e e e good morning everyone it is Tuesday October 1st we'll call the right County uh 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 all right uh relatively short agenda here today uh first item on there would be the minutes from uh September 25th and September 23rd we can approve them collectively or individually I'll stand for any modifications or motions Mr chair members of the board um one correction staff would like to propose to the county board meeting minutes from September 25th of 2024 on page three of nine on the consent agenda item D1 that item was struck as stated in the consent agenda motion up above we're just asking that item D1 be amended to have a strike through through it so that it shows that it was struck and removed from the agenda I'll make a motion to approve both uh minutes with that amended um strikeout motion by commissioner Detrick all second uh second by commissioner catchmark any further discussion Mr chair uh for discussion I just I have to point out an error page five and nine on the red statement it's the first paragraph where it talks about the proposed reduction by another commissioner it says and catchmark agreeing at that budget Retreat I was at a family members funeral I wasn't at that meeting so that needs to be stricken and just another point for discussion and Mr chair you pointed this out at other meetings but I noted and this is referenced the 925 board meeting that there was at least 13 people some high paid staff that were at that meeting and some high paid staff that took time out of their workday to sit here for an hour from the Sheriff's Office and Corrections nobody spoke and there's already a letter sent on the depuy's union behalf on the proposed budget this just didn't seem like a good use of time and taxpayer money uh in contrast there were several County departments and Appropriations that the board made reductions to and I didn't see any of them at that hour meeting for that point in the agenda so that's a point for discussion if anybody else wants to add Li but I'd like that added to the record Mr chair just for a comment on that is that these were additional funds made at another budget meeting without the Sheriff's Office present so these were additional funds cut um from what was already a $500,000 cut originally in their budget um just going to see here uh fellow Commissioners you guys have uh those noted for the minutes here today is a is that Sur ficing both sides here all right that that is for me if no one else has any is there other comments for the record all right uh at this time let's move forward here on approving the minutes here is there no other discussion all in favor say I I post same sign all right minutes from 9:25 and 9:23 are approved unanimously today's agenda has anyone like to add to today's agenda or remove any items Mr chair I would like to add an item for um consideration on number six um with salary action on Commissioners where is this at where are you adding it it would be item A2 under uh items or sorry not A2 B item items for consideration B1 Mr chair commissioner nen are you looking to schedule a committee meeting cuz staff was looking at trying to get dates and present at the the board in two weeks or you're looking for a discussion today cuz staff I mean it's up to the board how you want to proceed but staff doesn't have any materials prepared to present yep no that's okay we can we can do it now I feel like this is a good time with the budget time and okay so we'll have a a discussion of that under items for consideration B1 all right uh with that I'll stand for a motion to approve today's agenda I'll make that motion motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign I all right motion passes 41 all right uh today's now today's consent agenda would anyone like to remove anything from today's consent agenda for further discussion Mr chair I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda and I'll second that all right motion by commissioner catch Mark second by commissioner Holland to approve today's consent agenda is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say I hi hi oose same sign motion passes unanimously all right now we're flying right through here I I see we have a few different uh individuals in here today to honor it as the uh adopt a resolution declaring October 6th through the 12th as National 4 week here in Ray County welcome [Music] all righty um hi my good morning Commissioners my name is Sophie s and I'm member of the handy dandy 4 Club in hard Lake I'm also president of the r County 4 AG Federation board I'm here to ask that the right County Board of Commissioners to make a declaration of the first week in October as National 4 week in right County through for I've gained leadership skills improved my public speaking and so much more I've been part of 4 since kindergarten and I'm currently in 11th grade so it's been a while and have done many numerous things through 4 on the county state and National level as well as being Federation president I'm also my club president a day camp counselor a county Ambassador and a Minnesota state agriculture Ambassador the red County for youth development program is an organization for young people kindergarten through one year past High School School graduation Minnesota 4 offers age appropriate Hands-On learning through projects and activities including 4 clubs special Insurance Groups after school programs volunteering Civic engagement community and service community service and so much more R County 4 H program has 18 4 H clubs over 700 members and a 180 plus adult volunteers the first week of October is annual is an annually celebration of national 4 H week Nationwide this week is a time to celebrate the many great things that the for oh my gosh about being a 4 member this week is also a time to showcase our organization and our communities and recreate new members clubs and members will be working hard to get the word out about 4 to assist with our proom promotion efforts right County 4 would like to ask that the right County Board of Commissioners to declare October 6 through 12 2024 as National for each week in right County it all right and then would you guys like me to read the Declaration yeah if you'd like to if you like you can read it where you like I can read it too I don't have it I print it out in front of me but it was included in our packet too so we read through it so thank you so much for being here today get a picture too yeah absolutely we'll take some action here and we'll definitely get a photo Sophie wonderful job and uh it's great to see all the wonderful things that the forage clubs all of them across the county have have done and the projects that you guys do and and the education that you get uh it speaks loudly and it's preparing great citizens and great youth for a great future in the uh down the road Mr CH and thanks again I especially like that name handy dandy I thought that phrase was lost except for old people like me using that so it's good to see that still alive and well in District 5 yeah it's it's it's coming back as one of those new phrases huh all right at this time I'll entertain a motion to declare uh declaring October 6 through the 12th as National for each week in Ray County so move I'll second all right motion by commissioner Dietrich second by commissioner Holland any discussion hearing none resolution commissioner catchmark i i i i i all right resol ution passes unanimous uh at this time let's step forward just's get a photo you want to go right over here on the side probably this wor is Wai and go [Music] all right well moving right along here we'll move into our health and human services portion of the agenda and we'll put our health and human services hat on and coming forward here Jill uh first item would be to approve the Health and Human Services consent agenda I will stand for any uh motion so moved all right motion by commissioner dri second by commissioner Holland to approve the Health and Human Services consent agenda any discussion hearing none all in favor say i i o same sign all right motion passes unanimously all right now moving on to the timed items the first one would be adopt the resolution 2411 to accept the September 20124 donations do you have any comments on it hi well good morning Commissioners as you can see Jamie's out on vacation so I am taking her place for the board meeting today obviously it's going to be a tough act to follow after Sophie but bear with me me um anyways the donation as you saw in your packet is uh $56 $55 of that was from a staff donation to the donation closet um that's an internal Grassroots effort that we do just in our office um very minimal maintenance by staff just bringing in things that if folks come by our office and need something like toiletries or Basic clothing items we have something available so I at this time I would ask the board to adopt the resolution and that was included with the board packet so move I'll second motion by commissioner Dietrich second by commissioner Holland to approve resolution 2411 uh for the September 2024 donations any other discussion I love the dollar the dollar to Wellness sorry I should have mentioned that dollar to Wellness on Wheels from an anonymous donor thanks for that all right at this time uh it's a resolution vote commissioner Shane I I I I hi resolution passes unanimous all right second would be to approve a uh Meridian Behavioral Health request for a letter of support to expand its treatment facility in Howard Lake uh I can share a little information about that as you know Meridian Meridian Behavioral Health is an established co-occurring substance use and mental health disorder service provider you're most likely familiar with New Beginnings in Waverly which is one of their program areas and has been established for about 42 years they would like to open a step- down program for adult males and their Howard location for services that they'll be offering in this location they're planning to provide intensive programming designed to support individuals who have completed residential treatment and are transitioning back into their daily lives specialized clinical programming that they plan to uh utilize in this facility include individual therapy group therapy family therapy life skills training relapse prevention strategies and case management to help participants connect with resources in the community including job training continuing education housing those types of things that are transitioning out of treatment with support that they'll be successful in our communities our role in these requests is to determine the level of need in the community for this specific type of service in this case we um in order to provide community members with choice and ample treatment options right County would support this facility expansion the individuals are leaving the residential program will likely be living in our communities and we feel it would be in everyone's best interest to provide support services so that these individuals can be successful uh the only other item to note on here is just letting you know that by law we are not required to technically provide a letter of support at all we can choose to it's a May per statute so we can certainly do that or we don't have to it's up to what we want to do um also just to know we are not the final decision maker we give our stamp of approval or not and then in the end DHS makes the final decision regardless of our input of how they want to proceed with lers Mr chair yes thanks Jill for coming in I looked this over the first time that it came up at the last meeting and then it got removed and I had shared my questions with administrator kryer and administrator wiford and that was passed on to HHS staff um one question it says that they want to help out up to 14 males at this facility and my question was what are they doing now I remember from work in the area I thought this was a female only facil faity at that time but I don't know if it switched sense or is this a request to expand to males first now my understanding from the very brief conversation about that point that I've had with them is that the women's location there is no longer a license that's ending and this is taking its place in that facility okay so then it'll be males only okay and then the other piece was I had asked for and it's a pretty easy reasonable ask uh call for service report from the law enforcement agencies that service the facility I this ask is for not the need across the county but the ask is to expand an existing facility that's two different points to me we're we're talking about expansion of one facility and I don't take this lightly to put my name on a letter of support I think it was a reasonable ask to the calls for service there were let's say the last couple years to tell me is this working or is this does Mayhem break out there or we don't know they exist because they're very quiet I don't know that and I still don't have that answer and and that's still was allowed to come forward today so uh that's where I'm at Mr chair Mr chair and commissioner katchmar I appreciate that and I apologize for not sharing that with my earlier comments I was able to speak with the Howard Lake Police Department just yesterday at 4:30 I finally got in touch with them after some back and forth phone calls and the answer is 10 calls of service throughout the last year 2024 and their response was that they did not feel like that was an overly High number some of those were also like Medicals and and things like that um and historically when we've done these kind of um letters of support we're looking at the need for expansion of services or this additional types of services I think this is uh expansion of their service provision but also a new service in that area so I think that's where we were looking at approving um historically like I said we haven't examined the need for or sorry the quality of service for each individual business if that's something that the board would like us to begin doing we we could certainly look at that um it would be a capacity piece but we could consider that and go back we would need a little additional time for this particular ask to go back and have those conversations and I would also ask that we would invite Meridian Behavioral Health to actually come here and be here for that discussion then that way they could answer direct um comments to your have feedback to your direct questions and that was another question is were they here today I think that yeah we have a glowing you know ask from them and a letter of the success over 42 years but it would be good for them to show up and show interest as I say because a letter of support is it's a to me it's a heavy ask that report on calls for service is a big deal to me and that you actually contacted the chief there because otherwise the the folks responding have no idea what it was what someone asked and there and then all of a sudden they change and and they didn't get asked I just know from firsthand that it'd be good to get that input for the neighbors and and everybody involved so I don't have any further questions on on that to justify the letter uh commissioner catchmark I appreciate you bringing up the the point and it is a conversation we have to have at some point that we as we get more of these requests and looking at the Quality and not just the the the need for it because I the state is going to put a a certain amount of weight on our letter of recommendation and making assumptions that we we've looked into it and we've we've looked into it only to this point on the volume is there need for this type of service but we need to look at it is this uh a viable service so I think we should look at in discussions going forward on what does that look like and what categories do we what boxes need to be checked on that so I appreciate those comments and I think we can get those included going forward absolutely and I can share that with Jamie when she gets back so we're all on the same page all right so at this time uh given the information that we have gotten um I will stand for a motion on the uh letter of support for Meridian uh I'll make a motion to accept that letter all right second motion by commissioner catchmark second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I post same sign all right motion passes unanimous director's comments thank you board I do have three different director's com comments that I want to touch on today all are informational only items um but I think they have due importance so I wanted to make sure we had a little bit of time uh we uh would like to recognize our financial workers and our case aids for um Financial worker in case a day recognition which is coming up in October unfortunately at this point we don't have the actual Proclamation and date in hand so when we do have that we'll get that to you and Route it for appropriate signatures and for you to all see but a couple of things I just wanted to share as you know our financial workers deal with and work with a lot large population of our health and human services clients their work is invital to our right County Community as they help ensure basic needs such as shelter and food without these fundamental needs met families continue to struggle and would make would struggle to maintain stability and success and medical assistance is foundational to ensuring people have critical supports in place to stay in their homes and communities safely we have case AIDS embedded in many of our service areas these staff provide behind the scenes support to clients and their co-workers which creates efficiencies and improved program outcomes without these roles our service provision would be much less effective I'd like to read just a couple of the notes from last year's Proclamation because I believe that they really speak nicely to their work um I'll skip the whereases uh County count and financial County and financial work County and tribal Financial workers and case AIDS provide outstanding services to the people of Minnesota through their ad administration of Public Assistance programs it is important to recognize the valuable services county and tribal Financial workers and case AIDS provide for motans by delivering cultural responsive case management and accessible Community Services with person a person- centered Focus I just wanted to take time to highlight the good work that our staff do again we'll we'll route the document when we get it um we are also planning some fun festivities we're going to be doing some popcorn and some other things like that as the day comes to be so we will certainly get you a flyer and um invited to come and join us for popcorn so more to come on that when we receive the proclamation my second um director's comments is I believe in your board packet you would have seen the um Department of Human Services Performance Management I believe we usually share these reports to you whenever we get them we get them on an annual basis about a different variety of different um topics this one is on child safety and permanency as well as our MIP and DWP support index and I would just like to call your attention to pages 79 and 11 that is where we're talking about the child safety and permanency information from 2023 and as you can see we've met all of the state thresholds we no no need for a pit plan we're we're doing great um and we are actually top three in our region for the percentage of days children were in relative care as well as children discharged from out of home placement to permanency in less than 12 months and I just really wanted to highlight that because Child Protection out of home placement cases are very complex and have a lot of different variables and Dynamics and I think this really reflects the diligent work of our social workers our licensers foster parents therapists and County attorneys who all work together to support the families that we serve to reach these positive outcomes and I really would just say that is a true collaborative and team effort to really stand next to and support these families as they make changes in their lives and so I think that's a pretty important thing to recognize the many departments that that touches and the many different teams um our MIP and diversionary work program self- support index we are also this is looking at folks who have not been on cash assistance or are working 30 hours a week for the last three years and again we're meeting the standards and are with in range of expected performance we're doing a really good job in all of our programs and I just wanted to highlight this program or this report because it's a demonstration of how Health and Human Services really works to strive and strives to strengthen and support and serve our community every day any questions on the report otherwise it's mostly just for your information and keeping you a breast of our work and where we're headed thank you it's a great report all right I will move along to my last topic um that's a Family Resource Center legislation uh the strengthening families act reauthorized the title 4B for five additional years title B 4B supports federal state and family and County family early intervention services and we are very excited to have this extended because we have some diligent work going on in this area so I'd like to ask Michelle Miller to come forward to the podium to share an update on our developing work with our upcoming Family Resource Centers thank you good morning board um as we present Ed some time ago our work uh with right County Community Action continues toward developing the Family Resource Centers in right County uh we've completed the report on the first grant and that was sent in to the sour Family Foundation and we had a very quick turnaround uh to write the second Grant which is the development Grant so that has been submitted as of last Friday we'll hear in the beginning of November um but we've continued our work and uh our plan is to stand up our first Family Resource Center in Howard Lake at the brand new library um the city administrator has been fantastic to work with he is I think he might be even more excited than we are about um us bringing these services to the community and so he has opened up that room um and made it available for us so this this second grant that we're writing the development Grant will allow Community Action to hire a coordinator and um then we'll continue our work looking at the second and third locations uh which were planning to be monacello and then probably Maple Lake anandale Area um Casey and I were in the Child Safety community meeting um next door talking about it a bit and um gosh we hope that we could have a Family Resource Center in every community in right County eventually we're just trying to be um I guess mindful of our resources and and just targeting three communities so a lot of work is being done one of the things that we've done uh with the grant funds is uh an article that was online and we sent it out to multiple families right County Community Action had some targeted communities they they knew would be best to send these to so if you'd like um It's a Wonderful um couple of Articles and um Sarah GES is named in the article and uh Community uh I'm sorry Central Minnesota Mental Health Center one of our therapists um and then we have a family member that was um interviewed so if you'd like I could hand these out um are there any questions about the Family Resource Centers I'm just really excited that it's moving forward so quickly thank you for all the hard work it's it's been a little um like catch your breath but um it's just great and honestly everybody that we've talked to about it is on board and and it is excited as we are so it's a good thing great all right out thank you sure thank you I will just say if you want to read it it I will take them back because they were expensive oh this looks like nice paper and print make best of thank you and that is all I have for director's comments uh thank you one question um I wanted to highlight can you a little bit on the um Community connections that we're doing in partnership with h Sherburn County coming up it's coming up in what the 17th of October I will ask Diane ens to come up because she has been part of our housing committee which is a subcomittee from rhac and she has been part of the planning for this uh event great hello Mr chair Commissioners um so our community connect event is going to be in partnership with Sherburn County United Way and so um at this time right County United Way doesn't have an executive director so um I'm kind of filling in for right County and um just connecting with Sherburn County United Way to plan the event we have a number of vendors over 35 registered at this time that will be available for um constituents from the community to come and uh develop resources so it's targeted at homeless individuals however any family can come to the event um there'll be a shoe bus there'll be flu shots coat giveaway um essential items for individuals for their families that they might need there's also um food that will be served that was donated as well so it's going to be a great uh great event it'll be held in Big Lake so right kind of in between our two communities and we talked about moving forward how we could maybe shift it on either side of the river each year or every other year just to ensure that collaborative partnership so big lake what day what is high school all right so it's at the Big Lake Middle School from 2: to 6 on October 7 it's it's just a great partnership that we have and uh it'll be interesting and I think we'll be um highly publicizing that I think John holler is working on that yes and we've went through over a hundred Flyers already so um definitely it's going to be publicized and people hopefully will be there so yeah we're looking forward to it thanks for all you work on that absolutely thank you dve thank you you all right uh moving forward here now we are on to the uh items for consideration we have the committee recommendations we have the revisers committee recommendation the one recommendation was to move forward with the uh cannabis zoning ordinance and moving that forward to Planning and Zoning for a public hearing yes Mr chair this is for the zoning ordinance which would be regulating um literally iups interim use permits in the township so right County so so this doesn't deal with licensing it's so everyone's aware this is not licensing that is still yet to come still being worked on this is just trying to get the zoning aspect of it done with the moratorium and we need to get out to the township so we can have a Planning Commission meeting public hearing there in November and then bring it up to the board before the moratorium goes at the end of January all right at this time uh Mr chair those recommendations just one point I see we're having a Township quarter meeting is anyone going to be well versed enough maybe to share it at the township quarterly meeting it's far as the where we're at where we're at with this and what's coming next yeah I I myself I should be able to speak on it to a pretty good degree I'm hoping we'll have more on the licensing Side by time that that December uh is that one in is that October 3rd is October 3rd that's right yeah we just got the notice in Kina uh just the timing might be good Mr chair if somebody's well versed by then Mr chair commissioner catchmark stat I think we we can commissioner V is going to be attending the quarterly Township meeting we can give you some talking points on it but notice won't be going out clearly in time for that because we're not going to mail anything till after we get an affirmative vote here today and uh and we won't have any of the licensing stuff I was thinking the was the December but they meet again in Jan January after this so at that point the licensing stuff we don't have enough information from the state yet on that one so it's very slow moving Mr chair I'll make a motion to approve that recommendation all right motion by commissioner catchmark second by commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oppe same sign all right motion passes unanimous all right next would be the uh for consideration B1 uh commissioner uh salary 20 is it 2025 discussion okay y all right uh commissioner Shane um Mr vet and fell or Mr chair and fellow Commissioners thank you for giving me this little time um in light of this year's budget I just wanted to make a a statement so much appreciation going out to the department leadership and the staff um and all the sacrifices and hard work getting us to the 2025 budget um because of this I would like to M make a motion not to adopt a resolution to increase the commissioner's salary for 2025 to show that we are dedicated to a trim budget for this upcoming year all right um so we can do that at any time if you want to make that motion now you certainly can uh then with that time what I would recommend is that any money in that is in that budget then to be just transferred into uh to fund balance then for the upcoming year so I'd be okay with that I just I feel like it shows solidarity that we also are are willing to do what we need to do make the sacrifices and I will second that motion so is a motion all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland all right discussion Mr chair I would just comment that um usually we typically we have this discussion and move that forward as a whole and this is an you know open discussion obviously it always is um and I would I would say I would eject I still have the same pressures and inflation and uh increases in property taxes as everyone else is affected the same way um I'm not asking for anything you know above and beyond what our own employee have have been uh that we've guaranteed them moving forward so um I don't think it's you know we can look at other ways the Commissioners can cut if you'd like to look at maybe expenses those types of things but I think a wage is something that we live on and um to make this abruptly in front um at the board meeting without in-depth discussion and those numbers in front of us um I would oppose that all right so we have a motion a second any other comments we did have quite a few comments on on this um and so I feel like we've had a lot of discussions and I think this is a good time it is something to show the staff that we're serious and we respect the fact that um they took some um big cuts as we chatted about last week and uh I think now's a good time to show solidarity like uh commissioner Shane said Mr chair I'm not sure how that shows solidarity in the sense if you want to look at our whole budget and look at those things but our wages I'm just I'm just going to be straight up and honest with you I have to live out those wages and to say that we shouldn't get an increase at at even just a cola um to me is it's a significant decision that holistically let's look at the whole rest of our budget and see what that difference is but um that impact I'm already working for the people of rayon I'm working for our employees and what benefit is that's why I fought so hard for that funding to be maintained so it's more than just what it looks like it's the impact that it has if you want to show solidarity then maybe you should have considered that when you were you know vetting out the budget itself so I would say this is more for show than it is for actual impact and I would oppose it um commissioner vetch uh I believe Cola 6.50 is a drastic the the cola was two the cola for this coming year is 2.5 so yeah originally originally it was the discussion of 6.5 which I think is quite drastic um we're here to serve the people um our forefathers uh didn't have this to be a a moneymaking venture we're here to serve the uh residents of R County and um I just feel like this is this is the this is what I wanted the whole time uh a 0% uh especially with these challenging times that we're in um so yeah I think it's I'm ready and I Commissioners I I I can support that request um as a working member of the Community I I want being one of them and as well as a representative of them uh I can understand the the challenges that they are seeing out there uh the solidarity of it many people out there are seeing no increases at all so I I think that is of a good posture and a good position to be at here as a board Mr chair I'm I'm curious about when you're saying that what he's going to increase You' supported our employee moving forward with the increases in their wages and in their benefits moving forward I'm not quite sure what solidarity you're talking about I'm not talking internal within the the organization as it is as a as a representative I am a representative of the entire County citizenship as well as a a manager and of many of the employees of the organization but the discussions of the organization and the compensation of that of those of the organization or are a separate discussion uh that are largely contractual uh that we have in many cases little latitude uh so but the bigger greater temperature that we have here as a board is that of the citizenship of the county and gauging the economic climate and the struggles of the citizens of the county is what we need to embrace first and foremost uh yes we do want in need to have great employees and we do want to retain them and that is uh in utmost importance but it is always secondary to the temperature engag in needs of the citizenship of the county collectively Mr chair I'll call the question I think everybody knows where they're at on this item all right uh questions been called uh at this time uh would um Mr Chrysler administrator do we need to do this as a resolution but we don't have a resolution in front of us uh I'm just looking for your guidance yeah Mr chair uh while we were waiting for this to come up I did find the prior resolution I think was adopted in November I think it was 21st of last year yes November 21st of last year I found the minutes and it indicates that the salary will continue in effect until such time as this resolution has been amended or modified the current annual salary since I have it in front of me is 71813 for Commissioners so given the language of that resolution I don't believe you have to adopt anything new but we'll confirm with finance and um legal and do a little more research on it if we'd have to we can always bring forward a resolution later stay in the same amount I guess at this point I mean I guess if we want to take a vote it's a vote of sating that we will not schedule a a committee of the whole or a committee meeting or draft a resolution changing the stated resolution that's on hand at this time yes so that would be the motion yeah so the motion then I'm going to make sure it's clear commissioner Shane is you making a motion to move forward with not scheduling a committee the hold for uh commissioner salaries and to uh continue forward with the current resolution that's in place for 2025 uh making no change and yes not to adopt uh not to adopt a resolution to increase all right and that's my I'll second that all right so those the modified just want to reconfirm the Motions that were on stand the questions been called all in favor say I I oppose same sign n motion passes 41 all right at this time we are it concluded our agenda it is 9:40 uh with nothing else there we will adjourn thank you