This meeting is being recorded. Good morning everyone. It is great to see the room full here today. 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. Well, today is one of those great days where we get to recognize the years of service for the wonderful employees and the service that they uh service and time that they dedicate to the citizens of Wright County. Uh at this time, I'm going to turn the mic over to administrator Kryer here and ask board members to step forward as we uh go through the achievements of service years. >> Mr. Chair, we're going to begin with the five years of service. Right, Mr. Chair, for the five years of service, we have Emily Anderson, Health and Human Services. Mason Cody, information technology. Carson Law, Parks and Recreation. Jeffrey Schultz, Sheriff's Office. [Applause] Joseph Pascatch, Sheriff's Office. Austin H, surveyor. >> And then, Mr. Chair and members of the board, our 10 years of service. First is Ryan Anderly, Court Services. Kayla Sean, Health and Human Services. Kristen Otto, Health and Human Services. Lisa Wilson, Health and Human Services. Molly Sherman, Health and Human Services. Rachel Bro, Health and Human Services. Alex Anderson, Sheriff's Office. Braden Broka, Sheriff's Office. Charles Ericson, Sheriff's Office. Samson Lubers, Sheriff's Office. Mr. Chair, members of the board, our 15 years of service, Kelly Heistend, Health and Human Services. Haley Dubois, Sheriff's Office. Matthew Silbergel, Sheriff's Office. Nathan Rymer, Sheriff's Office. Mr. Chair, members of the board, the 20 years of service. Patrick Levine, court services. William Vogle, facilities. [Applause] Jill Per, Health and Human Services. [Applause] Brett Larose, Sheriff's Office. >> Christopher Maer, Sheriff's Office. [Applause] Mr. Chair, members of the board, 25 years of service. We have Lorie Pulvermacher, license center. Tracy Janakula, Planning and Zoning. Chad Torqulson, Sheriff's Office. Kent Leapelt, Sheriff's Office. Kevin Olsen, Sheriff's Office. And Mr. Chair, members of the board, finally we have the 30 years of service for Darnell Brunthorst Court Services. Mr. Chair, members of the board, I'd like to thank all the employees for their years of service here and um especially nice to see 30, 25, and 20 year employees here. So, thank you for your dedication to Wright County and um our employees are our greatest asset and um we appreciate everything you do for the county and for the the citizens of Wright County. Well, everyone, thank you so much for your dedication to the citizens of Ray County and to this organization. We wouldn't be able to operate as efficient and uh lean and uh service-minded without all of you in this room. We greatly appreciate all of you and your time. Uh we'll take a moment to uh uh recess just to give everybody time for those of you that want to leave at this time versus staying for the remaining part of the meeting. um cuz not necessarily sure all of you'd like to stay in here to listen to it. So, >> but you're welcome. >> You're Okay, we'll uh come back to here our regular meeting and our agenda. Appreciate you giving us that moment of pause there. And our next item on today's agenda would be the approval of the minutes from the September 9th meeting. I will stand for any modifications or a motion at this time. >> I'll make a motion that we approve them as presented. >> All right, we have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Dietrich. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. All right. Minutes are approved unanimous. All right. And now moving on to today's agenda. Would anyone like to make a modification to today's agenda? And hearing none, I will stand for a motion to approve today's agenda as presented. >> So moved. I'll second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Dietrich, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. >> All right. Agenda is approved. Unanimous. Moving on to today's consent agenda. Would anyone like to remove anything from today's consent agenda for further discussion? >> Hearing none, I will stand for a motion to approve today's consent agenda. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post. Same sign. All right. The consent agenda is approved. Unanimous. Moving on to timed agenda items. We have the uh wonderful privilege here to adopt the resolution 2551 proclaiming uh this coming week the national 4 week and is your extension staff to come forward here. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Okay, so much stuff. Okay. Um hello and good morning commissioners. My name is Sophie Sl and I'm a member of the handy dandy forage club in Hard Lake where I serve as president and um as last night president of the Right County Federation Board. I'm here to ask that the Roy County Board of Commissioners make a declaration of the first week in October as National 4 week in Ray County. To give some background about myself in case you forgot forgot from last year, I'm a fourth generation 4er and have been for since kindergarten and now currently a senior in high school. So I'm sadly nearing the end of my 4 journey with 4 helping me with my future career and help fuel my passion making me beyond ready which is this year's na national for theme sorry through for I've gained leadership skills improved my public speaking and I've made connections throughout the whole state and nation in 4 I have participated on the county state and national level as well as serving on the county federation board I'm also my club president, a day camp counselor, county ambassador, a state agriculture ambassador, and as this year a Minnesota 4 state air state ambassador, sorry. Right county 4 youth development program is an organization for young people kindergarten through one year past high school graduation. Minnesota 4 offers age appropriate hands-on learning through projects and activities including for clubs, special interest groups, after school programs, volunteering, civic engagement, community service, and much more. Wright County 4 program has 18 for clubs, over 700 members, and 180 plus adult volunteers. The first week in October is the annual celebration of the National 4 week nationwide. This week is a time to celebrate the many great things about being a 4 member. This week is also a time to showcase our organization and our communities and recruit new members. Clubs and members will be working hard to get the word out about 4. To assist with our promotion efforts, Right County 4 would like to ask the Right County Board of Commissioners to declare October 6th to 12th, 2025 as National 4 week in Wright County. >> Well, thank you Sophie. It sounds like uh you've done many great things over your years in 4 and uh 4 here in Ray County is it's great to see that there's you know 700 plus and over the years it's only continued to grow with the population. Uh which just articulates how great the program is. Uh it sounds and you like you've learned a lot over the years. You've done a great job articulating that here today. Uh, I would be happy to see a board member make a motion to declare October 5th through the 11th National 4 week here in Ray County. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Dietrich, second by Commissioner Holland. Is there any discussion on this resolution? >> I have a question. >> Sure. >> What is your favorite thing of being involved in 4 that you've ever done? >> That I've ever done? >> Oh, good lord. Um, >> I think the my favorite thing is probably making the connections. Like, you know, I have friends from literally every county and it's it's so much fun to like see people of my age, all ages, and we just all come together with our passions and stuff. >> Wonderful. Is there any other questions? very lucky in Wright County because I have Henipin County uh nieces and nephews that are now uh involved in Wright County because Henipin County doesn't have 4 and uh and they they're able to come to our fair and it's a great fair. >> I agree. >> Well, wonderful. We have a motion in a second to declare October 5th through the 11th the National 4 week here in Wright County. Uh it is a resolution vote. We'll start off with Commissioner Mo. I >> I >> I >> I >> I >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. >> Can we get a picture, too? >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> Step down frontly. [Music] Thank you. >> Oh, just a second. >> Thank you. Great job. And returning to today's agenda here, we are on to our uh hard to believe already our 925 agenda item. Uh I believe at this time I I don't view this item as controversial. We could probably move forward with it. Uh Attorney Lutz. Thank you. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair. commissioners. I think I miss 4, but I'm at the fair every day and and some of those kids I see every single day. So, they they put a a lot of work into 4 and make a lot of connections. So, appreciative of that. Um, Mr. Chair, you're correct. This is more of a formality than anything else. Um, every 5 years, the sheriff's office and my office is required to execute an agreement with the BCA and the court system to allow access for criminal justice information. uh the cities have to do the same thing as uh my office as a city attorney for most of the cities in Wright County. So there's a subscriber agreement for the sheriff's office and for my office and there's a joint powers agreement for the sheriff's office and my office. I did have one clerical air when I was reviewing the packet last night. We had submitted two subscriber agreements with the sheriff's office as agency. So, I submitted a new one this morning and administrator Kryser has a copy of it um with my office as the agency representative. Every reference thereafter goes back to agency. So, that's the only change. Uh so, I would ask for a resolution approving the subscriber agreements and the joint power agreements for both the sheriff's office and my office. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. utes. At this time, I stand for a motion to approve the sign signatures on resolution 2555 with the stated uh uh clerical corrections. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Holland. Is there any discussion? >> All right. Resolution vote then. Uh Commissioner Shane. >> I >> I >> I >> I resolution passes unanimous. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I did inform administrator Kryser I have the contact information for the DPS. So once signed by Mr. Chair and Mr. Kryser, I will email those agreements uh to my contact. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um we're going to hold off on our 9:30. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Um we're going to move on to items for consideration. Uh first one would be the recommendations from the recommendations/m minutes from the county board workshop on 9925. Uh they are informational only. Uh at this time just wanted to uh get those approved. Is there uh a motion to approve those? >> So moved. >> Second. Motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Next is the uh approval of the recommendations from the RI revisor's work group on the September 15th. Uh the revisor's recommendation is uh to move forward. I'm sorry with Yep. It's all in there. I'm sorry. I'm just My papers got messed up. Do right here. So, we have the parks and recreation ordinance update. We have the dangerous dog update. And then we have the park dedication ordinance uh update as well. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Sh. >> Second that. >> Second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, just a couple comments. Um with these recommendations, I believe we should have the time that the meeting was held and who was present um to fulfill the minutes um so that we know have those details included. Please. [Music] the administrator Chrysler, do we? >> Um, yeah, Mr. Chair, if you want it in the record, uh, I'm showing the meeting was held on, uh, September 15th, 2025. Um, I believe Commissioner Shane and Holland were in attendance. >> Is that it was an advisory meeting? >> Is it the whole committee has two people? >> It's an advisory meeting. So >> yeah, it's in Yeah. So we don't uh they are >> you want to go commissioner, >> isn't it a work group? >> We met at 10:00 in advisory setting. >> It should still have who is present. >> Um so here's what we um so Commissioner Dietrich, these are um not they're advisory groups. So they are bodies of two commissioners. So they are not a quorum. So they do not uh hold minutes to them per se. Uh we are bringing forward here the recommendations. It doesn't say minutes. It says the recommendations from that advisory work group. It is basically a a group that allows staff to get direction to know that they have at least two commissioners in favor of something before bringing it to the board. Uh so it doesn't have any formal voting or approval. It just morally gives the staff the ability to prevet things and know that they at least have support from two commissioners when bringing it forward to the board. Uh that is how all of our advisory work groups have been formed and then how they operate. >> Mr. Chair, there was staff present then advising the um the two commissioners. >> Yes. >> Yes. So that's what I'm asking is that that those people present should be stated. It's public meeting. It's still a public meeting even if it's >> but it's not a public meeting because it is only two commissioners. It's not a quorum. It is not a uh it is it's a work group. It it doesn't have to be it could be public but it doesn't have to be public. We don't publish it as a public meeting. It is a literally two commissioners that are meeting at hawk with staff to develop a a plan to move forward with different items. They we may have a standing name for it when they meet on these. They may actually schedule them, but they could be even ad hoc. >> I I will just I will just disagree with the process. I think it should be more transparent. We should have the date, time, and who was at the meeting in order to be reflect that to the community that who's working on this and who's bringing the recommendation forward. Um for all of these, they should have minutes. who's there when. I understand your position and and where it has been, but I I feel we should be more transparent. >> The reason it is actually operated in this fashion is because there are some things that you can't we can't or shouldn't roll out uh without at least uh allowing board members and staff to prevet things out there uh because it may lead staff and public down rabbit holes or uh get a perception that something's actually happening when it's not. So this is an opportunity for us to be able to uh have difficult discussions sometimes whether it's on a personnel level or an operational level or a strategical level that we can discuss it and determine if there is even uh an inkling of interest by board members without actually capturing or uh interesting the public or staff when it may actually be dead on first sight. And that's I understand your side from the transparency. The transparency is is not lacking. The transparency is here in this room. The transparency is when we are actually making decisions holistically of five individuals uh two members uh working with staff to bring something forward in trying to develop a proposal or an ordinance or an internal policy isn't one that necessarily the public doesn't necessarily always have to be involved in how the sausage is made. they they need to be uh here and know about when we are approving it and buying that sausage. Um, Commissioner Veg. Um, also, uh, it is basically from that point on then they go back and then they put it in the form of of like an amendment or in this case some ordinances and then it's our job as commissioners because it's well documented in the the this in our in our staff packet. And then this is the time and place where we have the discussion if there's something that you don't like. So as commissioners, it's our job to read through those and then and this is the place where we have the open discussion on the changes for these ordinances. And if we don't have any changes, then we go forward and put them. And so it's our job as commissioners to read the packet, talk to staff that is aligned like uh with the ordinance. Uh Tim Dah would be the person for the uh dangerous dog. That's our job as commissioners. It this is just they we're just used as a sounding board to when it does come to the board so we can have these discussions. >> I Mr. chair. I believe it's a workg group. It should be as transparent as possible. I'll stand on that. I don't think there's anything to hide when you have your discussions and come up with recommendations that are coming before the board. I don't know what else you talked about when you brought when you were had these discussions. So, it would be hard to understand >> how what what else should be coming forward or what shouldn't. >> But that's your job to read the report. >> And you didn't have any questions because that's what we we do. Do we go to >> Yes, I do. I do ask questions. Thank you, Commissioner. >> Because that's that's the role of the workg group. >> It's not a It's not a standing committee. It's a work group. >> It still sends recommendations forward and I think it should be transparent on who's there and at what time and what date. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. We have uh so at this point uh stand for a Do we have a motion on that after? I'm sorry. Yes, we had a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. >> Nay. >> All right. Motion passes 41. All right. And now we move on to the personnel advisory uh workg group from the 9:15. The only item on there which I believe all board members uh over the period of time and even through budgeting are aware even through uh previous workshops is the fleet organizational update. Uh so we've had much discussion. This is one that's been in the process for uh well over a year. Uh this is just kind of one more step forward on moving uh forward with that fleet organization. All right. I'll stand for a motion to approve the recommendations from the personnel advisory meeting on 9:15. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Mina, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I have my same objections to this. >> You for transparent. I have the same objections um to include uh the time and uh who is present in the meeting for transparency purposes. Thank you. >> All right. Is there any other discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. >> I motion passes 41. All right. Now moving back here to the timed agenda items. Uh we're close here now. We're within a couple minutes. I'll move on to our 9:30. We have the excellent, hardworking Matt Duchon making his way to the podium here. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um, before we get to the item, I just wanted to um do a brief summary of of how we got to this point. Um, we held a public hearing on the repair report for County District 19 on October 14th. At that time, staff was directed to seek bids for the repairs that were approved by Moore Engineering um during that public hearing. Um, so we have solicited bids and and brought those back and that's what will be voted on. But I did want to just touch base. I provided a memo breaking down the bid results um some other stuff including outstanding current balances. So before we get into the voting to approve, were there any questions on the bids themselves, scope of the repairs or anything like that that we can I can address before we move on to potentially approving work? Uh, so I I have a couple questions. So, as far as tree removal goes, and this will be on on the back side of the ditch um by the junkyard, correct? >> Is it going to be all trees removed from the area or is it just a select number of trees? And is that going to cause any erosion issues by getting rid of a large number of trees? >> Yeah, that's a good question. Um, so Moore's recommendation, and I do have to follow that because that's what we approved, um, was for 30 feet of tree removal along one side of the ditch. Um, so in order to save cost and and the other side of the ditch is actually very steep. So the practicality of removing trees on that side was difficult and would cause more erosion, right? If we remove trees on that side, could cause more issues. So the recommendation was 30 feet um, for the whole linear length. And that's in order to get equipment through that area and to adequately spread the spoils. Um we will be removing close to 3 1/2 ft of soil in areas and the ditch bottom channel is about 16 to 18 ft wide. So it's a lot of material that we have to be able to spread. If we just mounted it in a smaller area, it would actually erode directly back into the ditch and we would have to clean it out again. So that's why that 30 ft was selected. but it is on one side. So that does reduce cost as opposed to doing it on both sides. >> And then that's going to be tapered off so that it's it's embanked and then the erosion chance is less likely and then we're replacing it with grass and >> Yeah. And and in our recommendations, we are recommending receding. Um it's a reduction in the contract prices. um we can do it cheaper and we have equipment such as a hydro seedar um that'll really give us good quick establishment um and we're we're pretty well adept at doing that seating. So we just want to make sure that when that happens that the erosion doesn't occur. We'll be able to come in directly behind the contractor and and get that seed down which is going to be the most important thing for erosion. >> Thanks Matt. >> Absolutely. >> All right. >> All right. Any other questions on that? Otherwise, we can get into the items. So, um again, I am not a member of the DRA authority. I'm not elected official. I am recommending based on the amount. Um all the the quotes came in below the engineers estimate. Um and the contractors I've worked with these contractors. I can vouch for their work ethic and their quality of work. So, there are three that I am recommending approval based on those merits and one that I'm recommending rejection. So, we'll just work through those right now. Um, so the first item is to approve the low bid um authorizing the agricultural drainage and natural resource supervisor to sign contracts um for all of these. Um so, we just have to address that. Approving me to signatures if you approve the work for this contract. >> Some moved. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion by uh Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Moina to move forward with uh authorizing uh Mr. Matt Duchin to u sign the approved contracts when and if they are approved. >> Mr. Chair, >> yes, >> just a couple comments. Um we did receive some emails with some um information to ask to reconsider and I just want to acknowledge that. But as we move forward, it's our obligation to repair and maintain the ditches. Um, so that I just wanted to acknowledge that those comments um we had received via email and appreciate that the public has been reaching out to us. >> All right. Is there any other discussion for the first item on there would be to approve the uh or authorize Matt Duchen to sign the contracts when and if they are approved. Uh any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. >> All right. So, we broke these bids into four different sections. So, the first one I'm recommending um is for reach one tree removal and approving the lowest responsible bid from Clear View Tree Services LLC for $22,715. Um that our engineers estimate for that work was $37,500. So, we did come in below that. >> All right. Do they all need to be individually approved or can it be one approval for all of them? >> Individually just because they're different contractors and they'll have different contracts. So >> yeah. So at this time we are uh looking for a vote on the approval of reach one uh tree removal for clear view tree removal. Uh do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Dietrich. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. >> I. >> Vote passes 41. >> Next we have the uh moving forward with the reach one repair. >> Yep. So approving Wridge Drainage Inc. um for reach one repair. So this is the actual excavation. Um but rejecting bid alternative 7 and 8 which are for seating. Um we will do that work inhouse for cost savings for land owners. So, the total contracted amount will be $20,950. >> All right. And I'm going to I'm I'm not even sure how did you say that name of that contract. >> We Okay. It It doesn't read the way it looks. So, >> very very complicated. >> All right. At this time, I'll stand for a motion to approve Wridge Drainage Inc. for Reach One Repairs uh in the amount of $20,950. >> So, moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane. Second by Commissioner. Was that Holland? >> Yep. >> All right. by Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> I. >> Motion passes 41. >> Final one. Um proving Cotala Brothers Excavating LLC for reach two repairs. Um again rejecting bid alternatives six and seven as these are seating bid alternatives. Uh we will also be doing this work in house. Uh for a total of $7,975. All right. At this time, I will stand for uh a motion to approve uh COA Brothers Excavating LLC for reach two repairs in the amount of $7,975. >> So moved. I'll second. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane. Second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Same sign. >> I. >> All right. Motion passes 41. And our last item would be to reject all bids for reach number four repairs and direct staff to continue working on permitting items on this section. >> Y so I have no concerns with the bid or the contractor. Um it's just with work that reach has uh public water wetlands um stuff that wasn't vetted through our original repair proceeding. Um so I had to work with the DNR um soil and water office on receiving all the permissions for that work before we'd be able to move forward. So, and at this time I will stand for a motion. >> I'll make that motion and thank you because I know there was extra work with the DNR involved. So, thank you on that. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by uh Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Moina. Uh just to conclude this discussion, this is kind of uh one step in many many steps that we've gone on with uh ditch 19 over uh boy, it's got to be going on like seven, eight years that we've been uh having discussions on this one. And uh I will articulate that I understand the uh angst by a number of the individuals on this uh system and I will agree that the the way that the 103e drainage law works and how we have to assess uh land owners isn't necessarily palatable or one that I would even agree is the best way of doing it. uh but unfortunately that is the tool we have by the state and we are required to assess those ditches uh under that format. uh even though it does create a certain amount of inequity to it and I get the fact that right now on this repair there are some people that will be paying hundreds of dollars that uh may not see any change to their property but 103e uh determines that how we have to uh allocate out those uh repairs. So, uh, the viewer side of it, it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense to a lot of individuals and we do understand that, uh, the way that the, uh, 103 law is set up that it does make agricultural properties tend to pay more than that of residential properties largely because of the acreage size of it. Uh, but, uh, that is the way the system is. Uh I do sympathize for the people on this system, but nonetheless, if we didn't do this work, we would be holding individuals uh at harm of greater expenses uh because of potential legal damage that could happen if we didn't make these repairs. And I wanted the individuals to understand that we're making these decisions in the best interest of them. whether they may like it or not. If we didn't do it, they would the drainage authority would be up against potential litigation and then we would actually be paying for the damages and the legal costs as well as on the back side of it having to make the repairs and we I want the individuals to know that. >> Mr. Chair, I also add that we are that we continue to move forward legislatively with some different ideas that can help um kind of make it a more fair process. >> Yeah. And hopefully those legislative priorities that I submitted to you um for 2025, we can hopefully go and and start expanding on that and and and seeing what we can do to help resolve like Commissioner Vet stated very well is some inac inequities and in drainage law. Um that has to come at the state level. Um so happy to keep working with you on that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Mr. Sure. For Matt, if I could, it indicates or I think you indicated that the DNR is requiring additional permitting work. But I I think as you know, as long as it's a repair, we just have to seek their concurrence, not a permit. And we don't get a permit from the DNR unless it's actually an improvement because that's what the rules of the DNR indicate, even if they say otherwise, because they have an inability to actually read their own rules in the statute. But we are not going to be getting a permit, Mr. Chair, from members of this ditch, on a simple repair. We'll be seeking concurrence which is in statute and we'll go through that process if we have to but we are not going to subject ourselves to the jurisdiction of a DNR commissioner that cannot read her own rules. >> I thank you uh administer Ker. I appreciate uh giving that on the record. >> Mr. Chair, I do appreciate what you had said, too. And my my objection to the the other three being approved is not based on the work needing to be done cuz even residents that I talked to out there that are not in favor of this, they had validated that it does need to be done. It does need to be cleaned out, but their their benefit being a mile or more away, they don't they don't see that as as being beneficial to them. And I understand that because of how the way the statute is written right now that the hands are tied on this and I'm glad that we are going to work towards some hopefully resolutions on the drainage stuff and I know that uh the representative for that area which is uh Representative McDonald is aware of it too and um you know a lot of these laws are very antiquated as you would say and they haven't been updated in a long time and when these ditches were formed there may have only been eight property owners in the area. So getting eight people to agree on a ditch being put in place was very easy. But now when you have a 108, you you'd never get a consensus of that. So, um, I believe that a lot of it just needs to be rewritten and the the state needs to take a better look at how these old antiquated laws and statutes can get rewritten and redone so that they are more evenly distributed to the people that they provide a greater benefit to. >> Well, it sounds like Oh, Commissioner Allen. >> No, that's that was perfect. It it sounds like uh the comments made by the individuals on county ditch 19 and many ditches across the county did not fall on deaf ears here. I do it sounds as though there is a couple motivated commissioners and I believe the board holistically uh wants to advocate for all of you in St. Paul to hopefully bring forward some changes to the 103e statute uh if nothing else even if it's one-offs for Wright County to be able to mitigate some of these uh problems. So all right and with that there's no other discussion we will take a vote. All in favor of the rejections uh for bids on reach four say I. >> I oppose say nay. >> All right motion passes 50. All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And we're pretty darn close to on time for our uh 9:40 our agenda item here. Now it is to go forward with all the hard work by board members and staff and looking to move forward here with a prelim preliminary 2026 budget adoption resolution. >> Yes, Mr. Chair, if I could bring up the PowerPoint slide. Yes, Mr. Chair, and it's my privilege and honor to present to you the 2026 preliminary levy. This is the administrative proposed budget um to present to the board today for consideration and recommendation. Frank, if you go to the next slide. Some highlights of the budget. Mr. Chair and members of the board. Um we have a preliminary levy that I'm presenting to you today at 5.57%. It's the levy overview. Um we did have some key challenges with this budget this year that were thrown at us both from the state and federal level. we had cost shifts that we mostly avoided from the state and then at the last minute we also got some additional um cost shifts that we're looking at coming down on us in the next two to five years at the federal level. So taking those into consideration um we came up with a budget here today that addresses the HHS the health and human services impact going forward. Um what's not listed on here as well is what we commonly refer to as the act which goes into implementation in 2027 uh which addresses health and human services on the child protection end of the spectrum. So the budget you have here today incorporates some cost-saving measures and also some investments in key areas to try to address these state and federal cost shifts as well as the additional unfunded mandates that we're going to be getting from the the state uh with the act going into effect in January 1st, 2027. One of the other key challenges that we have with this budget is that we do have eight union contracts right now that are up for negotiation with the county. Our healthcare uh insurance is also increasing. Um just yesterday we received word in administration that it is a 14% cap. Um so we are hitting our 14% rate cap next year. Uh if we didn't have that rate cap it would have been a 25% increase for Medicica. But with our rate cap that our brokers were able to negotiate, we're able to keep that rate down at 14%. But that is still an increase that we we expect was going to be coming during the budgeting process and it it was affirmed yesterday and it did come. The additional coming up in January 1st of next year is the Minnesota Paid Family Leave Act. Um you know half the statutory amount that the county is required to contribute of 39%. Um if you look at the state it's broadcasting if you go with the state at 888% so it would be44% if we were to stay with the state but administration and with the county board's blessing has gone forward with a new plan with Metife on the private market which saves us it drops the price from88% on everyone down to 78. Um so we did have a 10 basis point savings there. So that is passed along uh as you can see here from 044 down to.39 and five basis point reduction. We also have rising costs that we addressed in this budget for fleet and equipment supplies and materials and technology upgrades and contracts. Those are some of our our hard costs that seem to always hit us every year as part of the budgeting process. But we took a holistic view of everything and um looked at the trends over the last 3 to 5 years and cut everywhere we possibly could on the administrative level to present the board uh with the budget that you see here today of 5.57. Next slide, Frank. So some of our priorities that we looked at addressed in the levy were providing for and greater civic engagement. We're looking at improving and maintaining our standard services even in light of cost shifts that are coming at us. We are investing in maintaining our our level of service that we have here. Um like places like our DMV. We want to make sure that outreach is still going strong that what our constituents see here that they get every single day and that we maintain that level of service. Thirdly, we're investing in public safety. I'll have a slide on that later. Um we're searching out and we're securing nontraditional funding sources through partnerships and additional grants. looking at how we can capture more revenue from the HHS side as well as other grant funding from our federal and state partners. We're maintaining improving infrastructure. If we have it, we need to maintain it. Um we do not want our roads to crumble. Um we are still maintaining our our roads and when we're fixing them or replacing them or doing a mill overlay. We're trying to get our roads to a 10 ton minimum standard. We're not skimping. We're not going down because all that does in 20 years is make the expense go up. So, we're investing in today to try to maintain our equipment and assets going forward in a longer uh more sustainable fashion. We are promoting safe communities through our sheriff's office and with our switch over to community services and probation coming up here in just under three weeks. Um switching over from the DOC court services model over to community corrections. That'll be an exciting um way for us to invest better into our public safety and to get better um responses and better efficiencies within county government. We're providing for economic growth and also fostering land development and the environment through our our budget that you have here today. So, as I indicated, we are investing in public safety in this budget. you'll see um we have increased uh two deputy positions in law enforcement as well as one correction officer position. Um we are committed to maintaining public safety and to trying to keep it effective response times in our sheriff's office. And you can see the chart here on the bottom which you have here are the the number of calls and then you have the converted over percentage which is the converted over of cases. So, as you can see, from 24 to 25 projection, we're looking at a 3,000 call projection uh for 2025 uh going into 911. So, they're projecting just over 84,000 calls to come in and they're projecting that of those 84,000 calls, 44.5 of them will convert over to cases that become active. So, we're investing in our sheriff's office. Um our growing community demands this and also we're looking at having consistent law enforcement intervention and for timely responses. So when you call 911, we want a deputy to show up in a timely response. Um unlike some jurisdictions in Minnesota, we we value law enforcement here in Wright County and we want them to show up when you call timely. When you need someone at your door, you need them at your door now, not in 20 minutes. And then going on to where our preliminary revenues are coming from, you can see um unfortunately the vast majority of it, 47% is from property taxes. followed by state categorical aid um and then going down to service for charges and then we have other um mainly dealing with our loss funding for highways and then state general aid at 4% and federal grants at 6%. Our expenses, our highest expense area is just our general government, which is basically everyone, all departments other than law enforcement, um HHS, and highway. And this so that 26%. Next up, our our next highest expense category is highway operations. And um that's not due to staffing. That's just because fixing and maintaining roads is expensive. um at 25% that's our 25% of our budget is fixing and maintaining our critical infrastructure to help the constituents of Wright County be able to get where they need to go and to try to move commerce and support our economy here in Wright County. Next up we at 22% is our investment in public safety um followed by human services at 14% with the remainder there as well. So some fun facts here about Right County. We always hear that we have 512 center line miles of road, but the other day I was looking and I go, "Well, how long are our interstates?" Well, just to put this in perspective, I94 across the entire state of Minnesota is 254 miles and I35 from the Iowa border up to Duth is 220 mi. Adding that together, that's 700 or 474 miles. That means we maintain more miles center line, not lanes. Don't want to get lanes in here, but center line miles. That's how much how many miles we plow is the equivalent distance of Highway 35 and Interstate 94. We plow more than that every time it snows. And we obtain more than that every single year uh with our highway maintenance crew. So we're doing an extensive amount of work. I think when you put the 512 miles down on a map, you realize how far we actually are going and what we're doing here in Wright County. So we have 7,000 or 74,630 different parcels that we are looking at through the assessor's office office every year. Our recorders office over the last 7 years has been averaging over 30,000 real estate recordings a year to them. I don't know how you keep up with that number, but wow to our recorders office. They do an astounding amount of work and they get these posted within a week from the time they come in. So congrats to them. our population trend, our 2024 estimate from our 2020 census, we are up 13,000 people um or 9.4%. Wright County is the fastest growing county in Minnesota. So, our tax history, this is our tax rate history. As you can see, the 5.5 um% preliminary levy that you have here is a reduction in the tax rate going from 35.563 to 35.184. So, Mr. chair um and members of the board um feel very comfortable in these numbers but even with the 5.5% increase we are dropping the overall tax rate on on constituents. So administration is recommending this budget. Uh the 2026 budget figures would be a total of 224 million um 927,000 and the 2026 levy would be 106,16,926. And taking that into consideration with our growth that we have here, I have a chart showing what the impact of a 5.57 levy would be. And we're taking the median home values. This is what your property would be assessed at the median value level on January 2nd of 2024 to the median home value on January 2nd, 2025. So including that increase, here's in the median value, here's what the impact of a 5.57 look levy looks like. If your home value stayed flat with our tax rate going down, you would see a reduction in tax. Um, but everyone's house unfortunately I'm for tax purposes goes up every year. If you're selling, great, it's going up. But for tax purposes, we never like it when the taxment says it goes up. But fortunate always does. So I wanted to be truthful to people and show them what the actual impact is on the median value. And I tried to break it down um to some of the bigger cities across our our commissioner district so that we kind of had a more representation. But at the bottom there is the countywide average. The median home value is 3488. In 2024, median home value of 362 countywide. And with a 5.57 levy impact on the median countywide home, it's $38.71 uh estimated tax impact for residential property. So, Mr. Chair, with that, that is the administrator's um proposed 2026 budget. I'm happy to stand for any questions. >> Thank you, Administrator Kryer. Uh I appreciate board members and staff and the going through a great budget season. And I I feel that this process was uh the best that we've had in my tenure. Uh we've had great discussions. We're still able to maintain that methodology of trying to create sustainability while trying to continually bring down the tax rate as much as we possibly can and being able to keep it sustainable. Uh trying to remove the peaks and valleys and trying to lower the taxpayer impact. Uh I think once again we've been able to achieve it and without doing so by preventing us from squeezing a balloon and making you have to pay it all back and more sum next year uh barring any legislative changes. Uh I also want to say uh thank you to our uh an extra thank you to our finance staff. uh some of the systems that you have in place, some of the spreadsheets have been really really helpful for us to kind of uh forecast out and really be able to look at uh things in front of us now and in potentially in the future so that we can uh make good decisions and I want to thank you for that. Uh always seen continual improvement in the process and continual improvement in our organization. Um I'll turn it over to board members if you have any comments. >> Mr. Chair, I would just like to say thank you too to administration for the extra work um the extra time that was spent um with me also just looking at absolutely every cut we can. It is definitely our responsibility to be very good fiscal agents for our constituents. I do feel that we did a really good job this year um moving forward with this. Um and I look forward to the continuation of keeping a very tight hand on the purse strings as as one of my old council members used to always say. Uh Commissioner Veg, uh I have to say thank you for the PowerPoint. Thank you for breaking it down uh like I asked last year because my school board brain likes to see how it impacts uh the median home value rate and that's very helpful. I want to thank the staff. Uh I don't think anybody realizes that by after the 4th of July, our staff is working so hard. Um just going down and just retooling everything, making sure every uh nickel is accounted for and how they could cut. And I feel like everybody came forward with some really good uh recommendations. I think this is probably uh the best uh I I've seen uh and I watch if I I've been watching county board stuff for a long time. Um, this is this process was just phenomenal and I want to thank the administration and finance for all the hard work and meeting with me and letting us know um how the process was going and and it truly was a lot of hard work and thank you. >> I don't know what else to say on top of that. I mean, they pretty much summed it all. I mean, it's good work by everybody involved. I mean, I I came from a city with about a $4 million budget to $225 million budget. That's a very large chunk of change difference. And and this was not an overwhelming process because of all of the individual departments that met with us. All of the time administration and specifically finance put into putting together these charts and these graphs and making it very easy to understand that, you know, we're doing what's best for the county moving forward. and in the long term. >> All of that being said, just appreciate all the efforts and keeping first and foremost the impact of the taxpayer in mind um but also the quality services that we want to provide at the county. So, thank you for all your efforts. Thank you for your daily work um serving the people of Right County. Well, with all that being said, I will uh look for a board member to make a motion to set the preliminary levy for 2026. >> So moved. I'll second. >> All right. We have a motion by uh Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Holland to uh move forward with the resolution uh setting the 2025 uh preliminary levy at 5.57. Any discussion? Hearing none. Resolution vote. I'll vote. I >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. >> Mr. Chair, if I could just thank the board for everything you've done here. Um it's a lot of work that goes into it that I don't think people see that goes on here. And it it's always amaz in government. It's always fun because you do all the work behind the scenes and then we take a 10-second vote and it's done and over with. But I want to thank you. Um the board was very invested in everything we did here and your your guidance and leadership throughout this, Mr. Chair, members of the board was um greatly appreciated. And I also want to thank our staff on the finance team as well as our department heads um as well for really zeroing in on the budget here to try to get this this figure this year. >> All right. Well, one last item, it's more of just a housekeeping item. We need to schedule uh now that we have our preliminary levy, we need to schedule our truth in well what we used to be known as the truth and taxation meeting, but now it's just the uh budget overview uh prior to our uh final approval of it before the 1st of January, 2026. We need to have a public hearing. Uh so with that, we're looking to tenatively schedule December 11th at 6 p.m. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. And with that, uh, and no other items on the agenda to attend to, we will adjourn the county board meeting at 9:59.