was communicated uh I didn't personally go to the cities but one of the requests is from a municipality and I believe it they intend to use it for Public Works not for their fire okay I'm just cuz didn't we have 150 and just what is there a couple dozen that are spoken for so we're going to have some left there yes there will be some left over some were transferred or in the process of being transferred internally to departments within the county that qualify to be on the armor system but did not require encryption and the the number was yes 150ish but that's in all states of uh operability some of them are Parts units um but there there will be leftover working units maybe 50 or 60 okay is there chargers and batteries that go with them for most for the ones that are being transferred yes for what's left over um there will be some units that do not have a charger with them any longer we with the newer model radios there's a sleeve insert that can be put in the charger so some of those Chargers that we previously owned uh had utility with the new model radio as well okay and I was talking with Finance I just want to make sure for audit purposes that everybody that was that is supposed to be offered the radios is offered and I don't know if that includes Township maintenance also but I just I want that on the record that we inquire so that somebody doesn't ask later how come we didn't get this offer and it was only to the fire chiefs and then uh doing a little lookup there is um the online value per se runs between $40 and $200 and I as a fellow board members I think we should talk about if we want to pass any cost along it's give them a little skin in the game otherwise it's very easy to say oh we'll take 15 and when they put them up on the Shelf will they ever have use or not it's just for accounting purposes do we want to talk about that like St Michael resident help pay for all the radios but if they're going to COC that really isn't going to benefit the folks that paid for them in the first place so I I just want to run that past if we want to ask a few bucks for it I mean I'll go with the consensus but I just wanted to throw it out there about a cost versus just gifting these radios because brand new they're in the thousands right Captain this this particular model would no no longer be uh at that value I think your the value you stated is accurate but if if they were going to say we we need radios and we can't get a free one from the county it would be over $1,000 for a radio for a new model my understanding would be for this for this particular model they would have to go to the online Market or to a vendor like Granite to get a hold of these radios they're not a radio that Motorola is mass producing any longer okay so I'm just I'm trying to so we already have some of them that are spoken for now are you asking to put a dollar amount on those ones right I guess it feels like putting a price on something after somebody already agreed to take them I guess I wasn't part of those conversations I feel like it might be a little bit uh disingenuous when they maybe think they're getting them for free and then all of a sudden after the fact we're telling you oh by the way uh the 50 of them that you're taking you we need a couple thousand dollars because we're going to sell them to you at at 50 bucks a piece uh I I don't know I just don't want to well and Mr chair you and I are the only ones that were here when I was first about there was a cost talked about but now the way it's presented I I don't know who delivered the message I didn't but now we got it presented to us that somebody promised them for free I that wasn't done by or conveyed by the decision makers here Mr chair just real quick and then note that um we had an Old Government building and a lot of that equipment went to different nonprofits and different entities throughout rake County and I don't believe we we didn't charge anybody for for that um office equipment and different things like that but as we moved to this new facility did we we didn't charge anybody for that no no this is kind of more of a situation where I mean either way it'd be different if we were going to something that wasn't another governmental agency but it is it's just going so it's going from one taxpayer entity to another taxpayer entity You could argue that there's some inequity into it based on who paid for him but uh ultimately I it's still offering a a right County C benefits so I think uh going back on it and trying to collect a few dollars on it is going to just create more headaches and more uh bad will then it's probably worth I have a question for uh Captain Ferguson what about do you guys still do the like spring um auction would there be a way that you could sell the remaining ones at the auction with it notable I mean people a lot of people look at those auction sites and if they're interested in getting them like the remaining sure Mr chair commissioner Holland yes uh in theory I guess I'm operating under uh which we can certainly do that uh I'm operating under the the market being that I've spent the last several months trying to give them away to the entities without much success except for two entities so I don't know what the uh actual realized Market would be for them out there our radio vendors did not have any interest in taking them off of our hands so that's kind of what I was using to gauge it but I I certainly to the discretion of the board if that's what you want done with the remaining certainly will Mr chair if I could just input here a little bit um I I don't really think that we should be charging aan because I'm worried about that we're actually charging then our constituents twice you know I understand where he's coming from because if you have some skin in the game my biggest concern is I want to make sure that it's offered to everyone that that would be my biggest concern so that every town every Township knows the availability and Mr chair I'm good with that if we can cover the audit and the fairness piece by doing that and uh and then I'm fine I'm not going to arm wrestle for a charge but I just want to bring that up mainly for the ones that weren't here at the time and that the decision came up here already made before we really weighed in on it so I wanted to point that out and then the the last thing is the use radio user fee that we hear a lot of uh I push back I'll say from those that say they don't they think the county should take on more all of the cost when we Dole out these are they going to be paying the user fee for a dozen or whatever they get on the Shelf just because of the mere possession of of or when they get put into service are they going to start paying that fee Mr chair commissioner katchmar my understanding is that it would be a use uh that the fee is being paid to access the armor system not necessarily be in possession of the radios so they'd be on the honor System to say hey we're using these 12 that you gave us now charge us the user fee uh through through auditing we would know if they attempted to access if those particular individual radios attempted to access the armor system we uh routinely audit those lists from all the municipalities okay and for other board members this has come up and it's a budget item we talk about that the fire departments think that we should take On All or more of the cost for that and it's based per radio and not just when the thing is turned on but just by having it and occasionally turning it on they're paying the user fee correct if it if it has if they have the intention to access the armor system with it then yes they're paying the fee okay well thanks for clearing that up you all right with that uh I'll entertain a motion to uh approve the resolution resolution uh transferring the Surplus equipment I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Dietrich any further uh discussion hearing none resolution commissioner Holland i i i i i resolution passes unanimously and next would be the the uh state of Minnesota human trafficking investigators task force uh yes Mr chair Commissioners uh second item will be a joint Powers agreement with the Minnesota BCA to participate as an affiliate with the human trafficking and sexually exploited youth task force uh run by the BCA the major components to this for us we've obviously been conducting and participating in these investigations for years years this would just uh formalize an agreement with the BCA opening an Avenue for some reimbursement for training and overtime expenses specific to those investigations any discussion otherwise I'll entertain a motion to approve the uh jpa I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Dietrich any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I same sign all right the jpa approved unanimously thank you thank you all right uh we're a few minutes ahead here uh I think we'll just uh have Jamie make her way up here as we'll put our health and human services hats on here and we'll move on to the Health and Human Services portion of the agenda the first item on the Health and Human Services agenda would be to approve the uh consent agenda for Health and Human Services I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oose same sign all right they consent agenda for Health and Human Services is approved unanimously next would be the time to agenda items thank you good morning Mr chair good morning board Let's see we have lost my voice uh resolution um to accept our 2024 donation which you'll find in your packet donation of $239 79 um for the meals for child foster care provider training donor is a forgotten initiative all right I'll entertain a motion to uh approve the uh donations for April of 2024 so moved all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland resolution any discussion commissioner Dietrich i i i i i resolution passes unanimously thank you um our next uh resolution is to Proclaim may as foster care Awareness Month um there's a we have just a huge thank you and recognition for our foster care providers who open their hearts and homes to kids needing a refuge um whether with it's with a family foster care provider or a non-family member um the work they do to provide kids with everything a child needs especially kids who have an abundance of change and upheaval in their lives as a great gift to our community at large so I want to recognize them I do have Michelle Miller on standby uh virtually if you'd like the um if you would like it read to you otherwise we have the resolution as part of your packet again these foster care providers do an amazing job and we would be lost without them um currently um the good news is as you know and you see in the news a lot that the pushes with the state is for counties to place more children with families family members versus non-family members I believe the um the threshold the state sets as about 35% of kids should be placed with family members right county is current at 70.6% of kids being placed with members of the family which just makes that transition for kids um less arduous I believe so um kind of good work very good work on our foster care provider Parts as well as our um licensers Parts here in R County well we can't we thank the uh very challenging work that they do I think it's uh very honorable that we do honor them here in May uh I don't think we can give them enough thanks to taking on a uh a very challenging job to uh offer a place in love and care for uh youth that may or may not stay with them and that's a very challenging test to ask for and we can't say thank you enough great words Mr chair I totally agree with that I'll entertain a motion to uh Proclaim may as the May of 2024 as foster care awareness month so moved tell second all right motion by commissioner Dietrich second by commissioner Shane any discussion hearing done uh resolution commissioner catchmark i i i i i all right resolution passes unanimously all right moving on to the second uh timed agenda item approving of the mental health advisory Council uh yes and with that I'm going to Welcome to the other side of the podium our former commissioner Mark deidon who serves on our mental health um task force so um Mr Delon brings to you um based on statutory requirements recommendations um for the board from our mental health advisory committee that they have um looked at and have decided on so with that Mr Delon thank you Jamie this is uh kind of different being on this side um Commissioners uh ladies gentlemen Derek Mar I've been waiting I've been waiting so long to be able to do that I I it's great to see you back in the room um you know this is something that when I was a commissioner too we heard about it and and it's something that shows up every year after year after year and a lot of it is nothing the county can really do about it other than to deal with um uh those at the state level and push them to try and get some of these things fixed um and that's what it is and uh Mr chair I know uh regarding the previous one B Foster cares I know you have some direct relationship with it and uh and you're right it's a something that's um a lot of work for a lot of different people both for the children and those that are dealing adult foster care too so anyway to move on uh these are the unmet needs that have been identified and discussed at the 2023 mental health advisory Council um we have a statutory responsibility to present this report outlining the committee's understandings of unmet mental health needs of both children and adults residing in this County at least annually to the board the following is a list of the unmet needs and possible solutions discussed I have hopefully you can understand me I had oral surgery six months ago and things still are working their way through we have an ongoing lack of mental health providers to offer services for children struggling with thoughts of suicide and depression one of the discussions we had uh uh regarding Solutions uh is bridging hul hired new adolescent provider more strategies relating to SU side prevention education and Avail available virtual providers uh continue lack of housing availability in wri county and the rising homelessness population with the county so there's a need for more affordable housing need for more lowincome housing uh need for more mental health beds and a need for homeless shelters um a solution discussion was working with with a few providers currently and possibility of expanding to more to provide Supportive Housing Programs in our County homelessness task force committee transition to housing suud providers uh on a side note regarding that I do know Ray County Community Action has been working with um I believe St Cloud Housing Authority um who takes care of the um they have homeless beds up there so um there is some availability uh transportation is still a serious barrier in the county public transport is not all not available at all areas it's not accessible it's not um convenient for a lot of people unfortunately there's a lot of people that don't want to wait either they want to be taken now and brought back now so hopefully someday there'll be a possibility for that uh there's a need for affordable therapy providers for children and family uh again a solution possibly bridging hope and healing moments on the thumbs up list allowing up to five free sessions for anyone nightly resources in stma students given six sesses each for free through a right County area United Way Grant need for cell phone or internet availability uh again the grant funding has a potential resource which I you guys approved one out here earlier which is wonderful uh some of the pmap insurance providers provide phones or phone minutes and there's also government free Pro phone program also uh promote more people to go the mental health Fields as therapy providers um one of the uh suggestions was to attend career day events and talks about the path to be to being a therapist potential for student loan forgiveness reimbursement for therapists who commit to rural counties uh for re County up to three years 10,000 care must be provided in right County but can live outside of there um as a toz mental health as a scholarship program for high school students interested in entering the field too so these are um are some of the unmet needs which again you've heard from years and years as long as I have also so hopefully next year when you hear this that there'll be a couple things that have been uh dropped from this list I'll be happy to take any questions if you have any I good because I don't have any answers I recognize that response U Mark I appreciate you uh coming up and presenting these unmet needs uh this is always a very good uh telling gauge of where we're at here in the county and giving us some goals to work towards I I do know the transportation when we've had a lot of those discussions at AT Trailblazer as we are having difficult getting staff we have difficult getting buses so we are continually on a backward slope and we want to be going forward so it's it's hard because the rides are there but we don't have the people nor the equipment to do it and that's only making this situation more complex when we actually need to get more accessibility there you know on a positive note though Trailblazers has provided more rides than what we had in the past so I mean it it is a positive step forward um like you say it's it's an issue with employees and stuff to and before um Mark leaves the podium another update on this is under the homelessness um issue that for a future board dis discussion but um funding has become available through our um for County adult Mental Health Initiative for housing so there is um currently funding that is we have um come that we have come into that was that we've since this list was created so more to come on that but um and there's also some additional funding so the housing area where we certainly have a lot of work to do in that area but I think the state and other entities are recognizing the homelessness crisis in the state and so we're seeing more resources and opportunities around that area well the County's still got an old building that's empty boy I was waiting for you to say that it's been sold that's it wonderful thank you you're welcome all right uh with that I'll uh enter entertain a motion to uh approve the Health and Human Services unmet needs report so moved second that all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I go same sign all right thank you approved unanimously director comments yes and I'd like to invite uh Rebecca wadell to join me at the podium um we are here to recognize um our long-term eligibility specialist Becky Waddell's retirement Becky has been with us since October of 2018 until when's your last day Becky I kind of hate to ask end of May end of May so she gave us a nice um a nice period of uh trying to transition however I do want to um recognize that we're celebrating Becky today and congratulations and best wishes on your new Venture into retirement um you know how do we thank someone who's kind of just I would say has been just a um a leader in our long-term care area really finesses a lot of areas um you know I think it's one of those areas where you're talking with adult children about their adult you know their parents who are maybe in a decline and it can be a very diff and it's about money and elders and all kinds of things and it can be a very difficult position to be in and Becky has just flawlessly maneuvered her way through that so thank you you've been a dedicated and dependable employee it's going to be very difficult I'm not even to say replaced it's going to be very difficult to um bring in other folks that can have the body of knowledge that Becky has your teamwork dedication and perseverance set the bar very high for the rest of us and you will be missed we hope you enjoy your retirement as much as we've enjoyed working with you Becky and congratulations thank you so much thank you thank you would you like to say anything first of all thank you for five great years at Reich County um I'm also going to encourage you to support my co-workers in any way you can to keep them keep the ones that have learned this job and do it well keep them here at Wright County do anything you can they're fantastic stand this team is also teaching their peers so they're smart they're getting they're skilled they're talented do everything you can to keep them here Rebecca thank you so much for those comments uh you know firsthand how much time and effort it takes to become good and knowledgeable at that that part of the work here at the County uh we need to give them all the help and support that we can get so we can have more employees like you that stay here uh for the long run and do great work for the citizens of the County so I can't thank you enough and I can't thank you enough for supporting all your The Replacements that come here in Ray County thank you yeah thank you thank you [Applause] Becky and board I'd like to in your packet you should have our 2024 April DHS performance report um this really is our report card so to speak from the state it's a statutory requirement number of years ago that the state stood up a performance um performance measures and a performance actually department down at DHS um so I was going to just quickly go through some of these they all are um good news there are no Pips no performance Improvement plans required um the first outcome that we're looking at are that people are economically secure in right County and this is measured by the percent of snap which is our food support program and cash assistance applications processed timely um in 20123 our County performance threshold was 78.9% the threshold is 75% and we're up from last year's um threshold last year's performance which was 74.9% and that's above the state average the second measure um is the outcome again our people are economically secure in this case the measure is the percent of expedited snap applications processed within one business day always a difficult um measure um and it's become more difficult again with our um our long-ter I'm not our long-term care our eligibility Specialists working very diff you know very hard over the last couple of years with the um pandemic and the unwinding of the pandemic and with this one there is again no pip required our County performance in 2023 is 69.2% the threshold is 55% or higher and last year we were at 63.6% so had a nice um upturn in that measure as well the final measure in this particular performance report is for the outcome that adults and children are safe and secure in R County and the measure is the percent of vulnerable adults reported as Mal treated with initial disposition for response made within five working days and if you recall we were recently here talking about our vulnerable adult positions and we just increased our um vulnerable adult social work staff by one um in this case uh we have the threshold is 90% and we've maintained a 99% um birth wance measure throughout the last four years so that's measure looks very good and again the changes the state has kind of changing some of the indicators around this so next year we'll see what those changes in the indicators mean for our performance but with an additional worker I have a competence that we will do just as well so that is our um that is our performance report our most recent one um for this past year I did want to just make a um did you have any questions about the performance report oh all right all right um I did want to mention just um was brought to my attention that our building here has just gotten a lot of recognition across the state um as far as you know a great place to meet I think it brings more business into specifically Buffalo but into right County in general as we have larger groups meeting here that are I think recently the orac group the governor's um opioid Council met here and um we have people contacting us I'm sure other departments do as well saying hey Jamie this is a you know a really nice central place to meet can we have our you know um Regional or Statewide meeting here in Ray County and people are just always so appreciative and very impressed with the building facilities that we have um to provide I think it's a nice um I think it's a nice uh change from St Cloud which was always been very Centric around Minnesota because we're closed without having to deal with going into St Cloud and some of the things like that so um just appreciation again for this building as you know I'm thrilled with it um but it's also being recognized across the state as a great place to be I had um one final item um and that's just an update the shower room down in our Public Health Bay maybe you didn't know we had a shower room down in our Public Health Bay has been retrofitted to serve as a water testing lab I want to thank Tim D and Allen um in assisting us with this change as we take on water testing um so and our staff are currently being um trained and I met two downstairs by the lab today that are um now nitrate tested so we're ready to go on the new water testing out of our Public Health area and that's all I have thank you Jamie for the those updates thank you all right now moving forward to items for consideration uh first one would be to uh adopt revisions to policy 309 employee recog nition uh yes Mr chair I can kick that one off uh this was in line with some work that we've been doing under a strategic plan on the direction of looking at Employee Appreciation uh recognition and award programs uh we had discussed this at the quarterly leadership team and what uh is being proposed um we've had an employee of the month in Health and Human Services but not other areas of the County uh we're looking to expand that program across the entire County and all departments so uh the proposal re rised to the policy 309 is in your packet I'll stand for any questions regarding that um chairman um I was wondering if I could uh I I I had a discussion with uh with Mark mati and I think it would be a good idea just to refer this back to the Personnel committee on May 28th just for some minor tweaks May 28th yeah I'm fine with that if there I'm okay with that yeah okay like to take another C look at it then and see sure good all right sounds good all right so with that uh we'll just uh we don't have to make any action on it we'll just refer it back to the as long as there's a consensus here to send it back and we'll come forward here in June with a revised policy all right with that moving on to the second item on items for consideration is to approve a resolution of final acceptance and final payment in the amount of $2,700 $ 5740 to newa construction for the contract number [Music] 2207 Mr chair this was on D Avenue the roundabout that was completed highways verifi the numbers uh this is just closing out the project so any questions I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Dietrich second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none a resolution vote commissioner Shane i i i i i resolution passes unanimously all right uh the next item is the approval of lawful gambling application and adopt resolution for Northstar search and rescue uh this is pertaining to the event that is out there at Whispering Pines Golf Course correct Mr chair um as you mentioned the group uh because this is the 214 that does require a resolution we found that's the fastest way to get them their info so that's why it's on as an item for consideration uh I'll entertain a motion at this time I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none resolution vote I vote i i i i i resolution passes unanimously next would be to rever refer items to the May 14th Workshop uh in the packet is included some of those topics is there anything that needs to be modified or added to that list uh Mr chair go ahead Mr catchmark if you have something I'll just I was got recent notice that the fairboard would like to attend the workshop uh to discuss a property that is for sale near the fairgrounds uh if we could add that to the list uh that contact was made after the packet was posted so okay Mr chair administrator mati that email we got from the fairboard is that okay to send out to the other fairboard or the other Commissioners and and any other information and I I'm going to request a couple other tidbits if you could make a note that would be helpful for the board yeah get out your crayon there uh one would be notice the beacon drawing shows the property lat line cuts through one of the buildings out there and I don't know that sometimes that GIS I understand has some fuzzy numbers but we should make sure that we don't have property that includes uh part of a building that's up for sale but I'd also like to know for last year and this year what events were scheduled at the fair and what they collected for having the event now the fair itself we can just summarize five days but uh period atically they'll have a an offshoot tractor pull Hesh show this or that because I was at the meeting last night and they're talking about proposed or assumed use if we buy this land the Wii is us and what we're talking about just to put in perspective quickly is a Halfacre of land asking priced $225,000 uh there's a couple buildings on it presumably it would be demolished for uh around 15,000 they proposed that they could use some of our appropriation money for that that demo cost because they deal with buildings and grounds but it would be up to us to buy the property and they last night unanimous for Ray County to pursue it if the offer that's on the table over there falls through so um that's just kind of a little bit in a nutshell what's up for discussion at the workshop but uh so those are the pieces though in addition that if you can round those up for for us yes uh Mr chair members of the board yeah we can look at the Beacon photo again that is a representation so uh we're not going to probably send out a survey crew to identify property lines that's not our our job unless it's our property uh outside of the Fair events out what events and what type of Revenue they had those are the additional things uh did get an email this morning from the fair board uh wishing to come to the workshop to present their thoughts so we'll put what I've received for communication from them along with this additional information in the meeting packet for the workshop all right thank you very good with that uh Mr chair I have another item that getting ahead of myself a little bit but you got item six as a review of a claim and as a part of that that background justification will come during that review but you want add I would like to add contract for goods and services as far as the review or the process of for the workshop right and that's just a kind of a general my I'll be specific on procurement okay all right all right now with that uh we have a consensus on that we don't have to take any action on the approval of the agenda items for the workshop uh all right now moving on to the number five is the schedule Committee of the whole to discuss Sheriff's Office topics uh this was a alluded to at the previous committee the whole that we would have a subsequent meeting to discuss uh holistic operations and kind of a forward-looking discussion with the Sheriff's Office on where they're at where they see themselves going and potential needs on that pathway all right Mr chair yes I see that that it was suggested that we get an update on the Oracle project which includes the body cam or maybe that's all of Oracle is the body cam project yeah that's that that that that would be part of it they're talking about the city contract rates uh as well as just where they're at from Staffing holistically so it's it's covering a a magnitude of topics so my point and and we had agreed to refer some specifics to the body cam to a future meeting but I would like to know if we're going to get an approximate month and year that that body cam product will be delivered and ready to operate and if we aren't aren't going to get that which we didn't at the last meeting then I don't really see the need to discuss because Staffing budget and policies are all kind of hinging on when the delivery date is for this item and if it's going to be delayed to a certain point all those things could change some of those things could change so I'd like to know if that's on the table that we're going to actually get some kind of time frame because we haven't had that yet I will say at this time they're not going to give us a definitive month uh that that I know is not going to be the answer uh is it likely to to be in 2025 yes uh so this is more of a discussion about when it happens in 2025 what things they will need that would pertain to it in 2025 and that and that's your words 2025 we haven't heard that yet uh so I guess for the rest of the decision makers here are you comfortable saying 2025 but I don't know where you're at Chief we were comfortable at 2024 too yeah if if you're chairman members of the board if you're looking for a definitive date we we don't have that we've got some loose timelines we can discuss at the community of the whole if you're if you're interested in that but if you're if you're looking for definitive timelines and you want to wait until we have those then we can delay that discussion to a different time I thank you for the honesty I I am in favor of that otherwise I just see us circling around and and and a lot of it hinges on a time frame I would say that I I knowing that I mean I guess I'm saying 2025 because that's how I've imp postered to that it's a pretty likelihood that it'll happen 2025 so hence having the conversations prior to budgets so they have an understanding of what's coming at us into the budgets uh and whatever that that need would be would be pro-rated so if it happens in December 2029 you're only budgeting a month of it or actualizing a month of a month of it but you you probably still want that information because you it's it is coming forward and they need to get they're trying to do their due diligence and get you that information further ahead than later so we can actually budget appropriately if we're talking about Staffing when it comes to body cam different things we know we're going to have that need in 2025 most likely first quarter um but you can't just hey we have it we need the staff next week you have to plan and prep for that and do hiring and training that kind of thing so we would like to have that discussion if it's going to be part of this committee the whole I I I'm leaving it to you because I when you're saying that without I mean holding them to until Oracle says that this is the date have waiting to discuss then I feel like we would be doing it a day late and a dollar short we we have to have it months and ahead but we don't even have a year for sure I guess I'd like to defer to the other three we haven't heard from them I would PR preer to have the discussion um even if it's preliminary just we it's better to be on top of things rather than catching up okay that's three of us spoke how about the other two chman v i uh I don't want I I don't want to I feel like we're after the discussion with Oracle that we're really far away because they just have these pieces Meed out to different organizations I I don't even know if they could definitively say how many people they're going to need uh without even knowing once all these things are working together because it sounded like to me at this meeting fire was used in one aspect of it uh jail another aspect they've not melded those together which they're going to need here so I don't know if you know I guess we could waste our time talk about it but I think I I think we're away a long ways away I unless unless they really come in and work fast in the next few months to get all those pieces together working without any glitches I think we're very far away and so I I don't know I think it's a waste of time myself but you know the hardest thing with this is cuz you know the argument before was that we weren't included in the project included in the Pro process so now that they're they're including us in the process and now you're saying well I don't want to hear about it I don't want to do anything about it because I it's not far enough along I I I'm trying to they're they're trying to include us in the process they articulated and we knew at the last meeting of the Oracle because it is a p uh what proprietary product and they are it is very new and for that reason they are not going to handcuff themselves to a particular date is it is it three months is it six months is it 12 months I don't know but it it is at a substantial cost savings to the taxpayers so your choices there are right now you can actualize that that savings and that product you maybe get it 6 months 12 months maybe worst case scenario 18 months or we can pivot and shell out4 to $6 million and go to an offthe product shelf that that that's already existing in use I guess that's my question where you're at is that where you the two of you are at would you like us to uh allocate budget of $4 to $6 million this next year and uh imposture and I'm going to say the word posture to the Sheriff's Office to make that change because at the end of the day they are under no obligation to have to make that change because he the sheriff does have the ability to decide what he wants to use it for whether he would want to take it and use still continue going forward with the sheriff or with the Oracle or he could choose and go off the shelf and have it go the other way Mr chair I think that is a fair point that we could choose to discuss do we still want the free guinea pig service with uh unknown expectations of delivery or do we want to explore A system that we'd pay for that's already out and about throughout the state and working but I want to say that my phone isn't ringing from deputies or citizens or even myself to push hard for the camera project but if there are those here that feel strongly for it then I want to present that we could go a different direction for a more of a a guaranteed time frame for a result but I I just want to stress that the depuy's unit and nobody is calling and saying can you please pass this nor was it a priority when I was a deputy over there I just have to throw that out there but I'm just listening to these presentations and the feedback and that we just kind of understand that there's some some gaps and guessing on when we're going to have what some of us maybe want more than others Mr so yes um in response I I think we've had these discussions and it's been and and commissioner Holland has said you know we need those body cameras right now um we've started having more discussions in and involvement with the sheriff's office in this process we've met with Oracle and I think one of the other aspects that they mentioned um is that they're a publicly traded company as they're working on this holistic uh it a project that includes everyone on the same system um that won't be outdated in five years that it's it's it's a process um that they can't give you a date because that would be uh against that legal obligation with as a publicly traded company they can't give us a date um but obviously they're working together um with the sheriff's department and they want to give us an update I don't I don't think this is hard decision to [Music] make we can add it to that I mean but either way we're having this meeting so whether that aspect of that discussion is five minutes or 50 minutes that will depend on on board members because we have to discuss other items as far as contract rate and other uh needs within the sheriff's department and where they're going so I having the committee the whole has to happen uh some of the other topics we can decide later on it I sounds good all right let's back to picking a date right Chief what do we have proposed out there Mr chair we' looked at a few different things uh maybe it would be easiest to follow the board meeting on the 21st sounds good to me yep May 21st at whatever we go 103 10:30 sounds good ENT I'm not available after the board meeting that day okay all right okay let's see here how about the 20th after the Eda meeting that works for me Monday the 20th uh Chief what time it would probably be a 9 9:30 9 :30 I think that will work all right May 20th at 9:30 a.m. I'll entertain a motion I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane is set May 20th at 9:30 a.m. any further discussion for a committee of the whole hearing none all in favor say I I close same sign all right motion passes unanimously all right uh next would be the pulled a warrant uh in the warrant number of 10 9638 with Waste Management commissioner catchmark no thank you Mr chair so I'm doing a claim review recently for this week there was a claim for about $1,500 for Waste Management and I was just doing an inquiry about family discount kind of a deal with all the different size dumpsters and cans and location and what I found is that this contract actually expired 7 months ago last September and did something that auto renewed they call it so it just started billing us at the same rate at that point because it wasn't reviewed by anybody so I just want to summarize as those that may have forgotten but we've got contracts of different lengths and terms here we had a verbal agreement last year for professional service we found we got a contract with the newspaper for three years we had a contract at the old building for a pro service that we weren't using we got this one expired 7 months ago we had another verbal agreement in 2024 for professional service that we did away with that nobody was uh keeping track of in writing per se so I found a job description for a staff position that reads under essential functions responsible for negotiating contracts monit contracts for caps terms and compliance promotes best practices and helps establish and adhere to County development standards and procurement rules this isn't the job description for the lowly District 5 commissioner this is for the procurement analyst and I brought this up before but if this position aren't isn't doing these duties then I think we got two choices we can either reclassify the position or we can eliminate it but Administration has told me they've they've advised office and department heads already to review your contracts bring them forward keep track and yet we still find one like this so as a board if we allow this it'll continue and it's continuing so that's my background justification I think enough time has gone by for next week's Workshop to hear what is the plan to keep these contracts in line with uh what they should be by the right staff people I appreciate your time and efforts in Catching this um to me this is uh uh may or may not be an employee performance issue which may which shouldn't be discussed in this fashion this should have been something that probably should have been discussed uh through Administration and not a public forum and corrected through such action Mr chair to that point it's been discussed outside the public big room and nothing's happened and I didn't identify any particular people here so uh this is the proper place because there's been no action in a couple years so I think it's enough time has gone by and enough chances for administration and when we don't have anything to show for it Mr chair then then that would be and and this is more of an action overall holistically because then it would be a performance issue from the top down that if your issues are being brought forward and not getting uh the correction actions that are necessary I guess it's more about how it's being presented but that's okay uh so with that we can definitely have a discussion at the workshop next week regarding procurement and contracts and uh our practices I think that that we have to have a discussion on whether it's being actually done or not being done and to what degree it needs to be done and Mr chair I think this this isn't just me my interest I I think it needed to be brought before the other decision makers otherwise if nobody else is interested in this then it just goes by the wayside right no I exactly and I appreciate because I am with you wholeheartedly we put that position into in there and the goal was to look at doing and leveraging countywide buying and actually making sure that we are reviewing contracts on a timely basis and it looks like you have some evidentiary proof that that that that's not happening and I haven't heard myself from anyone that Administration was notified and not doing anything about it but uh knowing that now I think there's a little bit more teeth uh to the cause if that's the case and we maybe have to look into it deeper Mr chair I can maybe speak to some of the work we've been doing on this so and if there is a desire to have a discussion I would suggest that we bring projects to give an update on a project that they're working on right now they're working on a contract document centralization project with the goal of achieving exactly what commissioner catchmark is talking about um we've realized that there are a lot of contracts throughout the county that haven't been centrally documented and we haven't been tracking them in one place and so we're about looks like about a quarter of the way through that project of figuring out how we're going to document those what piece of software we're going to use and then who's going to be in charge and responsible for monitoring those so we are working on it we're aware of it and if you'd like we would certainly be willing to bring forward a discussion or an update on where that project is to the next workshop and I would just like to add being Finance director Lindsay Meyer have been talking about the future of procurement we were going to bring that forward at two guys at a certain time more discussion will you be ready to do it next week or are we better off holding off until June because I don't want to have a meeting if if there's not you're not going to be ready to present the we have we have been discussing it at length I don't do you feel comfortable Mr chair Commissioners I don't know that we are ready to describe or explain our full plan yet we Heather and I have been spitballing ideas and thoughts on where this could go for the county um with an intent to bring something forward at budget time and you know and I get that this is a challenging process because when going in trying to create more of a centralized Hub into our Administration coming out of our siloed effect we and then trying to implement the Erp with it and using the leverages of that and trying to correct the system with having univis Universal contracts so if anybody isn't aware of the history for the longest time in right County every department just signed their own contracts and kept it within their own filing desks so at that point when we even put the procurement analyst in place they don't know what they don't know and I guess I was maybe our commissioner catchmark I think maybe we all had some thoughts that this could move along a little bit faster and more efficient than than it is uh truly we're finding out that it's it's not as easy of a test that we maybe could have been or should I think that I am hesitant to say that we need to move this along real quick based on our experience with centralizing finance and the amount of time that it has taken for us to come from the direction to centralize to where we are at now um things are starting to work well um and I think we need to be very planful about how we go about centralizing procurement at the county and I don't want to make a snap judgment that we need to do it now um we need time to plan for it and I think the biggest question that happens on a lot of the different ones is who owns these contracts and that is really is who is the the sponsor or the owner of the contract so that they're in this situation making sure that that contract it whether it needs to be renegotiated if it needs to be renewed is actually doing that due diligence on it and I think right now we're in that I'm not sure on some contracts on who's the owner of it anymore I do I will say that it is very challenging to have one person do the job of all things Contracting in procurement at a county this size with the budget that we have it's just I I will say it's impossible for us to have one person managing all of it having their eyes on all of it there's just too much work to be done and I think right now the there's some ambiguity as we're we've kind of Muddy the waters on some of these ones like this the waste garbage is is a prime example to where it used to be owned by the individual departments now well they're not sure yep and we we have to clean that individual isn't always brought into the discussion to begin with so and that hence I want to clean I I want to make sure that this doesn't portray things in a in a fashion that it's not because to me this is more of a we need to have some hardened processes and make some clarity to the department heads that this is either or is or is not your respons ability to review and negotiate and yes you still need to file it with finance and keeping the records of it so we know about it but you're still managing it and vice versa when things are not Mr chair um just real quick so finance and admin we'll work to you're working on the same project we are in this sense okay just wanted to verify Mr chair if I could just for a little bit I would not mind bringing this to the workshop we're not expecting this to be like right now right here but I guess just because I've seen in my last year being first on here you're kind of brought into just like oh my gosh so maybe we have some insights that we've seen that we can bring to the table as well to help this along like I said I'm not looking to have this completed by that time but maybe that Workshop is a good time to kind of collectively see what we have seen or say what we've seen and that kind of thing so I guess I wouldn't mind kind of working forward on it we're looking at all the you know kind of going back to the other subject and this one seems to have a little more ground at least some action moving in it so I don't know why we wouldn't spend some time on it I agree yeah and Mr chair and Commissioners we can certainly bring forward a discussion I think I would like to work with Elizabeth and her team to figure out if they would be comfortable next week or if June would be a more appropriate time but I think it's absolutely pertinent for the Commissioners to give their input into what you've seen and what input you would like to give into that pro project of how we're managing contracts I guess we can always do it as a next uh next week part one to carry to the deeper discussion as part two we can maybe touch base a little bit on it yeah I'll work with Elizabeth and her team to figure out what the best approach is if Commissioners are comfortable with us doing that Mr chair thank you very much I mean I just I I'm looking forward to that and I appreciate the work that you're doing in that but I think it's just a good direction it's good start yeah and Mr chair and I wish it was further than a start because the inquiry started two years ago and I want to hear we don't want to rush things that that really isn't the best message that that I want to hear after the the history of things that I found as the lowly commissioner with all these other positions that really should be keeping track of these things time and money time and money that's we we we we chose the the Erp they they they went through phase one and phase two the last two years so the capacity wasn't necessarily there uh to put as much diligence into the uh procurement but there is value to it so I appreciate you keeping on it and making sure that it is coming to fruition because it needs to happen and and again if it's a hard subject Mr chair to hear in the big room I tried outside of here absolutely there's a point where you have to include the other four to say hey you going to offer Mike up as a sacrifice because you're not interested or we are all interested as a group that's it right absolutely I think that that holding some accountability to it I just want to make sure we're not talking about it more on a micro level of of individualized versus but more the whole process itself has been not moved forward is more the discussion than the issue is the process not so much the um because there isn't a process and that's the reason why it's not working it's not so much the individualized portion of it all right so thank you Mr chair now moving on to the uh we are do we Mo did we vote on the uh we didn't need to vote on the sorry I lost track on where we we had the that was the waste management contract we didn't need to oh yeah we do have to approve that contract yes right I'll make a motion to approve the claim all right I'll second so we have a motion by commissioner cash mer second by commissioner Holland to approve the claim 10 19638 uh any other discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign all right motion passes unanimously uh recommendations from the committee the whole on 615 uh that had to do with the uh impervious surfaces in County ditch 10 uh is there any discussion on either of those recommendations I can read them if they have any have any questions I'll make motion motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner catchmark any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I FST same sign all right uh next would be the recommendations from the April 16th uh sheriff's office Oracle update which was to uh schedule a committee of the whole uh at a future date uh to discuss updates on the Sheriff's Office and the uh portable recording system which we just did so with that I'll entertain a motion I'll make the motion motion by commissioner dri second by commissioner Holland any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I iose same sign all right recommendations are approved unanimously last would be the approval of the April 29th uh Broadband committee uh which we have already approved both of those resolutions earlier in the meeting for chartering midco so with that I'll entertain a motion to approve those recommendations so moved second all right motion by commissioner uh dri second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say i i i f same sign all right motion passes unanimously all right with that that takes us to the end of the agenda is there any parting uh statements by any board members before we adjourn hearing none all in FA or not in favor we're juring here at 10 at 10:14