e e this meeting is being recorded e e sh good morning everyone it is Tuesday March 18th we'll 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 we have a fairly robust agenda here uh first item up is the approval of the minutes from March 14th uh board meeting and the County Board workshop on March 11th uh we can approve them collectively or individually I'll stand for motions or changes I'll make that motion second that motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oh same sign I the minutes are approved on 41 F all right next would be the today's agenda uh would anyone like to add or remove anything from today's agenda I think there's one item that we were removing from the consent agenda consent yeah I I'll discuss that during the consent I'll make a motion to approve the agenda second motion by commissioner MOA second by commissioner Shane to approve today's agenda as uh presented any no other discussion all in favor say i i p same sign all right agenda is approved unanimous today's consent agenda would anyone like to remove anything from today's consent agenda yes Mr chair I'd like to remove item F1 it's a resolution and we just have to do a quick roll call vote on it okay Mr share yes I would like to remove C3 um for further discussion C the budget amendment so we have a mot do we have a a motion here to uh approve the consent agenda with F1 and C3 removed I'll make that motion second all right uh motion by commissioner MOA second by uh commissioner Dietrich any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I oppose same sign all right uh F here well first we we have the uh C3 uh commissioner Dietrich sure I am um I just I had some questions uh regarding one particular uh item under the budget amendment and I had Lindsay come so she could answer some questions for me on that please thank you um the first question is um these are budget amendments for Budget year 2025 correct or 2024 are good morning Mr chair Mrs uh commission commission yes they are they're all for Budget year 2025 yep okay um can you explain please explain to me um what ARP general fund dollars are as they're stated in in the uh minutes for um for those for the I'm going to say I'm sorry the item for County ditches for the Gen ARP General funds were uh designated and allocated in December and that's the reason I was asking which year these would be amended for because those were uh requested and allocated in December and so then moving forward with that item with the ditches um can you explain in there it's repeatedly says ARP general fund dollars and are you talking about budget amendment number 12 or 15 the ditches related to I don't have that in front of me the um allocation of funds to offset costs to not the um not the grant fund but the offset Cuts directly to ditches number 10 20 31 and 35 that's not uh part of that budget amendment I'm looking at it right here I do not see the that as a budget amendment on that item well they're included Al together under the holistic recommendation from that um workshop and then approved at the board to move forward for Budget amendments it was $330,000 that budget amendment if you're looking I mean I have it right here in front of me I am trying to find that particular budget amendment in the the list of them I would agree I don't I don't see where you're that particular budget amendment is not being requested today under the the reference to under the workshop that we had I mean we had the documentation in with it's not in these it's not in these budget amendments today and I I don't necessarily know that there would be necessarily a budget amendment for that that is a part it's already been in fund balance so would be the it has to be approved it was in a different it was it's has to be approved you can't justen done that yet has off okay so if this isn't the right one I will I will withdraw this and and have a discussion at a future time regarding this I just wanted to understand and answer some questions in regard to those funds um and how they you know just that process uh that we would move forward with so that's all I will withdraw that item and we can move forward I'll make a motion to approve C3 from the consent agenda I'll second all right motion by commissioner MOA second by commissioner Holland to approve C3 from the consent agenda any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I poose same sign all right Mr chair can I just ask real quick when would that Amendment come forward being that was it designated in December why isn't it being done with this group of of amendments I just just curious you know I and and I guess that can be answered at a different time we're going to it's not gerain to the agenda so we can actually deal with it off offline we'll have a a discussion about that but it's not germine to the to the agenda so thanks Mr chair all right next we have uh the F1 yes Mr chair this item was on consent um we just need to have a quick roll call vote since this is a resolution Mr chair all right so this is a resolution to approve the authorized signatures on the 2023 Emergency Management performance Grant uh if there's any questions uh Captain Ferguson's here but otherwise it's a roll call vote uh resolution for this grant so moved I'll second motion by commissioner dietr second by commissioner Holland to approve the uh Emergency Management performance Grant any discussion hearing none uh commissioner MOA i i i i i all right resolution passes 50 thank you now moving on to our timed agenda items uh today we are lucky to have the members of the CM jts here to make a presentation to us on the wonderful things that they're working on thank you thank you thanks thank you good morning thank you you have a power oh perfect thank you very much good morning I am Dina Wares executive director with Central Minnesota jobs and Training Services we are also known as cm jts and I would like to quickly just ask some of our board members and staff members to introduce themselves as well they're here Bo commissioner robstar Trevor Turk I'm Troy Gilberts good morning morning so what I'd like to do first is just talk a little bit about who CM jts is on the right hand side of your folder I've put some information in there it's our annual report as well as a brochure that just highlights some of the services that we provide here in right County um as well as on the leftand side there's a bunch of handouts and as I go through information some of these handouts relate to the information that I'm going to share with you this morning so if we could go ahead and move that slide forward perfect um want to let you know cmjs serves 11 counties in central Minnesota um including wri County and you can see that we go as far north as Pine County we go as far south as Renville County and we serve all 11 counties uh we are the Workforce Development provider and we are assigned as the administrative and the fiscal entity by the Workforce Development board here in local Workforce Development Area 5 go ahead and switch it y thank you I wanted to share with you a little bit about what our funding sources are we have a variety of funding sources that help to keep our doors open help to maintain our programming and serve our clients and our clients include job Seekers and businesses so I want to clarify that real quick you can see our largest uh funding stream is our adult programs there is a handout on the right hand side talks about Grant funds this gives you some pretty clear detail on the funding that we receive um on an annual basis in order to deliver these Services these are the the grants that make up these different categories of funding so we do have adult programming we have uh Business Service funding we also have some funding in six of our 11 counties for public assistance which is those MIP diversionary work and snap programs and then we also receive funding to serve uh youth any questions on that okay great our next slide then um talking about development team we do have a fund development manager at CM jts one of the reasons why we have uh that fund development manager is in order to work with fundraising to identify uh potential Foundation grants Legacy grants um respond to rfps proposals for competitive funding we are always seeking out new funding that helps us to not be so reliant on state and federal funds our goal is to be self-sufficient without state and federal funds so that's the purpose of our Workforce Development team as well as our fund development manager in the hand in the right hand side you will see handouts I have in there one that shows you all of the different grants that our grant writing team has responded to or applied for and then whether we've received them or if we're still waiting or if we've been denied anytime we are denied a grant we always follow up and ask why we want to make sure that we're always doing our best to improve with our grant writing so we can be successful in the next year also we are uh doing some fundraising uh some some fun events we just we just tatively got our our date on the calendar it is September 18th we are doing a golf tournament fundraiser at Pebble Creek in Becker Minnesota and we're hoping to generate some funds there we're pretty excited about that opportunity and we'll be sending out invitations and hopefully we have some right County Commissioners attending that event I want to talk next about who we provide services to there is in your H in your handouts again a chart looks like this it's the chart of services this gives you a brief understanding of all of the programs and services that we deliver and to what Target populations um our first group that I will talk about is the job Seeker we focus on job Seekers who are facing those career changes often times when they lose a job or they haven't worked in many years maybe they were incarcerated they're just returning re-entry um whatever their story is we're going to match them where they're at we have all kinds of programs and services designed to help people regardless of whether they were dislocated from a six-digit figure job versus the individual who hasn't worked ever so we have all kinds of services and we have the training and availability to serve them right where they're at um some key things that we do with our job Seekers we complete assessments to make sure that we get an idea of what's the best career pathway for that individual another thing we do is draft resumés whether they're going through some training first and then need job search or job searching immediately we're developing those resumés we're helping them with interviewing skills and then we have resources to help with job placement as well and I'll talk about that in just a minute Troy do you want to just chat chat a little bit real quick on some of the services that we specifically are providing here in R County absolutely thanks Dina good morning everybody my name is Troy Gilberts and I'm the adult program manager and I support the resource room at the monel Comprehensive Center and the resource room it physically it's a computer lab and it's available to um job Seekers to set up a resume or to apply for jobs and things like that um we assist with that we're actually running a resumé Workshop right now this morning that's available to community members um we run workshops on a variety of um topics um interview skills resume workshop job search over 40 things like that um we assist customers with job seeking and sometimes that's helping them with skills identification and like Dana said so we work with people where they're at if they if they don't haven't had a had a job before they might not know what their skills are so we might try to match them if they're coming off a layoff or an injury or something like that and need to crosswalk their skills we can try to match that um with available jobs and opportunities in in the community so we will work with customers do a general sort of intake assessment have a conversation about um strengths and barriers try to connect them with Community Resources in many cases we will go over eligibility and intake them directly into one of our programs right in that uh resource lab and then also in monacello we have the adult basic education lab um and the senior program as well as some other services so pretty comprehensive wraparound right right down the block Abol thank you Tre in your handouts you do have a listing I wanted to share with you the number of re County residents we served our program year runs it's a fiscal program year so it runs July 1st to June 30th so this would be July 1st of 23 to June 30th of 24 these were the numbers in the different programs that we deliver so you can see that we served uh 332 and some of them are still on our case loads and we continue to work with them next slide please so this is just a quick summary of the indiv indviduals that we serve um again stating they do come to us with individual circumstances we do not believe in a cookie cutter approach everything we do is individualized and based exactly on what that individual needs um our goal with every individual that we work with is to get them back to work next slide please so next I want to talk about our business services because we have two customers we have the job seeker and we have the business so we work with businesses in our communities um we have business service coordinators some of you may know Tim zapo he is the business service coordinator here for re County um he does all kinds of um initiatives with our employers helping them seek out find and retain the employees that they need or have on board um they will do one-on-one consultations with employers to find out what their needs are and then connect within our job Seeker groups to see if we have some good matches that we can be as a liazon to that employer and meet them up um we also work with employers sometimes they're going to have a layoff and it's unavoidable and a lot of times employers care about people that they that work for them they care about their workers so they want to know what can we do cm jts is what they can do so Tim will go in and talk about the services that we can provide to those dislocated workers in order to help ship them into a job search we may even go in into that layoff before it even happens sometimes we get in there two three months in advance and we can start working with those job Seekers updating resumés connecting them with uh employers that we think their skills will match with and get them employed before they're even laid off potentially um in your handouts there is again another handout talks about the business services uh all of the different resources that we provide couple of things to note with employers we can provide what we call on the- job training for up to six months we can help an employer pay 50% of a wage to a new hire if that individual is eligible for our programs and that 50% is essentially a reimbursement on that wage to to agree to train an individual sometimes that helps people get their foot in the door that might not be the best applicant but the employer like something about them they just need some extra assistance to be the best employer on the task side we can do that OJT to help the other thing we do a lot with our employers is incumbent worker and incumbent worker is essentially we have an employer who either needs to increase their competitiveness in the area or they need to avert a layoff we're able to help them with that we can pay for up to $25,000 annually for an employer to bring in some type of training to help upskill their employees and keep them competitive in the market sometimes Global sometimes National sometimes State any questions with that all right next slide please so these are some of the businesses that we've helped in right cone specifically we've done some ojts um with the different companies you see listed here if you want any detailed information I can certainly get that to you my card is in the folder just shoot me an email and I can answer any questions you have next slide please some things I want to talk about are just the Innovative and new initiatives we're doing at cm jts and that's all of the rest of the handouts so I won't necessarily pull them out for you right now but just call your attention to the fact that they are in your packet um some things that I want to highlight operation exploration youth camps and that's actually coming up in June this year we are doing a youth camp uh June 9th through the 13th it's at the right Technical Center and it will be focusing on Health Care skills health care careers so for that entire week kids come to the right Technical Center and they get to try out all kinds of things they get to practice doing sutures they get to practice CPR they get to practice all kinds of stuff Hands-On virtual we have all kinds of training providers there to give them the skills that they need registered apprenticeship I just want to call out that cjts is working really hard to become a uh an area of expertise to help employers get connected with register apprenticeship in the Department of Labor so if you have employers who are interested in implementing a registered apprenticeship program but they don't know how we can help so send them our way another item is our right County Recovery CM jts was recipient of the uh the opioid grants that were um awarded like what two years ago and we did run a a certified peer recovery specialist program we had 12 participants all of which graduated with their certification and we continue to work with them now we're trying to place them in recovery centers here in Wright County we want to keep our wri County residents working in Wright County uh the other thing we do host an HR administrative Cooperative so if you have employers who are talking about the need for they just need someone to bounce ideas off of maybe they feel alone in their industry their HR or an employer and they just they just need some support we have a support group uh there's information again in your folder on that please share that with employers if it seems appropriate if you're not sure if it's appropriate give us a call and we'll connect with the individual and then finally we do have professional networking groups as well we like to help our professionals who are job seeking to connect with other professionals to find those jobs and our Workforce Development board chair Rob Stark he was one of our founders of that group so we're very thankful for that next slide want to talk lastly we did do some strategic planning at CM jts just last Friday we had amplify amplify DMC come out they ran a strategic planning event for us um it was all day um commissioner Holland was able to attend um these gentlemen were all there in attendance it was an amazing event and essentially what we did is we came up with um four calls to action and then we're going to develop plans to implement and our calls to action were to in uh hang on let me take my glasses off to to innovate and grow funds like I stated at the beginning we want to become um less reliant on those state and federal funds we really want to focus on brand recognition and make sure that people know CM jts we are here we're here to serve job Seekers employers our community so we want to make sure we get that message out clear uh promoting and developing job ready uh young workers we want to make sure we can provide them with the skills they need to match the employer needs as well and then we have the opportunity to recruit ambassadors we're looking for ambassadors who can tell our story out in the community and really help us promote our services in the public all right thank you any questions for me board members Dina thank you so much for coming out I always enjoy getting an upto-date uh call to action and uh up to dat uh as to where things are at with cjts you guys are uh have a lot of very robust services and I really love how you guys have adapted with the times in creating different work groups and inviting different people from different Paths of life into uh networking opportunities uh I think all of us right now could do a uh a great job in helping cm jts and getting the word out because they serve everybody I and I think the biggest thing is that there's a old feeling that it's only for the encumbered workers is what the workforce cm jts is for and really it's for everyone even if you're looking to upskill your career or looking to find a new career it's that's for you as well it's not just those people that are have never had a job or on unemployment correct thank you very much commissioner vetch yes and and I want to thank you too for uh um coming up and and just knocking it out of the park uh the last time we had a h a presentation from CM jts it was pretty bland this is very this is very indepth and uh we thank you I think our citizens are are very lucky to have you especially in R County stationed in Ray County um and I do want to say too it was really amazing all the all the people on the Workforce Development board and the Commissioners that came out on Friday it was such a great it was the nicest day of the spring and people gave it up and went from 8 to 4: and drove over an hour we had uh um Dr Johnson who came all the way from Hutchinson from Ridgewater and uh Commissioners that came over an hour and a half and it was really a great event and I think it's going to Mo move us forward and so AB I'm thankful for all that thanks for setting that up I know you said that uh you do stuff with the right tech center do you have any partner parnerships or work with any other schools within the county that you might go into and give presentations and yep we actually have youth career Navigators and we are I can get you the exact numbers um we do have staff in several of the schools in Wright County our staff are actually in those schools meeting with those youth we are focused on those high-risk youth who might be at risk of not graduating that's our Target population in those schools we're working with the school counsel we're working with some of those instructors at the schools we have a very good relationship um specifically Buffalo I know Buffalo we have a very strong relationship there monacello um we've done some presentations to I think they call it the naughty kids place but we've done some presentations with the kids who are doing some probationary stuff instead of mainstream schooling so yes we're very active in right Coney but I will get you more information on that and then uh do you do you guys also get referrals from I don't know if it would be social workers or school counselors uh for any of the potential teen parents that might need something to help pay for any of those expenses that come we get some our our purpose part of that strategic planning we did on Friday to um gain that brand recognition the Outreach the recruitment we need people to help those professionals know we are a service available to send those children those kids thank you Dina you bet thank you and I will invite you please come to the career force center in monello let me know if you're coming and I can give you a tour and answer any questions you have great great thank you you all right now moving on to our uh 920 item here we're relatively on time here uh Chad's making his way our first item is approve entering into a Cooperative agreement with the City of Buffalo morning chairman vet Commissioners yeah this is just a continuation of the um sale of the government center property and City's going to take the lead fairly straightforward we've done this in the past on like cassa 16 montros the 35 day roundabout the City of Buffalo and then basically if if something happens with the developer agreement then this would just be on pause till then so it'll just move in conjunction with that development so very good uh at this time is there any questions otherwise I'll entertain a motion I'll make I'll make that motion I second it all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to enter into a Cooperative agreement with the City of Buffalo any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign all right motion passes unanimous all right next is award contract 253 yeah this is for our annual um striping contract uh we had two bids this year which is one more than we had last year in the last couple years so that's good uh prices are about what we expected and the remain our budget is 800,000 came in at around 725,000 the remainder goes to payment markings like arrows um uh stop ahads railroad crossings Etc so we'll be using the full budget but this is just for the striping Chad it is great to see that there's some competition in the market because I think it was about four years ago we were like Bo if this doesn't change we're going to be end up having to buy a painting trucks Prett much yeah they the prices have went up really high went went up really fast but they' stabilized last few years so that's good to see very good all right now I'll entertain a motion so mov motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to award contract 253 any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign all right uh contract awarded unanimous next contract 252 yes this is our annual seal cult contract um um the map was included with the resolution if you want to see it also includes fog Silling of several um trip Parks trails and we're recommending awarding the base bid and and all the alternates and then there's any questions on the funding and how that's being um achieved we're above budget but we also have increased revenue from our state account more than we expected so our proposal is to use those funds with so no increase to local Lev so there'd be a corresponding budget amendment to address the increase revenue and expense all right very good any uh questions board members make a motion to approve second motion by commissioner Holland second by commissioner Shane to award contract 2502 any hearing note other discussion all in favor say I I post same sign all right uh contract 252 approved unanimous next we have the resolution agreement with mot yes there's two of them here so we'll do the first one is mot has work on 55 this summer the first one is to replace a box Culvert between South Haven and Kimble so they'd be using part of our conter 02 and then they be going through Fair Haven and then come back to 55 so fairly short detour fairly short duration um and it's just they um worked out well because we replaced our bridge if we hadn't replaced our Bridge they wouldn't be able to use this shorter detour so um it's fairly straightforward so if there's any questions it be more willing to answer them all right very good any discussion hearing none I'll entertain a motion I'll make that motion second all right motion by commissioner H second by commissioner MOA to approve a resolution agreement with mindat for detour any other discussion hearing none resolution vote commissioner Shane i i i i i resolution passes unanimous and last we have the resolution agreement with mot for another detour yes so this is for the work in anadale uh includes the new signal at CA 5 pedestrian improvements uh covert Replacements so this is a little bit longer detour so the dollar amount is higher but this is basically Casa 3 then over 101 and 39 and then back down on six so um it's longer detour which is why it's like 40 some thousand versus a couple thousand so um similar to what they've done in the past couple years on projects on uh us12 and 55 so any discussion members hearing none I'll entertain a motion so moved I'll second motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to approve resolution uh DeTour for with mindat any other discussion hearing none resolution vote i i i i i resolution passes unanimous Mr if I could just before you leave leave the podium chat I just want to thank you for all your hard work you've been so helpful and such a great resource for me anytime that I have a question on a lot of activities that I have going on right now you are ready to assist and answer the phone within a matter of 5 to 10 minutes so I just want it to be known out there that you're very helpful you know your job and thank you for helping me appreciate it thank you yeah copy that you've been the open house for 37 and all the all the calls you've been receiving for that uh we I really appreciate that thank you Albertville appreciates you too think most of them do a couple that probably don't lots of gold stars thank you I appreciate it thanks thank you and now Ross is heading to the podium hoping to get gold stars today too fer crossed hard act to follow there so you chairman vetch Commissioners uh the first item is a resolution regarding a Grant application for the uh segment B of The Crow River Regional Trail bu a couple months ago you approved moving forward a contract with WSB for the preliminary planning of the crover Regional Trail segment B which is beh along County road2 between Rockford and Handover during some initial discussions uh generated from staff we've were thinking because we have about 719,000 of uh federal grants that are going to be tied to this project a lot of projects that are around River corridors um kind of get earmarked for uh phase one archaological studies so we really feel to get out ahead of that we'd like to run this concurrent with our planning process to see if we run into road blocks because if we go through the entire planning process start going after grants and then go back and do a phase one this uh potentially would add quite a bit of additional cost so if we' run these concurrent we run into a roadblock we can start stop the preliminary plan and then fall back on uh following up with the phase one study very good I think the methodology uh makes a lot of sense uh saves us from putting money in uh foolishly potentially in the long run if we run into some issues so agreed all right with that I'll entertain a motion so moved I'll second all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner MOA to adopt a resolution related to the Grant application through the Greater Minnesota parks in commission any other discussion hearing none this is a resolution vote commissioner Holland i i i i i resolution passes unanimous thank you um second item that we have is um depositing lease payments that we currently receive from the nature-based school program uh through the city of mon or the mono school district for the Chalet those currently get uh deposit into a general revenue account uh we'd like to look at putting those into a restricted fund and it would be a02 529 fund which would then restrict those funds solely for basically the care and maintenance of the Chalet we're seeing Chalet was built maybe not to withstand a lot of the uh daily wear and tear that a preschool and nature-based program uh happens and if you haven't been out there to see the program it's outstanding it's an out standing program they've tracked the kids that have gone through that program and they've kind of far exceeded any academic guidelines or credentials so it's really a great program and so we're really just trying to stay ahead of the maintenance out there and if the goal with taking these funds and putting them into a restricted account is that those the only that's the maintenance of the Chalet is the only place that we can use these funds so uh Ross I guess the only part I I I totally support this methodology because I I don't want this to go on our long-term maintenance plan I'm just wondering because they're utilizing more than just that piece to it that that that building out there if is that scope a little bit too narrow I mean I think keeping the the that lease payment dedicated to the berch from pop but if you're dedicating it only to the Chalet is that is that how I'm understanding it the way I'm reading it I think I I just think maybe you want to maybe get more a little bit more Broad in terms of how you can utilize it out there just because there are they are their leas payment is going more than just the utilization of the Chalet yep so they actually have three separate lease agreements so they have a lease payment with the city a lease payment with the county and a lease payment for the YMCA so for the lease payment with the county is just for the Chalet in the surrounding area yeah and and that's where one I think uh we're working on trying to get it into one holistic one at some point and I'm just curious how that will transition if we get into one one lease is that are we going to come back and modify this then because I I you know where I'm going with this because we're having those conversations right now I yeah and we could certainly we may need to come back to modify that or we can outline that in the lease agreement that those lease payments so and uh if we're going to combine the lease payments with the Red Shed in the city and the County's lease becomes one we could modify that maybe in the lease agreement that the payments for The Red Shed go back to the city cuz I guess otherwise I mean just more in inclined to just have it be more dedicated as a beram park dedicated fund and that way the the parks Advisory board has a little bit more guidance to and how they want to use it within the park certainly which most likely they're going to use it for the maintenance but there might be times where we need to put more lighting out to facilitate as we had in the last year correct yeah and we wrote this is kind of very specific to the Chalet and then we're trying to expand that scope as well so that's a good point because we the grounds are getting it looks like goats going through Buckthorn so that's uh yeah they're really beating up the grounds but again it's a great program so there's tons of kids out there I guess I'm just more open for the discussion on do you sure you want to like handcuff it that narrow on yeah because we have that like the Virgin Park I hear somebody coming up good morning again may I add um for this to be a true restriction that is required to make this a special Revenue fund for to meet these uh expectations I will need a formal resolution of the board we can come back with that and we effectively it's whatever you want if if the Board of Commissioners agrees to restrict These funds for a specific purpose you can as long as you formally do that you can formally undo that but I need a resolution that's that's it y we can make it whatever you want it to be because I just know that we're having a lot of conversations with this and knowing that hopefully maybe in 12 or 18 months or maybe sooner that that will maybe be adding different all into maybe one contract for the multiple facilities and I don't want to keep coming back multiple times and modifying this so to me maybe it's just better off making it that th those funds that go out there are just dedicated out to berum okay holistically Ross and I can work together to have the language appropriate to meet your expectations there yep yeah that makes sense question um Ross do you do any such thing at like NY park for like Maple Lake School District at all or do we use like Callingwood for cooc schools do we do we just do this for monacello so we do we have our um Carson Law who is our Recreation coordinator goes out to all the different school districts throughout the county and offers programs we do we do environmental days at n Park twice a year and we open that up to a large to several school districts throughout the county so we actually do work with all of the school districts throughout the county right now oh at the different facilities so great yeah Carson is awesome she does a great job she um is always engaged with one school dist at least I would say once or twice a week so there is a lot of interest in this nature basic education they have an extremely long waiting list and I know monacell has had conversations with uh surrounding school districts in wanting to work with them either to get their own or to allow their students in their District to be able to uh participate in this but right now just based on the the scope of of the facilities out there it's just not a able for them to expand so but we are having more conversations about that and thinking of ways that we can maybe get a better utilization out there because it is a a great program and it's a great way to get our youth out into our parks and get them out into uh the environment in a age where technology tends to take their brain yep correct agree Mr chair just curious excuse me given the discussion we've had so far did you want to table this for staff to look at a resolution and bring it back on April 15th is that the direction you're looking for because either way we have to have a resolution to do dedicate the funds so I think at this point we might as take no action just leave this as an informational item and I'll wait for staff to come back with a resolution um I just would direct staff to make that resolution more broad broad enough to the bercham park holistically just so we're not modifying this multiple times as we combine these other lease agreements okay sounds good Mr chair we we'll proceed and I'll anticipate having something on the agenda on April 15th all right CH and Ross thank you so much uh I I did thank your staff um a lot of constituents are very happy that uh the the reservation system was so Flawless this year and they got uh they were able to get on and get their camping spots and really appreciated um being able to have that 4-Hour window to get their facility needs taken care of and so and and I know it's such a big day and I'm sure you guys took a lot of flack for that but I'm glad that it's all like done and guys can go forward yeah a lot of people behind the scenes did a lot of work for that so our Park Services Group really spent a lot of time to make sure that was as seamless as possible so thank you yeah great thank you I just want to say thanks again too for inviting me to your Parks and Recreation staff meeting it was nice to kind of see what you guys do behind the scenes as far as staff go talking about everything and to meet uh more of the staff than just the one that I talked to so yeah that's why we wanted to come we didn't want to give you a bad impression with the one you just talked to so great all right thank you thank you Ross thanks Ross all right moving on to items for consideration first item would be approval of the adopted recommendations from the County Board Workshop we had uh largely informational items with the investment review was informational the countywide uh technology strategy which was uh to direct staff to move forward with the Ray County uh technology strategy for 25 to 2030 then there was the uh commissioner expense use discussion which was uh asked to move it to discuss at the budget time for further discussion uh then there was the state budget forecast which was informational only then we had the review of the city of Buffalo's batement request which was to direct staff to send to the City of Buffalo a letter declining participation and then we had the uh update on the conservation uh uh conversation with the Township and the uh French Lake uh shop which was to direct staff to move forward with a letter of intent uh and to send it to Ways and Means and with that I'll I'll make a motion to approve the recommendations from the uh Workshop second all right motion by commissioner MOA second by commissioner Shane any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I both same sign all right the recommendations are proved unanimous next we have the ways and means uh recommendations the first one would be the household hazardous waste uh which as you see in the packet has been a conversation now for uh quite some time uh they put together a great timeline the first one would be to accept all recommendation from the ways and means Comm committee would be to accept all bid packages except the electrical package uh which shall be rebid and authorized County uh board chair deciding signature on all contracts Al funds in the amount of 1.2 million and some change through the general fund uh which was formerly ARP funds for the construction and uh Administration and contingency in miscellaneous items and approved construction of turn Lanes with the household hazardous waste fund uh facility funded by additional 2025 state aid maintenance funds so moved all right I'll second all right we have a motion but or do you want to do the other ones here too or and there was the sh can have discussion yeah we after we have more second but is it approve so we have the uh the approval of the McLoud uh County household hazardous waste agreement which would allow uh members of right County to facilitate or use the facility at McLoud County uh giving better uh utilization for those on the southern part of the county as the current household hazardous waste facilities more uh situated to the north and Northeast and then the other recommendation was the uh long-term finding expenditure planning proposal which was to bring forward to the board concept approval for a long-term financing and expenditure uh planning project and then there was the uh HHS casework functions which was informational only and were you including those recommendations as well yes I was including those as well all right and now we can have discussion sorry there a lot a lot to pick from you can just kind of yeah um just the household hats waste if the electrical bids come it's just the cost have escalated I think a little bit obviously to what we've estimated um what if they come in higher and and it just doesn't adjust down we're prepared to to um fill in those blanks and and put money towards that is that what we're I mean make amendments and and complete the project so if we're approving all of this right now I'm just asking if something unexpected comes with the electrical bid and it's it's higher than we thought what would we do when we have this motion right now so there's a I mean there's obviously once you go forward with it it these bids as they are and if you rebid the electrical the electrical came in exuberantly high uh and I'm going to explain to you Greg I I assume we at that point if it would say it came in double it came in at a million dollars over we wouldn't necessarily be we could resc scope it and then in which case we could rebid it again uh to get it down you wouldn't necessarily be married to it but it would put it would put you in a complication where we'd have to look at res scoping it at that point that's correct Mr chair we'd have to look at res scoping it the number you have here was the third highest bid that we received the first two missed an explosion proof encasement which cost about 100 to $25,000 so um given that the first two lowest biders missed that item we've listed the third bidder which was deemed the lowest competent bidder but their price difference even with the $125,000 added between number one and two still gives you about1 to $150,000 differentiation in bidding so we feel comfortable going out there again for bidding I think it should be very competitive market with the four biders we had we might even get more but I think I still feel I I I think staff our maintenance facility ma manager and our you know construction manager all feel that 647 should should be the ceiling you believe it'll come in lower one of the other concerns I have with cost is um if once we start this project I know there's contingency funds so I'm sure that could get get addressed but if there's bad soils out there that we we might find or or what clean up I mean that's a it was an old Compost Facility I'm concern I'm just concerned with the cost that could be associated with that too and we have I understand we do have contingency funds but I'm just at what point um so from that point I mean we have done worked with stanch I believe stanch did do some B borings out there uh so that with the contingency funds we have done our due diligence so I I believe that we've mitigated it obviously anything's possible I mean so there always is a risk but I I'd say that the chances of it with the due diligence with the borings and then the contingency fund I would say we're probably in a pretty good position I I would agree with that Mr chair and also I mean the site's already been improved once so if there were soil issues they likely were caught in the early 1990s when the facility was built and this is largely an entirely impervious surface which should actually help us in the long run for any um Brown field or contaminations on site so given that impervious nature so I I feel comfortable with the numbers that are here for General conditions but we always plan for the worst and um our Architects and Engineers have indicated it should come in lower but we're contingency up at the at the worst case and I think those are all very good questions and very good concerns I but I I I think we've done our due diligence to mitigate them to the best of any possible oh for sure I've been on the committee and I do support the project it is something moving forward so MH um chairman vet I just want to say that um through I was on the committee as well and through the whole process I was the one that like ke I going into the project I didn't want to do it because I think this is this H household hazardous waste facility was the biggest boondoggle Ray County has experienced it was Albatross for many many years um I went into it very skeptic skeptically um and but I want to say that it's a very Bare Bones uh project I am so surprised that it came in the bids came in as nicely as it did especially I thought it would only be Vite that CU we were you know wondering if we should tear the all the scrap metal down and when Vite came in when those bids came in for tear down they came in very nice and you know as as going forward you know it was a 5 vote to go forward with the architecture and the tear down um at at this price point and I'm amazed because I thought it was going to be way more than the price point that we all agreed to a year ago um so I'm super excited it's a really good uh atmosphere now for bidding I think people are hungry for companies are hungry for work uh we noticed that with the adigo fire department uh and then of course our own uh Highway Department um so well I I think we're sitting really at a a really good um place and costs are only going to keep going up uh especially now with tff so um excited to go forward uh to make this a lot better for our staff cuz the conditions out there to work are atrocious I think after we went and did the tour I think that was the that was the Tipping Point for most of us because I don't think anybody was too excited about building a new facility but when you they're working at 40 degrees in the wintertime and the bathroom situation and all the it's just terrible to put our staff in that situation so I'm really excited to go ahead with this and then too we can we'll be able to drop out um the reservation part of it and people can just it'll be so much better for our constituents thank you commissioner Holland uh I think that one thing is really great to point out is the utilization of this facility in just the short uh five six year period of time the utilization of the facility has over doubled uh right now we're projecting to probably have almost 11,000 visits coming in here in 2025 uh when we were just under 5,000 in 2018 now with that being said we've gotten I've got more requests for that that facility to be able to expand its services uh with our population growth there is a demand for this in facility but this facility needs to meet the needs of the people as well uh unfortunately a lot of that space out there is empty out there and it's just shelled buildings that that need to be taken care of uh so this this upgrade will get rid of uh almost almost $1.4 million in deferred maintenance on that building uh because doing nothing would cost us something uh and that wouldn't be a good expenditure and also get this reconstruction will hopefully allow us uh starting into the next year to be able to go appointment free uh which I know is one of the things that I've had citizens that want to be able to go out there at their time when it works for them driving by to get rid of the items that they need to get rid of so I think this is a great uh Pro uh project sorry Mr shair do we know the timeline once we we bid this do we know have a timeline until the until we award it I don't know that though I guess Mark do you have a i i Alan Alan probably fall it's okay it's I would think November we should be open started right away and then I don't have a construction schedu yet yeah I sort I thought until we award it they usually don't give us a schedule yeah so just what we had maybe estimated at our committee that's just the time frame I was looking at I do think that a lot of the information that you just covered is important and it would be nice if it was more out there the stuff you talked about the um very poor bathroom conditions and and all of the other issues that are out there uh because this is something that in in my district with the limited information that I had prior to even 3 months ago or even yesterday this is something that in my district is not well-liked and the thing that it always comes back to is paying for the previous one for 20 years and not being able to use it and so there's a lot of for lack of a better term PTSD towards having this on their bill that they have to pay every single year and have no way of using it uh I do appreciate also working out an agreement with um McLoud County down in the Hutchinson facility even though over 26% of the the Stockholm Township which is the farthest South and West um uses this facility currently but I think having that information out there is is very beneficial um because just that discussion in the last two minutes has changed my mind on this topic when I came into this very against this because of all of the negative reaction from my district for this facility in the last couple of months and commissioner MOA I think those are all items that we should discuss at the township officers on on the the realization of the Deferred maintenance out there and and the heating costs of this facility are are some some just big points out there loan a why staying out there is inv viable uh this boondoggle that we originally need constructed in 1990 needs to go to bed it's you know and I get that they're PTSD with that because uh it was unfortunate that I I I don't even know that it operated even for five years when it was originally constructed as sad as it may be yeah and the PTSD is true every every resident in Ray County was irritated with this whole thing that's why I was not in favor of going forward but um I'm glad we're to this point now this is this is not a boondoggle we we have well vetted this this facility is not a large St scale scope thing this is actually taking that boondoggle and narrow bringing it down to really be what it should be out there which is a household hazardous waste drop off facility and with uh paired with a compost and recycling yep well with that uh I will entertain a motion so moved second there already was oh there was a motion that's right we had such a long discussion that's right that's right same people it was you guys made the motion yes we had a motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to approve the recommendations from the Ways and Means Committee any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign motion passes unanimous uh board members I think we've uh coming here towards the oh no I'm forgot we the approve the recommendations from the 911 committee so yeah we made Captain Ferguson sit here for an hour hour he did that on purpose sorry my computer went to sleep on me here good morning Mr chair MERS of the board uh I think you should have it in front of you the recommendation from the 911 committee we met last week if uh my memory is correct uh it's pretty spelled out there in the recommendation uh really just a continuation of the conversations that started back in 2018 uh 2020 2022 when we did the uh upgrades to the main Center here uh so just uh more an overall update for the members of the committee and for yourselves of where we've been where we are and where we intend to go and just looking for a recommendation to continue in that process I think this is great keep making small continuous upgrades versus uh waiting for your one day where you have to put out a s eight figure so this is a better way going about it there's there's nothing uh inexpensive about any of the equipment in either of the two centers We Now operate but uh uh we're fortunate to have these restricted funds and be able to use them in the manner we do I'll entertain a motion to approve the recommendations from the 911 motion motion by commissioner Holland second by commissioner diet any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oppose same sign all right motion passes unanimous thank you very much now we are on to the uh closed session at this time we will move to a closed session to before can I say something before we go to close session um and if I'm out of line in saying this please let me know but um I know most people aren't going to watch after this break in the action but uh just wanted to to wish a speedy recovery to John holler um he had recently had back surgery and if I'm sharing too much somebody can yell at me that's fine but I know he's somebody that a lot of the people within the county talk to um every Department it seems like someone talks to John and and he's kind of their go-to person so I just wanted to wish him a speedy recovery from his back surgery yeah I agree all right very good all right uh with that now we will move on to our Clos session to consider offers uh for purchase of real property uh under close session would be under Minnesota statute 13d d05 subdivision 3b3 uh property location 311 uh Brighton Avenue Buffalo Minnesota that's correct Mr chair we will give ourselves a second here to get into Clos session Mr chair we can just go in the back room e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e wait my all right it is 10:17 we are back in session here from our closed uh session here and at this point we have any recommendations from our closed session uh after discussion I I believe the consensus from the closed uh meeting was to move forward with the uh purchase agreement on property uh 611 Brighton Avenue 31 or 311 Brighton Avenue uh at the purchase amount of uh stated in the papers I can't remember what it was was it U Mr chair it's $1,150,000 th000 which was to be paid out of a county general fund uh to move forward with this purchase uh which is a building that is currently facilitated with uh so right County Soil and Water and nrcs are the two tenants of the building and it is the recommendation of the uh from the closed meeting to move forward with the purchase of that building can you explain what nrcs is uh nrcs is a farm services uh for at the federal level here that's officed here in Buffalo that Services uh right and Han and Par parts of hanpen County and I believe even some of our surrounding uh bordering counties uh for farm services with Federal funding that's correct Mr chair the nrcs is the natur natural resources conservation service which is a division of the US Department of Agriculture great thanks so uh this building uh was brought to our attention for the purchase of it as the uh current owner of the building is looking to liquidate the property at this time Ray County has been uh renting a portion of it uh for the facility for right County Soil and Water uh so it was of our interest to uh purchase said building uh to continue the facilitating that space for soil and water as well as uh being able to uh keep uh nrcs close to soil and water which they intend to do uh the purchase price uh was uh well in line with uh commercial real estate uh Investments so it's under cap so we what we are currently taking in for lease payments from uh nrcs with the that along with what we are paying for rent with uh right soil and Waters which will be have savings will actually make this a good investment for the citizens of right County Mr shair I'd also just note the 90day due diligence period as well yes uh so right now we're just entering into this purchase agreement which will put us into a 90-day due diligence period uh which we have uh will begin looking at the building making sure that the conditions of the building are in line with the purchase price that we are offering thank you all right uh with that I will stand for a motion I'll make that motion second we have a motion by commissioner Holland second by commissioner Shane to purchase uh 611 Brighton Avenue uh real property for 1.15 uh to be paid at a general fund balance uh and to enter into the purchase agreement and start the due diligence period all right any other discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I oppos same sign I all right motion passes 41 thank you and now it is 10:20 uh with no other business to come forward come forward before the County Board we will adjourn the County board meeting at 10:20